# Tree inventory data from permanent plots in French forest reserves

Eugénie Cateau, Nicolas Debaive, Nicolas Drapier, Flavien Chantreau, Olivier Gilg, Fabien Laroche, Xavier Morin, Valentin Demets, Raúl Pimenta, Lucie Thompson, et al.

► To cite this version:

Eugénie Cateau, Nicolas Debaive, Nicolas Drapier, Flavien Chantreau, Olivier Gilg, et al. Tree inventory data from permanent plots in French forest reserves. Ecology, In press, 10.1002/ecy.4324. hal-04618705

HAL Id: hal-04618705

https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04618705

Submitted on 20 Jun 2024

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Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
# Tree inventory data from permanent plots in French forest reserves

Eugénie Cateau, Nicolas Debaive, Nicolas Drapier, Flavien Chantreau, Olivier Gilg, Fabien Laroche, Xavier Morin, Valentin Demets, Raúl Pimenta, Lucie Thompson, et al.

► To cite this version:

Eugénie Cateau, Nicolas Debaive, Nicolas Drapier, Flavien Chantreau, Olivier Gilg, et al. Tree inventory data from permanent plots in French forest reserves. Ecology, 2024, 105 (7), pp.e4324. 10.1002/ecy.4324. hal-04618705

HAL Id: hal-04618705

https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04618705v1

Submitted on 20 Jun 2024

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access
archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci-
entific research documents, whether they are pub-
lished or not. The documents may come from
teaching and research institutions in France or
abroad, or from public or private research centers.

L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est
destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents
scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non,
émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de
recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires
publics ou privés.

<figure><img src="image_1.png" /></figure>

Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
# Tree inventory data from permanent plots in French forest reserves

Eugénie Cateau<fnref n="1" /> ID

Nicolas Debaive<fnref n="1" />

Nicolas Drapier<fnref n="2" />

Flavien Chantreau<fnref n="1" />

Olivier Gilg<fnref n="3" /> ID

Fabien Laroche<fnref n="4" />,<fnref n="5" />,<fnref n="6" /> ID

Xavier Morin<fnref n="7" />,<fnref n="8" /> ID

Valentin Demets<fnref n="9" />

Raúl Pimenta<fnref n="10" />

Lucie Thompson<fnref n="11" /> ID

Yuan Paillet<fnref n="11" /> ID

## Correspondence

Eugénie Cateau
Email: eugenie.cateau@rnfrance.org

## Funding information

DREAL Grand-Est; Conseil départemental des Yvelines; Electricité de France; Ministère de l'Agriculture et de la Souveraineté Alimentaire; Fondation humus; Agence de l'eau Rhin-Meuse; Office Français de la Biodiversité; Ministère de la Transition écologique et de la Cohésion des Territoires

Handling Editor: Simona Picardi

## Abstract

We present a data set resulting from the first round of a national monitoring program of forest reserves. It contains 9538 permanent plots, distributed across 111 study sites in mainland France (including Corsica). Notably focusing on dead wood measurement, this protocol has primarily been applied in strict forest reserves and special nature reserves (sensu Bollmann & Braunisch 2013), with 68% (6494) of the plots being currently located in strict forest reserves (unmanaged) and 24.7% (2363 plots) in forests unmanaged for at least 50 years. Sites cover a large variety of ecological conditions, from lowland to subalpine forests, but with an underrepresentation of Mediterranean forests (Table 1). The protocol assesses all the stages of a tree's life cycle, from seedling to decomposed lying dead wood. On each plot, a combination of three sampling techniques was used: (1) fixed-area inventory for regeneration, standing dead trees, living trees, and coarse woody debris (CWD) with diameter over 30 cm; (2) transect lines for CWD with diameter <30 cm; and (3) fixed-angle plot method for living trees with diameter at breast height (DBH) >30 cm (using a relascopic angle of 3%). Measurements include exact tree location (azimuth, distance), species, diameter(s), tree-related micro-habitats, decay stage and bark cover, and seedling cover. With ongoing climate change, the program network can also provide important information to monitor changes in forest ecosystems. It can also be used as forest management monitoring or conservation status assessment. These data are freely available for noncommercial scientific use (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 CC BY SA 4.0) with attribution, and this paper must be cited if this material is reused.

## KEYWORDS

biodiversity, deadwood, dendrometry, forest reserves, France, nature reserve, old-growth forests, permanent plots, tree diameter, tree recruitment, tree spatial coordinates

<footnote n="1">¹Réserves Naturelles de France, Dijon, France</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²Office National des Forêts, Nancy, France</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³Université de Bourgogne Franche Comté, UMR 6249 Chrono-environnement, Besançon, France</footnote>

<footnote n="4">⁴UMR 1201 Dynafo, University of Toulouse, INRAE INPT EI PURPAN, Castanet-Tolosan, France</footnote>

<footnote n="5">⁵INRAE, UR EFNO, Nogent-sur-Vernisson, France</footnote>

<footnote n="6">⁶Forest Ecosystems' Research Unit (EFNO), French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Nogent-sur-Vernisson, France</footnote>

<footnote n="7">⁷CEFE, CNRS, Univ., Montpellier, France</footnote>

<footnote n="8">⁸EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France</footnote>

<footnote n="9">⁹Forestallia, Besançon, France</footnote>

<footnote n="10">¹⁰Federation Des Reserves Naturelles Catalanes, Prades, France</footnote>

<footnote n="11">¹¹Univ. Grenoble Alpes, INRAE, Lessem, Saint Martin d'Hères cedex, France</footnote>
# Tree inventory data from permanent plots in French forest reserves

