Nutrients and wood density in coarse root, trunk and branches in Bornean tree species

Carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg) concentrations in woody tissue and bark, and wood density, were quantified for ten common Bornean tree species. The study took advantage of the ongoing logging in August 2014, sampling trees felled in the logging sites (near D Matrix, exact locations of the sampled trees not recorded). Each tree species had three replicates. The diameter of the sampled trees ranged from 12 cm to 44 cm. Sampled trees had no visible damage (e.g. no insect damage, chlorotic leaves and bent stems). The species IDs of the sampled trees were confirmed at the herbarium of the Forest Research Centre in Sepilok, Sandakan.

Several points along the length of the tree were sampled: coarse root; trunk bottom, trunk middle and trunk top (highest point of the main stem); and the lowest branch of the tree, from branch bottom, branch middle and branch tip. The sampled components were cut directly after felling using a chainsaw. The samples were then transported to the chemistry laboratory of the Forest Research Centre in Sepilok, Sandakan.

Bark (both the outer bark and phloem) was separated from the wood, except for the trunk top and branch tip samples, where the bark layer was too thin. Wood samples were divided into sapwood and heartwood if possible, based on a distinguishable colour difference after mechanical sanding. Sapwood and heartwood for most branch and coarse root samples were not separated due to the absence of colour boundary, but they probably consists mostly of sapwood.

For chemical analyses, all samples were oven dried at 50°C to constant weight for five days and ground with a Thomas Wiley Mill to pass through a 100-mush (212-μm) sieve. Each sample was digested following the sulphuric acid-hydrogen peroxide-lithium sulphate digest procedure for vegetation described in Allen (1989). Phosphorus in the digest was determined using the molybdenum-blue method described in Anderson and Ingram (1993) and read at 880 nm on a spectrophotometer (HITACHI UV-VIS, Tokyo, Japan), while K, Ca and Mg contents were measured on an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (GBC Scientific Equipment, Victoria, Australia). Total C and N contents (as total element contents) were determined by a dry combustion method at 900°C using an Elementar Vario Max CN analyzer (Elementar Analysensysteme, Hanau, Germany). Analysis protocols are described in more detail in Majalap and Chu (1992).

Wood density was quantified for trunk bottom and trunk middle samples. A strip, running through the wood disk slightly off centre, proportionally covering both sapwood and heartwood, was cut, and three (minimum of two, maximum of five, depending on the lenght of the strip) cubes (tangent ~20 mm × axial ~20 mm × radial ~20 mm length, exact dimensions recorded) were cut for wood density measurements, following the procedure ISO 3131:1975 (E) Wood -- Determination of Density for Physical and Mechanical Tests. Wood density was defined as the oven-dry mass per unit volume of fresh wood cube. Dry mass was measured after oven drying the samples at 103±2°C until the dry mass was stabilised.

References:
Allen, S. E. (1989). Chemical analysis of ecological materials (2nd ed.). Oxford, England; Boston; Blackwell Scientific Publications.
Anderson, J. M., & Ingram, J. S. I. (1993). Tropical soil biology and fertility: a handbook of methods (2nd ed.). Wallingford, UK: C.A.B. International.
Majalap, N., & Chu, N. H. (1992). Laboratory Manual for Chemical Analysis. Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia: Forest Research Centre, Sabah Forestry Department.

Project: This dataset was collected as part of the following SAFE research project: Changing carbon dioxide and water budgets from deforestation and habitat modification

Funding: These data were collected as part of research funded by:

• Sime Darby Foundation (Grant, SAFE Core data)
• Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program (JJ/WBGSP) (Scholarship, JJ/WBGSP)
• European Research Council Advanced Investigator Grant, GEM-TRAIT (Grant, Grant number 321131)
• NERC Human-Modified Tropical Forests Programme: Biodiversity And Land-use Impacts on tropical ecosystem function (BALI) Project (Grant, NE/K016369/1)

This dataset is released under the CC-BY 4.0 licence, requiring that you cite the dataset in any outputs, but has the additional condition that you acknowledge the contribution of these funders in any outputs.

