DOI: 10.5061/dryad.0zpc8677v
title: Sagebrush vegetation response to experimental drought

description: These data are from the research project Drought and Sagebrush: Management
 Implications, conducted by Kerry Byrne and Kristen Kaczynski from 2016 -
 2020. The dataset contains research results related to species
 composition, forb density, and above and belowground net primary
 production in response to four years of experimental drought using rainout
 shelters and control plots. We used rainfall shelters to create a
 1-in-100-year drought at each site to understand how chronic (4 year)
 drought will impact common, but understudied sagebrush steppe plant
 communities. We conducted our study at two sites approximately 60 m apart
 within a grazing exclosure established in 1993 in Klamath County, Oregon,
 USA (42.301111, -121.018056). The two study sites have unique edaphic
 features that lead to differences in the ecological structure and function
 of the plant communities. One site (AA site) is dominated
 by Artemisia arbuscula (low sagebrush) while the other site (AC
 site) is dominated by A. cana (silver sagebrush). We found that above- and
 belowground net primary production at both sites were remarkably resistant
 to drought. Litter increased over time in drought plots at the more
 productive AC site, and we hypothesize that hydraulic lift and litter
 interacted to increase shallow soil water content under drought at that
 site. The AA site, with harsher edaphic features and a soil duripan,
 experienced fewer changes in plant community composition than the more
 productive AC site, potentially due to the presence of specialized plant
 species at the harsher site. Non-native plant cover increased (primarily
 from Ventenata dubia, an invasive annual grass) and native forb
 cover and density decreased over time. This suggests that management may
 be needed to conserve native forb diversity and limit species invasion,
 especially as climate and fire regimes change.
description: At each site (AA - <em>Artemisia arbuscula</em> and
 AC- A<em>rtemisia cana</em>) in early to mid July of each year
 (2016 - 2020), we non-destructively estimated aboveground net primary
 production within drought (n=5) and control (n=5) plots, estimated the
 absolute cover of each species within the plots, and counted the seedling
 density of common forb species and the two
 focal <em>Artemisia</em> species. In Oct of each year, we
 excavated one or two root ingrowth cores and filled them each with sieved
 root-free soil from the sites. Each following Oct, we removed the ingrowth
 cores and dried and weighed the roots to estimate belowground net primary
 production in each plot (data for 2017 - 2020). We monitored soil water
 content at shallow depths in each treatment (0 – 10 cm at AA site, n =3; 5
 – 15 cm at AC site, n = 2) every 4 h to evaluate the effectiveness of the
 drought treatment. We monitored deeper (20 - 30 cm) soil water in one plot
 for each treatment at the AC site, but not the AA site.
description: # Sagebrush vegetation response to experimental drought
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0zpc8677v](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0zpc8677v) ## Description of the data and file structure \# Data from: Sagebrush vegetation response to experimental drought \## Dataset: ORIDE_site_data Provides site-level data for the 2 sites \##Dataset: ORIDE_ANPP_2016_2020 Provides data on aboveground net primary production between 2016 – 2020 Site: Unique ID for each site Treatment: Two level factor (drought or control) Year: 5 level factor (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) Time: 5 level factor (Pretreatment, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4) ANPP: estimated aboveground net primary production (g m^-2) \##Dataset: ORIDE_BNPP_2017_2020 Provides data on belowground net primary production between 2017-2020 Site: Unique ID for each site Treatment: Two level factor (drought or control) Year: 4 level factor (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) Time: 4 level factor (Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4) PLOT: 10 levels (5 for each treatment), represents replicate ID: matches PLOT, except in cases where there was more than one sample collected per plot. For example, if there were 3 samples collected in plot 2 in 2017, ID would be 2.1, 2.2, 2.3. Root mass_m2: estimated belowground net primary production (g m^-2) Notes: provides any notes on the sample. Blank cells indicate no notes provided.   \##Dataset: ORIDE_ForbCounts_2016_2020 Provides data on the density of 10 forb species in the experiment between 2016-2020 Site: Unique ID for each site Treatment: Two level factor (drought or control) PLOT: 10 levels (5 for each treatment), represents replicate Species: Genus and species of the 10 species for which we collected annual density data Lifespan: 2 level factor (Annual or Perennial). Blank cells represent unknown lifespan Family: plant family of each species Forbcounts: species density (m^-2) Year: 5 level factor (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) Time: 5 level factor (Pretreatment, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4) \##Dataset: ORIDE_soilwater_AA_2016_2020 Excel file for the AA site with raw (uncalibrated) and mean soil moisture values (Decagon EC-5 VWC, Pullman, Washington, USA), at a temporal resolution of 4h. Soil moisture integrated over 0-10 cm soil depth. Missing values are blank. \##Dataset: ORIDE_soilwater_AC_2016_2020 Excel file for the AC site with raw (uncalibrated) and mean soil moisture values (Decagon EC-5 VWC, Pullman, Washington, USA), at a temporal resolution of 4h. Soil moisture integrated over 5-15 cm soil depth. Missing values are blank. \##Dataset: ORIDE_soilwater_AC_deep_2016_2020 Excel file for the AC site with raw (uncalibrated) soil moisture values (Decagon EC-5 VWC, Pullman, Washington, USA), at a temporal resolution of 