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Litterfall data from mesquite sites along the Jornada Basin LTER transect, 1985-1988

General Information
Data Package:
Local Identifier:knb-lter-jrn.210389002.3
Title:Litterfall data from mesquite sites along the Jornada Basin LTER transect, 1985-1988
Alternate Identifier:DOI PLACE HOLDER
Abstract:

This dataset contains measurements of litterfall from mesquite communities along the Jornada Basin LTER (LTER-I) transects in southern New Mexico, USA. These transects are located in a livestock exclosure established in 1982 in the Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center (CDRRC) and run from the middle of the College Playa up to the foot of Mt. Summerford (2.7 km in length). Prior to the exclosure, the study site was moderately to heavily grazed for the past 100 years. The treatment transect was treated annually with ammonium nitrate fertilizer (NH4NO3 at 10g N/m2/yr) until 1987. Mesquite litterfall was collected monthly from traps under ten shrubs in the mesquite fringe on the south side of College Playa. Oven-dry weights of leaves, stems, and seed fractions as well as total dry weight of monthly collections are recorded. This study is complete.

Short Name:TRANFALL
Publication Date:2022-02-02
Language:English
For more information:
Visit: https://jrn.lternet.edu
Visit: DOI PLACE HOLDER

Time Period
Begin:
1985-07-11
End:
1988-03-02

People and Organizations
Contact:Jornada Basin LTER Information Manager (Jornada Basin LTER) [  email ]
Creator:Whitford, Walter G (Jornada Basin LTER/New Mexico State University)
Associate:Anderson, John (Jornada Basin LTER/New Mexico State University, field data collection)

Data Entities
Data Table Name:
Mesquite litterfall data
Description:
Mesquite litterfall collection data from ten mesquite plants on the control and treatment LTER-I transects from 1985-1988
Other Name:
Mesquite litterfall history file
Description:
Historical notes for the LTER-I transect mesquite litterfall project
Other Name:
JRN DSD file (Dataset Documentation)
Description:
Early format Jornada metadata file for this dataset
Detailed Metadata

Data Entities

Data Table

Data:https://pasta-s.lternet.edu/package/data/eml/knb-lter-jrn/210389002/3/d50cb133dbbe7d38a7225b9c0051b0cd
Name:Mesquite litterfall data
Description:Mesquite litterfall collection data from ten mesquite plants on the control and treatment LTER-I transects from 1985-1988
Number of Records:640
Number of Columns:7

Table Structure
Object Name:JRN389002_mesquite_litter.csv
Size:19171 byte
Authentication:7ade361273b0d0cdfa626cf2c4b545c7 Calculated By MD5
Text Format:
Number of Header Lines:1
Number of Foot Lines:0
Record Delimiter:\n
Orientation:column
Simple Delimited:
Field Delimiter:,
Quote Character:"

Table Column Descriptions
 DateTransect IDTrap numberTotal litterLeaf litterStem litterSeed litter
Column Name:date  
code  
trap  
total  
leaves  
stems  
seeds  
Definition:Date of data collectionSite code [C=Control transect, T=Treatment transect]Litterfall trap number [1-10]Dry weight of total sample [grams]Dry weight of leaf portion of sample [grams]Dry weight of stem portion of sample [grams]Dry weight of seed portion of sample [grams]
Storage Type:dateTime  
string  
integer  
float  
float  
float  
float  
Measurement Type:dateTimenominalintervalratioratioratioratio
Measurement Values Domain:
FormatYYYY-MM-DD
Precision1
Allowed Values and Definitions
Enumerated Domain 
Code Definition
CodeC
DefinitionControl - LTER transect
Source
Code Definition
CodeT
DefinitionFert Treatment - LTER transect
Source
Unitnumber
Typeinteger
Unitgram
Typereal
Unitgram
Typereal
Unitgram
Typereal
Unitgram
Typereal
Missing Value Code:        
CodeNA
ExplMissing value - data not collected or otherwise unavailable
CodeNA
ExplMissing value - data not collected or otherwise unavailable
CodeNA
ExplMissing value - data not collected or otherwise unavailable
Accuracy Report:              
Accuracy Assessment:              
Coverage:              
Methods:              

Non-Categorized Data Resource

Name:Mesquite litterfall history file
Entity Type:otherEntity
Description:Historical notes for the LTER-I transect mesquite litterfall project
Physical Structure Description:
Object Name:JRN389002_mesqlitr.his.txt
Size:3632 byte
Authentication:4ea837dead24ff8311125711dbffafdb Calculated By MD5
Externally Defined Format:
Format Name:text/plain
Data:https://pasta-s.lternet.edu/package/data/eml/knb-lter-jrn/210389002/3/bd3d90a235571f87e06aa9b691d1765f

