San Lorenzo

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.