Hawaii Volcanoes National Park plant community and fire severity data, 2018-2020

This data release includes metadata and tabular data that document Acacia koa density, basal area, and grass cover before and after the 2018 Keauhou Ranch Fire in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Specifically, we asked three questions: 1) At what level of precision can pre-fire grass cover be accurately estimated from oblique aerial photos? 2) How are post-fire Acacia koa regeneration densities affected by fire severity? 3) How are post-fire A. koa regeneration densities affected by pre-fire grass cover and its interaction with fire severity? We collected burn severity and post-fire regeneration data from 30 transects stratified across mid-elevation woodland, montane woodland, and montane shrubland. We evaluated visual estimates of pre-fire grass cover from oblique aerial imagery with in situ data from 60 unburned transects of the same cover types.