Understanding the effects of global change on ecosystems of the Sonoran Desert

Conference · Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993 · Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America; (United States)

OSTI ID:6201712

Halvorson, W L ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Arizon, Tucson (United States)

The Global Change program for the Sonoran Desert just began in March 1992. Currently, two projects are being directly funded by the National Park Service and we are coordinating with research of other agencies. One thrust of the program is to understand the effect of climate on species growth, abundances and distribution. This will be done using a number of methods. One is growth ring analysis of conifers on mountain ranges in and bordering the Sonoran Desert. Another study will relate the USGS Desert Laboratory data base on plant species distributions to a mesoscale climate model. Other programs that we are coordinating with include a USGS Desert Laboratory project to study long term changes in plant communities of the southwest using a comparison of photos from the early 1930s, early 1960s and early 1990s. Other agencies have active global climate research at The University of Arizona and we are working to coordinate the NPS program with these at the investigator level through participation in a university-wide Global Change Committee.

• OSTI ID: 6201712
• Report Number(s): CONF-930798-; CODEN: BECLAG
• Journal Information: Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America; (United States), Vol. 74:2; Conference: 78. annual Ecological Society of America (ESA) meeting, Madison, WI (United States), 31 Jul - 4 Aug 1993; ISSN 0012-9623
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
CLIMATIC CHANGE
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
CONIFERS
PLANT GROWTH
DESERTS
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS
PLANTS
SPECIES DIVERSITY
USA
ARIZONA
GLOBAL ASPECTS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
TREE RINGS
ARID LANDS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ECOSYSTEMS
GROWTH
NORTH AMERICA
PINOPHYTA
560400* - Other Environmental Pollutant Effects