+------------------------------------------------------------------+ | JORNADA LTER | | New Mexico State University | | Data Set Documentation Form | +------------------------------------------------------------------+ All Jornada Desert Site NSF/LTER data sets must be documented on the following form. This applies to any data set intended for permanent archiving. All raw data sets collected under the auspices of the Jornada NSF/LTER Program will be described by the following standardized form. Information that is not available at this time, must be included when available. See data manager for any questions regarding this form. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Data set access (RESTRICTED or UNRESTRICTED): --------------------------------------------- RESTRICTED 2) Data set title: --------------- SMES Vegetation Line Intercept Data 3) Project title: -------------- Small Mammal Exclosure Study 4) Responsible investigator(s): ---------------------------- David Lightfoot 5) Date data collection commenced (mm/dd/yyyy): -------------------------------------------- Jornada Site : Fall 1995 (10/1995) Sevilleta Site: 04/10/1995 Mapimi Site : N/A 6) Date data collection terminated (mm/dd/yyyy or ONGOING): -------------------------------------------------------- Jornada Site : ONGOING Sevilleta Site: ONGOING Mapimi Site : N/A 7) Expected duration of study: --------------------------- ONGOING 8) Frequency of measurement: ------------------------- Every 10 years. 9) Researchers: (Personnel who will be obtaining data and who would need to be contacted directly if there is a problem in the raw data): ---------------------------------------------------------------- Jornada Site : 1995-June 1996 David Lightfoot, John Anderson, Nancy Stotz, Cathie Sandell, July 1996 - David Lightfoot, John Anderson, Chris McGlone, Sophia Gehlhausen Sevilleta Site: David Lightfoot, Mapimi Site : 10) Methods of recording (field data sheets, instrumental, etc.): ---------------------------------------------------------------- field data sheets 11) Site location (Describe in sufficient detail that the site can be relocated): ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Jornada LTER site is located at the US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Jornada Experimental Range in southern New Mexico (Figure 1). The Jornada is located at 32 north latitude, and the grasslands and shrublands are at about 1,300 meters elevation. The grassland site is one kilometer west of the IBPE grassland site, and the creosotebush site is three kilometers southeast of the lower trailer. The Sevilleta LTER site is located at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico (Figure 1). The Sevilleta is located at 34 north latitude, and the grasslands and shrublands are at about 1,550 meters in elevation. The Mapimi Biosphere Reserve is located in the south-central Chihuahuan Desert in the northeastern portion of the state of Durango, Mexico (Figure 1). The Mapimi site is located at 27 north latitude, and the creosotebush shrublands are at 1,100 meters elevation. The Mapimi research site is primarily creosotebush shrubland with mesquite. Tabosa (Hilaria mutica) grasslands occur in the bottoms of basins. 12) Data set description (State the hypothesis and / or objectives which collection of data set addresses): ---------------------------------------------------------------- This is data for perennial plant vegetation canopy cover measured from all SMES study plots, fall 1995. The purpose of this data is to provide ground-truth data for comparison with low-level aerial photographs of each study plot. Three, 29 meter lines were measured along three of six rows of the permanent vegetation measurement quadrats. Each line was measured at 10cm resolution for intercepts of perennial plant live canopy cover, and for bare ground. 10cm resolution is comparable to the resolution of the aerial photos. All plants were identified to the species level. These line-intercept measurements are taken once every ten years, at the same time that low-level aerial photographs are taken. These data will be compared to both decadal air photos, and annual measures of vegetation from one-meter2 quadrats on each plot to provide information on vegetation change over time relative to the various animal exclosure treatments. 