Dryland Ecology and Management Support
Dryland Ecology and Management Support
Southwest Energy Exploration, Development, and Reclamation
Restoration Assessment & Monitoring Program for the Southwest
Providing seed restoration guidelines and native plant materials development
Research supporting restoration across the Colorado Plateau and beyond
Research supporting restoration across the Colorado Plateau and beyond
Informing Solar Energy Land Management
Contributing Remote Sensing Expertise
SBSC remote sensing enables partners to make crucial wildlife management decisions that save money and time.
SBSC remote sensing enables partners to make crucial wildlife management decisions that save money and time.
SBSC conducts research in drylands to deliver information that aids land and wildlife management to promote productive ecosystems. Our work provides tools that are used to mitigate the impacts of drought, wildfire, and invasive species, as well as science that supports Department of the Interior economic and cultural activities including recreation and ranching.
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USGS Science Supports Management of Invasive Species
Invasive species can harm ecosystems, increase wildfires, damage forests, and outcompete native species. The US Geological Survey's Southwest Biological Science Center conducts research that provides our federal and state partners, cooperators and land managers with the tools, data and strategies to enhance biosecurity management. Scroll through the information below to read about different SBSC...
The Gemini Solar Project
The United States is developing renewable energy resources, especially solar, at a rapid rate. Although renewable energy development is widely perceived by the public as “green technology,” construction, operation, maintenance, and eventual decommissioning of facilities all have known and potential negative impacts to natural resources, including plant communities and wildlife. This is especially...
RAMPS: Restoration Assessment & Monitoring Program for the Southwest
The Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Program for the Southwest (RAMPS) seeks to assist U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and other land management agencies in developing successful techniques for improving land condition in dryland ecosystems of the southwestern United States. Invasion by non-native species, wildfire, drought, and other disturbances are growing rapidly in extent and...
Plant responses to drought in the southwestern United States
Land managers face challenges in the future as heat-related aridification alters the abundance, distribution, and interactions of plant species. These challenges will be daunting in the southwestern US, which is experiencing increased temperatures and prolonged droughts, resulting in reduced soil moisture in an already water-limited environment.
SBSC Tribal Partnerships
The Southwest Biological Science Center (SBSC) conducts and provides scientific information as part of our mission and Federal Trust Responsibility to strengthen relationships and build partnerships with sovereign tribal nations. Here, we highlight a few examples of projects with tribal partners.
Colorado Plateau Extreme Drought in Grassland Experiment (EDGE)
In drylands, short-term extreme droughts can have profound ecosystem effects, depending on the timing (seasonality) of drought and the sensitivities of the dominant plants and plant functional types. Past work suggests that cool season drought may disproportionately impact regionally important grass and shrub species. In this study, we are examining the impacts of extreme seasonal drought on...
Chronic Drought Impacts on Colorado Plateau Ecosystems (Rain-Out Experiment)
In drylands, chronic reductions in water availability (press-drought) through reduced precipitation and increased temperatures may have profound ecosystem effects, depending on the sensitivities of the dominant plants and plant functional types. In this study, we are examining the impacts of moderate, but long-term chronic drought using a network of 40 drought shelters on the Colorado Plateau...
Informing Renewable Energy Development Siting Decisions with Vertebrate Biodiversity Measures
Renewable energy development is expanding in southwestern deserts, including in Arizona. Energy developers look to resource management agencies to provide siting guidance on public lands where there might be conflicts with wildlife. Often, agency guidance considers species of conservation concern and economic importance, but information on comprehensive vertebrate biodiversity has been hard to...
Oil and Gas Reclamation - About
What is reclamation? Reclamation means to assist in the repair or recovery of highly disturbed or degraded ecosystems to benefit native plants and animals by setting sites on a trajectory towards functioning habitats and ecological communities that are similar to surrounding, naturally occurring environments. During this process, the impacts of oil and gas development are minimized.
Southwest Energy Exploration, Development, and Reclamation (SWEDR)
Approximately 35% of the US and approximately 82% of DOI lands are “drylands” found throughout the western US. These lands contain oil, gas, oil shale, shale oil, and tar sand deposits and the exploration for and extraction of these resources has resulted in hundreds of thousands of operating and abandoned wells across the West. These arid and semi-arid lands have unique soil and plant communities...
Monitoring the Rare Island Night Lizard on San Nicolas Island
The Island Night Lizard ( Xantusia riversiana) was removed from the Federal list of "Threatened" species in May 2014. This rare and unique species represents an ancient lineage whose members are now sparsely distributed across parts of the Southwest North America, south through Mexico to the New World Tropics.
New Tools for Modern Land Management Decisions
In an era of rapid land use changes and shifting climates, it is imperative that land managers and policymakers have actionable and current information available for decision processes. In this work, we seek to meet these needs through new data products and decision support tools built on digital soil mapping, new vegetation cover maps, agency inventory and monitoring data sets, and cutting-edge...