Helen M. Poulos,^1,*,** Javier Ochoa Espinoza,^2,*** Andrew M. Barton,^3,**** Jesús Valdés Reyna,^4,***** Aida I. Leal Robles,^4,****** Karen J. Little,^5,******* Darren F. Wallis<sup>6,********

1</sup>College of the Environment and Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan University, 284 High Street, Middletown, CT 06459
²Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas, Coahuila, México
³Department of Biology, University of Maine at Farmington, 173 High Street, Preble Hall, Farmington, ME 04938
⁴Departamento de Botánica, Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro, Saltillo, C.P. 25315, México
⁵Department of Biology, Geology, and Physical Science, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, TX 79832
⁶5 Ivey Rd., Terlingua, TX 79852

^*Corresponding author: hpoulos@wesleyan.edu
^**Helen Poulos teaches environmental studies at Wesleyan University. Her research investigates the impacts and responses of plants to climate change and increasing wildfire activity in the Anthropocene. Over the last two decades, she has studied the shifting dynamics and plant community ecology of high-elevation biodiversity hotspots in the Chihuahuan and Sonoran Desert Borderlands. Her research integrates diverse methodologies and analytical approaches including field measurements, dendrochronology, ecophysiology, multivariate statistical modeling, geographic information systems, and remote sensing to quantify how plant abundances and distributions are being impacted by contemporary global environmental change.
^***Javier Ochoa Espinoza has been working for the National Commission of Protected Areas (CONANP) in Mexico for the last 16 years. His work focuses on applied ecology, restoration, wildlife monitoring, endangered species management, and invasive species control. Javier focuses heavily on community outreach and sustainability in local Mexican communities. He has a PhD in natural resources management from the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua.
^****Andrew Barton is a forest ecologist, science writer, and professor of biology. His research focuses on the response of forests to changing climate and wildfires, particularly in the mountains of the USA–Mexico borderlands. His approaches include dendrochronology, physiological measurements, demography, sap-flow instruments, and remote sensing, including the Space Station ECOSTRESS module. Andrew has extensive experience collaborating with NGOs, working with citizen scientists, and writing about ecological science for broad audiences. He is the author of The Changing Nature of the Maine Woods and co-editor of Ecology and Recovery of Old-growth Forests in Eastern North America.
^*****Dr. Jesús Valdés Reyna is a research professor of phytogeography and biosystematics in the Department of Botany at La Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro. His research focuses on Mexican grasses of the Chihuahuan Desert ecoregion. He holds a BA in Biology from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, Mexico, a master's degree from the University of Wyoming, and a PhD from Texas A&M University, specializing in grass biosystematics. He is also a member of the Academia Mexicana de Ciencias and the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores I.
^******Dr. Aida I. Leal Robles is a research professor in the Department of Botany at La Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro. She studies plant growth, cell culture, and rare and endangered plant propagation systems in the Chihuahuan Desert ecoregion. She holds an undergraduate degree in biology, a master's in biochemistry, and a doctoral degree in immunology from the Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, México.
^*******Karen Little is the Environmental Laboratory Manager at Sul Ross State University. She is an expert in local native plant cultivation with almost two decades of experience. Karen has collaborated on multiple projects with the National Park Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service to propagate or provide native plants for their projects or preserve rescue plants for repatriation into native habitats.
^********Darren Wallis is a naturalist, botanist, outdoor enthusiast, and guide. He has over two decades of experience working in conservation and ecological monitoring along the Chihuahuan Desert Borderlands region.