SGS-LTER Graduate Student Research: Phospholipid fatty acid (PFLA) as Biochemical Responses of US Great Plains Grasslands to Regional and Interannual Variability in Precipitation (1999-2001)

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. Additional information and referenced materials can be found: http://hdl.handle.net/10217/85531.
Carbon (C) sequestration potential in grasslands is thought to be high due to the large soil organic carbon pools characteristic of these ecosystems. Inputs of C (aboveground net primary productivity) are highly correlated to precipitation across the Great Plains region; however, changes in C pool size at a specific site are governed by the relative input and output rates across time. Our objective was to quantify the ecosystem C response of three grassland community types (shortgrass steppe, mixed grass and tallgrass prairie) to interannual variation in precipitation. At five sites across a precipitation gradient in the Great Plains, we measured net primary production (NPP), soil respiration (SRESP), and litter decomposition rates for three consecutive years. NPP, SRESP, and litter decomposition increased from shortgrass steppe (175, 454, and 47 g C m-2 yr-1) to tallgrass prairie (408, 1221, and 348 g C m-2 yr-1 for NPP, SRESP, and litter decomposition respectively). Increased growing season precipitation between study years resulted in increased NPP, SRESP, and litter decomposition at almost all sites. However, the regional patterns of the interannual NPP, SRESP, and litter decomposition responses differ from each other. This data suggests NPP and SRESP are more sensitive to interannual changes in precipitation than litter decomposition, and that shortgrass steppe sites are more responsive to interannual variability in precipitation than mixed grass and tallgrass prairie. Resources in this dataset:Resource Title: Website Pointer to html file. File Name: Web Page, url: https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/mapbrowse?scope=knb-lter-sgs&identifier=538 Webpage with information and links to data files for download

本数据包由从事短草草原长期生态研究（SGS-LTER）项目的研究人员制作，该项目由科罗拉多州立大学管理。关于SGS-LTER项目的长期数据集和背景信息（提案、报告、照片等）均收录在科罗拉多州数字收藏馆的综合性项目集合中（http://digitool.library.colostate.edu/R/?func=collections&collection_id=3429）。该数据表及其关联的元数据文档，采用生态元数据语言生成，可能通过其他服务于生态研究领域的存储库获取，并代表SGS-LTER项目集合的组成部分。更多信息和参考文献可查阅：http://hdl.handle.net/10217/85531。鉴于草地在土壤有机碳库方面具有显著特征，碳（C）在草地中的封存潜力被认为较高。C的输入（地上净初级生产力）与北美大平原地区的降水量高度相关；然而，特定地点的碳库大小变化由随时间变化的相对输入和输出速率所控制。本研究旨在量化三种草地群落类型（短草草原、混草和长草草原）对降水年际变化的生态系统碳响应。在北美大平原降水梯度上的五个地点，我们对连续三年的净初级生产力（NPP）、土壤呼吸（SRESP）和凋落物分解速率进行了测量。NPP、SRESP和凋落物分解速率从短草草原（175、454和47克碳每平方米每年）增加到长草草原（分别为408、1221和348克碳每平方米每年）。研究年间生长季降水量的增加导致几乎所有地点的NPP、SRESP和凋落物分解速率均有所增加。然而，年际NPP、SRESP和凋落物分解的响应模式在区域层面上存在差异。这些数据表明，NPP和SRESP对降水年际变化的敏感性高于凋落物分解，且短草草原地点对降水年际变化更为敏感，相较于混草和长草草原。本数据集包含的资源：资源标题：指向html文件的网站指针。文件名：网页，网址：https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/mapbrowse?scope=knb-lter-sgs&identifier=538 提供信息和下载数据文件的链接网页。