Database Report

ForestPlots.net -- managing permanent plot information across the tropics

Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez, Simon L. Lewis, Mark Burkitt & Oliver L. Phillips

GIVD Database ID: 00-00-001	Last update: 2024-02-01
ForestPlots.net	Web address: http://www.forestplots.net
Database manager(s): Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez (geoglg[at]leeds.ac.uk); Simon L. Lewis (s.l.lewis@leeds.ac.uk)
Owner: Information about the PI and data owners of each individual plot is available upon registration to ForestPlots.net.
Scope: The database is a web-accessible secure repository for forest plot inventories, collected mainly as part of the RAINFOR, AfriTRON and TROBIT networks. The database includes: •Plot geographical information. •Location, taxonomic information and diameter measurements of trees inside each plot. •Participants in plot establishment and re-measurement, including principal investigators, field assistants, students.
Abstract: Compiling and analyzing tropical forests plot data has provided key insights into the population and carbon dynamics of tropical forests. ForestPlots.net is a web application developed to provide a secure online environment for long-term forest plot data for researchers worldwide working within international networks such as RAINFOR, AFRITRON, and TROBIT, allowing scientists to manage, analyse, and compare their data to other sites. The underlying database in ForestPlots.net is a relational database which utilizes more than 50 tables to store plot location, individual tree taxonomic information and repeated diameter measurements. Currently the database holds information on more than 600 plots from 27 countries with approximately half a million tropical trees tagged, measured, and monitored through time. The web application allows users, depending on their permission level, to view, edit, upload and download data of the plots they have access to. A novel feature of the database is the query library which produces outputs for the selected plots on biomass, basal area, wood productivity and stem dynamics.
Availability: according to a specific agreement	Online upload: yes	Online search: yes
Database format(s): other, SQL Server 2008	Export format(s): MySQL, Excel, CSV file, Excel default export
Plot type(s): normal plots, nested plots, time series	Plot-size range (m²): 800 to 20000
Non-overlapping plots: 800	Estimate of existing plots: 800	Completeness: 100%	Status: ongoing capture
Total no. of plot observations: 2653	Number of sources (biblioreferences, data collectors): 13	Valid taxa: 7377
Countries (%): AU: 8.57; BO: 4; BR: 11.10; BN: 0.38; BF: 0.15; CM: 3.47; CF: 0.19; CO: 1.25; CG: 2.38; CD: 2.45; EC: 2.23; GQ: 0.11; GF: 3.44; GA: 6.50; GH: 2.49; GY: 1.59; ID: 2.49; LR: 1.66; MY: 6.61; ML: 0.08; NG: 2.42; PE: 8.50; TZ: 0.53; UG: 0.30; VE: 27.11
Formations: Forest: 100% = Terrestrial: 100%
Guilds: only trees and shrubs: 100%
Plot size categories (%): 100-1000 m2: 3%; 1000-10000 m2: 30%; >= 10000 m2: 67%; unknowmn: 0%;
Environmental data (%): altitude: 80; slope aspect: 0; slope inclination: 0; microrelief: 0; surface cover other than plants (open soil, litter, bare rock etc.): 0; other soil attributes: 90
Performance measure(s): presence/absence only: 0%; cover: 0%; number of individuals: 100%; measurements like diameter or height of trees: 100%; biomass: 0%
Geographic localisation: GPS coordinates (precision 25 m or less): 80%; point coordinates less precise than GPS, up to 1 km: 100%; small grid (not coarser than 10 km): 20%; political units or only on a coarser scale ( above 10 km): 100%
Sampling periods: 1930-1939: 0.04%; 1940-1949: 0.04%; 1950-1959: 0.19%; 1960-1969: 5.55%; 1970-1979: 13.33%; 1980-1989: 19.60%; 1990-1999: 21.33%; 2000-2009: 39.16%; 2010-2019: 0.76%; unknown: 0%
Information as of 2026-05-27; further details and future updates available from http://www.givd.info/ID/00-00-001

Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez* (geoglg[at]leeds.ac.uk)
School of Geography, University of Leeds, UniversityRoad, LS2 9JT Leeds, UNITED KINGDOM
Simon L. Lewis (s.l.lewis@leeds.ac.uk)
School of Geography, University of Leeds, UniversityRoad, LS2 9JT Leeds, UNITED KINGDOM
Mark Burkitt (M.Burkitt@sheffield.ac.uk,)
Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, 211 Portobello, S1 4DP Sheffield, UNITED KINGDOM
Oliver L. Phillips (o.phillips@leeds.ac.uk)
School of Geography, University of Leeds, UniversityRoad, LS2 9JT Leeds, UNITED KINGDOM
* corresponding author