Great Plains                                    
    Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station Research Problems

Grasslands, shrublands, and desert ecosystems

• Understand the separate and interacting effects of natural and anthropogenic disturbances and management actions on grasslands, shrublands, deserts and associated riparian ecosystems.

• Develop tools and techniques to evaluate and manage the increasingly rapid spread of invasive plant species.

• Develop effective concepts, tools, and approaches to restore disturbed upland and riparian ecosystems, evaluate the ecological benefits and costs of ecosystem restoration, and monitor restored ecosystems to ensure sustainability, diversity, and resilience.

• Develop knowledge and tools for managing and sustaining proper function of natural and restored ecosystems to provide ecosystem services and wildlife habitat.

• Acquire an improved understanding of climate change and climate variability as drivers of past and present grassland, shrubland, and desert flora and faunal compositions, distributions, and ecosystems processes in order to devise meaningful management scenarios in response to potential future climatic changes.