13) Attributes measured: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Variable name: blank Number of columns between fields CCCCCCCC See attribute description Format: C = character (C3: Three characters [XXX]) I = integer (I2: Integer with two places [##]) F = floating point (F4.2: Total places with decimal point = 4, with 2 decimal places. [#.##]) Variable code: * See attribute description listing See external listing of variable codes N/A = Not applicable VARIABLE MEASURED VARIABLE NAME FORMAT UNITS CODE ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTION -------- -------- -------- -------- ------------------------- DATE N/A mm/dd/yy N/A Date data was collected blank C1 SITE C1 N/A C Site code - Creosotebush G Grassland blank C1 BLOCK I1 N/A 1-4 Block number blank C1 PLOT I1 N/A 1-4 Plot number blank C1 TRT A1 N/A C Treatment type: Control R Rodent Exclosure L Laghmorph Exclosure B Bovine Exclosure blank C1 QUAD I1 N/A 1,3,5 Quad number blank C1 SPECIES A5 N/A listing Species Code, see file SMESSPP.LST for complete species code listing. blank C1 STR INT F5.1 N/A cm Line intercept cover for a species. blank C1 ID C12 N/A * Book -or- Tape Number B01 = Book number one SMXVQF95.JA1 - Code on tape blank C1 ERR I1 N/A 0 Error code No Problems 1 See data history log 14) Missing or questionable values (describe how these are represented in the data set): ---------------------------------------------------------------- "-" = missing value 15) Methodology (Provide sufficient detail such that an unaware reader could repeat the described data collection procedures.) ---------------------------------------------------------------- 100 meter measuring tapes were attached to the steel re-bar posts marking vegetation quads 1, 3, and 5 on each study plot. The measuring tapes were extended south to the re-bar posts marking quads 36, 34, and 32. Data were recorded for all intercepts of live perennial plant canopy foliage, and for bare ground. The start and end points for each intercept were recorded to the nearest 10 cm on the measuring tape. Intercepts less than 5 cm were ignored, and intercepts between 5 and 10 cm were recorded to the nearest 10 cm. Intercept measurements were only recorded for perennial plant species, and for bare soil. Annual plants and dead perennial plants were ignored. The data were entered in the field on to micro-cassette tape recorders. The taped recorded data were then entered on to MS Excel spreadsheets. A macro statement was used to subtract each observed intercept end measure from the start measure, to produce an intercept measure for each observation. Those data were then converted to space-formatted text file s, and combined as one file. 16) Key literature (Citations that describe sampling procedures, [reference of a published paper, thesis, etc.]): ---------------------------------------------------------------- *********************************************************** * Note: * * Not all citations listed may be directly related to * * this dataset. The listing is a complete listing for * * the entire Small Mammal Exclosure Study project. * *********************************************************** Abaturov, B. D. 1972. The role of burrowing animals in the transport of mineral substances in the soil. Pediobiologia 12:261-266. Anderson, D. R., K. P. Burnham, G. C. White, and D. L. Otis, 1983. Density estimation of small-mammal populations using a trapping web and distance sampling methods. Ecology 64:674- 680. Anderson, S. 1972. Mammals of Chihuahua: taxonomy and distribution. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 148:149-410. Bahre, C. J. 1991. A legacy of change. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona. Barbault, R. and G. Halffter, editors. 1981. Ecology of the Chihuahuan Desert: Organization of some vertebrate communities. Instituto de Ecologia, A. C. Mexico, D. F. Beatley, J. C. 1969. Dependence of desert rodents on winter annuals and precipitation. Ecology 50:721-724. Brown, H. 1947. Coaction of jackrabbits, cottontails, and vegetation in mixed prairie. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Sciences 50:28-44. Brown, J. H. and D. W. Davidson. 1977. Competition between seed- eating rodents and ants in desert ecosystems. Science 196:880-882. Brown, J. H., D. W. Davidson, J. C. Munger, and R. S. Inouye. 1986. Experimental community ecology: The desert granivore system. Pages 41-61. In: J. Diamond and T. J. Case editors. Community Ecology. Harper and Row, New York. Brown, J. H., D. W. Davidson, and O. J. Reichman. 1979. An experimental study of competition between seed-eating rodents and ants. American Zoologist 19:1129-1143. Brown, J. H. and E. J. Heske. 