Grass Recovery and Synthesis/Integration
The Jornada has been a US Department of Agriculture research site since 1912 and a National Science Foundation Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Site since 1982. The site is located in the northern Chihuahuan desert in landscapes that have transitioned from perennial grasslands to dominance by unpalatable, drought-tolerant, woody plants. This transition exemplifies land transformations in drylands globally, and is often accompanied by soil and nutrient redistribution that fundamentally changes ecosystem processes.
At the Jornada, our group focuses on the synthesis and integration of data from multiple long-term observational datasets, experimental manipulations, remotely sensed imagery, and results from numerical simulations to observe and model the non-linear dynamics of perennial grass recovery across the complex spatially heterogeneous landscape.
See the LTER interactive data viewer here for real-time access to Jornada data.
Key Papers
Peters, D.P.C., Okin, G.S., Herrick, J.E., Savoy, H.M., Anderson, J.P., Scroggs, S.L.P., & Zhang, J. (2020). Modifying connectivity to promote state change reversal: the importance of geomorphic context and plant–soil feedbacks. Ecology, 101(9), e03069. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3069
Peters, D.P.C., Burruss, N.D., Rodriguez, L.L., McVey, D.S., Elias, E.H., Pelzel-McCluskey, A.M., Derner, J.D., Schrader, T.S., Yao, J., Pauszek, S.J., Lombard, J., Archer, S.R., Bestelmeyer, B.T., Browning, D.M., Brungard, C.W., Hatfield, J.L., Hanan, N.P., Herrick, J.E., Okin, G.S., Sala, O.E., Savoy, H.M. & Vivoni, E.R. (2018). An integrated view of complex landscapes: a big data-model integration approach to trans-disciplinary science. BioScience, 68(9), 653–669. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biy069
Peters, D. P. C., Yao, J., Browning, D., & Rango, A. (2014). Mechanisms of grass response in grasslands and shrublands during dry or wet periods. Oecologia, 174(4), 1323–1334. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-013-2837-y
Peters, D. P. C., Loescher, H. W., SanClements, M. D., & Havstad, K. M. (2014). Taking the pulse of a continent: Expanding site-based research infrastructure for regional- to continental-scale ecology. Ecosphere, 5(3), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1890/ES13-00295.1
Peters, D. P. C., Yao, J., Sala, O. E., & Anderson, J. P. (2012). Directional climate change and potential reversal of desertification in arid and semiarid ecosystems. Global Change Biology, 18(1), 151–163. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02498.x
Peters, D. P. C., Herrick, J. E., Monger, H. C., & Huang, H. (2010). Soil-vegetation-climate interactions in arid landscapes: Effects of the North American monsoon on grass recruitment. Journal of Arid Environments, 74(5), 618–623. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2009.09.015
Peters, D. P. C., Yao, J., & Gosz, J. R. (2009). Woody plant invasion at a semi-arid/arid transition zone: importance of ecosystem type to colonization and patch expansion. Journal of Vegetation Science, 17(3), 389–396. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1654-1103.2006.tb02459.x
Peters, D. P. C., & Havstad, K. M. (2006). Nonlinear dynamics in arid and semi-arid systems: Interactions among drivers and processes across scales. Journal of Arid Environments, 65(2), 196–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2005.05.010
Peters, D. P. C., Bestelmeyer, B. T., Herrick, J. E., Fredrickson, E. L., Monger, H. C., & Havstad, K. M. (2006). Disentangling Complex Landscapes: New Insights into Arid and Semiarid System Dynamics. Bioscience, 56(6).
Peters, D. P. C., Mariotto, I., Havstad, K. M., & Murray, L. W. (2006). Spatial variation in remnant grasses after a grassland-to-shrubland state change: Implications for restoration. Rangeland Ecology and Management, 59(4), 343–350. https://doi.org/10.2111/05-202R1.1
Peters, D., & Herrick, J. (2001). Modelling vegetation change and land degradation in semiarid and arid ecosystems: An integrated hierarchical approach. Advances in Environmental Monitoring and Modelling, 2(1), 1–29.
