Community ecology, climate change and ecohydrology in desert grassland and shrubland

Abstract

This dissertation explores the climate, ecology and hydrology of Chihuahuan Desert ecosystems in the context of global climate change. In coming decades, the southwestern United States is projected to experience greater temperature-driven aridity, possible small decreases in annual precipitation, and a later onset of summer monsoon rainfall. These changes may have profound consequences for ecological systems in the Chihuahuan Desert, which are intensely water-limited and respond to even small pulses of moisture availability. The first chapter (Chapter 2) compares change in the properties of monsoon season precipitation from 1910-2010 in the northern Chihuahuan Desert region to local variability in monsoon precipitation from 2001-2012 at the Desert's northern ecological boundary. From 1910-2010, monsoon precipitation events in the Chihuahuan Desert increased in frequency and decreased in magnitude, and the longest wet and dry periods increased in length.

Citation

Petrie, Mathew Daniel. 2014. Community ecology, climate change and ecohydrology in desert grassland and shrubland. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico. 90 p. Dissertation.