Using Pedologic Information to Understand Ecosystem Response to Change and Disturbance.

Pedologic information pertaining to how soil forming factors control the spatial distribution of soil physical, chemical, and biological properties presents an important resource and tool for understanding ecosystem response to change and disturbance.  The arid and semiarid ecosystems of the US Southwest are particularly susceptible to human and environmental change with strong soil control on system response to variation in water availability and disturbance events such as wildfire and extreme precipitation.  Several case studies highlight the importance of pedologic information in ecosystem change will be presented for ecosystems in the Southwest including: soil control on vegetation change and associated resource redistribution; soil modulation of vegetation response to climate forcing; and soil control of ecosystem response to disturbance and extreme events including the interaction of wildfire, erosion, carbon redistribution and extreme rainfall events.  Tools such as high resolution topographic imaging and remotely sensed data can be coupled with pedologic techniques of digital soil mapping to provide quantitative measures of spatial patterning of soil properties and the relation to ecosystem change.