Nevada NSF EPSCoR Project

1. Highlights and Progress on Investigations of Ecological Change and Water Resources Along Elevational Gradients Laurel Saito1, Franco Biondi1, Lynn F. Fenstermaker2, Jay Arnone2, Dale Devitt3, Brett Riddle3, and Michael Young4 1 University of Nevada Reno, 2 Desert Research Institute, 3 University of Nevada Las Vegas, 4 University of Texas at Austin

2. Nevada NSF EPSCoR Project EPS 0813472 • Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) • 5-year, $15 million • Mission: • Create statewide interdisciplinary program • Focused on effects of regional climate change on ecosystem services (water resources) • Support use of climate change information by policy makers and stakeholders

3. External Evaluation Rose Shaw AAAS External Research and Technical Advisory Board (ERTAB) Nevada NSF EPSCoR Project Director Lead PI Dr. Gayle Dana Internal Evaluation Center for Research Design and Analysis Management Team Leadership Council Project Co-PI’s and Institutional Leads Dr. Scott Mensing Dr. Nicholas Lancaster Dr. Thomas Piechota UNR DRI UNLV Infrastructure Building Components 1. Climate Modeling Dr. Darko Koracin DRI 2. Ecological Change Dr. Franco Biondi UNR 3. Water Resources Dr. Lynn Fenstermaker DRI 4. Policy, Decision Making & Outreach Dr. William Smith UNLV 5. Cyberinfrastructure Dr. Sergiu Dascalu UNR 6. Education Dr. David Hassenzahl UNLV Interdisciplinary Science Teams 1. Water, Ecosystems, Human Systems 2. Disturbance Regimes Stakeholder Advisory Committee Six NSHE Steering Committees One for each Infrastructure Building Component Technical Working Groups (Ad Hoc)

4. Ecological Change Franco BiondiUNR, Component Lead Jay ArnoneDRI Brett RiddleUNLV Water Resources Lynn FenstermakerDRI, Component Lead Dale DevittUNLV Laurel SaitoUNR Component Steering Committee

5. Eco/Water Component Goals • Quantify climate variability at multiple elevations and temporal scales • Improve understanding of processes controlling local- and basin-wide impacts of climate • Evaluate interactions between landscape-level processes and biophysical indicators • Evaluate interactions between surface and groundwater systems • Predict changes in wildfire regime, primary productivity, biodiversity (including invasive species), etc. • Assess how interactions between water and ecology will differ under climate change and/or climate variability scenarios

6. Key Elements • Establish two instrumented transects spanning a range of elevations and vegetation zones • eastern (Great Basin Desert) • southern (Mojave Desert) Nevada • Augment existing faculty (Ecosystem Modeler at DRI, Ecoclimatologist at UNR, Climate Scientist at UNLV) • Graduate students/technicians • Develop collection, modeling, and analysis tools of present and past eco-hydrological responses to climate change

7. Instrumented Transects • Assess how climate change effects and ecological responses differ between elevations and latitudes within the State • Are located in semi-arid areas with differing climatic regimes • Will define baseline conditions, capture ongoing changes, and be sites of field experiments • Will be comparable to other networks (CZOs, NEON, WATERS, LTER, etc.)

8. Southern NV Transect 5 sites in Sheep Range All sites managed by US Fish and Wildlife Service Eastern NV Transect 7 sites in Snake Range Landowners include Long Now Foundation NV Land Conservancy Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Great Basin National Park (GBNP) Transect Locations

9. Sheep 1 Creosotebush (900 m) Sheep 2 Blackbrush (1670 m) Sheep 3 Pinyon-juniper (2065 m) Sheep 4 Ponderosa pine (2320 m) Sheep 5 Subalpine conifers (3015 m) Sheep Range Transect

10. Spring 1 Long Now sagebrush (1790 m) Spring 2* BLM pinyon-juniper (2200 m) Spring 3 Long Now montane (2810 m) Spring 4 Long Now subalpine (3355 m) Snake 1 BLM phreatophytic (1560 m) Snake 2 NV Land Conservancy sagebrush (1835 m) Snake 3* GBNP subalpine (3070 m) SV 6** Spring Valley phreatophytic Snake Range Transect * indicates permitting in progress ** an on-going ET monitoring project

11. Site diagram

12. Instrumentation • Power • Solar panel • Jobox with batteries Photo: S. Strachan Solar panels and jobox at Sheep 1 Photo: S. Strachan

13. Precipitation sensors Tipping bucket rain gauges Geonor for rain and snow at high elevation sites Ultra-sonic snow depth Instrumentation Photo: S. Strachan Geonor precipitation gauge at Spring 1 Photo: S. Strachan Photo: S. Strachan Tipping bucket rain gauge at Sheep 1 Precipitation instrumentation at Spring 4

14. Atmospheric sensors Air temperature/relative humidity Infrared radiometers Net radiometers Quantum sensor (PAR) Short/long wave EM radiation sensors Instrumentation

15. Instrumentation • Soil sensors • Dual probe heat pulse (DPHP) sensor • Soil water matric potential sensor • Soil heat flux (G) plate • Thermocouples

16. Instrumentation • Soil infiltration and subsurface flow • Time domain reflectometry (TDR) Photo: B. Johnson TDR installed at Spring 3

17. Instrumentation • Surface runoff Runoff collector at Sheep 4

18. Instrumentation • Vegetation sensors • Sap flow sensors • Point dendrometers • NDVI sensors Point dendrometer at GBNP Sap flow sensor at Spring 3 Photo: B. Johnson NDVI sensor at SV6

19. Instrumentation • Web camera • VB-C60 PTZ Internet Camera Webcam views from Sheep 1

20. Cyber

21. Timeline 2010: Continue instrumentation of sites Begin data collection Initiate cyber-infrastructure data portal Hire Ecosystem Modeler (DRI) 2010-2011: Continue data collection Finish cyber-infrastructure data portal Begin cyber-infrastructure model-data-model connector Complete instrumentation of sites Search for Climate Scientist (UNLV) 2011-2013: Continue data collection Establish baseline conditions and conceptual linkages Develop models Seek additional funding to sustain transects

22. With thanks to the Transect “Experts” Scotty Strachan, UNR Brian Bird, UNLV David Charlet, CSN Richard Jasoni, DRI Brad Lyles, DRI Dave Simeral, DRI Plus several students and volunteers

23. Questions? Photo: B. Johnson