scholarly journals Large‐scale forest restoration stabilizes carbon under climate change in Southwest United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa A. McCauley ◽  
Marcos D. Robles ◽  
Travis Woolley ◽  
Robert M. Marshall ◽  
Alec Kretchun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Forest Restoration ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Southwest United States

scholarly journals Assessing Vegetation Response to Multi-Scalar Drought across the Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahuan Deserts and Apache Highlands in the Southwest United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1103
Author(s):  
Pratima Khatri-Chhetri ◽  
Sean M. Hendryx ◽  
Kyle A. Hartfield ◽  
Michael A. Crimmins ◽  
Willem J. D. van Leeuwen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Vegetation Type ◽  
Linear Trend ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
Vegetation Productivity ◽  
Southwest United States

Understanding the patterns and relationships between vegetation productivity and climatic conditions is essential for predicting the future impacts of climate change. Climate change is altering precipitation patterns and increasing temperatures in the Southwest United States. The large-scale and long-term effects of these changes on vegetation productivity are not well understood. This study investigates the patterns and relationships between seasonal vegetation productivity, represented by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) across the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts and the Apache Highlands of the Southwest United States over 16 years from 2000 to 2015. To examine the spatiotemporal gradient and response of vegetation productivity to dry and wet conditions, we evaluated the linear trend of different SPEI timescales and correlations between NDVI and SPEI. We found that all four ecoregions are experiencing more frequent and severe drought conditions in recent years as measured by negative SPEI trends and severe negative SPEI values. We found that changes in NDVI were more strongly correlated with winter rather than summer water availability. Investigating correlations by vegetation type across all four ecoregions, we found that grassland and shrubland productivity were more dependent on summer water availability whereas sparse vegetation and forest productivity were more dependent on winter water availability. Our results can inform resource management and enhance our understanding of vegetation vulnerability to climate change.

scholarly journals Interdecadal Seesaw of Precipitation Variability between North China and the Southwest United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 2951-2968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing Yang ◽  
Zhuguo Ma ◽  
Peili Wu ◽  
Nicholas P. Klingaman ◽  
Lixia Zhang
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
North China ◽  
Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation ◽  
Precipitation Variability ◽  
Circulation Anomaly ◽  
Potential Predictability ◽  
Southwest United States ◽  
Rainfall Anomalies

Abstract This paper reports a consistent seesaw relationship between interdecadal precipitation variability over North China and the Southwest United States, which can be found in observations and simulations with several models. Idealized model simulations suggest the seesaw could be mainly driven by the interdecadal Pacific oscillation (IPO), through a large-scale circulation anomaly occupying the entire northern North Pacific, while the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) contributes oppositely and less. Modulation of precipitation by the IPO tends to be intensified when the AMO is in the opposite phase, but weakened when the AMO is in the same phase. The warm IPO phase is associated with an anomalous cyclone over the northern North Pacific; consequently, anomalous southwesterly winds bring more moisture and rainfall to the Southwest United States, while northwesterly wind anomalies prevail over North China with negative rainfall anomalies. The east–west seesaw of rainfall anomalies reverses sign when the circulation anomaly becomes anticyclonic during the cold IPO phase. The IPO-related tropical SST anomalies affect the meridional temperature gradient over the North Pacific and adjacent regions and the mean meridional circulation. In the northern North Pacific, the atmospheric response to IPO forcing imposes an equivalent barotropic structure throughout the troposphere. An important implication from this study is the potential predictability of drought-related water stresses over these arid and semiarid regions, with the progress of our understanding and prediction of the IPO and AMO.

scholarly journals Tidal wetland resilience to sea level rise increases their carbon sequestration capacity in United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Faming Wang ◽  
Xiaoliang Lu ◽  
Christian J. Sanders ◽  
Jianwu Tang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
C Sequestration ◽  
Tidal Wetlands ◽  
Tidal Wetland ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios

AbstractCoastal wetlands are large reservoirs of soil carbon (C). However, the annual C accumulation rates contributing to the C storage in these systems have yet to be spatially estimated on a large scale. We synthesized C accumulation rate (CAR) in tidal wetlands of the conterminous United States (US), upscaled the CAR to national scale, and predicted trends based on climate change scenarios. Here, we show that the mean CAR is 161.8 ± 6 g Cm−2 yr−1, and the conterminous US tidal wetlands sequestrate 4.2–5.0 Tg C yr−1. Relative sea level rise (RSLR) largely regulates the CAR. The tidal wetland CAR is projected to increase in this century and continue their C sequestration capacity in all climate change scenarios, suggesting a strong resilience to sea level rise. These results serve as a baseline assessment of C accumulation in tidal wetlands of US, and indicate a significant C sink throughout this century.

scholarly journals Assessing the risks to United States and Canadian mammals caused by climate change using a trait-mediated model

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christy M McCain
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Mammalian Species ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Climate Change Risk ◽  
Very High

