DOI: 10.5061/dryad.d51c5b0df
title: Data from: Latitudinal patterns and climatic drivers of Laurasian and Gondwanan angiosperm tree distributions in forests of the Americas

description: This dataset contains the species richness, and mean family age of
 Laurasian and Gondwanan tree lineages of 422 forest plots in the Americas.
 For these forest plots, the region of location, the source database,
 geographical coordinates, the principal components one (temperature axis)
 and two (precipitation axis) of contemporary climatic conditions, as well
 as historical temperature and precipitation changes since the Last Glacial
 Maximum, are also provided.
description: # Latitudinal patterns and climatic drivers of Laurasian and Gondwanan
 angiosperm tree distributions in forests of the Americas
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d51c5b0df](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d51c5b0df) ## Description of the data and file structure **Files and variables** **File: Data.Ecog-07687.xlsx** **Variables** * plot.name = the name of a plot. - species.richness_Laurasian.lineages = the number of species from Laurasian lineages in a plot. * species.richness_Gondwanan.lineages = the number of species from Gondwanan lineages in a plot. - mean.family.age_Laurasian.lineages(myr) = the mean family age (in million years) of Laurasian lineages in a plot. 'NA' indicates no tree species from Laurasian lineages was recorded in a plot, thus the value of mean family age can not be computed. * mean.family.age_Gondwanan.lineages(myr) = the mean family age (in million years) of Gondwanan lineages in a plot. 'NA' indicates no tree species from Gondwanan lineages was recorded in a plot, thus the value of mean family age can not be computed. - continent = the continent where a plot is located. * data.source = the source dataset from which the tree assemblage data of a plot was acquired. - longitude(°) = the longitude of a plot. * latitude(°) = the latitude of a plot. - climatic.PC1 = the principal component one of contemporary climatic conditions (Karger et al. 2017; [https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.122](https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.122)), is a proxy of termperature conditions. This variable is unitless. * climatic.PC2 = the principal component two of contemporary climatic conditions (Karger et al. 2017; [https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.122](https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.122)), is a proxy of precipitation conditions. This variable is unitless. - Tanom = the difference in mean annual temperature between the Last Glacial Maximum (21 Ka BP) and the current era (1900–1990 AD) (CHELSA-TraCE21k). The unit is degree Celsius, according to Karger et al. (2020) ([https://doi.org/10.16904/envidat.211](https://doi.org/10.16904/envidat.211)).  * Panom = the difference in annual precipitation between the Last Glacial Maximum (21 Ka BP) and the current era (1900–1990 AD) (CHELSA-TraCE21k). The unit is kg m-2 year-1, according to Karger et al. (2020) ([https://doi.org/10.16904/envidat.211](https://doi.org/10.16904/envidat.211)).  For more information please refer to the Materials and methods section of the paper ([http://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.07687](http://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.07687)). **Code/software** Microsoft excel can be used to view the file. **Access information** Data was derived from the following sources: (1) The SALVIAS vegetation inventory dataset (Enquist and Boyle 2012, DOI: 10.7809/b-e.00086) was downloaded using the ‘BIEN’ package (Maitner et al. 2018, DOI: 10.1111/2041-210X.12861) in R 4.3.1 ([www.r-project.org](http://www.r-project.org)). (2) Three datasets were obtained from the VegBank database ([http://vegbank.org/](http://vegbank.org/)) (Accession Codes: urn:lsid:cvs.bio.unc.edu:party:1037-{E40E7A24-9902-4608-B4AA-67A8FD3BA54D}, VB.pj.10191.VEGETATIONOFTHE, VB.Pj.2215.YOSEMITENATIONA; Date of download: Nov. 16, 2024), and were recorded conforming to the Carolina Vegetation Survey (CVS) Standards. (3) The Chile forest dataset (GIVD_ID: SA-CL-002) was extracted from the sPlotOpen database (Sabatini et al. 2021, DOI: 10.1111/geb.13346). (4) The Mexico forest dataset was extracted from Álvarez-Yépiz et al. (2008) (DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2008.04.049). (5) The North American boreal forest dataset was obtained from La Roi (1967) (DOI: 10.2307/1948439), La Roi and Stringer (1976) (DOI: 10.1139/b76-065), and Qian et al. (1998) (DOI: 10.1023/A:1009756318848).