Data from: Evaluating plant biodiversity measurements and exotic species detection in National Resources Inventory Sampling protocols using examples from the Northern Great Plains of the USA

Plant biodiversity data and associated soils, ecological site, and livestock management data that were collected at the USDA-ARS Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory in 2011 and 2013. Data were collected using the modified Whittaker technique. The unique design of the Whitaker method reduces autocorrelation among subplots, which is common in standard transect methods (Goslee, 2006). Grassland scientists worldwide use this standard technique to quantify and monitor plant diversity on, for example, Serengeti grasslands (Anderson et al., 2006), South African serpentine grasslands (Reddy et al., 2009), and rangelands in Turkey (Firinciglu et al., 2007) among many other environments. In addition, Sanderson at the NGPRL and Goslee at ARS University Park have developed a large database on plant species diversity of grazing lands in the U.S. (nearly 300 sites sampled using the Whitaker plot method). The use of the standardized Whitaker plot method allows us to combine data from the northern Great Plains with other databases worldwide for larger-scale meta-analyses. The multiscale technique also enables comparison of vegetation dynamics at multiple scales.
Resources in this dataset:

Resource Title: NGPRL modified Whittaker data
File Name: NGPRL_ModWhit.csv

Resource Title: Ancillary data for NGPRL modified Whittaker plots
File Name: NGPRL_ModWhit_Ancillary data.csv

Resource Title: Data dictionary for NGPRL modified Whittaker data
File Name: Modified Whittaker dataset dictionary.csv

Methods for NGPRL modified Whittaker data
File Name: modWhit methods and metadata.docx

本数据集包含2011年与2013年在美国农业部农业研究局（United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service, 简称USDA-ARS）北大平原研究实验室采集的植物生物多样性数据，以及配套的土壤、生态样地与牲畜管理数据。所有数据均采用改良型惠特克采样技术（modified Whittaker technique）采集。惠特克方法的独特设计可降低小样地间的自相关（autocorrelation）问题——这一问题在标准样带法（standard transect methods）中十分常见（Goslee, 2006）。目前全球范围内的草地科学家均采用该标准技术量化并监测植物多样性，例如塞伦盖蒂草原（Anderson等, 2006）、南非蛇纹岩草原（Reddy等, 2009）以及土耳其牧场（Firinciglu等, 2007）等诸多生境。

此外，北大平原研究实验室（Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory, 简称NGPRL）的Sanderson与美国农业部农业研究局大学公园站的Goslee合作构建了一套美国放牧地植物物种多样性大型数据库（采用惠特克样方法共采集了近300个样地数据）。借助标准化的惠特克样方法，本研究可将北大平原地区的数据与全球其他数据库整合，开展更大尺度的元分析（meta-analysis）；同时该多尺度采样技术还支持多尺度下的植被动态（vegetation dynamics）对比研究。

本数据集包含以下资源：
1. 资源名称：NGPRL改良惠特克采样数据集（NGPRL modified Whittaker data），文件名：NGPRL_ModWhit.csv
2. 资源名称：NGPRL改良惠特克样地辅助数据集（Ancillary data for NGPRL modified Whittaker plots），文件名：NGPRL_ModWhit_Ancillary data.csv
3. 资源名称：NGPRL改良惠特克采样数据集数据字典（Data dictionary for NGPRL modified Whittaker data），文件名：Modified Whittaker dataset dictionary.csv
4. 资源名称：NGPRL改良惠特克采样数据方法说明（Methods for NGPRL modified Whittaker data），文件名：modWhit methods and metadata.docx