Sedgwick Reserve

30 Jun, 05 PM - 29 Jun, 05 PM

The 1997-1998 El Nino (ENSO) produced the single wettest month and the second wettest water year that the Central Coast region of California has experienced in over 100 years. The ENSO is part of a cyclic phenomenon that brings heavy rain to the West Coast at least once per decade. The intense climatic events of this year are part of a cyclic phenomenon that brings strong rains to the West Coast at least once a decade. The ENSO events have major impacts on ecosystem processes. Some effects such as extensive slope failures are obvious, if localized phenomena. Other more widespread effects are not immediately visible but potentially of great ecological importance. For instance, we believe that the intense leaching of soil may have dramatically altered soil nutrient pools. Although these extreme climactic events will affect ecosystem processes over a long time scale, ecosystem models of do not typically incorporate the effect of recurring extreme events. We propose to capitalize on this extreme rainfall year to develop a better understanding of the dramatic and subtle effects caused by a quadrupling of the normal yearly rainfall. The most obvious effect of the extreme rainfall associated with the ENSO was the creation of hundreds of large slumps and mudslides along the central coast of California. These landslides change the shape of landscape by moving tons of material downslope. Concurrently, they change the biotic composition by removing all extant vegetation and initiating primary succession. The objective of this SGER proposal is to document the immediate effects of the 1998 ENSO on the Central California ecosystems and to put in place studies that will allow us to monitor the long term effects of the disturbances associated with El Nino. Research Plan We have been monitoring vegetation succession on four pairs of landslides on Sedgwick reserve since 1998. Each of pair of sites is composed of a landslide in grassland and chaparral communities of similar substrate and slope. We collect vegetation composition and biomass data annually at each site. This study has little impacts on the Reserve as it purely observational in nature. The research does not require any species resources from the Reserve.

Visit #2173 @Sedgwick Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 1738 | Research

An analysis of biotic and physical factors in El Nino induced landslides

faculty - University of Minnesota

Reservation Members(s)

Eric Seabloom Jun 30, 2003 - Jun 29, 2004 (366 days)

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