Remote Sensing and Dryland Management
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Drylands (areas characterized by low precipitation, high evapotranspiration, and low soil moisture) occupy around 40-45% of the earth’s surface. Many drylands contain high biodiversity and provide essential ecosystem services (e.g., livestock forage, agricultural production, pollination) for nearly 1/3 of the world’s population who live in drylands. Given limited precipitation and other resources, drylands can have abrupt responses to intensive land use and climate variability, and small environmental changes often have disproportionally large ecological effects in these systems. Our research applies remote sensing and spatial analysis to characterize and monitor dryland vegetation and soils, to help understand how land use and climate affects ecosystem processes, and to provide information on how ecological processes can be managed to accelerate recovery of disturbed and degraded lands.
This page describes some of the remote sensing methods and results of four ongoing USGS studies: 1) using Landsat time series data to measure reclamation success, 2) mapping and monitoring invasive grasses, 3) characterizing biological soil crusts and soil heterogeneity, and 4) mapping and modeling surface disturbances. Detailed webpages for research listed above found under the Related Science tab or click the underlined links.
Figure 1. The Sonoran Desert of the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona.
(Credit: Miguel Villarreal, USGS. Public domain.)
Fingure 2. University of Arizona student intern collecting field information in the Sonoran Desert.
(Credit: Miguel Villarreal, USGS. Image used with permission)
Figure 3. A distressed desert in the Sonoran Desert of the Barry M. Goldwater Range in Arizona.
(Credit: Miguel Villarreal, USGS. Public domain.)
Related Science:
1.1 Remote sensing of energy development
1.2 Remote sensing of invasive annual grasses
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Date published: June 2, 2020Status: ActiveSoil Compaction and Erosion
Extensive off-highway vehicle (OHV) use on desert lands can directly and indirectly lead to human health problems and impact soil, vegetation, and wildlife habitat. Soil pulverization and loosening caused by OHVs contribute to dust hazards, and to respiratory illnesses and diseases (e.g., valley fever) in adjacent, downwind communities. Repeated soil compaction by OHVs can also degrade...
Contacts: Miguel Villarreal, PhD, Laura M NormanAttribution: Western Geographic Science Center -
Date published: June 2, 2020Status: ActiveRemote Sensing of Biological Soil Crusts
Biological soil crusts (biocrusts, photoautotrophic soil surface communities comprised of cyanobacteria, algae, bryophytes, lichens, and fungi, occur in drylands globally where they contribute to ecosystem functioning by increasing soil stability, reducing dust emissions, and modifying soil resource availability (e.g., water, nutrients) (Fig 1.3.1). Despite increasing recognition and interest...
Contacts: Miguel Villarreal, PhD, Caroline Ann Havrilla, PhDAttribution: Western Geographic Science Center -
Date published: June 2, 2020Status: ActiveRemote Sensing of Invasive Annual Grasses
One of the major ecological consequences of increasing global connectivity is the introduction, establishment, and spread of non-native species into new ecosystems. The rate and extent of biological invasions continues to increase globally, often at considerable environmental and economic costs. Once established, non-native species can transform ecosystems, complicating land management...
Contacts: Miguel Villarreal, PhDAttribution: Western Geographic Science Center -
Date published: June 2, 2020Status: ActiveRemote Sensing of Energy Development
Oil and gas development across the western United States has increased substantially in recent decades, including within the Colorado Plateau. The Colorado Plateau is a high desert region of grasslands, shrublands, and woodlands and is home to a large number of world-renowned national and tribal parks and monuments (e.g., Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands, Monument Valley, and...
Contacts: Miguel Villarreal, PhD, Mike Duniway, Ph.D.Attribution: Western Geographic Science Center
Landsat time series assessment of invasive annual grasses following energy development
Invasive annual grasses are of concern in many areas of the Western United States because they tolerate resource variability and have high reproductive capacity, with propagules that are readily dispersed in disturbed areas like those created and maintained for energy development. Early-season invasive grasses “green up” earlier than the most...
Villarreal, Miguel L.; Soulard, Christopher E.; Eric Waller Landsat time series analysis of fractional plant cover changes on abandoned energy development sites
Oil and natural gas development in the western United States has increased substantially in recent decades as technological advances like horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have made extraction more commercially viable. Oil and gas pads are often developed for production, and then capped, reclaimed, and left to recover when no longer...
Waller, Eric K.; Villarreal, Miguel L.; Poitras, Travis B.; Nauman, Travis W.; Duniway, Michael C. Identifying optimal remotely-sensed variables for ecosystem monitoring in Colorado Plateau drylands
Water-limited ecosystems often recover slowly following anthropogenic or natural disturbance. Multitemporal remote sensing can be used to monitor ecosystem recovery after disturbance; however, dryland vegetation cover can be challenging to accurately measure due to sparse cover and spectral confusion between soils and non-photosynthetic vegetation...
Poitras, Travis B.; Villarreal, Miguel L.; Waller, Eric K.; Nauman, Travis W.; Miller, Mark E.; Duniway, Michael C. Climate legacy and lag effects on dryland plant communities in the southwestern U.S.
