
Helen Ivy RoweNorthern Arizona University | NAU · School of Earth and Sustainability
Helen Ivy Rowe
ecology
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38
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Publications (38)
This study proposes a combined approach encompassing habitat suitability, biotic interactions, and disturbance to identify high‐value restoration areas (HVRA) for the saguaro ( Carnegiea gigantea , Cactaceae)—that is, areas with high habitat suitability for the saguaro and species that favor its establishment, growth, and dispersal (hereafter assoc...
Developing methods to use biocrusts in restoration is becoming more important as land use and climate change impact the health and intactness of high‐stress ecosystems. Methods of cultivation to maximize the production of biocrusts for use in restoration activities are necessary because salvage opportunities are limited. Our objective for this rese...
Aim
The assembly of species into communities and ecoregions is the result of interacting factors that affect plant and animal distribution and abundance at biogeographic scales. Here, we empirically derive ecoregions for mammals to test whether human disturbance has become more important than climate and habitat resources in structuring communities...
Preservation of undeveloped land near urban areas is a common conservation practice. However, ecological processes may still be affected by adjacent anthropogenic activities. Ground-dwelling arthropods are a diverse group of organisms that are critical to ecological processes such as nutrient cycling, which are sensitive to anthropogenic activities...
Wildlife must adapt to human presence to survive in the Anthropocene, so it is critical to understand species responses to humans in different contexts. We used camera trapping as a lens to view mammal responses to changes in human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across 163 species sampled in 102 projects around the world, changes in the amo...
Butterfly populations are declining worldwide, reflecting our current global biodiversity crisis. Because butterflies are a popular and accurate indicator of insect populations, these declines reflect an even more widespread threat to insects and the food webs upon which they rely. As small ectotherms, insects have a narrow range of habitable condi...
Invasive species are one of the greatest threats to natural systems. Invasive buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) displaces native plant communities, increases wildfire risk and extent, and disrupts ecological systems and processes. Cost-effective removal efforts that protect native plant communities are urgently needed. We conducted an experiment fro...
Restoration in dryland ecosystems often has poor success due to low and variable water availability, degraded soil conditions, and slow plant community recovery rates. Restoration treatments can mitigate these constraints but, because treatments and subsequent monitoring are typically limited in space and time, our understanding of their applicabil...
Fountain grass ( Pennisetum setaceum ) is a globally pervasive invasive species and a prime example of an escaped horticultural ornamental. In areas where it is not naturally found, it displaces native plant communities and disrupts ecological systems and processes. Cost-effective removal efforts that protect the native plant community are needed f...
Managing wildlife populations in the face of global change requires regular data on the abundance and distribution of wild animals, but acquiring these over appropriate spatial scales in a sustainable way has proven challenging. Here we present the data from Snapshot USA 2020, a second annual national mammal survey of the USA. This project involved...
Managing wildlife populations in the face of global change requires regular data on the abundance and distribution of wild animals, but acquiring these over appropriate spatial scales in a sustainable way has proven challenging. Here we present the data from Snapshot USA 2020, a second annual national mammal survey of the locations across 103 array...
Ecological restoration is a promising way to improve ecological function, habitat connectivity, and aesthetic values for recreation. However, effective restoration practices for arid environments remain elusive. To help fill this knowledge gap, we tested ripping soils, seed mixtures, including adding native seed bank topsoils, and seeding timing on...
With the accelerating pace of global change, it is imperative that we obtain rapid inventories of the status and distribution of wildlife for ecological inferences and conservation planning. To address this challenge, we launched the SNAPSHOT USA project, a collaborative survey of terrestrial wildlife populations using camera traps across the Unite...
This UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration highlights the capacity of restoration to mitigate trends in biodiversity loss and land degradation. However, many managers lack the tools they need to systematically and comprehensively identify degraded sites to prioritize restoration efforts given limited resources. We developed a novel, inexpensive, low-t...
Understanding the factors contributing to the introduction and spread of invasive species is crucial to help develop management strategies to control and eradicate them in sensitive areas. Our goals were to investigate (1) the association between habitat suitability of fountain grass (Cenchrus setaceus), human footprint, and environmental variables...
Recovery of degraded lands in arid environments is especially challenging due to difficulty of matching ideal conditions to seed germination requirements and reduced native soil seed banks. Restoration practitioners try to overcome these challenges through seeding and site preparation treatments. In the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, Scottsdale, Arizon...
As recreational visitation to the Sonoran Desert increases, the concern of scientists, managers and advocates who manage its natural resources deepens. Although many studies have been conducted on trampling of undisturbed vegetation and the effects of trails on adjacent plant and soil communities, little such research has been conducted in the arid...
