SGS-LTER Ecosystem Stress Area - Belowground Biomass: Interactions between individual plant species and soil nutrient status in shortgrass steppe on the Central Plains Experimental Range in Nunn, Colorado, USA 1991

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 effect of plant community structure on nutrient cycling is fundamental to our
understanding of ecosystem function. We examined the importance of plant species and plant
cover (i.e. plant covered microsites vs bare soil) on nutrient cycling in shortgrass
steppe of northeastern Colorado. We tested the effects of both plant species and cover on
soils in an area of undisturbed shortgrass steppe and an area that had undergone nitrogen
and water additions from 1971 to 1974, resulting in significant shifts in plant species
composition. Additional information and referenced materials can be found:
http://hdl.handle.net/10217/83317.