From Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin (www.beg.utexas.edu).
For more information, please contact the author.

Bureau Seminar, April 6, 2012

Soil Heterogeneity and its Linkage to Ecosystems, Landscape Dynamics and Geologic Hazards

Link to streaming video: available 04.06.2012 at 8:55am

Dr. Todd Caldwell
Research Professor
Desert Research Institute
Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences

Geology, geomorphology, and soils vary considerably in space providing unique structural controls on both surface and subsurface hydrology. Although ubiquitous across the landscape, heterogeneity differs from randomness by retaining some underlying hierarchical organization critical to ecosystem services. The underlying order allows us to characterize and map soil hydrologic function, monitor and model environmental processes, and ultimately make predictions by integrating these geomorphic, pedogenic and ecologic relationships. Soil function as it affects ecological services and management practices will be presented to illustrate the role that bio-abiotic processes has in restoration and the proliferation of native and non-native species, as well as predicting geologic hazards, such as dust emissivity and runoff potential.