North Desert Village Experiment - a landscaping experiment in neighborhoods of the greater Phoenix metropolitan area: 2003-2014

The North Desert Village (NDV) landscape experiment at the Arizona State University Polytechnic campus was designed to give a platform for CAP LTER researchers to study human–landscape interactions. Four residential landscape design and water-delivery types established in blocks of six households each (mini-neighborhoods) mirrored the four prevailing residential yardscape types found across the greater Phoenix metropolitan area: (1) Mesic: a mixture of exotic high water-use vegetation and shade trees with turf grass, (2) Oasis: a mixture of drip-watered, high and low water-use plants on granite substrate, and sprinkler-irrigated turf grass, (3) Xeric: individually watered, low water-use exotic and native plants on granite substrate, and (4) Native: native Sonoran desert plants on granite substrate without supplemental water. Six additional households are monitored in a control treatment area that did not receive landscaping treatment or supplemental water. Major research questions include: How do landscape design and irrigation methods affect net primary productivity and under-canopy microclimate, and soil nutrient pools and fluxes. In addition, the mini-neighborhoods at NDV were incorporated into CAP LTER biodiversity monitoring programs, facilitating insights into insect abundance and diversity, and bird activity in these experimental treatment areas. During summer 2005, the landscape and irrigation systems for each of the treatment areas were completed. During spring 2006, micrometeorological (micromet) stations were installed in the central common area of each treatment area. Data continually monitored included soil temperature, soil heat flux, and volumetric water content of soil at 30-cm depth. Air temperature at 2-m height and soil-surface temperature (recorded by an infrared thermometer at 2-m height) were also monitored regularly. Landscape irrigation water application volumes were recorded approximately monthly, and the electric meters of treatment-area dwellings were monitored for a period. These data allowed scientists working at NDV insight into research questions involving water conservation and urban heating, undercanopy layer microclimates, and water-use efficiency.