fortedata: An open-data package for the R programming Language

Overview

fortedata is an R package that provides functions for accessing and interpreting data associated with FoRTE: Forest Resilience Threshold Experiment--a modeling and manipulative field experiment that tests the effects of disturbance severity and disturbance type on carbon cycling dynamics in a temperate forest. Package data consists of measurements of carbon pools and fluxes and ancillary measurements to help users analyze and interpret carbon cycling over time.

Getting Started

We recommend that users begin with either package vignettes that provide detailed examples of package functions and potential use cases, or with package documentation.

Installation

Installing the latest development version of fortedata from GitHub (requires devtools):

if (!require("devtools")) {
  install.packages("devtools")
}
devtools::install_github("FoRTExperiment/fortedata", dependencies = TRUE, build_vignettes = FALSE)

fortedata 1.0.2 Updates and Future Data Availability

Updates

• fd_double_dendro and fd_dendro functions have been added that provide data from dendrometer bands

• fd_cwd function added that includes coarse woody debris data from a 2019 survey of FoRTE plots

• fd_ceptometer now includes 2020 PAR data with an additional correction for some data based on calibration with the UMBS AmeriFlux sensor (see function documentation and additionally an in preperation manuscript, a preprint of which to be added upon submission)

• fd_dendro has been added to the package and includes dendrometer data from 2019 and 2020.

• fd_leaf_spectrometry now includes 2018, 2019, and 2020 data, as well as corrected leaf_id and tree_id data columns. Additionally, the original filename has been retained in the data set as id (2020-12-14)

• fd_canopy_structure() now includes 2020 lidar-derived canopy structural trait data. (2020-12-09)

• fd_soil_respiration() now includes 2020 soil CO2 efflux, soil temperature, and soil water content data. (2020-12-09)

Future Data Availability

• 3-D lidar structural data has been held up further by COVID-19. Access to computing resources to process said data have been greatly encumbered. Not likely complete until Summer 2021.

• Processing of 2019 and 2020 photosynthesis data (see fd_photosynthesis() for 2018) is underway and will hopefully be done by the end of 2020.

• Additional future data to include are canopy dendroband data for 2019 and 2020, coarse woody debris surveys from 2019 and 2020, and small veg plot survey counts. Please email Jeff with any concerns or questions (jwatkins6vcu.edu)

The FoRTE Team

• Principal Investigators: Chris M. Gough and Ben Bond-Lamberty

• PNNL Science Team: Kalyn Dorheim, Stephanie Pennington

• Postdoctoral Researchers: Jeff W. Atkins, Alexey Shiklomanov

• Graduate Students: Maxim S. Grigri, Lisa T. Haber, Kayla Mathes, Cameron Clay

• Undergraduate Students: Alexandra Barry, Laura J. Hickey, Catherine McGuigan, Autym Shafer

• REU Students: Evan Paris, Carly Rodriguez

• Research Collaborators: Elizabeth Agee, Brandon Alveshare, Kyla M. Dahlin, Robert T. Fahey, Aaron G. Kamoske, Jason Tallant