4h. Soil moisture integrated over 20-30 cm soil depth. Missing values are blank. \##Dataset: ORIDE_SpeciesComp_2016_2020 Provides data on the species composition within one permanent 1.0 m^2 subplot of each treatment plot between 2016 – 2020 Site: Unique ID for each site Treatment: Two level factor (drought or control) PLOT: 10 levels (5 for each treatment), represents replicate Year: 5 level factor (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) Time: 5 level factor (Pretreatment, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4) Lifespan: 2 level factor (Annual or Perennial). Blank cells represent unknown lifespan Lifeform: 4 level factor (Forb, Grass, Shrub, Nfixer; where N fixer means Nitrogen fixing forb) Origin: 2 level factor (Native or Introduced). Blank cells represent unknown origin FG: Plant Functional Group, a combination of Lifespan, Lifeform, and Origin Species: Genus and Species of each species identified in the plots. If species epithet was unknown, the \_sp is provided. Cover: Absolute cover (%) of each species in a plot ### Files and variables #### File: ORIDE\_ANPP\_2016-2020.csv **Description:** Provides data on aboveground net primary production between 2016 – 2020 ##### Variables * Site: Unique ID for each site * Plot: 10 levels (5 for each treatment), represents replicate * Treatment: Two level factor (drought or control) * Year: 5 level factor (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) * Time: 5 level factor (Pretreatment, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4) * ANPP: estimated aboveground net primary production (g m^-2) #### File: ORIDE\_ForbCounts\_2016-2020.csv **Description:** Provides data on the density of 10 forb species in the experiment between 2016-2020 ##### Variables * Site: Unique ID for each site * Plot: 10 levels (5 for each treatment), represents replicate * Treatment: Two level factor (drought or control) * Species: Genus and species of the 10 species for which we collected annual density data * Lifespan: : 2 level factor (Annual or Perennial). Blank cells represent unknown lifespan * Family: plant family of each species * ForbCounts: species density (m^-2) * Time: 5 level factor (Pretreatment, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4) * Year: 5 level factor (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) #### File: ORIDE\_soilwater\_AA\_2016-2020.csv **Description:** Excel file for the AA site with raw (uncalibrated) and mean soil moisture values (Decagon EC-5 VWC, Pullman, Washington, USA), at a temporal resolution of 4h. Soil moisture integrated over 0-10 cm soil depth. Missing values are blank. ##### Variables * Date: Day and Year * Time: Time of Day * AA1_Control: AA Control replicate 1 (%) * AA1_Drought: AA Drought replicate 1 (%) * AA2_Control: AA Control replicate 2 (%) * AA2_Drought: AA Drought replicate 2 (%) * Control_mean: mean AA Control soil water (%) * Drought_mean: mean AA Drought soil water (%) #### File: ORIDE\_SpeciesComp\_2016\_2020.csv **Description:** Provides data on the species composition within one permanent 1.0 m^2 subplot of each treatment plot between 2016 – 2020 ##### Variables * Site: Unique ID for each site * Plot: 10 levels (5 for each treatment), represents replicate * Species: Genus and Species of each species identified in the plots. If species epithet was unknown, the \_sp is provided * Cover: Absolute cover (%) of each species in a plot. Data are the midpoint of canopy cover ranges. * Year: 5 level factor (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) * Time: 5 level factor (Pretreatment, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4) * Treatment: Two level factor (drought or control) * Lifespan: 2 level factor (Annual or Perennial). Blank cells represent unknown lifespan * Lifeform: 3 level factor (Forb, Grass, or Shrub) * Origin: 2 level factor (Native or Introduced). Blank cells represent unknown origin * FG: Plant Functional Group, a combination of Lifespan, Lifeform, and Origin #### File: ORIDE\_soilwater\_AC\_2016-2020.csv **Description:** Excel file for the AC site with raw (uncalibrated) and mean soil moisture values (Decagon EC-5 VWC, Pullman, Washington, USA), at a temporal resolution of 4h. Soil moisture integrated over 5-15 cm soil depth. Missing values are blank. ##### Variables * Date: Day and Year * Time: Time of Day * AC1_Control: AC Control replicate 1 (%) * AC1_Drought: AC Drought replicate 1 (%) * AC2_Control: AC Control replicate 2 (%) * AC2_D1: AC Drought replicate 2 (%) * Control: Mean AC control soil water (%) * Drought: Mean AC drought soil water (%) #### File: ORIDE\_soilwater\_AC\_deep\_2016-2020.csv **Description:** Excel file for the AC site with raw (uncalibrated) soil moisture values (Decagon EC-5 VWC, Pullman, Washington, USA), at a temporal resolution of 4h. Soil moisture integrated over 20-30 cm soil depth. Missing values are blank. ##### Variables * Date: Day and Year * Time: Time of Day * AC2_Control: AC Control soil water (only 1 replicate; %) * AC2_Drought: AC Drought soil water (only 1 replicate; %) #### File: ORIDE\_site\_data.xlsx **Description:** Provides site-level data for the 2 sites #### File: ORIDE\_BNPP\_2017\_2020.csv **Description:** Provides data on belowground net primary production between 2017-2020 ##### Variables * Year: 4 level factor (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) * Time: : 4 level factor (Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4) * Site: Unique ID for each site * ID: matches PLOT, except in cases where there was more than one sample collected per plot. For example, if there were 3 samples collected in plot 2 in 2017, ID would be 2.1, 2.2, 2.3. * Plot: 10 levels (5 for each treatment), represents replicate * Treatment: Two level factor (drought or control) * Rootmass_m2: estimated belowground net primary production (g m^-2) * Notes: provides any notes on the sample. Blank cells indicate no notes provided. ## Code/software N/A