Citation

Gill Ecosystem and Global Change Ecology Lab, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

Abstract

These data come from a couple of different ecological/hydrological studies we have been conducting in the subalpine areas of the Wasatch Plateau and the Great Basin and Mojave Deserts. The data are divided into two sources on our HydroServer: Lafe Conner and Gill Lab. The data from Lafe Conner come from a snowmelt experiment where we use dust to melt snow more quickly, and compare the hydrological and ecological responses to the timing of snowmelt. These data are collected using Decagon instruments and data loggers. We are measuring soil moisture and temperature at depths of 5 and 30 cm in control and dust-treatment plots. Each experimental plot is 5 by 5 meters. For the dust treatments we apply 50 g/m2 at weekly intervals for 5 or 6 weeks starting on March 15th. The data from Gill lab include three rainfall manipulation experiments. The first experiment began in 2009 on the Wasatch Plateau in the upper watershed of Ephraim Canyon. In this experiment we are observing the hydrological and ecological responses to changes in the timing and amount of precipitation. There are treatments that remove 30% and 70% of rainfall, and treatments where all the rain is removed from the plot and then applied at set intervals of 1 and 3 weeks. The experiments in the Mojave and Great Basin Deserts are identical to each other and we have three rainfall treatments in each replicate: 30% reduction in rainfall, control, and 30% addition.