Award Abstract # 2025166
LTER: Long ?Term Research at the Jornada Basin (LTER VII)

NSF Org: DEB
Division Of Environmental Biology
Recipient: NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY
Initial Amendment Date: November 12, 2020
Latest Amendment Date: May 23, 2024
Award Number: 2025166
Award Instrument: Continuing Grant
Program Manager: Christopher Balakrishnan
cbalakri@nsf.gov
 (703)292-2331
DEB
 Division Of Environmental Biology
BIO
 Directorate for Biological Sciences
Start Date: December 1, 2020
End Date: November 30, 2025 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $4,508,000.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $4,508,000.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2021 = $1,127,000.00
FY 2022 = $2,254,000.00

FY 2023 = $390,457.00

FY 2024 = $736,543.00
History of Investigator:
  • Niall Hanan (Principal Investigator)
    nhanan@nmsu.edu
  • Brandon Bestelmeyer (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Osvaldo Sala (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Debra Peters (Former Principal Investigator)
  • Niall Hanan (Former Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: New Mexico State University
1050 STEWART ST.
LAS CRUCES
NM  US  88003
(575)646-1590
Sponsor Congressional District: 02
Primary Place of Performance: New Mexico State University
Las Cruces
NM  US  88003-8002
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
02
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): J3M5GZAT8N85
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): LONG TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH,
Cross-BIO Activities
Primary Program Source: 01002122DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01002223DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT

01002324DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT

01002425DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 1195, 9150, 9251
Program Element Code(s): 119500, 727500
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.074

ABSTRACT

Dryland ecosystems occupy nearly half of the Earth?s land surface and provide goods and services for more than 1 billion people. The goal of the Jornada Basin Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program is to understand what factors are most important to the ecology of drylands ? what they look like and how they function. Jornada Basin is in the Chihuahuan Desert, which is typical of many other drylands around the world. The project builds on studies started in 1915 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That early research has revealed ?desertification? -- a change in habitat from grasslands to scattered shrubs and bare ground. More recently, researchers have explored how differences in wind and water cause dryland habitats to undergo other changes in vegetation A new way of looking at data will enable results of this ongoing study to be applied to other drylands. Training opportunities will be provided for graduate and undergraduate students at four Hispanic-serving institutions in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. Findings will be distributed to K-12 students and teachers, scientists, land managers, and the public through a multi-faceted program that includes inquiry-based curricula, workshops, internet- and mobile-phone-based systems.

