Far North Queensland Microclimate Data 

The far north Queensland microclimate (FNQ-microclim) is an ongoing long-term microclimate monitoring project from across five tropical rainforest sites (Daintree Rainforest SuperSite, Cape Tribulation; Daintree Rainforest SuperSite, Cow Bay; Rex Range; Mt. Lewis National Park; and Mt. Bellenden Ker), located within an elevation range of 40 - 1550 m a.s.l. Microclimate parameters include: a) air temperature (about 15 cm above ground), b) near surface temperature at the interface between soil and air (less than 1 cm above ground), c) top soil temperature (about 8 cm below ground), and d) top soil moisture (up to 10 cm below ground). Data are recorded every 15 minutes using the TMS-4 sensors (Temperature Moisture Sensor, T.M.O.S.T s.r.o, Prague, Czech Republic). 

We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

The Skyrail Rainforest Foundation (https://skyrailfoundation.org/funding/) and the Ian Potter Foundation (https://www.ianpotter.org.au/knowledge-centre/grants-database/?start=9530) provided funding for the authors.

This work was jointly funded by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), an Australian Government National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) project, and the Queensland Government Research Infrastructure Co-investment Fund (RICF). The Department of Environment and Science, Queensland National Parks is being acknowledged for granting permit to the lead author to conduct scientific research in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. 

The FNQ-microclim project explores microclimatic patterns across elevation gradients in the Australian Wet Tropics (AWT). The high resolution long-term climatic information captured in this dataset are representative of the microclimate experienced by in-situ seeds and seedlings growing on topsoil of tropical rainforest ecosystems. This is part of the author's PhD project which aims at understanding patterns of tree species distributions across elevation gradients in the AWT. The near-surface temperature and soil moisture data in this dataset will be combined with other environmental variables and leaf traits to assess species adaptation, seedling germination ecology, and tolerance to thermal stress which are currently understudied from this bioregion.

All FNQ-microclim data users must refer to the data use Rights and Licensing section and credit the use of the data in any publications. 

The data sets presented here were captured from the study sites covering a temporal range from 01/12/2019 to 30/09/2022. Detailed methodology of sensor deployment and data retrieval have been documented in the published paper in Austral Ecology (see https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13584)