Plant-Soil-Environment Laboratory (FRESC)
We produce basic and applied science needed to manage landscapes in ways that make them resistant and resilient to stressors such as wildfire, exotic plant invasions, drought, and temperature extremes. These stressors impact ecosystem productivity and functioning and pose costly risks to human health and safety in the western United States. We team with other state and federal agencies to find efficient and effective ways of mitigating their impacts.
Our program integrates biophysical ecology, ecophysiology, ecohydrology, and biogeomorphology at scales ranging from plants to populations, communities, ecosystems and landscapes. Current projects evaluate emerging approaches for soil stabilization, control of exotic annual grasses, and restoration of desirable native perennials following wildfire in sagebrush steppe. Understanding plant adaptation to temperature and water limitation, and applying this knowledge to management practices such as post-fire restoration seeding or landscape vulnerability assessments, is a major focus.
Staff
Krystal Busby - Ecologist
Bill Davidson - Biologist
Scott Fordham - Biologist
Chad Kluender - Ecologist
Darius Liles - Biologist
Andrew Lague - Ecologist
Jake Price - Ecologist
Austin Davis - Biologist
Jayna Thompson - Biological Science Technician Plants
Chloe Watt - Biological Science Technician Field Assistant
Science Themes of the FRESC Plant-Soil-Environment Laboratory are highlighted below.
If you are unable to access or download a product, email fresc_outreach@usgs.gov a request, including the full citation, or call (541) 750-1030.
Conifer seedling recruitment across a gradient from forest to alpine tundra: effects of species, provenance, and site
Nonstructural leaf carbohydrates dynamics of Pinus edulis during drought-induced tree mortality reveal role for carbon metabolism in mortality mechanism
Microbial community responses to 17 years of altered precipitation are seasonally dependent and coupled to co-varying effects of water content on vegetation and soil C
Wind erosion from a sagebrush steppe burned by wildfire: measurements of PM10 and total horizontal sediment flux
The influence of precipitation, vegetation and soil properties on the ecohydrology of sagebrush steppe rangelands on the INL site
Desert shrub responses to experimental modification of precipitation seasonality and soil depth: relationship to the two-layer model and ecohydrological niche
Remote sensing of sagebrush canopy nitrogen
Warming and the dependence of limber pine (Pinus flexilis) establishment on summer soil moisture within and above its current elevation range
Transport of biologically important nutrients by wind in an eroding cold desert
A common-garden study of resource-island effects on a native and an exotic, annual grass after fire
Post-wildfire wind erosion in and around the Idaho National Laboratory Site
Selecting sagebrush seed sources for restoration in a variable climate: ecophysiological variation among genotypes
If you are unable to access or download a product, email fresc_outreach@usgs.gov a request, including the full citation, or call (541) 750-1030.
The news stories below are short summaries of FIREss Team publications.
New Invasive Annual Grass Book Addresses Critical Questions for the Western U.S.
We produce basic and applied science needed to manage landscapes in ways that make them resistant and resilient to stressors such as wildfire, exotic plant invasions, drought, and temperature extremes. These stressors impact ecosystem productivity and functioning and pose costly risks to human health and safety in the western United States. We team with other state and federal agencies to find efficient and effective ways of mitigating their impacts.
Our program integrates biophysical ecology, ecophysiology, ecohydrology, and biogeomorphology at scales ranging from plants to populations, communities, ecosystems and landscapes. Current projects evaluate emerging approaches for soil stabilization, control of exotic annual grasses, and restoration of desirable native perennials following wildfire in sagebrush steppe. Understanding plant adaptation to temperature and water limitation, and applying this knowledge to management practices such as post-fire restoration seeding or landscape vulnerability assessments, is a major focus.
Staff
Krystal Busby - Ecologist
Bill Davidson - Biologist
Scott Fordham - Biologist
Chad Kluender - Ecologist
Darius Liles - Biologist
Andrew Lague - Ecologist
Jake Price - Ecologist
Austin Davis - Biologist
Jayna Thompson - Biological Science Technician Plants
Chloe Watt - Biological Science Technician Field Assistant
Science Themes of the FRESC Plant-Soil-Environment Laboratory are highlighted below.
If you are unable to access or download a product, email fresc_outreach@usgs.gov a request, including the full citation, or call (541) 750-1030.
Conifer seedling recruitment across a gradient from forest to alpine tundra: effects of species, provenance, and site
Nonstructural leaf carbohydrates dynamics of Pinus edulis during drought-induced tree mortality reveal role for carbon metabolism in mortality mechanism
Microbial community responses to 17 years of altered precipitation are seasonally dependent and coupled to co-varying effects of water content on vegetation and soil C
Wind erosion from a sagebrush steppe burned by wildfire: measurements of PM10 and total horizontal sediment flux
The influence of precipitation, vegetation and soil properties on the ecohydrology of sagebrush steppe rangelands on the INL site
Desert shrub responses to experimental modification of precipitation seasonality and soil depth: relationship to the two-layer model and ecohydrological niche
Remote sensing of sagebrush canopy nitrogen
Warming and the dependence of limber pine (Pinus flexilis) establishment on summer soil moisture within and above its current elevation range
Transport of biologically important nutrients by wind in an eroding cold desert
A common-garden study of resource-island effects on a native and an exotic, annual grass after fire
Post-wildfire wind erosion in and around the Idaho National Laboratory Site
Selecting sagebrush seed sources for restoration in a variable climate: ecophysiological variation among genotypes
If you are unable to access or download a product, email fresc_outreach@usgs.gov a request, including the full citation, or call (541) 750-1030.
The news stories below are short summaries of FIREss Team publications.