Eugénie Cateau<fnref n="1" /> ID

Nicolas Debaive<fnref n="1" />

Nicolas Drapier<fnref n="2" />

Flavien Chantreau<fnref n="1" />

Olivier Gilg<fnref n="3" /> ID

Fabien Laroche<fnref n="4" />,<fnref n="5" />,<fnref n="6" /> ID

Xavier Morin<fnref n="7" />,<fnref n="8" /> ID

Valentin Demets<fnref n="9" />

Raúl Pimenta<fnref n="10" />

Lucie Thompson<fnref n="11" /> ID

Yuan Paillet<fnref n="11" /> ID

## Correspondence

Eugénie Cateau
Email: eugenie.cateau@rnfrance.org

## Funding information

DREAL Grand-Est; Conseil départemental des Yvelines; Electricité de France; Ministère de l'Agriculture et de la Souveraineté Alimentaire; Fondation humus; Agence de l'eau Rhin-Meuse; Office Français de la Biodiversité; Ministère de la Transition écologique et de la Cohésion des Territoires

Handling Editor: Simona Picardi

## Abstract

We present a data set resulting from the first round of a national monitoring program of forest reserves. It contains 9538 permanent plots, distributed across 111 study sites in mainland France (including Corsica). Notably focusing on dead wood measurement, this protocol has primarily been applied in strict forest reserves and special nature reserves (sensu Bollmann & Braunisch 2013), with 68% (6494) of the plots being currently located in strict forest reserves (unmanaged) and 24.7% (2363 plots) in forests unmanaged for at least 50 years. Sites cover a large variety of ecological conditions, from lowland to subalpine forests, but with an underrepresentation of Mediterranean forests (Table 1). The protocol assesses all the stages of a tree's life cycle, from seedling to decomposed lying dead wood. On each plot, a combination of three sampling techniques was used: (1) fixed-area inventory for regeneration, standing dead trees, living trees, and coarse woody debris (CWD) with diameter over 30 cm; (2) transect lines for CWD with diameter <30 cm; and (3) fixed-angle plot method for living trees with diameter at breast height (DBH) >30 cm (using a relascopic angle of 3%). Measurements include exact tree location (azimuth, distance), species, diameter(s), tree-related micro-habitats, decay stage and bark cover, and seedling cover. With ongoing climate change, the program network can also provide important information to monitor changes in forest ecosystems. It can also be used as forest management monitoring or conservation status assessment. These data are freely available for noncommercial scientific use (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 CC BY SA 4.0) with attribution, and this paper must be cited if this material is reused.

## KEYWORDS

biodiversity, deadwood, dendrometry, forest reserves, France, nature reserve, old-growth forests, permanent plots, tree diameter, tree recruitment, tree spatial coordinates

<footnote n="1">¹Réserves Naturelles de France, Dijon, France</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²Office National des Forêts, Nancy, France</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³Université de Bourgogne Franche Comté, UMR 6249 Chrono-environnement, Besançon, France</footnote>

<footnote n="4">⁴UMR 1201 Dynafo, University of Toulouse, INRAE INPT EI PURPAN, Castanet-Tolosan, France</footnote>

<footnote n="5">⁵INRAE, UR EFNO, Nogent-sur-Vernisson, France</footnote>

<footnote n="6">⁶Forest Ecosystems' Research Unit (EFNO), French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Nogent-sur-Vernisson, France</footnote>

<footnote n="7">⁷CEFE, CNRS, Univ., Montpellier, France</footnote>

<footnote n="8">⁸EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France</footnote>

<footnote n="9">⁹Forestallia, Besançon, France</footnote>

<footnote n="10">¹⁰Federation Des Reserves Naturelles Catalanes, Prades, France</footnote>

<footnote n="11">¹¹Univ. Grenoble Alpes, INRAE, Lessem, Saint Martin d'Hères cedex, France</footnote>
**CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT**

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

**DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT**

Data are available on Zenodo at https://zenodo.org/doi/
10.5281/zenodo.11064978.

**ORCID**

Eugénie Cateau https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4385-4378

Olivier Gilg https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9083-4492

Fabien Laroche https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6927-2448

Xavier Morin https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1961-8700

Lucie Thompson https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7526-6231

Yoen Paillet https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7232-7844

**SUPPORTING INFORMATION**

Additional supporting information can be found online
in the Supporting Information section at the end of this
article.

**How to cite this article:** Cateau, Eugénie,
Nicolas Debaive, Nicolas Drapier,
Flavien Chantreau, Olivier Gilg, Fabien Laroche,
Xavier Morin, et al. 2024. “Tree Inventory Data
from Permanent Plots in French Forest Reserves.”
*Ecology* e4324. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4324
**CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT**

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

**DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT**

Data are available on Zenodo at https://zenodo.org/doi/
10.5281/zenodo.11064978.

**ORCID**

Eugénie Cateau https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4385-4378

Olivier Gilg https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9083-4492

Fabien Laroche https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6927-2448

Xavier Morin https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1961-8700

Lucie Thompson https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7526-6231

Yoen Paillet https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7232-7844

**SUPPORTING INFORMATION**

Additional supporting information can be found online
in the Supporting Information section at the end of this
article.

**How to cite this article:** Cateau, Eugénie,
Nicolas Debaive, Nicolas Drapier,
Flavien Chantreau, Olivier Gilg, Fabien Laroche,
Xavier Morin, et al. 2024. “Tree Inventory Data
from Permanent Plots in French Forest Reserves.”
*Ecology* e4324. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4324