Cross-Site Analysis of Abiotic Drivers and ANPP at Five Grasslands Sites
Judith B. Cushing, Nicole E. Kaplan, Christine Laney, Carri LeRoy, Juli Mallett, Ken Ramsey, Kristin Vanderbilt, Lee Zeman
Last modified: 2008-08-21
Abstract
The Grasslands Data Integration Project collects data on Aboveground Net Primary Productivity (ANPP) from five grasslands study sites that encompass a variety of different ecosystems into a centralized database containing species and growth form information at the individual plot level. Data was integrated across varying species protocols, experimental designs, and collection methods without aggregation or data loss. The resulting observation-centric database supports statistical aggregation by a variety of factors including species, family, growth form, vegetation biome type, and physical location. We have done preliminary ANPP comparison between sites as well as cross-site analysis of the roles of abiotic drivers such as temperature and precipitation on ANPP, and the role of prominent species such as yucca elata. This poster presents our database schema and some preliminary analysis of the influence of abiotic drivers, including the Palmer Drought Severity Index, maximum and mean daily temperatures, and mean precipitation.