Issues related to data preservation and sharing are receiving increased attention from scientific societies, funding agencies, and the broad scientific community. Ecologists, for example, are increasingly using data collected by other scientists to address questions at broader spatial, temporal, and thematic scales (e.g., global change, biodiversity, sustainability). No data set is perfect and self-explanatory. Ecologists must, therefore, rely upon a set of instructions or documentation to acquire a specific data set, determine its suitability for meeting specific research objectives, and accurately interpret results from subsequent processing, analysis, and modeling.''Metadata'' represent the set of instructions or documentation that describe the content, context, quality, structure, and accessibility of a data set. Although geospatial metadata standards have been developed and widely endorsed by the geographical science community, such standards do not yet exist for the ecological sciences. In this paper, we examine potential benefits and costs associated with developing and implementing metadata for nongeospatial ecological data. We present a set of generic metadata descriptors that could serve as the basis for a ''metadata standard'' for nongeospatial ecological data. Alternative strategies for metadata implementation that meet differing organizational or investigator-specific objectives are presented. Finally, we conclude with several recommendations related to future development and implementation of ecological metadata.

We tested the effect of defoliating and sap-sucking phytophages on young Douglas-fir at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in western Oregon. Experimental trees were subjected to manipulated abundances of a sap-sucking insect at 0-1 insect g-1 foliage or a defoliating insect at 0-0.06 g-1 foliage. Tree mass, throughfall, litterfall, litter decomposition, and N, K and Ca turnover were measured for each tree over a 3 year period.Herbivore abundance had no effect on calculated tree growth or nutrient content. These data suggest compensatory growth and replacement of lost nutrients. Herbivory also did not significantly affect decomposition rate for exogenous Douglas-fir needle litter.Throughfall volume, N, K and Ca content, and litterfall mass were positively related (P < 0.05) to defoliator abundance during the early growing season (April-June). At the highest defoliator abundance (causing about 20% foliage removal), turnover of N, K and Ca amounted to 15-25% of the total inputs to litter during this period. Throughfall Ca was significantly related to defoliator abundance for the entire growing season (April-September). Sap-sucker feeding significantly influenced K turnover during the growing season.The results of this study support results from an eastern deciduous forest. Our study relates nutrient turnover rates to herbivore abundances, a prerequisite for modeling phytophage effects on nutrient flows.

