A Shortgrass Steppe LTER senior research scientist and former Co-PI, Dr. Jack Morgan, was this year recognized with a CO-LABS Governor’s Award for High-Impact Research in the category of Climate Science.
Over the past twenty years, Dr. Morgan led a team from the Rangeland Resources and Soil Plant Nutrient Research Units, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, to understand how semi-arid grasslands are responding to rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere.
The group has determined that increasing carbon dioxide is altering the water relations and plant species composition in rangelands of Colorado and Wyoming, with implications for forage production and quality, carbon sequestration and drought response in rangelands around the world. These findings have contributed valuable knowledge to climate change analyses conducted by the US Global Change Program, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and are being incorporated into adaptive management strategies for rangelands.
Published:
Dec 20, 2010