For over 30 years we have monitored the ecosystem dynamics of the mesas and mountains of northern New Mexico, co-located with mangers. We use a place-based science approach, defined as “science that is founded on long-term, repeated, field data and observations, as well as traditional knowledges, and regularly engages local managers and community members.” This approach enables us to provide land managers, scientists, and communities with diverse information on landscape responses to climate and disturbances, such as fire, drought, and insect outbreaks. We measure changes in vegetation and erosion, forest demography and mortality, weekly tree growth, seed production, and detailed ecohydrological information. Many of these unique long-term data sets are part of broader research networks at regional, national, and global scales. Being co-located with our management partners, we are able to directly interpret ongoing research through high-quality, two-way, science-based conversations.
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, particularly in these times of rapid change. Such ecological knowledge is often time- and place-specific. If there are substantial knowledge gaps, land managers struggle to make sound science-based decisions. On the other hand, when scientists can interact onsite with managers regularly, 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 Ellis Margolis and Andreas Wion, and retired USGS scientist Craig Allen are co-located with National Park Service managers at Bandelier National Monument and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) managers in Santa Fe. These place-based USGS researchers routinely work with diverse local land managers to collaboratively develop, 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 Margolis, Wion, and Allen 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 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 DOI 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.
Good examples of on-site, place-based 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.
The New Mexico Landscapes Field Station
Below are publications associated with this project.
Vegetation type conversion in the US Southwest: Frontline observations and management responses
Joint effects of climate, tree size, and year on annual tree growth derived using tree-ring records of ten globally distributed forests
Tamm review: Postfire landscape management in frequent-fire conifer forests of the southwestern United States
Wildfire-driven forest conversion in western North American landscapes
Limits to ponderosa pine regeneration following large high-severity forest fires in the United States Southwest
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
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, co-located with mangers. We use a place-based science approach, defined as “science that is founded on long-term, repeated, field data and observations, as well as traditional knowledges, and regularly engages local managers and community members.” This approach enables us to provide land managers, scientists, and communities with diverse information on landscape responses to climate and disturbances, such as fire, drought, and insect outbreaks. We measure changes in vegetation and erosion, forest demography and mortality, weekly tree growth, seed production, and detailed ecohydrological information. Many of these unique long-term data sets are part of broader research networks at regional, national, and global scales. Being co-located with our management partners, we are able to directly interpret ongoing research through high-quality, two-way, science-based conversations.
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, particularly in these times of rapid change. Such ecological knowledge is often time- and place-specific. If there are substantial knowledge gaps, land managers struggle to make sound science-based decisions. On the other hand, when scientists can interact onsite with managers regularly, 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 Ellis Margolis and Andreas Wion, and retired USGS scientist Craig Allen are co-located with National Park Service managers at Bandelier National Monument and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) managers in Santa Fe. These place-based USGS researchers routinely work with diverse local land managers to collaboratively develop, 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.
Repeat photos from the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico in 1994, 2011, and 2021, illustrating ecological transformations in a former Piñon-Juniper woodland in response to warmer drought, insect outbreaks, and severe fire. The advantages of place-based scientists to land managers are many. Scientists like Margolis, Wion, and Allen 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 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 DOI 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.
Good examples of on-site, place-based 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.
The New Mexico Landscapes Field Station
The New Mexico Landscapes Field Station is a place-based, globally-connected, ecological research group that studies and interprets ecosystem and wildlife dynamics, working with land managers and community leaders to deliver solutions that foster the linked health of human and natural systems. Our partnerships, and co-location, with land management agencies provide us with opportunities to deliver... - Publications
Below are publications associated with this project.
Filter Total Items: 16Vegetation type conversion in the US Southwest: Frontline observations and management responses
