Realm: Terrestrial
Climate: Tropical
Biome: Deserts and xeric shrublands
Central latitude: 34.314587
Central longitude: -106.831521
Duration: 15 years, from 1995 to 2009

19335 records

105 distinct species

Across the time series Bouteloua eriopoda is the most frequently occurring species

Methods

Experimental Design - There are 2 study sites, the Five Points grassland site, and the Rio Salado creosotebush site. Each study site is 1 km by 0.5 km in area. Three rodent trapping webs and four replicate experimental blocks of plots are randomly located at each study site to measure vegetation responses to the exclusion of small mammals. Each block of plots is 96 meters on each side. Each block of plots consists of 4 experimental study plots, each occupying 1/4 of each block. The blocks of study plots are all oriented on a site in a X/Y coordinate system, with the top to the north. Each block contained one unfenced control block. The three treatments were randomly assigned to each of the four possible plots in each block independently, and their arrangements differ from block to block. Each of the three plots in a replicate block are separated by 20 meters. Each experimental measurement plot measures 36 meters by 36 meters. A permanent one-meter by one-meter vegetation measurement quadrat is located at each of the 36 points. A 3-meter wide buffer area is situated between the grid of 36 points and the perimeter of each plot. Vegetation Quadrat Measurements The foliage canopy area and maximum height of each plant species is measured from each quadrat. All cover values are measured from the vegetation measurement frame, which is 1 meter by 1 meter, and partitioned into a grid of 100, 10 cm by 10 cm squares. Cover is measured by counting the number of 10cm squares that are occupied by the foliage canopy of a particular plant species, or by the soil disturbance, leaf litter etc. Portions down to the 0.1 of a 10cm square are also measured. NOTE: AS OF 2006, ALL PLANT CODES WERE UPDATED TO REFLECT THE USDA PLANTS DATABASE, prior to this plant taxonomic classification followed that of Allred (1996). For dead plant foliage (plant is dead,but still attached to the soil), just cover and not height was recorded. Original Quality Control - All data were filtered to identify any duplicates or mistakes in the original excel files. A perl script was then used to verify the consistiency of the parameters.

Citation(s)

@Misc{BioTIME_cit205, Study_id = {340}, Citation_id = {205}, Author = {Lightfoot, D}, Institution = {Sevilleta LTER}, Publisher = {Environmental Data Initiative}, Title = {Small Mammal Exclosure Study (SMES) Vegetation Data from the Chihuahuan Desert Grassland and Shrubland at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico (2006-2009)}, Year = {2011}, Doi = {https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/d80d5e2196cd11ef79df23ebe5a77c19}, Url = {https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/mapbrowse?packageid=knb-lter-sev.97.182096}, Urldate = {2016-01-01} }