Simulations from four process-based ecosystem models describing primary productivity in a tallgrass prairie long-term irrigation experiment

To demonstrate current capabilities in modeling herbaceous ecosystems, we selected four different process-based models that vary in their representation of community change from no community representation to vegetation demographic models. These models were used to simulate a long-term irrigation experiment at a US tallgrass prairie (Konza Prairie Biological Station) following a standardized simulation protocol. Specifically, we were interested in how model output under a monotonic increase in water availability matched up to experimental findings of (1) herbaceous plant community change and (2) aboveground net primary productivity before and after the plant community change. The results of this simulation are included here., To simulate the Konza irrigation experiment, we used meteorological forcing data, environmental information (e.g., soil texture), and functional traits for Andropogon gerardii and Panicum virgatum (collated from author measurements and TRY) to calibrate and operate four models from 1991-2012. The goal was to evaluate the models’ ability to simulate the community shift and accompanying changes in ANPP. For these simulations, two PFTs were parameterized based on empirical information about functional traits for A. gerardii and P. virgatum and models were tuned to match observations from non-irrigated plots (i.e., controls). This led to slightly different starting PFT abundances among models when irrigated simulations began.
The following protocol was used to run all models for model simulation exercise.
Spin up:
Spin-up to equilibrium (1000-2000 years) using standard spin-up from model. Plant functional type (PFT) is C4 grassland or similar cover type. Starting C and biomass pools should ..., , # Irrigation simulation output

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m37pvmd80](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m37pvmd80)

The data here describe empirical observations and output from four model simulations of a long-term irrigation experiment at Konza Prairie Biological Station near Manhattan, KS, USA.

## Description of the data and file structure

ANPP data: There are three columns contained in the file: year=calendar year; anpp\_gm2=aboveground net primary productivity including leaf, stem, and seed productivity in grams per meter squared per year; source=model name or empirical observation indicator.

## Sharing/Access information

Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data:

* Raw empirical data can be obtained from the doi: 10.6073/pasta/3037d44d496df3d12fbe9668c7d618a6

## Code/Software

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