Increasing atmospheric CO₂ will likely affect both the hydrologic cycle and ecosystem productivity. Current assumptions that increasing CO₂ will lead to increased ecosystem productivity and plant water use efficiency (WUE) are driving optimistic predictions of higher crop yields as well as greater availability of freshwater resources due to a decrease in evapotranspiration.

Denitrification is a key step returning nitrogen from soils to the atmosphere. The primary denitrifiers in most ecosystems are heterotrophic bacteria. Although, fungi are also known to transform nitrogen compounds, such as the production of N2O, but few studies have explored this process in soils. Aridland systems experience high temperatutres and low moisture conditions, favoring fungi in these environments. Thus, we explored the role of fungi and bacteria in denitrification of Sonoran Desert soils.

Ecosystems in topographically complex (mountainous) terrain are responsible for a majority of land-atmosphere CO2 exchange (net ecosystem exchange; NEE) across the western United States due to high inputs of winter precipitation as snowfall. NEE in these regions has been historically difficult to quantify using the eddy covariance (EC) method, however, due to complexities in surface terrain that lead to irregularities in streamline air flow, particularly advective fluxes during periods of low turbulent mixing.

Wet deposition of ammonium in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) and along the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains has reached a “critical load” where negative impacts on alpine ecosystems are evident. Results from the recently completed Rocky Mountain Atmospheric Nitrogen and Sulfur Study (RoMANS) suggest that many different sources are contributing to atmospheric nitrogen deposition in the park. Sources include long distance transport from western states, regional contributions from agricultural and urban sites in Colorado, and local emissions from soils within the park.

The KBS LTER site is in a diverse, rural-to-semirural landscape typical of the U.S. Great Lakes and upper Midwest regions. Research at KBS asks how diverse plants, animals, and microbes in agricultural landscapes can contribute to farm productivity, environmental performance, and profitability. We study annual and perennial crops including corn, soybean, and wheat rotations, forage crops such as alfalfa, and biofuel crops such as poplars, switchgrass, and native successional communities.

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a national-scale research platform for assessing the impacts of climate change, land-use change, and invasive species on ecosystem structure and function.

The major contribution of land-based activities to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) is widely recognized by the scientific community. The question of how and whether to include the agriculture and forestry sectors in GHG emission reduction projects suitable for carbon emissions trading in ‘cap–and–trade’ programs however, remains controversial.

Accelerating demand for liquid fuel, together with concerns about anthropogenic influence on the environment and fossil fuels availability, resulted in an increasing interest in using renewable energy sources, which could be grown agriculturally. However, increasing demand for food and acceleration of land-use change have raised concerns about use of food-based bio-fuel (i.e. corn ethanol) and turned research to the direction of cellulosic feedstocks.