Leaf nutrient content from a long-term (60+ year) herbivore exclusion experiment near Utqiaġvik, Alaska, 2018

We conducted a 60+ year herbivore exclusion experiment to better understand the long-term responses of plant nutrients to changing herbivore populations in the Arctic. This dataset presents leaf percent (%) carbon, % nitrogen, % phosphorous and nutrient ratio content from plants making up 80% of vascular plant cover in response to 60+ years of herbivore exclusion in wet, moist, and dry landcover classes near the town of Utqiaġvik, Alaska. The data was collected during peak growing season in July 2018 from plots that have excluded herbivores and paired control plots. The 12 herbivore exclusion fences were originally constructed in 1954 and are made of 2 meter (m) x 2m fine wire mesh with paired control plots set up within 5m of the fenced plots.