Global food production and security rely heavily on finite reserves of newly mined phosphate for fertilizers. However, systemic inefficiencies result in the deposition in aquatic ecosystems of much of the phosphorus mined for food production causing costly eutrophication problems that damage aquatic ecosystems and human health. The Sustainable Phos...
Woodland encroachment into grasslands is a globally pervasive phenomenon attributed to land use change, fire suppression, and climate change. This vegetation shift impacts ecosystem services such as ground water allocation, carbon (C) and nutrient status of soils, aboveground and belowground biodiversity, and soil structure. We hypothesized that wo...
Accumulation of soil carbon (C) in ecosystems could help mitigate climate change, particularly in agricultural landscapes, but accumulation rates are thought to depend on land cover and management practices. To uncover relationships between soil properties and vegetation management strategies in the Midwestern USA, we examined soil C and nitrogen (...
Legacy phosphorus (P) that has accumulated in soils from past inputs of fertilizers and manures is a large secondary global source of P that could substitute manufactured fertilizers, help preserve critical reserves of finite phosphate rock to ensure future food and bioenergy supply, and gradually improve water quality. We explore the issues and ma...
Context Spatial heterogeneity is ubiquitous in ecological systems, and has important effects on biological diversity and ecological processes. Objectives Does spatial heterogeneity affect the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF)? To help address this question, this study investigated how the spatial patterns of key BEF...
An age-old conflict around a seemingly simple question has resurfaced: why do we conserve nature? Contention around this issue has come and gone many times, but in the past several years we believe that it has reappeared as an increasingly acrimonious debate between, in essence, those who argue that nature should be protected for its own sake (intr...
The control of agricultural pests is an important ecosystem service provided by predacious insects. In Midwestern USA, areas of remnant tallgrass prairie and prairie restorations may serve as relatively undisturbed sources of natural predators, and smaller areas of non-crop habitats such as seminatural areas and conservation plantings (CP) may serv...
Tallgrass prairie is the most endangered ecosystem in North America, with less than one percent of its original extent remaining. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has restored over 9000 ha of crop and fallow lands adjacent to native prairie with a primary goal of buffering remnant prairies to maintain plant community composition and reduce invasion by...
AbstractA primary reason for restoring plant communities is to increase biodiversity to previous levels. It is expected that restoring land with greater plant diversity will increase biodiversity at higher trophic levels, but high diversity seed mixes are expensive. In this study, we used one insect family, leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) to...
Background/Question/Methods
Settlement of the Midwest, with the subsequent conversion of tallgrass prairie to agricultural fields, has led to a drastic reduction of carbon in the soil. As some agricultural fields are returned to grasslands, it is important to understand the factors influencing rates of carbon and nitrogen accrual in order to bett...
Tallgrass prairie is among the most endangered ecosystems in North America. High‐diversity restorations protect remnant habitat and expand native communities. Excluding land acquisition, the most expensive step in restoration is procuring seed. Given this cost, managers want to maximize seedling establishment. Native species that flower and ripen e...
Mycorrhizal fungi play an important role in soil carbon storage and dynamics through the production of recalcitrant organic compounds (e.g., glomalin and chitin), and through the production of hyphae which entangle and enmesh soil particles to form aggregates which physically protect organic matter from decomposer organisms. Despite these important...
Interest in sustainable social and economic development has risen dramatically, both nationally and internationally over the past 30 years. During this time, the American public has become increasingly concerned about natural resource degradation and supported intensified environmental monitoring. To achieve sustainable development, governments mus...
The objectives of this Colorado study were to assess primary reasons ranchers choose to stay or sell the ranch, compare the motivations for ranching between a traditional agriculturally based county and a rapidly developing county, and assess whether factors such as length of tenure, fiscal dependency on ranching, and dependency on public lands pla...
As more and more ranchland is converted to non-agricultural uses every year, ranchers and land managers are increasingly concerned about loss of open space and impacts on ranching communities. Between 1990 and 1999. Colorado farmland declined by 1.3 million acres; 400,000 acres were lost in 1999 alone. In this same decade, the average size of a Col...
It is estimated that 40,000,000 ha of rangelands in the United States, once dominated by perennial bunchgrasses and shrubs, are now infested with cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). Its early life cycle enables cheatgrass to dominate plant communities by depleting nutrients and water in the winter and early spring months when natives are dormant, and end...
Delphi is a method for the systematic solicitation and collation of informed judgments on a particular topic. Here, we introduce the "Collaborative" Delphi used as a conflict resolution and consensus building tool in the Sustainable Rangelands Roundtable (SRR). Traditionally the Delphi process involves a set of carefully designed sequential questio...