Climate differentiates forest structure across a residential macrosystem

EPA Science Inventory

The extent of urban ecological homogenization depends on how humans build, inhabit, and manage cities. Morphological and socio-economic facets of neighborhoods can drive the homogenization of forest cover, thus affecting urban ecological and hydrological processes, and ecosystem...

Do cities simulate climate change? A comparison of herbivore response to urban and global warming

USGS Publications Warehouse

Youngsteadt, Elsa; Dale, Adam G.; Terando, Adam; Dunn, Robert R.; Frank, Steven D.

2014-01-01

Cities experience elevated temperature, CO2, and nitrogen deposition decades ahead of the global average, such that biological response to urbanization may predict response to future climate change. This hypothesis remains untested due to a lack of complementary urban and long-term observations. Here, we examine the response of an herbivore, the scale insect Melanaspis tenebricosa, to temperature in the context of an urban heat island, a series of historical temperature fluctuations, and recent climate warming. We survey M. tenebricosa on 55 urban street trees in Raleigh, NC, 342 herbarium specimens collected in the rural southeastern United States from 1895 to 2011, and at 20 rural forest sites represented by both modern (2013) and historical samples. We relate scale insect abundance to August temperatures and find that M. tenebricosa is most common in the hottest parts of the city, on historical specimens collected during warm time periods, and in present-day rural forests compared to the same sites when they were cooler. Scale insects reached their highest densities in the city, but abundance peaked at similar temperatures in urban and historical datasets and tracked temperature on a decadal scale. Although urban habitats are highly modified, species response to a key abiotic factor, temperature, was consistent across urban and rural-forest ecosystems. Cities may be an appropriate but underused system for developing and testing hypotheses about biological effects of climate change. Future work should test the applicability of this model to other groups of organisms.

Impact of regional afforestation on climatic conditions in metropolitan areas: case study of Copenhagen

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stysiak, Aleksander Andrzej; Bergen Jensen, Marina; Mahura, Alexander

2016-04-01

Like most other places, European metropolitan areas will face a range of climate-related challenges over the next decades that may influence the nature of urban life across the continent. Under future urbanization and climate change scenarios the well-being and comfort of the urban population might become progressively compromised. In urban areas, the effects of the warming climate will be accelerated by combination of Urban Heat Island effect (UHI) and extreme heat waves. The land cover composition directly influences atmospheric variability, and can either escalate or downscale the projected changes. Vegetation, forest ecosystems in particular, are anticipated to play an important role in modulating local and regional climatic conditions, and to be vital factor in the process of adapting cities to warming climate. This study investigates the impact of forest and land-cover change on formation and development of temperature regimes in the Copenhagen Metropolitan Area (CPH-MA). Potential to modify the UHI effect in CPH-MA is estimated. Using 2009 meteorological data, and up-to-date 2012 high resolution land-cover data we employed the online integrated meteorology-chemistry/aerosols Enviro-HIRLAM (Environment - High Resolution Limited Area Model) modeling system to simulate air temperature (at 2 meter height) fields for a selected period in July 2009. Employing research tools (such as METGRAF meteorological software and Geographical Information Systems) we then estimated the influence of different afforestation and urbanization scenarios with new forests being located after the Danish national afforestation plan, after proximity to the city center, after dominating wind characteristics, and urbanization taking place as densification of the existing conurbation. This study showed the difference in temperature up to 3.25°C, and the decrease in the spatial extent of temperature fields up to 68%, depending on the selected scenario. Performed simulations demonstrated that well-positioned and well-sized afforestation at the regional scale can significantly affect the spatial distribution, structure and intensity of the temperature field. This study points to vegetation having practical applications in urban and regional planning for modifying local climatic conditions. Keywords: Urban Heat Island, Afforestation, Land cover change, Urban planning, Climate change adaptation, Enviro-HIRLAM

Forest Service Global Change Research Strategy, 2009-2019

Treesearch

Allen Solomon; Richard Birdsey; Linda A. Joyce; Jennifer Hayes

2009-01-01

In keeping with the research goals of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, the Research and Development agenda of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), helps define climate change policy and develop best management practices for forests (both rural and urban) and grasslands. These actions are taken to sustain ecosystem health, adjust management...

Impacts of air pollution and climate change on forest ecosystems - emerging research needs

Treesearch

Elena Paoletti; Bytnerowicz; Chris Andersen; Algirdas Augustaitis; Marco Ferretti; Nancy Grulke; Madeleine S. Gunthardt-goerg; John Innes; Dale Johnson; Dave Karnosky; Jessada Luangjame; Rainer Matyssek; Steven McNulty; Gerhard Muller-Starck; Robert Musselman; Kevin Percy

2007-01-01

Outcomes from the 22nd meeting for Specialists in Air Pollution Effects on Forest Ecosystems "Forests under Anthropogenic Pressure – Effects of Air Pollution, Climate Change and Urban Development", September 10–16, 2006, Riverside, CA, are summarized. Tropospheric or ground-level ozone (O3) is still the phytotoxic...

