For over 30 years we have monitored the ecosystem dynamics of the mesas and mountains of northern New Mexico, based at Bandelier National Monument and the New Mexico state office for the Bureau of Land Management. Our work provides land managers and scientists with diverse information on landscape responses to climate and disturbances (fire, drought, insects) such as vegetation and erosion changes, piñon-juniper demography and mortality, weekly tree growth, ground-dwelling arthropod population fluctuations, and detailed ecohydrological info. Being co-located with our management partners, we are able to directly interpret ongoing research through high-quality science-based conversations. We also contribute to broader research networks at regional, national, and global scales.
Adaptive, science-based land management—in which information on status and trends in an ecosystem is continually collected, analyzed, and communicated—is generally accepted as the desired approach for managing ecosystems on public lands. Such ecological knowledge is often time- and place-specific. If there are substantial knowledge gaps in this realm, land managers struggle to make sound science-based decisions. On the other hand, when scientists can interact onsite with managers on a daily basis, effective communication, application, and follow-through of relevant science are greatly facilitated. This is where a place-based approach to science can help.
In its role as the scientific resource and advisor for Department of the Interior land management agencies, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is fostering a place-based approach that co-locates some USGS researchers onsite and long-term with public land managers. Several are stationed in northern New Mexico, at the USGS Fort Collins Science Center's New Mexico Landscapes Field Station, where USGS scientists Craig D. Allen and Ellis Margolis are co-located with National Park Service managers at Bandelier National Monument and BLM land managers in Santa Fe. These place-based USGS researchers routinely work with diverse local land managers to collaboratively propose, conduct, arrange, oversee, facilitate, and communicate about needed ecological research and monitoring, working to foster high-quality, science-based conversations on natural resource management issues among land managers as well as society at large.
The advantages of place-based scientists to land managers are many. Scientists like Allen, Margolis, and Haffey act as a bridge between research and management, working to identify the information needs of management problems, secure external research funding, foster collaborations with outside institutions to conduct needed research, and communicate research findings quickly and effectively to local managers and the public. Place-based scientists develop substantial expertise in the ecology of their particular landscape. Eventually this allows them to become information brokers of the deep-rooted institutional knowledge that comes from being in a place long enough to learn its lessons and grow familiar with its natural and cultural rhythms and history.
While location in the same office and inclusion on the same working team with land managers is essential for integrating science and management, maintaining scientific impartiality and a degree of independence is also important. This is the unique opportunity afforded to USGS scientists, who are outside of the land-management agency’s direct supervisory hierarchy of land management agencies, but can be located near or within various DOI public lands. These scientists can serve in the needed scientific advisory and coordination role, maintain scientific impartiality and independence, and also have access to the full range of science expertise and support services of the USGS. The result is a team effort that balances scientific objectivity with commitment and responsibility to management.
In addition, on-site science programs generate unique opportunities to conduct high-quality ecological research. The spectacular landscapes and special ecological circumstances of Department of the Interior land management units are a natural attraction for collaborative research with top-notch scientists and graduate students from academia and federal research centers—with place-based scientists present on-site to initiate, coordinate, and lead the research efforts. Indeed the long-term, integrative, multidisciplinary datasets and research approaches that tend to emerge from place-focused research programs are increasingly recognized to be scientifically valuable at national and international scales. This impact occurs in part because such programs remain relatively scarce, and because the scientific work has demonstrable relevance to both local situations and pressing environmental issues of much broader application. In this way, place-based science can complement the valuable efforts of scientists in off-site research centers, where other opportunities exist and are better realized.
Good examples of on-site, place-focused research programs are found at a number of National Park Service units, where individual USGS scientists have devoted major portions of their careers to working in particular landscapes (ranging from Glacier and Canyonlands to Sequoia and Redwoods national parks). Other agencies have also experimented with the idea, including the U.S. Forest Service. Such examples suggest that developing long-term, landscape-scale, on-site science programs could be a cost-effective way to meet critical information needs for many public land managers. Establishing additional place-based scientists could foster the development of land management organizations that institutionalize scientific approaches to learning, collaboration, open dialogue, and continual improvement—agencies that truly implement science-based adaptive management.
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Below are publications associated with this project.