1990a. Control of a desert- grassland transition by a keystone rodent guild. Science 250:1705-1707. Brown, J. H. and E. J. Heske. 1990b. Temporal changes in a Chihuahuan Desert rodent community. Oikos 59:290-302. Brown, J. H., O. J. Reichman, and D. W. Davidson. 1979. Granivory in desert ecosystems. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 54:201-227. Brown, J. H. and Z. Zeng. 1989. Comparative population ecology of eleven species of rodents in the Chihuahuan Desert. Ecology 70:1507-1525. Buckland, S. T., D. R. Anderson, K. P. Burham, and J. L. Laake. 1993. Distance sampling: estimating abundance of biological populations. Chapman and Hall. London. Buffington, L. C. and C. H. Herbel. 1965. Vegetational changes on a semidesert grassland range from 1858-1963. Ecological Monographs 35:139-164. Chew, R. M. 1974. Consumers as regulators of ecosystems: an alternative to energetics. Ohio Journal of Science 74:359- 370. Chew, R. M. 1976. The impacts of small mammals on ecosystem structure and function. Pages 167-180. In: D. P. Snyder, editor. Populations of small mammals under natural conditions. The Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology, Special Publications Series, Vol. 5. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA. Clark, I. 1979. Practical geostatistics. Applied Science Publishers, London. 129 p. Clark, W. R. and F. H. Wagner. 1984. Role of livestock and black- tailed jackrabbits in changing abundance of Kochia americana. Great Basin Naturalist 44:635-646. Crawford, C. S. and J. R. Gosz. 1982. Desert ecosystems: Their resources in space and time. Environmental Conservation 9:181-195. Crawley, M. J. 1983. Herbivory: the dynamics of animal-plant interactions. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford. Crawley, M. J. 1989. The relative importance of vertebrate and invertebrate herbivores in plant population dynamics. Pages 41-57. In: E. A. Bernays, editor. Insect plant interactions. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida. Dick-Peddie, W. A. 1993. New Mexico vegetation: Past, present, and future. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM. Elkins, N. Z., G. V. Sabol, T. J. Ward, and W. G. Whitford. 1986. The influence of subterranean termites on the hydrological characteristics of a Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem. Oecologia 68:521-528. Ernest, K. A. 1994. Resistance of creosotebush to mammalian herbivory: temporal consistency and browsing-induced changes. Ecology 75:1684-1692. Findley, J. S., A. H. Harris, D. E. Wilson, and C. Jones. 1975. Mammals of New Mexico. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM. Gardner, J. L. 1951. Vegetation of the creosotebush area of the Rio Grande valley in New Mexico. Ecological Monographs 21:379-403. Gibbens, R. P., K. M. Havstad, D. D. Billheimer and C. H. Herbel. 1993. Creosotebush vegetation after 50 years of lagomorph exclusion. Oecologia 94:210-217. Grenot, C. and V. Serrano. Ecological organization of small mammal communities at the Bolson de Mapimi. Pages 89-100. In: R. Barbault and G. Halffter, editors. Ecology of the Chihuahuan Desert: Organization of some vertebrate communities. Instituto de Ecologia, A. C. Mexico, D. F. Harper, J. L. 1969. The role of predation in vegetational diversity. Brookhaven Symposium in Biology 22:48-62. Hastings, R. J. and R. M. Turner. 1980. The changing mile: An ecological study of vegetation change with time in the lower mile of and arid and semiarid region. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ. 317 p. Henley, S. 1981. Nonparametric geostatistics. Applied Science Publishers, London. 145 p. Heske, E. J., J. H. Brown, Q. Guo. 1993. Effects of kangaroo rat exclusion on vegetation structure and plant species diversity in the Chihuahuan Desert. Oecologia 95:520-524. Holland, E. A., W. J. Parton, J. K. Detling, and D. L. Coppock. 1992. Physiological responses of plant populations to herbivory and their consequences for ecosystem nutrient flow. American Naturalist 140:685-706. Huntly, N. J. 1991. Herbivores and the dynamics of communities and ecosystems. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 22:477-503. Inouye, R. S., G. S. Byers, and J. H. Brown. 1980. Effects of predation and competition on survivorship, fecundity, and community structure of desert annuals. Ecology 61:1344-1351. Joern, A. 1979. Feeding patterns in grasshoppers: factors influencing diet specialization. Oecologia 38:325-347. jackrabbits in relation to population density and vegetation. Journal of Range Management 37:79-83. Ludwig, J. A. and J. F. Reynolds. 