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The Southwest Biological Science Center (SBSC) conducts quality, objective research on the lands and aquatic systems of the Southwest. This research can assist those who manage, conserve, and rehabilitate the arid regions of the nation. Click on SCIENCE in the sidebar to the left to explore SBSC science in more detail.
The Terrestrial Dryland Ecology (TDE) Branch of the SBSC studies the biology, ecology,and processes of semi-arid and arid lands (known as drylands). TDE researchers study plant-soil-water relationships and the wildlife found in drylands.
TDE Science
The River Ecosystem Science (RES) Branch of the SBSC, which includes the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC), studies the biology, ecology, and processes of the rivers in the Southwest.
RES (GCMRC) ScienceUse the links below as shortcuts
Grand Canyon Monitoring & Research Center (GCMRC) - Home Page
Grand Canyon Monitoring & Research Center (GCMRC) - Maps & Data
Restoration Assessment & Monitoring Program for the Southwest (RAMPS)
A Field Guide to Biological Soil Crusts of Western U.S. Drylands (PDF)
SBSC Science
A video put out by CBS discusses some of the ecological issues of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks in UT such as nonnative annual grasses, disturbance caused by cattle grazing, and the difficulty of getting native, perennial grasses established. The video focuses on the research of SBSC’s Rebecca Mann and Mike Duniway, who are studying the use connectivity modifiers (ConMods) in restoration.
National Geographic posted a video on their webpage titled, “At 17 Million Years Old, Grand Canyon Still Has Lessons to Teach”. The video focuses on the importance of the Colorado River, mostly from the perspective of participants in the Grand Canyon Youth program, a partner of the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC) (part the Southwest Biological Science Center).
In 2014, a large pulse of water was released into the mostly dry delta of the Colorado River along the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. Geological Survey scientists are studying the effects of the pulse on the environment as part of a historic, bi-national collaborative effort. The pulse flow and the need to study its effects were accepted as part of the Minute 319 of the 1944 U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty.
Lateral flow separation occurs in rivers where banks exhibit strong curvature. In canyon-boundrivers, lateral recirculation zones are the principal storage of fine-sediment deposits. A parallelized,three-dimensional, turbulence-resolving model was developed to study the flow structures along lateralseparation zones located in two pools along the Colorado River in Marble Canyon. The model employs...
IntroductionThe purpose of this document is to describe a strategy by which monitoring and research data in the natural and social sciences will be collected, analyzed, and provided to the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), its bureaus, and to the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program (GCDAMP) in support of implementation of the Glen Canyon Dam Long-Term Experimental and Management Plan...
Most techniques for estimating settling velocities of natural particles have been developed for siliciclastic sediments. Therefore, to understand how these techniques apply to bioclastic environments, measured settling velocities of bioclastic sedimentary deposits sampled from a nearshore fringing reef in Western Australia were compared with settling velocities calculated using results from...