Forest Structure and Biomass Measurements from La Selva, Costa Rica

Field measurements of diameter, height, and crown dimensions for 1,513 trees across 30 plots at the La Selva Biological Station. The data includes plots in primary, selectively logged, secondary, and regenerating pasture forests, enabling calculation of aboveground biomass and vertical vegetation profiles. It comprises three comma-delimited files and two shapefiles containing both individual stem and plot-level summary data.

Use Cases

• Estimating aboveground biomass and carbon stocks based on tree diameter and height measurements.
• Modeling vertical canopy structure and vegetation volume using crown dimension data.
• Comparing forest structure metrics between primary, logged, secondary, and regenerating forest types.
• Validating remote sensing estimates of biomass and canopy height with ground-based plot data.

Strengths

• Contains detailed field measurements for a substantial sample of 1,513 individual trees.
• Covers multiple forest disturbance histories (14 primary, 6 logged, 7 secondary, 3 pasture plots), enabling comparative analysis.
• Includes derived data products such as calculated plot-level biomass and 1-meter increment vertical profiles.

Limitations

• Column names and specific variable definitions are not provided in the available metadata.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between sources (2006 vs. 2026), creating uncertainty about data currency.
• The license is ambiguously specified as 'other-license-specified' without clear terms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Field measurements collected at the La Selva Biological Station.

Time Range

2006

Freshness

Last updated dates conflict: one source indicates 2006-02-23, while another indicates 2026-04-10.

Geography

La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica