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2,662 results for “plant cover”
Plant and litter cover estimates derived from overhead microplot photos in the Cross-Scale Interactions Study (CSIS) at Jornada Basin LTER, 2013-ongoing
This dataset contains plant and litter cover estimates derived from overhead photos collected from microplots in a long-term experiment (2013-present) of cross-scale interactions (CSIs) at the Jornada Basin LTER site in southern New Mexico, U.S.A. Experimental treatments were initiated in 2013 at 15 experimental blocks, each with 4 treatment plots: plant-scale herbicide of mesquite shrubs, patch-scale connectivity modifiers (ConMods), herbicide + ConMods, control without manipulations. Repeat, overhead (downward-looking) photographs of ten "microplots" in each plot were taken for estimation of litter, soil, and vegetation cover in the experimental treatment and control plots over time. Photographs were rotated and then cropped to provide standardized areas, and then were analyzed with USDA SamplePoint software to determine coverage by ~27 plant, litter or other cover classes on a 100 point grid. Raw and corrected cover estimates are provided. This study is ongoing and new data will be added annually. Cover estimates are derived from photos in EDI dataset knb-lter-jrn.210413004.
Spring and Fall plant cover across grassland-shrubland ecotones at 3 sites in the Jornada Basin, 2005-ongoing
The objective of this ongoing study is to investigate how pulses of precipitation translate into pulses of plant aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) across grassland to shrubland ecotones in the northern Chihuahuan Desert. This dataset consists of ocular plant cover and height measurements to be used for estimating aboveground net primary in three habitat vegetation zones (grassland, ecotone, and shrubland) at three grassland-to-shrubland ecotone sites in the Jornada Basin, Dona Ana County, New Mexico, USA. Sampling is conducted twice a year: in the spring before the growing season and in the fall after the growing season.
Plant species cover and biomass for Sevilleta dominant species removal experiment.
The purpose of this research project was to connect the removal of dominant grass species in grasslands at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge to changes in plant community composition and subsequent changes in aboveground biomass. We used species cover data for 23 years of a dominant species removal experiment (https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/fd3c777524231ae245bf1916715c9140) and converted percent cover values to aboveground standing biomass using methods from Rudgers et al. 2019 (https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13463). For this project, only two sites from the original study were used blue grama (site 1) and black grama (site 3) as they are referred to in the original study.
Species cover, community biomass, and richness in global grasslands from NutNet (2007–2023): Dominant species predict plant richness and biomass in global grasslands
The Nutrient Network (NutNet) is a globally coordinated research initiative designed to investigate the impacts of human-driven alterations in nutrient availability and consumer presence on grassland ecosystems. Data were collected from over 130 herbaceous-dominated sites worldwide, spanning diverse environmental conditions from desert grasslands to arctic tundra. Standardized methodologies were employed across all sites to enable direct comparisons of productivity, diversity, and ecosystem responses. Experimental treatments included nutrient additions to assess co-limitation of plant growth by multiple nutrients, as well as grazer manipulations to examine their role in regulating biomass, species diversity, and community composition. By compiling these cross-site data, NutNet aims to enhance our understanding of productivity-diversity relationships and provide new insights into the ecological consequences of anthropogenic changes to nutrient cycles and food webs at a global scale.
Relative percent cover of plant species in low nutrient LTER moist acidic tundra experimental plots (MAT06) established in 2006 for years 2008, 2010-2025, Arctic LTER Toolik Field Station Alaska.
Relative percent cover of plant species was measured in low nutrient LTER moist acidic tundra experimental plots (MAT06). Treatments include a gradient of nitrogen and phosphorus additions along with ammonium and nitrate alone.
Density and cover of winter annual plants in three harvester ant habitats at the Jornada Basin LTER site, 1987
This dataset contains plant cover and density data collected in three harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex rugosus) nesting habitats at the Jornada Basin LTER site in 1987. The purpose of this investigation was to answer three general questions: 1. How does the modification of soil properties and the ratios of resources (e.g., water-N) by ants alter species assemblages of winter annual plants at the edge of the ant nests? 2. How does the "spring cleaning", clipping, predation or herbivory by ants affect success of the winter annual plants at the edge of ant nests? 3. Are there significant differences in the floristic assemblage and belowground standing crop (root biomass) between the edge of ant nest and the surrounding unaffected soils? Variables included in the dataset include density and cover of all winter annual plants measured at regular intervals between January and May of 1987. Density is expressed as the number of individuals of a species per square meter. The cover of each species was calculated as the area covered by a perpendicular (not vertical) projection of its aerial parts onto the ground surface and expressed in covered area (cm squared) per square meter. This study was completed in 1987.
