A repository of individual tree measurements of volume, weight, and physical properties. As of April 2023 the collection included records from over 290,000 trees, most of which were felled, and measured for stem taper and volume. Weight measurements were compiled on over 23,000 of the trees subjected to destructive sampling. Biomass components included stem wood and bark, branches, and foliage, including 11,209 trees having direct estimates of aboveground biomass (AGB). Stem volumes are recorded for over 248,600 trees, 81% of which included stem taper measurements. Over 300 species are represented in the stem volume data, with ≥ 100 trees sampled on 114 of the species in the data set.
The collection spans over 100 years of fieldwork where detailed tree measurements were collected by private companies, government agencies – primarily the US Forest Service, and university researchers. Compiling these data from past studies depended largely on people and institutions who served for decades as stewards of the data and record-keepers. The information compiled here was often derived from larger collections of data and archival materials that in some cases included study plans, field notes, or other pertinent information. We preserved as much of this as was practical in supplementary files not archived here but available through a searchable, downloadable database online at https://www.legacytreedata.org.
Publisher
University Libraries, Virginia TechCorresponding Author Name
Philip RadtkeFiles/Folders in Dataset and Description
[BRANCH.csv]: Contents describe measurements from branches and crowns collected on from felled trees. See the Legacy Data Dictionary for variable definitions and units.
[CORE.csv]: Contents describe measurements from increment cores collected on standing or felled trees. See the Legacy Data Dictionary for variable definitions and units.
[DISK.csv]: Contents describe measurements from disks cut from felled tree stems. See the Legacy Data Dictionary for variable definitions and units.
[LOCATION.cvs]: Contents describe the location information for studies of legacy tree dat, including author, date, year, and spatial coordinates. See the Legacy Data Dictionary for variable definitions and units.
[SECTION.csv]: Contents describe measurements from stem sections cut from felled trees. See the Legacy Data Dictionary for variable definitions and units.
[STEM.csv]: Contents include measurements of tree stem profiles diameters and heights from standing and felled trees. See the Legacy Data Dictionary for variable definitions and units.
[TREE.csv]: Contents describe attributes of standing or felled trees in the legacy tree database. See the Legacy Data Dictionary for variable definitions and units.
[NSVB_LOCS.csv]: NSVB_LOCS table: Contents describe location attributes for standing or felled trees from the legacy tree database used in the development of National Scale Volume and Biomass (NSVB) equations. See the NSVB Data Dictionary for variable definitions and units.
[NSVB_STEM.csv]: Contents describe harmonized attributes of standing or felled trees from the legacy tree database used in the development of National Scale Volume and Biomass (NSVB) equations. See the NSVB Data Dictionary for variable definitions and units.
[NSVB_TREE.csv]: Contents describe harmonized attributes of standing or felled trees from the legacy tree database used in the development of National Scale Volume and Biomass (NSVB) equations. See the NSVB Data Dictionary for variable definitions and units.
[NSVB_STEM_UNITS.csv]: Measurement units used by the R computer script SI_UNITS.R to convert NSVB_STEM table data from US customary to SI units.
[NSVB_TREE_UNITS.csv]: NSVB_TREE_UNITS table: Measurement units used by the R computer script SI_UNITS.R to convert NSVB_TREE table data from US customary to SI units.
[Legacy_Data_Dictionary.pdf]: This document describes the database tables, variables names, and between-table linkages for entries in the legacy tree database.
[NSVB_Data_Dictionary.pdf]: This document describes the database tables, variables names, and between-table linkages for entries in the legacy tree database used in the development of National Scale Volume and Biomass (NSVB) equations.
[SI_UNITS.R]: This computer script, written in the R language for statistical computing, converts data in files NSVB_TREE.csv and NSVB_STEM.csv from US customary to SI units.
[README.RTF]: Rich text file description of the files contained in this archive.