Forage quality and community composition of a slightly brackish wet sedge meadow, Yukon-Kuskokwim, Delta, Alaska, 2015-2016

• Main Authors: Carlson, Lindsay G., Beard, Karen H.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: NSF Arctic Data Center 2017
• Subjects: warming; goose herbivory; neighbor removal; response surface; shrub expansion; Anchorage; Yukon; Kuskokwim; Alaska
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18739/a21j9781c; https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi:10.18739/A21J9781C

This dataset contains cover change data on a sedge and a shrub species in coastal region of the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta. Cover was measured as part of a factorial warming and herbivory experiment with a response surface vegetation removal design. These data were collected as a complementary study to an NSF funded project (PI: Beard) to determine the effects of a phenological mismatch between goose grazing and the initiation of the growing season. The study is a collaboration of researchers at University of Alaska Anchorage and Utah State University. The goal of this complementary project was to determine the effects of warming on a brackish moist meadow vegetation community, determine whether goose herbivory can mediate community shifts caused by warming, and quantify the importance of direct versus indirect effects of warming. These data contain information about vegetation forage quality and productivity, community composition, and soil nutrient availability.