Twenty-year change in aspen dominance in pure aspen and mixed aspen/conifer stands on the Uncompahgre Plateau, Colorado, USA

Reports of decreasing quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) cover in forests of the western USA have caused concern about the long-term persistence of aspen on landscape scales. We assessed changes in overstory aspen dominance on the Uncompahgre Plateau in western Colorado over a 20 year period. We measured stand density, species composition and regeneration in 53 undisturbed, mature pure aspen, pure conifer, and mixed aspen/conifer stands originally inventoried between 1979 and 1983. Ages of overstory and understory trees were used to evaluate long-term change in regeneration and overstory development. While pure aspen stands occupy 16% of the study area, mixed aspen and conifer stands cover 62% of the forested landscape...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Journal Citation; Tags: Forest Ecology and Management, Populus tremuloides Colorado, aspen, aspen decline, vegetation change

The persistence of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) in the Grand Mesa Area, Colorado

Human activities have caused the decline of numerous species and ecosystems. To promote ecosystem resilience, recent management efforts aim to maintain ecosystem patterns and processes within their historical range of variability. There has been substantial concern that quaking aspen, the most widely distributed tree in North America and the most important deciduous tree in the subalpine forests of the Rocky Mountains, has declined significantly in the western landscape during the 20th century. This reported decline has been attributed to conifer encroachment associated with fire exclusion, as well as other causes. To assess long-term changes in the extent of quaking aspen in a 175000-ha study area in western Colorado,...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Journal Citation; Tags: Colorado, Ecological Applications, USA, aspen, fire, All tags... geographic information system (GIS), historical range of variability, populus, reference period, vegetation change, Fewer tags

Role of multidecadal climate variability in a range extension of pinyon pine.

Evidence from woodrat middens and tree rings at Dutch John Mountain (DJM) in northeastern Utah reveal spatiotemporal patterns of pinyon pine (Pinus edulis Engelm.) colonization and expansion in the past millennium. The DJM population, a northern outpost of pinyon, was established by long-distance dispersal (approximately 40 km). Growth of this isolate was markedly episodic and tracked multidecadal variability in precipitation. Initial colonization occurred by AD 1246, but expansion was forestalled by catastrophic drought (1250-1288), which we speculate produced extensive mortality of Utah Juniper (Juniperus osteosperma (Torr.) Little), the dominant tree at DJM for the previous approximately 8700 years. Pinyon then...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Journal Citation; Tags: Eco Soc America, Ecology, drought, founder event, paleoecology, All tags... pinyon-juniper woodlands, tree rings, vegetation change, woodrat middens, Fewer tags

Forecast Barren Land Change Under PCM A2, 2080-2099

These data are forecast barren land change under the PCM A2 scenarios, calculated using the outputs from runs of the USFS Pacific Northwest Research Station and WWETAC MC1 Vegetation model.MC1 Vegetation Model description: This collection of layers includes summary statistics from input and output data used for simulation of vegetation response to climate change in California. The simulations were performed using MC1 dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM), source code revision 152. The model was parameterized and evaluated by the DGVM research group at the US Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, with support from the Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center. The model was parameterized...

Tags: a2, a2 scenario, california, climate change, dgvm, All tags... mc1, vegetation change, Fewer tags

Forecast Barren Land Change Under GFDL B1, 2010-2029

These data are forecast barren land change under the GFDL B1 scenarios, calculated using the outputs from runs of the USFS Pacific Northwest Research Station and WWETAC MC1 Vegetation model.MC1 Vegetation Model description: This collection of layers includes summary statistics from input and output data used for simulation of vegetation response to climate change in California. The simulations were performed using MC1 dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM), source code revision 152. The model was parameterized and evaluated by the DGVM research group at the US Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, with support from the Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center. The model was parameterized...

Tags: a2, a2 scenario, california, climate change, dgvm, All tags... mc1, vegetation change, Fewer tags

Forecast Barren Land Change Under PCM A2 and B1 Scenario, 2080-2099

These data are forecast barren land change under the PCM A2&B1 scenarios, calculated using the outputs from runs of the USFS Pacific Northwest Research Station and WWETAC MC1 Vegetation model.MC1 Vegetation Model description: This collection of layers includes summary statistics from input and output data used for simulation of vegetation response to climate change in California. The simulations were performed using MC1 dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM), source code revision 152. The model was parameterized and evaluated by the DGVM research group at the US Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, with support from the Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center. The model was parameterized...

