Bontti, E.E., J.P. DeCant, S.M. Munson, M.A. Gathany, A. Przeszlowska, M.L. Haddix, S. Owens, I.C. Burke, W.J. Parton, and M.E. Harmon. 2009. Litter decomposition in grasslands of Central North America (US Great Plains). Global Change Biology 15: 1356–1363.
Seth Munson
Seth Munson is an ecologist with the Southwest Biological Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. His research focuses on plant-soil interactions in dryland ecosystems and how these interactions are affected by climate and land use changes.
Biography
Much of Seth's research aims to understand the dynamics of dryland ecosystems at long temporal and broad spatial scales, and employs a multidisciplinary approach. His work seeks to improve the management of arid and semi-arid lands, including determining effective ecological restoration strategies, and is done in close collaboration with several land management agencies.
Education:
Ph.D. Ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, May 2009
B.A. Biology, Earlham College, Richmond, IN, May 2001
Check the Science Tab for a List of Current Research Projects.
Research Interests:
Plant Ecology, Ecosystem Ecology, Dryland Ecology, Restoration Ecology, Soil Erosion
Current Positions:
Research Ecologist, US Geological Survey, Southwest Biological Science Center, Flagstaff, AZ
Adjunct Faculty, Northern Arizona University, Department of Biological Sciences, Flagstaff, AZ
Adjunct Faculty, Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Phoenix, AZ
Past Positions:
Jan 2011 - Dec 2013; Research Ecologist (Mendenhall Fellow), US Geological Survey, Geology and Environmental Change Science Center, Denver, CO
Dec 2008 - Jan 2011; Ecologist, US Geological Survey, Canyonlands Research Station, Moab, Utah
May 2004 - Nov 2008; Research Assistant, Colorado State University, Forest and Rangeland Stewardship, Fort Collins, CO
Sep 2002 – May 2004; Research Associate, University of New Mexico, Biology Department, Albuquerque, NM
Science and Products
Date published: June 16, 2021
Status: Active The Gemini Solar Project
The United States is developing renewable energy resources, especially solar, at a rapid rate. Although renewable energy development is widely perceived by the public as “green technology,” construction, operation, maintenance, and eventual decommissioning of facilities all have known and potential negative impacts to natural resources, including plant communities and wildlife. This is...
Contacts: Jeffrey E Lovich, Ph.D., Seth Munson
Attribution: Ecosystems, Southwest Biological Science Center
Date published: October 1, 2020
Status: Active A global synthesis of multi-year drought effects on terrestrial ecosystems
Drought impacts on terrestrial ecosystems have increased globally in the 21st century, and droughts are expected to become more frequent, extreme, and spatially extensive in the future. Historical site-based observations are inadequate to predict how future extreme water deficits will affect the global terrestrial surface, because future droughts and their impacts may be more extreme than they...
Contacts: Seth Munson
Attribution: John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis
Date published: August 5, 2017
Status: Active RestoreNet: Distributed Field Trial Network for Dryland Restoration
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) researchers and land managers are co-producing a network of restoration field trial sites on DOI and surrounding lands in the southwestern U.S. The network systematically tests restoration treatments across a broad range of landscape, soil, and climate conditions. Each site in the network is used to test suitable seed mixes and treatments that promote plant...
Contacts: Seth Munson, Molly McCormick, Katie Laushman, Rebecca Mann, Mike Duniway, Ph.D., Brad Butterfield, Elise Gornish, Loralee Larios, Akasha Faist, Helen Rowe, Christopher Lortie, Caroline A. Havrilla
Date published: February 28, 2017
Status: Active Southwest Energy Development and Drought (SWEDD)
Deserts of the southwestern US are replete with oil and gas deposits as well as sites for solar, wind, and geothermal energy production. In the past, many of these resources have been too expensive to develop, but increased demand and new technologies have led to an increase in exploration and development. However, desert ecosystems generally have low resilience to disturbance. More frequent,...
Date published: December 16, 2016
Restoration and Ecosystem Recovery Dynamics in Arid and Semiarid Landscapes
Dryland regions have been degraded by invasive species, wildfire, overgrazing, agricultural conversion, energy development, recreational activity, and urban growth. These disturbances and others are accelerated by one of the fastest growing human populations in the country and a pressing background of decreasing water availability due to drought and elevated temperatures that are projected to...
