Patterns of precipitation and productivity on various topographic positions on the Central Plains Experimental Range, Nunn, Colorado

<p>Thirty-six years of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) data collected across a topographic sequence in the semiarid shortgrass steppe of North America to examine patterns and drivers of spatiotemporal variability in ANPP. ANPP data were collected from the 6,500 ha USDA-Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER), which is part of the Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR; 2012-present; <a href="https://ltar.ars.usda.gov/">https://ltar.ars.usda.gov/</a>) network, a former Long-Term Ecological Research station (LTER, 1983-2012), and located in the shortgrass steppe of north-central Colorado, USA. Additional information and referenced materials about many of the long-term studies initiated on the CPER can be found: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.25675/10217/81141">https://dx.doi.org/10.25675/10217/81141</a>.</p>
<p>The topography at the CPER is characterized by gently rolling hills, and the topographic positions for data collection were focused along a catena in one of the most common ecological sites on the CPER, Loamy Plains (ID: R067BY002CO; NRCS, 2020). The plant community included four herbaceous plant functional types (PFTs): 1) perennial, warm-season, C4 grasses (primarily Bouteloua gracilis [Willd. ex Kunth] Lag ex Griffiths and B. dactyloides [Nutt.] J.T. Columbus), 2) perennial, cool-season, C3 grasses (primarily Pascopyrum smithii [Rydb] A. Love and Hesperostipa comata [Trin. & Rupr.] Barkworth ssp. comata), 3) cool-season, annual grass (Vulpia octoflora [Walter] Rydb.), and 4) forbs (primarily Sphaeralcea coccinea [Nutt.] Rydb.). Shrubs, subshrubs, and cactus were present but do not represent a large component of total ANPP and were not included in this study.</p>
<p>Daily precipitation data were obtained from a long-term (1979-2018) precipitation gauge associated with the National Atmospheric Deposition program (Site ID: NTN-CO22; <a href="http://nadp.slh.wisc.edu/">http://nadp.slh.wisc.edu/</a>), located on site. Missing precipitation data were gap-filled using CPER headquarters data (1939-2018), or from the Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) rain gauge (1997-2018, Site Number: 2017; <a href="https://wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov/">https://wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov/</a>), depending on proximity and temporal overlap. Following gap-filling, precipitation data were omitted if >10% of the time series was missing for each focal time period (e.g. fall or spring).   </p><div><br>Resources in this dataset:</div><br><ul><li><p>Resource Title: Gap filled precipitation data from the Central Plains Experimental Range, Nunn, Colorado from 1980-2018.</p> <p>File Name: CPER-PPT_gapfilled_1980-2018.csv</p></li><br><li><p>Resource Title: Data Dictionary for Gap filled precipitation data from the Central Plains Experimental Range, Nunn, Colorado from 1980-2018.</p> <p>File Name: CPER-PPT_DataDictionary.csv</p></li><br><li><p>Resource Title: Long-Term aboveground net primary production for functional group types on the Central Plains Experimental Range, Nunn, Colorado from 1983-2018.</p> <p>File Name: CPER-LTNPP_bypft_1983-2018.csv</p></li><br><li><p>Resource Title: Data Dictionary for Long-Term aboveground net primary production for functional group types on the Central Plains Experimental Range, Nunn, Colorado from 1983-2018.</p> <p>File Name: CPER-LTNPP_bypft_1983-2018_DataDictionary.csv</p></li><br><li><p>Resource Title: Dictionary of species within each functional group type in the LTNPP data collected on the Central Plains Experimental Range, Nunn, Colorado from 1983-2018.</p> <p>File Name: CPER-LTNPP_bypft_1983-2018_SppInFG_DataDictionary.csv</p></li></ul><p></p>

Tags: annual-precipitation, ars, data-gov, earth-science-biosphere-terrestrial-ecosystems-grasslands, np215, primary-productivity, topography
Organization: Department of Agriculture