Permits: These data were collected under permit from the following authorities:

• Sabah Biodiversity Centre (SABC) (Research licence JKM/MBS.1000-2/2 (187))

XML metadata: GEMINI compliant metadata for this dataset is available here

Files: This consists of 1 file: Inagawa_TreeComponentData_Nutrients_WoodDensity_SAFEdatabase_2023-07-10.xlsx

Inagawa_TreeComponentData_Nutrients_WoodDensity_SAFEdatabase_2023-07-10.xlsx

This file contains dataset metadata and 3 data tables:

1. TreeInfo (described in worksheet TreeInfo)

   Description: Local name, confirmed species id, family, and diameter of the sampled trees

   Number of fields: 6

   Number of data rows: 30

   Fields:

   • TreeNumber: Running number of the sampled trees (Field type: id)
   • Species_LocalName: Local name of the sampled tree (Field type: comments)
   • Family: Family (Field type: comments)
   • Species: Tree species (Field type: taxa)
   • DBH: Diameter at the 1.3 m heigth (Field type: numeric trait)
   • SamplingLocation: Location within the SAFE landscape (Field type: location)

2. Nutrients (described in worksheet Nutrients)

   Description: Data on nutrients in bark and wood, along the length of the tree (coarse roots, along the trunk, branches) and radially (sapwood and heartwood).

   Number of fields: 11

   Number of data rows: 420

   Fields:

   • LabNumber: Code assigned to each sample at the receiving chemistry lab (Field type: id)
   • TreeNumber: Running number of the sampled trees (Field type: id)
   • SamplingPoint: Site of the sample, from the bottom to the top of the tree: coarse root (CR), trunk bottom (TB), trunk middle (TM), brach bottom (BB), branch middle (BM), branch top (BT), trunk top (TT) (Field type: categorical)
   • TissueType: Tissue type: bark, heartwood, sapwood, wood (if not possible to separate the sample into heart and sapwood), wood and bark (in case of branch tip and trunk tip, not possible to separate wood and bark). (Field type: categorical trait)
   • Species: Tree species (Field type: taxa)
   • K_total: Total potassium content (Field type: numeric trait)
   • Ca_total: Total calsium content (Field type: numeric trait)
   • Mg_total: Total magnesium content (Field type: numeric trait)
   • P_total: Total phosphorus content (Field type: numeric trait)
   • N_total: Total nitrogen content (Field type: numeric trait)
   • C_total: Total carbon content (Field type: numeric trait)

3. WoodDensity (described in worksheet WoodDensity)

   Description: Data on wood density at the bottom and at the middle of the trunk.

   Number of fields: 13

   Number of data rows: 207

   Fields:

   • TreeNumber: Running number of the sampled trees (Field type: id)
   • Species: Tree species (Field type: taxa)
   • SamplingPoint: Site of the wood sample, either trunk bottom (TB) or trunk middle (TM). (Field type: categorical)
   • Replicate: Replicate wood cube sampled for each wood disk (Field type: replicate)
   • Length_Tangential_Fresh: Length of the wood cube edge in tangential direction, before drying (fresh). (Field type: numeric trait)
   • Length_Axial_Fresh: Length of the wood cube edge in axial direction, before drying (fresh). (Field type: numeric trait)
   • Length_Radia_Fresh: Length of the wood cube edge in radial direction, before drying (fresh). (Field type: numeric trait)
   • Mass_Fresh: Fresh mass of wood cube, before drying. (Field type: numeric trait)
   • Length_Tangential_Dry: Length of the wood cube edge in tangential direction, after oven drying. (Field type: numeric trait)
   • Length_Axial_Dry: Length of the wood cube edge in axial direction, after oven drying. (Field type: numeric trait)
   • Length_Radial_Dry: Length of the wood cube edge in radial direction, after oven drying. (Field type: numeric trait)
   • Mass_Dry: Dry mass of wood cube, after oven drying (Field type: numeric trait)
   • WoodDensity: Wood density, calculated as dry mass divided by fresh volume (Field type: numeric trait)

Date range: 2014-08-01 to 2015-11-30

Latitudinal extent: 4.1830 to 4.1830

Longitudinal extent: 114.0220 to 114.0220

Taxonomic coverage:
All taxon names are validated against the GBIF backbone taxonomy. If a dataset uses a synonym, the accepted usage is shown followed by the dataset usage in brackets. Taxa that cannot be validated, including new species and other unknown taxa, morphospecies, functional groups and taxonomic levels not used in the GBIF backbone are shown in square brackets.