Climate change effects on vegetation will likely be strong in the southwestern U.S., which is projected to experience large increases in temperature and changes in precipitation. Plant communities in the southwestern U.S. may be particularly vulnerable to climate change as the productivity of many plant species is strongly water-limited. This...
Bunting, Erin; Munson, Seth M.; Villarreal, Miguel L. Disturbance automated reference toolset (DART): Assessing patterns in ecological recovery from energy development on the Colorado Plateau
A new disturbance automated reference toolset (DART) was developed to monitor human land surface impacts using soil-type and ecological context. DART identifies reference areas with similar soils, topography, and geology; and compares the disturbance condition to the reference area condition using a quantile-based approach based on a satellite...
Nauman, Travis W.; Duniway, Michael C.; Villarreal, Miguel L.; Poitras, Travis B. Multi-index time series monitoring of drought and fire effects on desert grasslands
The Western United States is expected to undergo both extended periods of drought and longer wildfire seasons under forecasted global climate change and it is important to understand how these disturbances will interact and affect recovery and composition of plant communities in the future. In this research paper we describe the temporal response...
Villarreal, Miguel L.; Norman, Laura M.; Buckley, Steven; Wallace, Cynthia S.A.; Coe, Michelle A. Comparison of remote sensing indices for monitoring of desert cienegas
This research considers the applicability of different vegetation indices at 30 m resolution for mapping and monitoring desert wetland (cienega) health and spatial extent through time at Cienega Creek in southeastern Arizona, USA. Multiple stressors including the risk of decadal-scale drought, the effects of current and predicted global...
Wilson, Natalie R.; Norman, Laura M.; Villarreal, Miguel L.; Gass, Leila; Tiller, Ron; Salywon, Andrew Modelling landscape-scale erosion potential related to vehicle disturbances along the U.S.-Mexico border
Decades of intensive off-road vehicle use for border security, immigration, smuggling, recreation, and military training along the USA–Mexico border have prompted concerns about long-term human impacts on sensitive desert ecosystems. To help managers identify areas susceptible to soil erosion from anthropogenic activities, we developed a...
Villarreal, Miguel L.; Webb, Robert H.; Norman, Laura M.; Psillas, Jennifer L.; Rosenberg, Abigail S.; Carmichael, Shinji; Petrakis, Roy E.; Sparks, Philip E. Remote sensing analysis of riparian vegetation response to desert marsh restoration in the Mexican Highlands
Desert marshes, or cienegas, are extremely biodiverse habitats imperiled by anthropogenic demands for water and changing climates. Given their widespread loss and increased recognition, remarkably little is known about restoration techniques. In this study, we examine the effects of gabions (wire baskets filled with rocks used as dams) on...
Norman, Laura M.; Villarreal, Miguel L.; Pulliam, H. Ronald; Minckley, Robert L.; Gass, Leila; Tolle, Cindy; Coe, Michelle Historical and contemporary geographic data reveal complex spatial and temporal responses of vegetation to climate and land stewardship
Vegetation and land-cover changes are not always directional but follow complex trajectories over space and time, driven by changing anthropogenic and abiotic conditions. We present a multi-observational approach to land-change analysis that addresses the complex geographic and temporal variability of vegetation changes related to climate and land...
Villarreal, Miguel L.; Norman, Laura M.; Webb, Robert H.; Turner, Raymond M.-
Date published: October 17, 2019Data supporting Landsat time series assessment of invasive annual grasses following energy development
To determine if invasive annual grasses increased around energy developments after the construction phase, we calculated an invasives index using Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery for a 34-year time period (1985-2018) and assessed trends for 1,755 wind turbines (from the U.S. Wind Turbine Database) installed between 1988 and 2013 in the southern California desert. The index uses the maxim
Attribution: Western Geographic Science Center -
Date published: July 8, 2018
5-year Relative Fractional Vegetation Cover at Abandoned Energy Development Sites on the Colorado Plateau
This data release contains a single vector shapefile and two text documents with code used to generate the data product. This vector shapefile contains the locations of 365 “plugged and abandoned” well sites from across the Colorado Plateau with their respective relative fractional vegetation cover (RFVC) values. Oil and gas pads are often developed for production, and th
Attribution: Western Geographic Science Center -
Date published: January 1, 2018
Grassland State and Transition Map of Canyonlands National Park Needles District and Indian Creek Grazing Allotment
This raster data depicts the modeled distribution of three grassland states: Biocrust, Grass-bare, and Annualized-bare. We developed models of bare ground, total vegetation, exotic grasses and biological soil crust using spectral data from three year composites of growing season (March-October) Landsat data in Google Earth Engine and field data that were collected over the same peri
Attribution: Western Geographic Science Center
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Date published: February 12, 2019Vegetation Recovery on Abandoned Oil and Gas Well Sites is Variable on Colorado Plateau
Recovery of vegetation on plugged and abandoned oil and gas well sites on the Colorado Plateau is influenced by time, moisture, nonnative plants and the type of plant community that was originally in place before well sites were constructed, according to a recently published study by the U.S. Geological Survey.
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Date published: February 7, 2017
New Scientific Approach Assesses Land Recovery Following Oil and Gas Drilling
A new scientific approach can now provide regional assessments of land recovery following oil and gas drilling activities, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.