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This data package contains data on stocking rates for cattle, horses, and sheep on all pastures of the USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range beginning in 1916. Grazing goats were infrequent and are therefore included as part of the sheep category. Stocking rates are expressed in animal unit month (AUM), which is based on metabolic weight and average amount of forage needed by each animal unit per month. Total AUM is calculated for each year for each animal unit. This study was completed in 2001 and will not be updated. NOTE: The USDA-ARS discontinued regular updates to this dataset after 2002 because of de-stocking. 

This data package contains two types of data for the Jornada Experimental Range (JER) from 1915 to 1952: 1) shape files containing polygons and attribute tables that represent the pasture configurations on the Jornada Experimental Range and 2) monthly stocking data from these pastures. The livestock represented in the stocking data comprise cattle, horse, sheep, and goats. Grazing goats were infrequent and are grouped with sheep in the source data. As such for this data set, they are included in the sheep category. Stocking data are expressed in animal unit months (AUM), which is based on metabolic weight. This data package provides finer resolution AUM data than knb-lter-jrn.210412001, which presents the annual stocking data for the entire JER from 1916 to 2001. The stocking data in this package begins in June of 1915 and continues through December of 1952, the last year for which the researchers on this project have verified and digitized historical pasture configurations on the JER. https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/mapbrowse?scope=knb-lter-jrn&identifier=210412001 

The data set covers a 101-yr period (1915–2016) of quadrat-based plant sampling at the Jornada Experimental Range in southern New Mexico. At each sampling event, a pantograph was used to record the location and perimeter of living plants within permanent quadrats. Basal area was recorded for perennial grass species, canopy cover area was recorded for shrub species, and all other perennial species were recorded as point data. The data set includes 122 1 × 1 m permanent quadrats, although not all quadrats were sampled in each year of the study and there is a gap in monitoring from 1980 to 1995. These data provide a unique opportunity to investigate changes in the plant community over 100 yr of variation in precipitation and other environmental conditions. We provide the following data and data formats: (1) the digitized maps in shapefile format; (2) a data table containing coordinates (x, y) of perennial species within quadrats, including cover area for grasses and shrubs; (3) a data table of counts of annual plant individuals per quadrat; (4) a species list indicating growth form and habit of recorded species; (5) a table of dates when each quadrat was sampled; (6) a table of the pasture each quadrat was located within (note that pasture boundaries have changed over time); (7) a table of depth to petrocalcic layer measurements taken at quadrat locations; (8) a table of particle size analysis of soil samples taken at quadrat locations; (9) a table of topographic characteristics of quadrat locations (e.g., concave or convex topography). Pantograph sampling is currently conducted at 5-yr intervals by USDA-ARS staff, and new data will be added periodically to the EDI Data Portal Repository (see section V.E.2). This information is released under the Creative Commons license—Attribution—CC BY and the consumer of these data is required to cite it appropriately in any publication that results from its use. 

ABSTRACT MotivationHere, we make available a second version of the BioTIME database, which compiles records of abundance estimates for species in sample events of ecological assemblages through time. The updated version expands version 1.0 of the database by doubling the number of studies and includes substantial additional curation to the taxonomic accuracy of the records, as well as the metadata. Moreover, we now provide an R package (BioTIMEr) to facilitate use of the database. Main Types of Variables IncludedThe database is composed of one main data table containing the abundance records and 11 metadata tables. The data are organised in a hierarchy of scales where 11,989,233 records are nested in 1,603,067 sample events, from 553,253 sampling locations, which are nested in 708 studies. A study is defined as a sampling methodology applied to an assemblage for a minimum of 2 years. Spatial Location and GrainSampling locations in BioTIME are distributed across the planet, including marine, terrestrial and freshwater realms. Spatial grain size and extent vary across studies depending on sampling methodology. We recommend gridding of sampling locations into areas of consistent size. Time Period and GrainThe earliest time series in BioTIME start in 1874, and the most recent records are from 2023. Temporal grain and duration vary across studies. We recommend doing sample‐level rarefaction to ensure consistent sampling effort through time before calculating any diversity metric. Major Taxa and Level of MeasurementThe database includes any eukaryotic taxa, with a combined total of 56,400 taxa. Software Formatcsv and. SQL.