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Red Butte Canyon (RBC) is a protected watershed along the Wasatch Front. However, unlike the other protected watesheds, RBC has for the most part, been kept free from human-impact activities. The protected status of RBC provides a unique and important opportunity to improve our understanding of the interactions between global change (combined climate and human land-use change) and whole-plant water relations of dominant tree species, and subsequent water cycling in the Great Basin region. Current research is focused on transpiration fluxes of dominant riparian communities (Figure 1), sensitivity of mature cottonwood/willow forest stands to fluctuations in groundwater depth (Figure 2), gender-specific patterns in whole-plant water relations of dioecious riparian trees species (Figure 3), and climate mediated whole-plant water relations of dominant oak/maple forests (Figure 4).

Figure 1 - Sap flux station in a Red Butte Canyon riparian ecosystem.
Figure 2 - A stand of Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii) and coyote willow (Salix exigua) trees at the Red Butte Canyon Reservoir. The Reservoir was drained in the spring of 2005 through mid-summer of 2006 to renovate the supporting dam, effectively removing the primary water source for the trees. The upper photo was taken in September 2006, adn the lower photo was taken in September of 2005, while the reservoir was empty.
Figure 3 - Sap flux station in an open meadow in Red Butte Canyon surrounded by box elder (Acer negundo) trees. Box elder is a dioecious trees species that dominates many riparian habitats in the southwestern United States. The gold flowers of male box elder trees are clearly visible in early spring.
Figure 4 - Red Butte Canyon hillsides featuring extensive stands of big tooth maple (Acer grandidentatum) and gambel oak (Quercus gambelii). Oak/maple forests dominate the lower elevations of the Wasatch Mountains and play a critical role in many ecohydrologic processes in the Great Basin region.