Publications

Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition is significantly altering both community structure and ecosystem processes in terrestrial ecosystems across the globe. However, our understanding of the consequences of N deposition in dryland systems remains relatively poor, despite evidence that drylands may be particularly vulnerable to increasing N inputs. In this study, we investigated the...

Often overlooked and underfunded, ecological monitoring is an essential component of stream-restoration work. It helps practitioners to identify successful restoration practices, detect ineffective ones, and adjust their adaptive-management activities to improve efficacy (Bernhardt and Palmer 2011). Monitoring, along with research and modeling, are the three legs of the scientific stool...

Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are a complex community of algae, cyanobacteria, lichens, bryophytes, and assorted bacteria, fungi, archaea, and bacteriophages that colonize the soil surface. Biocrusts are particularly common in drylands and are found in arid and semiarid ecosystems worldwide. While diminutive in size, biocrusts often cover large terrestrial areas, provide numerous...

Co‐distributed species may exhibit similar phylogeographic patterns due to shared environmental factors or discordant patterns attributed to the influence of species‐specific traits. Although either concordant or discordant patterns could occur due to chance, stark differences in key traits (e.g., dispersal ability) may readily explain differences between species. Multiple species’...

The southwestern U.S. is a global hotspot of climate change. Models project that temperatures will continue to rise through the end of the 21st century, accompanied by significant changes to the hydrological cycle. Within the Sonoran Desert, a limited number of studies have documented climate change impacts on the phenology of native plant species. Much of this phenological work to...

(Yackulic) At first glance, the decision to study movement in Galapagos tortoises seems curious. Given the slow speed of tortoises and tendency to forage and rest as they move, it seems implausible that tortoises would string their slow bursts of activity together to accomplish large-scale movements. Nonetheless, as early as 1815 (Porter 1815), visitors to Galapagos have noted the...

Drought, wildfires, and invasive species are among the many challenges practitioners face in achieving restoration goals in drylands. In this article, we highlight relevant restoration research and programs that pursue actionable information and resource management goals for the Intermountain West. In the context of international restoration targets recently set, we speak to dryland...

Conservation planners use a variety of decision-making tools, many of which require identifying and prioritizing spatial units based on their biodiversity and levels of imperilment. Turtles are highly imperiled, but present schemes for determining global priority areas are focused mostly on broad regional scales. We conduct the first global evaluation of turtle biodiversity and...

Obstacle marks are instream bedforms, typically composed of an upstream frontal scour hole and a downstream sediment accumulation in the vicinity of an obstacle. Local scouring at infrastructure (e.g. bridge piers) is a well‐studied phenomenon in hydraulic engineering, while less attention is given to the time‐dependent evolution of frontal scour holes at instream boulders and their...

Drought and warming increasingly are causing widespread tree die-offs and extreme wildfires. Forest managers are struggling to improve anticipatory forest management practices given more frequent, extensive, and severe wildfire and tree die-off events triggered by “hotter drought”—drought under warmer than historical conditions. Of even greater concern is the increasing probability of...

An assessment of a drainage basin and its stream corridor will provide the data and information needed to understand current biophysical conditions and trends. Developing an understanding of the drivers of change is the next essential step for restoration success (Osterkamp and Toy, 1997; Corenbilt et al., 2007; Briggs and Osterkamp, 2003), Shields et al. 2003; Osterkamp et al., 2011)

The health and well-being of plants and soil is crucial for all life on Earth. It is well-known that vegetation cover follows climatic zones, and plants respond to climatic drivers such as temperature and precipitation (Seddon et al., 2016; Kattge et al., 2020). It is also well-known that plant health depends on the properties and health of the soil (Ephrath et al., 2020), and that...