Protocols

Measurement of plant species-specific cover, identification of focal species, and collection of plant biomass and functional traits including specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content.

Continuous measurement of soil CO2 concentrations at multiple depths using automated sensors to calculate soil CO2 fluxes via gradient approach. Includes soil temperature and moisture monitoring for e...

Comprehensive measurement of vegetative traits including specific leaf area, trichome density, water use efficiency, and percent water content from field-collected leaves using scanning, drying, weigh...

Microscopic assessment of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonization and other fungal colonization of plant roots using crosshair intercept method and grid line-intercept method for soil fungi.

Systematic monitoring of plant disease dynamics across elevation gradient to capture environmental variation effects. Involves establishment of standardized transects with complete plant population ma...

A 2×2 factorial experiment combining passive warming using open-top chambers with dominant plant species removal across elevational gradients at multiple global mountain sites to test interactive effe...

Systematic excavation of 1-meter soil pits with depth-stratified sampling at 10 cm intervals for soil organic carbon, nitrogen, and dissolved organic carbon analysis. Includes soil profile description...

29-year experimental warming using overhead infrared radiators to increase soil temperature by 2°C in subalpine grassland plots. Heat flux of 22 W/m² applied continuously from 1991-2019.

Factorial experiment crossing nitrogen addition treatments with dominant species removal treatments in replicated plots to test community responses to multiple global change drivers. Includes both sel...

Application of METE mathematical framework to predict species-area relationships and species-abundance distributions based on community state variables and entropy maximization principles.

Collection of soil inocula from resident (high elevation) and novel (low elevation) sites across elevation gradients in mountain ecosystems, with subsequent sterilization treatments to isolate microbi...

Hierarchical Bayesian models predicting vital rates from individual and neighborhood characteristics, with population-level random effects and model selection via WAIC.

Systematic measurement of plant morphological characteristics (leaf number, leaf area, stalk count, etc.) before plant extraction to develop predictive relationships with total plant biomass. Differen...

Factorial greenhouse experiment testing effects of soil inoculum source and sterilization on alpine grass growth, traits, and fungal colonization. Plants grown in standardized sand-inoculum mixtures w...

A controlled field experiment transplanting grass species across elevational gradients with manipulated fungal soil communities to test effects of plant-fungi mismatches on plant performance during cl...

Multivariate analysis technique to quantify community responses over time. Treatment weights indicate response magnitude and species weights show individual taxa responses.

Standard chloroform fumigation direct extraction technique for measuring soil microbial biomass, combined with soil chemistry analysis and enzyme activity assays.

Field experiment testing seed germination of different genotypes/treatments in natural microhabitats of related species to assess niche requirements and differentiation.

Standard gravimetric determination of soil moisture content using oven-drying method at 100°C for 24 hours with 2mm sieving to remove rocks and organic debris.

Standardized protocol for determining dry mass of plant tissues through controlled oven drying at 60°C for 48 hours followed by precision weighing to calculate dry matter content and mass ratios.

Seeds were treated with Benomyl fungicide at 4°C to remove endophytic fungi, creating endophyte-free plants for comparison with naturally endophyte-positive and endophyte-negative plants.

Comprehensive search of Web of Science databases for manipulative experiments on terrestrial carbon cycling responses to global change drivers, followed by systematic screening, data extraction, and q...

Systematic sampling of lichen cover and species composition along fixed 1-meter transects on rock surfaces, with digital photography and image analysis for precise measurement of lichen thallus length...

Laboratory analysis of plant samples for nitrogen content using elemental CHNSO analyzer and water content determination through oven-drying weight loss.

Systematic collection of soils and seeds across elevational gradients spanning current and projected future species ranges to capture natural variation in soil microbial communities and plant populati...

Mixed-bed ion-exchange resin bags deployed at 5 cm soil depth to assess NO3-N and NH4-N availability. Resins are extracted with KCl and analyzed using flow injection autoanalyzer.

Field identification of lichen species using chemical spot tests with potassium hydroxide, morphological examination with hand lens, and comparison to field guide keys.

Calculation of Shannon diversity index (ln type) and Simpson dominance index (1-D) from species count data using online biodiversity calculator. Standard ecological diversity metrics for comparing com...

Long-term monitoring of tundra plant communities using standardized sampling within permanently marked study areas, employing various abundance quantification methods including point frame hits, visua...

Measurement of six different soil extracellular enzyme activities using microplate spectrophotometry to understand microbial activity and nutrient cycling processes in response to plant removal treatm...

Comparative simulation study using five different soil organic carbon models (DAYCENT, CORPSE, MIMICS, MEND, RESOM) to project responses to warming and litter addition manipulations. Models were run u...

Estimation of invertebrate biomass using established taxon-specific length-mass relationships and scaling to aerial measures.