Carbon and Nitrogen Percent Compositions of Vegetation in Arctic Alaska, 2017-2019

• Main Authors: Monica Ague, Katharine Kelsey, A. Joshua Leffler, Jeffrey Welker
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Arctic Data Center 2021
• Subjects: EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS > ALPINE/TUNDRA; EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > VEGETATION > BIOMASS; EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > VEGETATION > CARBON; EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > VEGETATION > NITROGEN; Ledum palustre; Betula nana; Salix pulchra; Vaccinium uliginosum; Vaccinium vitis-idaea; Cassiope tetragona; Andromeda polifolia; Rubus chamaemorus; Empetrum nigrum; Arctostaphylos alpina; Rhododendron lapponicum; Vaccinium oxycoccus; Salix rotundifolia; Dryas integrifolia; Salix arctica; Salix reticulata; Salix richardsonii; Salix alexensis; Salix ovalifolia; Salix polaris; Kalmia procumbens; Salix glauca; Salix arbusculoides; Picea glauca; Potentilla biflora; Arctic; Northern Foothills; Brooks Range; Climate change; north slope; Tundra; Alaska
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.18739/A2S756M24

Sample weights and carbon and nitrogen percentages from vegetation collected by destructive biomass sampling across the general year-round range of the Alaskan Central Arctic Caribou Herd (CAH), June 2017 - September 2019. These data were collected as a part of the National Science Foundation funded project "Nutritional Landscapes of Arctic Caribou: Observations, Experiments, and Models Provide Process-Level Understanding of Forage Traits and Trajectories" and have been used to produce estimates of vegetation biomass and aboveground nutrient pools throughout the CAH's range. The goals for the project as a whole were to further develop our understanding of the drivers of forage quality and quantity across the Alaskan arctic, the CAH's use of their landscape through space and time, and the possible ways that forage quality will vary under likely climate change scenarios.