Environmental Sciences Commons^™

Water Sourcing Strategies Of Desert Vegetation In Varying Soil Textures With Vegetation Competition: A Stable Isotope Analysis, Martha Elizabeth Gardea

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Recent studies have suggested an ecohydrological separation of water exists in the northern Chihuahuan Desert, where vegetation types, rainfall regimes, and location in the terrain seem to determine the type of water (e.g. isotopically depleted or enriched in 18O and 2H) plants are able to source and use throughout their growing cycle. That work found evidence of creosote (Larrea tridentata) and mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) using tightly bound soil water at both a site on an ephemeral channel and a site in higher elevated flat area because the isotopic signature of plant water at the beginning of the study did not …

Influence Of Orography On The Weather Patterns And Water Availability Of A Topographically Complex Chihuahuan Desert Region, Fernanda De La Cerda Camargo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Arid and semi-arid ecosystems cover a large extent of the planet's land surface and are highly susceptible to/and dependent on resource availability patterns, especially precipitation. Topography affects large scale weather patterns and redistributes precipitation which creates a variety of microclimates in complex landscapes; how these patterns are modified, however, is still not fully understood. Climate change models for arid and semi-arid ecosystems predict a change towards more extreme precipitation events; understanding the mechanisms involved in redistributing precipitation is crucial for the protection of these areas. Indio Mountains Research Station (IMRS) is located in the northern Chihuahuan Desert and seems to …

Monitoring Ecosystem Dynamics In An Arctic Tundra Ecosystem Using Hyperspectral Reflectance And A Robotic Tram System, Santonu Goswami

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Global change, which includes climate change and the impacts of human disturbance, is altering the provision and sustainability of ecosystem goods and services. These changes have the capacity to initiate cascading affects and complex feedbacks through physical, biological and human subsystems and interactions between them. Understanding the future state of the earth system requires improved knowledge of ecosystem dynamics and long term observations of how these are being impacted by global change. Improving remote sensing methods is essential for such advancement because satellite remote sensing is the only means by which landscape to continental-scale change can be observed.

The Arctic …

Hydrological Characteristics Of A Large-Scale Flooding And Draining Experiment, Barrow, Alaska, Edith Jaurrieta De Velasco

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Arctic appears to be affected by climate change more so than any other region on Earth. Some of the most significant climate change impacts reported for the Arctic are associated with dramatic shifts in the hydrologic regime of terrestrial ecosystems. Understanding the hydrologic processes that are associated with different components of arctic terrestrial ecosystems is important because water in the form of snow or rain influences a range of properties and processes such as land-atmosphere energy and trace gas fluxes, nutrient cycling, ecosystem dynamics, biodiversity, periglacial processes and surface albedo. Furthermore, plants, animals, and native people of the Arctic …