Table 1.
Site characteristics for the Jornada Basin LTER, NM (Arid), Semiarid Grasslands Research Center, CO (Semiarid), and Konza Prairie LTER, KS (Mesic)
| Site characteristic | Arid | Semiarid | Mesic |
| Geographic location | |||
| Latitude | 32°33′N | 40°50′N | 39°4′N |
| Longitude | 106°49′W | 104°45′W | 96°34′W |
| Ecosystem type | Desert grassland | Semiarid shortgrass | Mesic tallgrass |
| Climate | |||
| MAP (mm)a | 245 | 321 | 835 |
| Mean growing season precipitation (mm)a | 105 | 204 | 428 |
| MAT (°C)a | 14.7 | 8.4 | 12.5 |
| Soil | |||
| Textureb | Fine sandy loam | Fine sandy loam | Silty clay loam |
| Soil moisture (%)c | 0.42–3.00 | 1.51–4.65 | 14.39–32.81 |
| Vegetation | |||
| ANPP (g m−2 year−1) | 201.1 | 52.8 | 382.5 |
| Dominant species | Black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda; Torr.) | Blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis; (Willd. Ex. Kunth) Lag. Ex Griffiths) | Big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii; Vitman) |
| Little bluestem (A. scoparius; | |||
| (Michx.) Nash) | |||
| Yellow indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans; (L.) Nash) |
a
Obtained from NOAA climate data from Las Cruces, NM, Nunn, CO, and Manhattan, KS.
b
Obtained from Soil Survey USDA (https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/WebSoilSurvey.aspx).
c
Range of soil moisture values reflect measurements taken at the two sampling events in 2016 and 2017.