Bull Creek Integrated Watershed Study

For many years science has tended toward separating the social sphere of humans from the natural world, assuming that nature can exist in a state divorced from human impacts.    Human land use has often been seen as distinct and separate from the ecological processes acting on the landscape.  This is especially true of landscapes where cities have developed, with very little attention paid to the interactions between social forces and ecological processes that have shaped the way the land has been allocated during the process of urbanization.  Many scientists view urban areas as a strictly human construction and ignore the linkages between man and nature that have shaped both the city and the land as the two elements co-evolve.  The study of landscapes therefore requires a holistic approach in order to appreciate the interaction of social and ecological forces that have shaped the landscape.

This project is a case study of the resilience of the Bull Creek watershed located in northwest Travis County, Texas.  Resilience reflects the ability of a system to maintain itself in the face of perturbations and change through time.  The Bull Creek area is being rapidly encroached upon by the booming city of Austin.  Bull Creek provides an interesting case study because it is a small enough area to understand the dynamic processes, yet its history and prospects reflect those of many urbanizing watersheds throughout the central Texas region.  An analysis of factors that contribute to or erode resilience in a system, such as a watershed, can provide a way to approach the long-term sustainability of human-ecological systems.

Hidden Mechanisms in Ecological Null Models

Coming Soon

Microclimate effects on species diversity

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