07-01-11 Verbenone Packets, Wildflowers

Biocrusts Lichen and Moss

The term biological soil crust (or biocrust) encompasses the diverse community of moss, algae, lichens, and cyanobacteria living within the top inch of soil. Biocrusts form in all terrestrial ecotypes, but people often overlook them in favor of larger species. Biocrusts stabilize the soil by aggregation, reducing erosion. They increase soil fertility by enhancing nutrient cycling. A healthy biocrust increases infiltration and plays a role in succession towards a diverse and functioning ecosystem. They are especially important in arid and semi-arid ecosystems.

Towards the goal of restoring land to healthy ecosystem function, we consider all facets of the land, not just the vascular plants that may inhabit it. Unaided, biocrusts may take from decades to a century to reestablish after degradation. We would like to determine the most effective and practical methods to restore biological soil crusts.

Research and updates found here include projects on moss, lichens, and biocrust as we delve into this charismatic and important part of the ecosystem.

Mammals

We seek to understand the distribution and abundance of mammals.  Several monitoring projects are underway. 

Elk- Elk numbers fluctuate through the year with herds of several hundred animals moving onto the ranch in the fall and winter.  Fewer elk stay around to raise their calves in the spring and summer.  We track herd size, the habitat they use for feeding, and the amount of biomass available to them for forage.  We are curious about how elk habits will change in response to changes in vegetation communities as restoration activities proceed. 

Bears- The lower elevation draws and drainages at MPG were de-vegetated by herbicide applications and sheep and cattle browsing.  As of the summer 2012, we have planted more than 30,000 trees and shrubs in these drainages.  The plantings will provide cover for animals using the draw bottoms as travel corridors between the upland forests and the floodplain forests.  Many of the shrubs we have planted, such as hawthorns, choke cherries, and serviceberry, will provide food for bears.  Our bear monitoring efforts seek to document how many bears we have now and where they travel. 

Click here for a link to a list of mammals we have seen and photos.

Click here for links to our best mammal footage.

We would like to do more small mammal research. Please contact us with ideas for collaboration.  (Click here to contact us.)

Soils Plants and Invasion

Plants live in tight association with microbes, especially belowground where fungi and bacteria live on and inside the roots of plants.  The relationship can be beneficial or harmful to the plant.   Some microbes cause plant diseases by decomposing roots.  Others trade nutrients with the roots in return for sugars produced aboveground by leaves.  

We investigate two main aspects of the relationship between plants and microbes in the soil.  First, as it pertains to weeds, we want to know if soil microbes can help or hinder plant invasions.  Three highly invasive weeds of contrasting life history strategies; cheatgrass, knapweed and leafy spurge, co-occur with remnants of native plant vegetation.  This creates a unique opportunity to observe, characterize, and manipulate interactions between plants and belowground microbial communities.  We outline a number of short, intermediate and long-term research projects that will significantly enhance our knowledge regarding plant microbe interactions and soil processes, with the overall goal to better understand, predict and counteract plant invasions, and to restore and manage invaded ecosystems.

Second, we seek to understand how the relationship between plants and soil influences the function of ecosystem processes.  Soil microbes are responsible for organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling between the atmosphere and the land.  On this project we collaborate with the Earth Microbiome Project (EMP).  The goal is to map and understand the diversity of microorganisms in habitats around the world.  We mapped microbial diversity and function across gradients of weed invasions.