Percent cover of tundra plant species at twelve repeat-monitoring plots (1999-2017) on Qikiqtaruk-Herschel Island, Yukon, Canada

• Main Authors: Myers-Smith, Isla, Thomas, Haydn, Daskalova, Gergana
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation 2019
• Subjects: "EARTH SCIENCE","BIOSPHERE","ECOSYSTEMS","TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS","ALPINE/TUNDRA"; "EARTH SCIENCE","BIOSPHERE","VEGETATION","VEGETATION COVER"; Tundra; vegetation; repeat monitoring; climate change; Yukon; Canada; Herschel Island; Herschel
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5285/a707cb0b-2f56-49f4-96d4-e9f5c04dd657; https://data.bas.ac.uk/full-record.php?id=GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01091

This dataset contains the percentage cover of plant species, bare ground and litter from twelve 1x1m vegetation monitoring plots. Plots are from two distinct vegetation communities (Herschel, Komakuk) approximately 500m apart. Plots were established in 1999 and monitored in 2004, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Data is presented as total percentage cover per species (not relative cover). Funding was provided by the NERC grant NE/M016323/1. : Traits were collected as part of field expeditions to Qikiqtaruk-Herschel Island to examine the effect of climate change on plant communities. Data were collecting using the 'point-frame' methodology, whereby a 1x1m grid, divided into 100 equally spaced points, is placed over the monitoring plot. A pin is dropped from the grid to the ground at every point, and all plants touching the pin are recorded. : Researchers were consistent across plots from 2004 - 2017.