The New Mexico Landscapes Field Station Active
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 climate change, 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
FOREST ECOSYSTEMS
WILDLIFE
DENDROECOLOGY LAB
INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
PEOPLE
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Western Mountain Initiative: Southern Rocky Mountains
Ecology of Insect-eating Bats
Bat Fatalities at Wind Turbines—Investigating the Causes and Consequences
Surveillance for the Presence of White-Nose Syndrome in the Bat Community at El Malpais National Monument, New Mexico
Assessing Impacts to Ecosystems from Uranium Mining in the Grand Canyon Region
Seeing the Forest and the Trees
Below are multimedia items associated with this project.
Below are publications associated with this project.
Climate relationships with increasing wildfire in the southwestern US from 1984 to 2015
Spatio-temporal variability of human-fire interactions on the Navajo Nation
Surface fire to Crown Fire: Fire history in the Taos Valley watersheds, New Mexico, USA
Limits to ponderosa pine regeneration following large high-severity forest fires in the United States Southwest
burnr: Fire history analysis and graphics in R
Advancing dendrochronological studies of fire in the United States
Long-term persistence and fire resilience of oak shrubfields in dry conifer forests of northern New Mexico
Drought, multi-seasonal climate, and wildfire in northern New Mexico
Pruning high-value Douglas-fir can reduce dwarf mistletoe severity and increase longevity in central Oregon
Historical dominance of low-severity fire in dry and wet mixed-conifer forest habitats of the endangered terrestrial Jemez Mountains salamander (Plethodon neomexicanus)
Multi-scale predictions of massive conifer mortality due to chronic temperature rise
Larger trees suffer most during drought in forests worldwide
Below are news stories associated with this project.
Below are partners associated with this project.
- Overview
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 climate change, 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.
FIREFIREFOREST ECOSYSTEMSFOREST ECOSYSTEMSWILDLIFEWILDLIFEDENDROECOLOGY LABDENDROECOLOGY LABINTERNSHIP PROGRAMINTERNSHIP PROGRAMPEOPLEPEOPLE - Science
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Filter Total Items: 18Western Mountain Initiative: Southern Rocky Mountains
Mountain ecosystems of the western U.S. provide irreplaceable goods and services such as water, wood, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities, but their potential responses to projected climatic patterns are poorly understood. The overarching objective of the Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is to understand and predict the responses—emphasizing sensitivities, thresholds, resistance, and...Ecology of Insect-eating Bats
Bats are the only flying mammals that are active mostly at night and occur on all continents except Antarctica. Bats are ecologically diverse, with a range of species that specialize in feeding on fruit, nectar, blood, fish, small mammals, and insects. However, of the more than 1,100 known species of bats on Earth, the majority specialize in feeding on insects. In the United States for example, of...Bat Fatalities at Wind Turbines—Investigating the Causes and Consequences
Wind energy is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world and represents an important step toward reducing dependence on nonrenewable sources of power. However, widespread deployment of industrial wind turbines is having unprecedented adverse effects on certain species of bats that roost in trees and migrate. Bats are beneficial consumers of agricultural insect pests and migratory species...Surveillance for the Presence of White-Nose Syndrome in the Bat Community at El Malpais National Monument, New Mexico
In 1999 and 2000, FORT conducted a survey of bats at El Malpais National Monument and adjacent lands. During this study, several species of bats were documented, including some that are known to use caves or lava-tube formations as roosts. In the winter of 2006–2007, the fungus-caused disease known as “white-nose syndrome” (WNS) began devastating populations of hibernating bat species that use...Assessing Impacts to Ecosystems from Uranium Mining in the Grand Canyon Region
The use of uranium is an alternative energy source to petroleum products and some of the United States’ highest quality ore is located on the Colorado Plateau. However, some regions where suitable mining efforts are conducted include areas that are near important environmental resources such as National Parks that provide viewscapes and habitat for wildlife.Seeing the Forest and the Trees
The recent recipient of two major awards, Craig D. Allen, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Fort Collins Science Center, has loved trees since childhood. He is now considered an expert of world renown on the twin phenomena of forest changes and tree mortality resulting from climate warming and drought, and in 2010 was twice recognized for his scientific contributions. In March... - Data
- Multimedia
Below are multimedia items associated with this project.
- Publications
Below are publications associated with this project.
