VegBranch Loading Tables Overview -- Strata Cover Data (D2)
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Party Information | Species List | Plot Data | Plot Normalized | Presence Data | Strata Cover Data | Stem Data | Stem Classes | Soil Data | Disturbance Data | Community Concept | Plot Communities | User Defined Metadata
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| Summary: | This is one of two tables for entering information about taxa occurring on each plot. Data may also be entered to Presence Data Loading Table, or to both tables (export users). This table stores information such as cover, biomass, basal area (optionally in a particular stratum) about taxa on each plot. |
| Description: | Each taxon observed on a plot is listed once per stratum observed in this loading table, along with its cover (or coverCode) for the that stratum. Cover may also be listed for the entire taxon by leaving the stratum value blank. Each plot is linked to Plot Data by authorPlotCode. Each plant has a plantCode here, which may either link directly to a plant in the vegbank_module or to a plantCode in the Species List Loading Table. If you list your strata in many columns, you may prefer to use the loading table: Presence Data. |
| Required in VegBranch: | At least one of the following is required: Cover Data, Stratum Cover Data, Stem Data. These are the three different options for referencing the plant taxa on your plot. |
| Represents VegBank Tables: | taxonObservation, taxonImportance |
| VegBranch can generate for you: | VegBranch can generate this table from the Presence Data table. Only cover will be considered for strata, though. |
| Questions: | What importance value does each taxon on each plot (perhaps for only one stratum) have (i.e. cover, biomass, basal area)? What degree of certainty do you have in ID of taxa? |
| Expertise Level: | basic |
Fields (Columns) in this table:
| » Required fields; you should always fill in values for these: | ||
| AuthorPlotCode Text (100) |
Author's Plot number/code, or the original plot number if taken from literature. This "points" to the right plot in the Plot Data Loading Table. | |
| PLANTCode Text (255) |
A code that refers to a plant concept. This code may be found in the Species List loading table. It may also link directly to a name in the vegbank module. For this reason, a species list loading table is not necessary, if your plants can be found in the vegbank module. Rules for how plant codes are looked up in the vegbank module may be found in the Translate Data Form, on the step where VegBranch matches your plants to VegBank plants. | |
| » Best Practice fields: | ||
| StratumIndex Text (50) |
OPTIONAL. References a StratumIndex (1-9) in Plot Data (or Normalized Plot Data) for this plot to link this stratum to the stratum definitions in that table. If you leave this field blank, the record applies to the whole plot (i.e. cover for the entire taxon), not just to one stratum. | |
| coverCode Text (10) |
Cover of taxon (for a stratum or whole taxon), using a Cover Code from CoverIndex table for the cover method used on this plot (as defined in Metadata form or in Plot Data). | |
| cover Double |
Percent cover of taxon (for a stratum or whole taxon). | |
| » Sometimes used fields: | ||
| basalArea Double |
Total basal area of the species in the stemInferenceArea in m2/ha (for a stratum or whole taxon). | |
| biomass Double |
The biomass of the species in g/m2 (potentially limitied to one stratum if stratum_ID has a value). | |
| inferenceArea Double |
This is the area in m2 used to infer the cover of a given taxon (in stratum). Generally this should be equal to observation.taxonInferenceArea, but at times this area may be larger or smaller for a specific taxon. | |
| overrideFit text (50) |
Indicates the degree of fit with the plant concept being assigned. Overrides any fit assigned as a default in Species List. | |
| overrideConfidence text (50) |
Indicates the degree of confidence of the interpretor(s) in the interpretation made. Overrides any confidence assigned in Species List. | |
| » Internal VegBranch fields, please do not edit directly: | ||
| StratumCover_ID AutoNumber |
Database generated identifier assigned to each unique taxon-stratum observation. | |
Examples of this data table:
Simple example showing strata, plots, and cover %:
| AuthorPlotCode | PLANTCode | StratumIndex | Cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| plt1 | ACRU | herb | 12 |
| plt1 | QUAL | tree | 45 |
| plt1 | POTECS | herb | 8 |
| plt2 | CAREX | herb | 10 |
| plt2 | CATO | tree | 63 |
| plt3 | Pinus pungens | tree | 75 |
| plt3 | Cornus florida | tree | 25 |
| plt3 | Cornus florida | herb | 13.5 |
Download this example as a .csv file