Riparian vegetation provides crucial habitat for wildlife and is a high conservation priority for land managers throughout the Southwest but a central scientific challenge is to generate quantitative predictions of how changes in water availability will affect the amount and quality of riparian wildlife habitat. Researchers will study areas that have long-term datasets available (i.e., hydrological, geomorphological, biological), that characterize a broad range of riparian conditions found in the Southwest. Building on recently developed models funded by the USGS National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC), this work will link various hydrologic, geomorphic and habitat models to better understand and predict how climate changes will affect critical riparian ecosystems and wildlife in the region.
