The Sherman plot is located in the San Lorenzo National Park in 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 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 20 years old.

The Sherman plot has been censused 3 times: 1996, late 1997 to early 1998, and 1999. All free-standing woody plants with stem diameter 1 cm or above at breast height were tagged, measured, mapped, and identified to species.

Some references:

Condit, R., S. Aguilar, A. Hernández, R. Pérez, S. Lao, G. Angehr, S.P. Hubbell, and R.B. Foster. 2004. Tropical forest dynamics across a rainfall gradient and the impact of an El Niño dry season. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 20: 51-72.

Condit, R. 1998. Ecological implications of changes in drought patterns: shifts in forest composition in Panama. Climatic Change, 39: 413-427.

Pyke, C.R., R. Condit, S. Aguilar, and S. Loo de Lao. 2001. Floristic composition across a climatic gradient in a neotropical lowland forest. Journal of Vegetation Science, 12: 553-566.