Abstract A set of 182 populations of 76 mammal species in the United States and Canada, examined in natural conditions with minimized disturbances or management effects, shows that responses to climate change include negative responses, such as elevational range contractions, upward shifts and decreases in abundance, positive responses, such as range expansions, and no detectable responses. Responses vary among and within mammal species but many are correlated with species traits, particularly the responses linked to high extinction risks (= climate change risk: decreases in population sizes, range contractions, local extirpations). The traits showing the strongest links to differential responses to climate change are 1) body size—large mammals respond more often and most negatively to climate change, 2) activity times—few mammals with flexible active times respond to climate change, and 3) spatial distribution—high-latitude and high-elevation mammals responded more often to climate change. Using these traits and two approaches to trait weighting, I modeled the relative climate change risk for all 328 terrestrial, nonvolant mammal species in the United States and Canada across 10 levels of risk (low = 1–2, moderate = 3–4, moderate-high = 5–6, high = 7–8, very high = 9–10). The models predicted that 15% of these mammalian species are in the high- and very high-risk categories, including species from most orders. Many mammal populations and species listed as of conservation concern due to other human impacts by national or international agencies are also predicted by my models to be in the higher categories of climate change risk. My intention for these models is to clarify for managers and researchers which, where, and how mammals are responding to climate change relatively independent of other anthropogenic stressors (e.g., large-scale habitat change, overhunting) and to provide a preliminary assessment of species most in need of careful monitoring for climate change impacts.

BIOBOARD

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (02) ◽  
pp. 4-15
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Vitamin A Deficiency ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Green Energy ◽  
Montreal Heart Institute ◽  
Traditional Medicines ◽  
Economic Bloc ◽  
Tract Infections

INDIA – Climate change threatens India’s native plants. INDIA – Air pollution hits crops more than climate change. LAOS – Laos targets green energy in new Asian economic bloc. THE PHILIPPINES – Centuries-old traditional medicines still used in Palau. SINGAPORE – MerLion’s finafloxacin shows positive phase 2 results in complicated urinary tract infections. AFRICA – Biosciences research ‘key but gets small local support’. AFRICA – Biofortified maize ‘could control vitamin A deficiency’. AFRICA – New partnership for rice development in Africa formed. AFRICA – Ebola vaccine arrives in Liberia for large-scale trial. UNITED STATES – Researchers uncover key cancer-promoting gene. UNITED STATES – Brain scientists figure out how a protein crucial to learning and memory works. UNITED STATES – Scientists develop pioneering method to define stages of stem cell reprogramming. UNITED STATES – Researchers grow functional tissue-engineered intestine from human cells. UNITED STATES – A world first at the Montreal Heart Institute: Discovery of a personalized therapy for cardiovascular disease.

Climate change and the potential expansion of buffelgrass (Cenchrus ciliaris L., Poaceae) in biotic communities of Southwest United States and northern Mexico

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 3335-3347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fábio Suzart de Albuquerque ◽  
Miguel Ángel Macías-Rodríguez ◽  
Alberto Búrquez ◽  
Yaiyr Astudillo-Scalia
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Cenchrus Ciliaris ◽  
Northern Mexico ◽  
Southwest United States

scholarly journals Impact of a Warming Climate on Hydropower in the Northeast United States: The Untapped Potential of Non-Powered Dams

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nima Ehsani ◽  
Charles J. Vörösmarty ◽  
Balázs M. Fekete ◽  
Eugene Z. Stakhiv
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Rhode Island ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Potential Evapotranspiration ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Hydroelectric Power ◽  
Northeast United States ◽  
Hydropower Potential

A large-scale, high-resolution, fully coupled hydrological/reservoir/hydroelectricity model is used to investigate the impacts of climate change on hydroelectricity generation and hydropower potential of non-powered dams across the Northeast United States megaregion with 11,037 dams and 375 hydroelectric power plants. The model is calibrated and validated using the U.S. Department of Energy records. Annual hydroelectricity generation in the region is 41 Terawatt-hours (Twh). Our estimate of the hydropower potential of non-powered dams adds up to 350 Twh. West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York have significant potential for generating more hydroelectricity from already existing dams. On the other hand, this potential virtually does not exist for Rhode Island and Delaware and is small for New Jersey and Vermont. Climate change may reduce annual hydropower potential from non-powered dams by up to 13% and reduce current annual hydroelectricity generation by up to 8% annually. Increased rainfall in winters and earlier snowmelt in springs result in an increase in regional water availability in December through March. In other months, reduced precipitation and increased potential evapotranspiration rates combined with reduced recharge from the shift in spring snowmelt and smaller snowpack result in a decrease in availability of water and thus hydroelectricity generation. This changes call for the recalibration of dam operations and may raise conflict of interests in multipurpose dams.

Agricultural Extension and Climate Change Communication

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda S. Prokopy ◽  
Wendy-Lin Bartels ◽  
Gary Burniske ◽  
Rebecca Power
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Agricultural Extension ◽  
The United States ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
Generation Process ◽  
Climate Change Communication ◽  
Change Communication

Agricultural extension has evolved over the last 200 years from a system of top-down dissemination of information from experts to farmers to a more complex system, in which a diversity of knowledge producers and farmers work together to co-produce information. Following a detailed history of the evolution of extension in the United States, this article describes an example from the southeastern United States that illustrates how innovative institutional arrangements enable land-grant universities to actively engage farmers and extension agents as key partners in the knowledge generation process. A second U.S. example shows that private retailers are more influential than extension in influencing large-scale farmers’ farm management decisions in the midwestern United States. However, these private retailers trust extension as a source of climate change information and thus partnerships are important for extension. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been an important source of extension services for smallholder farmers across the world, and examples from the NGO CARE indicate that a participatory and facilitative approach works well for climate change communication. Collectively, these examples emphasize that the role of agricultural extension in climate change communication is essential in the context of both developed and developing countries and with both smallholder farmers and large-scale farmers. These case studies illustrate the effectiveness of a co-production approach, the importance of partners and donors, and the changing landscape of agricultural extension delivery.

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