A Loess plain devoted mainly to agro – ecosystem research. The site is subdivided into permanent plots which are exposed to various manipulations. The manipulation includes introducing of various crops and various grazing regime. The manipulation provides data on the effect of management and rainfall regime on agricultural productivity. In addition, the area includes ecological plots to study a natural succession, penology and productivity under various rainfall regimes. The site is also used to study climate change in relation to rainfall and runoff patterns. An important study is the dynamic of geophytes that are important as cultural ecosystem service in the area.

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General Characteristics, Purpose, History

Site Status:

existing

Year Site Established:

2008

Size :

10.00ha

Purpose of Site :

To study the structure and function of agro - ecosystems in drylands. Specifically, to understand agricultural and natural productivity under various intensity of grazing by domestic animals. Also, the objective of the research in the site is to understand the combined effect of climate variability and grazing. Another aim is to study the effects of agro-ecological manipulations on soil quality and soil function. The overall aim is construct a model for dryland eco agricultural management that takes into consideration water flow and the interactions among trophic levels.

History of Site:

In 1961 as a part of studding the Northern Negev as a grazing system, the land of the site was allocated to long term research of the relationship between domestic animals , their productivity and landscape primary productivity.

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Geographic

Coordinates:

Latitude: 31.333300000000
Longitude: 34.666700000000

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Site Details

Ecosystem and Enviromental Characteristics

Elevation Range FROM:

0.00msl

Elevation Range TO:

100.00msl

Elevation - Average:

35.00msl

Temperature Range (Monthly Minimum) FROM:

0.00°C

Temperature Range (Monthly Maximum) TO :

32.00°C

Temperature: Average Annual:

19.00°C

Precipitation Minimum Monthly :

0.00mm

Precipitation Annual :

300.00mm

Precipitation Maximum Monthly :

80.00mm

Biome :

Grasslands

GEO-BON Biome:

Terrestrial

Ecosystem and Land Use:

Agricultural
Desert
Deserts and xeric shrublands

Biogeographic Region:

Mediterranean

Geology:

A plain of loess soil originated from dry deposition of dust

Hydrology:

a rainfall and runoff depended system. Runoff is generated from the interaction between rainfall and soil surface properties. Soil surface properties are related to the biological soil crust which regulates the redistribution of rainfall by runoff. Rainfall and runoff control soil moisture which is very heterogeneous due to the relationship between rainfall matter –soil surface properties and water flow connectivity.

Vegetation:

Represent a two phase mosaic that includes woody plants consists mainly by small shrubs embedded in a matrix of annual plants. Shrub diversity is very low about 10 species while diversity of the annual plants is very high about 200 species.

Soils:

The soil is loess soil which is characterized by small grains and surface in habitat by biological soil crust community. The depth of soil is very variable and depends on topography, rainfall intensity and the distribution of biological soil crust.

eLTER Parameters

eLTER Parameters:

- Meteorological Data
- Soil parameter
  - Soil moisture

Network Affiliation

Networks/Projects:

ExpeER
eLTER catalogue
LTER
eLTER (H2020)

Site Type (Spatial Design):

Complex Site

ExpeER Classification:

Highly Instrumented Observational AND Experimental Site

Short name :

Gilat

LTER related

LTER Site Code:

LTER_EU_IL_003

LTER Site Classification/Category:

Extensive

Protection Status and Resource Management

Voluntary set aside

75 - 100%

Management of Resources :

Yes

Management of Resources - Percent of Site:

75 - 100%

Management of Resources - Notes:

Agriculture

Design and Scale of Site

Scale of Observation:

plot without link to explicit catchment

Design of Observation:

no observation of natural environment

Scale of Experiments:

plot scale

Design of Experiments:

only experimentation

Infrastructure

Value of the Infrastructure :

700-2000 k

Accessible All Year :

Yes

All parts of Site Accessible:

Yes

Access Type:

paved road

Permanent Power Supply:

Yes

Infrastructure:

Energy and data infrastructure › Data transmission › Data Transmission Type (within site) › Satellite
Energy and data infrastructure › Data transmission › Data Transmission Type (from Site) › Satellite
Energy and data infrastructure › Energy supply › Permanent Power Supply Location › Central station(s)
Energy and data infrastructure › Energy supply › Permanent Power Produced › More than 100 kW
Supporting infrastructure › Lodging at site › No lodging possible
Supporting infrastructure › Staff room at site › > 5 places
Supporting infrastructure › Transportation › Vehicle 2WD
Data infrastructure › Data storage › Spatial data file (GIS)
Data infrastructure › Data services › Other data services

Operation

Operations Cost:

100-300 k

Permanent Operation:

Sampling Interval:

Every 7 days

Maintenance Interval:

Every 3 days

Data Management

General Data Policy:

Co-authorship on publications resulting from use of the dataset

The data provider must be offered co-authorship for publications using this dataset at least within the metadata description

Formal acknowledgement of the dataset providers

The opportunity to review the results based on the dataset

Data Storage Location :

Central

Number of data storage locations :

Data Storage Format :

Structured file or spreadsheet

Data services :

Other data service

Data Request Format :

Offline (Mail or Telephone)

Associated Data

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