Non-Categorized Data Resource

Name:JRN DSD file (Dataset Documentation)
Entity Type:otherEntity
Description:Early format Jornada metadata file for this dataset
Physical Structure Description:
Object Name:JRN389002_mesqlitr.dsd.txt
Size:16480 byte
Authentication:4639db14a0c1e581dfc960c31c7ddadb Calculated By MD5
Externally Defined Format:
Format Name:text/plain
Data:https://pasta-s.lternet.edu/package/data/eml/knb-lter-jrn/210389002/3/392ffff125b26f947b8cfc5727b5b805

Data Package Usage Rights

This information is released under the Creative Commons license - Attribution - CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The consumer of these data ("Data User" herein) is required to cite it appropriately in any publication that results from its use. The Data User should realize that these data may be actively used by others for ongoing research and that coordination may be necessary to prevent duplicate publication. The Data User is urged to contact the authors of these data if any questions about methodology or results occur. Where appropriate, the Data User is encouraged to consider collaboration or co-authorship with the authors. The Data User should realize that misinterpretation of data may occur if used out of context of the original study. While substantial efforts are made to ensure the accuracy of data and associated documentation, complete accuracy of data sets cannot be guaranteed. All data are made available "as is." The Data User should be aware, however, that data are updated periodically and it is the responsibility of the Data User to check for new versions of the data. The data authors and the repository where these data were obtained shall not be liable for damages resulting from any use or misinterpretation of the data. Thank you.

Keywords

By Thesaurus:
LTER Core Research AreasLand Use and Land Cover Change
LTER Controlled Vocabulary v1deserts, land cover, land surface properties, land use history, leaf litter, litterfall, long term, long term monitoring, plant communities, plant cover, shrubs, transects
nonemesquite
Jornada Basin LTER dataset keywordsLTER I, Vegetation Dynamics
Jornada Basin project namesLTER-I Transect, study 389
Jornada Basin place namesCDRRC, LTER-I Transect

Methods and Protocols

These methods, instrumentation and/or protocols apply to all data in this dataset:

Methods and protocols used in the collection of this data package
Description:

Transect study background

Starting in 1982, a 135 ha portion of a 1500 ha, internally drained, moderately-to-highly grazed watershed was exclosed from grazing by domestic livestock. Within this exclosure, three permanent, parallel transects (2.7 km in length) were established by the Jornada Basin LTER, extending from the middle of the College Playa up into the foot of Mt. Summerford at the Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center (CDRRC) in the Jornada Basin. The study site has a history of moderate to heavy livestock grazing for 100 years before 1982. The Control transect (C) is located on the west, the Treatment transect (T) is on the east side of the Control transect, and the Alternate Control (X) is to the east of the Treatment transect. The three transects pass through several soil and vegetation zones as they ascend from playa to mountain. Each transect is 30 meters wide with a 45-meter buffer zone between each transect. The Treatment transect was treated annually with NH4NO3 in a concentration equal to 10g N/m2 until 1987. On 17 July 1986 the Control Transect was aerially fertilized by mistake with granular NH4NO3 instead of the Treatment Transect. As a result of this mistake, the Alternate Control Transect was established prior to the fall measurements of 1986 and the Treatment Transect was subsequently fertilized by hand with a team of 12 persons using mechanical spreaders.

To measure the effects of nitrogen fertilizer on plant communities, the average percent coverage of each plant species was calculated along plant intercept lines perpendicular to the permanent, 2.7 km transects. There are 91 station markers arranged at 30 meter intervals along each permanent transect, and each has a plant intercept line that extends 15 meters on either side of the transect. These data are available in dataset knb-lter-jrn.210119001.

Litterfall trap methods

The litterfall traps were placed in the mesquite fringe near the College Playa. On the LTER-I Control transect, litterfall traps were placed between Station C7 and C10. On the LTER-I Treatment transect, they were between Station T7 and T9. There were 10 mesquite bushes on each transect that were each surrounded with four 30 x 30 cm baskets constructed of aluminum window screening. Litter baskets were mounted midway under the canopy with a basket at each of the 4 cardinal directions. On all transects baskets were elevated above the ground on 3/8th inch rebar.

The litter in the baskets was collected monthly using a CarVac run off of a marine 12 volt deep-charge battery. The 4 baskets spaced equally around each shrub were collected as one sample. Litter was oven-dried at 55 degrees Celsius for 72 hours and then the total weight was recorded. For the period 07/11/1985 through 11/01/1985 the litter from all 10 shrubs was combined, mixed thoroughly, and approximately 10 grams subsampled and then sorted into leaf, stem, and seed fractions and weighed. Beginning in 12/03/1985 a 5 gram subsample from each shrub was sorted into leaf, stem, and seed fractions and their oven-dried weights recorded. For any sample less than standardized subsample weight, all of the sample was sorted into leaf, stem, and seed fractions. During late winter, spring, and early summer there was no mesquite litter to collect and these periods are not represented in the data set for mesquite litterfall. Field collections were done by John Anderson, Phil Harrigan, and Fadi Anboubi.

