Mission 

Our mission is to develop new ways of measuring, understanding, and predicting the coupling of ecological and hydrological processes and associated non-linear and threshold responses in water-limited ecosystems along the grassland-forest continuum. We seek to enable improved decision making and management for issues of land use, pollution, and global change.
Henry Adams talking with a tour group in Biosphere 2 about his recent pinyon die-off experiment
Research Topics
	«Woody-herbaceous plant interactions and dynamics
	«Gradients of  woody vegetation: grassland/shrubland/woodland/forest
	«Scaling from vegetation patches to ecosystems
	«Ecohydrology: Ecological-hydrological relationships
	«Precipitation, soil water, and plant-available water
	«Redistribution of water and nutrients via runoff and erosion
	«Drought impacts on vegetation and erosion
	«Fire impacts on vegetation and erosion
	«Wind vs. water erosion
	«Soil carbon patterns and dynamics
	«Soil carbon measurement-Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS)
	«Quantifying and modeling spatial heterogeneity in environmental properties
	«Threshold changes in ecosystem properties
	«Biophysical scaling relationships
	«Global change impacts
	«Land use and management
	«Contaminant transport and containment / radioecology
	«Dryland ecosystems
Lab Personnel
Dr. David D. Breshears Professor and UA Theme Leader for Ecosystem Sciences Dr. Darin J.  Law Senior Research Specialist Jason P. Field  Ph.D Candidate and USDA Ecohydrology Fellow  Juan C. Villegas  Ph.D Candidate and Fulbright Scholar  Henry Adams  Ph.D Student and USDA Ecohydrology Fellow  Anna Urgeghe Visiting Ph.D. Student from the Universidad de Alicante, Spain Lab Alumni Dr. Chris B. Zou Senior Research Specialist Dr. Haiyan Wei  Jennifer Davison MS Student and USDA Ecohydrology Fellow  Patrick Royer MS Student and USDA Ecohydrology Fellow  Luis Merino Martin Ph.D. Student from the Universidad de Alcalá Spain
Job Resources ESA Physiological Ecology Job Listing | USDA ARS Job  |  SSSA Job Announcement | Canada Forestry Job | New Zealand | Australia CSIRO | University of Arizona School of Natural Resources Professional Tools  UA PowerPoint Template | ISPE Poster Guidance Affiliations & Collaborations NEON | COREO | DIREnet | SAHRA | CSIRO Atherton | LANL| Colorado State University | Wiley Award       Current & Previous Sponsors TRIF Arizona

Photo of trees was taken by Joe Martinez, photo of Bisophere is courtesy of Biosphere 2

New Publication:

Adams H. D., M. Gauardiola-Claramonte, G. A. Barron-Gafford, J. C. Villegas, D. D. Breshears, C. B. Zou, P. A. Troch, and T. E. Huxman. 2009. Temperature sensitivity of drought-induced tree mortality portends increased regional die-off under global-change-type drought. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.

Press release:

Biosphere 2 Experiment Shows How Fast Heat Could Kill Drought-Stressed Pine

 

Press:

The Dire Fate of Forests in a Warmer World

Trees May Dry Up With Global Warming

Drought + Warmer Temperatures = a “Double Whammy” of Tree Death

FORESTS: Hot and dry piñon pines dying fast

Global Warming: Heat Could Kill Drought-stressed Trees Fast

Global Warming May Leave U.S. Southwest Pining for Pinyons

Warming could add to risk in drought

Temp rise hastens death of trees

Biosphere 2 experiment shows how fast heat could kill drought-stressed trees

UA study shows drought-stricken trees die 5 times faster as temps rise

Trees in trouble: massive die-offs predicted with global warming

 

Blogs:

Warmer temperatures play big role in droughty tree die-offs

Brian Thomas'Blog

Cleantech ticker: 14 April 2009

 

Previous press:

Underlying Cause of Massive Pinyon Pine Die-off Revealed, 2005

Scientists Report Fastest Climate-induced Shift of Border Between Two Ecosystems, 1998

Heat Invades Cool Heights Over Arizona Desert, 2007  SUMMERHAVEN, Ariz. High above the desert floor, this little alpine town (has long served as a natural air-conditioned retreat for people in Tucson, one of the so-called sky islands of southern Arizona. When it is 105 degrees in the city, it is at least 20 degrees cooler up here near the 9,157-foot summit of Mount Lemmon. But for the past 10 years or so, things have been unraveling. Winter snows melt away earlier, longtime residents say, making for an erratic season at the nearby ski resort, the most southern in the nation. The increased heat, Dr. Breshears believes, is the tipping point — stressing ecosystems in the Southwest so quickly that they are vulnerable to prolonged beetle infestation and catastrophic fires..... Full Story | PDF

Henry Adams and Juan Villegas appeared in the front-page story of Arizona Daily Star (August 29, 2007) for their on-going studies in Biosphere 2, more details. Congratulations!

