15-Year Prairie Ecosystem Plant and Nutrient Data from Ames, Iowa

A 15-year long-term experiment near Ames, Iowa, United States, provides measurements of plant species and nutrient composition for fertilized and unfertilized prairie ecosystems. Data includes plant species composition recorded via a point-intercept method and biomass nutrient makeup analyzed with an Organic Elementar Vario Micro Cube analyzer. The dataset was authored by Marissa Osterloh and last updated on 2026-04-30.

Use Cases

• Modeling ecosystem services like production and nitrate loss based on long-term prairie treatment data.
• Analyzing plant species composition shifts based on fertilization treatment over a 15-year period.
• Studying nutrient makeup correlations based on biomass samples from different grass species.
• Calibrating ecological simulation models based on measured plant and nutrient data from a managed prairie system.

Strengths

• Data spans a 15-year long-term experiment, providing temporal depth.
• Includes both species composition and nutrient makeup measurements, offering multi-faceted insight.
• Files are available in CSV format, which is widely accessible for analysis.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is small at 126.9 KB, indicating a limited scope of observations.

Provenance

Source

figshare, author Marissa Osterloh.

Collection Method

Measurements from a long-term experiment using point-intercept method for species and an Organic Elementar Vario Micro Cube analyzer for nutrients.

Time Range

15-year experiment (specific start year not provided).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 14:34:09; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Near Ames, Iowa, United States.