Utah

Preamble: Maintaining the Utah Forest Dynamics Plot (UFDP), a 15.3 ha forest plot in southern Utah, USA, requires an enormous annual field effort, an ongoing financial commitment, and the monetarily uncompensated time of the UFDP Principal Investigator (James A. Lutz). Therefore, we have established these terms of use for data access and collaboration. Prospective collaborators must agree to all of the terms of this data use agreement.

Data Request: Data requests for new analyses must include the names and organizational affiliations of all prospective collaborators, a specific summary of the work to be done (approximately 250 words) that includes an overview of the analytical methods, an estimated timeline, and a statement that all collaborators will abide by the terms of this agreement. Data requests to reproduce the results of any published manuscript should state that data will only be used for that verification. Undergraduate or graduate students should have their faculty adviser submit a data request on their behalf.

Limitation of Use: Collaborators may not use UFDP data for projects or analyses other than those specifically described in their data request. A new data request must be submitted (and approved) for any new use of the data. Collaborators acquire no rights to the data and are not permitted to sell or transfer the data or use the data in any way for commercial gain. Any commercial use requires a data use license (contact PI Lutz directly). UFDP data may not be uploaded to any other website, repository, or journal archive. Data are already archived at the Smithsonian. The data availability statement for publications is, “Tree data for the Utah Forest Dynamics Plot is available at the Smithsonian ForestGEO data portal, https://forestgeo.si.edu.”

Non-transferability: Collaborators are not permitted to share the UFDP data with any person or entity not mentioned in their data request.

Citations: Any publication that uses UFDP data must include the following two citations in the main text of the manuscript (citations in the Supplemental Information are not sufficient). Prospective data users should note that some journals have limitations as to the number of citations, but these two must be included even in that eventuality.

• Furniss, T.J., A.J. Larson, and J.A. Lutz. 2017. Reconciling niches and neutrality in a subalpine temperate forest. Ecosphere 8 (6): e01847.
• Lutz, J. A. 2015. The evolution of long-term data for forestry: large temperate research plots in an era of global change. Northwest Science 89(3): 255-269.

Within publications, the plot should be referred to as the “Utah Forest Dynamics Plot” and abbreviated as “UFDP”.

Authorship: The UFDP Principal Investigator conceptualized the research at the UFDP, selected the field location, designed the specific data collection protocols, acquired initial and ongoing data, and has worked since 2010 in understanding the plant species, environmental characteristics, and dynamics of the study site in order to make correct inferences about the ecological processes at the UFDP. These intellectual contributions exceed the guidelines for co-authorship of the journals Nature and Science, the USDA Forest Service, and the Ecological Society of America. Accordingly, collaborators will include the UFDP Principal Investigator as a co-author on all resulting publications and will extend to the UFDP Principal Investigator the opportunity to contribute to manuscript drafts. Collaborators will also assure that the UFDP Principal Investigator approves all journal submissions. Use of some ancillary data from the UFDP (e.g., genetic sequence data) may require the co-authorship of additional collaborators as appropriate acknowledgement of their contributions.

Derived Data and Code: Collaborators agree to share their derived data, additionally collected data, and code with the UFDP Principal Investigator (or publish it with their manuscript) and agree that these data will become part of the UFDP data archive and available for the UFDP Principal Investigator’s future use.

Field Access: Any visits to the Utah Forest Dynamics Plot and all field data collection must be approved by the Principal Investigator and covered by the research plans agreed between the Principal Investigator and the relevant land management agency each December (for the following year). The Principal Investigator cannot provide any field accommodations for visitors or field staff to assist with bespoke data collection without reimbursement of all expenses.

Acknowledgements: All publications that include the UFDP data must acknowledge the institutions and funding that have contributed to the research. The UFDP Principal Investigator will provide an updated acknowledgement statement at the time of manuscript submission.

The Utah Forest Dynamics Plot is a collaborative project of Utah State University and the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station. Funding has been provided by Utah State University, the Ecology Center at Utah State University, the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station (projects 1153, 1398, and 1423), and private donors. We thank Cedar Breaks National Monument for providing logistical support, and the students, volunteers and staff individually listed at http://ufdp.org for data collection. Research was performed under annual National Park Service research permits for study CEBR-00016.

Find the request form for Utah's tree data here.