Cover and frequency of biological soil crust community types, moss species, vascular plants, and abiotic land surface features, on gypsum & non-gypsum soils from the Chihuahuan and Mojave Deserts in 2023
This dataset contains raw and calculated percent cover and frequency data for biological soil crust (hereafter biocrust) functional groups, vascular plant functional groups, and abiotic land surface features on and off gypsum soils in the northern Chihuahuan and eastern Mojave Deserts. Abundance data were obtained from 20 study sites total, 10 located on soils derived from gypsum parent material and 10 located on soils derived from non-gypsum parent materials. Sites were grouped into 10 pairs, in which every gypsum site was partnered with a non-gypsum site located in the same region. Apart from soil type, partnered-site characteristics (topography, climate, elevation, slope, aspect, and presence of biocrusts) were held relatively constant. At each site, cover and frequency assessments were made using the line-point intercept method (LPI) and frequency quadrats (1.0 m^2), respectively. Biocrust functional groups included the following crusts: lichen, moss, incipient algal, light algal, dark algal, unknown photosynthetic crust, and vagrant cyanobacteria. Vascular plant categories included: perennial forbs, perennial graminoids, annual forbs, annual graminoids, subshrub, shrub, Yucca, and cacti. Abiotic land surface features included: woody litter, herbaceous litter, bare soil, rock, bedrock, and animal feces. Moss crusts identified within cover and frequency analyses were sampled, and classified to species level via microscopy. The resulting percent cover and frequency data was used to understand differences in biocrust and moss species abundance and diversity on and off gypsum soils; furthermore, how biocrust and moss species abundance was associated with the measured environmental variables. Soil physical and chemical data from this study can be accessed at knb-lter-jrn.210616002. This study and dataset are complete.
PRP02 Plant diversity, richness, and plant species cover in konza prairie restoration heterogeneity plots, since 1998
The experiment is a randomized complete block design with four whole plot hetereogeneity treatments replicated within each of four blocks (n=16 whole plots). The whole plot treatments were created using different combinations of soil depth and nutrient manipulations. The control plots contained no depth or nutrient manipulations. The maximum hetereogeneity plots contained three 2 m x 8 m vertical strips assigned to ambient, enriched and reduced N treatments and four 2 m x 6 m horizontal strips assigned to deep and shallow soil to result in six treatment combinations. The maximum heterogeneity plots are a split-block design. Every plot contained 12 subplots (2 m x 2 m) for sampling. Prior to sowing, all of the plots were excavatedto a depth of approximately 25 cm. Natural limestone slabs were laid in strips assigned to the shallow soil treatment. The soil from all plots was then replaced, leveled, and disked (2-3 cm deep). In February 1998, we incorporated sawdust (49% C; C:N ratio=122) into the strips assigned to the reduced-N treatment. The average C concentration and bulk density in the surface 15 cm following long-term cultivation was 1.5% and 1.2 g cm-3, respectively. Sawdust was tilled into the soil at a rate of 5.5 kg dry wt./m2 to achieve a C concentration representative of native prairie soil (approx. 3% C). Surface applications of granular sugar were initiated in 2004 at a rate of 200 g sucrose m-2 (84.22 g C/m2) 3-4 times each growing season. Strips assigned to the enriched-N treatment were fertilized with 5 g N m2/y (applied as ammonium-nitrate) in July of the first growing season and early June of each subsequent years.
