About DIREnet

The Drought Impacts on Regional Ecosystems Network (DIREnet) is an effort that brings together 40 core participants to examine the ecological impacts of an ongoing, long-term drought that has affected forests and woodlands in the southwestern United States. Through the coordination and synthesis of ecological research, DIREnet seeks to address critical ecological questions about the role of extreme climatological events in shaping ecosystems and driving evolutionary trajectories. Additionally, DIREnet promotes the cross pollination of research and education through workshops, symposia, and student training. For example, DIREnet has hosted conferences for researchers and land managers to assess the impacts of the drought to foster new research and synthesize existing research. DIREnet also facilitates the exchange of research techniques and data using online tools.

Taken together, DIREnet’s efforts seek to improve understanding of how droughts impact major ecosystems and how climate change scenarios may alter drought dynamics in the future. Since 2005, DIREnet participants have authored a wide range of peer-reviewed publications that explore how warming and drought contribute to tree mortality and other ecosystem changes both regionally and globally.

DIREnet Publications

• Adams, H. D., M. Guardiola-Claramonte, G. A. Barron-Gafford, J. Camilo Villegas, D. D. Breshears, C. B. Zou, P. A. Troch, and T. E. Huxman. 2009. Temperature sensitivity of drought-induced tree mortality portends increased regional die-off under global-change-type drought. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 106: 7063–7066.

• Adams, H. D., C. H. Luce, D. D. Breshears, C. D. Allen, M. Weiler, V. C. Hale, A. M. S. Smith, and T. E. Huxman. 2011. Ecohydrological consequences of drought- and infestation-triggered tree die-off: insights and hypotheses. Ecohydrology: doi: 10.1002/eco.233

• Adams, H. D., A. K. Macalady, D. D. Breshears, C. D. Allen, N. L. Stephenson, S. R. Saleska, T. E. Huxman, and N. G. McDowell. 2010. Climate-induced tree mortality: Earth system consequences. Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union 91(17): 153–154.

• Allen, C. D., A. K. Macalady, H. Chenchouni, D. Bachelet, N. McDowell, M. Vennetier, T. Kitzberger, A. Rigling, D. D. Breshears, E. H. Hogg, P. Gonzalez, R. Fensham, Z. Zhang, J. Castro, N. Demidova, J.-H. Lim, G. Allard, S. W. Running, A. Semerci, and N. Cobb. 2010. A global overview of drought and heat-induced tree mortality reveals emerging climate change risks for forests. Forest Ecology and Management 259(4):660–684.

• Allen, C. D., and D. D. Breshears. 2007. Climate-induced forest dieback as an emergent global phenomenon. Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union 88: 504. (pdf not available)

• Breshears, D. D. 2006. The grassland-forest continuum: trends in ecosystem properties for woody plant mosaics? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 4(2):96–104.

• Breshears, D. D., N. S. Cobb, P. M. Rich, K. M. Price, C. D. Allen, R. G. Balice, W. Romme H., J. H. Kastens, L. M. Floyd, J. Belnap, J. J. Anderson, O. B. Myers, and C. Meyer W. 2005. Regional Vegetation die-off in response to global-change-type drought. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102:15144–15148.

• Breshears, D. D., L. López-Hoffman, and L. J. Graumlich. 2011. When ecosystem services crash: preparing for big, fast, patchy climate change. Ambio 40: 256–263.

• Breshears, D. D., N. G. McDowell, K. L. Goddard, K. E. Dayem, S. N. Martens, C. W. Meyer, and K. M. Brown. 2008. Foliar absorption of intercepted rainfall improves woody plant water status most during drought. Ecology 89:41–47.

• Breshears, D. D., O. B. Myers, and F. J. Barnes. 2009. Horizontal heterogeneity in the frequency of plant-available water with woodland intercanopy-canopy vegetation patch type rivals that occurring vertically by soil depth. Ecohydrology 2: 503–509.

• Breshears, D. D., O. B. Myers, C. W. Meyer, F. J. Barnes, C. B. Zou, C. D. Allen, N. G. McDowell, and W. T. Pockman. 2009. Tree die-off in response to global-change-type drought: mortality insights from a decade of plant water potential measurements. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 7: 185–189.

• Breshears, D. D., T. E. Huxman, H. D. Adams, C. B. Zou, and J. E. Davison. 2008. Vegetation synchronously leans upslope as climate warms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105(33): 11591–11592.

• Clifford, M. J., N. S. Cobb, and M. Buenemann. 2011. Long-term tree cover dynamics in a pinyon-juniper woodland: climate-change-type drought resets successional clock. Ecosystems 14: 946–962.

• Clifford, M. J., M.E. Rocca, R. Delph, P. L. Ford, and N. S. Cobb. 2008. Drought and induced tree mortality and ensuing bark beetle outbreaks in Southwestern pinyon-juniper woodlands. In Gottfried, G. J., J. D. Shaw, and P. L. Ford (Compilers). Ecology, management, and restoration of piñon-juniper and ponderosa pine ecosystems: combined proceedings of the 2005 St. George, Utah and 2006 Albuquerque, New Mexico workshops: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. Proceedings RMRS-P-51. p. 39–51.

