Simulated European Forest Trait Data Across Productivity Gradient

A process-based forest gap model generated data to explore environmental and biotic assembly processes on tree communities. The simulation experiment covered 11 sites across central Europe, testing for trait divergence or convergence resulting from competition. The dataset supports analysis of how site fertility and competition for light influence functional trait composition.

Use Cases

• Analyze trait convergence for growth and light capture traits across 11 sites to infer competition intensity.
• Disentangle environmental filtering effects on traits related to species environmental requirements versus competitive ability.
• Model the relationship between site productivity gradient and the strength of observed trait convergence.
• Test hypotheses linking functional trait composition to the signature of community assembly processes like biotic filtering.

Strengths

• Data generated from a controlled simulation experiment using a process-based forest gap model.
• Covers a productivity gradient across 11 distinct sites in central Europe.
• Explicitly models and disentangles environmental filtering and biotic competition effects.
• Focuses on analytically interesting traits like those for growth, light capture, environmental requirements, and competitive ability.

Limitations

• Data is simulated from a model, not directly observed from real-world forest inventories.
• The specific number of simulated communities, rows, or trait measurements per site is unknown.
• Geographic coverage is limited to a central European gradient, limiting global generalizability.

Provenance

Source

Dryad

Collection Method

Generated via a process-based forest gap model simulation experiment.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2020-06-24

Geography

11 sites across central Europe