This $400,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Integrative Activities (IA) program will fund research to understand how multiple environmental drivers, including fire, invasive species, and climate change, impact biodiversity in dryland (big sagebrush) plant communities in the western United States. The project, awarded to the Marshall University Research Corporation (MURC), will use field data and ecological modeling to determine the conditions under which these interacting stressors are likely to lead to shifts in plant community composition and to evaluate whether targeted livestock grazing can help sustain native plant species and enhance ecosystem resilience. The project aims to provide land managers with the information needed to make informed decisions to conserve these important rangelands, which support both wildlife and livestock production, a significant economic activity in the region. No sub-awards are planned under this grant, which has an ultimate completion date of March 31, 2030.
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