SGS-LTER effects of grazing on ecosystem structure and function (GZTX): vegetation measurements on the Central Plains Experimental Range, Nunn, Colorado, USA 1992-2008, ARS study number 32
Files
SGS_LTER_GZTX_aboveground_BasalCover.txt (2.39 MB) GZTX Basal Cover SGS_LTER_GZTX_aboveground_Density.txt (698.72 KB) GZTX Density SGS_LTER_GZTX_aboveground_BasalCoverDensity_rev.zip (336.79 MB) GZTX Basal Cover and Density - dataset SGS_LTER_GZTX_aboveground_BiteCount.txt (189.96 KB) GZTX Bite Count SGS_LTER_GZTX_aboveground_BiteCount_rev.zip (46.12 MB) GZTX Bite Count - dataset
Date
1992-2008
Authors
Milchunas, Daniel G.
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Abstract
This data package was produced by researchers working on the Shortgrass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research (SGS-LTER) Project, administered at Colorado State University. Long-term datasets and background information (proposals, reports, photographs, etc.) on the SGS-LTER project are contained in a comprehensive project collection within the Repository (http://hdl.handle.net/10217/100254). The data table and associated metadata document, which is generated in Ecological Metadata Language, may be available through other repositories serving the ecological research community and represent components of the larger SGS-LTER project collection. When the CPER was established in 1939, researchers constructed a .5-1 ha grazing exclosure in each of the pastures. These areas have remained protected from grazing for the past 70 years. The remaining areas have been grazed for the past 20+ years. This collection of pastures and exclosures provided an extraordinary opportunity to reinitiate grazing and protection, and evaluate the balance between degradation and aggradation. We proposed to rearrange fences and expose areas to grazing that have been protected for 50 years, and protect areas from grazing that had been grazed for 50 years. The combinations of grazing conditions were: 1. Long-term protection; 2. Long-term grazing (moderate); 3. 50 years of protection followed by grazing; 4. 50 years of grazing followed by protection. Net primary production, nitrogen dynamics, cattle utilization, and community dynamics of vegetation, and components of the belowground food web were measured.
Description
Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL)
Shortgrass Steppe-Long Term Ecological Research (SGS-LTER)
Shortgrass Steppe-Long Term Ecological Research (SGS-LTER)
Rights Access
Subject
plant/animal interactions
disturbance
plants
populations
Citation
Associated Publications
Milchunas, Daniel G.; and Mark W. Vandever, Grazing Effects on Plant Community Succession of Early- and Mid-Seral Seeded Grassland Compared to Shortgrass Steppe. Journal of Vegetation 25, no. 1 (January 2014). http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12049