CREATING SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS TO ASSESS THE PHYSICAL, SOCIAL, AND ECONOMIC VALUES OF GREENING CITIES - A STUDY OF THE MILLION TREES INITIATIVES IN LOS ANGELES, CA

EPA Science Inventory

At a time of increasing concerns for urban sustainability, what are the physical, social, and economic values of urban forests in semi-arid climates where many of the world’s fastest growing cities are located? Although urban forests are increasingly popular to improve enviro...

Do cities simulate climate change? A comparison of herbivore response to urban and global warming.

PubMed

Youngsteadt, Elsa; Dale, Adam G; Terando, Adam J; Dunn, Robert R; Frank, Steven D

2015-01-01

Cities experience elevated temperature, CO2 , and nitrogen deposition decades ahead of the global average, such that biological response to urbanization may predict response to future climate change. This hypothesis remains untested due to a lack of complementary urban and long-term observations. Here, we examine the response of an herbivore, the scale insect Melanaspis tenebricosa, to temperature in the context of an urban heat island, a series of historical temperature fluctuations, and recent climate warming. We survey M. tenebricosa on 55 urban street trees in Raleigh, NC, 342 herbarium specimens collected in the rural southeastern United States from 1895 to 2011, and at 20 rural forest sites represented by both modern (2013) and historical samples. We relate scale insect abundance to August temperatures and find that M. tenebricosa is most common in the hottest parts of the city, on historical specimens collected during warm time periods, and in present-day rural forests compared to the same sites when they were cooler. Scale insects reached their highest densities in the city, but abundance peaked at similar temperatures in urban and historical datasets and tracked temperature on a decadal scale. Although urban habitats are highly modified, species response to a key abiotic factor, temperature, was consistent across urban and rural-forest ecosystems. Cities may be an appropriate but underused system for developing and testing hypotheses about biological effects of climate change. Future work should test the applicability of this model to other groups of organisms. Published 2014. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Improving city forests through assessment, modelling and monitoring

Treesearch

D.J. Nowak

2018-01-01

Urban and peri-urban forests produce numerous benefits for society. These include moderating the climate; reducing energy use in buildings; sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide; improving air and water quality; mitigating rainfall run-off and flooding; providing an aesthetic environment and recreational opportunities; enhancing human health and social well-being;...

Quantifying urban forest structure, function, and value: the Chicago Urban Forest Climate Project

Treesearch

E. Gregory McPherson; David Nowak; Gordon Heisler; Sue Grimmond; Catherine Souch; Rich Grant; Rowan Rowntree

1997-01-01

This paper is a review of research in Chicago that linked analyses of vegetation structure with forest functions and values. During 1991, the region's trees removed an estimated 5575 metric tons of air pollutants, providing air cleansing worth $9.2 million. Each year they sequester an estimated 315 800 metric tons of carbon. Increasing tree cover 10% or planting...

Effects of rapid urban sprawl on urban forest carbon stocks: integrating remotely sensed, GIS and forest inventory data.

PubMed

Ren, Yin; Yan, Jing; Wei, Xiaohua; Wang, Yajun; Yang, Yusheng; Hua, Lizhong; Xiong, Yongzhu; Niu, Xiang; Song, Xiaodong

2012-12-30

Research on the effects of urban sprawl on carbon stocks within urban forests can help support policy for sustainable urban design. This is particularly important given climate change and environmental deterioration as a result of rapid urbanization. The purpose of this study was to quantify the effects of urban sprawl on dynamics of forest carbon stock and density in Xiamen, a typical city experiencing rapid urbanization in China. Forest resource inventory data collected from 32,898 patches in 4 years (1972, 1988, 1996 and 2006), together with remotely sensed data (from 1988, 1996 and 2006), were used to investigate vegetation carbon densities and stocks in Xiamen, China. We classified the forests into four groups: (1) forest patches connected to construction land; (2) forest patches connected to farmland; (3) forest patches connected to both construction land and farmland and (4) close forest patches. Carbon stocks and densities of four different types of forest patches during different urbanization periods in three zones (urban core, suburb and exurb) were compared to assess the impact of human disturbance on forest carbon. In the urban core, the carbon stock and carbon density in all four forest patch types declined over the study period. In the suburbs, different urbanization processes influenced forest carbon density and carbon stock in all four forest patch types. Urban sprawl negatively affected the surrounding forests. In the exurbs, the carbon stock and carbon density in all four forest patch types tended to increase over the study period. The results revealed that human disturbance played the dominant role in influencing the carbon stock and density of forest patches close to the locations of human activities. In forest patches far away from the locations of human activities, natural forest regrowth was the dominant factor affecting carbon stock and density. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CARES Helps Explain Secondary Organic Aerosols

