Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Colorado Plateau CESU
The USGS Canyonlands Research Station (CRS) of the Southwest Biological Science Center (SBSC) is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research on rehabilitation techniques that can increase the stability and fertility of Bandelier National Monument soils that were previously deemed too problematic to manage. Dryland ecosystems are experiencing significant changes, including dramatic plant mortality events caused by interactions between increasing temperature, drought, and insect outbreaks. In particular, drought and increased temperatures across the western U.S. in the last decade have led to extensive tree mortality in many forest types and, in the southwestern U.S., substantial die-off of Pinus edulis on over a million hectares was specifically linked to ``global-change-type drought¿¿. The semi-arid ecosystems found in Bandelier National Monument, and many other dryland parks, have already experienced extreme changes in recent years due to environmental perturbation. For example, sustained drought, massive tree mortality, and altered fire regimes have all greatly affected Bandelier National Monument¿s communities and the functioning of its ecosystems. The threats to the unique cultural and natural resources of Bandelier and other southwestern semi-arid and arid (dryland) parks are substantial: if rapid action is not taken the negative consequences are likely to be irrevocable.
Office: Geological Survey
fgraves@usgs.gov
