DSL2005023 FLRAWBK Jornada Basin LTER

NMSU, Wooton Hall, Room 200 2995 Knox Street, Room 200 Box 30003, MSC 3JER Las Cruces NM 88003

(505) 646-7918 (505) 646-5889 datamanager@jornada.nmsu.edu http://jornada-www.nmsu.edu Dr. Debra P Peters Jornada Basin LTER

USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range P.O. Box 30003, MSC 3JER New Mexico State University Las Cruces NM 88003-0003

505 646 2777 505 646 5889 debpeter@nmsu.edu Dr. Laura F Huenneke Jornada Basin LTER

Dean, College of Arts & Sciences Northern Arizona University P.O. Box 5621 Flagstaff AZ 86011-5621

928-523-0516 Laura.Huenneke@nau.edu Dr. Walt Whitford Jornada Basin LTER

Retired, EPA USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range P.O. Box 30003, MSC 3JER Las Cruces NM 88003-8003

505-646-8032 wawhitfo@nmsu.edu ORG0000001 Gary Cunningham

unknown Responsible Investigator Yoram Goldring

unknown Researcher Steve Wondzell

Researcher English INTRODUCTION. In the spring of 1982, as part of the establishment of the Jornada Long-Term Ecological Research site in southern New Mexico, a 135 ha portion of a 1500 ha, internally drained, watershed was exclosed from grazing by domestic livestock. Prior to exclosure the watershed, as well as the rest of the Jornada basin, had been moderately to heavily grazed for the past 100 years. Concurrent with grazing, the vegetation had undergone a dramatic change from desert grassland, with an almost continuous cover of C4 perennial grasses, to isolated patches of the original grassland in a mosaic with desert shrub dominated plant communities (Buffington and Herbel, 1965). The exclosure lies along a northeast facing piedmont slope at the base of a steep isolated mountain peak, and covers a variety of component landforms from the foot of the mountain to the basin floor. This provided the opportunity to investigate the response of vegetation with respect to landscape characteristics as well as release from grazing. The exclosure is located immediately upslope from College Playa near NMSU College Ranch Headquarters. METHODS 1. Permanently marked 30m line transects were located at 50m intervals along the two parallel long axis fences of the exclosure. These fences run from north to south up the slope of the watershed, traversing the component landforms characteristic of the bajadas of the Basin and Range Province. The transects are thus perpendicular to the direction of major drainage flow. Plant line intercepts were measured for all perennial plant October of 1982, 1986, 1992, and 1998. These were converted to Mean Percent Cover per line transect per station. 2. Vegetation communities along each fence were defined using sliding window boundary analysis (Ludwig and Cornelius) and canonical discriminant analysis. 3. T tests were performed on the changes in cover of individual species within the exclosure (ungrazed) versus without (grazed), by vegetation community. Tests were also performed on groups of high grazing preference species as opposed to low grazing preference species. DISCUSSION. After five years of exclosure, the grass dominated communities within the exclosure appear to have a lush cover of grass compared to the grazed areas outside. This is a reflection of the increased cover of Bouteloua eriopoda in Community B (going from 3.3% cover in 1982 to 20.4% in 1987), and the combined increase of Aristida and Sporobolus species in Community C (going from 2.5% cover to 17.6%). All these genera are highly palatable grasses that were important components of the original grassland. The remaining species and communities showed little or no response to release from grazing. The degree of response is closely tied to landscape position. Those communities (B & C) which are in a positions to receive high additions of water and nutrients from runon from upper parts of the watershed showed the greatest response (if the original grass species had not been completely lost, as in Community A). In contrast, we have not yet observed a significant response in communities which are still grass dominated (D & E), but are in landscape positions that receive less runon. Thus they are not sinks for materials transported along the watershed. Shrub dominated communities (F) on erosional landforms with little or no runon showed no response for any species. Recovery of perennial grass cover in desert grasslands of the northern Chihuahuan Desert appears to be possible, though a slow process that is dependent on landscape position. Chihuahuan Desert Las Cruces NM Southwest USA Dona Ana County JRN Jornada Basin LTER LTER vegetative cover line intercepts plant cover grazing effects fence lines

This dataset is released to the public and may be used for academic, educational, or commercial purposes subject to the following:

The Jornada Basin LTER Information Management System provides protocol and services for data collection, verification, organization, archives, and distribution.