ScienceCinema

Zaveri, Rahul

2018-01-16

What happens when urban man-made pollution mixes with what we think of as pristine forest air? To know more about what this interaction means for the climate, the Carbonaceous Aerosol and Radiative Effects Study, or CARES, field campaign was designed in 2010. The sampling strategy during CARES was coordinated with CalNex 2010, another major field campaign that was planned in California in 2010 by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the California Energy Commission (CEC). "We found two things. When urban pollution mixes with forest pollutions we get more secondary organic aerosols," said Rahul Zaveri, FCSD scientist and project lead on CARES. "SOAs are thought to be formed primarily from forest emissions but only when they interact with urban emissions. The data is saying that there will be climate cooling over the central California valley because of these interactions." Knowledge gained from detailed analyses of data gathered during the CARES campaign, together with laboratory experiments, is being used to improve existing climate models.

A vulnerability tool for adapting water and aquatic resources to climate change and extremes on the Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rice, J.; Joyce, L. A.; Armel, B.; Bevenger, G.; Zubic, R.

2011-12-01

Climate change introduces a significant challenge for land managers and decision makers managing the natural resources that provide many benefits from forests. These benefits include water for urban and agricultural uses, wildlife habitat, erosion and climate control, aquifer recharge, stream flows regulation, water temperature regulation, and cultural services such as outdoor recreation and aesthetic enjoyment. The Forest Service has responded to this challenge by developing a national strategy for responding to climate change (the National Roadmap for Responding to Climate Change, July 2010). In concert with this national strategy, the Forest Service's Westwide Climate Initiative has conducted 4 case studies on individual Forests in the western U.S to develop climate adaptation tools. Western National Forests are particularly vulnerable to climate change as they have high-mountain topography, diversity in climate and vegetation, large areas of water limited ecosystems, and increasing urbanization. Information about the vulnerability and capacity of resources to adapt to climate change and extremes is lacking. There is an urgent need to provide customized tools and synthesized local scale information about the impacts to resources from future climate change and extremes, as well as develop science based adaptation options and strategies in National Forest management and planning. The case study on the Shoshone National Forest has aligned its objectives with management needs by developing a climate extreme vulnerability tool that guides adaptation options development. The vulnerability tool determines the likely degree to which native Yellowstone cutthroat trout and water availability are susceptible to, or unable to cope with adverse effects of climate change extremes. We spatially categorize vulnerability for water and native trout resources using exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity indicators that use minimum and maximum climate and GIS data. Results show that the vulnerability of water availability may increase in areas that have less storage and become more dominated by rain instead of snow. Native trout habitat was found to improve in some areas from warmer temperatures suggesting future refugia habitat may need to be a focus of conservation efforts. The climate extreme vulnerability tool provides Forest Service resource managers science based information that guides adaptation strategy development; prioritize conservation projects; guides monitoring efforts, and helps promote more resilient ecosystems undergoing the effects of climate change.

Global topics and novel approaches in the study of air pollution, climate change and forest ecosystems.

PubMed

Sicard, Pierre; Augustaitis, Algirdas; Belyazid, Salim; Calfapietra, Carlo; de Marco, Alessandra; Fenn, Mark; Bytnerowicz, Andrzej; Grulke, Nancy; He, Shang; Matyssek, Rainer; Serengil, Yusuf; Wieser, Gerhard; Paoletti, Elena

2016-06-01

Research directions from the 27th conference for Specialists in Air Pollution and Climate Change Effects on Forest Ecosystems (2015) reflect knowledge advancements about (i) Mechanistic bases of tree responses to multiple climate and pollution stressors, in particular the interaction of ozone (O3) with nitrogen (N) deposition and drought; (ii) Linking genetic control with physiological whole-tree activity; (iii) Epigenetic responses to climate change and air pollution; (iv) Embedding individual tree performance into the multi-factorial stand-level interaction network; (v) Interactions of biogenic and anthropogenic volatile compounds (molecular, functional and ecological bases); (vi) Estimating the potential for carbon/pollution mitigation and cost effectiveness of urban and peri-urban forests; (vii) Selection of trees adapted to the urban environment; (viii) Trophic, competitive and host/parasite relationships under changing pollution and climate; (ix) Atmosphere-biosphere-pedosphere interactions as affected by anthropospheric changes; (x) Statistical analyses for epidemiological investigations; (xi) Use of monitoring for the validation of models; (xii) Holistic view for linking the climate, carbon, N and O3 modelling; (xiii) Inclusion of multiple environmental stresses (biotic and abiotic) in critical load determinations; (xiv) Ecological impacts of N deposition in the under-investigated areas; (xv) Empirical models for mechanistic effects at the local scale; (xvi) Broad-scale N and sulphur deposition input and their effects on forest ecosystem services; (xvii) Measurements of dry deposition of N; (xviii) Assessment of evapotranspiration; (xix) Remote sensing assessment of hydrological parameters; and (xx) Forest management for maximizing water provision and overall forest ecosystem services. Ground-level O3 is still the phytotoxic air pollutant of major concern to forest health. Specific issues about O3 are: (xxi) Developing dose-response relationships and stomatal O3 flux parameterizations for risk assessment, especially, in under-investigated regions; (xxii) Defining biologically based O3 standards for protection thresholds and critical levels; (xxiii) Use of free-air exposure facilities; (xxiv) Assessing O3 impacts on forest ecosystem services. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analyzing the cost effectiveness of Santiago, Chile's policy of using urban forests to improve air quality.

