NPP Grassland: Xilingol, China, 1980-1989


[PHOTOGRAPH]
Photograph: View near study site in 1997 (click on the photo to view a series of images from this site).

Data Citation

Cite this data set as follows:

Xiao, X., and D. Ojima. 1996. NPP Grassland: Xilingol, China, 1980-1989. 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 steppe grassland was studied from 1980 to 1989 at the Inner Mongolia Grassland Research Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, within the Xilingol Biosphere Reserve. Measurements of above-ground live biomass, standing dead matter and litter were made bi-weekly from the beginning of May to early October for each year. Above-ground net primary production was estimated by summing peak live biomass of each of five species categories.

The 25-hectare Xilingol study site (43.72 N 116.63 E) is located in the Xilin river basin, Inner Mongolia, about 60 km south-east of Xilinhot. It is representative of about 210,000 km2 of "typical steppe" grasslands, out of a total grassland area of about 800,000 km2 in Inner Mongolia. With a warm, wet growing season from the end of April to early October, these typical steppe grasslands provide good quality forage for livestock and are used primarily for grazing. The study site has been fenced since 1980 and was lightly grazed before that time.

Contact Information

Contact: Dr. Xiangming Xiao
Complex Systems Research Center
Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space
University of New Hampshire
Durham, NH 03824
U.S.A.

Telephone: +1 (603) 862-1792/ 862-3818
Fax: +1 (603) 862-0188
E-mail: xiangming.xiao@unh.edu

Alternative Contact: Dr. Dennis Ojima
Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado 80523
U.S.A.

Telephone: +1 (970) 491-1976
FAX: +1 (970) 491-1965
E-mail: dennis@nrel.colostate.edu

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

Graphs Image
Click on the "Graphs" box to view a series of data plots for this site, e.g., biomass dynamics, climate data.