Current and Ongoing Projects:
- Social and ecological responses to climate change and land-use effects on water availability: Contrasting resilience among major river basins of the US and Canada (AND, CAP, CWT, HBR, LUQ, NWT, plus several non-LTER long-term hydrologic sites): Examines evidence for long-term change in climate and hydrology, using among other resources the ClimDB and HydroDB databases, impacts of human activities and land-use change on hydrology in major river basins (Jones et al. 2012). This project is ongoing.
- Land fragmentation (CAP, SEV, JRN, SGS, and KNZ): Examines land fragmentation patterns across the five urban areas associated with the LTER sites (Shrestha et al. 2012; York et al. 2011; S. Zhang et al. in press). Phoenix work is ongoing.
- Urban residential landscapes (CAP, PIE, FCE and BES): Focuses on understanding the form and drivers of urban residential landscapes as socioecological systems (Brumand and Larson 2012; Cook et al. 2012; Harris et al. in press; Roy Chowdhury et al. 2011). Now, this project has morphed into the “Ecological homogenization of Urban America” project.
- Cross-site zoning and land use (CAP, BES, and FCE): Investigates the relationship between zoning and land use, focusing on environmental justice and land-use change during the 20th century.
- ULTRA Ex: Land and water use decision-making and ecosystem services (CAP, JRN, SEV): Focuses on perception, valuation, and management of ecosystem services in open spaces across three Southwestern cities.
- Ecological homogenization of Urban America (CAP, PIE, FCE, BES, CDR and Los Angeles): Tests hypothesis of whether similar management practices across cities leads to homogenization in ecological structure and function relevant to ecosystem carbon and nitrogen dynamics.
- RCN-SEES for urban sustainability (CAP, BES, FCE, PIE, and other cities): Integrates and synthesizes urban research while incubating solutions-oriented products.
- Scenarios of change (numerous LTER sites): Examines scenarios of land-use change (Thompson et al. 2012).
- Maps and Locals (MALS) (numerous LTER sites): Investigates socioecological systems using a mixed methods comparative approach, including spatial analysis and ethnography.
- Developing a framework for socio-ecological systems research (numerous LTER sites, European LTER network): CAP has been an active participant in the development of the Integrated Science for Society and Environment framework for socioecological research (Collins et al. 2011), as well as participating in a book project arising from the European LTER network and other collaborators (Grimm et al. 2012).
- National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON): CAP is contributing to the Desert Southwest Domain.
Completed Cross-Site Projects:
- Participation in the Teaching ecosystem complexity through field science inquiry project
- Participation in the Lotic Intersite Nitrogen Experiment (LINX) study
- Agrarian landscapes in transition project with seven LTER sites
- Compilation of data on human population and economy across the LTER Network, 1790-2000 as part of the Socioeconomic catalog of the LTER Ecotrends project Contribution of site data to the LTER Ecotrends project
- Leadership in the development of research on ecosystem services across the LTER Network