Location
Research Topics:
Population dynamics in a biome transition zone; climate change and disturbance effects on ecosystem processes; biospheric/atmospheric interactions; biotic and abiotic controls on landscape heterogeneity
Description:
The Sevilleta LTER Project is located about 80 kilometers south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in and around the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). The Refuge, which is managed by the US Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, and its surroundings, are positioned at the intersection of several major biotic zones: Chihuahuan Desert grassland and shrubland to the south, Great Plains grassland to the north, Piñon-Juniper woodland in the upper elevations of the neighboring mountains, Colorado Plateau shrub-steppe to the west, and riparian vegetation along the middle Rio Grande Valley. Read More
History:
The Sevilleta LTER was initiated as the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, a former Spanish land grant now administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The research area encompasses approximately 3,600 square kilometers and ranges from Rio Grande riparian forests (bosque) and Chihuahuan Desert up to subalpine forests and meadows. Because the Sevilleta LTER is a transition zone for a number of biomes, the area cannot be easily or conveniently characterized. This convergence of biomes, however, has created an important research area for geology, hydrology, archeology, atmospheric science, biology, and ecology for many decades.