Plant composition, shrub biomass, and soil biogeochemistry from an experimental drought treatment on the Colorado Plateau

These data were compiled for a study that investigated the effects of drought seasonality and plant community composition in a dryland ecosystem. In 2015 U.S. Geological Survey ecologists recorded vegetation and soil moisture data in 36 experimental plots which manipulated precipitation in two plant community types. The experiment consisted of three precipitation treatments: control (ambient precipitation), cool-season drought (-66% ambient precipitation November-April), and warm-season drought (-66% ambient precipitation May-October), applied in two plant communities (perennial grasses with or without a large shrub, Ephedra viridis) over a three-year period. These data were collected from 2015 to 2022 near Canyonlands...

Categories: Data; Tags: Achnatherum hymenoides, Botany, C3 photosynthesis, C4 photosynthesis, Canyonlands National Park, All tags... Climatology, Colorado Plateau, Ecology, Ephedra viridis, Geography, Indian ricegrass, Information Sciences, Islands of Fertility, James' galleta, Needles District, Pleuraphis jamesii, Soil Sciences, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Utah, ambient precipitation, biogeochemical cycling, biogeochemical data, biogeochemistry, biomass, biota, carbon, carbon concentrations, control treatments, cool-season drought treatments, data release, drought seasonality, droughts, dryland ecosystems, ecosystems, experimental plots, experimental seasonal drought, field inventory and monitoring, field measurements, field sampling, geoscientificInformation, interspace cover estimates, mormon tea, nitrogen, nitrogen concentrations, percent cover estimates, perennial grasses, phosphorus, phosphorus concentrations, photosynthesis, plant community composition, plants (organisms), precipitation (atmospheric), precipitation treatments, shrubland ecosystems, soil cores, soil moisture, soil sciences, soil volumetric water content, southeastern Utah, vegetation, warm-season drought treatments, Fewer tags

Meteorological measurements from five weather stations in Grand and San Juan Counties in southeastern Utah (ver. 3.0, September 2024)

These data were compiled from six automated weather stations that together provide several points in the meteorological record across a latitudinal and elevational gradient in southeastern Utah. Recorded data from these weather stations are associated with several different studies. Meteorological data are important for quantifying short term weather events as well as longer term climate trends. Spatially separated precipitation gauges allow for better characterization of the heterogeneity of precipitation events. These data were collected from six locations running from north to south in southeast Utah. All of the weather stations use Campbell Scientific data loggers and data are collected daily via telecommunications...

Categories: Data, Data Release - Revised; Tags: Canyonlands National Park, Castle Valley, Kerby Lane, La Sal Mountains, Moab, All tags... Monticello, Mount Laurel, Needles District, Parriott Mesa, Porcupine Canyon, Resource Blvd, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), air temperature, atmospheric and climatic processes, barometric pressure, battery voltage, climate change, climate trends, climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere, data logger, data release, dryland systems, elevation, elevational gradient, environment, evapotranspiration, field inventory and monitoring, latitudinal gradient, location, meteorological data, meteorology, net radiation, photosynthetic photon flux density, precipitation (atmospheric), precipitation gauge, relative humidity, solar radiation, southeastern Utah, spatial location, terrestrial ecosystems, topography, volumetric water content, weather events, weather station, wind, wind direction, wind speed, Fewer tags

Vegetation cover, ground cover, plant mortality, and species abundance across an experimental drought treatment on the Colorado Plateau from 2010-2022

These data were compiled to assess the response of vegetation and biological soil crusts to drought in a semi-arid ecosystem on the Colorado Plateau near Moab, Utah. Objective(s) of our study were to explore how vegetation cover, soil conditions, and growing season nitrogen (N) availability are impacted by multifaceted drying climate conditions using data from a long-term precipitation reduction experiment (30% reduction). In 2010, U.S. Geological Survey biologists installed paired experimental plots with a control plot and a plot covered by a shelter that excluded 35% of incoming precipitation. These 40 sites represent shallow vs. deep soils and sandstone vs. shale parent material. These data were collected at...

Categories: Data; Tags: Botany, Colorado Plateau, Ecology, Geochemistry, Geography, All tags... Information Sciences, Moab, Soil Sciences, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), available nitrogen, biogeography, biological soil crusts, biota, control plot, data release, deep soils, droughts, elevation, environment, experimental design, experimental plot, extreme drought, field experiments, field inventory and monitoring, field methods, field sampling, focal species, foliar isotopes, geoscientificInformation, ground cover, nitrogen, plant cover, plant mortality, plant species richness, plants (organisms), plot sampling, plot-level data, precipitation (atmospheric), sandstone, sedimentary rocks, semi-arid ecosystem, shale, shallow soils, shelter plot, sites, soil chemistry, soil resources, soil sciences, soil texture, species diversity, temporal data, terrestrial ecosystems, upper Colorado Plateau, vegetation, Fewer tags

Meteorological measurements from five locations within the Badger Wash study area near Mack, Colorado (ver. 3.0, September 2024)

These data are records collected from an automated weather station and four stand-alone tipping bucket rain gauges each with their own data logger that were in operation between February 2005 and December 2023 in the Badger Wash Study Area near Mack, Colorado as part of a larger project funded by the Bureau of Land Management. These files are hourly-interval data from the automated weather station with meteorological parameters of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, wind gusts, photon flux density and rainfall as well as from a soil pit with temperature and soil moisture measurements at 5, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 cm deep. The standalone tipping-bucket rain gauge data which records...

Categories: Data, Data Release - Revised; Tags: Badger Wash, Badger Wash Met Station, Badger Wash Study Area, Bureau of Land Management, Colorado, All tags... Mack, Mesa County, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), USGS:5df7a102e4b0cdded7393e38, air temperature, climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere, elevation, field inventory and monitoring, land ownership, leaf wetness, meteorology, meterological measurements, micrometeorological conditions, plot data, precipitation, precipitation (atmospheric), precipitation measurement, rain, rain gauges, rain intensity, rainfall measurement, relative humidity, soil temperature, topography, volumetric water content, water content, watershed, weather, weather observations, weather station, wind, wind direction, wind speed, Fewer tags