Interaction of historical and nonhistorical disturbances maintains native plant communities

Historical disturbance regimes are often considered a critical element in maintaining native plant communities. However, the response of plant communities to disturbance may be fundamentally altered as a consequence of invasive plants, climate change, or prior disturbances. The appropriateness of historical disturbance patterns under modern conditions and the interactions among disturbances are issues that ecologists must address to protect and restore native plant communities. We evaluated the response of Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis (Beetle & A. Young) S.L. Welsh plant communities to their historical disturbance regime compared to other disturbance regimes. The historical disturbance regime of these...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Journal Citation; Tags: Artemisia tridentata, Bromus tectorum, Ecological Applications, Ecological Society of America, Northern Great Basin Experimental Range, All tags... Oregon, USA, cheatgrass, ecosystem management, fire, grazing, historical conditions, invasive plants, prior disturbance, sagebrush, Fewer tags

Historical and 21st century soil temperature and moisture data for drylands of western U.S. and Canada

These data represent simulated soil temperature and moisture conditions for current climate, and for future climate represented by all available climate models at two time periods during the 21st century. These data were used to: 1) quantify the direction and magnitude of expected changes in several measures of soil temperature and soil moisture, including the key variables used to distinguish the regimes used in the R and R categories; 2) assess how these changes will impact the geographic distribution of soil temperature and moisture regimes; and 3) explore the implications for using R and R categories for estimating future ecosystem resilience and resistance.

Tags: Alberta, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Canada, All tags... Climatology, Colorado, Ecology, Geography, Idaho, Information Sciences, Kansas, Manitoba, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Saskatchewan, Soil Sciences, South Dakota, Texas, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), United States, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, aridification, aridity, big sagebrush ecosystems, biota, cheatgrass, clay loam, climate, climate change, climate models, concentration pathways, drought resistance, droughts, ecological model, ecological transformation, ecosystem resilience, future time periods, historical conditions, resilience, sandy loam, silt loam, soil temperature, soil types, vulnerability, Fewer tags

High-resolution maps of historical and 21st century ecological drought metrics using multivariate matching algorithms for drylands of western U.S. and Canada

These data were compiled using a new multivariate matching algorithm that transfers simulated soil moisture conditions (Bradford et al. 2020) from an original 10-km resolution to a 30-arcsec spatial resolution. Also, these data are a supplement to a previously published journal article (Bradford et al., 2020) and USGS data release (Bradford and Schlaepfer, 2020). The objectives of our study were to (1) characterize geographic patterns in ecological drought under historical climate, (2) quantify the direction and magnitude of projected responses in ecological drought under climate change, (3) identify areas and drought metrics with projected changes that are robust across climate models for a representative set of...

Tags: 30-arcsecond, Alberta, Arizona, Botany, British Columbia, All tags... CMIP5, California, Canada, Climatology, Colorado, Ecology, Geography, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Manitoba, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, RCP4.5, RCP8.5, SOILWAT2, Saskatchewan, Texas, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), USGS:61faf644d34e622189c7ba3e, United States, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, biota, climate, climate change, climate projection, climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere, data release, drought metrics, droughts, drylands, ecological drought, ecological model, future time periods, global circulation models, historical conditions, representative concentration pathways, sagebrush region, soil moisture, soil temperature, western North America, Fewer tags

High-resolution maps of historical and 21st century soil temperature and moisture data using multivariate matching algorithms for drylands of western U.S. and Canada

These data were compiled as a supplement to a previously published journal article (Bradford et al., 2019), that employed a ecosystem water balance model to characterize current and future patterns in soil temperature and moisture conditions in dryland areas of western North America. Also, these data are associated with a published USGS data release (Bradford and Schlaepfer, 2019). The objectives of our study were to (1) characterize current and future patterns in soil temperature and moisture conditions in dryland areas of western North America, (2) evaluate the impact of these changes on estimation of resilience and resistance among a representative set of climate scenarios. These data represent geographic patterns...

Tags: Alberta, Arizona, Botany, British Columbia, California, All tags... Climatology, Cnada, Colorado, Ecology, Geography, Idaho, Information Sciences, Iowa, Kansas, Manitoba, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, RCP4.5, RCP8.5, SOILWAT2, Saskatchewan, Texas, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), United States, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, aridification, aridity, big sagebrush ecosystems, biota, cheatgrass, clay loam, climate, climate change, climate models, climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere, concentration pathways, data release, droughts, ecological model, ecological transformation, future time periods, global circulation models, historical conditions, resilience, sandy loam, silt loam, soil temperature, soil types, western North America, Fewer tags

Climate and drought adaptation: historical and projected future exposure metrics for Southeastern Utah Group National Parks

These data were compiled to evaluate the magnitude and direction of change from historical conditions in climate metrics across the Southeastern Utah Group (SEUG) of National Parks. Objective(s) of our study were to quantify the magnitude and direction of change from historical conditions in climate metrics across SEUG parks at a meaningful scale for land managers and practitioners. These data represent the historical and projected future average temperatures for two emission scenarios and 12 global circulation models. Included are the annual average temperatures and the average temperatures for each season. These data were created by sampling representative locations across each National Park unit and simulating...

Tags: Arches National Park, Botany, Canyonlands National Park, Climatology, Colorado Plateau, All tags... Ecology, Forestry, Geography, Hovenweep National Monument, Information Sciences, National Monument, National Park, Natural Bridges National Monument, SOILWAT2, Soil Sciences, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Utah, air temperature, atmospheric and climatic processes, atmospheric circulation, baseline conditions, biota, climate change, climate metrics, climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere, data release, ecosystem management, effects of climate change, emission scenarios, environment, future climate conditions, geoscientificInformation, global circulation models, historical average temperatures, historical climate variables, historical conditions, land managers, mathematical modeling, mathematical simulation, modeling, natural resource management, point sampling, projected future average temperatures, projected future climate variables, representative concentration pathway 4.5, representative concentration pathway 8.5, seasons, southcentral Utah, southeast Utah, Fewer tags

Bioclimatic suitability for 11 dominant Colorado Plateau perennial grass species (ver. 2.0, November 2022)

These data were compiled to represent the distribution of environmental conditions with recognized importance to perennial grasses in dryland areas of the western U.S. Objective(s) of our study were to … evaluate how those environmental drivers are related to perennial grass distributions and use the results to assess how perennial grass distributions may shift in response to future climate change. These data represent ecological niche models for 11 perennial grass species that are important components of grasslands on the Colorado Plateau. Data are provided as rasters (tif format) with each containing data about future change in climatic suitability for a give species, future time period, representative concentration...

Categories: Data Release - Provisional, Data Release - Revised; Tags: 30-arcsecond, Arizona, Botany, C3, C4, All tags... California, Climatology, Colorado, Ecology, Geography, Idaho, Information Sciences, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, RCP4.5, RCP8.5, Soil Sciences, Texas, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Utah, Washington, Wyoming, biota, climate, climate change, climate models, climate projection, climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere, data release, drought metrics, drylands, edaphic suitability, effects of climate change, future time periods, global circulation models, grasslands, historical conditions, modeling, perennial grass, representative concentration pathways, soil sciences, western United States, Fewer tags