Contacts: Seth Munson
Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center
Date published: December 14, 2016
Plant Responses to Drought and Climate Change in the Southwestern United States
Land managers face tremendous challenges in the future as drought and climate change alter the abundance, distribution, and interactions of plant species. These challenges will be especially daunting in the southwestern US, which is already experiencing elevated temperatures and prolonged droughts, resulting in reduced soil moisture in an already water-limited environment. These changes will...
Contacts: Seth Munson
Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center
Date published: December 14, 2016
Aeolian Dust in Dryland Landscapes of the Western United States
Dust emission caused by wind erosion has received considerable attention because of its far-reaching effects on ecosystems, including the loss of nutrients and water-holding capacity from source areas, changes to climate and global energy balance in areas where dust is entrained in the atmosphere, fertilization of terrestrial and marine ecosystems, in addition to decreases in snow albedo,...
Contacts: Seth Munson
Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center
Date published: December 9, 2016
Status: Active RAMPS: Restoration Assessment & Monitoring Program for the Southwest
The Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Program for the Southwest (RAMPS) seeks to assist U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and other land management agencies in developing successful techniques for improving land condition in dryland ecosystems of the southwestern United States. Invasion by non-native species, wildfire, drought, and other disturbances are growing...
Date published: June 7, 2012
Status: Active Climate change and ecohydrology in temperate dryland ecosystems: a global assessment
Water cycling and availability exert dominant control over ecological processes and the sustainability of ecosystem services in water - limited ecosystems. Consequently, dryland ecosystems have the potential to be dramatically impacted by hydrologic alterations emerging from global change, notably increasing temperature and altered precipitation patterns. In addition, the possibility of...
Attribution: John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis
Year Published: 2021
Shrub influence on soil carbon and nitrogen in a semi-arid grassland is mediated by precipitation and largely insensitive to livestock grazing
Dryland (arid and semi-arid) ecosystems globally provide more than half of livestock production and store roughly one-third of soil organic carbon (SOC). Biogeochemical pools are changing due to shrub encroachment, livestock grazing, and climate change. We assessed how vegetation microsite, grazing, and precipitation interacted to affect SOC and...
Throop, Heather L.; Munson, Seth M.; Hornslein, Nicole; McClaran, Mitchel PAttribution: Southwest Biological Science Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2021
Supporting the development and use of native plant materials for restoration on the Colorado Plateau (Fiscal Year 2020 Report)
A primary focus of the Colorado Plateau Native Plant Program (CPNPP) is to identify and develop appropriate native plant materials (NPMs) for current and future restoration projects. Multiple efforts have characterized the myriad challenges inherent in providing appropriate seed resources to enable effective, widespread restoration and have...
Massatti, Robert; Winkler, Daniel E.; Reed, Sasha; Duniway, Michael C.; Munson, Seth M.; Bradford, John
Year Published: 2021
An integrative ecological drought framework to span plant stress to ecosystem transformation
Droughts have increased globally in the twenty-first century and are expected to become more extreme and widespread in the future. Assessments of how drought affects plants and ecosystems lack consistency in scope and methodology, confounding efforts to mechanistically interpret structural and functional impacts and predict future transformations...
Munson, Seth M.; Bradford, John B.; Hultine, Kevin R.Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2020
Water balance as an indicator of natural resource condition: Case studies from Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
Managing climate impacts to natural resources in protected areas can be hampered by lack of monitoring data, poor understanding of natural resource responses to climate, or lack of timely condition assessments that can inform management actions. Here we demonstrate the utility of water balance as a tool for understanding natural resource responses...
Thoma, David P.; Tercek, Michael T.; Schweiger, E. William; Munson, Seth M.; Gross, John E.; Olliff, S. TomAttribution: Southwest Biological Science Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2020
The biggest bang for the buck: Cost‐effective vegetation treatment outcomes across drylands of the western United States
Restoration and rehabilitation are globally implemented to improve ecosystem condition but often without tracking treatment expenditures relative to ecological outcomes. We evaluated the cost‐effectiveness of widely conducted woody plant and herbaceous invasive plant removals and seeding treatments in drylands of the western United States from...
