Sue Phillips
Sue Phillips is the Center Director at the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center (FRESC) in Corvallis, Oregon.
Biography
She’s been with the USGS since 1997, working as a manager and supervisory biologist. Before joining FRESC's management team, her research focused on the plant, soil, and physiological ecology of arid and semiarid ecosystems, primarily those of the southwestern U.S., but also Africa, the Middle East, Australia, Ecuador, and central Mexico. Before joining the USGS, she spent eight years as a Research Associate at the University of Utah, where she received her M.S. in Plant Physiological Ecology. She received her B.S. in Biology in 1986 from the University of Colorado and worked as a field and lab assistant, then Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sub-project manager, at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research.
Education:
B.S. University of Colorado, Boulder, CO. December 1986; Environmental, Population and Organismal Biology major with an emphasis in Plant Ecology
M.S. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT. 1996; Biology major with an emphasis in Plant Physiological Ecology
Professional Positions:
1983-1985 Research Assistant, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Boulder, CO
1985-1987 LTER Subproject Manager, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Boulder, CO
1989-1996 Senior Research Specialist, Biology Department, University of Utah, Salt Lake City ,UT
1996-1997 Research Associate, Biology Department, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
1996-1997 Biologist, National Park Service, Moab ,UT
1997-2007 Biologist, USGS Canyonlands Field Station, Moab, UT
2007-2009 Supervisory Biologist, USGS Canyonlands Field Station, Moab, UT
2009-present Aridlands Research Manager, USGS Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Corvallis, OR
Science and Products
Wind energy and wildlife research at the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center
The United States has embarked on a goal to increase electricity generation from clean, renewable sources by 2012. Towards this end, wind energy is emerging as a widely distributed form of renewable energy throughout the country. The national goal is for energy from wind to supply 20 percent of the country's electricity by 2030. As with many land...
Phillips, Susan L.The influence of stream channels on distributions of Larrea tridentata and Ambrosia dumosa in the Mojave Desert, CA, USA: Patterns, mechanisms and effects of stream redistribution
Drainage channels are among the most conspicuous surficial features of deserts, but little quantitative analysis of their influence on plant distributions is available. We analysed the effects of desert stream channels (‘washes’) on Larrea tridentata and Ambrosia dumosa density and cover on an alluvial piedmont in the Mojave...
Schwinning, S.; Sandquist, D.R.; Miller, D. M.; Bedford, D.R.; Phillips, S.L.; Belnap, J.Sediment losses and gains across a gradient of livestock grazing and plant invasion in a cool, semi-arid grassland, Colorado Plateau, USA
Large sediment fluxes can have significant impacts on ecosystems. We measured incoming and outgoing sediment across a gradient of soil disturbance (livestock grazing, plowing) and annual plant invasion for 9 years. Our sites included two currently ungrazed sites: one never grazed by livestock and dominated by perennial grasses/well-developed...
Belnap, J.; Reynolds, R.L.; Reheis, M.C.; Phillips, S.L.; Urban, F.E.; Goldstein, H.L.Global change and biological soil crusts: Effects of ultraviolet augmentation under altered precipitation regimes and nitrogen additions
Biological soil crusts (BSCs), a consortium of cyanobacteria, lichens, and mosses, are essential in most dryland ecosystems. As these organisms are relatively immobile and occur on the soil surface, they are exposed to high levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition, rising temperatures, and alterations in...
Belnap, J.; Phillips, S.L.; Flint, S.; Money, J.; Caldwell, M.Visually assessing the level of development and soil surface stability of cyanobacterially dominated biological soil crusts
Biological soil crusts (BSCs) are an integral part of dryland ecosystems and often included in long-term ecological monitoring programs. Estimating moss and lichen cover is fairly easy and non-destructive, but documenting cyanobacterial level of development (LOD) is more difficult. It requires sample collection for laboratory analysis, which...
Belnap, J.; Phillips, S.L.; Witwicki, D.L.; Miller, M.E.Dynamics of cover, UV-protective pigments, and quantum yield in biological soil crust communities of an undisturbed Mojave Desert shrubland
Biological soil crusts are an integral part of dryland ecosystems. We monitored the cover of lichens and mosses, cyanobacterial biomass, concentrations of UV-protective pigments in both free-living and lichenized cyanobacteria, and quantum yield in the soil lichen species Collema in an undisturbed Mojave Desert shrubland. During our sampling time...
Belnap, Jayne; Phillips, Susan L.; Smith, Stanley D.Wind erodibility of soils at Fort Irwin, California (Mojave Desert), USA, before and after trampling disturbance: Implications for land management
Recently disturbed and 'control' (i.e. less recently disturbed) soils in the Mojave Desert were compared for their vulnerability to wind erosion, using a wind tunnel, before and after being experimentally trampled. Before trampling, control sites had greater cyanobacterial biomass, soil surface stability, threshold friction velocities (TFV, i.e....
Belnap, J.; Phillips, S.L.; Herrick, J.E.; Johansen, J.R.Evidence for micronutrient limitation of biological soil crusts: Importance to arid-lands restoration
Desertification is a global problem, costly to national economies and human societies. Restoration of biological soil crusts (BSCs) may have an important role to play in the reversal of desertification due to their ability to decrease erosion and enhance soil fertility. To determine if there is evidence that lower fertility may hinder BSC...
Bowker, M.A.; Belnap, J.; Davidson, D.W.; Phillips, S.L.Soil biota can change after exotic plant invasion: Does this affect ecosystem processes?
Invasion of the exotic annual grass Bromus tectorum into stands of the native perennial grass Hilaria jamesii significantly reduced the abundance of soil biota, especially microarthropods and nematodes. Effects of invasion on active and total bacterial and fungal biomass were variable, although populations generally increased after 50+ years of...
Belnap, J.; Phillips, S.L.; Sherrod, S.K.; Moldenke, A.Response of desert biological soil crusts to alterations in precipitation frequency
Biological soil crusts, a community of cyanobacteria, lichens, and mosses that live on the soil surface, occur in deserts throughout the world. They are a critical component of desert ecosystems, as they are important contributors to soil fertility and stability. Future climate scenarios predict alteration of the timing and amount of precipitation...
Belnap, J.; Phillips, S.L.; Miller, M.E.Soil fertility in deserts: A review on the influence of biological soil crusts and the effect of soil surface disturbance on nutrient inputs and losses
Sources of desert soil fertility include parent material weathering, aeolian deposition, and on-site C and N biotic fixation. While parent materials provide many soil nutrients, aeolian deposition can provide up to 75% of plant-essential nutrients including N, P, K, Mg, Na, Mn, Cu, and Fe. Soil surface biota are often sticky, and help retain wind-...
Belnap, Jayne; Phillips, S.; Duniway, M.; Reynolds, Richard L.Temporal variation in community composition, pigmentation, and Fv/Fm of desert cyanobacterial soil crusts
Summers on the Colorado Plateau (USA) are typified by harsh conditions such as high temperatures, brief soil hydration periods, and high UV and visible radiation. We investigated whether community composition, physiological status, and pigmentation might vary in biological soil crusts as a result of such conditions. Representative surface cores...
Bowker, M.A.; Reed, S.C.; Belnap, J.; Phillips, S.L.