Data managers interact with researchers during the entire scientific process--from the initial planning of sampling designs and field data collection to archiving and distribution of long-term data. The goal of data management is to build and maintain an archive of Jornada Basin LTER data files that are fully documented, error free, and organized in useful ways. Our protocol for data collection and processing seeks maximum interaction between researchers and data management personnel to avoid confusion and potential loss of data or problems with integrity of data. The data manager helps researchers to construct data forms that allow convenient data entry and analysis. Data documentation forms are completed by principal investigators prior to data entry. Data are entered into computer data files by data entry personnel using programs that error- check and verify the data as it is entered. Computer files are subjected to further verification by graphing and/or error-checking programs, and/or examination by field investigators. Error-checked data files are stored with associated documentation files on floppy disks and on a hard-disk database. Back-up data files are maintained as "hard-copy," on multiple floppy disks, and on read/write 30- year magneto-optical disks. Various sets of these data are stored at different sites on the NMSU campus. The final responsibility for quality assurance (both in data and documentation content) rests with the principal investigator who submits the data for inclusion in the Jornada Basin LTER Information Management System. To facilitate quality assurance, the data management staff will provide copies of data and documentation submitted by a principal investigator to that investigator upon request.

All data collected during a calendar year should be submitted to the Jornada Basin LTER data manager prior to July first of the following year. Data must be submitted with standard Jornada Basin LTER forms (both Project Abstract and Data Set documentation) which include objectives of the study, methods, as well as format and content of the data.

Data will be made publicly available no later than 2 years after submission of the data unless an earlier date is specified by the principal investigator. In the event that an extension of the 2 year period is necessary, the principal investigator may petition the Jornada Basin LTER Executive Committee for a longer protected period.

Individuals and institutions utilizing data from the Jornada Basin LTER database are requested to place the following acknowledgment in any publication in which these data are mentioned: Data sets were provided by the Jornada Basin Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) projects. Funding for these data was provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation (Grants DEB-92-40261 and DEB 94-11971). Please send 1 copy of any publication that cites Jornada Basin LTER data to: John P. Anderson Jornada Experimental Range P.O. Box 30003, MSC 3JER New Mexico State University Las Cruces, NM 88003-0003

http://jornada-www.nmsu.edu/datacat.htm Jornada Basin,Chihuahuan Desert, 17 miles NE of Las Cruces, NM, USA -107.002148 -106.502641 32.831393 32.428919 1188 2658 meter 1982-10-19 1986-09-19

5 year intervals

Data set title - East & West Boundary Fence Plant Line Intercepts- Raw (Book)Data set file name - FLRAWBK.DSD----------------------------------------------------------------mm/dd/yyyy - Date of CommentInt - Initials of person making CommentJPA = John P. AndersonMAB = Michelle A. BuonopaneKR = Ken RamseyChanges/Updates - List any changes made to documentmm/dd/yyyy Int Changes/Updates---------- --- -----------------------------------------------10/28/1986 JPA Form completed10/04/1992 JPA Updated02/02/1994 JPA Updated10/09/1998 JPA Converted to new documentation form01/15/1999 JPA Update file names02/13/1999 JPA Update descriptions06/06/2002 MAB Added month/year info corresponding with week numbers.07/19/2005 KR Added Dataset ID and Project ID to top of form.Changed format for Attributes and AssociatedFiles section.Removed Missing/Questionable data section andincorporated into Attributes section.Changed format of Responsible Investigators andResearchers sections.08/01/2005 JPA Updated Responsible Investigator section.01/23/2006 JPA Corrected Data Set Access to UNRESTRICTED.-------------------------------------------------------------------

Data Manager

NMSU, Wooton Hall, Room 200 2995 Knox Street, Room 200 Box 30003, MSC 3JER Las Cruces NM 88003

(505) 646-7918 (505) 646-5889 datamanager@jornada.nmsu.edu http://jornada-www.nmsu.edu Data Manager

NMSU, Wooton Hall, Room 200 2995 Knox Street, Room 200 Box 30003, MSC 3JER Las Cruces NM 88003

(505) 646-7918 (505) 646-5889 datamanager@jornada.nmsu.edu http://jornada-www.nmsu.edu Debra Peters

USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range P.O. Box 30003, MSC 3JER New Mexico State University Las Cruces NM 88003-0003

