BGPVC Plant species composition in the Belowground Plot Experiment at Konza Prairie

Two permanent plant composition plots were marked with conduit in each of the 64 plots. Canopy cover was recorded in a 5 m2circular area surrounding each of the plots. At approximately 5-year intervals, coverage is assessed in late July, using visual estimates of cover by species, based on a modified Daubenmire scale. In 1989, sampling was done once in early July after mowing using one 10 m2 plot placed randomly in the approximate center of each plot. In 1994, plant composition sampling was done in early June in the unmowed plots; sampling in the mowed plots occurred in August. In 1999, two permanent conduits were placed in each plot, and sampling was conducted in June, before mowing, and again in August using 5 m2 plot sizes. In 2005 and afterward, sampling was reduced to one time in late July. Sampling occurred once every five years until 2015. Plots have been sampled annually since 2016. Two of the long-term unburned plots in a wildfire in 1994 and 1995. Those plots and years of the fire are indicated on the linked plot map. The mowing treatment was discontinued after 2002 due to invasion of the mowed plots by old world bluestem grasses. Data users should check for exotic species impacts on specific mowed subplots prior to this. In addition, fertilization in all plots ceased in 2017 as part of recovery from chronic N enrichment experiment.