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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #386201
Research Project: Science and Technologies for the Sustainable Management of Western Rangeland Systems

Location: Range Management Research

Title: Cross-site comparisons of dryland ecosystem response to climate change in the US Long-Term Ecological Research Network

Author
item HUDSON, AMY - Orise Fellow
item Peters, Debra
item BLAIR, JOHN - Kansas State University
item CHILDERS, DANIEL - Arizona State University
item DORAN, PETER - Louisiana State University
item GEIL, KERRIE - Orise Fellow
item GOOSEFF, MICHAEL - University Of Colorado
item GROSS, KATHERINE - Michigan State University
item HADDAD, NICK - Michigan State University
item PASTORE, MELISSA - University Of Vermont College Of Medicine
item RUDGERS, JENNIFER - University Of New Mexico
item SALA, OSVALDO - Arizona State University
item SEABLOOM, ERIC - University Of Minnesota

Submitted to: Bioscience
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/13/2022
Publication Date: 8/16/2022
Citation: Hudson, A.R., Peters, D.C., Blair, J.M., Childers, D.L., Doran, P.T., Geil, K., Gooseff, M., Gross, K.L., Haddad, N.M., Pastore, M.A., Rudgers, J.A., Sala, O., Seabloom, E.W. 2022. Cross-site comparisons of dryland ecosystem response to climate change in the US Long-Term Ecological Research Network. Bioscience. 72(9):889-907.

Interpretive Summary: Long-term observations and experiments such as those conducted in the US Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) Network are needed to understand the response of dryland ecosystems to climate change. Using a diverse collection of dryland sites that spanned the globe, we compared climate and summarized how plant communities changed their growth and abundance in response to climate. All sites have gotten warmer, but there are regional differences in recent drought intensity and duration. Multiple years of high or low rainfall have a large impact on plants in our temperate sites. Warming can increase the intensity and frequency of disturbances such as floods, wildfire, and dust events, which can take years for plants to recover from, and often change plant community composition. Dryland ecosystems can improve air quality and remove carbon from the atmosphere- by improving our understanding of how drylands respond to climate change, we are also addressing how these services may change in the future.

Technical Abstract: Long-term observations and experiments in diverse drylands reveal how ecosystems and services are responding to climate change. To develop generalities about climate change impacts at dryland sites, we compared broad-scale patterns in climate and synthesized primary production responses among the eight terrestrial, non-forested sites of the US Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) Network located in temperate (Southwest and Midwest US) and polar (Arctic and Antarctica) regions. All sites experienced warming in recent decades, while drought varied regionally with multi-decadal phases. Multi-year wet and dry periods corresponded to long-term primary production responses at temperate sites. Droughts, floods, and wildfires altered resource availability and restructured plant communities, with greater impacts on primary production than warming alone. During severe regional droughts, air pollution from wildfire and dust events peaked. Studies at LTER dryland sites over the past 40+ years demonstrate the reciprocal linkages and feedbacks among dryland ecosystems, climate-driven disturbance events, and climate change.