Forest and nonforest ecosystems of the western United States are experiencing major transformations in response to land-use change, climate warming, and their interactive effects with wildland fire. Some ecosystems are transitioning to persistent alternative types, hereafter called “vegetation type conversion” (VTC). VTC is one of the most pressing management issues in the southwestern US, yet curAuthorsChristopher H. Guiterman, Rachel M. Gregg, Laura A.E. Marshall, Jill J. Beckmann, Phillip J. van Mantgem, Donald A. Falk, Jon Keeley, Anthony C. Caprio, Jonathan D. Coop, Paula J. Fornwalt, Collin Haffey, R. Keala Hagmann, Stephen Jackson, Ann M. Lynch, Ellis Margolis, Christopher Marks, Marc D. Meyer, Hugh Safford, Alexandra Dunya Syphard, Alan H. Taylor, Craig Wilcox, Dennis Carril, Carolyn Armstrong Enquist, David W. Huffman, Jose Iniguez, Nicole A. Molinari, Christina M Restaino, Jens T. StevensJoint effects of climate, tree size, and year on annual tree growth derived using tree-ring records of ten globally distributed forests
Tree rings provide an invaluable long-term record for understanding how climate and other drivers shape tree growth and forest productivity. However, conventional tree-ring analysis methods were not designed to simultaneously account for the effects of climate, tree size, and other drivers on individual growth, which has limited the potential to use tree rings to understand forest productivity, itAuthorsKristina J. Anderson-Teixeira, Valentine Herrmann, Christy Rollinson, Bianca Gonzales, Erika B. Gonzalez-Akre, Neil Pederson, M. Ross Alexander, Craig D. Allen, Raquel Alfaro-Sánchez, Tala Awada, Jennifer L. Baltzer, Patrick J. Baker, Joseph D. Birch, Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin, Paolo Cherubini, Stewart J. Davies, Cameron Dow, Ryan Helcoski, Jakub Kašpar, James A. Lutz, Ellis Margolis, Justin Maxwell, Sean M. McMahon, Camille Piponiot, Sabrina E. Russo, Pavel Šamonil, Anastasia E. Sniderhan, Alan J. Tepley, Ivana Vašíčková, Mart Vlam, Pieter A. ZuidemaTamm review: Postfire landscape management in frequent-fire conifer forests of the southwestern United States
The increasing incidence of wildfires across the southwestern United States (US) is altering the contemporary forest management template within historically frequent-fire conifer forests. An increasing fraction of southwestern conifer forests have recently burned, and many of these burned landscapes contain complex mosaics of surviving forest and severely burned patches without surviving conifer tAuthorsJens T. Stevens, Collin Haffey, Jonathan D. Coop, Paula J. Fornwalt, Larissa Yocom, Craig D. Allen, Anne Bradley, Owen T. Burney, Dennis Carril, Marin E. Chambers, Theresa B. Chapman, Sandra L. Haire, Matthew D. Hurteau, José M. Iniguez, Ellis Margolis, Christopher Marks, Laura A. E. Marshall, Kyle C. Rodman, Camille S. Stevens-Rumann, Andrea E. Thode, Jessica J. WalkerWildfire-driven forest conversion in western North American landscapes
Changing disturbance regimes and climate can overcome forest ecosystem resilience. Following high-severity fire, forest recovery may be compromised by lack of tree seed sources, warmer and drier postfire climate, or short-interval reburning. A potential outcome of the loss of resilience is the conversion of the prefire forest to a different forest type or nonforest vegetation. Conversion implies mAuthorsJonathan D. Coop, Sean A. Parks, Camile S Stevens-Rumann, Shelley D. Crausbay, Philip E. Higuera, Matthew D. Hurteau, Alan J. Tepley, Ellen Whitman, Timothy J Assal, Brandon M. Collins, Kimberley T Davis, Solomon Dobrowski, Donald A. Falk, Paula J. Fornwalt, Peter Z Fulé, Brian J. Harvey, Van R. Kane, Caitlin E. Littlefield, Ellis Margolis, Malcolm North, Marc-André Parisien, Susan Prichard, Kyle C. RodmanLimits to ponderosa pine regeneration following large high-severity forest fires in the United States Southwest
High-severity fires in dry conifer forests of the United States Southwest have created large (>1000 ha) treeless areas that are unprecedented in the regional historical record. These fires have reset extensive portions of Southwestern ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Lawson & C. Lawson var. scopulorum Engelm.) forest landscapes. At least two recovery options following high-severity fire are emerginAuthorsCollin Haffey, Thomas D. Sisk, Craig D. Allen, Andrea E. Thode, Ellis MargolisMulti-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 mortAuthorsNathan G. McDowell, A.P. Williams, C. Xu, W. T. Pockman, L. T. Dickman, Sanna Sevanto, R. Pangle, J. Limousin, J.J. Plaut, D.S. Mackay, J. Ogee, Jean-Christophe Domec, Craig D. Allen, Rosie A. Fisher, X. Jiang, J.D. Muss, D.D. Breshears, Sara A. Rauscher, C. KovenLarger 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 treesAuthorsAmy C. Bennett, Nathan G. McDowell, Craig D. Allen, Kristina J. Anderson-TeixeiraPatterns 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, elevAuthorsArjan J.H. Meddens, Jeff H. Hicke, Alison K. Macalady, P.C. Buotte, T.R. Cowles, Craig D. AllenUnsupported 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 distinguisAuthorsPeter Z. Fulé, Thomas W. Swetnam, Peter M. Brown, Donald A. Falk, David L. Peterson, Craig D. Allen, Gregory H. Aplet, Mike A. Battaglia, Dan Binkley, Calvin Farris, Robert E. Keane, Ellis Q. Margolis, Henri Grissino-Mayer, Carol Miller, Carolyn Hull Sieg, Carl Skinner, Scott L. Stephens, Alan TaylorAn 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 acrossAuthorsChristina L. Tague, Nathan G. McDowell, Craig D. AllenTemperature 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 influenceAuthorsA. Park Williams, Craig D. Allen, Alison K. Macalady, Daniel Griffin, Connie A. Woodhouse, David M. Meko, Thomas W. Swetnam, Sara A. Rauscher, Richard Seager, Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Jeffrey S. Dean, Edward R. Cook, Chandana Gangodagamage, Michael Cai, Nathan G. McDowellThe 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 macroecoloAuthorsJoseph R. Burger, Craig D. Allen, James H. Brown, William R. Burnside, Ana D. Davidson, Trevor S. Fristoe, Marcus J. Hamilton, Norman Mercado-Silva, Jeffrey C. Nekola, Jordan G. Okie, Wenyun Zuo - News
- Partners
Below are partners associated with this project.