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Data and software code from two long-term experiments (1996-2011 and 2005-2018) at three sites on the Colorado Plateau of North America

Metadata Updated: January 21, 2026

These data were compiled to examine how climate change affects biocrust recovery from both physical and climate-induced disturbance. Objective(s) of our study were to uncover the trajectory of biological soil crust communities and soil stability following distrubance and under warming. These data represent biological soil crust surveys under 5 treatments at three sites. These data were collected at three sites: Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park and Castle Valley. Data collection for a physical disturbance experiment where annual human-trampling occurred at the sites in Arches and Canyonlands began in 1996 and was concluded in 2018. Data collection for a 13-year full-factorial in situ climate manipulation experiment (undisturbed control, warming, altered precipitation, warming + altered precipitation) in Castle Valley began in 2005 and was concluded in 2018. These data were collected by U.S. Geological Survey technicians using field surveys of biological soil crusts and soil stability. These data can be used to track biological soil crust communities and soil stability through time under climate manipulation and physical disturbance treatments.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date January 11, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 21, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date January 11, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 21, 2026
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_60e7240ed34e2a7685d0784d
Data Last Modified 2021-12-15T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Datagov Dedupe Retained 20260121024932
Harvest Object Id 1f6e6756-d62e-4d26-8009-aaacad1c144c
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -109.54, 38.46, -109.54, 38.73, -109.42, 38.73, -109.42, 38.46, -109.54, 38.46}
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash b65ae05db0681425adebfd464a5ccb5eeb2ecc239d5081a25634416f1d7aa241
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -109.54, 38.46, -109.54, 38.73, -109.42, 38.73, -109.42, 38.46, -109.54, 38.46}

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