Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Long-Term Tree Cover Dynamics in a Pinyon-Juniper Woodland: Climate-Change-Type Drought Resets Successional Clock

  • Published:
Ecosystems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Woody vegetation has expanded in coverage over the past century in many places globally, exemplified by pinyon-juniper changes in the Southwestern United States. Extreme drought is one of the few non-management drivers besides fire that might reverse such cover changes, but this has not been well documented. Here, we assess 68 years of tree cover dynamics across an elevation gradient of a pinyon-juniper woodland using aerial photographs (1936 and 1959) and QuickBird imagery (2004). Canopy cover increased 32% from 1936 to the onset of a major drought (2002). The largest relative increase in canopy cover occurred from 1936 to 1959 at the higher elevations, but these gains were eliminated by fires occurring from 1959 to 2002, during which time lower elevations with low canopy cover exhibited the greatest relative increases. The 2002–2004 drought reduced canopy cover by 55%, which eliminated gains in cover that occurred since 1936. Relative tree cover loss was highest at low elevations with low tree cover, but absolute tree cover loss was greater in areas of high tree cover, which increased with elevation. The loss of more than half of the canopy cover during a 2-year drought period was much greater than losses due to fire or possible increases due to historic land use (for example, grazing). These results suggest that regional-scale climatic influences may be more important than land use legacies in controlling tree cover of these and perhaps other semiarid woodlands over longer time scales—notable given that similar episodes of tree mortality are projected in coming decades with climate change.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams HD, Guardiola-Claramonte M, Barron-Gafford GA et al. 2009. Temperature sensitivity of drought-induced tree mortality portends increased regional die-off under global-change-type drought. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106:7063–6.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Adams HD, Kolb TE. 2005. Tree growth response to drought and temperature in a mountain landscape in northern Arizona, USA. J Biogeog 32:1629–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adams HD, Macalady AK, Breshears DD et al. 2010. Climate-induced tree mortality: earth system consequences. Eos 91:153–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allen CD, Breshears DD. 1998. Drought induced shifts of a forest-woodland ecotone: rapid landscape response to climate variation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95:14839–42.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Allen EA, Nowak RS. 2008. Effect of pinyon-juniper tree cover on the soil seed bank. Range Ecol Manag 61:63–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allen CD, Macalady AK, Chenchouni H et al. 2010. A global overview of drought and heat-induced tree mortality reveals emerging climate change risks for forests. For Ecol Manag 259:660–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson RS. 1993. A 35,000 year vegetation and climate history from Potato Lake, Mogollon Rim, Arizona. Quat Res 40:351–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson JJ, Cobb NS. 2004. Tree cover discrimination in panchromatic aerial imagery of pinyon-juniper woodlands. Photogramm Eng Remote Sens 70:1063–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Archer S. 1994. Woody plant encroachment into southwestern grasslands and savannas: rates, patterns and approximate causes. In: Vavra M, Laycock W, Pieper R, Eds. Ecological implications of livestock herbivory in the west. Denver, CO: Society for Range Management. p 13–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aro RS. 1971. Evaluation of pinyon-juniper conversion to grassland. J Range Manag 24:188–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asner GP, Archer S, Hughes RF et al. 2003. Net changes in regional woody vegetation cover and carbon storage in Texas Drylands, 1937–1999. Glob Change Biol 9:316–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker WL, Shinneman DJ. 2004. Fire and restoration of piñon-juniper woodlands in the western United States: a review. For Ecol Manag 189:1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barger NN, Adams HD, Woodhouse C et al. 2009. Influence of livestock grazing and climate on pinyon pine (Pinus edulis) dynamics. Range Ecol Manag 62:531–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Betancourt JL, Schuster WS, Mitton JB, Anderson RS. 1991. Fossil and genetic history of a pinyon pine (Pinus edulis) isolate. Ecology 72:685–1697.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley BA, Fleishman E. 2008. Relationship between expanding pinyon-juniper cover and topography in the central Great Basin, Nevada. J Biogeogr 35:951–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breshears DD. 2006. The grassland-forest continuum: trends in ecosystem properties for woody plant mosaics? Front Ecol Environ 4:96–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breshears DD, Rich PM, Barnes FJ, Campbell K. 1997. Overstory-imposed heterogeneity in solar radiation and soil moisture in a semiarid woodland. Ecol Appl 7:1201–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breshears DD, Cobb NS, Rich PM et al. 2005. Regional vegetation die-off in response to global-change type drought. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:15144–8.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Breshears DD, Huxman TE, Adams HA et al. 2008. Vegetation synchronously leans upslope as climate warms. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:11591–2.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Breshears DD, Myers OB, Barnes FJ. 2009a. Horizontal heterogeneity in the frequency of plant-available water with woodland intercanopy-canopy vegetation patch type rivals that occurring vertically by soil depth. Ecohydrology 2:503–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breshears DD, Whicker JJ, Zou CB et al. 2009b. A conceptual framework for dryland aeolian sediment transport along the grassland–forest continuum: effects of woody plant canopy cover and disturbance. Geomorphology 105:28–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown PM, Sieg CH. 1999. Historical variability in fire at the ponderosa pine—Northern Great Plains prairie ecotone, southeastern Black Hills, South Dakota. Ecoscience 8:539–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckhouse JC, Gifford GF. 1976. Grazing and debris burning on pinyon-juniper sites-some chemical water quality implications. J Range Manag 29:299–301.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carmel Y, Kadmon R. 1998. Computer classification of Mediterranean vegetation using panchromatic aerial photographs. J Veg Sci 9:445–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clifford MJ, Rocca ME, Delph R, Ford PL, Cobb NS. 2008. Drought induced tree mortality and ensuing Bark beetle outbreaks in Southwestern pinyon-juniper woodlands. In Gottfried G, Shaw J, Ford PL, 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. Proceedings RMRS-P-51. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. pp 39–51.

