ARS | Publication request: Fourteen years of mapped, permanent quadrats in a northern mixed prairie, USA

Submitted to: Ecology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: March 30, 2011
Publication Date: August 1, 2011
Citation: Anderson, J., Vermeire, L.T., Adler, P.B. 2011. Fourteen years of mapped, permanent quadrats in a northern mixed prairie, USA. Ecology 92(8):1703. Data set E092-143 published at http://esapubs.org/archive.

Interpretive Summary: A fourteen-year historical dataset was digitized making available long-term mapping of northern mixed prairie plant community changes in response to weather and stocking rate. These data offer opportunities to examine demographic rates, plant-plant interactions, and population and community dynamics under these natural and imposed conditions. We provide the following data and data formats: 1) the digitized maps in shapefile format; 2) a tabular version of the entire dataset (a table with no spatial information except an x,y coordinate for each individual plant record); 3) grazing treatment information; 4) an inventory of the years each quadrat was sampled; 5) a species list, containing information on plant growth forms and shapefile geometry type; 6) a record of changes in species names; 7) daily precipitation and temperature records; and 8) counts of annual plants in the quadrats.

Technical Abstract: This historical dataset consists of 44 permanent 1-m2 quadrats located on northern mixed prairie in eastern Montana, USA. Individual plants in these quadrats were identified and mapped annually from 1932 through 1945. Quadrats were located in six pastures assigned to cattle grazing treatments with light, moderate, and heavy stocking rates of 1.24, 0.92 and 0.76 ha animal-unit-month-1 (two pastures in each). These data provide unique opportunities to test the interactive effects of grazing and climate variables on demographic rates, plant-plant interactions, and population and community dynamics. We provide the following data and data formats: 1) the digitized maps in shapefile format; 2) a tabular version of the entire dataset (a table with no spatial information except an x,y coordinate for each individual plant record); 3) grazing treatment information; 4) an inventory of the years each quadrat was sampled; 5) a species list, containing information on plant growth forms and shapefile geometry type; 6) a record of changes in species names; 7) daily precipitation and temperature records; and 8) counts of annual plants in the quadrats.