This data set contains seven ASCII data files (.txt format). Four files provide NPP data for contrasting lowland rainforests within Gunung Mulu National Park on the island of Borneo, Malaysia. Three files provide climate data from weather stations near Gunung Mulu.The study areas are located along an environmental gradient of varying soil types at elevations ranging from 50 to 300 m within the 544 km2 Park. The study sites are primary lowland evergreen rainforests, each about 1.0 hectare in size. They include: an alluvial forest (at 50 m elevation and often inundated during the wet season); a heath forest (on a sandy terrace at about 170 m elevation); a mixed dipterocarp forest (on ridge slopes at 200-250 m elevation); and a limestone forest (on shallow soils over limestone at the base of cliffs and ravines at 300 m elevation).The NPP files contain estimates of above-ground biomass, annual litterfall accumulation, standing litter crop, and nutrient content of different vegetation components and soils. The scientific expedition was carried out between June 1977 and September 1978. Estimates of litterfall, ranging from 886 g/m2/year to 1,203 g/m2/year, give a minimum estimate of above-ground production.The climate record for the study sites extends from 1915 through 1990. The area's climate is controlled largely by the Indo-Australian monsoon system with wet northeast monsoon from December to March and slightly drier southwest monsoon from May to October. Mean annual precipitation is around 3,000 mm and mean average temperature is about 27 C.

This data set contains four ASCII data files (.txt format), one providing net primary production (NPP) component data and three providing climate data. The NPP studies were conducted in a lowland tropical rainforest in the Pasoh Forest Reserve, Malaysia (2.98 N 102.31 E) from 1971 through 1973. Precipitation and temperature data are available from weather stations located about 25 km from the study sites.The main part of the 2,450 ha Pasoh Forest Reserve is covered by lowland dipterocarp forest, with a core area of about 600 ha of undisturbed forest surrounded by a buffer zone of regenerating logged lowland forest. Annual rainfall ranges from 1,728 to 3,112 mm (mean 2,054 mm), which is relatively low for Malaysia, but the fairly even distribution of rain throughout the year permits the development of a typical lowland rainforest.Annual average litterfall data (1,055 g/m2/year) are available for several sub-sites based on bi-weekly collections. An additional 300 g/m2/year of leaf production was estimated to have been consumed by insects, and large wood fall/mortality was estimated to be 370 g/m2/year. Annual tree biomass increment was determined to be 640 g/m2/year, and a further 60 g/m2/year was allowed for root increments and 400 g/m2/year for root turnover. Including additional corrections to account for wood decay before measurement, total NPP was estimated to be 2,780 g/m2/year.

This data set contains two ASCII files (.txt format), one providing net primary production (NPP) component data for a lower montane rainforest and the other providing climate data. The NPP studies were conducted at Marafunga (6.00 S 145.18 E) in the highlands of Papua New Guinea to the east of Mount Kerigomna, about 25 km west of the town of Goroka. LAI, litterfall, litter standing crop and decomposition, and nutrient content of different vegetation components were measured from November 1970 through December 1971 at four representative forest stands: Ridge Top; Ridge Gap; Valley; and Slope. Forest inventories and field measurements of above- and below-ground biomass were made by destructive harvest at a fifth stand (Ridge Top) during October-December 1970 and April-August 1971. The results of these studies are given for the forest at large. The only component of NPP determined at Marafunga was litterfall (755 g/m2/year).The climate data in this data set are available from a weather station at the Marafunga sawmill, about 2.5 km from the Marafunga study sites, and from a weather station in a clearing in the primary forest. A rainfall record for the period 1969-1971 was made daily at the sawmill. Records of maximum and minimum temperatures were made every two weeks for the period December 1970-August 1971 at litter level at the four nondestructive study sites.

This data set contains four ASCII data files (.txt format), one providing net primary production (NPP) component data and three providing climate data. The NPP studies were conducted in a lowland tropical rainforest in the Pasoh Forest Reserve, Malaysia (2.98 N 102.31 E) from 1971 through 1973. Precipitation and temperature data are available from weather stations located about 25 km from the study sites.

This NPP data set contains one ASCII file (.txt format). The data file contains above- and below-ground biomass, litterfall, LAI, vegetation/soil micro-nutrient content (P, K, Ca, Mg, etc.), and above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) estimates for transitional moist/dry tropical forests at Rio Lara (wet season site) and Rio Sabana (dry season site) in Darien Province, Panama. Field measurements were made in 1967 and 1968. No climate data are provided.Apart from litter quantity, most of the differences between these data reflect variations between the two plots sampled, rather than seasonal changes. Both plots were considered representative of the surrounding forest. The area was thought to have been forested for the previous 400 years, following abandonment of open savanna lands maintained by the Precolumbian Indians.Total annual leaf and branch fall averaged for the two sites was 1,137 g/m2/yr, representing a minimum ANPP estimate. Litter decomposition over the 9-month wet season was around 90%. LAI at both sites was high; however, the index for the dry site (10.6 m2/m2) was only half that of the wet season site (22.4 m2/m2).

