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Ecotone Conditions Along Pinon-Juniper And Ponderosa Pine Elevational Ranges, Jemez Mountains, Nm, Christopher Sanderson

Architecture and Planning ETDs

While climate variability is endemic to Southwest North America (SWNA), mounting evidence indicates the region is undergoing significant warming and becoming increasingly arid. Species are at or near their physiological limits at ecotone boundaries and are therefore particularly sensitive to climate change. Drought and warming associated tree mortality has been particularly acute in the semiarid forests and woodlands of the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico, USA, where ponderosa pine forests (Pinus ponderosa var. scopulorum) and piñon--juniper woodlands (Pinus edulis and Juniperus monosperma) have been subject to cambium-feeding pine beetle (Dendroctonus spp., Ips spp) attacks and increased wildfire activity and severity. Grazing …