SNF Boreal Forest Understory Cover by Species and Site

Sixty-three forest sites in the Superior National Forest were studied to measure ground coverage by understory plant species. The dataset contains percent ground coverage values for each plant species at each site, derived from measurements in five subplots per site. It was created by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center as part of the SNF study to link forest biophysical parameters with remote sensing observations.

Use Cases

• Modeling relationships between overstory tree species (aspen/spruce) and understory plant community composition using site and species columns.
• Validating remote sensing estimates of ground vegetation cover by providing in-situ percent coverage measurements for specific locations.
• Analyzing spatial variation in understory biodiversity across 63 distinct forest stands with uniform canopy composition.
• Studying the impact of forest stand characteristics like age and density on low-growing plant coverage.

Strengths

• Data collection used a structured methodology with five measurement plots per site to estimate spatial variation.
• Focuses on two dominant, ecologically important boreal tree species across 63 specific sites (32 aspen, 31 spruce).
• Provides species-level identification and percent coverage for plants under one meter in height.

Limitations

• Key structural details like specific column names, row count, and exact file size are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with one listing 1986-12-31 and another listing 2026-03-12.

Provenance

Source

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL_CLOUD).

Collection Method

Field measurements within defined subplots at uniform forest stands; percent ground coverage determined by species for plants under one meter.

Time Range

Study period not explicitly stated, but data is associated with the SNF (Superior National Forest) study.

Freshness

2026-03-12 21:32:11.322191

Geography

Superior National Forest, focusing on boreal forest sites dominated by quaking aspen or black spruce.