PubMed

Escobedo, Francisco J; Wagner, John E; Nowak, David J; De la Maza, Carmen Luz; Rodriguez, Manuel; Crane, Daniel E

2008-01-01

Santiago, Chile has the distinction of having among the worst urban air pollution problems in Latin America. As part of an atmospheric pollution reduction plan, the Santiago Regional Metropolitan government defined an environmental policy goal of using urban forests to remove particulate matter less than 10 microm (PM(10)) in the Gran Santiago area. We used cost effectiveness, or the process of establishing costs and selecting least cost alternatives for obtaining a defined policy goal of PM(10) removal, to analyze this policy goal. For this study, we quantified PM(10) removal by Santiago's urban forests based on socioeconomic strata and using field and real-time pollution and climate data via a dry deposition urban forest effects model. Municipal urban forest management costs were estimated using management cost surveys and Chilean Ministry of Planning and Cooperation documents. Results indicate that managing municipal urban forests (trees, shrubs, and grass whose management is under the jurisdiction of Santiago's 36 municipalities) to remove PM(10) was a cost-effective policy for abating PM(10) based on criteria set by the World Bank. In addition, we compared the cost effectiveness of managing municipal urban forests and street trees to other control policies (e.g. alternative fuels) to abate PM(10) in Santiago and determined that municipal urban forest management efficiency was similar to these other air quality improvement measures.

Removal of Ozone by Urban and Peri-Urban Forests: Evidence from Laboratory, Field, and Modeling Approaches

Treesearch

Carlo Calfapietra; Arianna Morani; Gregorio Sgrigna; Sara Di Giovanni; Valerio Muzzini; Emanuele Pallozzi; Gabriele Guidolotti; David Nowak; Silvano Fares

2016-01-01

A crucial issue in urban environments is the interaction between urban trees and atmospheric pollution, particularly ozone (O3). Ozone represents one of the most harmful pollutants in urban and peri-urban environments, especially in warm climates. Besides the large interest in reducing anthropogenic and biogenic precursors of O3...

CARES Helps Explain Secondary Organic Aerosols

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zaveri, Rahul

2014-03-28

What happens when urban man-made pollution mixes with what we think of as pristine forest air? To know more about what this interaction means for the climate, the Carbonaceous Aerosol and Radiative Effects Study, or CARES, field campaign was designed in 2010. The sampling strategy during CARES was coordinated with CalNex 2010, another major field campaign that was planned in California in 2010 by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the California Energy Commission (CEC). "We found two things. When urban pollution mixes with forest pollutions we get more secondary organic aerosols,"more » said Rahul Zaveri, FCSD scientist and project lead on CARES. "SOAs are thought to be formed primarily from forest emissions but only when they interact with urban emissions. The data is saying that there will be climate cooling over the central California valley because of these interactions." Knowledge gained from detailed analyses of data gathered during the CARES campaign, together with laboratory experiments, is being used to improve existing climate models.« less

Stakeholders’ engagement in promoting sustainable development: Businesses and urban forest carbon

Treesearch

N. C. Poudyal; J. P. Siry; J. M. Bowker

2012-01-01

To better understand how businesses’ motivation and support for green projects varies by their organizational objectives and characteristics, this study investigates a case of urban forestry carbon credits in a broader context of climate change mitigation efforts. Companies and organizations currently participating in the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) were surveyed...

Challenges for tree officers to enhance the provision of regulating ecosystem services from urban forests.

