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Cara Marie Lauria

Cara Lauria is a biologist in Moab, UT studying how desert ecosystems, and notably, biological soil crusts respond to climate and land use change, wildfire, and drought.

Cara is passionate about desert ecosystems and biological soil crusts. She is interested in understanding how they function and respond to global change. Cara is currently working on a range of projects to help better answer these questions, including those that improve our understanding of carbon cycling in western drylands, the challenges and management options associated with invasive species, fire effects on biological soil crusts and soil biogeochemistry, carbon dioxide exchange in biological soil crust and epilithic lichens, and how drought and disturbance interact to regulate plant productivity, biocrust community composition, and soil stability. 

 

Education and Certifications

  • M.S. 2017 - Environmental Studies, University of Colorado at Boulder

  • B.S. 2015 - Geology, College of Charleston

Science and Products

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Biocrusts with lichen

Biological Soil Crust ("Biocrust") Science

Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are commonly found on the soil surface in arid and semi-arid ecosystems (collectively called drylands). Biocrusts can consist of mosses, cyanobacteria, lichens, algae, and microfungi, and they strongly interact with the soil. These organisms or consortium of disparate organisms, depending on the specific biocrust, are important to the functioning of ecosystems...
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Land Management Research Program, Southwest Biological Science Center
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Biological Soil Crust ("Biocrust") Science

Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are commonly found on the soil surface in arid and semi-arid ecosystems (collectively called drylands). Biocrusts can consist of mosses, cyanobacteria, lichens, algae, and microfungi, and they strongly interact with the soil. These organisms or consortium of disparate organisms, depending on the specific biocrust, are important to the functioning of ecosystems...
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Pinyon Juniper Woodlands

Determining Successful Management and Restoration Strategies for Pinyon-Juniper Communities in the Face of Changing Climate and Wildfire

Pinyon-juniper woodlands are important ecosystems in the western U.S. that provide numerous critical environmental, economic, and cultural benefits. For example, pinyon pines are a significant cultural resource for multiple Native American Tribes and provide necessary habitat for plants and wildlife (including at risk species, such as the pinyon-jay). Despite their importance, stress put on pinyon
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Climate Adaptation Science Centers
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Determining Successful Management and Restoration Strategies for Pinyon-Juniper Communities in the Face of Changing Climate and Wildfire

Pinyon-juniper woodlands are important ecosystems in the western U.S. that provide numerous critical environmental, economic, and cultural benefits. For example, pinyon pines are a significant cultural resource for multiple Native American Tribes and provide necessary habitat for plants and wildlife (including at risk species, such as the pinyon-jay). Despite their importance, stress put on pinyon
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Site data from observations of post-fire and thinned stands of piñon-juniper woodlands on the Colorado Plateau

These data were compiled to evaluate pinyon-juniper regeneration dynamics following stand-replacing wildfire and thinning treatments. Objectives of our study were to investigate vegetation community composition and tree recruitment in post-fire and post-thinning environments. These data represent plant and biological soil crust community composition and climatological records among intact, thinned
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Southwest Biological Science Center

Data and software code from two long-term experiments (1996-2011 and 2005-2018) at three sites on the Colorado Plateau of North America

These data were compiled to examine how climate change affects biocrust recovery from both physical and climate-induced disturbance. Objective(s) of our study were to uncover the trajectory of biological soil crust communities and soil stability following distrubance and under warming. These data represent biological soil crust surveys under 5 treatments at three sites. These data were collected a
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Southwest Biological Science Center

Trajectories and tipping points of piñon–juniper woodlands after fire and thinning

Piñon–juniper (PJ) woodlands are a dominant community type across the Intermountain West, comprising over a million acres and experiencing critical effects from increasing wildfire. Large PJ mortality and regeneration failure after catastrophic wildfire have elevated concerns about the long-term viability of PJ woodlands. Thinning is increasingly used to safeguard forests from fire and in an attem
Authors
Michala Lee Phillips, Cara Marie Lauria, Tova Spector, John B. Bradford, Catherine A. Gehring, Brooke B. Osborne, Armin J. Howell, Edmund E. Grote, Renee Rondeau, Gillian Trimber, Benjamin Robinson, Sasha C. Reed
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center, Southwest Biological Science Center

Biocrusts mediate a new mechanism for land degradation under a changing climate

Global concerns for desertification have focused on the slow recovery of extensive and expanding drylands following disturbance, which may be exacerbated by climate change. Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are photosynthetic soil communities found in drylands worldwide, which are central to the stability and resilience of dryland ecosystems, but vulnerable to global change. Here we use multiple
Authors
Michala Lee Phillips, Brandon E McNellis, Armin J. Howell, Cara Marie Lauria, Jayne Belnap, Sasha C. Reed
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Southwest Biological Science Center

Science and Products