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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fort Collins, Colorado » Center for Agricultural Resources Research » Rangeland Resources & Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #405312

Research Project: Adaptive Grazing Management and Decision Support to Enhance Ecosystem Services in the Western Great Plains

Location: Rangeland Resources & Systems Research

Title: The how and the why of curating long-term livestock data from pasturelands and grazinglands

Author
item Kaplan, Nicole
item JOHNSON, HOLLY
item DERNER, JUSTIN
item HENDRICKSON, JOHN

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/8/2023
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Sustainable management of systems on pasturelands and grazinglands needs livestock production data to use as an indicator metric for assessing provision of ecosystem services from these agroecosystems. We acknowledge that the collection of this livestock production data can be difficult and substantial costs are undertaken to collect such data across multiple years that encompass variable weather patterns. The Long-Term Livestock Production Data (LT LiveProd) effort is focusing on identifying, curating, and making livestock production data publicly accessible through the Ag Data Commons hosted by the USDA National Agricultural Library. There are currently six datasets published with long-term (>10 years) livestock data from rangeland ecosystems, but datasets from pasturelands and grazinglands are not represented at this time. Here, we attempt to address this gap in long-term livestock data by showcasing the step-by-step process and providing access to available resources for assistance with data wrangling. We will also demonstrate the benefits of having data made available through publication of the dataset with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). Curation with a DOI allows long-term open access and for the data to be cited, and there by provides recognition for the team that collected the data, which also serves as a legacy for their research institutions.