Jornada Basin LTER (2018-2019) data and code for the Ecology publication “Shrub and grass soil-resource partitioning as modulated by precipitation amount and size of individual"

This data package contains data and code associated with a plant root tracer experiment (Study 469) conducted at the Jornada Basin LTER site in southern New Mexico, U.S.A, associated with the Ecology journal article “Shrub and grass soil-resource partitioning as modulated by precipitation amount and size of individual". The study was designed to investigate the root absorption profiles of dominant Prosopis glandulosa shrub and Bouteloua eriopoda grass. In September 2018 and September 2019, either LiCl tracer (treatment) or water (control) was injected to beneath 64 Prosopis glandulosa shrubs with co-located Bouteloua eripoda grasses. Injection depths ranged from 10 to 120 cm beneath the soil surface. Aboveground photosynthetic plant tissue was collected from target shrubs and grasses 21 days following each injection. Milled plant tissue samples were analyzed for Li content (concentration in ppm) using ICP-OES techniques in order to quantify plant root uptake activity. R scripts included in this package duplicate the data preparation and statistical analyses performed to model the soil-resource uptake of shrubs and grasses under divergent soil moisture conditions. This study and the dataset are completed.