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SUMMARY:Assessing Drought Sensitivity Across the Shortgrass Steppe Biome
LOCATION:NR142
TZID:America/Denver
DTSTART:20240620T140000
UID:2026-05-24-05-08-27@natsci.colostate.edu
DTSTAMP:20260524T050827
Description:Net primary productivity (NPP) of grassland ecosystems is depen
 dent on many biotic and abiotic factors. However\, water availability is g
 enerally considered the primary determinant of NPP\, as well as being key 
 for defining grassland community structure\, and thus it is imperative to 
 understand how grasslands respond to drought in a climate where droughts a
 re expected to become more frequent and severe. There is a well-documented
  negative relationship\, described by the Huxman-Smith model\, between dro
 ught sensitivity and mean annual precipitation (MAP) at spatial scales tha
 t span multiple biomes. In other words\, drier ecosystems are usually more
  sensitive to drought than more mesic ecosystems. While this cross-biome p
 attern has been independently confirmed with a variety of research approac
 hes\, there is limited research that has explored how patterns of drought 
 sensitivity vary with MAP within a single biome where the dominant species
  do not vary. My goal was to determine if this negative relationship is ev
 ident within a regionally extensive grassland biome generally dominated by
  a single grass species (Bouteloua gracilis or blue gramma).\n\nI characte
 rized the spatial pattern and relationship between drought sensitivity and
  MAP across the shortgrass steppe biome of the North American Great Plains
  using satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and
  Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) data (from 2000-2022) as proxies for vege
 tation productivity. Gridded annual precipitation data were obtained at a 
 comparable spatial scale. I found a negative relationship between drought 
 sensitivity and MAP within the shortgrass steppe biome\, indicating that t
 he Huxman-Smith model is also supported within a single biome. Thus\, my r
 esults suggest that while changes in the dominant vegetation may contribut
 e to the patterns observed between MAP and drought sensitivity at large sp
 atial scales that include multiple biomes\, gradients in MAP within a biom
 e can also drive this negative relationship. As a result\, directional cha
 nges in annual precipitation amounts have the potential to alter drought s
 ensitivity directly\, even if the dominant plant species do not change.\n\
 n- - -\n\nAll are invited to attend this special Master\\'s Thesis Defense
 . Join us in person or online via Teams! 2:00 pm
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