Sheel Bansal is a Research Ecologist at the USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center in Jamestown, North Dakota.
Dr. Bansal research experience covers a wide range of topics such as tree carbon balance at alpine-treeline (Wyoming), fertility effects on boreal plant ecophysiology (Sweden), drivers of grass invasion in sagebrush-steppe (Oregon), and drought tolerance of temperate forest trees (Washington). He is now studying wetland biogeochemistry in the Prairie Pothole Region. Much of the research in his lab is focused on understanding the underlying suite of abiotic and biotic mechanistic processes that influence greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage in wetlands. His lab is developing new, high-tech equipment to more efficiently quantify the immense spatial and temporal variability of these natural processes. Dr. Bansal is also working with internal and external partners to develop spatially explicit, landscape-scale models to estimate regional carbon budgets for prairie pothole wetlands. These data and models provide DOI land managers and policy makers with information needed to understand, monitor, and anticipate changes in wetland carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions under future management, land-use and climate scenarios.
Science and Products
Fish and Wildlife seasonal and temporary wetland assessment
Wetland carbon storage and flux in the Prairie Pothole Region
Mechanisms, models, and management of invasive species and soil biogeochemical process in prairie pothole wetlands
Mechanisms, methods, models and management of soil biogeochemical processes in prairie-pothole wetlands
Science and Products
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Fish and Wildlife seasonal and temporary wetland assessment
The Prairie Pothole Region supports some of the most productive wetlands in the world for waterfowl. Up to 90% of seasonal and temporary wetlands have been lost in areas of the PPR due to the conversion of grasslands to croplands and the drainage of wetlands. Department of the Interior Waterfowl Production Areas (WPA) and National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) in North Dakota, South Dakota, and eastern...Wetland carbon storage and flux in the Prairie Pothole Region
Wetlands significantly contributes to regional, national and global carbon budgets. Because prairie-pothole wetlands have 1) highly productive vegetation and 2) low rates of carbon decomposition, they are ideal systems for accumulating and storing carbon in the soil. However, because prairie-pothole wetlands are located in areas of intense agricultural activity, this important pool of stored...Mechanisms, models, and management of invasive species and soil biogeochemical process in prairie pothole wetlands
The ecological foundation of thousands of acres of wetland habitat is being impacted by changes in land cover, land use, climate, and invasive species. This project utilizes USGS remotely-sensed products, along with experimental and observational field data to develop spatially-explicit, landscape-scale models of invasive cattails and soil biogeochemical processes. These models will assist...Mechanisms, methods, models and management of soil biogeochemical processes in prairie-pothole wetlands
Previous work has shown that Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) wetlands are biogeochemical hotspots, with rapid turnover and transport rates of greenhouse gases (GHG). However, mechanisms controlling GHG fluxes are not well understood, leading to high uncertainty in model estimates of these processes. Additionally, unprecedented changes to land-use and cover in the PPR have potential to alter hydrology... - Data
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