Munson, Seth M.; Yackulic, Ethan O.; Bair, Lucas S.; Copeland, Stella M.; Gunnell, Kevin L.Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2020
Wildfire risk and hazardous fuel reduction treatments along the US-Mexico border: A review of the science (1985-2019)
The ecosystems along the border between the United States and Mexico are at increasing risk to wildfire due to interactions among climate, land-use, and fuel loads. A wide range of fuel treatments have been implemented to mitigate wildfire and its threats to valued resources, yet we have little information about treatment effectiveness. To fill...
Laushman, Katherine Mary; Munson, Seth M.; Titus, Timothy N.Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2020
Climate sensitivity to decadal land cover and land use change across the conterminous United States
Transitions to terrestrial ecosystems attributable to land cover and land use change (LCLUC) and climate change can affect the climate at local to regional scales. However, conclusions from most previous studies do not provide information about local climate effects, and little research has directly quantified how LCLUC intensity within different...
Xian, George Z.; Loveland, Thomas; Munson, Seth M.; Vogelmann, James; Zeng, Xubin; Homer, Collin
Year Published: 2020
RestoreNet: An emerging restoration network reveals controls on seeding success across dryland ecosystems
Drylands are Earth's largest terrestrial biome and support one‐third of the global population. However, they are also highly vulnerable to land degradation. Despite widespread demand for dryland restoration and rehabilitation, little information is available to help land managers effectively re‐establish native perennial vegetation across drylands...
Havrilla, Caroline Ann; Munson, Seth M.; Mccormick, Molly; Laushman, Katherine Mary; Balazs, Kathleen R.; Butterfield, Bradley J.Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2020
Climate-induced abrupt shifts in structural states trigger delayed transitions in functional states
Theoretical models suggest that ecosystems can be found in one of several possible alternative stable states, and a shift in structural stable state (SSS) can trigger a change in functional stable state (FSS). But we still lack the empirical evidence to confirm these states and transitions, and to inform the rates of change. Here, a 30-yr dataset...
Hao, Yanbin; Liu, Wenjun; Xu, Xingliang; Munson, Seth M.; Cui, Xiaoyong; Kang, Xiaoming; He, Nianpeng; Wang, YanAttribution: Southwest Biological Science Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2020
Dust deposited on snow cover in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado, 2011-2016: Compositional variability bearing on snow-melt effects
Light-absorbing particles in atmospheric dust deposited on snow cover (dust-on-snow, DOS) diminish albedo and accelerate the timing and rate of snow melt. Identification of these particles and their effects are relevant to snow-radiation modeling and thus water-resource management. Laboratory-measured reflectance of DOS samples from the San Juan...
Reynolds, Richard L.; Goldstein, Harland L.; Moskowitz, Bruce M.; Kokaly, Raymond; Munson, Seth M.; Solheid, Peat; Breit, George N.; Lawrence, Corey R.; Derry, Jeff
Year Published: 2020
The right trait in the right place at the right time: Matching traits to environment improves restoration outcomes
(Munson) The challenges of restoration in dryland ecosystems are growing due to a rise in anthropogenic disturbance and increasing aridity. Plant functional traits are often used to predict plant performance and can offer a window into the potential outcomes of restoration efforts across environmental gradients. We tracked 15 years of seeding...
Balazs, Kathleen R.; Kramer, Andrea T.; Munson, Seth M.; Talkington, Nora; Still, Shannon; Butterfield, Bradley J.Attribution: Southwest Biological Science Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2020
Supporting the development and use of native plant materials for restoration on the Colorado Plateau (Fiscal Year 19 Report)
A primary focus of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Colorado Plateau Native Plant Program (CPNPP) is to identify and develop appropriate native plant materials (NPMs) for current and future restoration projects. Multiple efforts have characterized the myriad challenges inherent in providing appropriate seed resources to enable effective,...
