The New Mexico Landscapes Field Station is a place-based, globally connected, ecological research group that studies ecosystem and wildlife dynamics, working with land managers, community leaders, and Tribes to deliver solutions that foster the linked health of human and natural systems.
For over three decades, we have focused on shifting research needs from forest watershed health to wildlife diseases. Recent and ongoing changes in New Mexico ecosystems, in response to interactions among changing land use, fire and insect outbreaks, and the spread of wildlife diseases, may be a harbinger of future landscape responses elsewhere. Therefore, we contribute to scientific progress and informed management strategies locally and globally.
Our partnerships and co-location with land managers and universities provide us with opportunities to deliver our research through high-quality, science-based conversations. We work with our diverse partners to develop strategies and provide scientific expertise with the goal of adaptively sustaining or restoring vital ecosystem functions.
FIRE
FIRE
FOREST ECOSYSTEMS
FOREST ECOSYSTEMS
WILDLIFE
WILDLIFE
TREE RINGS
TREE RINGS
INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Filter Total Items: 18
New Mexico Tree-Ring Science
Tree-ring science is a component of our interdisciplinary ecological research program that focuses on the effects of drought and human land use on forest ecology, fire ecology, and ecohydrology.
Synthesis and Forecasts of Piñon-Juniper Woodland Die-off
Drought, hotter temperatures, and insect outbreaks are affecting dryland ecosystems across the globe. Pinon-juniper (PJ) woodlands are a widespread vegetation type common to drylands of North America, which have been hit particularly hard by a warming climate. Specifically, mass tree die-off events are transforming PJ woodland structure, composition, and distributions. This project aims to...
Long-term, Place-based, Science and Ecological Monitoring
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...
Synthesis of the new North American tree-ring fire-scar network: using past and present fire-climate relationships to improve projections of future wildfire
Increasing wildfire activity in much of North America is having severe impacts on society and ecosystems. Climate change is a key driver of changing fire regimes across North America, with varying expressions across the continent. Modern fire records, while useful, are too short to fully characterize the complex patterns and non-linear dynamics of fire-climate relationships that are...
Next Generation Fire Modeling to Inform the Management of Climate and Fire Driven Ecological Transformations in the Rio Grande Basin
The warming climate combined with a century of fuel build up (i.e. burnable plant materials found in the forest) due to fire suppression are driving megafires that threaten life and property and are severely altering ecosystems. Many of these fires are converting large areas of forest to shrub fields or grasslands, termed “ecological transformations.” Although uncharacteristically severe...
Delivering the North American tree-ring fire history network through a web application and an R package
Wildfires are increasing across the western U.S., causing damage to ecosystems and communities. Addressing the fire problem requires understanding the trends and drivers of fire, yet most fire data is limited only to recent decades. Tree-ring fire scars provide fire records spanning 300-500 years, yet these data are largely inaccessible to potential users. Our project will deliver the...
Effects of disturbance and drought on the forests and hydrology of the Southern Rocky Mountains
Climate-related forest disturbances, particularly drought-induced tree mortality and large, high-severity fires from increasingly warm and dry conditions, are altering forest ecosystems and the ecosystem services society depends on (e.g., water supplies). Our research combines long-term place-based ecological data, diverse methods (e.g., paleo, remote-sensing), and networking approaches to...
Using the Past and the Present To Understand Fire Ecology in the Range of the Gunnison Sage-Grouse
Little is known about the role of fire in the sagebrush ecosystem within the range of the Gunnison sage-grouse ( Centrocercus minimus), and fire has been mostly absent from these systems in the 20th century, partially owing to active fire suppression.
The Western Mountain Initiative (WMI)
Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is a long-term collaboration between FORT, WERC, NOROCK, USFS, NPS, LANL, and universities worldwide to address changes in montane forests and watersheds due to climate change. Current emphases include altered forest disturbance regimes (fire, die-off, insect outbreaks) and hydrology; interactions between plants, water, snow, nutrient cycles, and climate; and...
Tree Mortality Patterns and Processes
Episodic droughts have long been known to trigger accelerated tree mortality in forests worldwide, including in the Southwest U.S. Scientific understanding of the process drivers and spatial patterns of tree mortality is surprisingly limited, constraining our ability to model forest responses to projected increases in drought. The onset of regional drought since the late 1990s has resulted in...
External Microbiota of Bats as Potential Bio-control Against Wildlife Diseases
White-nose syndrome (WNS) and/or Pseudogymnoascus destructans (P.d.), the causal agent, has spread westward across 26 states and 5 provinces within the eastern United States and Canada, respectively, over a short period of time. Since its discovery there has been a search to stop the spread of this disease that has killed millions of hibernating bats in its wake. Recent collaborative work by FORT...