PubMed

Davies, Helen J; Doick, Kieron J; Hudson, Malcolm D; Schreckenberg, Kate

2017-07-01

Urbanisation and a changing climate are leading to more frequent and severe flood, heat and air pollution episodes in Britain's cities. Interest in nature-based solutions to these urban problems is growing, with urban forests potentially able to provide a range of regulating ecosystem services such as stormwater attenuation, heat amelioration and air purification. The extent to which these benefits are realized is largely dependent on urban forest management objectives, the availability of funding, and the understanding of ecosystem service concepts within local governments, the primary delivery agents of urban forests. This study aims to establish the extent to which British local authorities actively manage their urban forests for regulating ecosystem services, and identify which resources local authorities most need in order to enhance provision of ecosystem services by Britain's urban forests. Interviews were carried out with staff responsible for tree management decisions in fifteen major local authorities from across Britain, selected on the basis of their urban nature and high population density. Local authorities have a reactive approach to urban forest management, driven by human health and safety concerns and complaints about tree disservices. There is relatively little focus on ensuring provision of regulating ecosystem services, despite awareness by tree officers of the key role that urban forests can play in alleviating chronic air pollution, flood risk and urban heat anomalies. However, this is expected to become a greater focus in future provided that existing constraints - lack of understanding of ecosystem services amongst key stakeholders, limited political support, funding constraints - can be overcome. Our findings suggest that the adoption of a proactive urban forest strategy, underpinned by quantified and valued urban forest-based ecosystem services provision data, and innovative private sector funding mechanisms, can facilitate a change to a proactive, ecosystem services approach to urban forest management. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Impacts of Air Pollution and Climate Change on Forest Ecosystems — Emerging Research Needs

PubMed Central

Paoletti, Elena; Bytnerowicz, Andrzej; Andersen, Chris; Augustaitis, Algirdas; Ferretti, Marco; Grulke, Nancy; Günthardt-Goerg, Madeleine S.; Innes, John; Johnson, Dale; Karnosky, Dave; Luangjame, Jesada; Matyssek, Rainer; McNulty, Steven; Müller-Starck, Gerhard; Musselman, Robert; Percy, Kevin

2007-01-01

Outcomes from the 22nd meeting for Specialists in Air Pollution Effects on Forest Ecosystems “Forests under Anthropogenic Pressure Effects of Air Pollution, Climate Change and Urban Development”, September 1016, 2006, Riverside, CA, are summarized. Tropospheric or ground-level ozone (O3) is still the phytotoxic air pollutant of major interest. Challenging issues are how to make O3 standards or critical levels more biologically based and at the same time practical for wide use; quantification of plant detoxification processes in flux modeling; inclusion of multiple environmental stresses in critical load determinations; new concept development for nitrogen saturation; interactions between air pollution, climate, and forest pests; effects of forest fire on air quality; the capacity of forests to sequester carbon under changing climatic conditions and coexposure to elevated levels of air pollutants; enhanced linkage between molecular biology, biochemistry, physiology, and morphological traits. PMID:17450274

Interaction between urbanization and climate variability amplifies watershed nitrate export in Maryland

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kaushal, S.S.; Groffman, P.M.; Band, L.E.; Shields, C.A.; Morgan, R.P.; Palmer, Margaret A.; Belt, K.T.; Swan, C.M.; Findlay, S.E.G.; Fisher, G.T.

2008-01-01

We investigated regional effects of urbanization and land use change on nitrate concentrations in approximately 1,000 small streams in Maryland during record drought and wet years in 2001-2003. We also investigated changes in nitrate-N export during the same time period in 8 intensively monitored small watersheds across an urbanization gradient in Baltimore, Maryland. Nitrate-N concentrations in Maryland were greatest in agricultural streams, urban streams, and forest streams respectively. During the period of record drought and wet years, nitrate-N exports in Baltimore showed substantial variation in 6 suburban/urban streams (2.9-15.3 kg/ha/y), 1 agricultural stream (3.4-38.9 kg/ha/y), and 1 forest stream (0.03-0.2 kg/ ha/y). Interannual variability was similar for small Baltimore streams and nearby well-monitored tributaries and coincided with record hypoxia in Chesapeake Bay. Discharge-weighted mean annual nitrate concentrations showed a variable tendency to decrease/increase with changes in annual runoff, although total N export generally increased with annual runoff. N retention in small Baltimore watersheds during the 2002 drought was 85%, 99%, and 94% for suburban, forest, and agricultural watersheds, respectively, and declined to 35%, 91%, and 41% during the wet year of 2003. Our results suggest that urban land use change can increase the vulnerability of ecosystem nitrogen retention functions to climatic variability. Further work is necessary to characterize patterns of nitrate-N export and retention in small urbanizing watersheds under varying climatic conditions to improve future forecasting and watershed scale restoration efforts aimed at improving nitrate-N retention. ?? 2008 American Chemical Society.

Removal of Ozone by Urban and Peri-Urban Forests: Evidence from Laboratory, Field, and Modeling Approaches.

