Arizona

Dr. John Koprowski in the School of Natural Resources takes a special interest in what happens to populations at the edges of their range. Range edges are constantly growing due to fragmentation - and these are the places where we are likely to see striking ecological shifts as the climate changes.

In recent decades, a worldwide trend of increasing woody plant abundance in grasslands and savannas has been reported. This proliferation of trees and shrubs move affects livestock production, wildlife habitat, water availability. At the same time their presence changes the way the ecosystem processes carbon and nitrogen, two important elements linked to climate change. SNR professor Steve Archer is interested in understanding how carbon and nitrogen stocks in ecosystems change as the systems shift from grassland to shrubland.

Rangeland health affects us all. Rangelands comprise about 40% of the landmass of the United States and provide valuable grazing lands for livestock and wildlife. They serve as a source of high quality water, clean air, and open spaces and benefit people through recreation, agriculture, and mining. The Rangelands West website was created to share information and tools to care for these extensive and diverse lands.

Biosphere 2 in nearby Oracle, Arizona is managed by The University of Arizona, and serves as a laboratory for controlled scientific studies, an arena for scientific discovery and discussion, and a far-reaching public education center.

V Bar V Ranch near Camp Verde, Arizona is owned and operated by UA's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences as a research and extension center addressing environmental, wildlife and domestic livestock issues applicable to ranches in Arizona and throughout the Southwest.

During Tucson's dramatic monsoons our streets are scoured by stormwater. The water drains down storm sewers, gullies and washes, and eventually to areas that could be used for recharge. Should the city actively recharge our depleted groundwater with storm runoff? Through the project ‘Tradeoffs of Enhanced Urban Runoff-Recharge and Water Quality', SNR Assistant Professor Kathleen Lohse is finding out if pollutants, metals, pathogens and nutrients in storm runoff present a challenge to stormwater recharge.