Alpine plant interactions in a global vegetation removal experiment.

• Main Authors: NCEAS 3840: Callaway: Facilitation and competition on alpine elevation gradients: A global experiment on the organization of plant communities, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Ragan Callaway
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity
• Subjects: community structure; competition; biomass; life history; mutualism; dominance; biodiversity; Yukon; Alaska
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5063/AA/nceas.273.3

General description: This data is a common neighbourhood plant removal experiment. In this instance, the same experiment was repeated at 11 mountain locations globally and at each site, repeated at 'low' and 'high' sites. We established removal experiments at the beginning of growing seasons from 1996 through 1999. Plants were harvested at the end of the following (second) growing season with the exception of the Cairngorms and the Banff locations where the experiment lasted only one growing season. Elevation used was selected based on the following criteria: lowest elevation possible that was alpine meadow with few shrubs, and highest was alpine meadow vegetation present but at highest possible elevation with meadow vegetation cover or structure still present. Variables: Location: Mountain range descriptor. Site: Either low or high elevation. Species: Depending on the individual research manager for each location, either the actual species name is reported or a code. At each site 3–10 target species were chosen. We chose target individuals that were small relative to nearby conspecifics, and for which relatively distinct individuals or ramets could be found. Some of the target species were clonal, and to reduce the effect of clonality individuals within 10 cm of a conspecific were not used as targets. Treatment: All vegetation was removed around target individual plants in treated groups (T) while vegetation was left intact in control individuals (C). 10cm area was the definition used for neighbourhood. Rep: Replicate # assigned simply for tracking purposes. Target mass: The final biomass of target individuals at the end of two growing season. Dry weight is reported in grams. Absence of a value is either missing or dead but not coded in this instance. All aboveground parts were included in the mass after oven drying for 3 days at 70C. For questions, please contact either Ray Callaway or Christopher Lortie.