Samford Peri-Urban Net Primary Production Data

Pasture growth was estimated by taking biomass cuts at roughly monthly intervals from a subtropical pasture at the location of the eddy covariance tower on the Samford Ecological Research station. The pasture was dominated by Paspalum dilalatum and several native species. The 5 ha pasture was divided into 4 quadrants. A random location was selected from each quadrant at each sampling interval and 0.25 m2 was harvested. Pasture was cut at 50 mm height and separated into live and dead material before being dried at 65°C for 72 hours and weighed. Samples from every second cut were analysed for total carbon and nitrogen content. No cuts were taken over the winter months (June-August) once frost had ceased pasture growth. Sampling resumed following spring rains when pasture growth resumed.