Seth Munson, Ph.D.
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.
Much of Dr. Munson'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.
Check the Science Tab Below for a List of Current Research Projects.
Research Interests: Plant Ecology, Ecosystem Ecology, Dryland Ecology, Restoration Ecology, Soil Erosion
Professional Experience
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
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
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. Ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, May 2009
B.A. Biology, Earlham College, Richmond, IN, May 2001
Science and Products
Climate sensitivity to decadal land cover and land use change across the conterminous United States
RestoreNet: An emerging restoration network reveals controls on seeding success across dryland ecosystems
Climate-induced abrupt shifts in structural states trigger delayed transitions in functional states
Dust deposited on snow cover in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado, 2011-2016: Compositional variability bearing on snow-melt effects
The right trait in the right place at the right time: Matching traits to environment improves restoration outcomes
Supporting the development and use of native plant materials for restoration on the Colorado Plateau (Fiscal Year 19 Report)
Ecological effects of establishing a 40-year oasis protection system in a Northwestern China Desert
Gaps and hotspots in the state of knowledge of pinyon-juniper communities
Assessing plant production responses to climate across water-limited regions using Google Earth Engine
Spatiotemporal patterns of cheatgrass invasion in Colorado Plateau National Parks
Assessing rangeland health under climate variability and change
Invasive buffelgrass detection using high-resolution satellite and UAV imagery on Google Earth Engine
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
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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 ecoregions relates to climate variation. In this stAuthorsGeorge Z. Xian, Thomas Loveland, Seth M. Munson, James Vogelmann, Xubin Zeng, Collin HomerRestoreNet: 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.RestoreNet is an emerging dryland restoration netwAuthorsCaroline Ann Havrilla, Seth M. Munson, Molly L. McCormick, Katherine M. Laushman, Kathleen R. Balazs, Bradley J. ButterfieldClimate-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 from long-term ungrazed and grazed temperate grasslAuthorsYanbin Hao, Wenjun Liu, Xingliang Xu, Seth M. Munson, Xiaoyong Cui, Xiaoming Kang, Nianpeng He, Yan WangDust 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 Mountains (USA) were compared with DOS mass loading,AuthorsRichard L. Reynolds, Harland L. Goldstein, Bruce M. Moskowitz, Raymond F. Kokaly, Seth M. Munson, Peat Solheid, George N. Breit, Corey R. Lawrence, Jeff DerryThe 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 outcomes across 150 sites on the Colorado Plateau, a coAuthorsKathleen R. Balazs, Andrea T. Kramer, Seth M. Munson, Nora Talkington, Shannon Still, Bradley J. ButterfieldSupporting 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, widespread restoration and have identified a broad suAuthorsRobert Massatti, Daniel E. Winkler, Sasha C. Reed, Michael C. Duniway, Seth M. Munson, John B. BradfordEcological effects of establishing a 40-year oasis protection system in a Northwestern China Desert
Aims: Desertification around oasis areas is a serious problem in semi-arid and arid regions, which is expected to continue into the future due to a rapidly increasing human population. Oasis protection systems are created to reverse desertification by recovering degraded soil and vegetation properties and improving ecosystem services. Most research has focused on the short-term effects of a singleAuthorsGuohua Wang, Seth M. Munson, Kailiang Yu, Ning Chen, Qianqian GouGaps and hotspots in the state of knowledge of pinyon-juniper communities
Pinyon-juniper (PJ) plant communities cover a large area across North America and provide critical habitat for wildlife, biodiversity and ecosystem functions, and rich cultural resources. These communities occur across a variety of environmental gradients, disturbance regimes, structural conditions and species compositions, including three species of juniper and two species of pinyon. PJ communitiAuthorsJessica A. Hartsell, Stella M. Copeland, Seth M. Munson, Bradley J. Butterfield, John B. BradfordAssessing plant production responses to climate across water-limited regions using Google Earth Engine
(Munson) Climate variability and change acting at broad scales can lead to divergent changes in plant production at local scales. Quantifying how production responds to variation in climate at local scales is essential to understand underlying ecological processes and inform land management decision-making, but has historically been limited in spatiotemporal scale based on the use of discrete grouAuthorsErin L. Bunting, Seth M. Munson, John B. BradfordSpatiotemporal patterns of cheatgrass invasion in Colorado Plateau National Parks
Exotic annual grasses are transforming native arid and semi-arid ecosystems globally by accelerating fire cycles that drive vegetation state changes. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), a particularly widespread and aggressive exotic annual grass, is a key management target in national parks of the western United States due to its impacts on wildfire and biodiversity loss. Cheatgrass is known for its hiAuthorsTara B.B. Bishop, Seth M. Munson, Richard Gill, Jayne Belnap, Samuel B. St. Clair, Steven L. PetersenAssessing rangeland health under climate variability and change
RANGELAND HEALTH IN A CHANGING WORLD Rangeland health is an integrated metric that describes a complex suite of ecosystem properties and processes as applied to resource management. While the concept of “healthy” landscapes has a long history, the term “rangeland health” was codified in the US in 1994 as part of an effort to move towards a national, data driven, rangeland condition assessment (NatAuthorsJohn B. Bradford, Michael C. Duniway, Seth M. MunsonInvasive buffelgrass detection using high-resolution satellite and UAV imagery on Google Earth Engine
Methods to detect and monitor the spread of invasive grasses are critical to avoid ecosystem transformations and large economic costs. The rapid spread of non‐native buffelgrass(Pennisetum ciliare) has intensified fire risk and is replacing fire intolerant native vegetation in the Sonoran Desert of the southwestern US. Coarse‐resolution satellite imagery has had limited success in detecting smallAuthorsKaitlyn Elkind, Temuulen T. Sankey, Seth M. Munson, Clare E. AslanNon-USGS Publications**
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.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: 25–31Munson, 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.**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.
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