FIFE Vegetation Species and Cover Abundance: Grassland Disturbance Effects

North American grasslands are the focus of this dataset, which documents plant species presence and percent cover at measurement sites from the FIFE project. It records the effects of large-scale disturbances, specifically fire and grazing, on community structure and heterogeneity. The data supports analysis of how these non-additive, scale-dependent factors interact to shape vegetation patterns.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the impact of grazing intensity and burning on plant community composition based on percent cover data.
• Studying the non-additive, interactive effects of multiple disturbances (fire and grazing) on ecosystem structure.
• Investigating scale-dependent patterns in natural communities by examining data collected at specific sites and times (IFCs).

Strengths

• Cross-platform presence on datagov and NASA Earthdata signals established importance and reuse.
• Focuses on a specific, well-documented ecological project (FIFE) with a clear research context.
• Addresses a complex ecological question regarding the interaction of multiple disturbance factors.

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing: column names, row count, and file size are unknown across all sources.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (1989 vs. 2026) create uncertainty about data currency and maintenance.
• Documentation gaps exist; the specific license is listed only as 'other-license-specified', requiring clarification.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), FIFE project.

Collection Method

Field measurements at FIFE staff data sites, estimating percent cover for each species.

Time Range

Data collection aligned with Intensive Field Campaigns (IFCs), likely in the 1980s.

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:10:18.883428 (datagov), but conflicts with 1989 date from NASA Earthdata.

Geography

North American grasslands, specifically FIFE measurement sites.