Tree damage by Hurricane Hugo on the Luquillo Forest Dynamics Plot (LFDP), Puerto Rico

Hurricane Hugo struck the Caribbean national forest in September 1989. Files LFDP_HURRDAM.TXT and LFDP_HURRDAMa.TXT contain data on the damage to trees caused by the hurricane collected by Mr. R. DeLeon between August 1990 and September 1991. Mr. DeLeon walked throughout the plot to find stems >= 10 cm diameter that had apparently been damaged or killed by the hurricane in an effort to collect information before the damaged stems rotted. The information on these stems was later combined with the results of the first census to reconstruct the forest, as it would have appeared, at the time of Hurricane Hugo. This file contains the hurricane damage data collected for stems damaged by Hurricane Hugo combined with data for the stems recorded subsequently in the first complete LFDP census starting in 1990. Some stems that were measured in Census 1 survey 2 and survey 3 or Census 2 that were believed to have been missed in Census 1 survey 1, are also included (see census history above) and are assumed to have been undamaged by Hurricane Hugo. The structure of the data files is the same for both files LFDP_HURRDAM.TXT and LFDP_HURRDAMa.TXT but the diameter of the trees in LFDP_HURRDAMa.TXT have been calculated by extrapolating diameters backwards from subsequent measurements to the time of the Census 1 survey 1. Diameters in file LFDP_HURRDAMa.TXT can not be used for growth measurements. For our publications we treat files LFDP_HURRDAM.TXT and LFDP_HURRDAMa.TXT as one data set. The National Science Foundation requires that data from projects it funds are posted on the web two years after any data set has been organized and "cleaned". The data from each census of the LFDP will be updated at intervals as each survey of the LFDP shows errors in the previous data collection. After posting on the web, researchers who are not part of the project are then welcome to use the data. Given the enormous amount of time, effort and resources required to manage the LFDP, obtain these data, and ensure data accuracy, LFDP Principal Investigators request that researchers intending to use this data comply with the requests below. Through complying with these requests we can ensure that the data are interpreted correctly, analyses are not repeated unnecessarily, beneficial collaboration between users is promoted and the Principle Investigators investment in this project is protected. Submit to the LFDP PIs a short (1 page) description of how you intend to use the data; · Invite LFDP PIs to be co-authors on any publication that uses the data in a substantial way (some PIs may decline and other LFDP scientists may need to be included); If the LFDP PIs are not co-authors, send the PIs a draft of any paper using LFDP data, so that the PIs may comment upon it; In the methods section of any publication using LFDP data, describe that data as coming from the "Luquillo Forest Dynamics Plot, part of the Luquillo Experimental Forest Long-Term Ecological Research Program"; Acknowledge in any publication using LFDP data the "The Luquillo Experimental Forest Long-Term Ecological Research Program, supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the University of Puerto Rico, and the International Institute of Tropical Forestry"; · Supply the LFDP PIs with 10 reprints of any publication using LFDP data. · Accept that the LFDP PIs can not guarantee that the LFDP data you intend to use, has not already been submitted for publication or published