Soil water content under rainfall manipulation and nitrogen fertilization treatments at the Jornada Basin LTER site, 2007-2009

This data package contains soil water content data from a
precipitation and nitrogen manipulation experiment conducted on the
Jornada Experimental Range from 2006-2009. The objective of the
study was to understand the interaction of precipitation and
nitrogen dynamics on ANPP legacies. Rain-out shelters were used to
create 5 levels of precipitation: 80% reduced, 50% reduced, ambient
control, 50% increased, and 80% increased precipitation. Half of the
plots were randomly assigned to receive ammonium nitrate fertilizer.
In a subset of the plots, volumetric soil water content was
monitored at shallow (0-5 cm) and deep (30-50 cm) depths. This data
set contains the date of collection, block number, plot number,
2007-2008 precipitation treatment, 2009 precipitation treatment,
nitrogen treatment, depth of soil probe, sensor voltage, and
volumetric water content. Monitoring of soil moisture for this study
was discontinued in November 2009. Also available are plant cover
data from this study in data package knb-lter-jrn.210278002. For
further information and results, see: Throop, H., L. G. Reichmann, O. Sala, and S. Archer. (2012),
Response of dominant grass and shrub species to water manipulation:
an ecophysical basis for shrub invasion in a Chihuahuan desert
grassland. Oecologia 169: 373-383.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-011-2217-4 Reichmann, L. G., O. E. Sala, and D. P. C. Peters. (2013), Water
controls on nitrogen transformations and stocks in an arid
ecosystem. Ecosphere 4(1):11. https://doi.org/10.1890/ES12-00263.1