This data set contains two NPP data files and one climate data file (ASCI .txt format). The NPP files contain data for above-ground biomass, litterfall, and nutrient content of above-ground vegetation, organic surface layer, and soils measured during an 18-month period in 1970 and 1971 at two contrasting tropical seasonal evergreen forests in Magdalena Valley, Colombia. The climate record provides mean monthly and annual precipitation (1951-1992) and mean monthly and annual average temperature (1970-1997) from Barranca Bermeja (7.00 N 73.80 W) near the Magdalena Valley sites.One forest stand sits atop a perched water table on a typical valley terrace. It is low in height, basal area (22 m2/ha), and above-ground biomass (18,109 g/m2), but rich in palms with a simple two-layered structure, frequent windthrows and mortality, and few older trees. The contrasting forest stand developed on a lower slope site under more advantageous soil and water conditions. Although number of stems/ha in this forest are smaller and palms less conspicuous, the slope forest shares dominant species of both forests but with taller trees and greater basal area (32 m2/ha) and above-ground biomass (32,581 g/m2). The above-ground biomass and the vegetative bioelement stores were estimated by harvesting sample trees and palms and allometric regressions.Above-ground net primary production (ANPP) is based on total litterfall accumulation, measured over a 12-15 month period (1,202 g/m2/yr for the terrace forest and 873 g/m2/yr for the slope forest), giving minimum estimates of NPP.

This data set contains three ASCII files (.txt format). One data file contains above-ground biomass, litter, litterfall, herbivory, biomass change, and above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) estimates for a late secondary moist subtropical forest based on measurements from 16 permanent study plots located along an elevational (60-290 m) and topological gradient within the 132-ha Cinnamon Bay watershed on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. The purpose of the study was to provide information on forest structure, species composition, and forest productivity along environmental gradients, including the effects of hurricanes and drought. The other two files provide climate records from nearby weather stations (1917-1981).Above-ground biomass was measured every 5 years (1983-2003). Litterfall accumulation was determined in 1992-1993. In 1983, total above-ground biomass on all plots combined averaged 13,870 g/m2; by 2003 during a post-hurricane recovery period, it had declined by nearly 7 percent. In 1983, biomass was greatest on the summit, intermediate on slopes and valleys, and least on ridges; by 2003, the quantities for all sites had converged except on the summit plot.In 1992, ANPP was estimated based on annual litterfall accumulation (897 g/m2/year) plus biomass change due to delayed mortality (142 g/m2/year) plus estimated herbivory (25 g/m2/year), giving a total ANPP of 1,064 g/m2/year. Periodic storms and drought appear to maintain the forest in a disturbed state.

This data set includes six ASCII files (.txt format). Five files contain productivity values for several types of tropical Amazon rainforest near Manaus, Brazil studied between 1963 and 1990, and one file contains monthly and annual climate data for the period 1910-1993.The Manaus NPP study sites occur along a hydrologic gradient and include several stands of terra firme (dry land) forest located in and adjacent to the Walter Egler Forest Reserve, a riverine forest in the Ducke Forest Reserve (intermittent wet and in small terra firme valleys), and a varzea forest subject to seasonal inundation adjacent to Rio Tiruma Mirim (a small tributary of the Rio Negro). Additional sites include a primary terra firme forest on a plateau in the Bacia Modelo Reserve and a mixed-species lowland terra firme forest at Highway 174 south of Fazendo Dimona.The net primary productivity (NPP) measurements for the Manaus sites are based on total annual litterfall, giving a minimum estimate of above-ground NPP ranging from 640 to 800 g/m2/year. These estimates are within the recorded values for litterfall in other tropical rainforests. The seasonality of leaf litterfall for several of the sites is also provided. Total above- and below-ground biomass and vegetation bioelement concentrations were also determined for one of the terra firme sites ("km64") from destructive sampling. Above-ground biomass and LAI estimates for the Highway 17 FD site are provided as well.

This NPP data set contains one ASCII file (.txt format). The data file contains above- and below-ground biomass, litterfall, LAI, vegetation/soil micro-nutrient content (P, K, Ca, Mg, etc.), and above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) estimates for transitional moist/dry tropical forests at Rio Lara (wet season site) and Rio Sabana (dry season site) in Darien Province, Panama. Field measurements were made in 1967 and 1968. No climate data are provided.Apart from litter quantity, most of the differences between these data reflect variations between the two plots sampled, rather than seasonal changes. Both plots were considered representative of the surrounding forest. The area was thought to have been forested for the previous 400 years, following abandonment of open savanna lands maintained by the Precolumbian Indians.Total annual leaf and branch fall averaged for the two sites was 1,137 g/m2/yr, representing a minimum ANPP estimate. Litter decomposition over the 9-month wet season was around 90%. LAI at both sites was high; however, the index for the dry site (10.6 m2/m2) was only half that of the wet season site (22.4 m2/m2).

This data set includes five ASCII files (.txt format). Three files contain above- and below-ground biomass and net primary productivity (NPP) data, one file for each tropical forest study site near San Carlos de Rio Negro, Venezuela. The study sites are located along an ecosystem gradient from riverine to lateritic hill: Tall Amazon Caatinga forest on coarse sandy spodosols close to river level; Bana vegetation on sandy soils less prone to flooding; and Tierra Firme mixed forest on clay oxisols of higher ground. Bioelement concentrations are also provided. The other two files contain climate data from a weather station in San Carlos village.ANPP for the Tierra Firme forest is estimated at 1,590 g/m2/year, including woody biomass increment of 600 g/m2/year, and BNPP values in the range of 201-1,117 g/m2/year, suggesting a minimum estimate of TNPP of 1,800-2,700 g/m2/year. ANPP of a nearby cut-and-burned oxisol plot attained 1,940 g/m2 in the fifth year following clearing. ANPP of Tall Amazon Caatinga is estimated at 1,150 g/m2/year, with root turnover of 120 g/m2/year, giving a minimum estimate of TNPP of 1,270 g/m2/year. TNPP estimate for Bana vegetation, based on annual litterfall accumulation plus root production, is 478 g/m2/year.