RAMPS Newsletter - Fall 2025
New Publication: Bridging Theory and Practice to Improve Seed Selection for Restoration
In this edition: Staff updates, field trips, and a new publication on bridging seed selection theory and practice
Opening Letter
Hello RAMPS community,
In this newsletter, we are excited to share our recent publication, Bridging theory and practice to inform seed selection for restoration, which is part of an ongoing collaborative effort with land managers and restoration practitioners to synthesize lessons learned and identify future research directions for native seed development and use in the U.S. We would also like to say thank you to Sarah Costanzo, who was instrumental to RAMPS field work for the past three years and is starting a PhD program in Environmental and Forest Sciences at the University of Washington. As always, please reach out with questions or collaboration opportunities for research and restoration in the Southwest.
Laura Shriver
RAMPS Coordinator
[email protected]
Photo: Sarah Costanzo collects soil stability data at a RestoreNet site in southeast Utah. Photo by Laura Shriver.
In the Field
In 2024, RAMPS and collaborators implemented new treatments designed to improve seeding success, soil health, and integrate livestock into restoration seeding treatments at a subset of RestoreNet sites throughout the Southwest. These treatments included live topsoil inoculation, seedballs, soil pits, and targeted livestock treatments. We just finished fall monitoring, collecting data on both plants (seedling emergence, growth, and cover) and soils (soil properties related to soil health and microbial activity).
RAMPS coordinator Laura Shriver also helped conduct a field trip with Dr. Clare Aslan’s Northern Arizona University conservation biology class and Diablo Trust ranchers at Bar T Bar and Flying M ranches. We have been collaborating with Diablo Trust since 2018, and Laura gave a tour of the Bar T Bar Ranch RestoreNet site. We discussed how RestoreNet restoration treatments are aimed to break down barriers to seed germination and seedling recruitment, such as limited water, nutrients, and beneficial soil microbes.
Photo: Laura Shriver, RAMPS coordinator, gives a tour of a Northern Arizona RestoreNet site to Northern Arizona University students. Photo by Jessica Archibald (Diablo Trust).
Project Highlights
Bridging seed selection theory and practice
RAMPS Coordinator Laura Shriver and Ecologist Seth Munson helped spearhead a collaborative project to synthesize lessons learned and future research directions for native seed development and use in the U.S. With other USGS collaborators, we conducted literature reviews, semi-structured interviews, and held a workshop with over 40 land managers and researchers to chart a path forward for collaborative land management and research to enhance seed-based restoration efforts.
As part of this effort, we recently published a paper, Bridging theory and practice to inform seed selection for restoration, that reviews and compares seed selection insights from the scientific literature and federal agency guidance for seed selection in practice. Comparing across both bodies of knowledge identifies important knowledge-action gaps, which if closed, may help increase efficiencies, enhance coordination, and support efforts between scientists and land managers to recover degraded ecosystems. We found significant overlap in key concepts between the guidance and literature, highlighting the interconnectedness between science and management. We also identified key differences between the bodies of work that indicate opportunities to integrate theory and practice to improve seed selection. This paper, as well as an upcoming report and paper summarizing results from the semi-structured interviews and workshop, reveal the value of knowledge sharing and collaboration among researchers and land managers.
CITATION: Shriver, L.C., Jordan, S.E., Massatti, R. and Munson, S.M., 2025, Bridging theory and practice to inform seed selection for restoration. Restoration Ecology, https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/70271329.
Research Updates - New Publications
USGS Pollinator Science Strategy
Scientists across the USGS recently published the U.S. Geological Survey Pollinator Science Strategy, 2025-35—a report that describe the science vision of the USGS to support management, restoration, conservation, and policy decisions on animal pollinators and their habitats. The strategy was drafted by a team of USGS pollinator researchers and further developed through feedback from Federal, State, Tribal, nongovernmental organizations, and industry partners. By outlining the importance of USGS science in addressing the information needs of other agencies, organizations, and the public, the strategy reaffirms the USGS’s commitment to research pollinators and their habitats.