Tags: a2, a2 scenario, california, climate change, dgvm, All tags... mc1, vegetation change, Fewer tags

Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection (RCMAP) Non Sagebrush Shrub Fractional Component Time-Series Across the Western U.S. 1985-2021

The RCMAP (Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection) dataset quantifies the percent cover of rangeland components across the western U.S. using Landsat imagery from 1985-2021. The RCMAP product suite consists of nine fractional components: annual herbaceous, bare ground, herbaceous, litter, non-sagebrush shrub, perennial herbaceous, sagebrush, shrub, and tree, in addition to the temporal trends of each component. Several enhancements were made to the RCMAP process relative to prior generations. First, we have trained time-series predictions directly from 331 high-resolution sites collected from 2013-2018 from Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) instead of using the 2016 “base” map as an intermediary....

Tags: AZ, Arizona, Arizona Plateau, Black Hills, Blue Mountains, All tags... CA, CO, California, Chihuahuan, Chihuahuan Desert, Colorado, Colorado Plateau, Columbia Plateau, Desert, Grand Canyon, Great Basin, Gunnison, ID, Idaho, MT, Mediterranean California, Middle Rockies, Mojave, Montana, ND, NE, NM, NV, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, North Plains, Northern Great Plains, Northern Great Salt Lake Desert, Northern Mountainous, Northern Rocky Mountains, OR, Oregon, Plains, Plateau, Rocky Mountains, SD, Sierra Nevada, Sonoran, Sonoran Desert, South Dakota, Southern Great Salt Lake Desert, Southern Rocky Mountains, Southwest Tablelands, TX, Texas, The Rockies, Three Forks, UT, United States, Utah, WA, WY, Wasatch, Washington, Western US, Wyoming, Wyoming Basin, Yellowstone, annual herbaceous, back-in-time, bare ground, big sagebrush, biota, climate change, environment, geoscientificInformation, grass, grassland change, herbaceous, imageryBaseMapsEarthCover, litter, mts, rangeland, rangeland management, sagebrush, shrub, shrubland, shrubland change, shrubland ecosystems, shrublands, terrestrial ecosystems, time series, trends, vegetation, vegetation change, Fewer tags

Projections of Rangeland Fractional Component Cover Across Western Northern American Rangelands for Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 Scenarios for the 2020s, 2050s, and 2080s Time-Periods

Climate change over the past century has altered vegetation community composition and species distributions across rangelands in the western United States. The scale and magnitude of climatic influences are largely unknown. We used fractional component cover data for rangeland functional groups and weather data from the 1985 to 2023 reference period in conjunction with soils and topography data to develop empirical models describing the spatio-temporal variation in component cover. To investigate the ramifications of future change across the western US, we extended models based on historical relationships over the reference period to model landscape effects based on future weather conditions from two emissions scenarios...

Tags: AB, AZ, Alberta, Arizona, Arizona Plateau, All tags... Black Hills, Blue Mountains, CA, CO, California, Canada, Colorado, Colorado Plateau, Columbia Plateau, Grand Canyon, Great Basin, Gunnison, ID, Idaho, Land Use Change, MT, Middle Rockies, Montana, ND, NE, NM, NV, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, OR, Oregon, Prairie Provinces, Rocky Mountains, SD, SK, Saskatchewan, Snake River Plain, Sonoran Desert, South Dakota, Southwest Tablelands, Three Forks, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), UT, United States, Utah, WA, WY, Wasatch, Washington, Western US, Wyoming, Yellowstone, annual herbaceous, bare ground, biota, climate change, environment, geoscientificInformation, grass, grassland change, herbaceous, imageryBaseMapsEarthCover, litter, rangeland, rangeland management, sagebrush, shrub, shrubland, shrubland change, shrubland ecosystems, shrublands, terrestrial ecosystems, trends, vegetation, vegetation change, Fewer tags

Effects of land cover change on streamflow in the interior Columbia River Basin (USA and Canada).

Synopsis: This study analyzed the effects of vegetation change on hydrological fluctuations in the Columbia River basin over the last century using two land cover scenarios. The first scenario was a reconstruction of historical land cover vegetation, c. 1900. The second scenario was more recent land cover as estimated from remote sensing data for 1990. The results show that, hydrologically, the most important vegetation-related change has been a general tendency towards decreased vegetation maturity in the forested areas of the basin. This general trend represents a balance between the effects of logging and fire suppression. In those areas where forest maturity has been reduced as a result of logging, wintertime...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: British Columbia, Idaho, Land use configuration, Montana, Natural cover amount, All tags... Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, evapotranspiration, forest cover, forests, logging, meso-regional, snow processes, stream flow, streamflow, timber harvest, vegetation change, water quantity, Fewer tags

State-and-Transition Simulation Models, parameters, input data, and simulation results

This is a spatially-explicit state-and-transition simulation model (STSM) of sagebrush-steppe vegetation dynamics for greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) Priority Areas for Conservation (PACs) in the Great Basin. The STSM was built using the ST-Sim platform and uses an integrated stock-flow submodel (STSM-SF) to simulate and track continuous vegetation component cover changes caused by annual growth, natural regeneration, and post-fire sagebrush seeding and planting restoration. Spatially explicit models were built for three sage-grouse PACs (Klamath Oregon/California [KLAM], NW Interior Nevada [NWINV], Strawberry Utah [STRAW]) that differed in historic wildfire patterns and the amounts of various component...

