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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #139730
Title: LONG-TERM CHANGES IN CARBON POOLS ACCOMPANYING SHRUB INVASION OF A DESERT GRASSLAND: THE JORNADA EXPERIMENTAL RANGE 1850-TODAY

Author
item MITCHELL, KATHERINE - NEW MEXICO STATE UNIV
item Peters, Debra
item Herrick, Jeffrey - Jeff
item MONGER, CURTIS - NEW MEXICO STATE UNIV

Submitted to: Ecological Society of America Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/1/2002
Publication Date: 8/4/2002
Citation: MITCHELL, K.A., PETERS, D.C., HERRICK, J.E., MONGER, C.H. LONG-TERM CHANGES IN CARBON POOLS ACCOMPANYING SHRUB INVASION OF A DESERT GRASSLAND: THE JORNADA EXPERIMENTAL RANGE 1850-TODAY. 87TH ANNUAL MEETING, ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA. 2002. ABSTRACT P. 215.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Coincident with a world-wide increase in the abundance of woody plants within former grasslands, desert grasslands throughout the southwestern U.S. have experienced a substantial increase in the abundance of shrubs during the last century. The displacement of grasslands with grass-shrublands has had important implications for ecosystem carbon cycling and rates of carbon sequestration. Building on a history of biogeochemistry research conducted at the Jornada Experimental Range in southern New Mexico, we measured and modelled above and below-ground carbon storage in black grama grasslands (Bouteloua eriopoda), and mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) and creosotebush (Larrea tridentata) shrublands, across the Jornada basin. We combined the simulation modeling predictions of the CENTURY model with data from recovered historical vegetation maps of 1858, 1915, 1928 and modern vegetation maps. Our results support the hypothesis that shrub encroachment into grasslands increases storage of belowground carbon. Landscape-level mapped estimates of carbon pools indicate that the desert grassland ecosystem of the Jornada basin may have served as a carbon sink during the last century.