Joel B. Sankey

Fire effects on the spatial patterning of soil properties in sagebrush steppe, USA: a meta-analysis

Understanding effects of changes in ecological disturbance regimes on soil properties, and capacity of soil properties to resist disturbance, is important for assessing ecological condition. In this meta-analysis, we examined the resilienceofsurfacesoilpropertiesandtheirspatialpatterningtodisturbancebyfireinsagebrushsteppeofNorthAmerica- a biome currently experiencing increases in wildfire due to climate change. We reviewed 39 studies that reported on soil properties forsagebrush steppewith distinctmicrosite (undershruband interspace) patterning that was or was not recently burned. We estimated microsite effects for 21 soil properties and examined the effect of burning on microsite effects during the first year post-fire, before the re-establishment of vegetation. Results indicated that the spatial patterning of biogeochemical resources, in which soil surfaces beneath shrubs are enriched, is resilient to burning. However, microsite effects for soil-surface hydrologic, temperature and erosion characteristics appeared to shift following burning. These shifts appear to create a negative feedback for the spatial patterning of soil properties before vegetation recovery. Relatively long (decades-centuries) historic fire intervals in sagebrush steppe ecosystems likely reinforce spatial patterning of soil resources. However, increased fire frequency might affect the ability for soil resources to withstand change. Additional keywords: Artemisia tridentata, cold desert, microsite, resilience, resistance, review, shrub, wildfire.

Riparian vegetation, Colorado River, and climate: Five decades of spatiotemporal dynamics in the Grand Canyon with river regulation

Documentation of the interacting effects of river regulation and climate on riparian vegetation has typically been limited to small segments of rivers or focused on individual plant species. We examine spatiotemporal variability in riparian vegetation for the Colorado River in Grand Canyon relative to river regulation and climate, over the five decades since completion of the upstream Glen Canyon Dam in 1963. Long-term changes along this highly modified, large segment of the river provide insights for management of similar riparian ecosystems around the world. We analyze vegetation extent based on maps and imagery from eight dates between 1965 and 2009, coupled with the instantaneous hydrograph for the entire period. Analysis confirms a net increase in vegetated area since completion of the dam. Magnitude and timing of such vegetation changes are river stage-dependent. Vegetation expansion is coincident with inundation frequency changes and is unlikely to occur for time periods when inundation frequency exceeds approximately 5%. Vegetation expansion at lower zones of the riparian area is greater during the periods with lower peak and higher base flows, while vegetation at higher zones couples with precipitation patterns and decreases during drought. Short pulses of high flow, such as the controlled floods of the Colorado River in 1996, 2004, and 2008, do not keep vegetation from expanding onto bare sand habitat. Management intended to promote resilience of riparian vegetation must contend with communities that are sensitive to the interacting effects of altered flood regimes and water availability from river and precipitation.

Channel-planform evolution in four rivers of Olympic National Park, Washington, USA: the roles of physical drivers and trophic cascades

Identifying the relative contributions of physical and ecological processes to channel evolution remains a substantial challenge in fluvial geomorphology. We use a 74-year aerial photographic record of the Hoh, Queets, Quinault, and Elwha Rivers, Olympic National Park, Washington, USA, to investigate whether physical or trophic-cascade-driven ecological factors – excessive elk impacts after wolves were extirpated a century ago – are the dominant drivers of channel planform in these gravel-bed rivers. We find that channel width and braiding show strong relationships with recent flood history. All four rivers widened significantly after having been relatively narrow in the 1970s, consistent with increased flood activity since then. Channel planform also reflects sediment-supply changes, evident from landslide response on the Elwha River. We surmise that the Hoh River, which shows a multi-decadal trend toward greater braiding, is adjusting to increased sediment supply associated with rapid glacial retreat. These rivers demonstrate transmission of climatic signals through relatively short sediment-routing systems that lack substantial buffering by sediment storage. Legacy effects of anthropogenic modification likely also affect the Quinault River planform. We infer no correspondence between channel evolution and elk abundance, suggesting that trophic-cascade effects in this setting are subsidiary to physical controls on channel morphology. Our findings differ from previous interpretations of Olympic National Park fluvial dynamics and contrast with the classic example of Yellowstone National Park, where legacy effects of elk overuse are apparent in channel morphology; we attribute these differences to hydrologic regime and large-wood availability. Published 2016. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA

Climate, wildfire, and erosion ensemble foretells more sediment in western USA watersheds

The area burned annually by wildfires is expected to increase worldwide due to climate change. Burned areas increase soil erosion rates within watersheds, which can increase sedimentation in downstream rivers and reservoirs. However, which watersheds will be impacted by future wildfires is largely unknown. Using an ensemble of climate, fire, and erosion models, we show that postfire sedimentation is projected to increase for nearly nine tenths of watersheds by >10% and for more than one third of watersheds by >100% by the 2041 to 2050 decade in the western USA. The projected increases are statistically significant for more than eight tenths of the watersheds. In the western USA, many human communities rely on water from rivers and reservoirs that originates in watersheds where sedimentation is projected to increase. Increased sedimentation could negatively impact water supply and quality for some communities, in addition to affecting stream channel stability and aquatic ecosystems.

Remote Sensing of Sonoran Desert Vegetation Structure and Phenology with Ground-Based LiDAR

Abstract: Long-term vegetation monitoring efforts have become increasingly important for understanding ecosystem response to global change. Many traditional methods for monitoring can be infrequent and limited in scope. Ground-based LiDAR is one remote sensing method that offers a clear advancement to monitor vegetation dynamics at high spatial and temporal resolution. We determined the effectiveness of LiDAR to detect intra-annual variabil ity in vegetation structure at a long-te rm Sonoran Desert monitoring plot dominated by cacti, deciduous and evergreen shrubs. Monthly repeat LiDAR scans of perennial plant canopies over the course of one year had high precision. LiDAR measurements of canopy height and area were accurate with respect to total station survey measurements of individual plants. We found an increase in the number of LiDAR vegetation returns following the wet North American Monsoon season. This intra-annual variability in vegetation struct ure detected by LiDAR was attr ibutable to a drought deciduous

Geomorphic process from topographic form: automating the interpretation of repeat survey data in river valleys

The ability to quantify the processes driving geomorphic change in river valley margins is vital to geomorphologists seeking to understand the relative role of transport mechanisms (e.g. fluvial, aeolian, and hillslope processes) in landscape dynamics. High-resolution, repeat topographic data are becoming readily available to geomorphologists. By contrasting digital elevation models derived from repeat surveys, the transport processes driving topographic changes can be inferred, a method termed ‘mechanistic segregation.’ Unfortunately, mechanistic segregation largely relies on subjective and time consuming manual classification, which has implications both for its reproducibility and the practical scale of its application. Here we present a novel computational workflow for the mechanistic segregation of geomorphic transport processes in geospatial datasets. We apply the workflow to seven sites along the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, where geomorphic transport is driven by a diverse suite of mechanisms. The workflow performs well when compared to field observations, with an overall predictive accuracy of 84% across 113 validation points. The approach most accurately predicts changes due to fluvial processes (100% accuracy) and aeolian processes (96%), with reduced accuracy in predictions of alluvial and colluvial processes (64% and 73%, respectively). Our workflow is designed to be applicable to a diversity of river systems and will likely provide a rapid and objective understanding of the processes driving geomorphic change at the reach and network scales. We anticipate that such an understanding will allow insight into the response of geomorphic transport processes to external forcings, such as shifts in climate, land use, or river regulation, with implications for process-based river management and restoration. Copyright

