Plant community, ecosystem, and abiotic data from a global change experiment in mountain grasslands in Norway
Halbritter, A. H., J. Gaudard, H. Sandsten, I. Petrauskaite, S. Berthelsen, G. Austrheim, I. Dahle, K. Klanderud, L.C. Krüger, E. Little, R.J. Telford & V. Vandvik. 2026.
Abstract
Multiple global change drivers including land-use and climate change, and pollution threaten
alpine biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Experimental approaches can be used to
disentangle the single and interactive effects of these drivers. Across three sites along an
elevational gradient (469 - 1290 m a.s.l.) in south-western Norway, we exposed plant
communities to warmer climate, nitrogen fertilization, and grazing, as well as simulated grazing
by clipping, in a fully factorial design. After three years of treatment, we recorded data on
vegetation, ecosystem functioning, and microclimate in 160 experimental and control plots.
This database consists of records of the following datasets: aboveground standing biomass
(3,417 records), aboveground plant productivity (2,071), reflectance (1,769), vascular plant
community composition (8,954 records covering 95 taxa), belowground productivity and traits
(796), soil characteristics (193), soil nutrient (1,132), ecosystem CO2 fluxes (2447), soil
ecosystem CO2 respiration (64), and microclimate (30,751,264). The data can be combined with
long-term climate and plant functional traits collected within the study region.