• Floyd, M. L., M. Clifford, N. S. Cobb, D. Hanna, R. Delph, P. Ford, D. Turner. 2009. Relationship of stand characteristics to drought-induced mortality in three Southwestern piñon–juniper woodlands. Ecological Application 19:1223–1230.

• Garfin, G. M., J. K. Eischeid, M. T. Lenart, K. L. Cole, K. Ironside, and N. Cobb, 2010. Downscaling climate projections in topographically diverse landscapes of the Colorado Plateau in the arid Southwestern United States. In: van Riper III, C., B. F. Wakeling, and T. D. Sisk, The Colorado Plateau V: shaping conservation through science and management: Tucson, University of Arizona Press, p. 21–44.

• Guardiola-Claramonte, M., P. A. Troch, D. D. Breshears, T. E. Huxman, M. B. Switanek, M. Durcik, and N. S. Cobb. 2011. Decreased streamflow in semi-arid basins following drought-induced tree die-off: a counter-intuitive and indirect climate impact on hydrology. Journal of Hydrology 406:225–233.

• Huang, C.-Y., and W. R. L. Anderegg. 2012. Large drought-induced aboveground live biomass losses in southern Rocky Mountain aspen forests: Global Change Bioology: In press.

• Huang, C., G. P. Asner, N. N. Barger, J. C. Neff, and M. L. Floyd. 2010. Regional aboveground live carbon losses due to drought-induced tree dieback in piñon–juniper ecosystems. Remote Sensing of Environment 114:1471–1479.

• Huang, C.-Y, G. P. Asner, R. E. Martin, N. N. Barger, and J. C. Neff. 2009. Multiscale analysis of tree cover and aboveground carbon stocks in pinyon-juniper woodlands. Ecological Applications 19(3): 668–681.
  

• McDowell, N. G., D. J. Beerling, D. D. Breshears, R. A. Fisher, K. F. Raffa, and M. Stitt. 2011. The interdependence of mechanisms underlying climate-driven vegetation mortality. Trends in Ecology and the Environment 26(10): 523–532.

• McDowell, N., W. T. Pockman, C. D. Allen, D. D. Breshears, N. Cobb, T. Kolb, J. Plaut, J. Sperry, A. West, D, G. Williams, and E. A. Yepez. 2008. Mechanisms of plant survival and mortality during drought: why do some plants survive while others succumb to drought? New Phytologist 178:719–739.

• Newman, B. D., B. P. Wilcox, S. R. Archer, D. D. Breshears, C. N. Dahm, C. J. Duffy, N. G. McDowell, F. M. Phillips, B. R. Scanlon, and E. R. Vivoni. 2006. Ecohydrology of water-limited environments: a scientific vision. Water Resources Research 42: W06302, doi:10.1029/2005WR004141.

• Reiley, D. K., D. D. Breshears, P. H. Zedler, M. H. Ebinger, and C. W. Meyer. 2010. Soil carbon heterogeneity in piñon-juniper woodland patches: effect of woody plant variation on neighboring intercanopies is not detectable. Journal of Arid Environments 74: 239–246.

• Rich, P. M., D. D. Breshears, and A. B. White. 2008. Phenology of mixed woody-herbaceous ecosystems following extreme events: net and differential responses. Ecology 89(2): 342–352.

• Royer, P. D., D. D. Breshears, C. B. Zou, N. S. Cobb, and S. A. Kurc. 2010. Ecohydrological energy inputs in semiarid coniferous gradients: Responses to management- and drought-induced tree reductions. Forest Ecology and Management 260:1646–1655.

• Royer, P. D., D. D. Breshears., C. B. Zou, J. C. Villegas, N. S. Cobb, and S. A. Kurc. 2012. Density-dependent effects of piñon juniper canopy cover on soil microclimate and potential soil evaporation. Rangeland Ecology and Management 66:11–20.

• Royer, P. D., N. S. Cobb, M. J. Clifford, C.-Y. Huang, D. D. Breshears, H. D. Adams, and J. C. Villegas. 2011. Extreme climatic event-triggered overstorey vegetation loss increases understorey solar input regionally: primary and secondary ecological implications. Journal of Ecology 99:714–723.

• Urgeghe, A. M., D. D. Breshears, S. N. Martens, and P. C. Beeson. 2010. Redistribution of runoff among vegetation patch types: on ecohydrological optimality of herbaceous capture of run-on. Rangeland Ecology and Management 63: 497–504.

• Zou, C. B., G. A. Barron-Gafford, and D. D. Breshears. 2007. Effects of topography and woody plant canopy cover on near-ground solar radiation: relevant energy inputs for ecohydrology and hydropedology. Geophysical Research Letters 34: L24S21, doi:10.1029/2007GL031484.

DIREnet Downloads

Original NSF Proposal.
 
NSF Meeting Poster Presentation