Plant, Soil, and Greenhouse Gas Response to Goose Grazing in the Yukon-Kuskokwim River Delta, Alaska, 2022-2023

This dataset includes plant, soil, and greenhouse gas data collected during a manipulative field experiment emulating goose herbivory in tidal wetlands of the Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) River Delta, Alaska. Tidal wetlands of the YK Delta are important brood rearing habitat for many species of migratory geese. Some species of geese (Branta bernicla nigra and Branta Hutchinsii) feed extensively on a species of sedge (Carex subspathaceae) in wetland meadows. In this experiment, we applied three treatments in a fully factorial design to identify aspects of goose herbivory that impact greenhouse gas fluxes, plant properties, and soil properties in previously ungrazed C. subspathaceae meadows. The three applied treatments were: 1) grazing (i.e. biomass removal), 2) trampling, and 3) feces deposition. Treatment combinations were replicated across six experimental blocks. We also collected data from reference grazed and ungrazed C. subspathaceae meadows.

本数据集涵盖了在阿拉斯加育空-库斯科奎姆（Yukon-Kuskokwim，简称YK）河三角洲潮汐湿地开展的模拟鹅类啃食的控制性野外实验所采集的植物、土壤及温室气体数据。YK三角洲的潮汐湿地是多种迁徙鹅类的重要育雏栖息地，其中黑雁（Branta bernicla nigra）与哈氏雁（Branta hutchinsii）等鹅类物种会在湿地草甸中大量取食短鳞薹草（Carex subspathaceae）。本实验采用完全因子设计设置三种处理，以明确鹅类啃食的不同作用环节对此前未受放牧干扰的短鳞薹草草甸的温室气体通量、植物性状及土壤特性的影响，所设置的三种处理分别为：1）放牧（即生物量移除）、2）踩踏、3）粪便沉积。所有处理组合均在六个实验区组中重复设置，本研究同时还在天然放牧与未放牧的短鳞薹草草甸参考样地中采集了相关数据。