Drylands are moisture-limited environments that cover ~40% of the global land surface. Ecosystems in drylands include the grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, riparian areas, and rivers that comprise most of the western United States and most of the land managed by the DOI, other federal agencies, and tribal Nations.
These ecosystems support an enormous variety of cultural and ecological resources that provide the foundation of the economies of many western states,
including farming and ranching, resource and energy acquisition, and recreation. These ecosystems also provide numerous services including supporting biodiversity, regulation of water quality, availability, and storage, air quality, and climate.
However, in the US Southwest, and many dryland regions around the world, unprecedented droughts are not merely future concerns; these challenges are altering ecosystems and natural resources now. Resource managers and policymakers need information about how ongoing and future drought and warming will affect drylands and the services that they provide.
SBSC scientists are at the forefront of generating critical information about drought in dryland ecosystems, focusing on three themes:
1) understanding how drought and warming shape ecosystems,
2) forecasting the ecological effects of drought, and
3) developing management solutions.
Theme 1: Understanding how drought shapes dryland ecosystems
Drylands are defined by limited access to moisture. Plant and animal communities supported by dryland ecosystems are shaped by drought and interactions of temperature and water availability. Many drylands are already warm systems and are expected to warm further, further limiting moisture availability, which vary in both time and space. Interactions among climate, soil conditions, vegetation, geography, and human water use all affect moisture availability. Assessing ecologically meaningful drought conditions, or “ecological drought", in these dynamic systems requires accounting for interactions among climate, soil, vegetation and human use across environmental and geographic gradients, from river to riparian to upland ecosystems. To understand dryland ecosystem structure, function, and variability, SBSC scientists utilize manipulative experiments, observational studies, simulation modeling, and data syntheses. This research develops system-level, foundational knowledge about dryland vegetation structure, plant community composition, disturbance regimes and biological invasions, wildlife population dynamics, responses of fish populations and aquatic communities to drought affected by flow regimes, sediment transport and erosion, as well as cycling of carbon, water, and nutrients. SBSC scientists leverage these insights to provide actionable information about wildlife habitat, water storage, designer flows, livestock forage, land use impacts, disturbance recovery, and restoration strategies. In addition, these results provide data inputs that are critical for accurately forecasting ecological drought effects.
Theme 2: Forecasting ecological effects
Dryland ecosystems are already limited by moisture availability. Drought and land and water management decisions may further reduce this already limiting resource. Dryland plants, fish, and wildlife have already experienced widespread growth declines, mortality, and failed recovery from disturbances. As a result, unprecedented droughts, in combination with nonnative species, warming temperatures, wildfire, and shifting human land and water use, are rapidly transforming dryland ecosystems. SBSC scientists are anticipating these transformations and forecasting the effect of drought on dryland ecosystems, providing forward-thinking, actionable information to resource managers. Forecasts include long-term projections of climate-driven shifts in ecological drought and vulnerability of natural resources. Long-term forecasts provide expectations for important changes to dryland ecosystems, including shifting plant distribution and abundance, changing quantity and quality of water in rivers, reservoirs and soil, changes in wildlife and fish populations, and altered disturbance regimes, erosion rates, and dust production. This research assesses how extended drought will fundamentally alter how society values and utilizes drylands. SBSC scientists are also meeting the resources management needs for short-term, seasonal forecasts of drought impacts on dryland ecosystems through tools like GrassCast, which forecasts forage production in the coming growing season, the Short-term Drought Forecaster, which estimates the success of ecological restoration efforts over the next year, and models that show how water allocation and reservoir operations in the context of a warmer climate may influence fish community dynamics. These predictions of drought effects on drylands are essential for understanding the future of these regions and beyond.
Theme 3: Developing management solutions
Dryland resource managers recognize the magnitude of the challenge represented by increasing drought severity. However, developing feasible management strategies that can sustain ecosystem services in the context of those changes requires scientifically rigorous information about how extended drought define drylands (#1 above) and how changing climate will alter dryland ecosystems (#2 above). Dryland landscapes and rivers are being rapidly transformed, and resource managers need innovative approaches to mitigate, adapt, and prepare for the novel challenges presented by these transformations. To meet these needs, SBSC scientists co-produce decision support tools and information with resource managers, policymakers, and landowners. Working with multi-partner teams, SBSC scientists conduct and apply research to inform a variety of decisions, often in an adaptive management framework. Examples include developing climate resilient land use strategies that enable continued dryland utilization for livestock grazing, energy development, and recreation; identifying innovative ecological restoration and rehabilitation practices that succeed even in dry conditions; and assessing vulnerability of plant communities and fish and wildlife populations to inform conservation planning and prioritization.
SBSC scientists are world leaders in understanding drought and climate in dryland ecosystems and in developing best practices for predicting and adapting to novel, 21st century droughts. SBSC research delivers actionable results to improve resource management in the western US and drylands around the world. With SBSC’s diverse expertise and exceptional motivation for research of drylands, SBSC excels at increasing knowledge, providing tools, and generating actionable science.
