1 Fox CAP LTER site
Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research site Brian Fox Grand Canyon University BIO182L December 9, 2010
Fox 2 Abstract The Central-Arizona Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) site began in 1997. Researchers question how services provided by evolving urban ecosystems influence human output, how human responses change the ecosystem's structure and role, and urban sustainability in an unstable setting. The site is located where the Gila and Salt Rivers converge. CAP LTER scientists believe NPP in the central Arizona ecosystem is related, and it may be regulated by humans.
Fox 3 Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research site Introduction Between 1990 and 1996, Maricopa has had the most immigration than any other county in the US. Land development is rated at over 1 acre per hour (Martin, Stabler, Celestian, & Stutz, 2002). Out of 26 sites, The Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) site is given funds by the National Science Foundation. Put forth in 1997 with the Baltimore Ecosystem Study as the first of the urban LTER sites, the CAP LTER has fundamentally established urban ecology to be of importance to ecological inquiry. Research Research at this site is geared towards: How services provided by evolving urban ecosystems influence human output, how human responses change the ecosystem's structure and role, and urban sustainability in an unstable setting (Description, n.d.). How does urbanization change the structure and function of ecosystems and thereby alter the services provided by those ecosystems? How do people perceive and respond to ecosystem services, how are the services' effects distributed spatially and with reference to characteristics of the population, and how do individual and collective behaviors further change ecosystem structure and function? How does the larger context of biophysical drivers (e.g., climate change) and societal drivers (e.g., immigration or regional urbanization) influence the interaction and feedbacks between ecosystems and society as mediated
Fox 4 through ecosystem services, and thereby influence the future of the urban ecosystem? (Description, n.d.) CAP LTER's structure is dynamic in the geographical and socioeconomic model. The dynamics of land usage and land cover and legacies are key focal points for research. More areas of importance are the changes related to the desert ecosystem through housing and urban infrastructure, urban landscaping, and alterations to the hydrologic system (Description, n.d.). History Before 1970, urban residential and commercial development took place on agricultural landscaping. The greenery of Phoenix is abundant, distributed, and diverse, differing much from that of the binding desert because human preferences and anthropogenic actions control community structure of urban and suburban landscape plants. In the past, urban vegetation in Phoenix was that of a desert oasis, and has been illustrated by greenery. Before air conditioning in the 1960s, amenity landscapes characterized by large shade trees, lush vegetation, and lawns were commonly planted. However, ever since the late 1980s, governmental policy has changed toward supporting water conservation in urban landscapes because of worries about distribution, abundance, and quality of fresh water resources. Beginning in 1998, scientists have been studying net primary production (NPP) in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area from a horticultural aspect such that perceives urban landscape plants as a piece of an ecosystem that has been designed and intensively managed to correspond with the interests of humans (Martin et al., 2002).
Fox 5 Location Researchers are focused on studying in Arizona and metropolitan Phoenix where the Salt and Gila Rivers converge. This area enables scientists to research the urban influences beyond these boundaries, compare, and look at issues related between the greater Phoenix and Tucson areas. Phoenix is in the northeast quadrant of the Sonoran Desert (Description, n.d.). Researchers The various teams of researchers are categorized as: Climate, Ecosystems, and People; Water Dynamics in a Desert City; Biogeochemical Patterns, Processes, and Human Outcomes; Human Decisions and Biodiversity; Sustainable Futures for Central Arizona; Characterizing Land Use, Land Cover, and Land Architecture; North Desert Village Experimental Suburb; Survey 200; Phoenix Area Social Survey; and Economic and Census Data Mining. Some of the people involved are of various universities in states like Illinois, Massachusetts, California and North Carolina. One is from the city of Phoenix, and another has ties with the US Forest Service. Though, mostly the researchers are from ASU (Research teams, n.d.). The project director is Dan Childer. The project managers are Steven Earl, Monica Elser, Philip Tarrant, and Marcia Nation (People, n.d.). Methods of Conducting Research The CAP LTER scientists are involved in long-term studying of plant ecology in an arid environment via methods of remote sensing, extensive monitoring of NPP at uncontrolled sites across the city, and controlled experimentation at research sites. Long-term monitoring is the primary research method. CAP researchers are able to study changes over a period of time in
Fox 6 variables that are cycle slowly. Also, it allows for scientists to investigate dynamics of urbanization in rural areas and the increase of populations already urbanized ones. Arthropods such as bees are sampled quarterly, birds are given a point-count bird census in semiannually January and March and in December and February, the trees' biovolume and tree condition are factors measured every winter, and desert flora like the Creosote and annual plants are examined for their stem length growth and biomass harvesting, respectively (Long-term monitoring, n.d.). Some of the monitoring programs are: Survey 200, for which researchers conduct photo documentation, examine composition of vegetation, vegetation cover, soil: physical, chemical, and biological, habitat/built structure, and investigate human activity every five years in spring; those involved in the North Desert Village measure landscape water use, electricity use, and home surface temperature monthly; for atmospheric deposition CAP LTER researchers factor wet and dry nitrogen deposition quarterly; researchers involving themselves with desert soil chemistry examine nutrients and major cations and anions of soil semiannually; those that deal with water-quality monitoring monitor nutrients, major cations/anions, pH, temperature, specific conductance, and particulates bimonthly; in the area of groundwater-quality monitoring researchers look at water quality bimonthly; for stormwater monitoring water quality is determined by taking a flow-weighted sampling of each runoff-producing storm; land-use and land-cover are studied every five years; researchers studying microclimate look at growth and intensity of urban heat island and the decline in frosts and freezes when data is needed, and also take a standard suite of meteorological variables continuously; and lastly the Phoenix Area Social Survey surveys water supply and conservation, land use, preservation, and growth management, air quality and transportation, and climate change and the urban heat island every five years (Long-term monitoring, n.d.).
