METHODS
To create this map, existing Soil Survey Geographic Database
(SSURGO) soil map units were sub-divided based on imagery (2016
Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quads, DOQQ), knowledge of ecological
site descriptions (ESDs) and state-and-transition models (STMs),
existing spatial data layers, georeferenced ground data and field
traverse data. Each child polygon was attributed with an
ecological site and state code. A more detailed description of the
state mapping process is described here:
https://jornada.nmsu.edu/esd/state-mapping (accessed 6 Jan 2023).
Soil map units were obtained from the Dona Ana County Area, New
Mexico (NM690) SSURGO Soil Survey:
https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/WebSoilSurvey.aspx
(accessed 6 Jan 2023).
The ecological site descriptions describing each ecological site,
and associated states, are found on the Ecosystem Dynamics
Interpretive Tool (EDIT): Ecological Site Descriptions for MLRA
042B (Southern Rio Grande Rift), LRU 42BB (Desert Shrub;
R042BB***NM), are found at:
https://edit.jornada.nmsu.edu/catalogs/esd/042B (accessed 6 Jan
2023).
Definitions of Major Land Resource Area (MLRA) and Land Resource
Unit (LRU; accessed 6 Jan 2023):
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/education-and-teaching-materials/defining-lrr-mlra-and-lru
https://web.nmsu.edu/~hbw3/what-is-a-land-resource-unit.html
Descriptions of Major Land Resource Areas of the United States,
and the MLRA Geographic Database, are available at:
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/data-and-reports/major-land-resource-area-mlra
(accessed 6 Jan 2023).
State Codes
State codes consist of two or three digits.
Two digit codes are as follows: 10 = exotic dominated 11 = Roads
12 = Tanks/Water hole 13 = Agricultural field.
Three digit codes are composed of the following: 1 = Grassland
(HCPC state) 2 = Altered grassland / Altered savanna 3 = Shrub or
Tree savanna (HCPC state) 4 = Shrub / Tree invaded grassland 5 =
Shrub / Tree dominated 6 = Shrubland / Woodland 7 = Bare Annuals 8
= Gallery forest (HCPC state) 9 = Exotic invaded.
Three-digit codes represent the vegetation states in order of
dominance. More than one code is used for a polygon where the
polygon contains more than one vegetation state, and the patches
are too small to delineate. The first code in the three-number
sequences best describes the dominant state of the polygon. The
second number represents the second-most common state. The last
number represents the least common state. A zero is used for the
second or third number when only one or two states are present.
State code example: 124 = reference grassland (1) is the dominant
state; secondary state is altered grassland (2) and the polygon
contains patches of shrub-invaded grassland (4).