[1] In semiarid complex terrain, the combination of elevation and aspect promotes variations in the water and energy balance, resulting in slopes with distinct ecologic and hydrologic properties. Quantifying the differential energy and water dynamics of opposing slopes can provide essential information on the potential effects of climate variability on landscapes. In this study, we use observations from a network of hydrologic sensors deployed on the slopes of a semiarid catchment in central New Mexico, USA, to quantify the ecohydrologic dynamics of two coexisting and contrasting ecosystems : a juniper (Juniperus monosperma) savanna on a north facing slope (NFS) and a creosote (Larrea tridentata) shrubland on a south facing slope (SFS). Our analyses show that: (1) energy loads exert a first-order control on the dynamics of evapotranspiration and soil moisture residence times in the catchment, with vegetation imposing a second-order control at the onset of the growing season; (2) soils exhibit a characteristic progression of moisture and temperature along the slope-aspect continuum that is preserved throughout the year, going from a wetter and cooler NFS to a drier and warmer SFS; (3) there are remarkable differences in the runoff dynamics among the catchment slopes, with a smaller precipitation threshold triggering larger SFS runoff amounts than at its NFS counterpart; and (4) seasonal water balances of the NFS and SFS follow opposite trajectories in the year and point to distinct soil water pools for evapotranspiration demands. The results of this study have important implications for understanding landscape changes in areas of complex topography under current and future climate variability.

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Slade visited the site and collected the oreodont fossil, consisting of a skull and jaws and associated partial skeleton. The fossil is preserved in an indurated, fine-grained sandstone of fluvial origin derived from the Miocene Popotosa Formation.Preparation of the oreodont specimen has revealed an almost 100% complete skull and still-attached lower jaw and partial articulated postcranial skeleton consisting of a nearly complete set of cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and sacral vertebrae, most of the ribs (still attached to the thoracic vertebrae), both wrists (distal radius-ulna, carpals, proximal metacarpals), and a partial left hind limb (innominate, femur, tibia, fibula, tarsals). An unusual feature is the preservation of an ossified larynx and the delicate hyoid bones. The Bosque de Apache oreodont is identified as the species Merychyus major (family Merycoidodontidae, subfamily Ticholeptinae). The skull is one of the largest known for this species and is also characterized by the retracted narial opening, short nasals, long rostral premaxillary suture, broad and shallow lacrimal fossa, shallow zygomatic arch, inflated braincase, long paroccipital and postglenoid processes, and hypsodont dentition, particularly the molars.The biostratigraphic distribution of Merychyus major is restricted to the late Miocene, from the early late Clarendonian to the early late Hemphillian North American land mammal ages (about 6-10 Ma). The only absolute age control on the Popotosa Formation in this area is a radiometric date of 8.57 ± 0.26 Ma on a basaltic lava flow that lies within the formation about 1 km north of the oreodont site. The only other vertebrate fauna from the Popotosa Formation is from the Gabaldon Badlands west of Belen in Valencia County, about 100 km north of the oreodont site. The mammalian biostratigraphy of the Gabaldon Badlands fauna indicates a late Miocene age (7-9 Ma; early Hemphillian).