Drylands are moisture-limited environments that cover ~40% of the global land surface. Ecosystems in drylands include the grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, riparian areas, and rivers that comprise most of the western United States and most of the land managed by the DOI, other federal agencies, and tribal Nations.
These ecosystems support an enormous variety of cultural and ecological resources that provide the foundation of the economies of many western states,
including farming and ranching, resource and energy acquisition, and recreation. These ecosystems also provide numerous services including supporting biodiversity, regulation of water quality, availability, and storage, air quality, and climate.
However, in the US Southwest, and many dryland regions around the world, unprecedented droughts are not merely future concerns; these challenges are altering ecosystems and natural resources now. Resource managers and policymakers need information about how ongoing and future drought and warming will affect drylands and the services that they provide.
SBSC scientists are at the forefront of generating critical information about drought in dryland ecosystems, focusing on three themes:
1) understanding how drought and warming shape ecosystems,
2) forecasting the ecological effects of drought, and
3) developing management solutions.
Theme 1: Understanding how drought shapes dryland ecosystems
Drylands are defined by limited access to moisture. Plant and animal communities supported by dryland ecosystems are shaped by drought and interactions of temperature and water availability. Many drylands are already warm systems and are expected to warm further, further limiting moisture availability, which vary in both time and space. Interactions among climate, soil conditions, vegetation, geography, and human water use all affect moisture availability. Assessing ecologically meaningful drought conditions, or “ecological drought", in these dynamic systems requires accounting for interactions among climate, soil, vegetation and human use across environmental and geographic gradients, from river to riparian to upland ecosystems. To understand dryland ecosystem structure, function, and variability, SBSC scientists utilize manipulative experiments, observational studies, simulation modeling, and data syntheses. This research develops system-level, foundational knowledge about dryland vegetation structure, plant community composition, disturbance regimes and biological invasions, wildlife population dynamics, responses of fish populations and aquatic communities to drought affected by flow regimes, sediment transport and erosion, as well as cycling of carbon, water, and nutrients. SBSC scientists leverage these insights to provide actionable information about wildlife habitat, water storage, designer flows, livestock forage, land use impacts, disturbance recovery, and restoration strategies. In addition, these results provide data inputs that are critical for accurately forecasting ecological drought effects.
Theme 2: Forecasting ecological effects
Dryland ecosystems are already limited by moisture availability. Drought and land and water management decisions may further reduce this already limiting resource. Dryland plants, fish, and wildlife have already experienced widespread growth declines, mortality, and failed recovery from disturbances. As a result, unprecedented droughts, in combination with nonnative species, warming temperatures, wildfire, and shifting human land and water use, are rapidly transforming dryland ecosystems. SBSC scientists are anticipating these transformations and forecasting the effect of drought on dryland ecosystems, providing forward-thinking, actionable information to resource managers. Forecasts include long-term projections of climate-driven shifts in ecological drought and vulnerability of natural resources. Long-term forecasts provide expectations for important changes to dryland ecosystems, including shifting plant distribution and abundance, changing quantity and quality of water in rivers, reservoirs and soil, changes in wildlife and fish populations, and altered disturbance regimes, erosion rates, and dust production. This research assesses how extended drought will fundamentally alter how society values and utilizes drylands. SBSC scientists are also meeting the resources management needs for short-term, seasonal forecasts of drought impacts on dryland ecosystems through tools like GrassCast, which forecasts forage production in the coming growing season, the Short-term Drought Forecaster, which estimates the success of ecological restoration efforts over the next year, and models that show how water allocation and reservoir operations in the context of a warmer climate may influence fish community dynamics. These predictions of drought effects on drylands are essential for understanding the future of these regions and beyond.
Theme 3: Developing management solutions
Dryland resource managers recognize the magnitude of the challenge represented by increasing drought severity. However, developing feasible management strategies that can sustain ecosystem services in the context of those changes requires scientifically rigorous information about how extended drought define drylands (#1 above) and how changing climate will alter dryland ecosystems (#2 above). Dryland landscapes and rivers are being rapidly transformed, and resource managers need innovative approaches to mitigate, adapt, and prepare for the novel challenges presented by these transformations. To meet these needs, SBSC scientists co-produce decision support tools and information with resource managers, policymakers, and landowners. Working with multi-partner teams, SBSC scientists conduct and apply research to inform a variety of decisions, often in an adaptive management framework. Examples include developing climate resilient land use strategies that enable continued dryland utilization for livestock grazing, energy development, and recreation; identifying innovative ecological restoration and rehabilitation practices that succeed even in dry conditions; and assessing vulnerability of plant communities and fish and wildlife populations to inform conservation planning and prioritization.
SBSC scientists are world leaders in understanding drought and climate in dryland ecosystems and in developing best practices for predicting and adapting to novel, 21st century droughts. SBSC research delivers actionable results to improve resource management in the western US and drylands around the world. With SBSC’s diverse expertise and exceptional motivation for research of drylands, SBSC excels at increasing knowledge, providing tools, and generating actionable science.