Projects and Objectives:
Towards Resilient Agricultural Systems to Enhance Water Availability, Quality, and Other Ecosystem Services under Changing Climate and Land Use.
- Quantify states, fluxes, and cycling of water, carbon, and hydrologic constituents within the soil-plant-hydrologic-atmospheric systems of selected landscapes, watersheds, and agricultural systems of the Southern Great Plains.
- Develop tools and techniques for the selection, placement, and evaluation of conservation and agricultural practices.
- As part of the LTAR network, use the Little Washita River/Fort Cobb Reservoir Experimental Watersheds to support research to sustain or enhance agricultural production and environmental quality.
Uncertainty of Future Water Availability Due to Climate Change and Impacts on the Long Term Sustainability and Resilience of Agricultural Lands in the Southern Great Plains.
- Develop new and enhance existing model components and methods to estimate long term trends, variations, and uncertainty in future water availability due to climate change.
- Determine the impacts of future variation or change in water availability on erosion, crop productivity, and resilience and sustainability of managed agricultural lands.
- Develop long-range planning information for policy makers, environmental organizations, and conservation planners on potential future water availability, cropland productivity, and water and soil conservation options that would maintain or increase the resilience and sustainability of agricultural lands.
- Through the Southern Plains Climate Hub, develop science-based, region-specific information and technologies for agricultural and natural resource managers which enable climate-smart decision-making and transfer the information and technologies to users.