505 646 2777 505 646 5889 debpeter@nmsu.edu ORG0000001 ----------------------------------------------------------------METHODS1. Permanently marked 30m line transects were located at about50m intervals along the two parallel long axis fences of theLTER exclosure which begins immediately above the CollegePlaya and extends toward Mt. Summerford. These fences run from northto south up the slope of the watershed, traversing the componentlandforms characteristic of the bajadas of the Basin and Range Province.The line transects are perpendicular to the fences and cross them ata fence post (either T-post or wood post) on the downslope side. Theyare thus perpendicular to the direction of major drainage flow. Theline transects are identified by an aluminum tag wired to the fencepost. The letter on the tag i.d. identifies the fence (East or West);the number is the station number (East: 1-30; West: 1-31).Canopy cover of only perennial species intercepted bya line stretched the length of the 30-meter line transect are measuredand recorded for each of 6 5-meter segments. The ends of the lineare anchored by 3/8" rebar extending about 6 inches out of the ground.When measurements are to be made, a length of clothesline is stretchedbetween the two rebar so it is taut. Before making readings, ensurethe line is freed from obstructions so it is perfectly straightbetween the two rebar. This may require threading the line throughlarge plants or lifting free where sections are snagged.The clothesline used is pre-stretched overnight when new tominimize changes in length when stretched tight in the field. It ismarked in 5 meter increments with enamel paint to indicate segmentlengths. The length of the line should be checked before beginning anew season of measurements to ensure that stretching has not distortedline.Data is recorded by identifying Station number (metaltag is located on fence post) and Segment number. The 5-metersegments are numbered 1 through 6 beginning at the west end ofthe line (right end if facing upslope). Length of each plant speciesthat is intercepted by line is recorded. Multiple readings (interceptobservation) can occur for a single plant if vegetation is broken upwith open areas along the line intercept. Each new 5-meter linesegment is identified as it is encountered. Plant species arerecorded as a 4 letter acronym consisting of first 2 letters of genusand first 2 letters of species epithet. If a duplicate acronymresults for 2 different species, generally the 3rd letter of thespecies epithet is then used. Acronyms used are found in the PlantChecklist for the NSF/LTER Jornada Sites.Data sheets were used to record the data until September,1992 (Week 559). At this time tape recorders were used to record thefield data. This data was entered and processed using severalprograms. INPUT.EXE (Fortran) is used to input tape recorded data.CONVERT.EXE (Fortran) is used to convert the entered tape recordeddata to a format that matches that entered from data sheets.SRELCHEK.EXE (QuickBasic) error checks data. LTERCOVR.EXE (Fortran)summarizes and calculates mean percent cover for each species on each30-meter line transect at each station.

Beginning in 1992 (not applicable to these data sets) field data isrecorded on audio tape then transcribed to floppy disk using Fortranprogram INPUT.FOR. This data is then sorted by station, species i.d.,and then line segment. It is then converted to a form similar tothat recorded on data sheets in prior years. The conversionis done using the Fortran program CONVERT.FOR.

Dr. Debra P Peters

USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range P.O. Box 30003, MSC 3JER New Mexico State University Las Cruces NM 88003-0003

505 646 2777 Responsible Investigator Dr. Laura F Huenneke

Dean, College of Arts & Sciences Northern Arizona University P.O. Box 5621 Flagstaff AZ 86011-5621

928-523-0516 Responsible Investigator Dr. Walt Whitford

Retired, EPA USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range P.O. Box 30003, MSC 3JER Las Cruces NM 88003-8003

