Terrestrial Ecosystems and Restoration
Terrestrial Ecosystems and Restoration
Biological Soil Crust
Agassiz's Desert Tortoise
The Terrestrial Dryland Ecology (TDE) Branch of the SBSC studies the biology, ecology,and processes of semi-arid and arid lands (known as drylands). TDE researchers study plant-soil-water relationships and the wildlife found in drylands.
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Mountain Lions of the Intermountain West
The presence of top predators is considered an indication of ecosystem health and can play a vital role in ecosystem functioning by promoting biodiversity, and can contribute to regulating prey species abundance, and herbivory. In the intermountain west, the largest mammalian predator and obligate carnivore is the mountain lion, Puma concolor . This elusive and wide-ranging predator occupies a...
RestoreNet: Distributed Field Trial Network for Dryland Restoration
Starting in 2017, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) researchers and land managers are co-producing a network of restoration field trial sites on Department of Interior (DOI) and surrounding lands in the southwestern U.S. The network systematically tests restoration treatments across a broad range of landscape, soil, and climate conditions. Each site in the network is used to test suitable seed mixes...
Colorado Plateau Futures: Understanding Agents of Change on the Colorado Plateau to Facilitate Collaborative Adaptation
The objective of this interdisciplinary research effort is to 1) characterize agents of change important to land management decision makers on the Colorado Plateau; 2) identify and analyze relationships between agents of change and key landscape attributes and processes; 3) collectively assess the influence of agents of change and attributes and processes on the services provided by the ecosystem...
Predicting the Next High-Impact Insect Invasion
Although most introduced insects are relatively benign, some become high-impact pests causing widespread ecological and economic damage. Introduced insects that are specialists and feed on a single genus of plants can be high-impact as they can potentially eliminate an entire native plant genus over large areas. Luckily, most introduced insects with this feeding behavior do not become high-impact...
Southwestern Riparian Zones, Tamarisk Plants, and the Tamarisk Beetle
Introductions of bio-control beetles (genus Diorhabda) are causing defoliation and dieback of exotic Tamarix spp. in riparian zones across the western U.S., yet the factors that determine the plant communities that follow Tamarix decline are poorly understood. In particular, Tamarix-dominated soils are often higher in nutrients, organic matter, and salts than nearby soils, and these soil...
Biofuels in the Southwest
Concerns about energy security and rising greenhouse gas emissions have stimulated an unprecedented increase in the push for alternative energy use, including the use of plant biomass as a source of renewable energy (bioenergy). However, meeting alternative energy goals, while also meeting food demands and mitigating potential detrimental effects of industrialized agriculture, has emerged as a...
Restoration and Ecosystem Recovery Dynamics in Arid and Semiarid Landscapes
Dryland regions have been degraded by invasive species, wildfire, overgrazing, agricultural conversion, energy development, recreational activity, and urban growth. These disturbances and others are accelerated by one of the fastest growing human populations in the country and a pressing background of decreasing water availability due to drought and elevated temperatures that are projected to...
Colorado Plateau Native Plant Program Field Trial Study
In the southwest US, monsoon precipitation increases sharply along a northwest to southeast gradient. Pleuraphis jamesii or galleta grass, is an important C4 grass species that spans across this large range in precipitation pattern. In this study we are assessing the ability of galleta grass to adapt to changes in the seasonality of rainfall (termed “plasticity”). In the fall of 2014, we...
Dryland Forest Sustainability
Forests in the semiarid southwestern U.S. are expected to be highly vulnerable to increasing aridity anticipated with climate change. In particular, low elevation forests and the processes of tree regeneration and mortality are likely to be highly susceptible to climate change. This work seeks to characterize how, where and when forest ecosystems will change and identify management strategies to...
Ecohydrology and Climate Change in Drylands
Drylands cover 40% of the global terrestrial surface and provide important ecosystem services. However, climate forecasts in most dryland regions, especially the southwest U.S., call for increasing aridity. Specifically, changing climate will alter soil water availability, which exerts dominant control over ecosystem structure and function in water-limited, dryland ecosystems. This research seeks...
New Approaches for Restoring Colorado Plateau Grasslands
Historic over-grazing of arid grasslands in the Intermountain West has led to widespread soil erosion, loss of plant diversity, and invasion by exotic species. Degraded grassland conditions can be very persistent, even after livestock use has ceased. For example, in national parks on the Colorado Plateau, livestock have been excluded for decades, but soil and native plants have not recovered on...
Status of Northern Leopard Frogs in the Southwest
Although it is not listed on the Federal Endangered Species list, there is considerable concern over northern leopard frog declines in western North America. It is listed as a “special concern” species by some state wildlife agencies (e.g., Arizona Game and Fish Department 1996) and declines have been reported in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and other areas across the west. Leopard frogs have...