Showing results 1-7 of 7
- Big Bend National Park
Chihuahuan Desert Plant Responses to Climate Change
- Locations: Big Bend National Park
Determining the impact of climate on vegetation is especially important in desert regions that are prone to land degradation. Vegetation changes can dramatically change the productive capacity and diversity of a site, alter food and habitat for wildlife, and affect soil erosion, carbon and nutrient cycling.
- Locations: Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument, Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site, Capulin Volcano National Monument, Chickasaw National Recreation Area, Fort Larned National Historic Site, more »
Climate change may have direct and/or indirect effects on many elements of Southern Plains network ecosystems, from streams and grasslands to fires and birds.
- Fort Davis National Historic Site
Fort Davis Fern Inventory
- Locations: Fort Davis National Historic Site
In the Trans-Pecos, ferns and their allies either flourish or become dormant in response to limited available moisture. If conditions are dry, many of the xeric (dry environment) ferns respond by curling up and going into a dormant stage, only to revive and actively grow again when water becomes available.
- Locations: Big Bend National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Chiricahua National Monument, Coronado National Memorial, more »
Vegetation and soils are two of many natural resources monitored by the National Park Service (NPS) Division of Inventory & Monitoring (I&M). Learning about vegetation dynamics helps us to better understand the integrity of ecological processes, productivity trends, and ecosystem interactions that can otherwise be difficult to monitor. In NPS units of the American Southwest, three I&M networks monitor vegetation and soils using the scientific protocol described here.
- Locations: Aztec Ruins National Monument, Bandelier National Monument, Chaco Culture National Historical Park, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Grand Canyon National Park, more »
Vegetation and soils are the foundation upon which all terrestrial ecosystems are built. Soils provide the medium for the storage and delivery of water and nutrients to plants, which in turn provide animal populations with both habitat and food.
- Locations: Petrified Forest National Park
- Offices: Southern Colorado Plateau Inventory & Monitoring Network
The Southern Colorado Plateau Network of the National Park Service has been monitoring grasslands in Petrified Forest National Park since 2007. Data collected from the park between 2007 and 2018 was analyzed to investigate how the condition of the grasslands changed over time.
- Locations: Big Bend National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National Park
In winter of 2002 and 2003, an independent researcher began conducting a two-year inventory of winter-resident birds in grasslands in two parks in the National Park Service’s Chihuahuan Desert Network. The objective of this study was to inventory selected grassland habitats in Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains national parks for the presence, diversity, and abundance of wintering bird species.
Last updated: March 8, 2018