Shortgrass Steppe, Colorado

Location

40° 49' 37.2" N, 104° 43' 26.4" W
Brief Site Description: 
Shortgrass Steppe LTER, Colorado
Detailed Site Description: 

Habitat - Shortgrass steppe—upland steppe, floodplain, shrubland, salt meadow.

Research - 1. What factors regulate SGS ecological structure and function over space  and time? 2. How do the factors that regulate ecological structure and  function, and the coupling of biotic and abiotic components, vary  spatially and temporally within the SGS? 3. What are the biotic and  abiotic thresholds that determine the vulnerability of the SGS to changes  in the factors influencing ecological structure and function?

 

Field Site Type: 
US affiliate
Registration: 
Unregistered
Network(s): 
LTER
Study Start Date: 
1982 to 2014
Mean Annual Precipitation: 
320 millimeters / year
Average Annual Temperature: 
9°C
Average Summer Temperature: 
22°C
Average Winter Temperature: 
-4°C
Land Cover: 
Shrubland
Grassland/Herbaceous
Agriculture- Pasture
Geology: 
sandstone
other sedimentary
Soil Order: 
Aridisol
Entisol
Mollisol
Hydrology: Name: 
n/a
Hydrology: Surface water stream order: 
Second Order
Hydrology: Surface water - Stream Flow Performance: 
Perennial
Hydrology: Groundwater: 
Arrangment of Aquifer Components - Complexly interbedded sequence of aquifers and confining beds
Climate: 
Temperate
Sub-Climate: 
Semiarid