Talus Surface & Subsurface Temperature Data from Oregon & Colorado, USA, 2011-2019

Between 2011 and 2019, temperature data loggers were buried in rocky talus patches (hereafter “sites”) potentially occupied by American pikas (Ochotona princeps). Data collection spanned three ecoregions: Grand Mesa, Colorado (GRME), Mt. Hood, Oregon (MTHO), and the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon (CRGO). Sensors were placed either near the surface of the talus (shaded from sunlight) or in the interstices (75-80 cm deep) and programmed to record the temperature every 2-hours. At some sites when noted, surface sensors were placed directly above a paired interstitial sensor at the same GPS coordinate, and sensors were replaced each year. MTHO sites were located near or within the burn scar from the 2011 Dollar Lake Fire and spanned a range of burn severities (Varner et al. 2015, dx.doi.org/10.1071/WF15050). All CRGO sites except Mosier were within the range of pikas in this ecoregion and complement or extend previous analyses of talus microclimates in this ecoregion (Varner & Dearing 2014, dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0104648; those data are available at https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s63b984d).