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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Dubois, Idaho » Range Sheep Production Efficiency Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #254663
Title: Mapped quadrats in sagebrush steppe: long-term data for analyzing demographic rates and plant-plant interactions.

Author
item ZACHMAN, LUKE - Utah State University
item Moffet, Corey
item ADLER, PETER - Utah State University

Submitted to: Ecology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/1/2010
Publication Date: 10/1/2011
Citation: Zachman, L., Moffet, C.A., Adler, P.B. 2011. Mapped quadrats in sagebrush steppe: long-term data for analyzing demographic rates and plant-plant interactions. Ecology. 91:3427.

Interpretive Summary: Valuable ecological data have been collected over the years, but the data are not readily available to researchers at institutions other than where the data were collected. Chart quadrat data collected from 26 permanent quadrats at the USDA-ARS, U. S. Sheep Experiment Station between 1923 and 1973 have been processed and stored electronically. The dataset has been described and made available to the public. By processing, describing, and releasing these data to the public the value of the data is increased and the opportunity for greater understanding of ecological processes is increased.

Technical Abstract: This historical dataset consists of a series of permanent 1-m2 quadrats located on the sagebrush steppe in eastern Idaho, USA. The key aspect of the data is that during each growing season, all individual plants in each quadrat were identified and mapped. The combination of a long time-series with full spatial resolution allows analyses of demographic processes and intra- and interspecific interactions among individual plants. This dataset contains the following data and data formats: 1) the digitized maps in shapefile format; 2) a tabular version of the entire dataset (a table with no spatial information except an x,y coordinate for each individual plant record); 3) a species list, containing information on plant growth forms and shapefile geometry type; 4) quadrat information, such as grazing information; 5) an inventory of the years each quadrat was sampled; 6) monthly precipitation, temperature, and snowfall records; and 7) counts of annuals in the quadrats.