An official website of the United States government
This is data for vegetation canopy cover measured from each of the SMES study plots. Vegetation canopy cover was measured from each of the 36 one-meter2 quadrats twice each year. Animal consumers have important roles in ecosystems, determining plant species composition and structure, regulating rates of plant production and nutrient, and altering soil structure and chemistry. The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not the activities of small mammals regulate plant community structure, plant species diversity, and spatial vegetation patterns in Chihuahuan Desert shrublands and grasslands. The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not the activities of small mammals regulate plant community structure, plant species diversity, and spatial vegetation patterns in Chihuahuan Desert shrublands and grasslands. What role if any do indigenous small mammal consumers have in maintaining desertified landscapes in the Chihuahuan Desert? Additionally, how do the effects of small mammals interact with changing climate to affect vegetation patterns over time? This study will provide long-term experimental tests of the roles of consumers on ecosystem pattern and process across a latitudinal climate gradient. The following questions or hypotheses will be addressed. 1) Do small mammals influence patterns of plant species composition and diversity, vegetation structure, and spatial patterns of vegetation canopy cover and biomass in Chihuahuan Desert shrublands and grasslands? Are small mammals keystone species that determine plant species composition and physiognomy of Chihuahuan Desert communities? Do small mammals have a significant role in maintaining the existence of shrub islands and spatial heterogeneity of creosotebush shrub communities? 2) Do small mammals affect the taxonomic composition and spatial pattern of vegetation similarly or differently in grassland communities as compared to shrub communities? How do patterns compare between grassland and shrubland sites, and how do these relatively small scale patterns relate to overall landscape vegetation patterns? 3) Do small mammals interact with short-term (annual) and long-term (decades) climate change to affect temporal changes in vegetation spatial patterns and species composition? 4) Do small mammals interact with other herbivore and granivore consumers enough to affect the species composition and abundances of other consumers such as ants and grasshoppers?
more »
« less
Small Mammal Exclosure Study (SMES) Surface Soil Disturbance in the Chihuahuan Desert Grassland and Shrubland at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico (1995-2005)
The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not the activities of small mammals regulate plant community structure, plant species diversity, and spatial vegetation patterns in Chihuahuan Desert shrublands and grasslands. What role if any do indigenous small mammal consumers have in maintaining desertified landscapes in the Chihuahuan Desert? Additionally, how do the effects of small mammals interact with changing climate to affect vegetation patterns over time? This is data for animal created soil surface disturbance measured from each of the SMES study plots. Soil surface disturbance was measured from each of the 36 one-meter2 quadrats twice each year when vegetation was measured.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1655499
- PAR ID:
- 10424134
- Publisher / Repository:
- Environmental Data Initiative
- Date Published:
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not the activities of small mammals regulate plant community structure, plant species diversity, and spatial vegetation patterns in Chihuahuan Desert shrublands and grasslands. What role if any do indigenous small mammal consumers have in maintaining desertified landscapes in the Chihuahuan Desert? Additionally, how do the effects of small mammals interact with changing climate to affect vegetation patterns over time? This is data for numbers rabbit fecal pellets counted on each of the Small Mammal Exclosure Study (SMES) plots. Rabbit fecal pellets were counted from each of the 36 one-meter2 quadrats twice each year when vegetation was measured.more » « less
-
Introduction Soil microbial communities, including biological soil crust microbiomes, play key roles in water, carbon and nitrogen cycling, biological weathering, and other nutrient releasing processes of desert ecosystems. However, our knowledge of microbial distribution patterns and ecological drivers is still poor, especially so for the Chihuahuan Desert. Methods This project investigated the effects of trampling disturbance on surface soil microbiomes, explored community composition and structure, and related patterns to abiotic and biotic landscape characteristics within the Chihuahuan Desert biome. Composite soil samples were collected in disturbed and undisturbed areas of 15 long-term ecological research plots in the Jornada Basin, New Mexico. Microbial diversity of cross-domain microbial groups (total Bacteria, Cyanobacteria, Archaea, and Fungi) was obtained via DNA amplicon metabarcode sequencing. Sequence data were related to landscape characteristics including vegetation type, landforms, ecological site and state as well as soil properties including gravel content, soil texture, pH, and electrical conductivity. Results Filamentous Cyanobacteria dominated the photoautotrophic community while Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria dominated among the heterotrophic bacteria. Thaumarchaeota were