The purpose of this observational study is to describe the dynamics of ecosystem succession. The change in the number, type, and amount of plant and grazing animal species is monitored in more than 20 fields. These fields were previously cultivated, but then abandoned from agriculture at various times in the past. The fields were left undisturbed for plants to develop from seeds within the soil or brought into the fields by wind or animals. Permanent transects have been established in these abandoned fields for purposes of sampling in a consistent location from year to year. Permanent plots along these transects have been used to sample soil nutrients, (in particular, nitrogen) abundance of vegetation, species composition and herbivore populations. The sampling occurs approximately every 6 years. In the initial survey, 100 quadrats of size 1 by 0.5 m were sampled per field in 23 different fields. Abandoned fields included in E014 are 4, 5, 10, 21, 24, 26, 27, 28, 32, 35, 39, 40, 41, 44, 45, 47, 53, 70, 72, 76, 77. Fields 22(B), 29(A), and 69(C) were originally included in E014 but used for other purposes shortly after the start of the study. This experiment was established in 1983 and 1989 by principal investigators Johannes Knops and David Tilman.
All Methods Available for e014
denotes a Cedar Creek Signature dataset.
Grasshopper Data: | Descriptions of Data Fields | TAB | JMP | EXCELPercent Cover and Related variables: | Descriptions of Data Fields | TAB | JMP
Foster, B. L.; Tilman, D.; Dynamic and static views of succession: testing the descriptive power of the chronosequence approach. Plant Ecology 146:1-10. 2000 [Full Text] e014
Gleeson, S. K.; Tilman, D.; "Plant allocation, growth rate, and successional status. Functional Ecology 8:543-550." 1994 [Abstract] [Full Text] e014
Gleeson, S. K.; Tilman, D.; Allocation and the transient dynamics of competition during succession on poor soils. Ecology 71(3):1144-1155. 1990 [Abstract] [Full Text] e014
Gleeson, S. K.; Tilman, D.; Plant allocation and the multiple limitation hypothesis. The American Naturalist 139:1322-1343. 1992 [Abstract] [Full Text] e014
Inouye, R.; Huntly, N.; Tilman, D.; Tester, J. R.; "Pocket gophers, (Geomys bursarius), vegetation and soil nitrogen along a successional sere in east central Minnesota. Oecologia 72:178-184." 1987 [Abstract] [Full Text] e014
Johnson, N. C.; Zak, D. R.; Tilman, D.; Pfleger, F. L.; Dynamics of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae during old field succession. Oecologia 86:349-358. 1991 [Abstract] [Full Text] e014
Knops, J. M. H.; Tilman, D.; Dynamics of soil nitrogen and carbon accumulation for 61 years after agricultural abandonment. Ecology 81:88-98. 2000 [Full Text] e014
Pastor, J.; Stillwell, M. A.; Tilman, D.; Little bluestem litter dynamics in Minnesota old fields. Oecologia 72:327-330. 1987 [Abstract] [Full Text] e014
Pastor, J.; Stillwell, M. A.; Tilman, D.; Nitrogen mineralization and nitrification in four Minnesota old fields. Oecologia 71:481-485. 1987 [Abstract] [Full Text] e014
Ritchie, M.; Tilman, D.; Interspecific competition among grasshoppers and their effect on plant abundance in experimental field environments. Oecologia 89:524-532. 1992 [Abstract] [Full Text] e014
Siemann, E.; Haarstad, J.; Tilman, D.; "Dynamics of plant and arthropod diversity during old field succession. Ecography, 22:406-414." 1999 [Full Text] e014
Tilman, D.; "Community diversity and succession: the roles of competition, dispersal and habitat modification. Pages 327-344 in Schulze, E. D. and H. Mooney, Eds., Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function, Springer-Verlag, Berlin." 1993 [Abstract] [Full Text] e014
Zak, D.; Grigal, D. F.; Gleeson, S.; Tilman, D.; Carbon and nitrogen cycling during old-field succession: constraints on plant and microbial biomass. Biogeochemistry 11:111-129. 1990 [Abstract] [Full Text] e014
