Fire as a novel disturbance in desert catchments and streams

In June 2020, the 5th largest fire on record in Arizona burned half of the Sycamore Creek catchment, a site that has been studied by stream ecologists for 40 years. We are studying ecological and biogeochemical processes affected by the fire, including flushing of nutrients and organic matter from burned subcatchments during storms, processing of carbon imported from burned areas, and response and recovery of stream communities.

Funding: NSF RAPID Division of Environmental Biology
Collaborators: Nancy Grimm (Arizona State University), Michael Bogan (University of Arizona)