Researchers will quantify the key processes that generate alternative states in drylands, enabling prediction of future states and their consequences for the provisioning of ecosystem services. Based on long-term databases, new studies will include four types of dynamics: (1) a shift from perennial grasslands to desertified shrublands, (2) a reversal from shrubland to savanna states, (3) transitions among states dominated by different shrub species, and (4) invasion by non-native grasses. These transitions have profound implications for the processes reflected in the 5 core LTER research themes (primary production, trophic interactions, carbon and nutrient cycles, and susceptibility to disturbance). In the next six years, Principal Investigators will employ a "trigger-feedback-heterogeneity" framework for understanding and predicting the dynamics of state changes in dryland landscapes. The work will contribute to emerging ecological theory on: (a) alternative states and resilience, (b) ecosystem sensitivity to global change, and (c) cross-scale interactions. The framework will integrate knowledge and long-term data on: (1) biological processes, (2) spatial heterogeneity in the soil-geomorphic template, and (3) variability in environmental drivers drawn from multiple lines of evidence (i.e., observations, experimental manipulations, analytical and numerical models, products from imagery, conceptual model reasoning, and theory). Researchers will develop a Data Science Integrated System that will allow Jornada results to be translated to other locations in the Chihuahuan Desert and to drylands globally. Five major products are envisioned: (1) a new understanding of state changes that will lead to theory development, testable hypotheses, and new experiments; (2) accessible data, derived data products, and visualization tools applicable at multiple scales; (3) explanatory and predictive relationships among drivers, patterns, and processes that can be used to (4) predict future alternative states; and (5) training, outreach and information transfer to a broad audience locally, nationally, and internationally.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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(Showing: 1 - 10 of 93)
Allred, Brady W. and Bestelmeyer, Brandon T. and Boyd, Chad S. and Brown, Christopher and Davies, Kirk W. and Duniway, Michael C. and Ellsworth, Lisa M. and Erickson, Tyler A. and Fuhlendorf, Samuel D. and Griffiths, Timothy V. and Jansen, Vincent and Jon "Improving Landsat predictions of rangeland fractional cover with multitask learning and uncertainty" Methods in Ecology and Evolution , v.12 , 2021 https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13564 Citation Details
Andreoni, Kieran J and Bestelmeyer, Brandon T and Lightfoot, David C and Schooley, Robert L "Effects of multiple mammalian herbivores and climate on grasslandshrubland transitions in the Chihuahuan Desert" Ecology , 2024 https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4460 Citation Details
Andreoni, Kieran J. and Wagnon, Casey J. and Bestelmeyer, Brandon T. and Schooley, Robert L. "Exotic oryx interact with shrub encroachment in the Chihuahuan Desert" Journal of Arid Environments , v.184 , 2021 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2020.104302 Citation Details
Ankrom, Katharine E. and Franco, André L.C. and Fonte, Steven J. and Gherardi, Laureano A. and de Tomasel, Cecilia Milano and Wepking, Carl and Guan, Pingting and Cui, Shuyan and Sala, Osvaldo E. and Wall, Diana H. "Ecological maturity and stability of nematode communities in response to precipitation manipulations in grasslands" Applied Soil Ecology , v.170 , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2021.104263 Citation Details
Archer, Steven R. and Peters, Debra P. C. and Burruss, N. Dylan and Yao, Jin "Mechanisms and drivers of alternative shrubland states" Ecosphere , v.13 , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3987 Citation Details
A, Tadesse and Jeong, Jaehak and Green, Colleen H.M. "Modeling landscape wind erosion processes on rangelands using the APEX model" Ecological Modelling , v.467 , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2022.109925 Citation Details
Baldarelli, Lauren M. and Collins, Scott L. and Ward, David "How encroaching shrubs and nutrients affect N2-fixation in the Chihuahuan desert" Plant and Soil , v.466 , 2021 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-05072-y Citation Details
Bestelmeyer, Brandon T. and Burkett, Laura M. and Lister, Leticia "Effects of managed fire on a swale grassland in the Chihuahuan Desert" Rangelands , v.43 , 2021 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rala.2021.05.001 Citation Details
Bestelmeyer, Brandon T and McCord, Sarah E and Browning, Dawn M and Burkett, Laura M and Elias, Emile and Estell, Rick E and Herrick, Jeffrey E and James, Darren and Spiegal, Sheri and Utsumi, Santiago A and Webb, Nicholas P and Williamson, Jeb "Fulfilling the promise of digital tools to build rangeland resilience" Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment , v.22 , 2024 https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2736 Citation Details
Bestelmeyer, Brandon T. and Spiegal, Sheri and Winkler, Rich and James, Darren and Levi, Matthew and Williamson, Jeb "Assessing Sustainability Goals Using Big Data: Collaborative Adaptive Management in the Malpai Borderlands" Rangeland Ecology & Management , v.77 , 2021 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rama.2021.03.002 Citation Details
Bestelmeyer, Brandon T. and Utsumi, Santiago and McCord, Sarah and Browning, Dawn M. and Burkett, Laura M. and Elias, Emile and Estell, Rick and Herrick, Jeffrey and James, Darren and Spiegal, Sheri and Webb, Nicholas P. and Williamson, Jebediah "Managing an arid ranch in the 21st century: New technologies for novel ecosystems" Rangelands , v.45 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rala.2023.05.002 Citation Details
(Showing: 1 - 10 of 93)

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