Post-fire Recovery Patterns in Southwestern Forests
High-severity crown fires in Southwestern dry-conifer forests — resulting from fire suppression, fuel buildups, and drought — are creating large treeless areas that are historically unprecedented in size. These recent stand-replacing fires have reset extensive portions of Southwest forest landscapes, fostering post-fire successional vegetation that can alter ecological recovery trajectories away...
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Filter Total Items: 18
New Mexico Tree-Ring Science
Tree-ring science is a component of our interdisciplinary ecological research program that focuses on the effects of drought and human land use on forest ecology, fire ecology, and ecohydrology.
Synthesis and Forecasts of Piñon-Juniper Woodland Die-off
Drought, hotter temperatures, and insect outbreaks are affecting dryland ecosystems across the globe. Pinon-juniper (PJ) woodlands are a widespread vegetation type common to drylands of North America, which have been hit particularly hard by a warming climate. Specifically, mass tree die-off events are transforming PJ woodland structure, composition, and distributions. This project aims to...
Long-term, Place-based, Science and Ecological Monitoring
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...
Synthesis of the new North American tree-ring fire-scar network: using past and present fire-climate relationships to improve projections of future wildfire
Increasing wildfire activity in much of North America is having severe impacts on society and ecosystems. Climate change is a key driver of changing fire regimes across North America, with varying expressions across the continent. Modern fire records, while useful, are too short to fully characterize the complex patterns and non-linear dynamics of fire-climate relationships that are...
Next Generation Fire Modeling to Inform the Management of Climate and Fire Driven Ecological Transformations in the Rio Grande Basin
The warming climate combined with a century of fuel build up (i.e. burnable plant materials found in the forest) due to fire suppression are driving megafires that threaten life and property and are severely altering ecosystems. Many of these fires are converting large areas of forest to shrub fields or grasslands, termed “ecological transformations.” Although uncharacteristically severe...
Delivering the North American tree-ring fire history network through a web application and an R package
Wildfires are increasing across the western U.S., causing damage to ecosystems and communities. Addressing the fire problem requires understanding the trends and drivers of fire, yet most fire data is limited only to recent decades. Tree-ring fire scars provide fire records spanning 300-500 years, yet these data are largely inaccessible to potential users. Our project will deliver the...
Effects of disturbance and drought on the forests and hydrology of the Southern Rocky Mountains
Climate-related forest disturbances, particularly drought-induced tree mortality and large, high-severity fires from increasingly warm and dry conditions, are altering forest ecosystems and the ecosystem services society depends on (e.g., water supplies). Our research combines long-term place-based ecological data, diverse methods (e.g., paleo, remote-sensing), and networking approaches to...
Using the Past and the Present To Understand Fire Ecology in the Range of the Gunnison Sage-Grouse
Little is known about the role of fire in the sagebrush ecosystem within the range of the Gunnison sage-grouse ( Centrocercus minimus), and fire has been mostly absent from these systems in the 20th century, partially owing to active fire suppression.
The Western Mountain Initiative (WMI)
Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is a long-term collaboration between FORT, WERC, NOROCK, USFS, NPS, LANL, and universities worldwide to address changes in montane forests and watersheds due to climate change. Current emphases include altered forest disturbance regimes (fire, die-off, insect outbreaks) and hydrology; interactions between plants, water, snow, nutrient cycles, and climate; and...
Tree Mortality Patterns and Processes
Episodic droughts have long been known to trigger accelerated tree mortality in forests worldwide, including in the Southwest U.S. Scientific understanding of the process drivers and spatial patterns of tree mortality is surprisingly limited, constraining our ability to model forest responses to projected increases in drought. The onset of regional drought since the late 1990s has resulted in...
External Microbiota of Bats as Potential Bio-control Against Wildlife Diseases
White-nose syndrome (WNS) and/or Pseudogymnoascus destructans (P.d.), the causal agent, has spread westward across 26 states and 5 provinces within the eastern United States and Canada, respectively, over a short period of time. Since its discovery there has been a search to stop the spread of this disease that has killed millions of hibernating bats in its wake. Recent collaborative work by FORT...
Post-fire Recovery Patterns in Southwestern Forests
High-severity crown fires in Southwestern dry-conifer forests — resulting from fire suppression, fuel buildups, and drought — are creating large treeless areas that are historically unprecedented in size. These recent stand-replacing fires have reset extensive portions of Southwest forest landscapes, fostering post-fire successional vegetation that can alter ecological recovery trajectories away...