SGS-LTER Graduate Student Research: Belowground Net Primary Production as Biochemical Responses of US Great Plains Grasslands to Regional and Interannual Variability in Precipitation (1999-2001)

This data package was produced by researchers working on the Shortgrass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research (SGS-LTER) Project, administered at Colorado State University. Long-term datasets and background information (proposals, reports, photographs, etc.) on the SGS-LTER project are contained in a comprehensive project collection within the Digital Collections of Colorado (http://digitool.library.colostate.edu/R/?func=collections&collection_id=3429). The data table and associated metadata document, which is generated in Ecological Metadata Language, may be available through other repositories serving the ecological research community and represent components of the larger SGS-LTER project collection. Additional information and referenced materials can be found: http://hdl.handle.net/10217/85531.
Carbon (C) sequestration potential in grasslands is thought to be high due to the large soil organic carbon pools characteristic of these ecosystems. Inputs of C (aboveground net primary productivity) are highly correlated to precipitation across the Great Plains region; however, changes in C pool size at a specific site are governed by the relative input and output rates across time. Our objective was to quantify the ecosystem C response of three grassland community types (shortgrass steppe, mixed grass and tallgrass prairie) to interannual variation in precipitation. At five sites across a precipitation gradient in the Great Plains, we measured net primary production (NPP), soil respiration (SRESP), and litter decomposition rates for three consecutive years. NPP, SRESP, and litter decomposition increased from shortgrass steppe (175, 454, and 47 g C m-2 yr-1) to tallgrass prairie (408, 1221, and 348 g C m-2 yr-1 for NPP, SRESP, and litter decomposition respectively). Increased growing season precipitation between study years resulted in increased NPP, SRESP, and litter decomposition at almost all sites. However, the regional patterns of the interannual NPP, SRESP, and litter decomposition responses differ from each other. This data suggests NPP and SRESP are more sensitive to interannual changes in precipitation than litter decomposition, and that shortgrass steppe sites are more responsive to interannual variability in precipitation than mixed grass and tallgrass prairie. Resources in this dataset:Resource Title: Website Pointer to html file. File Name: Web Page, url: https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/mapbrowse?scope=knb-lter-sgs&identifier=533 Webpage with information and links to data files for download

本数据包由科罗拉多州立大学管理的短草草原长期生态系统研究（SGS-LTER）项目的研究人员制作。SGS-LTER项目的长期数据集及相关背景信息（提案、报告、照片等）均收录于科罗拉多州数字收藏馆的全面项目集合中（http://digitool.library.colostate.edu/R/?func=collections&collection_id=3429）。该数据表及其相关元数据文档，以生态元数据语言生成，可能通过服务于生态研究领域的其他数据存储库获得，并构成SGS-LTER项目集合的组成部分。更多信息及参考资料可查阅：http://hdl.handle.net/10217/85531。鉴于草地在土壤有机碳库方面具有显著特征，因此其碳（C）封存潜力被认为较高。碳的输入（地上净初级生产力）与北美大平原地区的降水量高度相关；然而，特定地点碳库大小的变化受时间跨度的相对输入和输出速率所支配。我们的目标是量化三种草地群落类型（短草草原、混合草地和长草草原）对年际降水变化的生态系统碳响应。在北美大平原降水梯度上的五个地点，我们对连续三年的净初级生产力（NPP）、土壤呼吸（SRESP）和凋落物分解速率进行了测量。从短草草原（175、454和47克碳每平方米每年）到长草草原（NPP、SRESP和凋落物分解分别为408、1221和348克碳每平方米每年），NPP、SRESP和凋落物分解速率均有所增加。研究年间生长季降水量的增加导致几乎所有地点的NPP、SRESP和凋落物分解均有所增加。然而，年际NPP、SRESP和凋落物分解的响应模式在区域层面上存在差异。这些数据表明，NPP和SRESP对年际降水变化的敏感性高于凋落物分解，且短草草原地点对年际降水变化的响应程度高于混合草地和长草草原。本数据集包含资源：资源标题：指向HTML文件的网站指针。文件名：网页，网址：https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/mapbrowse?scope=knb-lter-sgs&identifier=533 包含信息和数据文件下载链接的网页。