505-646-8032 Responsible Investigator Gary Cunningham

Responsible Investigator Steve Wondzell

Additional Investigator Esteban Muldavin

Additional Investigator INTRODUCTION. In the spring of 1982, as part of the establishment of the Jornada Long-Term Ecological Research site in southern New Mexico, a 135 ha portion of a 1500 ha, internally drained, watershed was exclosed from grazing by domestic livestock. Prior to exclosure the watershed, as well as the rest of the Jornada basin, had been moderately to heavily grazed for the past 100 years. Concurrent with grazing, the vegetation had undergone a dramatic change from desert grassland, with an almost continuous cover of C4 perennial grasses, to isolated patches of the original grassland in a mosaic with desert shrub dominated plant communities (Buffington and Herbel, 1965). The exclosure lies along a northeast facing piedmont slope at the base of a steep isolated mountain peak, and covers a variety of component landforms from the foot of the mountain to the basin floor. This provided the opportunity to investigate the response of vegetation with respect to landscape characteristics as well as release from grazing. The exclosure is located immediately upslope from College Playa near NMSU College Ranch Headquarters. METHODS 1. Permanently marked 30m line transects were located at 50m intervals along the two parallel long axis fences of the exclosure. These fences run from north to south up the slope of the watershed, traversing the component landforms characteristic of the bajadas of the Basin and Range Province. The transects are thus perpendicular to the direction of major drainage flow. Plant line intercepts were measured for all perennial plant October of 1982, 1986, 1992, and 1998. These were converted to Mean Percent Cover per line transect per station. 2. Vegetation communities along each fence were defined using sliding window boundary analysis (Ludwig and Cornelius) and canonical discriminant analysis. 3. T tests were performed on the changes in cover of individual species within the exclosure (ungrazed) versus without (grazed), by vegetation community. Tests were also performed on groups of high grazing preference species as opposed to low grazing preference species. DISCUSSION. After five years of exclosure, the grass dominated communities within the exclosure appear to have a lush cover of grass compared to the grazed areas outside. This is a reflection of the increased cover of Bouteloua eriopoda in Community B (going from 3.3% cover in 1982 to 20.4% in 1987), and the combined increase of Aristida and Sporobolus species in Community C (going from 2.5% cover to 17.6%). All these genera are highly palatable grasses that were important components of the original grassland. The remaining species and communities showed little or no response to release from grazing. The degree of response is closely tied to landscape position. Those communities (B & C) which are in a positions to receive high additions of water and nutrients from runon from upper parts of the watershed showed the greatest response (if the original grass species had not been completely lost, as in Community A). In contrast, we have not yet observed a significant response in communities which are still grass dominated (D & E), but are in landscape positions that receive less runon. Thus they are not sinks for materials transported along the watershed. Shrub dominated communities (F) on erosional landforms with little or no runon showed no response for any species. Recovery of perennial grass cover in desert grasslands of the northern Chihuahuan Desert appears to be possible, though a slow process that is dependent on landscape position. Dr. Debra Peters

USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range P.O. Box 30003, MSC 3JER New Mexico State University Las Cruces NM 88003-0003

