Continental-Scale Ecology in a Connected World

Debra Peters is a research scientist at the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Jornada Experimental Range, located in the Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem (Las Cruces, New Mexico). She is the Principle Investigator for the Jornada Long-Term Ecological Research Site. Her areas of research include the roles of fire and grazing in grassland systems, global change effects on ecosystem dynamics across spatial scales, boundary and ecotone dynamics, and spatially-explicit simulation modeling of ecosystem dynamics. Dr. Peters recently provided leadership for the National Science Foundation in the establishment of the National Ecological Observatory Network. She has a B.S. in biology from Iowa State University, an M.S. in biology from San Diego State University, and a Ph.D. in range science from Colorado State University. The Paul L. Errington Memorial Lecture and part of the Iowa State 150th Anniversary Alumni Lecture Series.