Warming and snow experiment plant reproductive and growth data for Saddle, 1993 - 1996.
The International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) is a consortium of research sites seeking to understand the response of tundra plant populations to changes in growing season temperatures through a simple temperature manipulation and transplant experiment. The research goal is to examine the phenologic an...
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| Format: | Dataset |
| Language: | English |
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Environmental Data Initiative
2019
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/b0450c819e871f3b94ccf6e69fcaa175 https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/mapbrowse?packageid=knb-lter-nwt.153.3 |
| Summary: | The International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) is a consortium of research sites seeking to understand the response of tundra plant populations to changes in growing season temperatures through a simple temperature manipulation and transplant experiment. The research goal is to examine the phenologic and reproductive responses of a set of species to experimentally-induced warming at a network of sites. The ITEX design is hierarchical, with sites participating at whatever level they are able. At the minimum, participation in ITEX requires climate monitoring (using the LTER MSR standards), a temperature manipulation using one of three possible designs, and monitoring phenologic and reproductive variables for at least one designated ITEX species or two other species. The temperature manipulation is achieved through use of conical or hexagonal open-top chambers of solar fiberglass, which have been shown to increase the air temperature at the surface approximately 3 degrees C. ITEX studies at Niwot Ridge, a logical outgrowth of the long-term phenology studies there, uses a factorial design based around the long-term snowfence experiment. Twenty cones are placed behind the snowfence, distributed at 10, 25, 45, and 75 m from the fence; each cone is paired with an adjacent plot. Beginning with the 1995 season, 24 additional plots were implemented outside of the snowfence influence. Twelve cones are distributed beyond both the north and south edges of the snowfence area, at 10, 25, 45, and 75 m behind the line of the snowfence; each cone is paired with an adjacent plot. This results in the following treatments: increased winter snow, increased summer temperature, increased snow and increased temperature, and control. Key phenologic, growth, and reproductive traits are being followed on marked individuals of Acomastylis (Geum) rossii and Bistorta (Polygonum) bistortoides, and complete species composition is being monitored. |
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