Publications

Lindquist, L., Palmquist, K., Jordan, S., and W. Lauenroth. (2019) Climate change impacts on groundwater recharge in Wyoming big sagebrush ecosystems are contingent on elevation. Western North American Naturalist

Jordan, S., Palmquist, K., and W. Lauenroth. Accepted article. Long-term responses of vegetation composition and structure along a grazing intensity gradient in big sagebrush communities. Journal of Applied Ecology

Palmquist, K., S. Jordan, J. Bradford, D. Schlaepfer & W. Lauenroth. In prep. Resource quantity and resource heterogeneity shape species richness and beta-diversity patterns in big sagebrush plant communities. Target journal: Ecology

Alshwairikh, Y. A., Andis Arietta, A.Z., Jordan, S., Messer, K. RANA SYLVATICA (Wood Frog). USA: ALASKA: northwest arctic borough. Geographic Distribution Note. Herpetological Review. 52(3). 202.

Ongoing research projects

Drought and disturbance in North American Drylands

This is an ongoing experiment that is a collaboaration of Arizona State University, UGSS, Utah State University, New Mexico State University, and the Univeristy of Arizona. We are using a manipulative field experiment to ask how drylands in North America respond to drought and disturbance over time. Specifically, we have replicated the experiment in the Mojave, Great Basin, and Chihuahuan deserts. Now in it’s third year, this experiment is just beginning to have the results point to how each of these ecosystems respond to these global change drivers. More to come!

Biodiversity and soil water dynamics in big sagebrush ecosystems

Using both intensive field sampling and soil water modelling, we quantified biodiversity in big sagebrush communities at 51 sites across all major biogeographical basins of Wyoming. Some of the results of this study have been published (see above), but we have high hopes for additional manuscripts and published datasets from this research effort.

Livestock grazing effects on structure and function of big sagebrush ecosystems

Using space for time around livestock watering points in western Wyoming, collaborators and I have ongoing work on public lands that are grazed by cattle as their primary use. In this study, we used the piosphere, or the pattern of increasing livestock impact around water sources, to quantify how livestock grazing impacts plant community diversity and structure.

Dissertation Research Statement

One third of the terrestrial surface of the earth is water limited, and one third of the human population lives on these water-limited landscapes.  Yet, only about 6% of published scientific literature addresses drylands.

My research efforts attempt to close this knowledge gap. The human population that lives in drylands are already experiencing negative impacts from climate change, and we are only expecting those negative effects to amplify in the coming decades. By using field experiments across multiple dryland ecosystems, my team of collaborators are trying to drive at some critical ecological questions:

How will drought and disturbance impact dryland plant communities?

How can we scale our current understanding of plant community dynamics to time periods and spatial extents relevant to land management and policy making?