Upcoming Workshops
Botany Field Workshop, Tuesday, July 16, 2013, at St. Nicholas Camp
Interpreting and Measuring Indicators of Rangeland Health, May 21-24, 2013
Long Term Ecological Research
The Jornada Basin Long Term Ecological Research program has been successfully funded by the National Science Foundation through 2018 (LTER VI proposal).
In 1980 the National Science Foundation established a network of sites across the US for long term study of ecological processes over long time periods and across large spaces. One of the original sites of this network of now 26 locations was in the Jornada Basin. Five of the resulting lessons learned from over three decades of study are
Ecological Site Descriptions
Ecological sites are a key management technology used to map and describe landscapes into discrete units based on ecological attributes. Ecological site descriptions are extensive data, models, and characterizations of each ecological site. The Jornada is a leading scientific program in the development of this important technology. Two recent documents related to ecological sites are:
Find out what 'state mapping' is.
Long Term Agricultural Research
The Agriculture Research Service has selected ten existing, long-term research sites to formally link as a Long-Term Agro-Ecosystem Research (LTAR) network. The criteria for LTAR selection were 1) research productivity, 2) infrastructure capacity, 3) data richness, 4) data availability, 5) geographic coverage at various scales, 6) partnerships, and 7) institutional commitment. In February 2012, the Jornada Experimental Range was selected as one of this original cohort of ten sites. Materials we developed in response to selection criteria are: Introduction, Research Productivity, Infrastructure Capacity, Data Richness, Data Availability, Geographic Coverage, Partnerships, Institutional Commitment, Literature Cited. Research activities for this LTAR network are being developed now.
Landscape Toolbox
JournalMap is an ecological literature search engine that empowers you to find relevant research based on location and biophysical variables as well as traditional keyword searches. All publications are geotagged based on reported location information and plotted on a world map showing where the research was conducted.
Rangeland Methods Guide is an interactive guide to field and remote-sensing methods for rangeland science and management focusing primarily on monitoring and assessment.
Featured monitoring tools:
Monitoring & Assessment
The Jornada is an international leader in the development of land assessment and monitoring protocols. The Jornada has developed a quantitative monitoring protocol, Monitoring Manual for Grassland, Shrubland and Savanna Ecosystems, that is being applied in the U.S. and at least four countries outside the U.S. The Jornada also co-authored the qualitative assessment protocol, Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health, which is being applied globally.
The selection and use of monitoring and assessment protocols are critical components of effective land management. These protocols provide information that can be used in the decision-making processes employed by a land owner or land manager. Techniques and technologies to reform the foundation for a land management knowledge system are described in the August 2011 issue of Rangelands. This special issue was sponsored by The Jornada in cooperation with BLM, NRCS, and TNC.
Data Catalogs
The Jornada is responsible for several long term data catalogs from research programs and locations around the US and the world. These catalogs store data of various types for access and use by the public and our research partners. Some data sets are open access and others require permitted access. Data are stored in these catalogs according to established procedures and policies.
We have recently updated our data catalogs - check them out: ►Long-Term data ►Jornada data ►Climate data
EcoTrends - The EcoTrends project is a collaborative effort among state and federal agencies and institutions to make long-term ecological data easy to access, analyze, and compare within and across sites.
Interactive graph showing climate data from Jornada Headquarters, 1915-2010
Who's Citing Us This Week ...
- Grecchi, R.C., Gwyn, Q.H.J., et al. Assessing the spatio-temporal rates and patterns of land-use and land-cover changes in the Cerrados of southeastern Mato Grosso, Brazil (2013) International Journal of Remote Sensing, 34 (15) pp. 5369-5392.
- Sharma, R.C., Kajiwara, K., Honda, Y. Automated extraction of canopy shadow fraction using unmanned helicopter-based color vegetation indices (2013) Trees - Structure and Function, 27 (3) pp. 675-684.
- Madre, F., Vergnes, A., et al. A comparison of 3 types of green roof as habitats for arthropods (2013) Ecological Engineering, 57 pp. 109-117.
- Hugenholtz, C.H., Whitehead, K., et al. Geomorphological mapping with a small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS): Feature detection and accuracy assessment of a photogrammetrically-derived digital terrain model (2013) Geomorphology, 194 pp. 16-24.
- Lafortezza, R., Davies, C., Sanesi, G., Konijnendijk, C.C. Green infrastructure as a tool to support spatial planning in European urban regions (2013) IForest, 6 (1) pp. 102-108.
- Rodríguez-Caballero, E., Cantón, Y., et al. Soil Loss and Runoff in Semiarid Ecosystems: A Complex Interaction Between Biological Soil Crusts, Micro-topography, and Hydrological Drivers (2013) Ecosystems, 16 (4) pp. 529-546.
- Arzani, H., Mostasharnezami, N., et al. Modeling and developing of intelligent software for analyzing the national rangeland assessment program data, iran (2013) World Applied Sciences Journal, 22 (10) pp. 1481-1485.
- Pokorná, P., Hejcmanová, P., et al. Activity time budget patterns of sheep and goats co-grazing on semi-natural species-rich dry grassland (2013) Czech Journal of Animal Science, 58 (5) pp. 208-216.
- Wood, E.M., Pidgeon, A.M., Radeloff, V.C., Keuler, N.S. Image Texture Predicts Avian Density and Species Richness (2013) PLoS ONE, 8 (5), art. no. e63211
- Barton, P.S., Cunningham, S.A., et al. The spatial scaling of beta diversity (2013) Global Ecology and Biogeography, 22 (6) pp. 639-647.
- Li, J., Okin, G.S., Herrick, J.E., et al. Evaluation of a new model of aeolian transport in the presence of vegetation (2013) Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface, 118 (1) pp. 288-306.
Search our Bibliography -Access any of our publications
New Publications
State-and-transition models as guides for adaptive management: What are the needs?
Sustainable livestock production on rangelands: Emerging trends in the USA
Soil-litter mixing accelerates decomposition in a Chihuahuan Desert grassland
Evaluation of a new model of aeolian transport in the presence of vegetation
Spatiotemporal cattle data – a plea for protocol standardization
