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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #417829
Research Project: Knowledge Systems and Tools to Increase the Resilience and Sustainablity of Western Rangeland Agriculture

Location: Range Management Research

Title: Modeling dryland ecosystem processes with water and wind interactions

Author
item HANAN, NIALL - New Mexico State University
item HILINSKI, TOM - New Mexico State University
item MAURER, GREG - New Mexico State University
item Bestelmeyer, Brandon
item OKIN, GREG - University Of California (UCLA)

Submitted to: American Geophysical Union Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/1/2024
Publication Date: 12/9/2024
Citation: Hanan, N., Hilinski, T., Maurer, G., Bestelmeyer, B.T., Okin, G. 2024. Modeling dryland ecosystem processes with water and wind interactions. American Geophysical Union Meeting Abstract. Abstract.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Dryland ecosystems are characterized by levels of temporal variability (e.g., rainfall and grazing pulses), spatial variability and connectivity feedbacks not experienced by most other biomes. However, current generation land surface models (LSM) and dynamic global vegetation models (DGVM) are optimized for more mesic ecosystems and generally not well suited to simulating vegetation, carbon, and nutrient cycles in temporally and spatially heterogeneous drylands. Here we explore process-based dryland modeling for temperate drylands exemplified by the Jornada Basin long-term ecological research site (JRN). We build on earlier process-based models describing dryland plant demography and growth, hydrological and aeolian connectivity-mediated spatial interactions and feedbacks to explore how modeling approach (e.g., continuous vs cellular based models) impacts model-based inference. The “JRN-Drylands Model,” based on Stewart et al. (2014) simulates spatial connectivity (movement of water, water- and wind-borne sediments, nutrients, and propagules) and competitive interactions (within and between shrubs and grasses), incorporating vegetation responses to pulsed rainfall, management and disturbance, aeolian and hydrological transport processes, and simple biogeochemical accounting to predict vegetation structure and state change. More than 40 years of NPP, and 100 years of plant cover by plant functional type, provide rich LTER data for model verification. Our goal with this modeling activity is to enable simulation of ecosystem state change and its consequences in drylands in the Southwest US and globally under varying climatic and land use drivers.