CITATION: Otto, C.R.V., Graves, T.A., Robertson-Thompson, D., Pearse, I., Thogmartin, W.E., Murphy, C., Webb, L., Droege, S., Steinkamp, M., and Grundel, R., 2025, U.S. Geological Survey Pollinator Science Strategy, 2025–35—A review and look forward (ver. 1.1, June 26, 2025): U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1556, 16 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/cir1556
Using connectivity modifiers to reduce dryland degradation
In this study, USGS researcher Michael Duniway and colleagues at the Agricultural Research Service used modeling and a field experiment to optimize the use of connectivity modifiers, or ConMods, which are mesh structures that are designed to minimize loss of soil, seeds, and nutrients by interrupting connected pathways for wind and water erosion. They modeled different ConMod designs (e.g., altering ConMod height, porosity, and spacing) and found that ConMods can help reduce predicted sediment flux, a key measure of site stability. In the field experiment, they found that ConMods increased litter retention demonstrating their potential to enhance both soil stabilization and resource retention.
CITATION: Young, K.E., Edwards, B.L., Duniway, M.C. and Webb, N., 2025. Optimizing the effectiveness of connectivity modifiers to reduce dryland degradation. Restoration Ecology, p.e70055. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.70055
Developing techniques for biocrust restoration
In this study, USGS Researcher Sasha Reed and others tested greenhouse and field methods to cultivate biocrust inocula for degraded dryland restoration. They found that field cultivation was the most viable strategy, but that habitat amelioration was often necessary for successful field cultivation. However, when they applied field- and greenhouse-cultivated inocula at degraded sites, restoration outcomes were poor and soil functions were not significantly improved by inoculation. Given these challenges, more research is needed to promote the initial growth and survival of biocrust inocula, regardless of cultivation method.
CITATION: Jech, S.D., Dohrenwend, K., Day, N., Barger, N.N., Antoninka, A., Bowker, M.A., Reed, S. and Tucker, C., 2025. Developing biocrust field cultivation techniques for soil restoration: An assessment of bacterial communities. Applied Soil Ecology, 206, p.105861. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105861
Perennial grass resilience to drought
In this study, USGS researchers and colleagues at the Agricultural Research Service compared the phenological responses (i.e., changes in the timing of life events) of two common dryland perennial grass species: Achnatherum hymenoides (Indian ricegrass, a C3 cool-season grass) and Pleuraphis jamesii (James’s galleta grass, a C4 warm-season grass) to four years of experimentally imposed drought treatments, followed by two years of recovery in the Colorado Plateau. They found that A. hyemnoides, the cool-season grass, had less phenological flexibility in response to drought conditions and had high rates of mortality. In contrast, P. jamesii, the warm-season grass, showed more phenological plasticity in response to drought with high post-drought recovery. This suggests that plant photosynthetic pathways (e.g., C3 vs. C4) may affect plant resistance and resiliency to drought and suggests that C3 cool-season grass populations may decline on the Colorado Plateau, potentially shifting the composition of cool dryland ecosystems from cool-season to warm-season grasses.
CITATION: Finger Higgens, R.A., Hoover, D.L., Knight, A.C., Schlaepfer, D.R. and Duniway, M.C., 2025. Flexible phenology of a C4 grass linked to resiliency to seasonal and multiyear drought events in the American Southwest. Ecology and Evolution, 15(5), p.e71435. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71435
RAMPS is a program of the USGS Southwest Biological Science Center located in Flagstaff, AZ
RAMPS engages stakeholders within the U.S. Department of the Interior, other federal and state agencies, Tribal governments, and on private lands to provide guidance and support for effective restoration strategies across the southwestern U.S. The RAMPS network consists of over 500 individuals representing 50+ agencies, organizations, and universities working together to increase land productivity and reduce threats posed by environmental hazards.
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