NPP Grassland: Central Plains Experimental Range (SGS), U.S.A., 1970-1975


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Photograph: Weather station/exclosure within the CPER site (click on the photo to view a series of images from this site).

Data Citation

Cite this data set as follows:

Uresk, D., P. L. Sims, and J. L. Dodd. 1996. NPP Grassland: Central Plains Experimental Range (SGS), U.S.A., 1970-1975. Data set. Available on-line [http://www.daac.ornl.gov] from Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, U.S.A.

Description

Productivity of a shortgrass prairie steppe was monitored at the Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER), sometimes referred to as the Pawnee Grassland study site, from 1939 to the present. Measurements of monthly dynamics of above-ground live biomass and dead matter were made from 1970 to 1975, for untreated and treated plots with irrigation, fertilisation, and both irrigation and fertilisation together (the "ESA" experiment). Further detailed data on live biomass, standing dead matter and litter will be made available later for four grazing treatments from 1970 to 1972, when total below-ground biomass was also sampled (the "IBP" experiment).

The latter data were collected as part of a coordinated study over 1-3 years at ten grassland sites of the central and western United States, under the U.S. Grassland Biome Project of the International Biological Program (IBP). Since 1982, field research on the 6300-hectare CPER site has continued under the Shortgrass Steppe (SGS) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) project. The SGS LTER site was extended in 1996 to include the adjoining 78,000-hectare Pawnee National Grassland.

Estimates of annual above-ground net primary production (NPP) are available from 1939 to 1990, based on long-term data on annual forage production measured at the end of each growing season. Above and below-ground NPP estimates, using (1) biomass increment methods and (2) 14-C turnover methods, will be available later for 1985-88. Data on vegetation and soil dynamics at CPER were used in the development of the CENTURY plant/soil organic matter model.

The CPER/SGS study site (40.82 N 104.77 W) is situated near the town of Nunn in northern Colorado, about 110 km north of Denver. The Pawnee National Grassland extends discontinuously for 90 km to the East. The shortgrass prairie is typically grazed annually by domestic animals, and would have been grazed by wild buffalo prior to the mid-19th century. Some of the region has been converted to arable crops, and some has subsequently been restored to grassland under the U.S. Conservation Reserve Program.

Contact Information

Contact: Dr. W. K. Lauenroth
Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado 80523
U.S.A.

Telephone: +1 (970) 491-7581
Fax: +1 (970) 491-1965
E-mail: billl@cnr.colostate.edu

Alternative Contact: Prof. Jerrold L. Dodd
Chair/Professor
Agriculture Department
Cameron University
Lawton, OK 73505-6377
U.S.A.

Telephone: +1 (580) 581-2283
Fax: +1 (580) 581-2880
E-mail: jerryd@cameron.edu

Click on the following linked phrase to view references and summaries. More detailed information is available in the associated guide document.

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