Jornada Basin LTER (JRN) - United States of America

Basic Information
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Site Name
Jornada Basin LTER (JRN)
Short name
JRN
Country
United States of America
Site Description
The Jornada Basin Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program is part of a national network of long-term ecological research sites funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF). The Jornada LTER program has been continuously funded since 1982 to develop general principles governing changes between grassland and shrubland ecosystems based on long-term data collected in the Chihuahuan Desert. Research themes at the Jornada LTER focus on vegetation change, climate and land use impacts on ecosystem function, and the role of dryland processes in structuring communities and landscapes. We translate our findings to dryland ecosystems around the world, and forecast the dynamics of future ecosystem states in response to changing climate and land use. The Jornada Basin is located in southern New Mexico, USA, approximately 25 km northeast of the city of Las Cruces (32.6 N -106.7 W, elevation 1315 m). Annual precipitation is 24 cm and maximum temperatures average 13 C in January and 36 C in June. The study site is near the northern extent of the Chihuahuan Desert, which is the largest of the North American warm deserts, in a region has undergone large shifts in the relative dominance of grasslands and shrublands over the past century. We partner closely with the USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range (JER) and the NMSU Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center (CDRRC), allowing us to benefit from a long history of rangeland research, and to contribute to science-based management and sustainability practices.The Jornada Basin LTER project is administered by New Mexico State University.
Last modified
2022-12-08 02:12:01

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General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
1982
Observed properties
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
ILTERThis site is a verified "ILTER" member.
US LTER (LTER-NAM-US-21)This site is a verified "US LTER" member.
Photos
Figure 1. Microscale self-segregation of cyanobacterial species in biocrusts.  A Patches attributable to M. vaginatus (dashed white lines) and Parifilum sp. (dashed black lines) on a rehydrated biocrust are visible through differential coloration. Areas sampled for bulk soil (B) and cyanobacterial bundles (A1-4) are indicated by circles. Scale bar is 1 cm. (Nelson et al., 2022)
Figure 1. Microscale self-segregation of cyanobacterial species in biocrusts. A Patches attributable to M. vaginatus (dashed white lines) and Parifilum sp. (dashed black lines) on a rehydrated biocrust are visible through differential coloration. Areas sampled for bulk soil (B) and cyanobacterial bundles (A1-4) are indicated by circles. Scale bar is 1 cm. (Nelson et al., 2022)
Figure 2. Impact of connectivity modifiers (conmods) on herbaceous cover in the TRIGGER experiment. (A) cover measurements in treated and control during 3 years since initiation.
Figure 2. Impact of connectivity modifiers (conmods) on herbaceous cover in the TRIGGER experiment. (A) cover measurements in treated and control during 3 years since initiation.
Figure 2. Impact of connectivity modifiers (conmods) on herbaceous cover in the TRIGGER experiment. (B) conmod overhead imagery showing 2022 forb growth.
Figure 2. Impact of connectivity modifiers (conmods) on herbaceous cover in the TRIGGER experiment. (B) conmod overhead imagery showing 2022 forb growth.
Figure 3. Effects of reducing shrub competition (“plant scale”) and aeolian connectivity (“patch scale”) on perennial grass establishment, averaged across the 15 blocks of the cross-scale interactions study (CSIS), showing modest impacts of treatments on their own, but much larger interactive effects.
Figure 3. Effects of reducing shrub competition (“plant scale”) and aeolian connectivity (“patch scale”) on perennial grass establishment, averaged across the 15 blocks of the cross-scale interactions study (CSIS), showing modest impacts of treatments on their own, but much larger interactive effects.
Figure 4. Competition intensity (CI) for honey mesquite populations across the Jornada Basin, showing three classes of Low (0
Figure 4. Competition intensity (CI) for honey mesquite populations across the Jornada Basin, showing three classes of Low (0
Figure 5. Hypothetical relationship between timing of senescence for grasses (green line) and shrubs (orange line) and annual precipitation amount. Saturation of surface soils at higher rainfall amounts results in percolation to deeper soil depths accessible by shrubs, eliciting a senescence response (Currier & Sala, 2022).
Figure 5. Hypothetical relationship between timing of senescence for grasses (green line) and shrubs (orange line) and annual precipitation amount. Saturation of surface soils at higher rainfall amounts results in percolation to deeper soil depths accessible by shrubs, eliciting a senescence response (Currier & Sala, 2022).
Figure 6. Thiel-Sen slope of moving window covariance analysis between perennial herbaceous vegetation and bare ground ("xerification") for years 1986 through 2020 at the JRN LTER site. Yellow colors indicate little or no directional change through time, while increasingly negative Thiel-Sen slopes (darker green colors) indicate potential ("imminent") ecological state change.  Red colors (positive Thiel-Sen slopes) indicate areas of earlier high covariance, where new states are dominant/stable in more recen
Figure 6. Thiel-Sen slope of moving window covariance analysis between perennial herbaceous vegetation and bare ground ("xerification") for years 1986 through 2020 at the JRN LTER site. Yellow colors indicate little or no directional change through time, while increasingly negative Thiel-Sen slopes (darker green colors) indicate potential ("imminent") ecological state change. Red colors (positive Thiel-Sen slopes) indicate areas of earlier high covariance, where new states are dominant/stable in more recen
Figure 7. Adaptation of the Noy-Meir (1973) pulse-reserve concepts to show growth strategies of microbes and plants under pulsed rainfall regimes (Garcia-Pichel & Sala, 2022). Nimble response (NIR) organisms (e.g. microbes) respond more rapidly to pulses, including short pulses, with less reliance on (and accumulation of) carbohydrate reserves. Torpid response (TOR) organisms (e.g. plants) utilize reserves of carbohydrates in roots or seeds to initiate growth and must devote more resources in late growth to
Figure 7. Adaptation of the Noy-Meir (1973) pulse-reserve concepts to show growth strategies of microbes and plants under pulsed rainfall regimes (Garcia-Pichel & Sala, 2022). Nimble response (NIR) organisms (e.g. microbes) respond more rapidly to pulses, including short pulses, with less reliance on (and accumulation of) carbohydrate reserves. Torpid response (TOR) organisms (e.g. plants) utilize reserves of carbohydrates in roots or seeds to initiate growth and must devote more resources in late growth to
Geographic
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 32.617 Longitude: -106.741

Size
ca. 104166.00ha
Elevation (min)
1207.00msl
Elevation (max)
2442.00msl
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Site information [.json]

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