Fox 7 CAP LTER scientists also perform long-term experiments. These experiments have clarified ecosystem processes. Two experiments that were conducted: The North Desert Village Experiment and the Ecological Response to C and N Deposition from the Urban Atmosphere (CNDep project) (Long-term experiments, n.d.). The North Desert Village (NDV) is a landscape experiment at ASU's Polytechnic campus that allows for CAP LTER researchers to study human-landscape interactions in a lookalike environment. In this experiment, there are four landscape design/water delivery types in six households that resemble the four primary "yardscapes" found in the Phoenix metropolitan area: Mesic/flood irrigation is composed of exotic vegetation and shade trees with grass; Oasis consists of drip-watered, both high and low water-use plants on granite, and sprinkler-watered grass; Xeric is plants that are individually watered, and exotic and native plants on granite, requiring little water; and Native is described as native Sonoran Desert plants on granite that require no human input (as far as watering). Six other households are observed as no-plant, nowater controls (North Desert, n.d.). The CAP LTER scientists ask: How do landscape design and irrigation methods affect NPP and under-canopy microclimate, soil nutrient pools and fluxes, insect abundance and diversity, bird activity? How does landscape design affect direct human-landscape interactions in terms of both perceptions and behaviors? (Martin et al., 2002; North Desert, n.d.)
Fox 8 Reasons for Choice of Site I picked this LTER site because it is located in my hometown Phoenix. Not only that, but I would also like to know more about the landscape as well as the population and community of plants. Researching for this paper has provided such an insight. Also by writing this paper I found out the history of the landscape and greenery, which is something I would like to know. Conclusion Researchers had concluded NPP in the central Arizona ecosystem is intertwined, and is probably regulated by humans. Land for human purposes affects distribution of vegetation, and human preferences control species composition. Factors of the environment that put boundaries on NPP (low soil moisture and content of nutrients) are counteracted by human irrigation and fertilization techniques. Some human activities are perceived as disturbances and may limit productivity because of changes in soil microbial cultures. Management of plants, for example pruning, decreases water use efficiency, but may increase aesthetics of the plant by increasing density and affecting shape (Martin et al., 2002).
Fox 9 References CAP LTER staff. (n.d.). Description. Retrieved December 2, 2010, from http://www.lternet.edu/sites/cap/fulldescription.php?site=CAP CAP LTER staff. (n.d.). Long-term experiments. Retrieved December 4, 2010, from http://caplter.asu.edu/research/long-term-experiments/ CAP LTER staff. (n.d.). Long-term monitoring. Retrieved December 4, 2010, from http://caplter.asu.edu/research/long-term-monitoring/ CAP LTER staff. (n.d.). North Desert Village Experiment. Retrieved December 4, 2010, from http://caplter.asu.edu/research/research-projects/research-home/research-highlight-2/ CAP LTER staff. (n.d.). People. Retrieved December 2, 2010, from http://caplter.asu.edu/people/ CAP LTER staff. (n.d.). Research teams. Retrieved December 4, 2010, from http://caplter.asu.edu/people/research-teams/ Martin, C.A., Stabler, L.B., Celestian, S.B., & Stutz, J.C. (2002). Urban plant ecology: A horiticultural perspective. Initial results from a Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site. Retrieved December 5, 2010, from http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/fletcher/programs/nursery/metria/metria12/martinetal/index.htm l