Goal:  Understand and mitigate impacts of drought
and elevated temperature on ecosystem function and
biodiversity conservation.

The Problem:  Extreme climatologic events, such as
droughts, floods, and hurricanes, are projected to
increase in frequency and intensity as global warming
progresses, leading to unprecedented changes in
ecosystem function and new challenges for
conservation of biodiversity.

Drought Impacts: The Creekside Center for Earth
Observation is engaged in studies and conservation
planning to mitigate the impacts of climate-induced
ecological changes associated with drought. For
example, the recent protracted drought in
southwestern North America (2000-2005+) together
with high temperatures caused subcontinental-scale
tree mortality. Reduced soil moisture during the
drought weakened natural defenses of piñon pine
Copyright 2008 © Creekside Center for Earth Observation LLC. All rights reserved.
Creekside Center
for Earth Observation
Elements of Drought and Conservation:
  • Meteorology:  compile long-term temperature and precipitation records for pre-drought, drought, and
    post-drought periods at local and regional scales;
  • Site characterization: monitor ecosystem properties (soil moisture, canopy structure, etc.), community
    composition (overstory and understory), and population dynamics (tree demography, etc.);
  • Regional analysis:  quantify relations between climate, seasonal patterns of productivity (phenology),
    and dieoff using satellite remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) analysis;
  • Host-pathogen interactions: analyze stand structure and climate influences on spatio-temporal dynamics
    of bark beetle outbreaks;
  • Impacts of invasive species: assess effects of invasive species on native biodiversity and evaluate
    mitigation options;
  • Ecosystem simulation:  model future ecosystem structure and function (composition, productivity,
    hydrology, etc.) under different climate scenarios;
  • Collaboration/coordination: share data and analyses via the Drought Impacts on Regional Ecosystems
    Network (DIREnet);
  • Adaptive management: develop and implement site-specific, science-based conservation plans;
  • Education and outreach: communicate with diverse audiences (public, researchers, resource managers,
    decision makers, etc.) through various media (web sites, briefing papers, presentations, brochures, etc.)
Contacts
  • Paul M. Rich, PhD, Senior Scientist, Creekside
    Center for Earth Observation, paul at
    creeksidescience.com

Collaborators
  • Craig Allen, Bandelier National Monument
  • David Breshears, University of Arizona
  • Neil Cobb, Northern Arizona State University
  • Jude Kastens, University of Kansas
  • Nathan McDowell, Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • Clif Meyer, Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • Kevin Price, University of Kansas
  • Amanda White, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Figure 1. Widespread dieoff of piñon pine (Pinus edulis)
at Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico.
(photos by C. Allen)
Figure 3. Map of NDVI deviation during the drought
illustrates where mortality was greatest. Percent
mortality is shown at four key study sites, including
Mesita del Buey, NM. NDVI is a measure of green
(photosynthetic) biomass.
Figure 4. Dieoff of the piñon canopy released
resources to the herbaceous understory. Herbaceous
plants green up more rapidly in response to
precipitation than evergreen trees, resulting in a
fundamental shift in the seasonal pattern (phenology)
of ecosystem productivity. (photo by P. Rich)
Drought, Climate Change, and Conservation
Key Literature

Breshears, D.D., N.S. Cobb, P.M. Rich, et al. 2005.
Regional vegetation die-off in response to
global-change type drought. Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences
102(42):15144-15148. pdf

Rich, P.M., D.D. Breshears, and A.B. White. 2008.
Phenology of mixed woody-herbaceous ecosystems
following extreme events: net and differential
responses.  Special Feature on Phenology. Ecology
89:342-352.  pdf
Figure 2. A) Soil moisture, B) remotely sensed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI),
and C) piñon pine mortality at Mesita del Buey, NM. For each plot, the metric of interest is
illustrated with a solid dark line, and the 11-year pre-drought baseline mean (solid gray line) and
95% confidence interval (dashed gray lines and associated gray area) are displayed for reference.
(Pinus edulis) and led to extensive outbreaks of the naturally occurring pathogen piñon bark beetle (Ips
confusus), with more than 90% piñon mortality in many areas. This rapid, widespread mortality will alter
ecosystem structure and function for decades.
                                                                                             download drought vision pdf