People and Organizations

Publishers:
Organization:Environmental Data Initiative
Email Address:
info@environmentaldatainitiative.org
Web Address:
https://environmentaldatainitiative.org
Id:https://ror.org/0330j0z60
Creators:
Individual: Walter G Whitford
Organization:Jornada Basin LTER/New Mexico State University
Address:
P.O. Box 30003; MSC 3JER New Mexico State University,
Las Cruces, NM 88003-8003 U.S.A.
Contacts:
Organization:Jornada Basin LTER
Position:Jornada Basin LTER Information Manager
Address:
P.O. Box 30003, MSC 3JER New Mexico State University,
Las Cruces, NM 88003-8003 USA
Phone:
575-646-1739
Email Address:
jornada.data@nmsu.edu
Web Address:
https://lter.jornada.nmsu.edu/information-management/
Associated Parties:
Individual: John Anderson
Organization:Jornada Basin LTER/New Mexico State University
Address:
P.O. Box 30003; MSC 3JER New Mexico State University,
Las Cruces, NM 88003-8003 U.S.A.
Email Address:
janderso@jornada.nmsu.edu
Id:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6417-8022
Role:field data collection
Metadata Providers:
Organization:Jornada Basin LTER
Address:
P.O. Box 30003; MSC 3JER New Mexico State University,
Las Cruces, NM 88003-8003 USA
Web Address:
https://lter.jornada.nmsu.edu

Temporal, Geographic and Taxonomic Coverage

Temporal, Geographic and/or Taxonomic information that applies to all data in this dataset:

Time Period
Begin:
1985-07-11
End:
1988-03-02
Geographic Region:
Description:Western Bajada: Study occurred in the western bajada geomorphic zone in the Jornada Basin. More precise geographic coordinates for this study may be requested from the JRN LTER Data Manager (jornada.data@nmsu.edu).
Bounding Coordinates:
Northern:  32.542771Southern:  32.467228
Western:  -106.851460Eastern:  -106.729443

Project

Parent Project Information:

Title:Jornada Basin LTER
Personnel:
Individual:Dr. Walter Whitford
Address:
P.O. Box 30003, MSC 3JER,
New Mexico State University,
Las Cruces, NM 88003-8003 United States
Phone:
575-646-1739 (voice)
Email Address:
jornada.lter@nmsu.edu
Role:Principal Investigator
Abstract:

The Jornada Basin Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program is part of a national network of long-term ecological research sites funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF). The Jornada LTER program has been continuously funded since 1982 to develop general principles governing changes between grassland and shrubland ecosystems based on long-term data collected in the Chihuahuan Desert. We translate our findings to dryland ecosystems around the world, and forecast the dynamics of future ecosystem states in response to changing climate and land use.

Funding:

At the time of this study, JRN LTER was funded by the National Science Foundation under award DEB 8114466 (LTER-I).

Maintenance

Maintenance:
Description:complete
Frequency:notPlanned
Other Metadata

Additional Metadata

additionalMetadata
        |___text '\n    '
        |___element 'metadata'
        |     |___text '\n      '
        |     |___element 'unitList'
        |     |     |___text '\n        '
        |     |     |___element 'unit'
        |     |     |     |  \___attribute 'abbreviation' = 'g'
        |     |     |     |  \___attribute 'id' = 'gram'
        |     |     |     |  \___attribute 'multiplierToSI' = '0.001'
        |     |     |     |  \___attribute 'name' = 'gram'
        |     |     |     |  \___attribute 'parentSI' = 'kilogram'
        |     |     |     |  \___attribute 'unitType' = 'mass'
        |     |     |     |___text '\n          '
        |     |     |     |___element 'description'
        |     |     |     |     |___text '0.001 kg'
        |     |     |     |___text '\n        '
        |     |     |___text '\n        '
        |     |     |___element 'unit'
        |     |     |     |  \___attribute 'id' = 'number'
        |     |     |     |  \___attribute 'name' = 'number'
        |     |     |     |  \___attribute 'unitType' = 'dimensionless'
        |     |     |     |___text '\n          '
        |     |     |     |___element 'description'
        |     |     |     |     |___text 'a quantity or amount'
        |     |     |     |___text '\n        '
        |     |     |___text '\n      '
        |     |___text '\n    '
        |___text '\n  '

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