Data on composition and structure of trees inside and outside of forests in Guanacaste, Costa Rica: comparisons among conservation areas, fencerows, and municipal parks
Data files
Sep 26, 2025 version files 319.10 KB
Abstract
Many studies of tropical forest ecology occur in protected areas such as national parks. We have a limited understanding of the composition and structure of trees in areas outside forests, such as urban areas or along roads. Here we report three datasets that are critical for understanding how tree communities differ in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Our data allow the user to contrast trees in three different land-use types that represent a rural to urban gradient: forests inside conservation areas (20 plots), fencerows (68 plots), and municipal parks (36 parks). We measured and identified trees >7cm diameter in addition to collecting ancillary data such as plot area (in hectares) and canopy cover (in percent). We also collated information for each identified species on functional characteristics including: status as native to Guanacaste, Costa Rica, leaf habit (evergreen, deciduous, or other) and whether the tree species produces fruit that are edible for humans. Collectively, these data allow the user to calculate stand-level properties such as basal area and percentage of the tree community that is evergreen.
Authors: Jennifer S. Powers, Finnegan K. Powers-Tiffin, Pooja Choksi, Forrest Flieschman, German Vargas, Justin Becknell,Catherine Hulshof, Michael J. O’Brien, Naomi Schwartz, Chris Smith-Martin, and David Medvigy
This README file describes the data files used in the paper. For any questions please contact Jennifer Powers (powers@umn.edu).
The following files are included:
Meta_data_for_trees_along_rural_urban_gradients_Guanacaste_Costa_Rica.csv
Variable names and column descriptions:
site_identification unique identifier for each site, denotes both the type of site and
site number
variable the variable whose value is displayed in value
value the corresponding value for the variable column
Species_traits_for_trees_along_rural_urban_gradients_Guanacaste_Costa_Rica.csv
Variable names and column descriptions:
species_code species identifier that is the first three letters of genus and species name
family species family
binomial_name genus and species
leaf_habit describes the leaf habits
deciduous denotes whether the tree is deciduous (yes) or no
native denotes whether the tree is native to Central America (yes) or no
edible_fruit denotes whether the tree contains edible fruit for people (yes) or no
region the tree's native region if not Central America
Tree_stem_data_for_trees_along_rural_urban_gradients_Guanacaste_Costa_Rica.csv
Variable names and column descriptions:
site_identification unique identifier that denotes both the type of site and site number
species species scientific name
diameter_cm diameter of stem in cm
multi-stem blank means it is not part of a multistem tree and a letter is a label
for which stem it is
part_of_fence denotes whether the tree is part of a fence or now
REC_NO unique stem identifier
species_code species identifier that is the first three letters of genus and species
name
land_use denotes fencerow, municipal park or national park
References: "Composition and structure of trees inside and outside of forests in Guanacaste, Costa Rica: comparisons among national parks, fencerows, and municipal parks". In preparation for submission to Biotropica.