Tags: California, Centrocercus urophasianus, Greater sage-grouse, Klamath OR/CA Priority Area for Conservation, NW Interior NV Priority Area for Conservation, All tags... Nevada, Oregon, Sagebrush biome, Simulation model, Strawberry Priority Area for Conservation, United States, Utah, annual grass cover, biota, environment, perennial grass cover, pinyon-juniper cover, post-fire restoration, sage-grouse habitat, sagebrush cover, sagebrush revegetation, state-and-transition simulation model, vegetation change, Fewer tags

NW-Interior Nevada time series (2018-2068) of potential habitat and 50-year change

Potential future greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) habitat restoration was projected (2018-2068) for three sage-grouse Priority Area for Conservation (PACs) populations located along the northwestern, central, and eastern edge of the Great Basin using outputs from a spatially explicit state-transition simulation model (STSM) developed for sagebrush ecosystems. These datasets, for the NW-Interior Nevada, USA (NWINV) sage-grouse population, include: 1) a set of 78 categorical raster layers illustrating a time series (decade intervals) of potential future habitat, and 2) a set of 15 uncategorized raster layers illustrating potential change in habitat classification across space, after simulating 50 years...

Tags: Centrocercus urophasianus, Greater sage-grouse, NW-Interior Nevada Priority Area for Conservation, Nevada, Sagebrush biome, All tags... United States, biota, environment, perennial grass cover, post-fire restoration, sage-grouse habitat, sagebrush cover, sagebrush revegetation, state-and-transition simulation model, vegetation change, Fewer tags

Ecohydrological Implications of Woody Plant Encroachment

Increases in the abundance or density of woody plants in historically semiarid and arid grassland ecosystems have important ecological, hydrological, and socioeconomic implications. Using a simplified water-balance model, we propose a framework for conceptualizing how woody plant encroachment is likely to affect components of the water cycle within these ecosystems. We focus in particular on streamflow and the partitioning of evapotranspiration into evaporation and transpiration. On the basis of this framework, we suggest that streamflow and evaporation processes are affected by woody plant encroachment in different ways, depending on the degree and seasonality of aridity and the availability of subsurface water....

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Journal Citation; Tags: Ecological Society of America, Ecology, carbon cycling, ecohydrology, encroachment, All tags... evapotranspiration, vegetation change, woody plant, Fewer tags

Potential for vegetation change on sensitive soils (consensus of 8 scenarios) for 2041 to 2050 in the Southern Rockies LCC, USA

This dataset combines the sensitive soils datasets for the Southern Rockies Landscape Conservation Cooperative, the projected future vegetation and the simulated historic potential natural vegetation, created using the MC2 dynamic global vegetation model. Colors represent unique combinations of vegetation change and the number of sensitive soil factors present in a given area.

Tags: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, SR LCC, Utah, All tags... climate change, conservation, erosion, hydrology, soil, vegetation change, vulnerability, Fewer tags

Forecast Barren Land Change Under GFDL B1, 2080-2099

These data are forecast barren land change under the GFDL B1 scenarios, calculated using the outputs from runs of the USFS Pacific Northwest Research Station and WWETAC MC1 Vegetation model.MC1 Vegetation Model description: This collection of layers includes summary statistics from input and output data used for simulation of vegetation response to climate change in California. The simulations were performed using MC1 dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM), source code revision 152. The model was parameterized and evaluated by the DGVM research group at the US Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, with support from the Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center. The model was parameterized...

Tags: a2, a2 scenario, california, climate change, dgvm, All tags... mc1, vegetation change, Fewer tags

Multi-model comparison highlights consistency in predicted effect of warming on a semi-arid shrub

Tags: Artemisia, Landscapes, North Central CASC, Other Landscapes, Plants, All tags... Wildlife and Plants, climate change, correlative models, model comparison, process-based models, sagebrush, vegetation change, Fewer tags

Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection (RCMAP) Shrub Fractional Component Time-Series Across Western North America from 1985-2023

The RCMAP (Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection) dataset quantifies the percent cover of rangeland components across western North America using Landsat imagery from 1985-2023. The RCMAP product suite consists of ten fractional components: annual herbaceous, bare ground, herbaceous, litter, non-sagebrush shrub, perennial herbaceous, sagebrush, shrub, tree, and shrub height in addition to the temporal trends of each component. Several enhancements were made to the RCMAP process relative to prior generations. First, high-resolution training was revised using an improved neural-net classifier and modelling approach. These data serve as foundation to the RCMAP approach. The training database was...

