Plant phenology in the Wassuk, Toiyabe, Toquima, and Monitor ranges, Nevada, and on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada, California

These data document phenological measurements of individual plants of species that provide food for birds in 5 mountain canyons in the western Great Basin (Mineral, Douglas, and Lyon Counties, Nevada; and Alpine and Mono Counties, California) and 5 mountain canyons in the central Great Basin (Lander, Nye, and Eureka Counties, Nevada). Sampling locations spanned the elevational gradients of the canyons and were within the 100-meter points at which we sampled breeding birds. Plant species examined included bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata), aspen (Populus tremuloides), cottonwood (Populus spp.), water birch (Betula occidentalis), bitter cherry (Prunus emarginata), snowberry (Symphoricarpos spp.), chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), Woods' rose (Rosa woodsii), willow (Salix spp.), and currant (Ribes spp.). We tracked nine phenological stages: percentage of breaking leaf buds, young leaves, mature leaves, leaf death, flower buds, open flowers, pollen release, unripe fruits, and ripe fruits. Data were collected during June-August of 2018 and 2019. Data include date and location of collection, and percentage of each plant in each of the nine phenological stages.
These data were collected in order to determine if plant phenology changed temporally within the avian breeding season or differed spatially over an elevational gradient relevant to breeding birds. Data were collected at locations within 100 meters of points at which we sample breeding birds (Fleishman 2019: https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2011-0002-4 and Fleishman 2019: https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2015-0031-2).