Research Areas

Principal research foci of the PR-HPA network include:
 

• Sustainable use of the High Plains (Ogallala) Aquifer, focusing on water discharge and recharge, ground and surface water interactions, water quantity and quality.
• Sustainability and resiliency of forests, grasslands and agroecosystems under climate variability and change, and anthropogenic management.
• Sustainable development and resilience of rural and urban communities under growing needs for ecosystem services including water, food, feed, fuel and fiber.
• Agroecosystems resiliency, thresholds and shifts: mitigating and adapting to climate variability and change.
• Role of technology, adaptive management and education in mitigating and adapting to climate change.
• Biological, ecohydrological and biochemical processes in grasslands, forests and agroecosystems under climate variability and change, vegetation cover change (including invasive species) and human activities.
• Water vapor and CO₂ fluxes in natural and agroecosystems.
• Close-range, field and airplane based phenotyping using hyperspectral imaging systems to evaluate natural and agroecosystem productivity, processes, cover and vegetation shifts in response to environmental conditions and management practices.
• Data integration, testing, scaling of modelds from grid to macroecosystems.