Geology topics

Sarah E. Godsey

Publications and source records attributed to Sarah E. Godsey.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2025

Shared leadership can promote success in collaborative research networks in ecology

1. While collaborative science is becoming the norm in ecology, many ecologists participating in collaborations are less aware of the body of research that studies the processes by which collaborative teams organize and communicate. 2. Here, we discuss how we successfully used a shared leadership model in the Dry Rivers Research Coordination Network. We discuss how this model promote dour success in different stages of the project, using the Tuckman model of team development: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. 3. Shared leadership in the forming phase helped us recruit a diverse membership from different scientific disciplines. In the storming and norming phases, shared leadership was especially useful in ensuring that all voices were heard in establishing group norms that promoted adhesion among and investment by RCN members. Shared leadership in the performing phase was crucial in providing opportunities for early career members to lead projects, and in the adjourning phase we reflected upon our entire collaboration to identify that shared leadership was crucial to our success, generating the thesis for this commentary. 4. It is our hope that others may find this discussion of our experience in implementing a shared leadership model useful in developing their own fruitful collaborations.

Functional Ecology↗

USGS2022

Long-term suspended sediment and particulate organic carbon yields from the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed and Critical Zone Observatory

Long-term (>20 y) suspended sediment (SS) and particulate organic carbon (POC) records are relatively rare and yet are necessary for understanding linkages between climate, erosion and carbon export. We estimated long-term (>23 y) SS and POC yields from four nested catchments that ranged from <1 to 54 km 2 in area across the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed and Critical Zone Observatory (RCEW-CZO) in southwestern Idaho, USA. We found strong relationships between log 10 SS and log 10 POC (R 2 = 0.38–0.86) that varied across catchments but remained robust across years, one dry and one of the wettest water years on record. Mean annual SS yields varied from 18 to 89 g SS m −2 y −1 and POC from 0.6 to 11.0 g C m −2 y −1 across the four catchments. Water yield explained much of the temporal variation (72%–85%) in SS and POC yields except in a small, snow-dominated headwater catchment where it explained 15%–51%. The largest five water years accounted for 69%–84% of the total SS and POC yields in catchments with 24 y records. All catchments had positive slopes (>0) for SS and POC concentration-discharge (C-Q) relationships, with large catchments exhibiting greater slopes (0.66–0.97) than smaller ones (0.14–0.16). In addition, most catchments were dominated (80%) by clockwise hysteretic curves. Lack of seasonal exhaustion in the SS-POC relationships, positive C-Q and clockwise relations indicated that these systems were transport-rather than supply limited, and that sediment and POC appeared to be sourced from channel/bank erosion and remobilization. POC yields represent 1%–10% of mean water year net ecosystem exchange depending on elevation; lower elevation catchments may shift from being carbon sinks to sources after accounting for fluvial POC export associated with changes in climate.

Idaho↗

USGS2021

Pervasive changes in stream intermittency across the United States

Non-perennial streams are widespread, critical to ecosystems and society, and the subject of ongoing policy debate. Prior large-scale research on stream intermittency has been based on long-term averages, generally using annually aggregated data to characterize a highly variable process. As a result, it is not well understood if, how, or why the hydrology of non-perennial streams is changing. Here, we investigate trends and drivers of three intermittency signatures that describe the duration, timing, and dry-down period of stream intermittency across the continental United States (CONUS). Half of gages exhibited a significant trend through time in at least one of the three intermittency signatures, and changes in no-flow duration were most pervasive (41% of gages). Changes in intermittency were substantial for many streams, and 7% of gages exhibited changes in annual no-flow duration exceeding 100 days during the study period. Distinct regional patterns of change were evident, with widespread drying in southern CONUS and wetting in northern CONUS. These patterns are correlated with changes in aridity, though drivers of spatiotemporal variability were diverse across the three intermittency signatures. While the no-flow timing and duration were strongly related to climate, dry-down period was most strongly related to watershed land use and physiography. Our results indicate that non-perennial conditions are increasing in prevalence over much of CONUS and binary classifications of 'perennial' and 'non-perennial' are not an accurate reflection of this change. Water management and policy should reflect the changing nature and diverse drivers of changing intermittency both today and in the future.

Environmental Research Letters↗