Fourteen years of mapped, permanent quadrats in a northern mixed prairie, USA: Ecological Archives E092-143

This historical data set consists of 44 permanent 1-m 2 quadrats located on northern mixed prairie in Miles City, Montana, USA. Individual plants in these quadrats were identified and mapped annually from 1932 through 1945. Quadrats were located in six pastures assigned to cattle grazing treatments with light, moderate, and heavy stocking rates of 1.24, 0.92, and 0.76 ha/animal-unit-month (two pastures in each). These data provide unique opportunities to test the interactive effects of grazing and climate variables on demographic rates, plant—plant interactions, and population and community dynamics. We provide the following data and data formats: (1) the digitized maps in shapefile format; (2) a tabular version of the entire data set [a table that replaces the full spatial data with one (x, y) coordinate for each individual perennial plant record]; (3) grazing treatment information; (4) an inventory of the years each quadrat was sampled; (5) a species list, containing information on plant growth forms and shapefile geometry type (e.g., points or polygons); (6) a record of changes in species names; (7) daily precipitation and temperature records; and (8) counts of annual plants in the quadrats (annuals were counted, not mapped, by the original mappers).