Central Nevada meadow characterization

This data publication contains a geodatabase as well as tabular digital data for Central Nevada meadows that were based on data collected in the summer of 2005 and 2006. The geodatabase includes plant community arrangements, streams, springs, and watersheds within each meadow. It also provides a large array of information about each meadow through the attribute table, as well as active links within the geodatabase that open up each meadows respective photographs and aerial photograph (when available). The tabular digital data contain plant community information characterized from randomly located 0.25 meter plots (between 15 and 20 per community depending on size). At each plot: aerial cover, basal cover, and species cover were estimated for all the species using cover classes. Individual species types were also recorded. Three cross sections, chosen to represent the range of channel shapes, were surveyed in each meadow reach and in the reaches above and below the meadow. In the field a Topcon GTS-211D total station was used to also survey a long profile which provided detailed information about the streams slope, shape, length, depth, bank condition, and more.
The vector digital data (GIS) were measured, in part, to assign vegetation types to the "Meadow_Community" shapefile's polygons. It was also done to help quantify and characterize the streams within the meadow community. The intent of the tabular digital data was to provide users an easy way to view the plant community arrangement, streams, springs, and watersheds within each meadow.
Cross sections that were taken with the total station may have spatial coordinates that can be loaded into the GIS, otherwise the cross section is described under the field "LOCATION". A general location such as ABOVE for above the GIS meadow, IN for inside the GIS meadow, FAN for a cross section taken within the fan, and BELOW indicating a cross section somewhere below the GIS meadow. The long profile data contains many of the same points from the "Streams" shapefile available in the GIS data. However, this data is not in UTM coordinates, so it is not included inside the geodatabase. The coordinates are in a meter grid system, and therefore can still be graphed accurately. A set of points for a given meadow may contain more or less points than its respective "Stream" polyline. Original metadata date was 08/23/2010. Metadata modified on 03/12/2013 to adjust citation to include the addition of a DOI (digital object identifier) and other minor edits. Additional minor edits made on 09/23/2015 and 10/13/2015. Minor metadata updates on 12/21/2016.