Global Tundra Vegetation Change - 30 years of plant abundance data from unmanipulated and experimentally-warmed plots

• Main Author: Oberbauer, Steven
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: NSF Arctic Data Center 2012
• Subjects: EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > VEGETATION > VEGETATION SPECIES; OTHER; POINT; UNKNOWN; biota; International Polar Year; IPY; Tundra
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18739/a2154dp71; https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi:10.18739/A2154DP71

These data were collected in conjunction with two International Polar Year (IPY) synthesis projects, looking at 1. Vegetation responses to warming in sites worldwide and 2. Long-term changes in unmanipulated control plots. As there is substantial overlap in the datasets used for the two projects (i.e. control plots from warming experiments often also provided a record of long-term change under ambient conditions), we have opted to archive the data from both projects together. We amassed plot-based data on vegetation abundance (cover, point-frame hits, biomass, subplot frequency, stem-counts) from permanently marked plots, transects, and study areas throughout the tundra biome, and in and out of warming experiments. Criteria for inclusion in the warming treatment analysis were measures of plant abundance in warmed and control plots in at least one year. For the long-term change project, criteria for inclusion were repeat-measurements of plant abundance in unmanipulated vegetation using the same techniques in 2+ study years at least 5 years apart in time. We also collected air and soil temperature data (where available) from the study site locations. This data set is available in the Polar Data Catalog with Canadian Cryospheric Information Network (CCIN) reference number 10786.