Mike Duniway, Ph.D.
Dr. Michael (Mike) Duniway is a soil scientist focused on soils and soil processes in dryland ecosystems and the interactions between environmental and land-use drivers, vegetation, soils, and geomorphology. His areas of focus include restoration, ecohydrology, effects of land-use (grazing, energy, and recreation), dust production, plant-soil feedbacks, and soil mapping and interpretations.
In his research and outreach activities, Dr. Duniway seeks to provide information for land managers and owners to facilitate sustainable land-use activities. He works closely with federal agency partners (Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, National Resource Conservation Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and others such as The Nature Conservancy's Canyonlands Research Center) in designing research studies, conducting technology transfer, and outreach activities. Some primary current research focuses include understanding the impacts of drought on Colorado Plateau landscapes, evaluating the recovery of oil and gas pads on the Colorado Plateau and opportunities for improved restoration practices, developing novel restoration techniques for highly disturbed lands using biological soil crusts and physical barriers, and basic research into the importance of soils for dryland ecosystem processes.
Professional Experience
2011-Present: Research Ecologist, USGS Southwest Biological Science Center, Moab, UT
2010-2011: Research Soil Scientist, US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, Jornada, Las Cruces, NM
2006-2010: Research Soil Scientist (post doc), US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, Jornada, Las Cruces, NM
2012-Present: Adjunct Faculty, Utah State University, Logan, UT
2007-Present: Adjunct Faculty, NM State University, Las Cruces, NM
Education and Certifications
Ph.D., 2006 — Agronomy (Soil Science), New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM
B.S., 1994 — Environmental Resource Science, University of California, Davis, CA
Science and Products
Climate change-induced vegetation shifts lead to more ecological droughts despite projected rainfall increases in many global temperate drylands
Potential human impacts of overlapping land-use and climate in a sensitive dryland: a case study of the Colorado Plateau, USA
Disturbance automated reference toolset (DART): Assessing patterns in ecological recovery from energy development on the Colorado Plateau
Climate change reduces extent of temperate drylands and intensifies drought in deep soils
Human land-use and soil change
Generalizing ecological site concepts of the Colorado Plateau for landscape-level applications
Improving the effectiveness of ecological site descriptions: General state-and-transition models and the Ecosystem Dynamics Interpretive Tool (EDIT)
The automated reference toolset: A soil-geomorphic ecological potential matching algorithm
Testing the apparent resistance of three dominant plants to chronic drought on the Colorado Plateau
Small-scale barriers mitigate desertification processes and enhance plant recruitment in a degraded semiarid grassland
The National Wind Erosion Research Network: Building a standardized long-term data resource for aeolian research, modeling and land management
Spatially explicit rangeland erosion monitoring using high-resolution digital aerial imagery
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
Climate change-induced vegetation shifts lead to more ecological droughts despite projected rainfall increases in many global temperate drylands
Potential human impacts of overlapping land-use and climate in a sensitive dryland: a case study of the Colorado Plateau, USA
Disturbance automated reference toolset (DART): Assessing patterns in ecological recovery from energy development on the Colorado Plateau
Climate change reduces extent of temperate drylands and intensifies drought in deep soils
Human land-use and soil change
Generalizing ecological site concepts of the Colorado Plateau for landscape-level applications
Improving the effectiveness of ecological site descriptions: General state-and-transition models and the Ecosystem Dynamics Interpretive Tool (EDIT)
The automated reference toolset: A soil-geomorphic ecological potential matching algorithm
Testing the apparent resistance of three dominant plants to chronic drought on the Colorado Plateau
Small-scale barriers mitigate desertification processes and enhance plant recruitment in a degraded semiarid grassland
The National Wind Erosion Research Network: Building a standardized long-term data resource for aeolian research, modeling and land management
Spatially explicit rangeland erosion monitoring using high-resolution digital aerial imagery
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.