Landscape Change

Our tree-ring lab is a key component of an interdisciplinary ecological research program that focuses on the effects of climate variability and human land use on forest ecology, fire ecology, and ecohydrology.

Below are ongoing or completed research projects related to forest ecosystems at the New Mexico Landscapes Field Station.

Staff, affiliates, and collaborators associated with the New Mexico Landscapes Field Station.

To support the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Ecosystem Restoration program, we are developing 1) a document highlighting remote sensing approaches that can be leveraged for site prioritization, recovery design, and long-term assessments of recovery trends, and 2) data products of vegetation conditions, change, recovery potential, and risk of exotic plant invasion on mine lands. We will incorporate...

Habitat models can provide critical information on the current and potential distribution of plant species, as well as help target and support conservation efforts. Despite their potential utility in public land management, model use may be constrained by a variety of factors including staff access to and trust in models. In this project, we seek to bring together model users and model developers...

In partnership with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and other partners, scientists from USGS Fort Collins Science Center are working to create a suite of prioritization scenarios that will inform adaptive management for Gunnison sage-grouse.

Cheatgrass, an invasive annual grass, reduces ecosystem productivity, negatively impacts biodiversity, and is increasingly problematic in higher elevation ecosystems with climate change. Cheatgrass phenology (that is, the timing of yearly growth and lifespan) varies greatly with elevation, climate, and weather from year to year, which can make management planning difficult and reduce the ability...

Roads and their associated infrastructure can cause substantial and pervasive effects on adjacent ecosystems but are necessary for the movement and redistribution of goods, people, wealth, and natural resources in modern societies. The Fort Collins Science Center has initiated research looking at how roads and traffic may be impacting sagebrush ecosystems and the wildlife inhabiting them. This...

We are working with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) to pilot an expansion of the Prioritizing Restoration of Sagebrush Ecosystems Tool (PReSET; Duchardt et al. 2021) across northwestern Colorado. We are in the initial phase of a two-phase project where we are leveraging existing data resources to provide customized scenarios that directly guide landscape-scale conservation delivery by CPW. This...

Invasive annual grasses can replace native vegetation and alter fire behavior, impacting a range of habitats and species. A team of researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, Colorado State University, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are working to identify factors that influence changes in the distribution and abundance of invasive annual grasses (IAGs)...

Drought, hotter temperatures, and insect outbreaks are affecting dryland ecosystems across the globe. Pinon-juniper (PJ) woodlands are a widespread vegetation type common to drylands of North America, which have been hit particularly hard by a warming climate. Specifically, mass tree die-off events are transforming PJ woodland structure, composition, and distributions. This project aims to...

Arid shrublands of western North America face growing threats from disturbances such as wildfire, drought, and invasive species. These threats are increasingly altering the sagebrush ( Artemisia species) biome and degrading habitat for species of conservation concern such as greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus ). Effective management and restoration are needed to slow or reverse these...