Effects of land cover and regional climate variations on long-term spatiotemporal changes in sagebrush ecosystems
May 1, 2012
This research investigated the effects of climate and land cover change on variation in sagebrush ecosystems. We combined information of multi-year sagebrush distribution derived from multitemporal remote sensing imagery and climate data to study the variation patterns of sagebrush ecosystems under different potential disturbances. We found that less than 40% of sagebrush ecosystem changes involved abrupt changes directly caused by landscape transformations and over 60% of the variations involved gradual changes directly related to climatic perturbations. The primary increases in bare ground and declines in sagebrush vegetation abundance were significantly correlated with the 1996-2006 decreasing trend in annual precipitation.
Citation Information
| Publication Year | 2012 |
|---|---|
| Title | Effects of land cover and regional climate variations on long-term spatiotemporal changes in sagebrush ecosystems |
| Authors | George Z. Xian, Collin G. Homer, Cameron L. Aldridge |
| Publication Type | Article |
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Series Title | GIScience and Remote Sensing |
| Index ID | 70187683 |
| Record Source | USGS Publications Warehouse |
| USGS Organization | Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center |
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George Xian
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Cameron L Aldridge, PhD
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George Xian
Research Physical ScientistEmailPhoneCameron L Aldridge, PhD
Branch Chief / Supervisory Research EcologistEmailPhone