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Understanding the interaction between land ownership, climate conditions, and harvesting strategies is essential for promoting long-term tree species diversity and ensuring sustainable forest ecosystems. This study uses forest inventory, climate, soil and socio-economic data to examine how land ownership types, climate gradients, and soil characteristics influence tree species diversity in Maine, USA. Our results suggest that southern Maine, characterized by milder climate conditions, supports greater tree species diversity compared to colder, boreal-dominated northern regions. Family forest owners, predominantly situated in southern Maine, consistently exhibited the highest diversity, reflecting less intensive management practices. Conversely, industrial and institutional forests concentrated in northern Maine demonstrated lower species diversity, likely driven by uniform, economically driven management practices. Incorporating soil attributes significantly improved the explanatory power of our diversity models. Harvesting activities showed varied impacts on biodiversity. Harvesting effects varied among ownership types: while overall biodiversity changes were minor post-harvest, industrial forests in northern Maine experienced a sustained 7 % decline in species diversity approximately ten years after harvesting, suggesting the need for continued long-term monitoring. Consequently, it is essential to develop management strategies at both the stand- and landscape-levels that effectively balance economic objectives while mitigating long-term biodiversity losses. 

This is an updated version of the original TREEMAP 2016 raster and the associated files for CONUS. Additions to the TREEMAP 2016 raster attribute table are the SDI, SDImax and RD estimates. 

Abstract BackgroundTimber harvesting and industrial wood processing laterally transfer the carbon stored in forest sectors to wood products creating a wood products carbon pool. The carbon stored in wood products is allocated to end-use wood products (e.g., paper, furniture), landfill, and charcoal. Wood products can store substantial amounts of carbon and contribute to the mitigation of greenhouse effects. Therefore, accurate accounts for the size of wood products carbon pools for different regions are essential to estimating the land-atmosphere carbon exchange by using the bottom-up approach of carbon stock change. ResultsTo quantify the carbon stored in wood products, we developed a state-of-the-art estimator (Wood Products Carbon Storage Estimator, WPsCS Estimator) that includes the wood products disposal, recycling, and waste wood decomposition processes. The wood products carbon pool in this estimator has three subpools: (1) end-use wood products, (2) landfill, and (3) charcoal carbon. In addition, it has a user-friendly interface, which can be used to easily parameterize and calibrate an estimation. To evaluate its performance, we applied this estimator to account for the carbon stored in wood products made from the timber harvested in Maine, USA, and the carbon storage of wood products consumed in the United States. ConclusionThe WPsCS Estimator can efficiently and easily quantify the carbon stored in harvested wood products for a given region over a specific period, which was demonstrated with two illustrative examples. In addition, WPsCS Estimator has a user-friendly interface, and all parameters can be easily modified.