1988. Statistical ecology. John Wiley & Sons. New York. 337 p. MacKay, W. P. 1991. The role of ants and termites in desert communities. Pages 113-150. In: G. A. Polis, editor. The ecology of desert communities. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. Mackay, W. P. and W. G. Whitford. 1988. Spatial variability of termite gallery production in Chihuahuan Desert plant communities. Sociobiology 4:281-289. MacMahon, J. A. and F. H. Wagner. 1986. The Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts of North America. Pages 105-202. In: M. Evenari, I. Noy-Meir, and D. W. Goodall, editors. Ecosystems of the world, Volume 12B. Hot deserts and arid shrublands, B. Elsevier, New York, NY. McNaughton, S. J., M. Oesterheld and D. A. Frank. 1989. Ecosystem-level patterns of primary productivity and herbivory in terrestrial habitats. Nature 341:142-144. Milchunas, D. G. and W. K. Lauenroth. 1993. Quantitative effects of grazing on vegetation and soils over a global range of environments. Ecological Monographs 63:327-366. Mills, J. N., T. L. Yates, J. E. Childs, R. R. Parmenter, T. G. Ksiazek, P. E. Rollin, and C. J. Peters. In press. Guidelines for working with rodents potentially infected with hantavirus. Journal of Mammalogy. Moorehead, D. L., F. M. Fisher, and W. G. Whitford. 1988. Cover of spring annuals on nitrogen rich kangaroo rat mounds in a Chihuahuan Desert grassland. American Midland Naturalist 120:443-447. Montana, C. 1988. Estudio intergado de los recursos vegetacion, suelo y agua en la Reserva de la Biosfera de Mapimi. Instituto de Ecologia, Mexico, D. F. Moroka, N. R., F. Beck, and R. D. Pieper. 1982. Impact of burrowing activity of the banner-tail kangaroo rat on southern New Mexico desert rangelands. Journal of Range Management 35:707-710. Mun, H. T. and W. G. Whitford. 1990. Factors affecting annual plant assemblages on bannertail kangaroo rat mounds. Journal of Arid Environments 18:165-173. Naiman, R. J. 1988. Animal influences on ecosystem dynamics. BioScience 38:750-752. Nelson, R. 1988. Dryland management: the desertification problem. Environmental Department Working Paper No. 8. World Bank, Washington, DC. Nicholls, H. 1988. El Nino-Souther Oscillation and rainfall variability. Journal of Climate 1:418-412. Norris, J. J. 1950. Effect of rodents, rabbits, and cattle on two vegetation types in semidesert range land. New Mexico State University Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin 353. Otte, D. 1976. Species richness patterns of New World grasshoppers in relation to plant diversity. Journal of Biogeography 3:197-209. Pacala, S. W. and M. J. Crawley. 1992. Herbivores and plant diversity. American Naturalist 140:243-260. Reichman, O. J. and K. M. Van De Graff. 1975. Association between ingestion of green vegetation and desert rodent reproduction. Journal of Mammalogy 56:503-506. Richman, D. B., D. C. Lightfoot, C. A. Sutherland, and D. J. Ferguson. 1993. A manual of the grasshoppers of New Mexico. Cooperative Extension Service, Handbook No. 7. New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM. Rivera, E. 1986. Faunistic study of the Acridoidea (grasshoppers) of the Mapimi Biosphere Reserve, Durango, Mexico. Acta Zoologica Mexicana 14:1-44. Roberston, G. P. 1987. Geostatistics in ecology: Interpolating with known variance. Ecology 68:744-748. Schaefer, D. A. and W. G. Whitford. 1981. Nutrient cycling by the subterranean termite Gnathametermes tubiformans in a Chihuahuan Desert Ecosystem. Oecologia 48:277-283. Schlesinger, W. H., J. F. Reynolds, G. L. Cunningham, L. F. Huenneke, W. M. Jarrell, R. A. Virginia, and W. G. Whitford. 1990. Biological feedbacks in global desertification. Science 247:1043-1048. Soholt, L. F. 1975. US/IBP Desert Biome, Research Memo 75-19. Steinberger Y. and W. G. Whitford. 1983. The contribution of shrub pruning by jackrabbits to litter input in a Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem. Journal of Arid Environments 6:183-187. West, N. E. and J. O. Klemmedson. 1978. Structural distribution of nitrogen in desert ecosystems. Pages 1-16. In: N. E. West and J. J. Skujins eds. Nitrogen in desert ecosystems. US/IBP Synthesis Series 9. Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, Inc., Stroudsburg, PA. Van Cleve, K. and S. Martin, eds. 1991. Long-term ecological research in the United States: A network of research sites. 