In this dataset, we report germination and seedling growth of contrasting perennial grass (Bouteloua eriopoda, Sporobolus airoides, and Aristida purpurea) and shrub (Prosopis glandulosa, Atriplex canescens, and Larrea tridentata) functional groups grown on non-winnowed and winnowed soils collected from the Jornada Basin LTER Scrape Site at the Jornada Experimental Range (JER) in southern New Mexico, U.S.A. The soil physical and chemical properties of winnowed and non-winnowed soils were evaluated, and soil water retention curves were obtained for the two soil types. A controlled pot experiment was conducted under the well-watered greenhouse conditions at the University of Arizona campus, Tucson, AZ in 2018 and 2019 to test if topsoil "winnowing" by wind erosion would differentially affect grass and shrub seedling establishment to promote shrub recruitment over that of grass. Data include soil water retention curves, soil chemistry, nutrients, and texture, seedling germination, and seedling growth and biomass. This study is complete and the data are published in the article below.
Niu, F., Pierce, N. A., Archer, S. R., Okin, G. S. (2021). Germination and early establishment of dryland grasses and shrubs on intact and wind-eroded soils under greenhouse conditions. Plant and Soil, 1-16. DOI: 10.1007/s11104-021-05005-9