Overcoming obstacles to sharing data on tree allometric equations

Advances in ecology face the complexity of ecosystems with dynamics longer than a single scientist’s career. In forestry and REDD+ practice, in particular, our ability to understand forest ecosystem dynamics and to manage them for mitigation and adaptation strongly relies on the combination of long-term research efforts and on data sharing. However, data collected by many measurement campaigns are regularly lost because of a lack of capacity to archive and maintain such information. Much progress would be achieved by encouraging researchers to provide access to primary data or publish “data-papers” (Chavan and Penev 2011; Cifuentes Jara et al. 2013; Fady et al. 2014).