Publications
Publications, scientific literature, and information products from the Land Change Science Program.
Filter Total Items: 565
Establishment of Salsola tragus on aeolian sands: A Southern Colorado Plateau case study Establishment of Salsola tragus on aeolian sands: A Southern Colorado Plateau case study
Russian-thistle (Salsola tragus L.), is a nonnative, C4 photosynthesizing, annual plant that infests disturbed and natural areas in the arid U.S. Southwest. Land managers of natural areas may need to decide whether a S. tragus infestation is potentially harmful and whether it should be actively managed. One factor informing that decision is an understanding of the conditions under which...
Authors
Kathryn Thomas, Margaret Hiza
Fire risk in revegetated bunchgrass communities Infested with Bromus tectorum Fire risk in revegetated bunchgrass communities Infested with Bromus tectorum
In rangeland ecosystems, invasive annual grass replacement of native perennials is associated with higher fire risk. Large bunchgrasses are often seeded to reduce cover of annuals such as Bromus tectorum L. (cheatgrass), but there is limited information about how revegetation reduces fire risk over the long-term. For this research note, we conducted a pilot study to assess how community
Authors
Steve Link, Randall Hill, Sheel Bansal
Shrub persistence and increased grass mortality in response to drought in dryland systems Shrub persistence and increased grass mortality in response to drought in dryland systems
Droughts in the southwest United States have led to major forest and grassland die‐off events in recent decades, suggesting plant community and ecosystem shifts are imminent as native perennial grass populations are replaced by shrub‐ and invasive plant‐dominated systems. These patterns are similar to those observed in arid and semiarid systems around the globe, but our ability to...
Authors
Daniel Winkler, Jayne Belnap, David Hoover, Sasha Reed, Michael Duniway
Permafrost collapse is accelerating carbon release Permafrost collapse is accelerating carbon release
This much is clear: the Arctic is warming fast, and frozen soils are starting to thaw, often for the first time in thousands of years. But how this happens is as murky as the mud that oozes from permafrost when ice melts. As the temperature of the ground rises above freezing, microorganisms break down organic matter in the soil. Greenhouse gases — including carbon dioxide, methane and...
Authors
Merritt Turetsky, Benjamin W. Abbott, Miriam Jones, Katey Walter Anthony, David Olefeldt, Edward Schuur, Charles Koven, A.D. McGuire, Guido Grosse, Peter Kuhry, Gustaf Hugelius, David Lawrence, Carolyn Gibson, A. Sannel
The dependence of hydroclimate projections in snow‐dominated regions of the western United States on the choice of statistically downscaled climate data The dependence of hydroclimate projections in snow‐dominated regions of the western United States on the choice of statistically downscaled climate data
We assess monthly temperature and precipitation data produced by four statistically based techniques that were used to downscale general circulation models (GCMs) in the Climate Model Intercomparison Program Phase 5 (CMIP5) (Taylor et al., 2012). We drive a simple water-balance model with the downscaled data to demonstrate the effect of the methods on the cold season hydrology of three...
Authors
Jay Alder, Steven Hostetler
Modeling barrier island habitats using landscape position information Modeling barrier island habitats using landscape position information
Barrier islands are dynamic environments because of their position along the marine–estuarine interface. Geomorphology influences habitat distribution on barrier islands by regulating exposure to harsh abiotic conditions. Researchers have identified linkages between habitat and landscape position, such as elevation and distance from shore, yet these linkages have not been fully leveraged...
Authors
Nicholas Enwright, Lei Wang, Hongqing Wang, Michael Osland, Laura Feher, Sinéad M. Borchert, Richard Day
It’s about time: A synthesis of changing phenology in the Gulf of Maine ecosystem It’s about time: A synthesis of changing phenology in the Gulf of Maine ecosystem
The timing of recurring biological and seasonal environmental events is changing on a global scale relative to temperature and other climate drivers. This study considers the Gulf of Maine ecosystem, a region of high social and ecological importance in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean and synthesizes current knowledge of 1) key seasonal processes, patterns, and events; 2) direct evidence for...