SEV-LTER quadrat plant species cover and height all sites and experiments
This dataset includes plant species cover and height data measured in 1 m x 1 m quadrats at several sites and experiments under the Sevilleta LTER program. Quadrat locations span four distinct ecosystems and their ecotones: creosotebush dominated Chihuahuan Desert shrubland (est. winter 1999), black grama-dominated Chihuahuan Desert grassland (est. winter 1999), blue grama-dominated Plains grassland (est. winter 2002), and pinon-juniper woodland (est. winter 2003). Data on plant cover and height for each plant species are collected per individual plant or patch (for clonal plants) within 1 m x 1 m quadrats. These data inform population dynamics of foundational and rare plant species. In addition, using plant allometries, these non-destructive measurements of plant cover and height can be used to calculate net primary production (NPP), a fundamental ecosystem variable that quantifies rates of carbon consumption and fixation. Estimates of plant species cover, total plant biomass, or NPP can inform understanding of biodiversity, species composition, and energy flow at the community scale of biological organization, as well as spatial and temporal responses of plants to a range of ecological processes and direct experimental manipulations. The cover and height of individual plants or patches are sampled twice yearly (spring and fall) in permanent 1m x 1m plots within each site or experiment. This dataset includes core site monitoring data (CORE, GRIDS, ISOWEB, TOWER), observations in response to wildfire (BURN), and experimental treatments of extreme drought and delayed monsoon rainfall (EDGE), physical disturbance to biological soil crusts on the soil surface (CRUST), interannual variability in precipitation (MEANVAR), intra-annual variability via additions of monsoon rainfall (MRME), additions of nitrogen as ammonium nitrate (FERTILIZER), additions of nitrogen x phosphorus x potassium (NutNet), and interacting effects of nighttime warming, nitrogen addition, and El Ni
Understory percent cover, plant traits, canopy LAI, PAR, temperature, and soil moisture data at multiple time points for sites in the burn chronosequence and Indian Point forest at the University of Michigan Biological Station, Pellston, MI (2022-2023)
Community ecology has sought to understand the mechanisms by which plant communities are assembled through time and space. One prominent way to address how communities are assembled is by quantifying functional traits. While there is a tremendous body of literature on functional traits, debate persists about how to account for variation in measured traits. For example, intraspecific trait variation (ITV) can be equal to or greater than interspecific trait variation and ITV has also been found to vary greatly across years. Therefore, there is a need to account for variability in functional trait measures among and within species and through time to improve our understanding of community assembly. Chronosequences are a powerful tool to address temporal changes in community dynamics, however, the inclusion of understory plants in forest chronosequence studies is still relatively uncommon. Previous chronosequence studies have been primarily performed in grasslands or in a limited subset of forest types, so further work is needed in understory plant traits across other ecosystems and climates to improve trait-based understanding of understory plant communities through time. Additionally, because plant traits change as ecosystems age, community interactions are likely to change with ecosystem age. Interactions of particular interest are herbivory, arthropod predation, and the influence of plant traits on arthropod diversity.
Relative percent cover and leaf nutrients was measured for plant species on Arctic LTER experimental plots in moist acidic and non-acid tundra, Arctic LTER Toolik Field Station, Alaska 2015
Relative percent cover was measured for plant species on Arctic LTER experimental plots at Toolik field station in moist acidic and non-acidic tundra in greenhouse and control plots. Leaf percent carbon, percent nitrogen and percent phosphorus were collected from dominant species in greenhouse and control plots on Arctic LTER experimental plots at Toolik field station in moist acidic, non-acidic tundra, wet sedge and shrub tundra
Plant species percent cover data: BioCON : Biodiversity, Elevated CO2, and N Enrichment
BioCON (Biodiversity, CO2, and Nitrogen) is an ecological experiment started in 1997 at the University of Minnesota's Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve. BioCON's goal is to explore the ways in which plant communities will respond to three environmental changes that are known to be occurring on a global scale: increasing nitrogen deposition, increasing atmospheric CO2, and decreasing biodiversity. Why Biodiversity, CO2, and Nitrogen? While there are many uncertainties in global change biology, there are also some well documented facts. Some of these are: 1. The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is rising. Since the industrial revolution, the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has increased from approximately 275 parts per million (ppm) to about 378 ppm today. This has been largely the result of fossil fuel burning. It is expected that CO2 levels will continue to rise, and that by the year 2050 these levels will be approximately 550 ppm. CO2 is the raw material for photosynthesis and is known to affect plant growth and development. 2. The amount of nitrogen moving through terrestrial ecosystems has increased in the recent past. While natural "background" levels of nitrogen fixation have remained constant, human additions to the system through fertilizer production and fossil fuel use have increased dramatically. Nitrogen is a key nutrient for plant growth and plays a critical role in plant community structure and composition in many environments. 3. Biodiversity levels are falling. While the research and data are not as complete as they are for CO2 and nitrogen, data indicate that the number of species globally, is being reduced. Perhaps more important for ecosystem function, diversity levels on local to regional scales have fallen due to land use change, biotic invasion and many other drivers. While much is known about how each of these factors affects ecosystem functioning, many questions remain. There is also little data on how these issues affe
Tree survey:Effects of Long Term Fertilization and Oak Canopy Cover on Plant Communities and Ecosystem Processes
In 1996 E142 was established in field D on top of the E004 macroplots. E004 was conducted in fields A, B, C and D by Dave Tilman. The purpose of E004 was to see what effect NH4NO3 addition has on large areas over a longer period of time with exposure to naturally-occurring levels of herbivory. The nutrient addition treatments in E004, E142 plots have been applied annually since 1982. These experiments, along with others at Cedar Creek, examine the community and ecosystem consequences of chronic nutrient loading.