PubMed

Calfapietra, Carlo; Morani, Arianna; Sgrigna, Gregorio; Di Giovanni, Sara; Muzzini, Valerio; Pallozzi, Emanuele; Guidolotti, Gabriele; Nowak, David; Fares, Silvano

2016-01-01

A crucial issue in urban environments is the interaction between urban trees and atmospheric pollution, particularly ozone (O). Ozone represents one of the most harmful pollutants in urban and peri-urban environments, especially in warm climates. Besides the large interest in reducing anthropogenic and biogenic precursors of O emissions, there is growing scientific activity aimed at understanding O removal by vegetation, particularly trees. The intent of this paper is to provide the state of the art and suggestions to improve future studies of O fluxes and to discuss implications of O flux studies to maximize environmental services through the planning and management of urban forests. To evaluate and quantify the potential of O removal in urban and peri-urban forests, we describe experimental approaches to measure O fluxes, distinguishing laboratory experiments, field measurements, and model estimates, including recent case studies. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches and conclude that the combination of the three levels of investigation is essential for estimating O removal by urban trees. We also comment on the implications of these findings for planning and management of urban forests, suggesting some key issues that should be considered to maximize O removal by urban and peri-urban forests. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Land Use and Watersheds: Human Influence on Hydrology and Geomorphology in Urban and Forest Areas. Water Science and Application Series

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wigmosta, Mark S.; Burges, S J.

2001-10-01

What is the effect of urbanization and forest use on hydrologic and geomorphic processes? How can we develop land use policies that minimize adverse impacts on ecosystems while sustaining biodiversity? Land Use and Watersheds: Human Influence on Hydrology and Geomorphology in Urban and Forest Areas addresses these issues and more. By featuring watersheds principally in the American Pacific Northwest, and the effects of timber harvesting and road construction on stream flow, sediment yield and landslide occurrence, scientists can advance their understanding of what constitutes appropriate management of environments with similar hydro-climatic-geomorphic settings worldwide.

Multilevel regression models describing regional patterns of invertebrate and algal responses to urbanization across the USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cuffney, T.F.; Kashuba, R.; Qian, S.S.; Alameddine, I.; Cha, Y.K.; Lee, B.; Coles, J.F.; McMahon, G.

2011-01-01

Multilevel hierarchical regression was used to examine regional patterns in the responses of benthic macroinvertebrates and algae to urbanization across 9 metropolitan areas of the conterminous USA. Linear regressions established that responses (intercepts and slopes) to urbanization of invertebrates and algae varied among metropolitan areas. Multilevel hierarchical regression models were able to explain these differences on the basis of region-scale predictors. Regional differences in the type of land cover (agriculture or forest) being converted to urban and climatic factors (precipitation and air temperature) accounted for the differences in the response of macroinvertebrates to urbanization based on ordination scores, total richness, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera richness, and average tolerance. Regional differences in climate and antecedent agriculture also accounted for differences in the responses of salt-tolerant diatoms, but differences in the responses of other diatom metrics (% eutraphenic, % sensitive, and % silt tolerant) were best explained by regional differences in soils (mean % clay soils). The effects of urbanization were most readily detected in regions where forest lands were being converted to urban land because agricultural development significantly degraded assemblages before urbanization and made detection of urban effects difficult. The effects of climatic factors (temperature, precipitation) on background conditions (biogeographic differences) and rates of response to urbanization were most apparent after accounting for the effects of agricultural development. The effects of climate and land cover on responses to urbanization provide strong evidence that monitoring, mitigation, and restoration efforts must be tailored for specific regions and that attainment goals (background conditions) may not be possible in regions with high levels of prior disturbance (e.g., agricultural development). ?? 2011 by The North American Benthological Society.

Modeling Surface Climate in US Cities Using Simple Biosphere Model Sib2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, Ping; Bounoua, Lahouari; Thome, Kurtis; Wolfe, Robert; Imhoff, Marc

2015-01-01

We combine Landsat- and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-based products in the Simple Biosphere model (SiB2) to assess the effects of urbanized land on the continental US (CONUS) surface climate. Using National Land Cover Database (NLCD) Impervious Surface Area (ISA), we define more than 300 urban settlements and their surrounding suburban and rural areas over the CONUS. The SiB2 modeled Gross Primary Production (GPP) over the CONUS of 7.10 PgC (1 PgC= 10(exp 15) grams of Carbon) is comparable to the MODIS improved GPP of 6.29 PgC. At state level, SiB2 GPP is highly correlated with MODIS GPP with a correlation coefficient of 0.94. An increasing horizontal GPP gradient is shown from the urban out to the rural area, with, on average, rural areas fixing 30% more GPP than urbans. Cities built in forested biomes have stronger UHI magnitude than those built in short vegetation with low biomass. Mediterranean climate cities have a stronger UHI in wet season than dry season. Our results also show that for urban areas built within forests, 39% of the precipitation is discharged as surface runoff during summer versus 23% in rural areas.