—This study was designed to characterize arboreal arthropod community structure in an early successional coniferous ecosystem. We sampled six-yeaT-old snowbrush (Ceanothus velutinus Dougl. ex Hook) and Douglasfir {Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) at the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest in western Oregon during 1982. The arthropod fauna was dominated in terms of densities by psyllids and aphids on snowbrush and by adelgids and cecidomyiids on Douglas-fir. Significant associations among taxa, e.g., positive correlation between aphids and ants, indicated trophic interactions or similar responses to host conditions. Significant seasonality was observed for individual taxa and for the community, reflecting the integration of individual life-history patterns. Significant spatial pattern (patchiness) in the arthropod community may reflect the influence of faunas on individual plants within neighborhoods and/or the influence of ant foraging patterns. Patterns in terrestrial arthropod community structure remain poorly understood, largely because of their taxonomic complexity. Most community-level studies have reduced this complexity to indices of diversity or have examined only subsets (guilds) of the community (Price 1984). Unfortunately, such restriction likely masks patterns that could be useful in identifying community responses to changes in environmental conditions (e.g., Lawton 1984, Thompson 1985). Changes in community structure may promote or limit pest population growth (Dixon 1985, Schowalter 1986, Strong et al. 1984, Tilman 1978) and may control temporal and spatial patterns in ecosystem nutrient cycling and succession (e.g., Mattson and Addy 1975, Schowalter 1985, Seastedt and Crossley 1984). At the same time, community structure reflects the integration of population responses to environmental conditions (Lawton 1983, 1984, Schowalter 1985, Schowalter and Crossley 1987, Strong et al. 1984). Our purpose in this study was to describe the pattern(s) of arboreal arthropod community structure in an early successional coniferous ecosystem in western Oregon. We tested the hypothesis that the integration ofpatterns at the species level results in distinct temporal and spatial patterns, rather than unintelligible overlap, at the community level (Lawton 1984, Thompson 1985). Multivariate statistical techniques were used to examine the effect of seasonality and spatial position of host plants on arthropod community patterns as well as on individual arthropod taxa. Materials and Methods The study was conducted during 1982 on Watershed (WS) 6 at the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Site in the western Cascades, 65 km east of Eugene, Oregon. The Andrews Forest is administered jointly by the Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, the Willamette National Forest, and Oregon State University. The climate of Andrews Forest is maritime with wet, relatively mild winters and dry, cool summers. Mean annual temperature is 8.5 C, and mean annual precipitation is 2,300 mm, with more than 75% falling as rain between October and March. The Andrews Forest is dominated by old-growth (>200-yr-old) Douglas-fir {Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirb.] Franco), western hemlock {Tsuga heterophylla [Raf.] Sarg.), and western redcedar {Thuja plicata Donn) (Crier and Logan 1977). WS 6 is a south-facing, 13-ha watershed at 1,000-1,100 m elevation, with an average slope of 35%. The watershed was clearcut in 1974, broadcast burned and planted to Douglas-fir at 3 X 3-m spacing in 1975. The sixyr-old vegetation in 1982 was dominated by 'Department of Entomology. Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331. Department of Forest Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331.

In the Oregon subalpine zone, extensive dieback occurs in relatively pure stands of 150 to 250-year-old mountain hemlock growing on very infertile soils. Tree death is caused by a root-rot fungus, Phellinus weirii . Young trees that become established following death of the original forest are apparently not reinfected by the pathogen until 80–140 years later. whereon mortality occurs again. We examined the effects.of this natural disturbance and subsequent regrowth on a number of ecosystem characteristics. Decomposition rates and nitrogen availability measured by in situ exchange resins increased in the zones of young regrowth, but dropped to values common for old growth as the forest aged and the canopy closed. Phosphorus and potassium accumulation on exchange resins showed trends opposite to nitrogen, and may have been associated with changes in biomass. Increased nitrogen concentrations and decreased lignin concentrations in fine roots in the zone of young regrowth suggested improved tree nutrition under conditions of higher N availability and lower leaf area index. Tree vigour, estimated as wood production per unit leaf area, also was significantly increased in the zones where young forests grew. Circumstantial evidence suggests that increases in nutrient availability and light following death of the mature forest improved photosynthesis leading to increased resistance of young trees against infection by the pathogen.

Foliar litterfall nutrient concentrations were analysed for selected members of Taxodiaceae and Cupressaceae families andPseudotsuga menziesii for two arboreta in western Oregon and Washington. Nutrient results between arboreta show similar concentrations with the exception of magnesium, which may be the result of historical land use. Nutrient concentrations between species vary considerably.Pseudotsuga menziesii is particularly distinctive from the Cupressaceae and Taxodiaceae by retaining large amounts of phosphorus and potassium. Taxodiaceae is distinctive by high concentration of Mg while Cupressaceae retains calcium, especiallyChamaecyparis nootkatensis. Results suggest that all members of Taxodiaceae and Cupressaceae retain considerably more Ca than Pinaceae in foliar litter.

he Forest Science Data Bank (FSDB). which serves the Department of Forest Science at Oregon State University, has evolved over more than a decade. Faculty and students have collected sizable amounts of data from silvicultural and genetics studies conducted throughout the Northwest. In addition, research at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, formerly supported by the U.S.–International Biome Program and currently a National Science Foundation Long-Term Ecological Research Site, has produced vast quantities of data. Before the data bank was established, however, most data sets had incomplete or nonexis-