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Project Description-
The goal of this project is to understand better the impact of environmental change on Southern California’s ecosystems. An ecosystem’s response to environmental change is determined by several mechanisms, including shifts in plant physiology, plant demography, plant competition and community composition, and biogeochemistry and nutrient cycling. The goal here is to understand how each of these mechanisms contributes to an ecosystem’s overall response to environmental change. Researchers have used various approaches to investigate the ecological effects of environmental change, including manipulations, interannual observations, and gradient studies. Each of these approaches provides a key piece of the puzzle, but no single approach provides a complete picture of ecosystem response. We are using a hybrid experimental design that simultaneously incorporates manipulations, as well as interannual and gradient observations to improve the understanding of the effects of changing water balance on California’s ecosystems.
Our research focuses on high-value ecosystems in a region where climate change is expected to have a major impact. Four considerations underscore the importance and relevance of this research: (1) Southern California provides an excellent natural laboratory for understanding how climate controls ecosystem function. (2) Southern California’s location at the edge of the mean winter storm track and exposure to climate variability associated with the ENSO (El Niño/Southern Oscillation) and PDO (Pacific Decadal Oscillation) increase the likelihood of pronounced future climate change. (3) Southern California’s semiarid climate and steep climate and vegetation gradients increase the likelihood that a change in climate will have a major impact on California’s ecosystems. (4) The tight link between climate, ecosystem function, and natural disasters in Southern California increases the likelihood that climate change will result in large socioeconomic impacts.
Principal Investigators-
Michael L. Goulden, Department of Earth
System Science, University of California, Irvine
Katharine N. Suding, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine
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Motte Rimrock Reserve
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James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve
Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center |
