SGS-LTER Standard Production Data: 1983-2008 Annual Aboveground Net Primary Production on the Central Plains Experimental Range, Nunn, Colorado, USA 1983-2008, ARS Study Number 6 (Reformatted to the ecocomDP Design Pattern)

This data package is formatted as an ecocomDP (Ecological Community
Data Pattern). For more information on ecocomDP see
https://github.com/EDIorg/ecocomDP. This Level 1 data package was
derived from the Level 0 data package found here: https://pasta.lternet.edu/package/metadata/eml/knb-lter-sgs/700/1.
The abstract below was extracted from the Level 0 data package and
is included for context: This data package was produced by researchers working on the
Shortgrass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research (SGS-LTER) Project,
administered at Colorado State University. Long-term datasets and
background information (proposals, reports, photographs, etc.) on the
SGS-LTER project are contained in a comprehensive project collection
within the Digital Collections of Colorado (http://digitool.library.colostate.edu/R/?func=collections&collection_id=3429).
The data table and associated metadata document, which is generated in Ecological
Metadata Language, may be available through other repositories serving
the ecological research community and represent components of the
larger SGS-LTER project collection. The objective of the long-term ANPP study is to monitor long-term net above ground primary production of the shortgrass steppe community by species.
There are 6 sites: ridgetop (ridge), midslope (mid), swale, ESA (replicate 1 not 2), Section 25 (SEC 25), and owl-creek (OC).
Each site is located in a different landscape position or soil type on the shortgrass steppe and may be grazed or not.
Ridgetop, midslope and swale are grazed and are sampled along a catena. Section 25 is grazed and is located in an upload grassland.
ESA is an ungrazed upland grassland an is the control from the Ecosystem Stress Area experiment. Owl Creek is ungrazed and is located
in the lowland along the owl creek drainage. There are 3 transects with 5 plots in each transect. Plots in the grazed locations are protected by cages.
Because this is a monitoring effort, true replicates across the landscape are not available and it is recommended that the transect be used in calculating
mean production at each sampling location. The Shortgrass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research (SGS-LTER)
project was funded by National Science Foundation as one of the
first sites in the US LTER Network in 1982. This collaborative,
interdisciplinary research project was established in the
Natural Resource Ecology Lab at Colorado State University by
ecosystem scientists who learned novel approaches to study
grassland ecosystems during the International Biome Program
(IBP) (1968-1974). The SGS-LTER project was built upon the
foundation of data and information obtained during IBP, as
scientists sought to identify and follow, and often manipulate
in experiments, important ecosystem processes over the
long-term. The objectives of the SGS-LTER project were to
investigate what mechanisms regulate processes in the shortgrass
steppe. Research questions focused on how biotic and abiotic
components of the ecosystem are coupled, where and when
ecosystem components are most vulnerable to perturbations,
disseminating information that would be helpful for rangeland
management and assessing impacts of climate change. Scientists
explored variations in the structure and function of the
ecosystem over space and time and sought to understand how these
aspects are governed by climate, natural disturbance, biota,
physiography, and human use. Scientists at the SGS-LTER
integrated long-term monitoring data, designed experimental
studies, performed and advanced modeling techniques, and
synthesized data to conduct innovative research, education, and
outreach. The core SGS-LTER research site was established on the
Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER) in Nunn, Colorado, part
of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural
Research Service. The research site sits in the rain shadow of
the Rocky Mountains at the western edge of the shortgrass steppe
of North America. The shortgrass steppe ecosystem evolved with
grazing by the American bison, which has now been replaced by
cattle. Grazing by domestic livestock is the primary land use of
native grassland, which occupies about 60% of the land area of
the shortgrass steppe. Short grasses dominate the vegetation
community, which have adapted to grazing and less than 400 mm of
annual rainfall. The topography is characterized by gently
rolling hills, broad ephemeral stream courses and low
flat-topped terraces. Aspects of physiography regulate the
shortgrass steppe ecosystem, including landscape position, soil
age, water holding capacity, soil depth and surface texture
which, in turn, determine such properties as soil moisture
storage, net primary productivity and the distribution of small
mammals such as prairie dogs and pocket gophers. SGS-LTER
scientists have expanded their research studies beyond the CPER
to identify similar or different patterns in ecosystem structure
and function in North American grasslands; across the Great
Plains region and along the latitudinal gradient from Wyoming to
Mexico. They also conducted cross-site collaborative research
and compared their results and tested theories in grasslands
located in South America, Asia and Africa. Funding from NSF for
the SGS-LTER project ends in 2014, but over thirty years of
research has resulted in a scientific team with diverse
expertise, which produced over 1200 journal publications, almost
400 book chapters and over 200 theses. Data, products and other
information produced from the SGS-LTER are available through the
LTER Network Information System, Digital Collections of Colorado
at CSU or upon request through [e-mail].