Untitled DocumentEvaluate impacts of brush invasion
Macro Theme Area:
River Systems [Project ID: R35]
PI:
Travis Huxman
CO-PI(s):
N/A
Basin focus:
Regional SW, San Pedro
Specific area in
basin /
field sites:
We have field sites at Lewis Springs, Charleston, and the Santa Rita Experimental Range
Summary/Goals: The goals of this project are to understand, (1) how vegetation change as a function of hydrologic condition, (2) how water, energy and nutrient cycles change as a function of vegetation change, and (3) how disturbance effects water partitioning on the landscape. We are primarily using parallel vegetation change transitions in both a riparian and upland setting in southern Arizona where mesquite shrubs are invading historically grassland systems.
Activities and outcomes during past year:
We have established and run several eddy-covariance towers in our riparian system for several years, and have now established a system in our upland site. We have published extensively on the riparian aspect of the transect, and have begun to publish on the upland / riparian contrast.
Plans for the upcoming year:
During the next reporting periods we plan to have parallel activities at our upland and riparian sites, where we evaluate seasonal drivers of large-scale material and energy exchanges (through eddy covariance) and their component drivers (through the use of small chamber and stable isotope techniques).
