M. Friggens, USDA FS

Desert grassland habitat on the Sevilleta National Refuge in NM. It lies at the intersection of Chihuahuan Desert, Great Plains Grassland, Colorado Plateau Shrub Steppe & Conifer Woodlands.

Identification of threats to ecosystems is essential to protecting ecosystem services such as clean air and water, maintaining biodiversity, and protecting habitat for threatened and endangered species. Specific threats can include community changes by invasive plants and animals, altered fire regimes, and anthropogenic disturbances such as poor agricultural practices and water diversions. Research includes expanding knowledge and understanding of complex systems, and developing tools and techniques needed to effectively manage and sustain ecosystems in changing environments.

Projects

• Biodiversity of the Terrestrial Cyanobacteria of the Atacama Desert, Chile
• Classical Biological Control of Dalmatian (Linaria dalmatica), Yellow (L. vulgaris) and Hybrid (L. dalmatica x L. vulgaris) Toadflax
• Ecology, Management and Restoration of Great Basin Meadow Ecosystems
• Exploring the Potential for Cheatgrass Biocontrol with Naturally Occurring Fungal Pathogens
• Future of Urban Open Space
• Great Basin Native Plant Selection and Increase Project
• Greater Sage-Grouse and Energy Development
• Historical and Modern Fire Regimes of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau: Temporal and Spatial Drivers of Variation
• Management of Prairie Dog Colonies for Grassland Sustainability
• Monitoring and Evaluation for Conserving Biological Resources of the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area
• Mountain Big Sagebrush Post-Fire Recovery (Succession) in the Southern Half of its Distribution
• Potential Use of Biochar, a By-Product of Converting Biomass to Bioenergy, as an Amendment to Substrates Used to Grow Native Plants
• Predicting and Mitigating Potential Climate Change Effects on a Regionally Dominant Ecotonal Desert Shrub
• Resource Selection of Black-Backed Woodpeckers in Burned Forest and Mountain Pine Beetle Infestations
• Sagebrush Steppe Treatment and Evaluation Project (SageSTEP): A Test of State-and Transition Theory [Nevada Woodlands Part]
• Salt-Desert Shrubland Stability as Affected by Livestock Grazing, Invasive Weeds and Climate Variability
• Understanding Ecological Resistance to Annual Grass Invasion and Resilience to Disturbance