The data set covers a 101-year period (1915-2016) of quadrat-based plant sampling at the Jornada Experimental Range in southern New Mexico. At each sampling event, a pantograph was used to record the location and perimeter of living plants within permanent quadrats. Basal area was recorded for perennial grass species, canopy cover area was recorded for shrub species, and all other perennial species were recorded as point data. The data set includes 122 1m by 1m permanent quadrats, although not all quadrats were sampled in each year of the study and there is a gap in monitoring from 1980-1995. These data provide a unique opportunity to investigate changes in the plant community over 100 years of variation in precipitation and other environmental conditions. We provide the following data and data formats: (1) the digitized maps in shapefile format; (2) data table containing coordinates (x,y) of perennial species within quadrats, including cover area for grasses and shrubs; (3) data table of counts of annual plant individuals per quadrat; (4) species list indicating growth form and habit of recorded species; (5) table of dates when each quadrat was sampled; (6) table of the pasture each quadrat was located within (note that pasture boundaries have changed over time). Additional data to help characterize plant-scale factors related to vegetation dynamics at the quadrat locations are: (7) data table of depth to caliche layer; (8) data table of soil particle size analysis and sand fractionation; and (9) data table of local and patch topography. This data package was created to support a specific data paper. Data are also available in data packages knb-lter-jrn.210351001, knb-lter-jrn.210351002, and knb-lter-jrn.210351003. Pantograph sampling is currently conducted at 5 year intervals by USDA-ARS staff, and new data will be added to those data packages periodically.

This completed dataset, from samples collected in 2001 and 2020, contains soil particle size analysis (PSA) and sand fractionation data from soil cores collected at 117 quadrat locations that are part of the Jornada Experimental Range's long-term Permanent Quadrats study. The goal of this effort was to help characterize plant-scale factors related to vegetation dynamics observed in the Permanent Quadrats. At each quadrat location, 4 cores were collected at 2 depths (0-5cm and 5-20cm) and assessed for percent sand, silt and clay. The sand fraction, if large enough, was then separated into 5 sand size classes (53-106 micrometers, 106-250 micrometers, 250-500 micrometers, 500-1000 micrometers, 1000-2000 micrometers) to measure the percent fraction of each. Long term vegetation data from this study are available in data packages knb-lter-jrn.210351001 and knb-lter-jrn.210351002.