ARS | Publication request: Changes in methodology for monitoring long-term vegetation quadrats on the Jornada Experimental Range

Submitted to: Society for Range Management Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: February 1, 2009
Publication Date: February 8, 2009
Citation: Slaughter, A.L., Maxwell, C.J., Laplante, V.K., Steele, C.M. 2009. Changes in methodology for monitoring long-term vegetation quadrats on the Jornada Experimental Range [abstract]. 62nd Society for Range Management Annual Meeting. Paper No. 2060-16.

Technical Abstract: Nearly 150 sq. mi. quadrats were established for long-term monitoring of vegetation dynamics on the Jornada Experimental Range in south central New Mexico in the early 1900s. Today, approximately 120 of those sites are revisited on a five year sampling rotation. Although some of the methods for data acquisition are similar to those used at the inception of this study, technological advances have allowed for a very different type of data processing and analysis today. In this poster we present ways that these methodologies have changed, and outline rationale behind use of additional or revised monitoring methods in the future. This overview includes photographs, examples of early data collection procedures, and historic documents related to the quadrat monitoring study. Analyses of these historic data have shown that landscape position, extended drought periods, and/or proximity to specific plant communities have been major factors in driving vegetation change within these quadrat plots throughout the 20th century.