  • Dullinger S, Dirnbock T, Grabherr G. 2004. Modelling climate change-driven treeline shifts: relative effects of temperature increase, dispersal and invisibility. J Ecol 92:241–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Floyd ML, Hanna DD, Romme WH. 2004. Historical and recent fire regimes in piñon-juniper woodlands on Mesa Verde, Colorado, USA. For Ecol Manag 198:269–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Floyd ML, Clifford M, Cobb N, Hanna D, Delph R, Ford P, Turner D. 2009. Relationship of stand characteristics to drought-induced mortality in piñon-juniper woodlands in Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. Ecol Appl 19:1223–30.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ganey JL, Vojta SC. 2011. Tree mortality and drought stressed mixed-conifer and ponderosa pine forests, Arizona, USA. For Ecol Manag 261:162–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood DL, Weisberg PJ. 2008. Density-dependent tree mortality in pinyon-juniper woodlands. For Ecol Manag 255:2129–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris AT, Asner GP, Miller ME. 2003. Changes in vegetation structure after long-term grazing in pinyon-juniper ecosystems: integrating imaging spectroscopy and field studies. Ecosystems 6:368–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • House JI, Prentice IC, Quéré CL. 2002. Maximum impacts of future reforestation or deforestation on atmospheric CO2. Glob Change Biol 8:1047–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang C, Asner GP, Martin RE et al. 2009. Multiscale analysis of tree cover and aboveground carbon stocks in pinyon-juniper woodlands. Ecol Appl 19:668–81.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huang C, Asner GP, Barger NN et al. 2010. Regional aboveground live carbon losses due to drought-induced tree dieback in pinyon-juniper ecosystems. Remote Sens Environ 114:1471–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kadmon R, Harari-Kremer R. 1999. Studying long-term vegetation dynamics using digital processing of historical aerial photographs. Remote Sens Environ 68:164–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly A, Goulden M. 2008. Rapid shifts in plant distribution with recent climate change. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:11823–6.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ko D, Bristow N, Greenwood D, Weisberg P. 2009. Canopy cover estimation in semiarid woodlands: comparison of field-based and remote sensing methods. For Sci 55:132–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koepke DF, Kolb TE, Adams HD. 2010. Variation in woody plant mortality and dieback from severe drought among soils, plant groups, and species within a northern Arizona ecotone. Oecologia 163:1079–90.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Köppen WP. 1936. Das geographische System der Klimate. In: Köppen W, Geiger R, Eds. Handbuch der Klimatologie in fünf Bänden, Band I, Teil C, vol 44. Berlin, Germany: Gebrüder Borntraeger.