Canopy litter biomass:Effects of Long Term Fertilization and Oak Canopy Cover on Plant Communities and Ecosystem Processes
In 1996 E142 was established in field D on top of the E004 macroplots. E004 was conducted in fields A, B, C and D by Dave Tilman. The purpose of E004 was to see what effect NH4NO3 addition has on large areas over a longer period of time with exposure to naturally-occurring levels of herbivory. The nutrient addition treatments in E004, E142 plots have been applied annually since 1982. These experiments, along with others at Cedar Creek, examine the community and ecosystem consequences of chronic nutrient loading.
Herbaceous Vegetation Survey:Effects of Long Term Fertilization and Oak Canopy Cover on Plant Communities and Ecosystem Processes
In 1996 E142 was established in field D on top of the E004 macroplots. E004 was conducted in fields A, B, C and D by Dave Tilman. The purpose of E004 was to see what effect NH4NO3 addition has on large areas over a longer period of time with exposure to naturally-occurring levels of herbivory. The nutrient addition treatments in E004, E142 plots have been applied annually since 1982. These experiments, along with others at Cedar Creek, examine the community and ecosystem consequences of chronic nutrient loading.
Comparative transect surveys of invertebrate abundance, plant cover, and sediment characteristics in Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico salt marshes from April 2009 to September 2010
Understanding the relative strengths of top-down and bottom-up forces is an important key to predicting the structure of biological communities. The strength of these effects can be regulated in part by predator abundance and nutrient availability. In 2009, we hypothesized that the importance of these factors varies geographically between the southeastern Atlantic Coast and the Gulf Coast due to differences in tidal regime, and began to study this variation using a biogeographic, manipulative field experiment. Although our original purpose was to understand the structure of salt marsh arthropod food webs, BP's Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf Coast presented an opportunity to understand how stress from an oil spill might affect the variables that we were measuring. The fact that we had plots and transect sampling in place at multiple sites along the Gulf and East Coasts put us in a position to evaluate any impacts that might occur if oil hit some of the sites. The study was conducted at 11 sites across the Gulf Coast, from Texas to Florida, and 11 sites along the Atlantic Coast, from Florida to Maine. At each site, experimental plots were sampled and a 100m transect was sampled near the plots within 5m of the high marsh boundary. Sampling was conducted in May 2009, August 2009, and August 2010. In 2010, four extra sites were added to the existing experimental sites because of known oil contamination, and another site was added as an extra control. Only the transect sampling was conducted at these sites. This dataset contains all the transect data; data from experimental plots will be reported in a companion dataset.
Experimental plots studies comparing the impact of fertilization and wrack addition on invertebrate abundance and plant cover in Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico salt marshes from April 2009 to September 2010
Understanding the relative strengths of top-down and bottom-up forces is an important key to predicting the structure of biological communities. The strength of these effects can be regulated in part by predator abundance and nutrient availability. In 2009, we hypothesized that the importance of these factors varies geographically between the southeastern Atlantic Coast and the Gulf Coast due to differences in tidal regime, and began to study this variation using a biogeographic, manipulative field experiment. Although our original purpose was to understand the structure of salt marsh arthropod food webs, BP's Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf Coast presented an opportunity to understand how stress from an oil spill might affect the variables that we were measuring. The fact that we had plots and transect sampling in place at multiple sites along the Gulf and East Coasts put us in a position to evaluate any impacts that might occur if oil hit some of the sites. The study was conducted at 11 sites across the Gulf Coast, from Texas to Florida, and 11 sites along the Atlantic Coast, from Florida to Maine. At each site, experimental plots were sampled and a 100m transect was sampled near the plots within 5m of the high marsh boundary. Sampling was conducted in May 2009, August 2009, and August 2010. In 2010, four extra sites were added to the existing experimental sites because of known oil contamination, and another site was added as an extra control. Only the transect sampling was conducted at these sites. This dataset contains all the data from experimental plots; experimental treatments of fertilizer addition, wrack addition, fertilizer & wrack addition, and no addition (control) were randomly applied to the plots. The plot treatments were maintained in August 2009 and May 2010.
