DOI:
Data set ID:
The purpose of this data set is to monitor long-term changes in microbial biomass on the belowground plots due to the effect on annual burning, mowing and nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization.
The purpose of this data set is to monitor long-term changes in microbial biomass on the belowground plots due to the effect on annual burning, mowing and nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization.
Standing dead and litter decomposition of big bluestem foliage and flowering stems were measured for two years using litterbag methods. Mass, nitrogen and phosphorus content were measured.
In 1991, an irrigation transect experiment was established near the Konza Prairie HQ to assess the effects of supplemental water on ecological processes in tallgrass prairie. The site is burned annually in the spring. The transect spans upland, hillside and lowland topographic positions with irrigation and sampling points (12) located at 10 m intervals. Adjacent control transects are marked on both sides of the irrigation transect. Irrigation is scheduled according to estimates of actual evapotranspiration and measures of plant water status.
PBG datasets are associated with a long-term, large-scale study that is addressing the effects of fire-grazing interactions in the context of a Patch-Burn Grazing management system designed to promote grassland heterogeneity. Effects of patch-burn grazing management on plant and animal diversity and the nature and variety of wildlife habitat are being assessed in two replicate management units, each consisting of three pastures (watersheds) designated C03A/C03B/C03C and C3SA/C3SB/C3SC. In each patch-burn grazing unit, one watershed is burned and two that are left unburned in a given year.