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  • Data from: Decoupled recovery of ecological communities after reclamation

    Metadata Updated: February 4, 2022

    Grassland restoration is largely focused on creating plant communities that match reference conditions. However, these communities reflect only a subset of the biodiversity of grassland systems. We conducted a multi-trophic study to assess ecosystem recovery following energy development for oil and gas extraction in northern U.S. Great Plains rangelands. We compared soil factors, plant species composition and cover, and nematode trophic structuring between reclaimed oil and gas well sites ("reclaims") that comprise a chronosequence of two – 33 years since reclamation and adjacent, undeveloped rangeland at distances of 50 m and 150 m from reclaim edges. Soils and plant communities in reclaims did not match those on undeveloped rangeland even after 33 years. Reclaimed soils had higher salt concentrations and pH than undeveloped soils. Reclaims had lower overall plant cover, a greater proportion of exotic and ruderal plant cover and lower native plant species richness than undeveloped rangeland. However, nematode communities appear to have recovered following reclamation. Although total and omni-carnivorous nematode abundances differed between reclaimed well sites and undeveloped rangeland, community composition and structure did not. These findings suggest that current reclamation practices recover the functional composition of nematode communities, but not soil conditions or plant communities. Our results show that plant communities have failed to recover through reclamation: high soil salinity may create a persistent impediment to native plant growth and ecosystem recovery.

    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: Creative Commons CCZero

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    Dates

    Metadata Created Date November 10, 2020
    Metadata Updated Date February 4, 2022

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from USDA JSON

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date November 10, 2020
    Metadata Updated Date February 4, 2022
    Publisher Agricultural Research Service
    Maintainer
    Identifier 84a732cd-9d04-4f5c-953f-1402ec955cd3
    Data Last Modified 2022-01-05
    Public Access Level public
    Bureau Code 005:18
    Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
    Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
    Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
    Data Dictionary https://data.nal.usda.gov/dataset/data-decoupled-recovery-ecological-communities-after-reclamation/resource/c1c93874-75db-4ab4-8a04-06ed926e876c
    Harvest Object Id 65d31b9e-d73e-48a5-b3ce-42e68d93aff3
    Harvest Source Id d3fafa34-0cb9-48f1-ab1d-5b5fdc783806
    Harvest Source Title USDA JSON
    License https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
    Old Spatial {"type":"Polygon","coordinates":-104.00953672361,47.699349329417,-103.26521299314,47.701197803794,-103.26795957517,47.315303632658,-104.01502988767,47.315303632658}
    Program Code 005:040
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash e24b4033ec26dfce7730b86df248cbda677899f4
    Source Schema Version 1.1
    Spatial {"type":"Polygon","coordinates":-104.00953672361,47.699349329417,-103.26521299314,47.701197803794,-103.26795957517,47.315303632658,-104.01502988767,47.315303632658}

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