Tags: AB, AZ, Alberta, Arizona, Arizona Plateau, All tags... Black Hills, Blue Mountains, CA, CO, California, Canada, Chihuahuan, Chihuahuan Desert, Colorado, Colorado Plateau, Columbia Plateau, Desert, Grand Canyon, Great Basin, Gunnison, ID, Idaho, MT, Mediterranean California, Middle Rockies, Mojave, Montana, ND, NE, NM, NV, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, North Plains, Northern Great Plains, Northern Great Salt Lake Desert, Northern Mountainous, Northern Rocky Mountains, OR, Oregon, Plains, Plateau, Prairie Provinces, Rocky Mountains, SD, SK, Saskatchewan, Sierra Nevada, Sonoran, Sonoran Desert, South Dakota, Southern Great Salt Lake Desert, Southern Rocky Mountains, Southwest Tablelands, TX, Texas, The Rockies, Three Forks, UT, United States, Utah, WA, WY, Wasatch, Washington, Western US, Wyoming, Wyoming Basin, Yellowstone, annual herbaceous, back-in-time, bare ground, big sagebrush, biota, climate change, environment, geoscientificInformation, grass, grassland change, herbaceous, imageryBaseMapsEarthCover, litter, mts, rangeland, rangeland management, sagebrush, shrub, shrub height, shrubland, shrubland change, shrubland ecosystems, shrublands, terrestrial ecosystems, time series, trends, vegetation, vegetation change, vegetation height, Fewer tags

Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection (RCMAP) Non Sagebrush Shrub Fractional Component Time-Series Across Western North America from 1985-2023

The RCMAP (Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection) dataset quantifies the percent cover of rangeland components across western North America using Landsat imagery from 1985-2023. The RCMAP product suite consists of ten fractional components: annual herbaceous, bare ground, herbaceous, litter, non-sagebrush shrub, perennial herbaceous, sagebrush, shrub, tree, and shrub height in addition to the temporal trends of each component. Several enhancements were made to the RCMAP process relative to prior generations. First, high-resolution training was revised using an improved neural-net classifier and modelling approach. These data serve as foundation to the RCMAP approach. The training database was...

Tags: AB, AZ, Alberta, Arizona, Arizona Plateau, All tags... Black Hills, Blue Mountains, CA, CO, California, Canada, Chihuahuan, Chihuahuan Desert, Colorado, Colorado Plateau, Columbia Plateau, Desert, Grand Canyon, Great Basin, Gunnison, ID, Idaho, MT, Mediterranean California, Middle Rockies, Mojave, Montana, ND, NE, NM, NV, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, North Plains, Northern Great Plains, Northern Great Salt Lake Desert, Northern Mountainous, Northern Rocky Mountains, OR, Oregon, Plains, Plateau, Prairie Provinces, Rocky Mountains, SD, SK, Saskatchewan, Sierra Nevada, Sonoran, Sonoran Desert, South Dakota, Southern Great Salt Lake Desert, Southern Rocky Mountains, Southwest Tablelands, TX, Texas, The Rockies, Three Forks, UT, United States, Utah, WA, WY, Wasatch, Washington, Western US, Wyoming, Wyoming Basin, Yellowstone, annual herbaceous, back-in-time, bare ground, big sagebrush, biota, climate change, environment, geoscientificInformation, grass, grassland change, herbaceous, imageryBaseMapsEarthCover, litter, mts, rangeland, rangeland management, sagebrush, shrub, shrub height, shrubland, shrubland change, shrubland ecosystems, shrublands, terrestrial ecosystems, time series, trends, vegetation, vegetation change, vegetation height, Fewer tags

Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection (RCMAP) Fractional Component Time-Series Across the Western U.S. 1985-2021

The RCMAP (Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection) dataset quantifies the percent cover of rangeland components across the western U.S. using Landsat imagery from 1985-2021. The RCMAP product suite consists of nine fractional components: annual herbaceous, bare ground, herbaceous, litter, non-sagebrush shrub, perennial herbaceous, sagebrush, shrub, and tree, in addition to the temporal trends of each component. Several enhancements were made to the RCMAP process relative to prior generations. First, we have trained time-series predictions directly from 331 high-resolution sites collected from 2013-2018 from Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) instead of using the 2016 “base” map as an intermediary....