  • Kulakowski D, Veblen TT, Bebi P. 2003. Effects of fire and spruce beetle outbreak legacies on the disturbance regime of a subalpine forest in Colorado. J Biogeogr 30:1445–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loft ER, Menke JW, Kie JG, Bertram RC. 1987. Influence of cattle stocking rate on the structural profile of deer hiding cover. J Wildl Manag 51:655–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malmstrom CM, Raffa KF. 2000. Biotic disturbance agents in boreal forests: considerations for vegetation change models. Glob Change Biol 6:35–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDowell N, Pockman WT, Allen CD et al. 2008. Mechanisms of plant survival and mortality during drought: why do some plants survive while others succumb to drought? New Phytol 178:719–39.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller RF, Wigand PE. 1994. Holocene changes in semi-arid pinyon-juniper woodlands. Bioscience 44:465–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Negron JF, Wilson JW. 2003. Attributes associated with probability of infestation by the piñon Ips confusus (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), in piñon pine, Pinus edulis. West N Am Nat 63:440–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Overpeck J, Udall B. 2010. Dry times ahead. Science 328:1642–3.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Romme WH, Allen CD, Bailey JD et al. 2009. Historical and modern disturbance regimes, stand structures, and landscape dynamics in piñon-juniper vegetation of the western United States. Range Ecol Manag 62:203–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Royer PD, Cobb NS, Clifford MJ et al. 2011. Extreme event-triggered overstory vegetation loss increases understory solar input regionally: primary and secondary ecological implications. J Ecol 99:714–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santos MJ, Whitham TG. 2010. Predictors of Ips confusus outbreaks during a record drought in Southwestern USA: implications for monitoring and management. Environ Manag 45:239–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw JD, Steed BE, DeBlander LT. 2005. Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) annual inventory answers the question: what is happening to pinyon-juniper woodlands? J For 103:280–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shinneman DJ, Baker WL. 2009. Historical fire and multidecadal drought as context for piñon-juniper woodland restoration in western Colorado. Ecol Appl 19:1231–45.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Steltzer H, Landry C, Painter TH, Anderson J, Ayers F. 2009. Biological consequences of earlier snowmelt from desert dust deposition in alpine landscapes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106:11629–34.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stimson HC, Breshears DD, Ustin SL, Kefauver SC. 2005. Spectral sensing of foliar water conditions in two co-occurring conifer species: Pinus edulis and Juniperus monosperma. Remote Sens Environ 96:108–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swetnam TW, Betancourt JL. 1998. Mesoscale disturbance and ecological response to decadal climatic variability in the American Southwest. Clima Change 11:3128–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner MG. 1989. Landscape ecology: the effect of pattern on process. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 20:171–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Auken OW. 2000. Shrub invasions of North American semiarid grasslands. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 31:197–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weisberg PJ, Lingua E, Pillai RB. 2007. Spatial patterns of pinyon-juniper woodland expansion in central Nevada. Range Ecol Manag 60:115–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss J, Castro CL, Overpeck JT. 2009. Distinguishing pronounced droughts in the southwestern United States: seasonality and effects of warmer temperatures. J Clim 22:5918–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westerling AL, Hidalgo HG, Cayan DR, Swetnam TW. 2006. Warming and earlier spring increases Western U.S. forest wildfire activity. Science 313:940–3.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Willms WD, Dormaar JF, Schaalje B. 1988. Stability of grazed patches on rough fescue grasslands. J Range Manag 41:503–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yorks TP, West NE, Capels KM. 1994. Changes in pinyon-juniper woodlands in western Utah’s Pine Valley between 1933–1989. J Range Manag 47:359–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This manuscript substantially benefited from the comments from two anonymous reviewers, as well as comments from D. Breshears. For GIS and remote sensing support and advice, we would like to thank D. Barbone, C. Krause, C. Huang, K. Ironside, A. Kirschbaum, and M. Peters. We would also like to acknowledge the numerous people that provided support for field work over the past decade, including J. Anderson who discovered the 1936 photos. Coconino National Forest provided access to grazing records and GIS data on fire distribution. This work was supported in part by NSF DEB-0443526 and USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, Middle Rio Grande Ecosystem Management Unit.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth and Environmental Science Department, Lehigh University, 1 West Packer Avenue, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 18015, USA

    Michael J. Clifford

  2. Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research, Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Peterson Hall, Box 6077, Flagstaff, Arizona, 86011, USA

    Neil S. Cobb

  3. Department of Geography, New Mexico State University, MSC MAP, P.O. Box 30001, Las Cruces, New Mexico, 88003, USA

    Michaela Buenemann

Authors
  1. Michael J. Clifford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Neil S. Cobb
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Michaela Buenemann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael J. Clifford.

Additional information

Author contributions

The manuscript was written by MJC, NSC, and MB. MJC and NSC conceived the study, and MJC conducted the research and analyzed the data. MB contributed to methods.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Clifford, M.J., Cobb, N.S. & Buenemann, M. Long-Term Tree Cover Dynamics in a Pinyon-Juniper Woodland: Climate-Change-Type Drought Resets Successional Clock. Ecosystems 14, 949–962 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-011-9458-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-011-9458-2

Key words

Search

Navigation