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|                             JORNADA LTER                         |
|                      New Mexico State University                 |
|                   Research Project Description Form              |
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All Jornada Desert Site NSF / LTER projects must be documented on
the following form.  In addition, associated data sets must also
be described on Data Set Documentation Forms, available from the
data manager. Information that is not available at this time,
must be included when available. For these fields, enter
<NOT AVAILABLE>.  For fields that will not have information, enter
<NONE>. See data manager for any questions regarding this form.
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Project ID: PRL2005014

 1) Project title:
    --------------
    Fluff grass: Microarthropod effects on nitrogen availability

 2) Responsible investigator:
    -------------------------
    Silange I. Silva, Mar1986-Nov1987

 3) Date research commenced (mm/dd/yyyy):
    -------------------------------------
    03/15/1986

 4) Date research terminated (mm/dd/yyyy):
    --------------------------------------
    11/16/1987

 5) PI funding the research:
    ------------------------
    Walter G. Whitford, Mar1986-Nov1987

 6) Additional investigator(s):
    ---------------------------
    Walter G. Whitford, Mar1986-Nov1987

 7) Funding agency (ex. NSF, USDA):
    -------------------------------
    NSF

 8) Funding cycle (Ex. LTER II, N/A):

    ---------------------------------
    LTER I

 9) Informative abstract (Describe research project completely.
    Include project OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS.)
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
    * Recent studies suggest that rhizosphere soil microarthropods may
    have a major role in determining soil nitrogen availability.  Desert
    soil microarthropods are consumers of soil bacteria, fungi, and
    nematodes, thus they accelerate mineralization processes by causing
    turnover in immobilized nitrogen.  [It is] hypothesized that
    changing densities of soil microarthropods would result in changes
    in nitrogen availability.  In order to test this hypothesis,
    Erionueron pulchellum rhizosphere soil samples were taken monthly
    from control plots, plots irrigated with 6mm/wk, plots soaked with
    chlordane (to remove microarthropods), and plots treated with
    chlordane that were irrigated with 6 mm/wk.  These samples were
    analyzed for available inorganic nitrogen (NO3 and NH4), gravimetric
    soil moisture, plant shoot and root biomass, plant shoot and root
    total nitrogen, plant growth, microarthropod and nematode densities.

10) Dataset(s) associated with project:
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Documentation
    Dataset ID  File Name         Dataset Name
    ----------  ----------------  -------------------------------------------
    DSL2005025  MESOCOSM.DSD      Fluff grass mesocosm: mites and nematodes
    DSL2005026  MESOMITE.DSD      Mesocosm microarthropod numbers
    DSL2005027  N_SOIL.DSD        Fluff grass soil nitrogen
    DSL2005028  NMP_SOIL.DSD      Fluff grass rhizosphere N mineralization potential
    DSL2005029  PLANT_N.DSD       Fluff grass plant total nitrogen
    DSL2005030  PLGR.DSD          Fluff grass plant growth
    DSL2005031  RESIN_AN.DSD      Fluff grass anion exchange resin bags for NO3
    DSL2005032  RESIN_CA.DSD      Fluff grass cation exchange resin bags for NH4
    DSL2005033  RHIZO_PD.DSD      Fluff grass plant dynamics
    DSL2005034  SOIL_TN.DSD       Fluff grass soil total nitrogen

11) Publications resulting from project research:
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
    Silva, Solange Inacia. 1989.  The effects of microarthropods on
        nitrogen availability within the rhizosphere of Erioneuron
        pulchellum in a northern Chihuahuan desert ecosystem.  Dissertation,
        New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico.

12) Comments (Include any comments that here that more full describe
              this project):
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
    * Excerpted from Silva, Solange Inacia. 1989.  The effects of
    microarthropods on nitrogen availability within the rhizosphere of
    Erioneuron pulchellum in a northern Chihuahuan desert ecosystem.
    Dissertation, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico.

13) Project file history log:
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
    Project title     - Fluff grass: Microarthropod effects on nitrogen
                        availability
    Project file name - FLUFGRAS.PRJ
    -------------------------------------------------------------
         mm/dd/yyyy      - Date of comment (month/day/year)
         Int             - Initials of person making comment
                           MAB = Michelle A. Buonopane
                           JPA = John P. Anderson
                           KR  = Ken Ramsey

         Changes/Updates - List any changes made to document

    mm/dd/yyyy  Int  Changes/Updates
    ----------  ---  -----------------------------------------------
    10/22/1999  JPA  Project documentation completed
    10/23/1999  JPA  Abstract and Comment added
    07/31/2002  MAB  Added associated data sets.
    07/19/2005  KR   Changed format of Associated Datasets section.
                     Added Dataset ID to Associated Datasets section.
                     Added Project ID to top of form.
                     Changed format of Responsible Investigator, PI
                     Funding the Research, and Additional Investigators
                     sections.

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                           END OF PROJECT FILE
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