Quadrat-based monitoring of desert grassland vegetation at the Jornada Experimental Range, New Mexico, 1915-2016

The data set covers a 101-year period (1915-2016) of quadrat-based
plant sampling at the Jornada Experimental Range in southern New
Mexico. At each sampling event, a pantograph was used to record the
location and perimeter of living plants within permanent quadrats.
Basal area was recorded for perennial grass species, canopy cover area
was recorded for shrub species, and all other perennial species were
recorded as point data. The data set includes 122 1m by 1m permanent
quadrats, although not all quadrats were sampled in each year of the
study and there is a gap in monitoring from 1980-1995. These data
provide a unique opportunity to investigate changes in the plant
community over 100 years of variation in precipitation and other
environmental conditions. We provide the following data and data
formats: (1) the digitized maps in shapefile format; (2) data table
containing coordinates (x,y) of perennial species within quadrats,
including cover area for grasses and shrubs; (3) data table of counts
of annual plant individuals per quadrat; (4) species list indicating
growth form and habit of recorded species; (5) table of dates when
each quadrat was sampled; (6) table of the pasture each quadrat was
located within (note that pasture boundaries have changed over time).
Additional data to help characterize plant-scale factors related to
vegetation dynamics at the quadrat locations are: (7) data table of
depth to caliche layer; (8) data table of soil particle size analysis
and sand fractionation; and (9) data table of local and patch
topography. This data package was created to support a specific data
paper. Data are also available in data packages
knb-lter-jrn.210351001, knb-lter-jrn.210351002, and
knb-lter-jrn.210351003. Pantograph sampling is currently conducted at
5 year intervals by USDA-ARS staff, and new data will be added to
those data packages periodically.