SEV-LTER Mean - Variance Experiment Quadrat Plant Species Cover and Height
We designed novel field experimental infrastructure to resolve the relative importance of changes in the climate mean and variance in regulating the structure and function of dryland populations, communities, and ecosystem processes. The Mean - Variance Climate Experiment (MVE) adds three novel elements to prior designs that have manipulated interannual variance in climate in the field (Gherardi & Sala, 2013) by (i) determining interactive effects of mean and variance with a factorial design that crosses reduced mean with increased variance, (ii) studying multiple dryland biomes to compare their susceptibility to transition under interactive climate drivers, and (iii) adding stochasticity to our treatments to permit the antecedent effects that occur under natural climate variability. This new infrastructure enables direct experimental tests of the hypothesis that interactions between the mean and variance of precipitation will have larger ecological impacts than either the mean or variance in precipitation alone. This dataset includes plant species cover and height data measured in 1 m x 1 m quadrats at all Mean - Variance experiment sites. Quadrat locations span five important ecosystems of the American southwest: blue grama-dominated Plains grassland (est. fall 2019), black grama-dominated Chihuahuan Desert grassland (est. fall 2020), creosotebush dominated Chihuahuan Desert shrubland (est. fall 2021), juniper savanna (est. fall 2022) and pinon-juniper woodland (est. fall 2023). Data on plant cover and height for each plant species are collected per individual plant or patch (for clonal plants) within 1 m x 1 m quadrats. These data inform population dynamics of foundational and rare plant species. The cover and height of individual plants or patches are sampled twice yearly (spring and fall) in permanent 1m x 1m plots within each site or experiment. This data package includes plant cover and height only -- for species biomass estimates per quad see package knb-lte
1-km forest tree height, cover, plant area index, and foliage height diversity for the CONUS
<p>Consistent and spatially explicit periodic monitoring of forest structure is essential for estimating forest-related carbon emissions, analyzing forest degradation, and supporting sustainable forest management policies. To date, few products are available that allow for continental to global operational monitoring of changes in canopy structure. In this study, we explored the synergy between the NASA’s spaceborne Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) waveform LiDAR and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) data to produce spatially explicit and consistent annual maps of canopy height (CH), percent canopy cover (PCC), plant area index (PAI), and foliage height diversity (FHD) across the conterminous United States (CONUS) at 1-km resolution for 2013-2020. The accuracies of the annual maps were assessed using forest structure attribute derived from airborne laser scanning (ALS) data acquired between 2013 and 2020 for the 48 National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) field sites distributed across the CONUS. The root mean square error (RMSE) values of the annual canopy height maps as compared with the ALS reference data varied from a minimum of 3.31-m for 2020 to a maximum of 4.19-m for 2017. Similarly, the RMSE values for PCC ranged between 8% (2020) and 11% (all other years). Qualitative evaluations of the annual maps using time series of very high-resolution images further suggested that the VIIRS-derived products could capture both large and “more” subtle changes in forest structure associated with partial harvesting, wind damage, wildfires, and other environmental stresses.</p>
Topoedaphic constraints on woody plant cover in a semi-arid grassland
<p>Provided is an excel spreadsheet which contains data used to estimate maximum potential shrub cover across a semi-arid grassland in Southern Arizona. Data was obtained using a classified shrub cover (mesquite) map of Las Cienegas National Conservation Area in Southeastern Arizona which was derived using 2017 NAIP imagery which is free available on EarthExplorer. Classified shrub cover map was created using an unsupervised ISO classification technique within ArcGIS. This shrub cover map was upscaled to 100m and a number of topoedaphic spatial layers were overlaid onto this shrub cover layer and their layers extracted per pixel. This data was then analyized within R using a segmented quantile regression approach to identify maximum shrub cover by topoedaphic characteristics at the 95th percent quantile. For sample of quantile code please contact the corresponding author.</p> <p>Topoedaphic variables analyzed in this data set are: <br> Shrub Cover (%)<br> Elevation (m)<br> Slope Inclination (°)<br> Slope Aspect (Cardinal Direction)<br> Value 2 = North<br> Value 3 = East<br> Value 4 = South<br> Value 5 = West<br> Percent Clay between 0 to 5cm (%)<br> Depth to bedrock (cm)<br> Topographic Wetness index (TWI) (unitless with higher values representing more run-on/wetter conditions)</p> <p>Shrub cover was analyzed at the study site level and at the ecological site level. </p>
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OpenNeuro
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