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San Lorenzo

 

Overview

The San Lorenzo plot (formerly known as the Sherman plot) is located within the San Lorenzo National Park in a tropical moist forest on the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal. It sits on a hilltop south of the Chagres River and receives approximately 2700-3000 mm of annual rainfall. The plot also averages an annual cumulative moisture deficit of -491.6690 mm.

The plot is 5.96 ha. It is a 400 m x 100 m rectangle with a 140 m x 140 m square contiguous to the left side of the southernmost hectare. A canopy research crane belonging to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute is situated in the center of this 140 m x 140 m square. The northernmost hectare of this plot is in young forest approximately 30 years old.

The plot has been censused 5 times: 1996, late 1997 to early 1998, 1999, 2009, & 2016. All free-standing woody plants with stem diameter 1 cm or above at breast height were tagged, measured, mapped, and identified to species.

 

Established: 
1996
Joined Network: 
1996
Ecological Zone: 
Tropical rainforest
Number of Trees:
22,194
Number of species:
223
Size: 
6.00ha
Dimensions: 
400 x 100; 140 x 140
Latitude: 9.281500000000
Longitude: -79.974000000000
Number of Censuses: 
5

Principal Scientist