FIFE Vegetation Species Reference: Konza Prairie Plant Taxonomy

Konza Natural Research Area in Kansas is a tallgrass prairie with a biologically heterogeneous environment rich in native plant species. The FIFE Vegetation Species Reference Data Set associates plant species found there with their common and Latin names. It serves as a translation key for species codes used in other FIFE vegetation data sets.

Use Cases

• Translating species codes to scientific names for ecological analysis based on the dataset's described purpose.
• Studying native plant species composition in a tallgrass prairie environment based on the description of the Konza Prairie site.
• Cross-referencing vegetation data from the FIFE project using the provided taxonomic lookup table.

Strengths

• Cross-platform presence on data.gov and NASA EarthData signals established importance and reuse.
• Serves a specific, critical function as a reference key for a larger ecological data project (FIFE).

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing or conflicting: one source lists a last update in 2026 (likely an error or placeholder), while another indicates data from 1989.
• No column names, row counts, or sample data are provided, limiting assessment of structure and completeness.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without details.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Likely gathered as part of the FIFE (First ISLSCP Field Experiment) project at the Konza Prairie research site.

Time Range

1989 or earlier (based on one 'last updated' field).

Freshness

1989-10-31 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Konza Natural Research Area (tallgrass prairie), Kansas, USA.