Data from: Predicting spatial-temporal patterns of diet quality and large herbivore performance using satellite time series

Analysis-ready tabular data from "Predicting spatial-temporal patterns of diet quality and large herbivore performance using satellite time series" in Ecological Applications, Kearney et al., 2021. Data is tabular data only, summarized to the pasture scale. Weight gain data for individual cattle and the STARFM-derived Landsat-MODIS fusion imagery can be made available upon request.

• Resource Title: Metadata - CSV column names, units and descriptions.

  File Name: Kearney_et_al_ECOLAPPL_Patterns of herbivore - metada.docx

  Resource Description: Column names, units and descriptions for all CSV files in this dataset




• Resource Title: Fecal quality data.

  File Name: Kearney_etal2021_Patterns_of_herbivore_Data_FQ_cln.csv

  Resource Description: Field-sampled fecal quality (CP = crude protein; DOM = digestible organic matter) data and phenology-related APAR metrics derived from 30 m daily Landsat-MODIS fusion satellite imagery. All data are paddock-scale averages and the paddock is the spatial scale of replication and week is the temporal scale of replication.

  Fecal samples were collected by USDA-ARS staff from 3-5 animals per paddock (10% - 25% of animals in each herd) weekly during each grazing season from 2014 to 2019 across 10 different paddocks at the Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER) near Nunn, CO. Samples were analyzed at the Grazingland Animal Nutrition Lab (GANlab, https://cnrit.tamu.edu/index.php/ganlab/) using near infrared spectroscopy (see Lyons & Stuth, 1992; Lyons, Stuth, & Angerer, 1995). Not every herd was sampled every week or every year, resulting in a total of 199 samples. Samples represent all available data at the CPER during the study period and were collected for different research and adaptive management objectives, but following the basic protocol described above.

  APAR metrics were derived from the paddock-scale APAR daily time series (all paddock pixels averaged daily to create a single paddock-scale time series). All APAR metrics are calculated for the week that corresponds to the week that fecal quality samples were collected in the field. See Section 2.2.4 of the corresponding manuscript for a complete description of the APAR metrics.




• Resource Title: Monthly ADG.

  File Name: Kearney_etal2021_Patterns_of_herbivore_Data_ADG_monthly_cln.csv

  Resource Description: Monthly average daily gain (ADG) of cattle weights at the paddock scale and the three satellite-derived metrics used to build regression model to predict AD: crude protein (CP), digestible organic matter (DOM) and aboveground net herbaceous production (ANHP). Data table also includes stocking rate (animal units per hectare) used as an interaction term in the ADG regression model and all associated data to derive each of these variables (e.g., sampling start and end dates, 30 m daily Landsat-MODIS fusion satellite imagery-derived APAR metrics, cattle weights, etc.).

  We calculated paddock-scale average daily gain (ADG, kg hd-1 day-1) from 2000-2019 for yearlings weighed approximately every 28-days during the grazing season across 6 different paddocks with stocking densities of 0.08 – 0.27 animal units (AU) ha-1, where one AU is equivalent to a 454 kg animal. It is worth noting that AU’s change as a function of both the number of cattle within a paddock and the size of individual animals, the latter of which changes within a single grazing season. This becomes important to consider when using sub-seasonal weight data for fast-growing yearlings. For paddock-scale ADG, we first calculated ADG for each individual yearling as the difference between the weights obtained at the end and beginning of each period, divided by the number of days in each period, and then averaged for all individuals in the paddock. We excluded data from 2013 due to data collection inconsistencies.

  We note that most of the monthly weight data (97%) is from 3 paddocks where cattle were weighed every year, whereas in the other 3 paddocks, monthly weights were only measured during 2017-2019. Apart from the 2013 data, which were not comparable to data from other years, the data represents all available weight gain data for CPER to maximize spatial-temporal coverage and avoid potential bias from subjective decisions to subset the data. Data may have been collected for different projects at different times, but was collected in a consistent way. This resulted in 269 paddock-scale estimates of monthly ADG, with robust temporal, but limited spatial, coverage.

  CP and DOM were estimated from a random forest model trained from the five APAR metrics: rAPAR, dAPAR, tPeak, iAPAR and iAPAR-dry (see manuscript Section 2.3 for description). APAR metrics were derived from the paddock-scale APAR daily time series (all paddock pixels averaged daily to create a single paddock-scale time series). All APAR metrics are calculated as the average of the approximately 28-day period that corresponds to the ADG calculation. See Section 2.2.4 of the manuscript for a complete description of the APAR metrics.

  ANHP was estimated from a linear regression model developed by Gaffney et al. (2018) to calculate net aboveground herbaceous productivity (ANHP; kg ha-1) from iAPAR. We averaged the coefficients of 4 spatial models (2013-2016) developed by Gaffney et al. (2018), resulting in the following equation:

  ANHP = -26.47 + 2.07(iAPAR)

  We first calculated ANHP for each day of the grazing season at the paddock scale, and then took the average ANHP for the 28-day period.

  REFERENCES: Gaffney, R., Porensky, L. M., Gao, F., Irisarri, J. G., Durante, M., Derner, J. D., & Augustine, D. J. (2018). Using APAR to predict aboveground plant productivity in semi-aid rangelands: Spatial and temporal relationships differ. Remote Sensing, 10(9). doi: 10.3390/rs10091474




• Resource Title: Season-long ADG.

  File Name: Kearney_etal2021_Patterns_of_herbivore_Data_ADG_seasonal_cln.csv

  Resource Description: Season-long observed and model-predicted average daily gain (ADG) of cattle weights at the paddock scale. Also includes two variables used to analyze patterns in model residuals: percent sand content and season-long aboveground net herbaceous production (ANHP).

  We calculated observed paddock-scale ADG for the entire grazing season from 2010-2019 (excluding 2013 due to data collection inconsistencies) by averaging seasonal ADG of each yearling, determined as the difference between the end and starting weights divided by the number of days in the grazing season. This dataset was available for 40 paddocks spanning a range of soil types, plant communities, and topographic positions. Data may have been collected for different projects at different times, but was collected in a consistent way. We note that there was spatial overlap among a small number paddock boundaries across different years since some fence lines were moved in 2012 and 2014.

  Model-predicted paddock-scale ADG was derived using the monthly ADG regression model described in Sections 2.3.3 and 2.3.4. of the associated manuscript. In short, we predicted season-long cattle weight gains by first predicting daily weight gain for each day of the grazing season from the monthly regression model using a 28-day moving average of model inputs (CP, DOM and ANHP ). We calculated the final ADG for the entire grazing season as the average predicted ADG, starting 28-days into the growing season.

  Percent sand content was obtained as the paddock-scale average of POLARIS sand content in the upper 0-30 cm. ANHP was calculated on the last day of the grazing season fusing a linear regression model developed by Gaffney et al. (2018) to calculate net aboveground herbaceous productivity (ANHP; kg ha-1) from satellite-derived integrated absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (iAPAR) (see Section 3.1.2 of the associated manuscript). We averaged the coefficients of 4 spatial models (2013-2016) developed by Gaffney et al. (2018), resulting in the following equation:

  ANHP = -26.47 + 2.07(iAPAR)

  REFERENCES: Gaffney, R., Porensky, L. M., Gao, F., Irisarri, J. G., Durante, M., Derner, J. D., & Augustine, D. J. (2018). Using APAR to predict aboveground plant productivity in semi-aid rangelands: Spatial and temporal relationships differ. Remote Sensing, 10(9). doi: 10.3390/rs10091474