Assessing the Vulnerability of Dryland Ecosystems to Drought in the Western U.S.

In the western U.S., rising temperatures and pronounced drought conditions pose significant challenges to public land managers. Widespread declines of multiple plant species have already been observed, providing insight into what the future could look like for vegetation in the region as conditions are projected to become warmer and drier. To understand how vulnerable western ecosystems are to drought, managers need to know which climatic and soil conditions cause habitats to change, and at what rate these changes may occur – important topics on which there is little available data.

 

This project seeks to identify the vulnerability of habitats in the western U.S. to drought. Researchers will compare changes in plant abundance (i.e. population increases and decreases) to changes in climate and soil moisture, to determine how resistant different habitats are to drought. Researchers will also look at historical and future climate and soil conditions to identify which habitat types are most vulnerable to drought. These results will then be used to project how habitats in drought-impacted areas can be expected to change based on future conditions, and which management techniques could best mitigate the effects of drought.