Permanent forest plot data from the National Park of American Samoa

Abstract

The National Park of American Samoa comprises units on three islands, Tutuila, Ta'u, and Ofu. The basis for this project began in December of 1990 with field work for a botanical inventory of the vegetation and flora of the proposed National Park unit on the island of Ta'u, the culmination of which was subsequently published. A second phase of the work began in 1992 with field work for a similar survey on the island of Tutuila, which was also published. However, these surveys did not establish any permanent plots that could be sampled at a later date to determine vegetational and successional changes and trends over time. Consequently, in 1993 a new project was carried out on Tutuila and Ta'u to establish permanent forest plots. The survey established three permanent plots on Ta'u and five on Tutuila in areas of secondary and primary forest.