Snow-capped peaks of the La Sal Mountain Range as seen from the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park. This is one area in the Southwest where biocrust plays an important role.
Edmund E Grote
Ed is a Biologist with the Southwest Biological Science Center based out of the Canyonlands Research Station in Moab, Utah. He spends his days setting up and tinkering with large micrometeorological and soil sensor arrays throughout the Colorado Plateau and points beyond.
Ed received his BA in Plant Biology from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. While an undergrad he worked in the Ehleringer Lab, mostly with stable isotope mass spectrometers at SIRFER and it was there that he was introduced to the world of plant ecophysiology and all of its fun, electronic gadgets. Ed then spent two years working in a chemistry lab at Native Plants Inc. doing HPLC and GC methods-development, creating assays for various natural product extracts from neem seeds and pyrethrum daisies. From there he went on to pursue an MA in Plant Ecophysiology from the University of Colorado in Boulder running gas exchange and nitrogen fixation experiments on alpine clovers from Niwot Ridge. He worked for several years at Cornell University in the Dawson Lab doing physiology experiments while climbing around in the tops of sugar maple trees, as well as methods-development for the newly formed Cornell University Stable Isotope Lab. In the middle of his years back in lush, green, rainy, upstate New York, he took a hiatus and spent a year working with high alpine and Atacama Desert plants at the Universidad de La Serena in Chile in the Squeo Lab. Longing to return to the desert southwest, he found his niche within the US Geological Survey in Moab, UT. Who knew the USGS had biologists and ecologists, not just geologists and mappers? And they are doing amazing scientific research on all kinds of stuff. He was initially hired to create a gas exchange system to concurrently measure carbon dioxide exchange and nitrogen fixation on biological soil crust organisms. It turns out that these biocrust organisms can do many of the same things (and more) that plants can do. However, unlike most plants, biocrusts can completely dry out and, later, when it rains or snows, come back to life and do it all over again. Over the years Ed has set up several automated gas exchange systems which measure soil crust CO2 fluxes. He set up an Eddy Flux tower to measure CO2 flux at a landscape scale in a desert ecosystem. He has also helped design, set up and maintain long-term climate change experiments, some with dozens of temperature-controlled plots simulating warmer future climate conditions and others simulating a potentially drier future climate. All of these experimental setups require constant monitoring and maintenance of thousands of sensors measuring soil moisture, temperature, wind, light, pressure, precipitation, and the associated telemetry systems used to collect their data. As a plant ecophysiologist, Ed finds this type of work not only to be engaging and exciting, but also a lot of fun. On his time off he also enjoys backcountry skiing, mountain biking, hiking, or whitewater rafting among many other outdoor activities.
Professional Experience
1999 - present: Biologist, USGS, Southwest Biological Science Center, Moab, UT
1997 - 1999: Research Technician, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
1996 - 1997: Research Technician, Universidad de La Serena, La Serena, Chile
1995 - 1996: Research Technician, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Education and Certifications
M.A., 1995: University of Colorado, Boulder, CO. Major: Plant Physiological Ecology
B.S., 1989: University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT. Major: Plant Biology; Minor: Chemistry
Science and Products
Drought & Grazing Experiment: Understanding Impacts and Identifying Mitigation Strategies
Wind Erosion and Dust Emissions on the Colorado Plateau
Long-Term Vegetation Change on the Colorado Plateau
Plant composition, shrub biomass, and soil biogeochemistry from an experimental drought treatment on the Colorado Plateau
Vegetation cover, ground cover, plant mortality, and species abundance across an experimental drought treatment on the Colorado Plateau from 2010-2022
Meteorological measurements from five weather stations in Grand and San Juan Counties in southeastern Utah (ver. 2.0, April 2023)
Meteorological measurements from five locations within the Badger Wash study area near Mack, Colorado (ver. 2.0, April 2023)
Snow-capped peaks of the La Sal Mountain Range as seen from the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park. This is one area in the Southwest where biocrust plays an important role.
Trajectories and tipping points of piñon–juniper woodlands after fire and thinning
Droughting a megadrought: Ecological consequences of a decade of experimental drought atop aridification on the Colorado Plateau
Climatic controls on soil carbon accumulation and loss in a dryland ecosystems
Manufacturing simple and inexpensive soil surface temperature and gravimetric water content sensors
Patterns of longer-term climate change effects on CO2 efflux from biocrusted soils differ from those observed in the short term
The concurrent use of novel soil surface microclimate measurements to evaluate CO2 pulses in biocrusted interspaces in a cool desert ecosystem
Observations of net soil exchange of CO2 in a dryland show experimental warming increases carbon losses in biocrust soils
Warming and increased precipitation frequency on the Colorado Plateau: Implications for biological soil crusts and soil processes
Physiological ecology of desert biocrust moss following 10 years exposure to elevated CO2: Evidence for enhanced photosynthetic thermotolerance
Rain pulse response of soil CO2 exchange by biological soil crusts and grasslands of the semiarid Colorado Plateau, United States
Carbon, water, and energy fluxes in a semiarid cold desert grassland during and following multiyear drought
Carbon exchange in biological soil crust communities under differential temperatures and soil water contents: Implications for global change
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Science and Products
Drought & Grazing Experiment: Understanding Impacts and Identifying Mitigation Strategies
Wind Erosion and Dust Emissions on the Colorado Plateau
Long-Term Vegetation Change on the Colorado Plateau
Plant composition, shrub biomass, and soil biogeochemistry from an experimental drought treatment on the Colorado Plateau
Vegetation cover, ground cover, plant mortality, and species abundance across an experimental drought treatment on the Colorado Plateau from 2010-2022
Meteorological measurements from five weather stations in Grand and San Juan Counties in southeastern Utah (ver. 2.0, April 2023)
Meteorological measurements from five locations within the Badger Wash study area near Mack, Colorado (ver. 2.0, April 2023)
Snow-capped peaks of the La Sal Mountain Range as seen from the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park. This is one area in the Southwest where biocrust plays an important role.
Snow-capped peaks of the La Sal Mountain Range as seen from the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park. This is one area in the Southwest where biocrust plays an important role.
Trajectories and tipping points of piñon–juniper woodlands after fire and thinning
Droughting a megadrought: Ecological consequences of a decade of experimental drought atop aridification on the Colorado Plateau
Climatic controls on soil carbon accumulation and loss in a dryland ecosystems
Manufacturing simple and inexpensive soil surface temperature and gravimetric water content sensors
Patterns of longer-term climate change effects on CO2 efflux from biocrusted soils differ from those observed in the short term
The concurrent use of novel soil surface microclimate measurements to evaluate CO2 pulses in biocrusted interspaces in a cool desert ecosystem
Observations of net soil exchange of CO2 in a dryland show experimental warming increases carbon losses in biocrust soils
Warming and increased precipitation frequency on the Colorado Plateau: Implications for biological soil crusts and soil processes
Physiological ecology of desert biocrust moss following 10 years exposure to elevated CO2: Evidence for enhanced photosynthetic thermotolerance
Rain pulse response of soil CO2 exchange by biological soil crusts and grasslands of the semiarid Colorado Plateau, United States
Carbon, water, and energy fluxes in a semiarid cold desert grassland during and following multiyear drought
Carbon exchange in biological soil crust communities under differential temperatures and soil water contents: Implications for global change
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.