Identification

Title

Plant aboveground and belowground standing biomass measurements in the Conwy catchment in North Wales (2013 and 2014)

Abstract

The data consists of, standing aboveground biomass, and belowground biomass measurements, from sites in the Conwy catchment. Standing aboveground biomass was measured at 7 sites and belowground biomass measurements were made at 8 sites. Data were collected in 2013 and 2014. The sites were chosen to represent habitat types and the terrestrial productivity gradient in Britain from intensive agriculturally managed lowland grasslands through to montane heath. Standing aboveground biomass (grams of dry mass per metre square) in habitats dominated by herbaceous biomass was measured on 1x1 metre quadrats in four plots per site. Standing aboveground biomass in woodlands was measured in two 200 square metre areas by means of stem cores and litter collections. Belowground total root biomass (grams of dry mass per square metre) was assessed for the topsoil 0-15 centimetres in three plots per site. Measurements were undertaken by trained members of staff from Bangor University and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. This data was collected for the NERC project 'The Multi-Scale Response of Water quality, Biodiversity and Carbon Sequestration to Coupled Macronutrient Cycling from Source to Sea' (NE/J011991/1). The project is also referred to as Turf2Surf. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/46bb0117-ed5d-4167-a375-d84d1237cf21

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

https://data-package.ceh.ac.uk/sd/46bb0117-ed5d-4167-a375-d84d1237cf21.zip

name: Supporting information

description: Supporting information available to assist in re-use of this dataset

function: information

https://data-package.ceh.ac.uk/data/46bb0117-ed5d-4167-a375-d84d1237cf21

name: Download the data

description: Download a copy of this data

function: download

Unique resource identifier

code

https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/46bb0117-ed5d-4167-a375-d84d1237cf21

codeSpace

doi:

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

biota

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Habitats and Biotopes

Environmental Monitoring Facilities

originating controlled vocabulary

title

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2008-06-01

Keyword set

keyword value

Conwy catchment

Macronutrient Cycling Project

MCP

plant-soil interaction

atmosphere-biosphere interaction

land use intensification gradient

biomass

catchment scale

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-4.031

East bounding longitude

-3.592

North bounding latitude

53.31

South bounding latitude

52.944

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

2013-06-15

End position

2014-06-15

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2017-02-03

date type

creation

effective date

2014-06-15

Frequency of update

notPlanned

Quality and validity

Lineage

Measurements were made in plots ranging in size from 200 metres square to 0.5 metres square located using a stratified random sampling design. Standing aboveground plant biomass and root biomass were assessed independently at the sites. Standing aboveground plant biomass (grams of dry mass per square metre) was measured at 7 sites (blanket bog, bog (Calluna), soligenous mire and flush, acid grassland, broadleaved woodland (n=3), coniferous woodland, improved grassland, semi-improved grassland), with between 3 and 9 replicates per habitat. For the grassy/bog habitats, all herbaceous biomass was cut to 1cm height in 1 x 1 m quadrats, for 4 plots per habitat. The vegetation was dried then weighed in the lab. For woodland habitats, 2 x 200 metre plots were chosen at random for each site and tree cores collected for each tree and shrub >1.3m in height. Then the following formula was used to calculate above-ground biomass (where DBH = Diameter at Breast Height): Total root biomass (grams of dry mass per metre square) was measured at 8 sites (blanket bog, soligenous mire and flush, acid grassland, broadleaved woodland, improved grassland and semi-improved grassland). Topsoil (0-15 cm) soil cores were taken in three locations at each site. Aboveground vegetation was removed. Samples separated into 5 cm intervals and then washed with water to remove any soil or stones. Roots were collected in sieves and placed into an 80 degree oven to remove any water content and enable a calculation of the dry weight of the roots. Total root biomass was calculated as the sum of roots from the three soil intervals. The full details are available in the supporting documentation. (Turf2Surf_WP2_Supporting_documentation.rtf) All results were entered into Excel spreadsheets. Data were then exported from this combined Excel spreadsheet as .csv files for ingestion into the EIDC.

Conformity

Conformity report

specification

title

Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services

publisher

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

organisation name

Environmental Information Data Centre

full postal address

Lancaster Environment Centre, Library Avenue, Bailrigg

Lancaster

LA1 4AP

email address

info@eidc.ac.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2020-10-12T15:03:03

Metadata language

eng