TY - JOUR
T1 - Form and function relationships revealed by long-term research in a semiarid mountain catchment
AU - McNamara, James P.
AU - Benner, Shawn G.
AU - Poulos, Michael J.
AU - Pierce, Jennifer L.
AU - Chandler, David G.
AU - Kormos, Patrick R.
AU - Marshall, Hans Peter
AU - Flores, Alejandro N.
AU - Seyfried, Mark
AU - Glenn, Nancy F.
AU - Aishlin, Pamella
N1 - Funding Information:
Boise State University; National Science Foundation EPSCoR program
Funding Information:
The DCEW was not established as part of a government agency mission (e.g., the U.S. Department of Agriculture research watersheds), nor is it part of a network funded by long-term grants (e.g., the NSF Critical Zone Observatory network). Rather, the DCEW
Funding Information:
Research in the DCEW has been made possible by a dynamic community or researchers and a 20 year funding history. Foremost among funding sources has been the National Science Foundation EPSCoR program, and Boise State University for funding a permanent technician position and graduate student support. Although it is not possible to list all who have contributed to the DCEW mission, we specifically thank the following students have completed, or are near completing, theses or dissertations in the DCEW: Pamella Aishlin, Miguel Aguayo, Brian Anderson, Erik Boe, Alison Burnop, David Eiriksson, Jordi Figueras, Alex Frye, Ethan Geisler, Ivan Geroy, Sam Gould, Hank Hetrick, Zakk Hess, Bernadette Hoffman, Joel Homan, Ajay Kalra, Ritu Kalra, Patrick Kormos, Katrina Ladd, Aurele LaMontagne, Valerie Lenhartzen, Daniella Makram-Morgos, Ryan McCutcheon, Shannon Murray, William Parham, Michael Poulos, Michael Procsal, Brian Ragan, Shelby Rig-gins, Eric Rothwell, Alden Shallcross, John Shuler, Toni Smith, Brian Starck, Benjamin Stratton, Daniel Tappa, Teklu Tesfa, Michael Thoma, Rayna Trevena, Reggie Walters, Ryan Warden, Katelyn Watson, Michael Whitson, Christopher Williams, and Melissa Yenko.
Funding Information:
Second, the DCEW has been part of a significant international movement to sustain the rich history of experimental catchments. Participating in this movement is challenging for backyard catchments without a permanent budget. Academic institutions often have limited capacity to provide baseline support needed to maintain long-term research catchments. Data-loggers must be downloaded, power sources maintained, instruments calibrated, and repaired, databases updated and a suite of other tasks must be accomplished even when grants lapse. We advise that it is not possible to sustain a research catchment without long-term institutional support. The DCEW has been fortunate to receive permanent funding for a technician to maintain instruments and a database through seed funding by NSF EPSCoR program and long-term funding by Boise State University.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PY - 2018/3/1
Y1 - 2018/3/1
N2 - Fifteen years of cumulative research in the Dry Creek Experimental Watershed in southwest Idaho, USA, has revealed relationships between catchment form and function that would not have been possible through independent short-term projects alone. The impacts of aspect and elevation on incident energy and water, coupled with climate seasonality, have produced tightly connected landform properties and hydrologic processes. North-facing hillslopes have steeper slope angles, thicker soil mantles, finer soil texture, and higher water holding capacities than their south-facing counterparts. This trend is modulated by elevation and vegetation; higher elevation sites, where aspect differences in vegetation are less evident, exhibit less distinct hydrologic properties. The storage of water first as snow, then as soil moisture determines how upland ecosystems survive the seasonal and persistent water stress that happens each year, and sustains streamflow throughout the year. The cumulative body of local knowledge has improved general understanding of catchment science, serves as a resource for conceptual and numerical evaluation of process-based models, and for data-driven hydrologic education. This article is categorized under: Science of Water > Hydrological Processes Science of Water > Water and Environmental Change.
AB - Fifteen years of cumulative research in the Dry Creek Experimental Watershed in southwest Idaho, USA, has revealed relationships between catchment form and function that would not have been possible through independent short-term projects alone. The impacts of aspect and elevation on incident energy and water, coupled with climate seasonality, have produced tightly connected landform properties and hydrologic processes. North-facing hillslopes have steeper slope angles, thicker soil mantles, finer soil texture, and higher water holding capacities than their south-facing counterparts. This trend is modulated by elevation and vegetation; higher elevation sites, where aspect differences in vegetation are less evident, exhibit less distinct hydrologic properties. The storage of water first as snow, then as soil moisture determines how upland ecosystems survive the seasonal and persistent water stress that happens each year, and sustains streamflow throughout the year. The cumulative body of local knowledge has improved general understanding of catchment science, serves as a resource for conceptual and numerical evaluation of process-based models, and for data-driven hydrologic education. This article is categorized under: Science of Water > Hydrological Processes Science of Water > Water and Environmental Change.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85057292350&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85057292350&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/WAT2.1267
DO - 10.1002/WAT2.1267
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85057292350
SN - 2049-1948
VL - 5
JO - Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water
JF - Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water
IS - 2
M1 - e1267
ER -