6th ed. Long-Term Ecological Research Network Office, University of Washington, College of Forest Resources, AR- 10, Seattle, WA. 178 p. Wagner, F. H. 1976. Some concepts in the management and control of small mammal populations. Pages 192-202. In: D. P. Snyder, editor. Populations of small mammals under natural conditions. The Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology, Special Publications Series, Vol. 5. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA. Whitford, W. G. 1976. Temporal fluctuation in density and diversity of desert rodent populations. Journal of Mammalogy 57:351-369. Whitford, W. G., Y. Steinberger, and G. Ettershank. 1982. Contributions of subterranean termites to the economy of Chihuahuan Desert ecosystems. Oecologia 55:298-302. York, J. C. and W. A. Dick-Peddie. 1969. Vegetation changes in southern New Mexico during the past hundred years. Pages 157-166. In: W. G. McGinnies and B. J. Goldman, eds. Arid lands in perspective. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ. Zeevalking, H. J. and L. F. M. Fresco. 1977. Rabbit grazing and diversity in a dune area. Vegetatio 35:193-196. 17) Keywords (keywords that describe data set; maximum of 10): ---------------------------------------------------------------- vegetation, plant species, line intercept 18) Treatment of data: (List any programs used in analysis of the data): [Note: Programs should be appended and stored with this form.] ---------------------------------------------------------------- SAS program will be used to analyze data 19) Associated computer accounts: ---------------------------------------------------------------- 20) Files associated with this data set: ---------------------------------------------------------------- A) Metadata files FILE NAME DESCRIPTION OF FILES ------------ ----------------------------------------------- SMLMAMEX.PRJ Project documentation SMESLINE.DSD Data set documentation ------------ ----------------------------------------------- B) Data files FILE NAME DESCRIPTION OF FILES ------------ ----------------------------------------------- SMESLINE.DAT Data file SMESLINE.HIS Data set history log ------------ ----------------------------------------------- C) Data entry, verification, and analysis files FILE NAME DESCRIPTION OF FILES ------------ ----------------------------------------------- SMESLINE.EXE Data entry program (Binary) SMESLINE.BAS Quick basic main module source code (Binary) SMESLINE.TXT Quick basic main module source code (ASCII) SMESSUB1.BAS Quick basic sub-module source code (Binary) SMESSUB1.TXT Quick basic sub-module source code (ASCII) SMESLINE.MAK Quick basic make file (ASCII) SMESSPP.EXT External species code list (ASCII) SMESLINE.BAT MS-DOS Batch file for data editing (ASCII) ------------ ----------------------------------------------- D) Other (Any other related files.) FILE NAME DESCRIPTION OF FILES ------------ ----------------------------------------------- Format: SMXVLsyy.xx# where s=season yy=year xx=readers initials #=book or tape number SMXVLF95.JA1 Raw data file. (ASCII) SMXVLF95.CS1 Raw data file. (ASCII) ------------ ----------------------------------------------- 21) Comments (Include any comments here that more fully describe this data set): ---------------------------------------------------------------- Raw data files are merged into final data file after final error checking. 22) Data set documentation history log: ---------------------------------------------------------------- Data set title - SMES Vegetation Line Intercept Data Data set file name - SMESLINE.DSD ---------------------------------------------------------------- mm/dd/yyyy - Date of Comment Int - Initials of person making Comment KJL = Kevin J. La Fleur JPA = John P. Anderson DL = David Lightfoot Changes/Updates - List any changes made to document mm/dd/yyyy Int Changes/Updates ---------- --- ----------------------------------------------- 04/10/1996 KJL Form completed by investigator 08/02/1996 KJL Converted data set document file to new format. 02/03/1997 JPA Raw data file names added. 06/19/2003 DL Completed data set description and methodology. 07/08/2003 KR Changed Frequency of Measurement from twice each year (April and October) to every 10 years per Dave Lightfoot ------------------------------------------------------------------- END OF DATA SET FILE -------------------------------------------------------------------