Spatial heterogeneity in Chihuahuan Desert vegetation: implications for sampling methods in semi-arid ecosystems

Huenneke, Laura Foster; Clason, Dennis L.; Muldavin, Esteban

doi:10.1006/jare.2000.0678

Cited by 93 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Then, we performed linear regression analysis between green vegetation cover and green aboveground biomass for grasses, and green cover and green leaves for shrubs. Our biomass-cover regressions gave comparable estimates of ANPP to those from the LTER-IBP exclosure, a grassland with similar characteristics to our study site where ANPP was calculated using a different method (Huenneke et al 2001 2 ¼ 0.88, cover ranged between 0.08 and 0.75). These equations were used to estimate black grama ANPP and mesquite leaf productivity in our experimental plots.…”

Section: Response Variablessupporting

confidence: 61%

Water controls on nitrogen transformations and stocks in an arid ecosystem

Reichmann¹,

Sala²,

Peters³

2013

Ecosphere

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Abstract. Following water, nitrogen (N) is the most frequent limiting factor to aboveground net primary production in arid ecosystems. Increased water availability can stimulate both plant nitrogen uptake and microbial nitrogen mineralization, but may also stimulate losses from the ecosystem. Here, we assess the effect of water availability on nitrogen stocks and transformations in an arid ecosystem. We conducted a field experiment with five levels of precipitation input (À80%, À50%, ambient, þ50%, þ80%) and two levels of N fertilization (ambient or 10 gÁm À2 Áyr À1 NH 4 NO 3 ) in a desert grassland of the Chihuahuan Desert. We measured in situ net N mineralization, plant N uptake, foliar N, N leaching under grass-rooting zone, and soil N availability during two years. Our results showed that increased water availability did not affect net N mineralization, but there was higher plant N uptake than with drought. Soil inorganic N pools were 2-4 times lower with increased water availability compared to drought conditions. N leaching below grass-rooting zone was higher in dry than wet conditions because of higher available N. Increased water availability differentially affected N species significantly reducing the NO 3 :NH 4 ratio. The accumulation of inorganic N during drought was the result of a decoupling between microbial and plant activity, and suggests that the cycling of N is more open in dry years than in wet years.

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Section: Response Variablessupporting

confidence: 61%

Water controls on nitrogen transformations and stocks in an arid ecosystem

Reichmann¹,

Sala²,

Peters³

2013

Ecosphere

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“…We note that additional terms to the calibration accounting for variations in lattice water, soil organic carbon, and vegetation have been proposed (Zreda et al, 2012;Bogena et al, 2013;McJannet et al, 2014;Coopersmith et al, 2014). However, given the relatively small amount of biomass (∼ 2.5 kg m −2 at SRER; Huang et al, 2007; ∼ 0.5 kg m −2 at JER, Huenneke et al, 2001), low soil organic carbon (4.2 mg C g −1 soil at SRER; 2.7 mg C g −1 soil at JER; Throop et al, 2011), and low clay percent (5.2 % at SRER; 4.9 % at JER; Anderson, 2013), and thus low lattice water amounts (Greacen, 1981), we have neglected these terms in the analysis. Figure 2 presents the horizontal aggregation scale of the CRNS method in comparison to the watershed boundaries and to the EC footprints obtained for summer 2013 (Anderson, 2013).…”

Section: Cosmic-ray Neutron Sensing Methods For Soil Moisture Estimationmentioning

confidence: 96%

Closing the water balance with cosmic-ray soil moisture measurements and assessing their relation to evapotranspiration in two semiarid watersheds

Schreiner-McGraw

Vivoni

Mascaro

et al. 2016

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Soil moisture dynamics reflect the complex interactions of meteorological conditions with soil, vegetation and terrain properties. In this study, intermediate-scale soil moisture estimates from the cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) method are evaluated for two semiarid ecosystems in the southwestern United States: a mesquite savanna at the Santa Rita Experimental Range (SRER) and a mixed shrubland at the Jornada Experimental Range (JER). Evaluations of the CRNS method are performed for small watersheds instrumented with a distributed sensor network consisting of soil moisture sensor profiles, an eddy covariance tower, and runoff flumes used to close the water balance. We found a very good agreement between the CRNS method and the distributed sensor network (root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.009 and 0.013 m 3 m −3 at SRER and JER, respectively) at the hourly timescale over the 19-month study period, primarily due to the inclusion of 5 cm observations of shallow soil moisture. Good agreement was also obtained in soil moisture changes estimated from the CRNS and watershed water balance methods (RMSE of 0.001 and 0.082 m 3 m −3 at SRER and JER, respectively), with deviations due to bypassing of the CRNS measurement depth during large rainfall events. Once validated, the CRNS soil moisture estimates were used to investigate hydrological processes at the footprint scale at each site. Through the computation of the water balance, we showed that drier-than-average conditions at SRER promoted plant water uptake from deeper soil layers, while the wetter-than-average period at JER resulted in percolation towards deeper soils. The CRNS measurements were then used to quantify the link between evapotranspiration and soil moisture at a commensurate scale, finding similar predictive relations at both sites that are applicable to other semiarid ecosystems in the southwestern US.

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“…Within each grid, percent cover was estimated for six categories: bare soil, litter, grass, creosote, yucca, and other shrubs. Percent cover could be greater than 100%, owing to overlapping canopy cover of shrubs (Huenneke et al 2001).…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lizard community structure across a grassland – creosote bush ecotone in the Chihuahuan Desert

Menke¹

2003

Can. J. Zool.

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I investigated the distribution and abundance of lizard species (Aspidoscelis inornatus, Aspidoscelis tesselatus, Aspidoscelis tigris, Aspidoscelis uniparens, Cophosaurus texanus, Crotaphytus collaris, Eumeces obsoletus, Gambelia wislizenii, Holbrookia maculata, Phrynosoma cornutum, Sceloporus magister, and Uta stansburiana) across a desert grassland – creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) ecotone in Dona Ana County, New Mexico. The ecotonal area in the Jornada del Muerto basin has increased dramatically in the past 150 years because of the rapid spread of creosote bush. I asked four related questions: how large and where is the ecotone based on vegetative structure, and do lizard abundance and diversity change across the ecotone? Vegetation data were analyzed using discriminate function analysis to determine the extent of the ecotone. Changes in lizard abundance across the ecotone were analyzed by analysis of variance. During two summers, 677 individual lizards of 9 genera and 12 species were captured. Lizard abundance increased with increasing distance from the ecotone and was similar in grassland and creosote bush habitat. Grasslands had higher species richness than both the creosote bush and ecotone habitats. Grassland sites had greater habitat heterogeneity than did creosote bush sites. No ecotone specialist species were detected, and all common lizard species could be found in each habitat. Three potential explanations for decreased abundance in the ecotone are presented: (1) increased risk of predation, (2) decreased prey abundance, and (3) lack of species-specific microhabitat requisites.

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Spatial heterogeneity in Chihuahuan Desert vegetation: implications for sampling methods in semi-arid ecosystems

Cited by 93 publications

References 12 publications

Water controls on nitrogen transformations and stocks in an arid ecosystem

Water controls on nitrogen transformations and stocks in an arid ecosystem

Closing the water balance with cosmic-ray soil moisture measurements and assessing their relation to evapotranspiration in two semiarid watersheds

Lizard community structure across a grassland – creosote bush ecotone in the Chihuahuan Desert

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