Extreme Drought in Grassland Ecosystems (EDGE) Seasonal Biomass and Seasonal and Annual NPP Data at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico

Net primary production is a fundamental ecological variable that quantifies rates of carbon consumption and fixation. Estimates of NPP are important in understanding energy flow at a community level as well as spatial and temporal responses to a range of ecological processes. While measures of both below- and above-ground biomass are important in estimating total NPP, this study focuses on above-ground net primary production (ANPP). Above-ground net primary production is the change in plant biomass, including loss to death and decomposition, over a given period of time. Volumetric measurements are made using vegetation data from permanent plots collected in SEV297, "Extreme Drought in Grassland Ecosystems (EDGE) Net Primary Production Quadrat Data" and regressions correlating biomass and volume constructed using seasonal harvest weights from SEV157, "Net Primary Productivity (NPP) Weight Data."