field*conditions

I am a biologist.
You can find me in the center of the venn diagram where ecology, conservation and restoration intersect with the socio-economic realities that shape how we interact with & impact the ecosystems around us.

My dissertation research examines the process of desertification. The bulk of this work occurs in the American southwest, but I also spent the summer of 2009 in northern China to learn about desertification in Inner Mongolia. I am funded by the following grants & fellowships:
-National Science Foundation's East Asia Pacific Summer Institute, which seeks to promote international research collaborations between American graduate students and scientists in Asia.
-American Philosophical Society's Lewis & Clark Fund for Exploration
-Ariel Appleton Research Fellowship
-Appleton Whittell Research Ranch Apacheria Fellowship
-Sigma Xi

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Horquin encroaching sandy land

this pic shows it all. cultivation down the slope in the center. poplars planted on the bottom left, for the dual purposes of dune stabilization and fuelwood. semi-fixed dunes to the right, and mobile dunes in the distance. just out of the frame to the right is a small herd of cattle.

the landscape here is a matrix of successional stages. this system is fragile and easily disturbed by grazing or conversion to crops, but the early successional plants respond quickly once the pressure is removed (e.g. fenced to prevent grazing for a few years) and begin to stabilize the dunes in a few years. still, in the meantime the bare sand is easily eroded by the strong winds that occur here, especially in the winter when conditions are dry and there is even less vegetation to hold the ground in place; hence the term mobile dunes.

Tagged: desertification Inner Mongolia china

Posted on July 1, 2009