Effects on Ecosystems
Effects on Ecosystems
Filter Total Items: 49
A targeted annual warning system (TAWS) for identifying aberrant declines in greater sage-grouse populations
Land and wildlife managers require accurate estimates of sensitive species’ trends to help guide conservation decisions that maintain biodiversity and promote healthy ecosystems. Researchers within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Colorado State University (CSU) worked with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and State Wildlife Agencies to develop a hierarchical population monitoring...
Predicting risk of annual grass invasion following fire in sagebrush steppe and rangeland ecosystems
This project analyzes on-the-ground plant monitoring data across sagebrush and rangeland ecosystems to examine how fire, climate, topography, and plant communities influence the success of invasive annual grasses after fires.
Assessing the Proliferation, Connectivity, and Consequences of Invasive Fine Fuels on the Sagebrush Biome
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)...
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...
Climate-Smart Vegetation Treatments - Using 15 Years of SageSTEP Data to Inform Management of Resilient Ecosystems
Land managers require clear, forward-looking information about where and how vegetation treatments may make the greatest difference for drought resilience in sagebrush and woodland ecosystems. We are using soil moisture and vegetation data from SageSTEP-- a long-term ecological study on fuel treatments in the Great Basin-- to analyze soil moisture dynamics and vegetation responses after common...
Synthesis and Forecasts of Piñon-Juniper Woodland Die-off
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...
Prioritizing conifer removal for multi-species outcomes
Wildlife management is frequently conducted to benefit a single species, despite evidence that suggests such an approach often fails to adequately address the needs of other species within a region. Managing for multiple species’ habitat requirements is even more critical when large scale habitat management efforts change vegetation conditions at the landscape scale, or when management occurs at...
Soil-climate for Managing Sagebrush Ecosystems
Soil-climate describes the temperature and moisture conditions important for plant growth and function. Soil condition patterns determine which vegetation is most abundant, thus controlling which habitats, invasive species, fuels, and economic activities are present in a region. Here, we use a model to simulate the vertical movement of water in a soil profile to provide insights into landscape...
Climate Averages of Soil-climate for Sagebrush Ecosystems
Soil conditions are a key part of functioning ecosystem and affect the distribution and abundance of plants, forage production, and habitat patterns. The distribution of soil conditions, as well as other environmental factors such as precipitation, temperature, geology, topography, and vegetation determine the patterns and dynamics of wildlife habitats and biodiversity across the landscape. We...
Future Scenarios of Soil-climate for Sagebrush Ecosystems
Climate forecasts provide a unique tool to researchers and wildlife managers, allowing for a look into potential future climate conditions. Climate models provide multiple scenarios that assume different mitigation polices implemented by governments. By using these data in a statistical model to estimate soil-climate conditions, we can investigate the connection between future climate and...
Understanding the Sagebrush Steppe’s Threshold for Transitions Through Resistance and Resilience Models
We are investigating ecosystem transitions and thresholds in the sagebrush steppe, studying factors influencing the shift from native to invaded plant communities after disturbances like fire. Our research tests region-wide resistance and resilience models, focusing on real-world recovery patterns, pre-fire conditions, plant succession, and land management treatments.
Assessing invasive annual grass treatment efficacy across the sagebrush biome
We are using existing datasets that span broad spatial and temporal extents to model the efficacy of invasive annual grass treatments across the sagebrush biome and the influence of environmental factors on their success. The models we develop will be used to generate maps of predicted treatment efficacy across the biome, which will be integrated into the Land Treatment Exploration Tool for land...