General study design
There are 15 net primary production (NPP) monitoring sites located
in 5 vegetation communities that represent the major vegetation
types of the Jornada Basin. These vegetation zones and their
associated NPP sites (3 per zone) are: 1) creosotebush scrub (CALI,
GRAV, SAND), 2) tarbush flats (EAST, TAYL, WEST), 3) grassland
(BASN, IBPE, SUMM), 4) mesquite dunes (NORT, RABB, WELL), and 5)
playa (COLL, SMAL, TOBO). Grids of permanent 1 square meter
replicate quadrats have been established at each site for long-term
monitoring of net primary production. Grids consist of 49 quadrats
arranged in a square 7 x 7 pattern, with quadrats 10 m apart.
(Exception: P-COLL, the College Ranch playa, has 48 quadrats
arranged in a 3 x 16 pattern). NPP observations began in April 1989.
This photograph collection begins in 1996. All photos are achived on
a server at NMSU campus and are available upon request
Ground-based photography methods
Summary - Photos were taken in 35mm slide film format from
1996-2007, and in 35mm digital format from 2003-present. Digital
filenames are fully descriptive of the study, plot, direction of
photo, and date.
From 1996-2002 photos were taken using 35mm color slide film,
initially Kodachrome 200 and later Ecktachrome Elite 100 when it
became difficult to get the Kodachrome film developed because of the
special processing required. Photos taken were with a wide angle
35mm lens.
Beginning in 2002, digital photos were taken using zoom equivalent
of 35mm lens. With the exception of a few years, one photo is taken
from each corner of each plot looking diagonally across the plot.
In 2007, 2008, and 2010, three photos were taken from each plot
corner; 1 photo looking down each of the 2 plot boundary lines and 1
photo looking diagonally across the plot. The photo filename
provides complete information about the photo. For those with
multiple photos from a plot corner, a "-L" in the filename
indicates it is of the Left boundary relative to the photographer
facing inward at the plot corner. A "-R" indicates it is
of the Right boundary. A "-D" indicates it is taken
looking diagonally across the plot toward the opposite corner.
QA/QC: None
Photo filename conventions
Example - C-CALI_NEtoSW-L_20101008_IMG_6160.jpg
General structure - 1-2222_333333-4_55556677_88888888.jpg
Where,
1=zone: identifies the dominant vegetation zone (5 total, 2 are
grassland, 3 are shrublands) [C=creosotebush; G=black grama
grassland; M=mesquite dune; P=playa grassland;T=tarbush]
2=site: The last 4 letters are the site designation code [BASN CALI
COLL EAST GRAV IBPE NORT RABB SAND SMAL SUMM TAYL TOBO WELL WEST]
3= general direction of view
4= direction of photo relative to plot from photographer’s
perspective
5-6-7 = month-day-year of phone
8 = time photo was taken (hours:minutes)
Occasionally, supplemental photos may be taken at the same time to
provide additional habitat information at the landscape, patch, or
plant species level. These filenames follow the same general format
as above but in place of photo direction, there is descriptive
information, such as a 4-letter species code with a floristic code.
