Plant Phenology Monitoring Transects at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico (1991-1995)

Authors

Ann Evans

Date

9-15-2010

Abstract

This study was designed to monitor the occurrence of various phenological events of plant species at seven research sites on the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge (i.e., Black Butte, Goat Draw, Five Points, Deep Well, Rio Salado, Sepultura Canyon and Los Pinos foothills watershed (Red Tank/222)). The phenological events monitored included germination, vegetative growth, budding (flowers), flowering, fruiting, dormancy, senescence, and death. All transects were placed close to Sevilleta LTER meteorological stations, allowing the coupling of biotic and abiotic data to detect relationships between climate and phenology.

Handle

http://hdl.handle.net/1928/29876

Other Identifier

SEV48

Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB) Identifier

knb-lter-sev.48.3

Document Type

Dataset

Comments

This dataset was originally published on the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network Data Portal, https://portal.lternet.edu, and potentially via other repositories or portals as described. The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) of the source data package is doi:10.6073/pasta/e4686b04be6ffb57884ab0ef80973b29, and may be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/e4686b04be6ffb57884ab0ef80973b29. Metadata and files included in this record mirror as closely as possible the source data and documentation, with the provenance metadata and quality report generated by the LTER portal reproduced here as '*-provenance.xml' and *-report.html' files, respectively.

Rights

Data Policies: This dataset is released to the public and may be freely downloaded. Please keep the designated Contact person informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation or collaboration with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset must include proper acknowledgement of the Sevilleta LTER. Datasets must be cited as in the example provided. A copy of any publications using these data must be supplied to the Sevilleta LTER Information Manager. By downloading any data you implicitly acknowledge the LTER Data Policy (http://www.lternet.edu/data/netpolicy.html).

Publisher

Sevilleta Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Project

Source

http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/e4686b04be6ffb57884ab0ef80973b29

Temporal coverage

1991-04-04 - 1995-08-24

Spatial coverage

This site encompasses the upper reaches of Goat Draw and is dominated by pinon-juniper vegetation. Two pinon branch demography study sites were located here, each with 49 labeled trees, in a small canyon which drains the Los Pinos Mountains to the east. Vegetation is characterized as a pinon/juniper woodland with occasional occurrences of Quercus turbinella, Yucca spp. and Opuntia spp. Portions of the bird community assessment and plant phenology studies were also located within Goat Draw.The Rio Salado is an ephemeral tributary of the Rio Grande on the west side of the Sevilleta NWR, flowing west by northwest to east by southeast. Rio Salado Grassland & Rio Salado Larrea are two study sites established in 1989. These sites were established as counterparts to sites at Five Points. Between 1989 and 1998, vegetation, litter decomposition, and ground dwelling arthropod and rodent populations were studied at both sites. Core studies at these sites were largely terminated in 1998, although rodent populations are still monitored at the Rio Salado Larrea site as the Small Mammal Exclosure Study's Larrea plots are co-located there. Rio Salado Grassland is the location of Met Station 44. The Rio Salado study sites are accessed by taking the San Acacia exit, going west and then taking the frontage road back north to the Sevilleta NWR gate. After entering the refuge turn left after 0.2 mi and take this road 1.4 mi to a "T" in the road at the power lines. An earthen berm stops road travel here and the met station is located about 300 m west on the blocked road. The Rio Salado is an ephemeral tributary of the Rio Grande on the west side of the Sevilleta NWR, flowing west by northwest to east by southeast. Rio Salado Grassland & Rio Salado Larrea are two study sites established in 1989. These sites were established as counterparts to sites at Five Points. Between 1989 and 1998, vegetation, litter decomposition, and ground dwelling arthropod and rodent populations were studied at both sites. Core studies at these sites were largely terminated in 1998, although rodent populations are still monitored at the Rio Salado Larrea site because the Small Mammal Exclosure Study's Larrea plots are co-located there. Rio Salado Grassland is the location Met Station 44.The Rio Salado study sites are accessed by taking the San Acacia exit, going west and then taking the frontage road back north to the Sevilleta NWR gate. After entering the refuge turn left after 0.2 mi and take this road 1.4 mi to a "T" in the road at the power lines. An earthen berm stops road travel here and the met station is located about 300 m west on the blocked road. This site is located in the foothills of the Sierra Ladrones on the west side of the Sevilleta NWR. Red Tank is a man-made earthen drainage pool and is the location of Met Station 43. Research conducted at the site includes soil moisture and erosion studies related to the Sierra Ladrone watershed project.Deep Well is located on McKenzie Flats and is site of the longest running SEV LTER met station, number 40, which has been active since 1988. In addition to studies of meteorological variables, core line-intercept vegetation transects and line-intercept transects from the 1995 & 2001 Deep Well fires are sampled here. The mini-rhizotron study, blue and black grama compositional comparison, blue and black grama patch dynamics investigation, and kangaroo rat population assessement are all ongoing here. Deep Well Blue/Black Grama Mixed is also the location of the warming and monsoon experiments, as well as portions of the line-intercept and vegetation removal studies. On August 4, 2009, a lightning-initiated fire began on the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge. By August 5, 2009, the fire had reached the area of Deep Well Blue/Black Grama Mixed. While portions of this site were burned, the entirety was not. See individual projects for further information on the effects of the fire.

DOI

doi:10.6073/pasta/e4686b04be6ffb57884ab0ef80973b29

Permanent URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/e4686b04be6ffb57884ab0ef80973b29

Recommended Citation

Evans, Ann (2010-09-15): Plant Phenology Monitoring Transects at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico (1991-1995). Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/e4686b04be6ffb57884ab0ef80973b29