Massatti, Robert; Winkler, Daniel E.; Reed, Sasha; Duniway, Michael C.; Munson, Seth M.; Bradford, JohnAttribution: Southwest Biological Science Center, Ecosystems
Pre-USGS Publications
Munson, S.M. and W.K. Lauenroth. 2009. Plant population and community responses to removal of the dominant species in the shortgrass steppe. Journal of Vegetation Science 20: 224–232.
Munson, S.M. and W.K. Lauenroth. 2012. Plant community recovery following restoration in semiarid grasslands. Restoration Ecology 20: 656–663.
Munson, S.M., W.K. Lauenroth, and I.C. Burke. 2012. Soil carbon and nitrogen recovery on semiarid Conservation Reserve Program lands. Journal of Arid Environments 79: 25–31
Munson, S.M. 2013. Plant responses, climate pivot points, and tradeoffs in water-limited ecosystems. Ecosphere 4: 109.
Li, J., G.S. Okin, J.E. Herrick, J. Belnap, S.M. Munson, and M.E. Miller. 2010. A simple method to estimate threshold friction velocity of wind erosion in the field. Geophysical Research Letters 37: L10402.
Date published: May 27, 2021
RAMPS NEWSLETTER - Spring 2021 Edition
Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Program for the Southwest (RAMPS)
A Program of the Southwest Biological Science Center & Ecosystems Mission Area
To subscribe to our newsletter, please visit: https://listserv.usgs.gov/mailman/listinfo/ramps
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Date published: August 10, 2020
RAMPS Newsletter - Summer 2020 Edition
This season's edition of the Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Program for the Southwest Newsletter contains recent program highlights including research updates, new projects, field updates and more.
To subscribe to our newsletter, please visit: ...
Date published: July 22, 2020
RESEARCH BRIEF: RestoreNet Report Card
RestoreNet is a networked ecological experiment testing restoration treatments across the arid Southwest. Seven experimental sites were installed in the Summer of 2018 on the rangelands of Northern Arizona. The experiments tested seed mixes with various treatments to increase revegetation success (see photos above). These are the results after the first year.
Read more about...
Date published: May 20, 2020
RESEARCH BRIEF: Cost- benefit analysis of vegetation removal + seeding
Weighing costs relative to outcomes: woody and invasive plant removal followed by seeding in shrublands and woodlands.
New study by RAMPS researchers examines how the costs of vegetation treatments related to outcomes.
...
Date published: May 18, 2020
RAMPS Newsletter - Spring 2020 Edition
This season's edition of the Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Program for the Southwest Newsletter contains recent program highlights including research updates from our RestoreNet experiment, recently awarded funding, field updates and more.
To subscribe to our newsletter, please visit: ...
Date published: March 23, 2018
Plant Functional Groups Affect Ecological Drought in Semiarid Grasslands
Plant functional groups have contrasting effects on soil water availability by affecting interception, uptake, and transpiration.
Attribution: Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center
Date published: September 6, 2017
Wildfire and Invasive Species Drives Increasing Size and Cost of Public Land Restoration Efforts
An examination of long-term data for lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management finds that land treatments in the southwestern United States are increasingly large, expensive and related to fire and invasive species control.
Date published: February 10, 2015
Predicting Plant Responses to Drought
A new U.S. Geological Survey study shows how plants’ vulnerability to drought varies across the landscape; factors such as plant structure and soil type where the plant is growing can either make them more vulnerable or protect them from declines.
Date published: February 15, 2012
Hotter and Drier Climate Likely to Alter Abundance of Sonoran Desert Plants
TUCSON, Ariz. – Climate change is likely to have strong effects on the abundance of dominant Sonoran Desert plant species, according to a study published recently in Global Change Biology.
Attribution:
Date published: October 12, 2011
Arizona Dust Storms: USGS Science Explains the Phenomenon
A dust storm that rolled across the Arizona desert on Tuesday, October 4, 2011, effectively blinded motorists, leading to a large string of motor vehicle crashes, multiple injuries, and at least one death.
Attribution:
Date published: February 24, 2011
Drier Conditions Projected to Accelerate Dust Storms in the Southwest
Drier conditions projected to result from climate change in the Southwest will likely reduce perennial vegetation cover and result in increased dust storm activity in the future, according to a new study by scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of California, Los Angeles.