Informations et ressources scientifiques
sur le développement des zones arides et semi-arides

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Titre : Landscape Linkages in Arid and Semiarid Ecosystems (Jornada Basin)

Organismes NSF : Division of Environmental Biology (DEB)

Durée : November 1, 2006 - October 31, 2013

Description
Chihuahuan Desert landscapes exemplify the ecological conditions, vulnerability, and management issues found in arid and semi-arid regions around the world. The goal of the Jornada Basin Long-Term Ecological Research program (JRN) , established in 1982, is to understand and quantify the causes and consequences of desertification in these systems. In collaboration with its research partner, the Jornada Experimental Range (USDA ARS), results of studies begun in 1915 have been incorporated into the program. In the past 6 years, JRN expanded its plant-interspace resource redistribution framework to include multiple spatial and temporal scales in its landscape linkages framework. In LTER V, JRN will elaborate on this framework by : (1) testing specific elements using existing long-term studies, (2) conducting a suite of new integrated, cross-scale experiments, both at the Jornada and in a nearby suburban interface, (3) continuing cross-site and regional studies designed to test its generality, and (4) forecasting alternative future landscapes under a changing environment that includes socioeconomic processes and explicit interactions with the ecological system. The overall hypothesis is that spatial and temporal variation in ecosystem dynamics is the result of patch structure interacting with transport vectors (wind, water, animals) and environmental drivers (e.g., precipitation, temperature, human activities) to influence cross-scale resource redistribution. These interactions feed back to patch structure and dynamics to cause cascading events with effects on ecosystem goods and services. Historic legacies and geomorphic templates are important modifiers of this relationship. JRN proposes to organize research around three major geomorphic units that characterize the Chihuahuan Desert and contain existing long-term studies and a sensor network. Long-term studies will be combined with new mechanistic and process-level experiments designed to identify dominant processes and drivers, with a focus on patch structure. Simulation modeling will be used to synthesize and integrate data in order to understand current patterns and predict future dynamics. New socio-economic studies and scenarios based on the Ecosystem Millennium Assessment will place JRN research into a broader socio-economic-ecologic context.

Partenaires : Debra Peters debra.peters osec.usda.gov (Principal Investigator) Kris Havstad (Co-Principal Investigator) Brandon Bestelmeyer (Co-Principal Investigator) Hugh Monger (Co-Principal Investigator) Jeffrey Herrick (Co-Principal Investigator)

Financement : $5,718,307.00

Présentation (National Science Foundation)