Environmental and plant community composition and functional trait data across peatlands of the Forest Dynamics Plot at Scotty Creek, NT.

This is the final dataset associated with the publication, “Permafrost condition determines plant community composition and community-level foliar functional traits in a boreal peatland”, submitted to Ecology and Evolution in April 2021. Included are three data files: the plant community composition dataset, the associated environmental variables dataset, and the plant functional trait dataset. Combined, the community composition and trait datasets were used to calculate the community-weighted means presented in the manuscript. These data explored how plant community composition and traits change across the Scotty Creek Forest Dynamics plot in response to environmental variation, including active layer thickness, organic layer thickness, and forest structure (i.e., canopy cover and tree basal area). To do this, we used a random stratified design to select ten 20 m by 20 m grid cells belonging to each of four aboveground tree biomass categories for a total of 40 grid cells across the Scotty Creek Forest Dynamics Plot. Within each grid cell, we randomly placed two 1 m by 1m quadrats to assess community composition of vascular plants via stem counts and measure canopy cover, active and organic layer thickness. These data were averaged to provide an estimate at the grid cell level. Basal area was calculated at the level of the grid cell. Plant functional traits were collected from 3 replicate individuals per species within 2-3 grid cells per aboveground tree biomass category. See Standen and Baltzer (2021) for more detailed methods.本数据集为2021年4月提交至《生态学与进化》（Ecology and Evolution）的论文《多年冻土条件决定北方泥炭地植物群落组成与群落水平叶功能性状》（Permafrost condition determines plant community composition and community-level foliar functional traits in a boreal peatland）对应的最终关联数据集。数据集包含三个数据文件：植物群落组成数据集、关联环境变量数据集以及植物功能性状数据集。群落组成与性状数据集经合并后，用于计算论文中呈现的群落加权均值（community-weighted means）。本数据集探究了斯科蒂溪森林动态样地（Scotty Creek Forest Dynamics Plot）内植物群落组成与性状如何响应环境变化而发生改变，涉及的环境变量包括活动层厚度、有机层厚度以及森林结构（即冠层盖度与树木胸高断面积）。为此，我们采用随机分层设计，从4类地上树木生物量类别中各选取10个20米×20米的网格单元，最终在斯科蒂溪森林动态样地内共计布设40个网格单元。在每个网格单元内，我们随机放置2个1米×1米的样方，通过茎秆计数评估维管植物的群落组成，并测定冠层盖度、活动层厚度与有机层厚度。上述数据经平均处理后，可得到网格单元水平的估算值。胸高断面积以网格单元为单位进行计算。植物功能性状的采集工作，是在每类地上树木生物量类别对应的2-3个网格单元内，针对每个物种选取3个重复个体完成的。详细实验方法可参见Standen与Baltzer（2021）的相关研究。