Multi-scale predictions of massive conifer mortality due to chronic temperature rise
Larger trees suffer most during drought in forests worldwide
Patterns and causes of observed piñon pine mortality in the southwestern United States
Unsupported inferences of high-severity fire in historical dry forests of the western United States: Response to Williams and Baker
An integrated model of environmental effects on growth, carbohydrate balance, and mortality of Pinus ponderosa forests in the southern Rocky Mountains
Temperature as a potent driver of regional forest drought stress and tree mortality
The macroecology of sustainability
Growth, carbon-isotope discrimination, and drought-associated mortality across a Pinus ponderosa elevational transect
Mapping "old" versus "young" piñon-juniper stands with a predictive topo-climatic model in north-central New Mexico, USA
An overview of the Valles Caldera National Preserve: the natural and cultural resources
The Pajarito Plateau: A bibliography
Below are partners associated with this project.
- Overview
For over 30 years we have monitored the ecosystem dynamics of the mesas and mountains of northern New Mexico, based at Bandelier National Monument and the New Mexico state office for the Bureau of Land Management. Our work provides land managers and scientists with diverse information on landscape responses to climate and disturbances (fire, drought, insects) such as vegetation and erosion changes, piñon-juniper demography and mortality, weekly tree growth, ground-dwelling arthropod population fluctuations, and detailed ecohydrological info. Being co-located with our management partners, we are able to directly interpret ongoing research through high-quality science-based conversations. We also contribute to broader research networks at regional, national, and global scales.
Adaptive, science-based land management—in which information on status and trends in an ecosystem is continually collected, analyzed, and communicated—is generally accepted as the desired approach for managing ecosystems on public lands. Such ecological knowledge is often time- and place-specific. If there are substantial knowledge gaps in this realm, land managers struggle to make sound science-based decisions. On the other hand, when scientists can interact onsite with managers on a daily basis, effective communication, application, and follow-through of relevant science are greatly facilitated. This is where a place-based approach to science can help.
In its role as the scientific resource and advisor for Department of the Interior land management agencies, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is fostering a place-based approach that co-locates some USGS researchers onsite and long-term with public land managers. Several are stationed in northern New Mexico, at the USGS Fort Collins Science Center's New Mexico Landscapes Field Station, where USGS scientists Craig D. Allen and Ellis Margolis are co-located with National Park Service managers at Bandelier National Monument and BLM land managers in Santa Fe. These place-based USGS researchers routinely work with diverse local land managers to collaboratively propose, conduct, arrange, oversee, facilitate, and communicate about needed ecological research and monitoring, working to foster high-quality, science-based conversations on natural resource management issues among land managers as well as society at large.
The advantages of place-based scientists to land managers are many. Scientists like Allen, Margolis, and Haffey act as a bridge between research and management, working to identify the information needs of management problems, secure external research funding, foster collaborations with outside institutions to conduct needed research, and communicate research findings quickly and effectively to local managers and the public. Place-based scientists develop substantial expertise in the ecology of their particular landscape. Eventually this allows them to become information brokers of the deep-rooted institutional knowledge that comes from being in a place long enough to learn its lessons and grow familiar with its natural and cultural rhythms and history.
While location in the same office and inclusion on the same working team with land managers is essential for integrating science and management, maintaining scientific impartiality and a degree of independence is also important. This is the unique opportunity afforded to USGS scientists, who are outside of the land-management agency’s direct supervisory hierarchy of land management agencies, but can be located near or within various DOI public lands. These scientists can serve in the needed scientific advisory and coordination role, maintain scientific impartiality and independence, and also have access to the full range of science expertise and support services of the USGS. The result is a team effort that balances scientific objectivity with commitment and responsibility to management.
In addition, on-site science programs generate unique opportunities to conduct high-quality ecological research. The spectacular landscapes and special ecological circumstances of Department of the Interior land management units are a natural attraction for collaborative research with top-notch scientists and graduate students from academia and federal research centers—with place-based scientists present on-site to initiate, coordinate, and lead the research efforts. Indeed the long-term, integrative, multidisciplinary datasets and research approaches that tend to emerge from place-focused research programs are increasingly recognized to be scientifically valuable at national and international scales. This impact occurs in part because such programs remain relatively scarce, and because the scientific work has demonstrable relevance to both local situations and pressing environmental issues of much broader application. In this way, place-based science can complement the valuable efforts of scientists in off-site research centers, where other opportunities exist and are better realized.
Good examples of on-site, place-focused research programs are found at a number of National Park Service units, where individual USGS scientists have devoted major portions of their careers to working in particular landscapes (ranging from Glacier and Canyonlands to Sequoia and Redwoods national parks). Other agencies have also experimented with the idea, including the U.S. Forest Service. Such examples suggest that developing long-term, landscape-scale, on-site science programs could be a cost-effective way to meet critical information needs for many public land managers. Establishing additional place-based scientists could foster the development of land management organizations that institutionalize scientific approaches to learning, collaboration, open dialogue, and continual improvement—agencies that truly implement science-based adaptive management.
