This package contains perennial vegetation cover data measured using the line-intercept method from plots with various levels of herbivore exclusion on Jornada Experimental Range (JER) and Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center (CDRRC) lands. Study sites were established in 1995; one in black grama grassland and the other in creosotebush shrubland to compare the impact of herbivores on ecosystem processes between these vegetation types. Parallel studies were established at the Sevilleta LTER site (New Mexico, USA) and Mapimi Biosphere Reserve (Durango, Mexico). Each study site is 1 km by 0.5 km in area. Four replicate experimental blocks were randomly located at the grassland study site to measure vegetation responses using exclusion treatments including a) all mammalian herbivores, including cattle, lagomorphs, and rodents, b) lagomorphs and cattle only, c) cattle only, and d) control accessible to all herbivores. Because grazing cattle are excluded from the entire creosote site, only three replicate experimental blocks were randomly located there including a) all mammalian herbivores, including lagomorphs, and rodents, b) lagomorphs only, and c) control accessible to all herbivores. Thirty-six sampling points were positioned at 5.8-meter intervals on a systematically located 6 by 6 point grid within each plot. A permanent one-meter by one-meter vegetation measurement quadrat is located at each of the 36 points. The vegetation line-intercept measurements in this data package were made in fall 1995 and fall 2005 to coincide with low-level aerial photography campaigns. Three 29-meter lines were measured along three out of six rows of permanent vegetation quadrats. Intercept locations for live, perennial plant cover and bare ground were measured along each line at 10cm resolution, which is comparable to the resolution of the aerial photos. Plants were identified to species level where possible. The resulting cover data can used to ground-truth cover estimates from aerial photography or for comparison to annual measures of vegetation from 1 x 1 meter permanent vegetation quadrats. This study is complete.
Vegetation cover data from line-intercept transects in the long-term Small Mammal Exclusion Study (SMES) at Jornada Basin LTER, 1995-2005