Ecology

The overarching goal of the Ecology component is to quantify the role that fire-induced successional stages of sagebrush ecosystems play in determining (i) net ecosystem CO2 and evapotranspiration (ET) fluxes, and their component biogeochemical fluxes; (ii) how successional plant community types affect burn severity and the subsequent biophysical responses to experimental fire; and (iii) how these responses contribute to recovery or modification of plant communities and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) and ET in order to improve quantitative understanding and prediction of fire and fire effects in the sagebrush ecosystem.