Primary production and precipitation data along an elevation gradient in and adjacent to the San Francisco Mountains near Flagstaff, Arizona - 2015-2020

These data were compiled to allow further understanding of how aboveground net primary production of different plant functional types in ecosystems along an elevation gradient in the southwestern U.S. respond to extreme changes in warm-season precipitation (drought and water addition) associated with the North American Monsoon. The objectives of the study were to 1) determine how primary production responds to warm-season precipitation extremes over time; 2) compare production sensitivities to warm-season precipitation (slopes of production – precipitation relationships) across an elevation gradient; 3) evaluate whether the sensitivity of production differed under extreme dry and wet years compared to ambient precipitation....

Categories: Data; Tags: Arizona, Botany, Climatology, Coconino County, Colorado Plateau, All tags... Ecology, Flagstaff, Geography, Information Sciences, North American Monsoon, San Francisco Mountain, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), aboveground net primary production, biota, climate change, climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere, datasets, desert grassland, desert scrubland, ecology, ecosystems, effects of climate change, elevation gradient, field experiments, field inventory and monitoring, field measurements, grassland ecosystems, juniper savanna, mixed conifer meadow, northern Arizona, plant composition, plant functional type, ponderosa pine meadow, precipitation (atmospheric), precipitation manipulation experiment, tabular data, topography, vascular plants, warm-season precipitation, Fewer tags

Climate change and ecohydrology in temperate dryland ecosystems: a global assessment

Water cycling and availability exert dominant control over ecological processes and the sustainability of ecosystem services in water - limited ecosystems. Consequently, dryland ecosystems have the potential to be dramatically impacted by hydrologic alterations emerging from global change, notably increasing temperature and altered precipitation patterns. In addition, the possibility of directly manipulating global solar radiation by augmenting stratospheric SO2 is receiving increasing attention as CO2 emissions continue to increase - these manipulations are anticipated to decrease precipitation, a change that may be as influential as temperature increases in dryland ecosystems. We propose to integrate a proven...

Categories: Project; Tags: All Working Groups, Climate, Completed, Drylands, Ecosystems, All tags... Land Resources, Synthesis, Water Resources, Fewer tags

A global synthesis of multi-year drought effects on terrestrial ecosystems

Drought impacts on terrestrial ecosystems have increased globally in the 21st century, and droughts are expected to become more frequent, extreme, and spatially extensive in the future. Historical site-based observations are inadequate to predict how future extreme water deficits will affect the global terrestrial surface, because future droughts and their impacts may be more extreme than they have been historically and reach well beyond a single ecosystem. This USGS Powell Center working group will conduct the first comprehensive synthesis of ecosystem impacts across a coordinated, globally distributed drought experiment network of over 100 sites that have imposed an extreme multi-year drought. Knowledge about...

Categories: Project; Tags: Active, All Working Groups, Ecosystems, Water Resources