Collaborative Research: On Topographic Imprint of Hillslope Aspect: Deciphering Aspect Controls on Vegetation and Landforms in Central New Mexico

合作研究：山坡坡向的地形印记：破译坡向对新墨西哥州中部植被和地貌的控制该项目将调查坡向和植被在调节新墨西哥州中部沙漠高程景观演变速率和过程中的作用，那里的坡向对生态系统结构起主导作用。在半干旱生态系统中，特别是在美国西南部的长期生态研究点，已经研究了植被格局对径流和侵蚀的影响。研究已经确定了对植被变化对景观规模影响的关键关注，并导致了可检验的假说。然而，植被-侵蚀相互作用对沉积物产量和地形演变的长期影响还没有得到充分的记录和模拟。这项研究将研究新墨西哥州中部(塞维莱塔国家野生动物保护区西北部)的中到低地貌集水区，那里的北向坡以刺柏稀树草原为特征，南向坡以灌木丛为特征，其他因素如降水量、岩性和海拔相对均匀。该遗址现有的植被模式被认为是自全新世中期以来一直存在的，在此之前，松柏橡树林地主导着该地区。场地中相对的山坡在形态上普遍存在差异，向北的斜坡通常比向南的斜坡更陡峭和更平坦，而且它们对季风降水的生态水文响应也不同。这项工作将使用各种基于过程的研究方法来调查土壤、植被和地形的共同演化，这些方法包括生态水文学监测(土壤水分、径流、蒸散、生物量)；对表层沉积物进行测年，以接近全新世的侵蚀速率；以及生态水文学和景观演变的数值模拟。更广泛的影响：该项目将培养两名研究生。两个机构将共同开发一个项目网站，报告研究结果、数据和数值模式实验的可视化。这项跨学科研究将对塞维莱塔国家野生动物保护区正在进行的生态系统监测研究工作产生重大影响。特别是，我们的建模方法将提供预测生物群转变和土地利用变化对区域水文和泥沙产量的影响的能力。这种建模工作在美国西南部以及世界其他半干旱地区的栖息地保护、恢复和土地利用规划工作中至关重要。

Collaborative Research: On Topographic Imprint of Hillslope Aspect: Deciphering Aspect Controls on Vegetation and Landforms in Central New Mexico This project will investigate the role of aspect and vegetation in modulating rates and processes of landscape evolution in desert elevations of central New Mexico, where aspect plays a dominant role on ecosystem structure. The influence of vegetation patterns on runoff and erosion have been studied in semiarid ecosystems, especially in the Long Term Ecological Research sites in the southwest US. Research has identified critical concerns about the landscape scale impacts of vegetation change, and resulted in testable hypotheses. Yet, long-term implications of vegetation-erosion interactions on sediment yields and landform evolution have not been adequately documented and modeled. This research will study moderate- to low-relief catchmets in central New Mexico (northwest part of the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge), where north-facing slopes are characterized by a juniper-grass savanna, and south-facing slopes by shrublands, with other factors such as precipitation, lithology, and elevation are relatively uniform. Existing vegetation patterns in this site are believed to have been present since the mid Holocene, before which pinon-juniper-oak woodlands dominated the region. The opposing hillslopes in the site show pervasive differences in their morphologies with north-facing slopes usually steeper and more planar than south-facing slopes, and in their ecohydrological response to monsoon precipitation. This work will investigate the co-evolution of soils, vegetation and topography using a variety of process-based research methods including ecohydrological monitoring (soil moisture, runoff, evapotranspiration, biomass); dating of surface sediments to approximate Holocene erosion rates; and numerical modeling of ecohydrology and landscape evolution. Broader Impacts: This project will train two graduate students. A project website will be jointly developed between the two institutions, reporting research results, data, and visualization of numerical model experiments. This interdisciplinary research will have a significant impact on the ongoing efforts in ecosystem monitoring studies in the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge. In particular, our modeling approach will offer capabilities in predicting the impacts of biome transition and land-use change on regional hydrology and sediment yields. Such modeling efforts are of critical importance in habitat conservation, restoration, and land-use planning efforts across the southwest US as well as in other semiarid regions worldwide.