Future of America’s Forest and Rangelands: Forest Service 2010 Resources Planning Act Assessment

Treesearch

Forest Service U.S. Department of Agriculture

2012-01-01

The 2010 Resources Planning Act (RPA) Assessment summarizes findings about the status, trends, and projected future of forests, rangelands, wildlife and fish, biodiversity, water, outdoor recreation, wilderness, and urban forests, as well as the effects of climate change upon these resources. The outlook for U.S. resources is largely influenced by a set of scenarios...

The future of southern forests

Treesearch

David N. Wear

2016-01-01

The southeastern United States contains expansive and diverse forests that provide many values and services. The future of these forests will depend on many factors, including wood products markets, urban growth and development, insects and diseases, and climate changes.

Trees in urban parks and forests reduce O3, but not NO2 concentrations in Baltimore, MD, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yli-Pelkonen, Vesa; Scott, Anna A.; Viippola, Viljami; Setälä, Heikki

2017-10-01

Trees and other vegetation absorb and capture air pollutants, leading to the common perception that they, and trees in particular, can improve air quality in cities and provide an important ecosystem service for urban inhabitants. Yet, there has been a lack of empirical evidence showing this at the local scale with different plant configurations and climatic regions. We studied the impact of urban park and forest vegetation on the levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ground-level ozone (O3) while controlling for temperature during early summer (May) using passive samplers in Baltimore, USA. Concentrations of O3 were significantly lower in tree-covered habitats than in adjacent open habitats, but concentrations of NO2 did not differ significantly between tree-covered and open habitats. Higher temperatures resulted in higher pollutant concentrations and NO2 and O3 concentration were negatively correlated with each other. Our results suggest that the role of trees in reducing NO2 concentrations in urban parks and forests in the Mid-Atlantic USA is minor, but that the presence of tree-cover can result in lower O3 levels compared to similar open areas. Our results further suggest that actions aiming at local air pollution mitigation should consider local variability in vegetation, climate, micro-climate, and traffic conditions.

China's land cover and land use change from 1700 to 2005: Estimations from high-resolution satellite data and historical archives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Mingliang; Tian, Hanqin

2010-09-01

One of the major limitations in assessing the impacts of human activities on global biogeochemical cycles and climate is a shortage of reliable data on historical land cover and land use change (LCLUC). China had extreme discrepancies in estimating contemporary and historical patterns of LCLUC over the last 3 centuries because of its geographical complexity, long history of land use, and limited national surveys. This study aims to characterize the spatial and temporal patterns of China's LCLUC during 1700-2005 by reconstructing historical gridded data sets from high-resolution satellite data and long-term historical survey data. During this 300 year period, the major characteristics of LCLUC in China have been shrinking forest (decreased by 22%) and expanding cropland (increased by 42%) and urban areas (including urban and rural settlements, factories, quarries, mining, and other built-up land). New cropland areas have come almost equally from both forested and nonforested land. This study also revealed that substantial conversion between forest and woodland can be attributed to forest harvest, forest regeneration, and land degradation. During 1980-2005, LCLUC was characterized by shrinking cropland, expanding urban and forest areas, and large decadal variations on a national level. LCLUC in China showed significant spatial variations during different time periods, which were caused by spatial heterogeneity in vegetation, soils, and climate and regional imbalance in economy development. During 1700-2005, forests shrunk rapidly while croplands expanded in the northeast and southwest of China. During 1980-2005, we found a serious loss of cropland and urban sprawl in the eastern plain, north, and southeast regions of China and a large increase in forested area in the southeast and southwest regions. The reconstructed LCLUC data sets from this study could be used to assess the impacts of land use change on biogeochemical cycles, the water cycle, and the regional climate in China. To further eliminate uncertainties in this data set and make reliable projections of LCLUC for the future, we need to improve our understanding of the drivers of LCLUC and work toward developing an advanced, spatially explicit land use model.

Differences in photosynthesis and isoprene emission in post oak (Quercus stellata) and sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) trees along an urban-to-rural gradient in Texas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crossett, C.; Lahr, E.; Haas, G.; Schade, G. W.