Authors
Michelle Staudinger, Katherine Mills, Karen Stamieszkin, Nicholas Record, Christine Hudak, Andrew Allyn, Antony Diamond, Kevin Friedland, Walt Golet, Elisabeth Henderson, Christina Hernandez, Thomas Huntington, Rubao Ji, Catherine Johnson, David Johnson, Adrian Jordaan, John Kocik, Yun Li, Matthew Liebman, Owen Nichols, Daniel Pendleton, R. Richards, Thomas Robben, Andrew Thomas, Harvey Walsh, Keenan Yakola
Modelling development of riparian ranchlands using ecosystem services at the Aravaipa Watershed, SE Arizona Modelling development of riparian ranchlands using ecosystem services at the Aravaipa Watershed, SE Arizona
This paper describes how subdivision and development of rangelands within a remote and celebrated semiarid watershed near the US-Mexico border might affect multiple ecohydrological services provided, such as recharge of the aquifer, water and sediment yield, water quality, flow rates and downstream cultural and natural resources. Specifically, we apply an uncalibrated watershed model and...
Authors
Laura Norman, Miguel Villarreal, Rewati Niraula, Mark Haberstich, Natalie Wilson
Advancing barrier island habitat mapping using landscape position information Advancing barrier island habitat mapping using landscape position information
Barrier islands are dynamic ecosystems that change gradually from coastal processes, including currents and tides, and rapidly from episodic events, such as storms. These islands provide many important ecosystem services, including storm protection and erosion control to the mainland, habitat for fish and wildlife, and tourism. Habitat maps, developed by scientists, provide a critical...
Authors
Nicholas Enwright, Lei Wang, Sinéad M. Borchert, Richard Day, Laura Feher, Michael Osland
A landscape model of variable social-ecological fire regimes A landscape model of variable social-ecological fire regimes
Fire regimes are now recognized as the product of social processes whereby fire on any landscape is the product of human-generated drivers: climate change, historical patterns of vegetation manipulation, invasive species, active fire suppression, ongoing fuel management efforts, prescribed burning, and accidental ignitions. We developed a new fire model (Social-Climate Related Pyrogenic
Authors
Robert M Scheller, Alec Kretchun, Todd Hawbaker, Paul D. Henne
Hurricane Sandy impacts on coastal wetland resilience Hurricane Sandy impacts on coastal wetland resilience
The goal of this research was to evaluate the impacts of Hurricane Sandy on surface elevation trends in estuarine marshes located across the northeast region of the United States from Virginia to Maine using data from an opportunistic (in other words, not strategic) and collaborative network (from here on, an opportunistic network) of surface elevation table-marker horizon (SET-MH)...
Authors
Donald R. Cahoon, Jennifer Olker, Alice Yeates, Glenn Guntenspergen, James Grace, Susan Adamowicz, Shimon Anisfeld, Andrew Baldwin, Nels Barrett, Leah Beckett, Alice Benzecry, Linda Blum, David Burdick, William Crouch, Marci Ekberg, Sarah Fernald, Kristin Grimes, Joseph Grzyb, Ellen Hartig, Danielle Kreeger, Marit Larson, Scott Lerberg, James Lynch, Nicole Maher, Martha Maxwell-Doyle, Laura R. Mitchell, Jordan Mora, Victoria O’Neill, Angela Padeletti, Diann Prosser, Tracy Quirk, Kenneth Raposa, William Reay, Drexel Siok, Christopher Snow, Adam Starke, J. Stevenson, Lorie Staver, Vincent Turner
Which trees die during drought? The key role of insect host-tree selection Which trees die during drought? The key role of insect host-tree selection
1. During drought, the tree subpopulations (such as size or vigor classes) that suffer disproportionate mortality can be conceptually arrayed along a continuum defined by the actions of biotic agents, particularly insects. At one extreme, stress dominates: insects are absent or simply kill the most physiologically stressed trees. At the opposite extreme, host selection dominates...
Authors
Nathan Stephenson, Adrian J. Das, Nicholas Ampersee, Beverly Bulaon, Julie Yee