scholarly journals Calochortus gunnisonii furthers evidence for the complex genetic legacy of historical climate change in the southern Rocky Mountains

2019 ◽  
Vol 106 (3) ◽  
pp. 477-488
Author(s):  
Ryan S. Fuller ◽  
Mitchell E. McGlaughlin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
Southern Rocky Mountains ◽  
Historical Climate

Soil moisture strongly limits Douglas-fir seedling establishment near its upper elevational limit in the southern Rocky Mountains

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (8) ◽  
pp. 837-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison C. Foster ◽  
Patrick H. Martin ◽  
Miranda D. Redmond
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Seedling Establishment ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Seedling Survival ◽  
Douglas Fir ◽  
Southern Rocky Mountains ◽  
Precipitation Regimes ◽  
Maximum Temperatures

Climate change is causing significant shifts in tree species distributions to higher elevations and latitudes. Seed germination and seedling establishment are particularly important steps in tree range expansion under warmer conditions, yet seedling establishment is influenced by a range of factors beyond temperature, including herbivory, microenvironment, and the timing and amount of precipitation. We conducted an experiment to assess how augmented precipitation regimes, wildlife herbivory, and microclimate influence germination and first-season survival of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) near the upper elevational limit of its range in the southern Rocky Mountains. Germination was strongly influenced by moisture, with over three times higher germination in watered treatments. Seedling survival was similar across watered treatments but was negatively associated with microenvironments with higher maximum temperatures. These results indicate that soil moisture effects on germination and the negative impact of hot growing-season temperatures on seedling survival limit initial seedling establishment in Douglas-fir, even at the cooler and wetter end of its range, suggesting that the planting of this species will be most successful in cooler and wetter microsites. Taken together, this study suggests that continued warming and projected increases in droughts may strongly limit Douglas-fir regeneration and thus its ability to shift upwards with climate change.

Pruning to manage white pine blister rust in the southern Rocky Mountains

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Crump ◽  
William R. Jacobi ◽  
Kelly S. Burns ◽  
Brian E. Howell
Keyword(s):  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
White Pine Blister Rust ◽  
White Pine ◽  
Southern Rocky Mountains ◽  
Blister Rust

Linking biophysical models and public preferences for ecosystem service assessments: a case study for the Southern Rocky Mountains

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 2005-2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth J. Bagstad ◽  
James M. Reed ◽  
Darius J. Semmens ◽  
Benson C. Sherrouse ◽  
Austin Troy
Keyword(s):  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Public Preferences ◽  
Southern Rocky Mountains ◽  
Biophysical Models

scholarly journals Response of atmospheric energy to historical climate change in CMIP5

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Han ◽  
Shihua Lü ◽  
Yanhong Gao ◽  
Yinhuan Ao ◽  
Ruiqing Li
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Atmospheric Energy ◽  
Historical Climate

scholarly journals Historical climate controls soil respiration responses to current soil moisture

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (24) ◽  
pp. 6322-6327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine V. Hawkes ◽  
Bonnie G. Waring ◽  
Jennifer D. Rocca ◽  
Stephanie N. Kivlin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Soil Respiration ◽  
Carbon Cycling ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Microbial Respiration ◽  
Rainfall Gradient ◽  
Soil Microbial ◽  
Historical Climate ◽  
Moisture Dependence

Ecosystem carbon losses from soil microbial respiration are a key component of global carbon cycling, resulting in the transfer of 40–70 Pg carbon from soil to the atmosphere each year. Because these microbial processes can feed back to climate change, understanding respiration responses to environmental factors is necessary for improved projections. We focus on respiration responses to soil moisture, which remain unresolved in ecosystem models. A common assumption of large-scale models is that soil microorganisms respond to moisture in the same way, regardless of location or climate. Here, we show that soil respiration is constrained by historical climate. We find that historical rainfall controls both the moisture dependence and sensitivity of respiration. Moisture sensitivity, defined as the slope of respiration vs. moisture, increased fourfold across a 480-mm rainfall gradient, resulting in twofold greater carbon loss on average in historically wetter soils compared with historically drier soils. The respiration–moisture relationship was resistant to environmental change in field common gardens and field rainfall manipulations, supporting a persistent effect of historical climate on microbial respiration. Based on these results, predicting future carbon cycling with climate change will require an understanding of the spatial variation and temporal lags in microbial responses created by historical rainfall.

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