Tags: AZ, Arizona, Arizona Plateau, Black Hills, Blue Mountains, All tags... CA, CO, California, Chihuahuan, Chihuahuan Desert, Colorado, Colorado Plateau, Columbia Plateau, Desert, Grand Canyon, Great Basin, Gunnison, ID, Idaho, Land Use Change, MT, Mediterranean California, Middle Rockies, Mojave, Montana, ND, NE, NM, NV, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, North Plains, Northern Great Plains, Northern Great Salt Lake Desert, Northern Mountainous, Northern Rocky Mountains, OR, Oregon, Plains, Plateau, Rocky Mountains, SD, Sierra Nevada, Sonoran, Sonoran Desert, South Dakota, Southern Great Salt Lake Desert, Southern Rocky Mountains, Southwest Tablelands, TX, Texas, The Rockies, Three Forks, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), UT, United States, Utah, WA, WY, Wasatch, Washington, Western US, Wyoming, Wyoming Basin, Yellowstone, annual herbaceous, back-in-time, bare ground, big sagebrush, biota, climate change, environment, geoscientificInformation, grass, grassland change, herbaceous, imageryBaseMapsEarthCover, litter, mts, rangeland, rangeland management, sagebrush, shrub, shrubland, shrubland change, shrubland ecosystems, shrublands, terrestrial ecosystems, time series, trends, vegetation, vegetation change, Fewer tags

Remote Sensing Shrub/Grass National Land Cover Database (NLCD) Back-in-Time (BIT) Annual Herbaceous Products for the Western U.S., 1985 - 2018

The need to monitor change in sagebrush steppe is urgent due to the increasing impacts of climate change, shifting fire regimes, and management practices on ecosystem health. Remote sensing provides a cost-effective and reliable method for monitoring change through time and attributing changes to drivers. We report an automated method of mapping rangeland fractional component cover over a large portion of the Northern Great Basin, USA, from 1986 to 2016 using a dense Landsat imagery time series. 2012 was excluded from the time-series due to a lack of quality imagery. Our method improved upon the traditional change vector method by considering the legacy of change at each pixel. We evaluate cover trends stratified...

Tags: AZ, Arizona, Arizona Plateau, Black Hills, Blue Mountains, All tags... CA, CO, California, Chihuahuan Desert, Colorado, Colorado Plateau, Columbia Plateau, Grand Canyon, Great Basin, Gunnison, ID, Idaho, MT, Middle Rockies, Montana, ND, NE, NM, NV, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Northern Mountainous, OR, Oregon, Rocky Mountains, SD, Sonoran Desert, South Dakota, Southwest Tablelands, TX, Texas, Three Forks, UT, United States, Utah, WA, WY, Wasatch, Washington, Western US, Wyoming, Yellowstone, annual herbaceous, back-in-time, bare ground, big sagebrush, biota, climate change, environment, geoscientificInformation, grass, grassland change, herbaceous, imageryBaseMapsEarthCover, litter, rangeland, rangeland management, sagebrush, shrub, shrubland, shrubland change, shrubland ecosystems, shrublands, terrestrial ecosystems, time series, trends, vegetation, vegetation change, Fewer tags

Climate, hydrology and riparian vegetation composition data, Grand Canyon, Arizona

These data were compiled for monitoring riparian vegetation change along the Colorado River. This file contains data recorded at 42 sandbars between Lees Ferry and Diamond Creek, AZ, which are sampled for both geomorphic and vegetation change annually. Field data contained here were collected from 2012 to 2016 in September and October of each year. Plant species cover values in 5441 1m^2 quadrat frames, locations and elevations of those sampling frames, slope and aspect, sample dates, temperature and precipitation data, and flood frequency parameters were either recorded in the field or calculated. Annual and seasonal climate variables were estimated from eight weather stations distributed along the river corridor...

Tags: Arizona, Botany, Climatology, Colorado River, Diamond Creek, All tags... Ecology, Geography, Grand Canyon, Information Sciences, Lees Ferry, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), United States, Water Resources, annual climate variable, aspect, average daily peak flow, depth to water table, discharge, elevation, elevation above river stage, flood frequency parameters, inundation, maximum annual temperature, maximum inundation depth, mean annual humidity, mean annual winter precipitation, mean inundation depth, minimum annual temperature, minimum inundation depth, monitoring, monsoon precipitation, plant species, precipitation, quadrat, riparian vegetation, river corridor, sandbars, seasonal climate variable, slope, species cover, temperature, vegetation change, weather stations, Fewer tags