Related Papers on Drought Impacts:

Breshears, D.D., et al. 2009. Tree die-off in response to global change-type drought: Mortality insights from a decade of plant water potential measurements. Frontiers in Ecology and Environment. 7.

Dominquez, F., J. C. Villegas, and D. D. Breshears. 2009. Spatial extent of the North American Monsoon: Inreased cross-regional linkages via atmospheric pathways. Geophysical Research Letters. 36.

Miao, S., C. B. Zou, and D. D. Breshears. 2009. Vegetation responses to extreme hydrological events: sequence matters.  The American Naturalist. 173: 113-118.

Breshears, D. D., T. E. Huxman, H. D. Adams, C. B. Zou, and J. E. Davison. 2008. Vegetation synchronously leans upslope as climate warms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 105: 11591-11592.

McDowell, N., W. T. Pockman, C. D. Allen, D. D. Breshears, N. Cobb, T. Kolb, J. Plaut, J. Sperry, A. West, D. G. Williams, E. A. Yepez. 2008. Mechansims of plant survival and mortality during drought: Why do some plants survive while others succumb to drought?  New Phytologist. 102: 15144-15148.

Kempes, C. P., O. B. Myers, D. D. Breshears, and J. J. Ebersole 2008. Comparing response of Pinus edulis tree-ring growth to five alternate moisture indices using historic meteorological data. Journal of Arid Environments. 72: 350-357.

Rich, P. M., D. D. Breshears, and A. B. White. 2008. Phenology of mixed woody-herbaceous ecosystems following extreme events: Net and differential responses. Ecology. 89: 342-352.

Allen, C. D., and D. D. Breshears. 2007. Climate-induced forest dieback as an emergent global phenomenon. Eos Meetings. 88:504-505.

Newman, B. D., B. P. Wilcox, S. R. Archer, D. D. Breshears, C. N. Dahm, C. J. Duffy, N. G. McDowell, F. M. Phillips, B. R. Scanlon, and E. R. Vivoni. 2006. Ecohydrology of water-limited environments: A scientific vision.  Water Resources Research. 42: W06302.

Breshears, D. D., N. S. Cobb, P. M. Price, C. D. Allen, R. G. Balice, W. H. Romme, J. H. Kastens, M. L. Floyd, J. Belanp, J. J. Anderson, O. B. Myers, and C. W. Meyer. 2005. Regional vegetation die-off in respone to global change-type-drought. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 102: 15144-15148.

Stimson, H. C., D. D. Breshears, S. L. Ustin, and S. C. Kefauver. 2005. Spectral sensing of foliar water conditions in two co-occurring conifer species: Pinus edulis and Juniperus monosperma. Remote Sensing of Environment. 96: 108-118.

Fair, J. M and D. D. Breshears. 2005. Drought stress and fluctuating asymmetry in Quercus undulata leaves: confounding effects of absolute and relative amounts of stress?. Journal of Arid Environments. 62: 235-249.

Loik, M. E., D. D. Breshears, W. K. Lauenroth, and J. Belnap. 2004. A multi-scale perspective of water pulses in dryland ecosystems: climatology and ecohydrology of the western USA. Oecologia. 141: 269-281.

Breshears, D. D. and C. D. Allen. 2002. The importance of rapid, disturbance-induced losses in carbon management and sequestration. Global Ecology and Biogeography. 11: 1-5.

Allen, C. D. and D. D. Breshears. 1998. Drought-induced shift of a forest-woodland ecotone: Rapid landscape response to climate variation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 95: 14839-14842.

Related Reports:

Climate Change:  Agencies Should Develop Guidance for Addressing the Effects on Federal Land and Water Resources. Complete Report ( GAO-07-863) | Highlights

Selected awards:

• Henry Adams 2008 American Geophysical Union, Hydrology Section Outstanding Student Paper Award 

• Dr. David Breshears is one of 20 scientists from across North America awarded a Leopold Leadership Fellowship to participate in a Leadership Program at Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment. 

• Jennifer Davison 2007 ISPEFest Poster Award 2nd Place

• Chris B. Zou  2007 Outstanding Staff in Research award for College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

• Juan Villegas 2007 International Development Research Centre, Canada. Financial assistance to attend the Fourth International Conference on Fog, Fog Collection and Dew. 

• Juan Villegas 2007 Water Sustainability Program. Student fellowship Award ($18,000)

• Jason P Field 2006  

• David D. Breshears 2006  School of Natural Resources Scholarly Achievement Award (video clip)

• Chris B. Zou  2006  Kel  Fox Presentation Award  2006

• Jason Field 2006  Kel Fox Award 2006 

•  & Jason Field 2006  ISPE Travel Awards 2006

Terrestrial Ecology Lab

228 Biological Science Building East

University of Arizona, 1311 E 4th Street, Tucson, AZ 85721

Ph: 520-621-7259

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