Knowing the species composition of your plot can help you start answering research questions from wildlife habitat to woodlot value to carbon storage.

Follow these steps to create a pie chart that shows the species composition of your plot using one year of data.

  • Find your plot on the ALL PLOT DATA page
  • When you find your plot, select the year(s) of data you wish to download
  • Open your new file in Excel
  • Organize your data by species:
    • In the Excel menu, tap Sort & Filter > Filter
    • In the Species cell, tap the down arrow, and select Sort A to Z
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  • Get counts of each species:
    • Build a new table next to your dataset
    • List each species name in one column
    • Put the total number of each species in the column next to it
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  • Create your pie chart:
    • Highlight the table you just built in Step 6
    • In the Excel menu, tap Insert
    • In the Insert menu, tap the pie chart (2-D)
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Maine FIG data analysis

Taaah-daaah! You did it.

  • To simplify your pie chart to compare hardwood and softwood species:
    • Build another table underneath your species count table
    • List hardwood and softwood in one column
    • Put the total number of hardwoods in the column next to “hardwoods”
    • Put the total number of softwoods in the column next to “softwoods”
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