Protocols

Infrared heaters suspended above experimental plots to simulate warming effects on montane vegetation communities across moisture gradients. Heating power adjusted over time to maintain consistent war...

Systematic excavation of 1-meter soil pits with depth-stratified sampling at 10 cm intervals for soil organic carbon, nitrogen, and dissolved organic carbon analysis. Includes soil profile description...

A novel approach to measure light response curves for entire plant communities rather than individual plants using tent-based gas exchange measurements across multiple light levels. This method contro...

Application of METE mathematical framework to predict species-area relationships and species-abundance distributions based on community state variables and entropy maximization principles.

Measurement of chlorophyll fluorescence using LI-600 to assess photosynthetic efficiency by quantifying light emission from chlorophyll molecules excited by solar radiation.

Systematic measurement of plant morphological characteristics (leaf number, leaf area, stalk count, etc.) before plant extraction to develop predictive relationships with total plant biomass. Differen...

Complete excavation of plants followed by separation into above-ground, below-ground, and reproductive components, with subsequent drying and weighing to determine biomass allocation patterns.

Random plot establishment along elevational gradients followed by soil coring and root extraction to quantify coarse and fine root biomass allocation patterns. Ground cover composition is estimated to...

Standard gravimetric determination of soil moisture content using oven-drying method at 100°C for 24 hours with 2mm sieving to remove rocks and organic debris.

Controlled temperature treatments from 15-65°C applied to detached leaves for 1 hour, with temperature ramped at 2°C/hour. Used to determine lethal temperature thresholds via electrolyte leakage measu...

Paired sampling of vegetation inside exclosures before and after controlled grazing events to quantify herbivore impacts on standing crop biomass.

Systematic measurement of slope and aspect at grid cell centers using compass and clinometer with clipboard to minimize micro-scale surface variation effects.

Visual counting method for arthropods on sagebrush plants involving systematic counting of mobile species first (to avoid double-counting) followed by sedentary species. Targets mutualistic and non-mu...

Calculation of Shannon diversity index (ln type) and Simpson dominance index (1-D) from species count data using online biodiversity calculator. Standard ecological diversity metrics for comparing com...

Systematic sampling of soil from different plant successional stages within a landslide area to compare soil properties across a chronosequence. Uses stratified random sampling within defined communit...

Complete census of sagebrush individuals within systematic 16m × 16m grids divided into 1m² cells, with measurement of plant dimensions for size estimation.