Filter Total Items: 45Climate relationships with increasing wildfire in the southwestern US from 1984 to 2015
Over the last several decades in forest and woodland ecosystems of the southwestern United States, wildfire size and severity have increased, thereby increasing the vulnerability of these systems to type conversions, invasive species, and other disturbances. A combination of land use history and climate change is widely thought to be contributing to the changing fire regimes. We examined climate-fAuthorsStephanie Mueller, Andrea E. Thode, Ellis Margolis, Larissa Yocom, Jesse M. Young, José M. IniguezSpatio-temporal variability of human-fire interactions on the Navajo Nation
Unraveling the effects of climate and land-use on historical fire regimes provides important insights into broader human-fire-climate dynamics, which are necessary for ecologically-based forest management. We developed a spatial human land-use model for Navajo Nation forests across which we sampled a network of tree-ring fire history sites to reflect contrasting historical land-use intensity: highAuthorsChristopher H. Guiterman, Ellis Margolis, Christopher H. Baisan, Donald A. Falk, Craig D. Allen, Thomas W. SwetnamSurface fire to Crown Fire: Fire history in the Taos Valley watersheds, New Mexico, USA
Tree-ring fire scars, tree ages, historical photographs, and historical surveys indicate that, for centuries, fire played different ecological roles across gradients of elevation, forest, and fire regimes in the Taos Valley Watersheds. Historical fire regimes collapsed across the three watersheds by 1899, leaving all sites without fire for at least 119 years. Historical photographs and quaking aspAuthorsLane B Johnson, Ellis MargolisLimits 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 Margolisburnr: Fire history analysis and graphics in R
We developed a new software package, burnr, for fire history analysis and plotting in the Rstatistical programming environment. It was developed for tree-ring fire-scar analysis, but is broadly applicable to other event analyses (e.g., avalanches, frost rings, or culturally modified trees). Our new package can read, write, and manipulate standard tree-ring fire history FHX files, produce fire—demoAuthorsSteven B. Malevich, Christopher H. Guiterman, Ellis MargolisAdvancing dendrochronological studies of fire in the United States
Dendroecology is the science that dates tree rings to their exact calendar year of formation to study processes that influence forest ecology (e.g., Speer 2010, Amoroso et al., 2017). Reconstruction of past fire regimes is a core application of dendroecology, linking fire history to population dynamics and climate effects on tree growth and survivorship. Since the early 20th century when dendrochrAuthorsGrant L. Harley, Christopher H. Baisan, Peter M. Brown, Donald A. Falk, William T. Flatley, Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Amy Hessl, Emily K. Heyerdahl, Margot W. Kaye, Charles W. Lafon, Ellis Margolis, R. Stockton Maxwell, Adam T. Naito, William J. Platt, Monica T. Rother, Thomas Saladyga, Rosemary L. Sherriff, Lauren A. Stachowiak, Michael C. Stambaugh, Elaine Kennedy Sutherland, Alan H. TaylorLong-term persistence and fire resilience of oak shrubfields in dry conifer forests of northern New Mexico
Extensive high-severity fires are creating large shrubfields in many dry conifer forests of the interior western USA, raising concerns about forest-to-shrub conversion. This study evaluates the role of disturbance in shrubfield formation, maintenance and succession in the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico. We compared the environmental conditions of extant Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) shrubfields withAuthorsChristopher H. Guiterman, Ellis Margolis, Craig D. Allen, Donald A. Falk, Thomas W. SwetnamDrought, multi-seasonal climate, and wildfire in northern New Mexico
Wildfire is increasingly a concern in the USA, where 10 million acres burned in 2015. Climate is a primary driver of wildfire, and understanding fire-climate relationships is crucial for informing fire management and modeling the effects of climate change on fire. In the southwestern USA, fire-climate relationships have been informed by tree-ring data that extend centuries prior to the onset of fiAuthorsEllis Margolis, Connie A. Woodhouse, Thomas W. SwetnamPruning high-value Douglas-fir can reduce dwarf mistletoe severity and increase longevity in central Oregon
Mid- to very large-sized Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menzieseii var. menziesii) that were lightly- to moderately-infected by dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium douglasii) were analyzed over a 14-year period to evaluate whether mechanical pruning could eradicate mistletoe (or at least delay the onset of severe infection) without significantly affecting tree vitality and by inference, longevity. Immediate aAuthorsHelen M Maffei, Gregory M Filip, Nancy E Gruelke, Brent W Oblinger, Ellis Margolis, Kristen L ChadwickHistorical dominance of low-severity fire in dry and wet mixed-conifer forest habitats of the endangered terrestrial Jemez Mountains salamander (Plethodon neomexicanus)
Anthropogenic alteration of ecosystem processes confounds forest management and conservation of rare, declining species. Restoration of forest structure and fire hazard reduction are central goals of forest management policy in the western United States, but restoration priorities and treatments have become increasingly contentious. Numerous studies have documented changes in fire regimes, forestAuthorsEllis Margolis, Steven B. MalevichMulti-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-Teixeira - News
Below are news stories associated with this project.
- Partners
Below are partners associated with this project.
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