- Science
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
- Publications
Below are publications associated with this project.
Multi-scale predictions of massive conifer mortality due to chronic temperature rise
Global temperature rise and extremes accompanying drought threaten forests and their associated climatic feedbacks. Our ability to accurately simulate drought-induced forest impacts remains highly uncertain in part owing to our failure to integrate physiological measurements, regional-scale models, and dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs). Here we show consistent predictions of widespread mortLarger trees suffer most during drought in forests worldwide
The frequency of severe droughts is increasing in many regions around the world as a result of climate change. Droughts alter the structure and function of forests. Site- and region-specific studies suggest that large trees, which play keystone roles in forests and can be disproportionately important to ecosystem carbon storage and hydrology, exhibit greater sensitivity to drought than small treesPatterns and causes of observed piñon pine mortality in the southwestern United States
Recently, widespread piñon pine die-off occurred in the southwestern United States. Here we synthesize observational studies of this event and compare findings to expected relationships with biotic and abiotic factors. Agreement exists on the occurrence of drought, presence of bark beetles and increased mortality of larger trees. However, studies disagree about the influences of stem density, elevUnsupported inferences of high-severity fire in historical dry forests of the western United States: Response to Williams and Baker
Reconstructions of dry western US forests in the late 19th century in Arizona, Colorado and Oregon based on General Land Office records were used by Williams & Baker (2012; Global Ecology and Biogeography, 21, 1042–1052; hereafter W&B) to infer past fire regimes with substantial moderate and high-severity burning. The authors concluded that present-day large, high-severity fires are not distinguisAn integrated model of environmental effects on growth, carbohydrate balance, and mortality of Pinus ponderosa forests in the southern Rocky Mountains
Climate-induced tree mortality is an increasing concern for forest managers around the world. We used a coupled hydrologic and ecosystem carbon cycling model to assess temperature and precipitation impacts on productivity and survival of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa). Model predictions were evaluated using observations of productivity and survival for three ponderosa pine stands located acrossTemperature as a potent driver of regional forest drought stress and tree mortality
s the climate changes, drought may reduce tree productivity and survival across many forest ecosystems; however, the relative influence of specific climate parameters on forest decline is poorly understood. We derive a forest drought-stress index (FDSI) for the southwestern United States using a comprehensive tree-ring data set representing AD 1000-2007. The FDSI is approximately equally influenceThe macroecology of sustainability
The discipline of sustainability science has emerged in response to concerns of natural and social scientists, policymakers, and lay people about whether the Earth can continue to support human population growth and economic prosperity. Yet, sustainability science has developed largely independently from and with little reference to key ecological principles that govern life on Earth. A macroecoloGrowth, carbon-isotope discrimination, and drought-associated mortality across a Pinus ponderosa elevational transect
Drought- and insect-associated tree mortality at low-elevation ecotones is a widespread phenomenon but the underlying mechanisms are uncertain. Enhanced growth sensitivity to climate is widely observed among trees that die, indicating that a predisposing physiological mechanism(s) underlies tree mortality. We tested three, linked hypotheses regarding mortality using a ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderoMapping "old" versus "young" piñon-juniper stands with a predictive topo-climatic model in north-central New Mexico, USA
Piñon pine and juniper woodlands in the southwestern United States are often represented as an expanding and even invasive vegetation type, a legacy of historic grazing, and culpable in the degradation of western rangelands. A long-standing emphasis on forage production, in combination with recent hazard fuel concerns, has prompted a new era of woodland management with stated restoration objectiveAn overview of the Valles Caldera National Preserve: the natural and cultural resources
The Valles Caldera National Preserve is one of New Mexico’s natural wonders and a popular area for public recreation, sustainable natural resource production, and scientific research and education. Here, we provide a concise overview of the natural and cultural history of the Preserve, including descriptions of the ecosystems, flora and fauna. We note that, at the landscape scale, the Valles caldeThe Pajarito Plateau: A bibliography
This bibliography is the result of two initially independent projects. As the consulting archaeologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Charlie R. Steen collected entries at the suggestion of the staff of the Environmental Surveillance Group of the Health, Safety, and Environmental Division, HSE-8. The primary purpose was to aid the staff in evaluating cultural resources on LANL lands. In - Partners
Below are partners associated with this project.