Collaborative Research: NSFGEO-NERC: Aeolian dust responses to regional ecosystem change

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Overview: The proposed research will establish dust emission responses to regional ecosystem change across North America due to three disturbance regimes: 1) numerous discrete, small scale (<10 ha), abrupt ecosystem changes associated with energy (oil and gas) development; 2) discrete, large scale (>1000 ha), abrupt ecosystem change associated with fire and ecological feedbacks that promote invasive grasses and altered fire-wind erosion regimes; and 3) diffuse, large scale (>1000 ha), pervasive ecosystem changes associated with sustained shrub invasion of desert grasslands. New dust emission models driven by remote-sensing and broad-scale standardized ecological datasets will be used to resolve the mechanics of soil and vegetation-aeolian transport interactions. The models will be calibrated using data from National Wind Erosion Research Network observatory sites, then applied to explore patterns of dust emission across the study regions. National ecological datasets will be used to analyze the drivers and interpret dust emission responses to regional ecosystem changes across the disturbance regimes. Intellectual Merit: This proposal examines the geomorphic mechanisms and impacts of regional ecosystem change (land use and land cover change) on the magnitude of North American dust emission. Dust originating from North American deserts is regionally important for its profound impacts on human health and transportation systems, water resources, agricultural production, and its feedbacks to biogeochemical cycling and climate. Dust source regions are experiencing changes in ecosystem structure and function due to drought, land use and management pressures, and climate change. Plot-scale research has explored the interactions between vegetation change and aeolian processes in drylands. However, the significance of ecosystem changes for current and future regional dust emissions has not been established over large areas. This research will transform our understanding of how different types of ecosystem change due to human land-use pressures and natural disturbances impact regional dust emissions. Findings will significantly improve our understanding of the coupling between the dust cycle and anthropogenic drivers of ecosystem change.