the most abundant Archaea and drought adapted taxa in Dothideomycetes and Agaricomycetes were most abundant fungi in the soil surface microbiomes. Apart from richness within Archaea ( p = 0.0124), disturbed samples did not differ from undisturbed samples with respect to alpha diversity and community composition ( p ≥ 0.05), possibly due to a lack of frequent or impactful disturbance. Vegetation type and landform showed differences in richness of Bacteria, Archaea, and Cyanobacteria but not in Fungi. Richness lacked strong relationships with soil variables. Landscape features including parent material, vegetation type, landform type, and ecological sites and states, exhibited stronger influence on relative abundances and microbial community composition than on alpha diversity, especially for Cyanobacteria and Fungi. Soil texture, moisture, pH, electrical conductivity, lichen cover, and perennial plant biomass correlated strongly with microbial community gradients detected in NMDS ordinations. Discussion Our study provides first comprehensive insights into the relationships between landscape characteristics, associated soil properties, and cross-domain soil microbiomes in the Chihuahuan Desert. Our findings will inform land management and restoration efforts and aid in the understanding of processes such as desertification and state transitioning, which represent urgent ecological and economical challenges in drylands around the world.more » « less
-
{"Abstract":["This dataset includes plant species cover and height data measured\n in 1 m x 1 m quadrats at several sites and experiments under the\n Sevilleta LTER program. Quadrat locations span four distinct\n ecosystems and their ecotones: creosotebush dominated Chihuahuan\n Desert shrubland (est. winter 1999), black grama-dominated\n Chihuahuan Desert grassland (est. winter 1999), blue grama-dominated\n Plains grassland (est. winter 2002), and pinon-juniper woodland\n (est. winter 2003). Data on plant cover and height for each plant\n species are collected per individual plant or patch (for clonal\n plants) within 1 m x 1 m quadrats. These data inform population\n dynamics of foundational and rare plant species. In addition, using\n plant allometries, these non-destructive measurements of plant cover\n and height can be used to calculate net primary production (NPP), a\n fundamental ecosystem variable that quantifies rates of carbon\n consumption and fixation. Estimates of plant species cover, total\n plant biomass, or NPP can inform understanding of biodiversity,\n species composition, and energy flow at the community scale of\n biological organization, as well as spatial and temporal responses\n of plants to a range of ecological processes and direct experimental\n manipulations. The cover and height of individual plants or patches\n are sampled twice yearly (spring and fall) in permanent 1m x 1m\n plots within each site or experiment. This dataset includes core\n site monitoring data (CORE, GRIDS, ISOWEB, TOWER), observations in\n response to wildfire (BURN), and experimental treatments of extreme\n drought and delayed monsoon rainfall (EDGE), physical disturbance to\n biological soil crusts on the soil surface (CRUST), interannual\n variability in precipitation (MEANVAR), intra-annual variability via\n additions of monsoon rainfall (MRME), additions of nitrogen as\n ammonium nitrate (FERTILIZER), additions of nitrogen x phosphorus x\n potassium (NutNet), and interacting effects of nighttime warming,\n nitrogen addition, and El Niño winter rainfall (WENNDEx). To build\n allometric equations that relate biomass to plant cover or volume, a\n separate dataset of selectively harvested plant species is provided\n in "SEV-LTER Plant species mass data for allometry."\n Together, these datasets produce \u201cSEV-LTER Plant biomass all sites\n and experiments\u201d using the scripts posted with that dataset. Data\n from the CORE sites in this dataset were designated as NA-US-011 in\n the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD). Data from the\n TOWER sites in this dataset are linked to Ameriflux sites:\n ameriflux.lbl.gov/doi/AmeriFlux/US-Seg and\n ameriflux.lbl.gov/sites/siteinfo/US-Ses."]}more » « less
-
Long-term fertilization increases soil but not plant or microbial N in a Chihuahuan Desert grasslandAbstract. Although the negative consequences of increased nitrogen (N) supply for plant communities and soil chemistry are well known, most studies have focused on mesic grasslands, and the fate of added N in arid and semi-arid ecosystems remains unclear. To study the impacts of long-term increased N deposition on ecosystem N pools, we sampled a 26-year-long fertilization (10 g N m−2 yr−1) experiment in the northern Chihuahuan Desert at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR) in New Mexico. To determine the fate of the added N, we measured multiple soil, microbial, and plant N pools in shallow soils at three time points across the 2020 growing season. We found small but significant increases with fertilization in soil-available NO3--N and NH4+-N, yet the soil microbial and plant communities do not appear to be taking advantage of the increased N availability, with no changes in biomass or N content in either community. However, there were increases in total soil N with fertilization, suggesting increases in microbial or plant N earlier in the experiment. Ultimately, the majority of the N added in this multi-decadal experiment was not found in the shallow soil or the microbial or plant community and is likely to have been lost from the ecosystem entirely.more » « less
