The Colorado Plateau, centered around the four corners area of the Southwest, and includes much of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, is a large and important component of U.S. drylands. This important home to mountains, desert basins, dramatic canyons, arid woodlands, and grasslands is also one of North America’s most rapidly warming hot spots, with rates of warming of up to 2-3° C within the last 100 years. Such warming trends have already been credited with increasing drought frequency and severity, resulting in the potential loss of vegetation and soil, which can have direct impact to wildlife and people. Therefore, understanding how ecosystems of the Colorado Plateau will respond to ongoing regional warming is important for predicting the trajectory of change and aids in providing information to agencies tasked with making land management decisions.
This project explores how dryland vegetation and soils will respond to past, current, and future climate and land use changes on the Colorado Plateau. Using data collected by the USGS starting in 1996, the Southwest Biological Science Center is exploring trends and potential trajectories of dryland landscape ecosystems across a historic grazing gradient in Canyonlands National Park, Utah.
Collected data include vegetation cover surveys, soil measurements (e.g. nutrient and carbon content, soil texture and mapping), and landscape characterizations. Recent analysis of long-term data shows ecosystem sensitivities to ongoing regional warming, with observed declines in biological soil crusts largely attributed to warmer summertime temperatures. Vegetation communities demonstrate more variability, with the highest plant cover occurring in years with more precipitation. Findings from this study will help to inform Department of the Interior and other federal, state, tribal, and private land management decisions aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change. Additionally, by providing information that will help distinguish ecosystem change due to climate alone from those changes attributable to land use (i.e., livestock grazing), the results of this work will help managers of complex, multi-use landscapes identify successful management actions.
Below are other science projects related to this project.
Drylands are highly vulnerable to climate and land use changes: what ecosystem changes are in store?
New Approaches for Restoring Colorado Plateau Grasslands
Chronic Drought Impacts on Colorado Plateau ecosystems (Rain-Out Experiment)
Colorado Plateau Extreme Drought in Grassland Experiment (EDGE)
- Overview
The Colorado Plateau, centered around the four corners area of the Southwest, and includes much of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, is a large and important component of U.S. drylands. This important home to mountains, desert basins, dramatic canyons, arid woodlands, and grasslands is also one of North America’s most rapidly warming hot spots, with rates of warming of up to 2-3° C within the last 100 years. Such warming trends have already been credited with increasing drought frequency and severity, resulting in the potential loss of vegetation and soil, which can have direct impact to wildlife and people. Therefore, understanding how ecosystems of the Colorado Plateau will respond to ongoing regional warming is important for predicting the trajectory of change and aids in providing information to agencies tasked with making land management decisions.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Aerial view of study area in Canyonlands National Park. (Credit: Jayne Belnap, U.S. Geological Survey. Public domain.) This project explores how dryland vegetation and soils will respond to past, current, and future climate and land use changes on the Colorado Plateau. Using data collected by the USGS starting in 1996, the Southwest Biological Science Center is exploring trends and potential trajectories of dryland landscape ecosystems across a historic grazing gradient in Canyonlands National Park, Utah.
Collected data include vegetation cover surveys, soil measurements (e.g. nutrient and carbon content, soil texture and mapping), and landscape characterizations. Recent analysis of long-term data shows ecosystem sensitivities to ongoing regional warming, with observed declines in biological soil crusts largely attributed to warmer summertime temperatures. Vegetation communities demonstrate more variability, with the highest plant cover occurring in years with more precipitation. Findings from this study will help to inform Department of the Interior and other federal, state, tribal, and private land management decisions aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change. Additionally, by providing information that will help distinguish ecosystem change due to climate alone from those changes attributable to land use (i.e., livestock grazing), the results of this work will help managers of complex, multi-use landscapes identify successful management actions.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Series of repeat photographs of biocrusts taken from the same area in 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019. Letters on photographs indicate the same spot across the time series. - Science
Below are other science projects related to this project.
Drylands are highly vulnerable to climate and land use changes: what ecosystem changes are in store?
Improper land use during drought has been a major driver of land degradation in drylands globally, especially in the western U.S. Increasing aridity in western U.S. drylands under future climates will exacerbate risks associated with drought and land use decisions. This project provides critical observational, experimental, and modelling evidence to support our DOI partners with decision processes...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...Chronic Drought Impacts on Colorado Plateau ecosystems (Rain-Out Experiment)
In drylands, chronic reductions in water availability (press-drought) through reduced precipitation and increased temperatures may have profound ecosystem effects, depending on the sensitivities of the dominant plants and plant functional types. In this study, we are examining the impacts of moderate, but long-term chronic drought using a network of 40 drought shelters on the Colorado Plateau...Colorado Plateau Extreme Drought in Grassland Experiment (EDGE)
In drylands, short-term extreme droughts can have profound ecosystem effects, depending on the timing (seasonality) of drought and the sensitivities of the dominant plants and plant functional types. Past work suggests that cool season drought may disproportionately impact regionally important grass and shrub species. In this study, we are examining the impacts of extreme seasonal drought on... - Data
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