505 646 2777 PE00000002 Information Manager Historical Perspective: The Chihuahuan Desert , similar to many arid and semiarid ecosystems of the world, has experienced dramatic changes in vegetation structure and ecosystem processes over the past several centuries. The reasons for the expansion of woody plants and decrease in perennial grasses are numerous and controversial, including livestock grazing, drought, climate change, reduction in fire frequency, and change in small animal populations. The problem is further complicated by the existence of interactions among these factors that feature positive feedbacks and that create threshold behavior and nonlinearity in ecosystem responses. A general consensus does not exist regarding the key factors that control the desertification process or the conditions that explain varying patterns of shrub invasion or grass persistence under similar conditions. It is also unclear why many attempts to remediate shrublands back to grasslands have failed whereas some methods have worked well, but with long time lags. Site History: The Jornada Basin Long Term Ecological Research Program (JRN LTER), supported by major funding from the National Science Foundation, has been investigating desertification processes since 1982. We benefit from a legacy of long-term data available from 1912 onwards, thanks to collaboration with our research partner, the Jornada Experimental Range Agricultural Research Service (JER ARS). Significant progress has been made in understanding the causes and consequences of desertification, although important problems still remain. In particular, several key questions are unresolved, including (1) can we predict spatial and temporal variation in ecosystem properties related to desertification and grass recovery? (2) how do we integrate diverse observations about vegetation, climate, soils, hydrology, and animal populations to accomplish this prediction? This integration is the focus of current LTER studies. Research Topics: desertification; ecosystem indicators and vegetation dynamics; geomorphology and wind; ecohydrology; animal interactions; factors affecting primary production; animal-induced soil disturbances; direct and indirect consumer effects; vertebrate and invertebrate population dynamics; grazing effects on ecosystem structure and function; biodiversity and ecosystem. Jornada Basin Climate and Vegetation NSF Award DEB-0080412 description. U.S. National Science Foundation (Grant DEB-0080412) uid=JRN,o=lter,dc=ecoinformatics,dc=org all public read FENCELIN.HIS Data file FENCELIN.HIS column 8 1 4 11 1 15 2 16 1 19 4 21 3 25 3 28 3 31 3 34 3 37 3 40 3 43 3 46 3 49 3 52 3 55 3 58 3 61 3 64 3 67 3 70 3 73 3 76 fileid fileid file identification code Character wk wk week number Integer fenceline fenceline fence line Character station station station (E = 1-30, W = 1-31) Integer segment segment line segment number Integer spp spp plant species i.d. Character no no total # of line intercept observations for current record Integer i01 i01 intercept observation 1 Integer i02 i02 intercept observation 2 Integer i03 i03 intercept observation 3 Integer i04 i04 intercept observation 4 Integer i05 i05 intercept observation 5 Integer i06 i06 intercept observation 6 Integer i07 i07 intercept observation 7 Integer i08 i08 intercept observation 8 Integer i09 i09 intercept observation 9 Integer i10 i10 intercept observation 10 Integer i11 i11 intercept observation 11 Integer i12 i12 intercept observation 12 Integer i13 i13 intercept observation 13 Integer i14 i14 intercept observation 14 Integer i15 i15 intercept observation 15 Integer i16 i16 intercept observation 16 Integer i17 i17 intercept observation 17 Integer FL000041.RAW Data file FL000041.RAW column 8 1 4 11 1 15 2 16 1 19 4 21 3 25 3 28 3 31 3 34 3 37 3 40 3 43 3 46 3 49 3 52 3 55 3 58 3 61 3 64 3 67 3 70 3 73 3 76 fileid fileid file identification code Character wk wk week number Integer fenceline fenceline fence line Character station station station (E = 1-30, W = 1-31) Integer segment segment line segment number Integer spp spp plant species i.d. Character no no total # of line intercept observations for current record Integer i01 i01 intercept observation 1 Integer i02 i02 intercept observation 2 Integer i03 i03 intercept observation 3 Integer i04 i04 intercept observation 4 Integer i05 i05 intercept observation 5 Integer i06 i06 intercept observation 6 Integer i07 i07 intercept observation 7 Integer i08 i08 intercept observation 8 Integer i09 i09 intercept observation 9 Integer i10 i10 intercept observation 10 Integer i11 i11 intercept observation 11 Integer i12 i12 intercept observation 12 Integer i13 i13 intercept observation 13 Integer i14 i14 intercept observation 14 Integer i15 i15 intercept observation 15 Integer i16 i16 intercept observation 16 Integer i17 i17 intercept observation 17 Integer FL000247.RAW Data file FL000247.RAW column 8 1 4 11 1 15 2 16 1 19 4 21 3 25 3 28 3 31 3 34 3 37 3 40 3 43 3 46 3 49 3 52 3 55 3 58 3 61 3 64 3 67 3 70 3 73 3 76 fileid fileid file identification code Character wk wk week number Integer fenceline fenceline fence line Character station station station (E = 1-30, W = 1-31) Integer segment segment line segment number Integer spp spp plant species i.d. Character no no total # of line intercept observations for current record Integer i01 i01 intercept observation 1 Integer i02 i02 intercept observation 2 Integer i03 i03 intercept observation 3 Integer i04 i04 intercept observation 4 Integer i05 i05 intercept observation 5 Integer i06 i06 intercept observation 6 Integer i07 i07 intercept observation 7 Integer i08 i08 intercept observation 8 Integer i09 i09 intercept observation 9 Integer i10 i10 intercept observation 10 Integer i11 i11 intercept observation 11 Integer i12 i12 intercept observation 12 Integer i13 i13 intercept observation 13 Integer i14 i14 intercept observation 14 Integer i15 i15 intercept observation 15 Integer i16 i16 intercept observation 16 Integer i17 i17 intercept observation 17 Integer FENCELIN.PRJ Project documentation, File Format: ASCII, File Type: Text file FENCELIN.PRJ ASCII Text file Metadata file FLDATA.PRO Data processing procedure, File Format: ASCII, File Type: Text file FLDATA.PRO ASCII Text file Data entry, verification, and analysis file FLRAWBK.DSD Data set documentation for raw field data, File Format: ASCII, File Type: Text file FLRAWBK.DSD ASCII Text file Metadata file INPUT.DED Data entry procedure documentation, File Format: ASCII, File Type: Text file INPUT.DED ASCII Text file Data entry, verification, and analysis file LTERCOV1.EXE Generate Summary: Mean percent cover data (without Standard Error of Mean) (Fortran WatIV executable code), File Format: BINARY, File Type: Fortran WatIV LTERCOV1.EXE Fortran WatIV Data entry, verification, and analysis file LTERCOV1.FOR Generate Summary: Mean percent cover data (without Standard Error of Mean) (Fortran WatIV source code), File Format: ASCII, File Type: Text file LTERCOV1.FOR ASCII Text file Data entry, verification, and analysis file LTERSP. External plant species list required by INPUT.EXE., File Format: ASCII, File Type: Text file LTERSP. ASCII Text file Data entry, verification, and analysis file SRELCHEK.EXE Error check data in format created by CONVERT (Fortran WatIV executable code), File Format: BINARY, File Type: Fortran WatIV SRELCHEK.EXE Fortran WatIV Data entry, verification, and analysis file SRELCHEK.FOR Error check data in format created by CONVERT (Fortran WatIV source code), File Format: ASCII, File Type: Text file SRELCHEK.FOR ASCII Text file Data entry, verification, and analysis file