JERHM: Plant Community Data from a Mesquite Encroachment Gradient, 2020-2022

Jornada Experimental Range Herbicide Mesquite Project (JERHM) data contains line-point intercept, plant height, gap, and species inventory measurements. Molly Reichenborn collected this data annually from 2020 to 2022 across 40 paired 5-hectare plots on a grassland-to-shrubland encroachment gradient in New Mexico. The data were collected to assess plant community changes following herbicide application on one plot in each pair, following the Monitoring Manual for Grassland, Shrubland, and Savanna Ecosystems.

Use Cases

• Modeling vegetation state transitions based on species inventory and cover data.
• Analyzing the impact of herbicide treatment on plant community composition across an encroachment gradient.
• Assessing structural changes in grasslands and shrublands using plant height and gap measurements.
• Comparing treated and control plot responses over a three-year experimental period.

Strengths

• Data collected over three consecutive years (2020-2022), providing a temporal sequence.
• Experimental design includes 40 plots (20 treated, 20 control) across a defined encroachment gradient.
• Collection methods follow a standardized monitoring manual (Herrick et al. 2017).
• Data is publicly available under a CC-BY-4.0 license.

Limitations

• Row count and file size are unknown, limiting suitability assessment for large-scale analysis.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• There are no immediate plans to continue data collection beyond 2022.

Provenance

Source

Molly Reichenborn, via figshare and the Landscape Data Commons.

Collection Method

Field data collected annually on permanent transects following a standardized ecological monitoring protocol.

Time Range

2020-2022

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-25 21:39:07; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Jornada Experimental Range, New Mexico, USA.