2021 Desert Ecology Short-Course Presentation Schedule

Below is the presentation schedule for this year’s Desert Ecology Short-Course. The full 3-day itinerary can be found here. Click on each student presentation title to view their abstract!

Jornada LTER Desert Ecology Short-Course Presentation Schedule (Tuesday-Wednesday June 29-30, 2021)

SpeakerAffiliationTitle
Tuesday, June 29 Student Oral Presentations (8:00-11:15 am)Presentations by JRN students; 2-minute intros + 12-minute talks + 3 minutes for questions. Students will present in the following order:
Courtney CurrierASUNitrogen cycling in a semiarid grassland under extreme rainfall conditions
Mikaela HoellrichNMSUBiogeochemical function and microbial diversity in Chihuahuan Desert biocrusts
Samuel JordanASUDrought and disturbance in Chihuahuan Desert shrublands: synergistic effects on productivity and diversity
Corey NelsonASUBeneficial heterotrophs enhance the effectiveness of cyanobacteria-based biocrust restoration in drylands
Ryan SchroederNMSUSoil seed banks across an ecological state gradient of the Jornada Experimental Range: A timely test of a novel conceptual framework
  BREAK
Zac KellerASUHillslope-Channel Runoff Connectivity During the North American Monsoon in an Arid Piedmont Watershed
Eli Perez-RuizASUSeasonality of Water-Carbon Dynamics in a Mixed Shrubland of a Bajada Landscape
Kieran AndreoniU of IllinoisGauging the relative effects of mammalian herbivores on shrub encroachment at Jornada Basin
Molly ReichenbornNMSUPlant Community Recovery following Chemical Control of Mesquite
Julie RakesASUA bacterium predatory on cyanobacteria from biological soil crusts
SpeakerAffiliationTitle
Tuesday, June 29 Student Poster Presentations (11:15-11:45)Presentations by JRN students; 1 to 2-minute intros + 5 minute pre-recorded talks + 3 minutes for questions. Students will present in the following order:
Ifeanyi NwigbojiUTEPrDataFusion: A Project-Specific Multi-Data Fusion Tool for Discovering, Integrating, and Visualizing Heterogenous Long-term Data Sets
Kathleen SchaefferUTEPDetermining the effects of large-scale shrub removal on soil carbon in the Chihuahuan Desert
William BeamonUTEPDecadal landscape and species level greenness patterns in a northern Chihuahuan Desert Shrubland
SpeakerAffiliationTitle
Wednesday June 30 Student Oral Presentations (9:00-9:50 am)Presentations by JRN students; 2-minute intros + 12-minute talks + 3 minutes for questions. Students will present in the following order:
Seth BurrussNMSURemote Sensing of Biological Soil Crust in the Chihuahuan desert ecosystem
Tyler TurkNMSUConnectivity and Seed Availability in Drylands: Interactions of Vegetation and Seed Movement at Multiple Scales
Christopher VitoASUBelowground Plant Responses to Changes in Precipitation: Effects of Amount, Duration, and Direction
SpeakerAffiliationTitle
Wednesday June 30 Investigator Presentations (9:50-12:30)Presentations by JRN Investigators; 25-minute talks + 5 minutes for questions. PIs will present in the following order:
Osvaldo SalaASUPast, present, and future of woody-plant encroachment: Disentangling the effects of climate and land-use change
Ferran Garcia-PichelASUPlant and microbial diversity show divergent responses to long term drought and nitrogen fertilization
  BREAK (10 minutes)
Jeff HerrickUSDA-ARSLandPKS app for research & citizen science: overview and new Habitat and SoilHealth modules
Marguerite MauritzUTEPInterannual and seasonal CO2 exchange and rainfall dynamics in a northern Chihuahuan Desert shrubland
Bob SchooleyU of IllinoisCross-site and regional studies: Desert rodents track climate variability and intraguild predation in a managed landscape
Niall HananNMSUJRN shrub-shrub experiments: dryland challenges to ecological theory