Pinon Branch Demography Study at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico (1989-1993)

This dataset was originally published on the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network Data Portal, https://portal.lternet.edu, and potentially via other repositories or portals as described. The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) of the source data package is doi:10.6073/pasta/7f398daeaff9bb36d10921f8b4050863, and may be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/7f398daeaff9bb36d10921f8b4050863. Metadata and files included in this record mirror as closely as possible the source data and documentation, with the provenance metadata and quality report generated by the LTER portal reproduced here as '*-provenance.xml' and *-report.html' files, respectively.This project was designed to investigate the response of plant growth and reproduction to short- and long-term variation in biotic and abiotic environmental variables. Several perennial taxa, including tree (Juniperus monsperma and Pinus edulis), shrub (Larrea tridentata) and bunch grasses (Oryzopsis hymenoides (now Achnaterum hymenoides) and Sporobolus contractus) species, were monitored at 1-3 sites differing in elevation and topography as well as edaphic variables and annual precipitation. The sites represented optimal or marginal/transitional zones for particular species. Demographic measurements were made biannually, after the 'wet' (fall) and 'dry' (spring) seasons. For tree and shrub species, estimates of growth and reproduction were based on branch demography, with ten branch tips from 10-20 individuals per species per site repeatedly measured from 1989-1993. For J. monsperma, P. edulis and L. tridentata, vegetative growth (i.e., branch growth) as well as reproduction were monitored. Additional measurements included needle length for P. edulis and leaf production, leaf size and branchlet production for L. tridentata. For grasses, basal diameter, leaf length and reproduction were monitored for 100 individuals per species per site. This project, SEV006, contains only data on pinon branch demography. Data on other variables and species is contained in SEV024, SEV025, SEV026, SEV027, and SEV028