New Mexico Elevation Gradient

New Mexico Elevation Gradient of Flux Towers

Funding: Department of Energy, Ameriflux Management Project
Research Team: Marcy Litvak (PI), Steven Crisp, Alex Moody, Missy Baciagalupa, Andrea Urioste

Objective: We are using a network of nine eddy covariance flux tower sites that my lab group runs, distributed across a 1500 m gradient in elevation, climate and land cover that we refer to as the New Mexico elevation gradient (NMEG) to answer these questions. These towers are distributed in 6 biomes: C4 dominant grassland, creosote shrubland, juniper savanna, piñon‐juniper woodland, ponderosa pine forest and subalpine mixed conifer forest, which collectively represent about 55% of the land cover of the 4 corner states in the Southwestern US. When I started at UNM in 2006, I assumed responsibility for 4 existing flux towers: the ponderosa pine forest and mixed conifer forest towers in the Valles Caldera National Preserve, and the desert grassland and shrubland towers at the Sevilleta LTER. My group improved these and built and instrumented additional towers in a juniper savanna and piñon‐juniper woodland in 2008 with funding from the NSF‐EPSCoR Hydrology program (part of my start up package), and a grant from the USFS. We are now going on 11 years of data from the 4 original towers, and 9‐10 years in the other two sites. The continuous multi‐year observations across this network have allowed us to quantify the mechanisms regulating carbon, water and energy exchange across this wide range of semi‐arid ecosystems (e.g. Anderson‐Teixera et al. 2011), as well as more detailed mechanisms focusing in on ecosystem processes in one or more sites (e.g. Petrie et al. 2014, 2015; Breecker et al. 2012; He et al. 2010, D’Odorico et al. 2010, Stielstra et al. 2014; Perdrial et al. 2014; Harpold et al. 2015; Molotch et al. 2009).

More info on all six of these sites available by watching the YouTube video Steven Crisp put together, clicking on pictures of each biome below, or from links off of the New Mexico Elevation Gradient header, or the Ameriflux web page link below.