Changes in Pastoral Land Use and Their Effects on Rangeland Vegetation Indices

The authors studied a summer pasture in the Darhad Valley of northern Mongolia using Global Positioning System (GPS) and remote sensing techniques. Their objectives were to 1) document grazing land use patterns during the collective (pre-1992) and post-collective (1992-present) periods at a local scale using GPS mapping methods, 2) evaluate changes in grazing land use from the collective era to the post-collective period, and 3) assess the effects of land use changes on rangeland vegetation productivity using Landsat satellite images from the two periods. Their results indicate that rangeland productivity has declined in the rural, remote valley of Tsahiryn tal in northern Mongolia. Herders can use seasonal pastures close to urban settlements for shorter periods of time or camp with fewer animals to sustain healthy rangeland productivity. Keywords:Darhad Valley; Global Positioning System (GPS); Landsat satellite images; pastoral land use; rangeland vegetation; remote sensing techniques; Tsahiryn tal

Quantifying and forecasting changes in the areal extent of river valley sediment in response to altered hydrology and land cover

In river valleys, sediment moves between active river channels, near-channel deposits including bars and floodplains, and upland environments such as terraces and aeolian dunefields. Sediment availability is a prerequisite for the sustained transfer of material between these areas, and for the eco-geomorphic functioning of river networks in general. However, the difficulty of monitoring sediment availability and movement at the reach or corridor scale has hindered our ability to quantify and forecast the response of sediment transfer to hydrologic or land cover alterations. Here we leverage spatiotemporally extensive datasets quantifying sediment areal coverage along a 28 km reach of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, southwestern USA. In concert with information on hydrologic alteration and vegetation encroachment resulting from the operation of Glen Canyon Dam (constructed in 1963) upstream of our study reach, we model the relative and combined influence of changes in (a) flow and (b) riparian vegetation extent on the areal extent of sediment available for transport in the river valley over the period from 1921 to 2016. In addition, we use projections of future streamflow and vegetation encroachment to forecast sediment availability over the 20 year period from 2016 to 2036. We find that hydrologic alteration has reduced the areal extent of bare sediment by 9% from the pre- to post-dam periods, whereas vegetation encroachment further reduced bare sediment extent by 45%. Over the next 20 years, the extent of bare sediment is forecast to be reduced by an additional 12%. Our results demonstrate the impact of river regulation, specifically the loss of annual low flows and associated vegetation encroachment, on reducing the sediment available for transfer within river valleys. This work provides an extendable framework for using high-resolution data on streamflow and land cover to assess and forecast the impact of watershed perturbation (e.g. river regulation, land cover shifts, climate change) on sediment connectivity at the corridor scale.

Ecohydrological implications of aeolian sediment trapping by sparse vegetation in drylands: Aeolian sediment trapping by dryland vegetation

Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA Department of Geosciences, The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK 74104, USA Southwest Biological Science Center, Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA Correspondence Sujith Ravi, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA. Email: sravi@temple.edu

On the development of a magnetic susceptibility-based tracer for aeolian sediment transport research: Magnetic susceptibility-based tracer for aeolian research

Aeolian processes – the erosion, transport, and deposition of sediment by wind – play important geomorphological and ecological roles in drylands. These processes are known to impact the spatial patterns of soil, nutrients, plant-available water, and vegetation in many dryland ecosystems. Tracers, such as rare earth elements and stable isotopes have been successfully used to quantify the transport and redistribution of sediment by aeolian processes in these ecosystems. However, many of the existing tracer techniques are labor-intensive and cost-prohibitive, and hence simpler alternative approaches are needed to track aeolian redistribution of sediments. To address this methodological gap, we test the applicability of a novel metal tracer-based methodology for estimating post-fire aeolian sediment redistribution, using spatio-temporal measurements of low-field magnetic susceptibility (MS). We applied magnetic metal tracers on soil microsites beneath shrub vegetation in recently burned and in control treatments in a heterogeneous landscape in the Chihuahuan desert (New Mexico, USA). Our results indicate a spatially homogeneous distribution of the magnetic tracers on the landscape after post-burn wind erosion events. MS decreased after wind erosion events on the burned shrub microsites, indicating that these areas functioned as sediment sources following the wildfire, whereas they are known to be sediment sinks in the undisturbed (e.g. not recently burned) ecosystem. This experiment represents the first step toward the development of a cost-effective and non-destructive tracer-based approach to estimate the transport and redistribution of sediment by aeolian processes.