2014-12-01

Many plants produce isoprene, a volatile organic compound that can mitigate damage to photosynthetic systems during short- or long-term increases in leaf temperature. After its production within leaves, isoprene is emitted to the atmosphere and influences regional atmospheric chemistry. Here, we use an urban-to-rural gradient to explore future effects of climate change on tree eco-physiology and feedbacks to atmospheric chemistry. Urban areas mimic many of the conditions expected to occur in the future; in particular, cities have warmer temperatures due to the urban heat island (UHI) effect, and less water availability relative to rural areas. Along a 90 km urban-to-rural gradient, we measured photosynthesis and isoprene emission from trees at three sites in eastern Texas: Houston (urban), The Woodlands (suburban) and Sam Houston National Forest (rural). Isoprene emission from post oak (Quercus stellata) was higher in Houston than the other sites, and when leaf temperatures were increased above ambient conditions, trees produced more isoprene. Leaves produced more isoprene at high leaf temperatures in early summer than in late summer, suggesting gradual acclimation of photosynthetic processes over the course of the summer. We also found that sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) emitted more isoprene than post oak, but when leaf temperatures were increased, isoprene emission was exhausted more quickly in sweetgum relative to post oak. At the same time, post oak maintained higher levels of photosynthesis seasonally and during short-term temperature increases. Both post oak and sweetgum are significant isoprene emitters and represent approximately two and four percent crown cover in the United States, respectively. Our results suggest that in a warming climate, we can expect trees to produce more isoprene seasonally and in response to short-term temperature extremes, and that species-specific differences in photosynthesis and isoprene emission may play an important role in forest dynamics, particularly in long-term forest growth and carbon storage. Further exploration of the interactive effect of increased CO2, temperature, and drought on tree physiology will improve our understanding of forest dynamics and forest-climate feedbacks.

Carbon storage and sequestration by trees in urban and community areas of the United States

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Eric J. Greenfield; Robert E. Hoehn; Elizabeth Lapoint

2013-01-01

Carbon storage and sequestration by urban trees in the United States was quantified to assess the magnitude and role of urban forests in relation to climate change. Urban tree field data from 28 cities and 6 states were used to determine the average carbon density per unit of tree cover. These data were applied to statewide urban tree cover measurements to determine...

Future of America's Forests and Rangelands: Update to the 2010 Resources Planning Act Assessment

Treesearch

Forest Service U.S. Department of Agriculture

2016-01-01

The Update to the 2010 Resources Planning Act (RPA) Assessment summarizes findings about the status, trends, and projected future of forests, rangelands, wildlife, biodiversity, water, outdoor recreation, and urban forests, as well as the effects of climate change upon these resources. Varying assumptions about population and economic growth, land use change, and...

A dynamic invasive species research vision: Opportunities and priorities 2009-29

Treesearch

2010-01-01

Invasive species significantly impact U.S. ecosystems and are one of the greatest threats to forest, rangeland, and urban forest health. They have contributed to increases in fire frequency and intensity; reduced water resources, forest growth, and timber; and negatively affected native species and their habitats throughout the United States. Global trade, climate...

Assessing the Benefits of Urban Forestry in Mojave Desert Communities

EPA Science Inventory

As the climate and environment change due to human activity, an understanding of the existing natural resources becomes paramount. Urban forests of Mojave Desert communities have the potential to reduce air pollution, heat island effects, and energy consumption. Regions throughou...

Climate change accelerates growth of urban trees in metropolises worldwide.

PubMed

Pretzsch, Hans; Biber, Peter; Uhl, Enno; Dahlhausen, Jens; Schütze, Gerhard; Perkins, Diana; Rötzer, Thomas; Caldentey, Juan; Koike, Takayoshi; Con, Tran van; Chavanne, Aurélia; Toit, Ben du; Foster, Keith; Lefer, Barry

2017-11-13

Despite the importance of urban trees, their growth reaction to climate change and to the urban heat island effect has not yet been investigated with an international scope. While we are well informed about forest growth under recent conditions, it is unclear if this knowledge can be simply transferred to urban environments. Based on tree ring analyses in ten metropolises worldwide, we show that, in general, urban trees have undergone accelerated growth since the 1960s. In addition, urban trees tend to grow more quickly than their counterparts in the rural surroundings. However, our analysis shows that climate change seems to enhance the growth of rural trees more than that of urban trees. The benefits of growing in an urban environment seem to outweigh known negative effects, however, accelerated growth may also mean more rapid ageing and shortened lifetime. Thus, city planners should adapt to the changed dynamics in order to secure the ecosystem services provided by urban trees.

Impact of Urban Growth on Surface Climate: A Case Study in Oran, Algeria

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bounoua, Lahouari; Safia, Abdelmounaine; Masek, Jeffrey; Peters-Lidars, Christaq; Imhoff, Marc L.

2008-01-01

We develop a land use map discriminating urban surfaces from other cover types over a semiarid region in North Africa and use it in a land surface model to assess the impact of urbanized land on surface energy, water and carbon balances. Unlike in temperate climates where urbanization creates a marked heat island effect, this effect is not strongly marked in semiarid regions. During summer, the urban class results in an additional warming of 1.45 C during daytime and 0.81 C at night compared to that simulated for needleleaf trees under similar climate conditions. Seasonal temperatures show urban areas warmer than their surrounding during summer and slightly cooler in winter. The hydrological cycle is practically "shut down" during summer and characterized by relatively large amount of runoff in winter. We estimate the annual amount of carbon uptake to 1.94 million metric tons with only 11.9% assimilated during the rainy season. However, if urbanization expands to reach 50% of the total area excluding forests, the annual total carbon uptake will decline by 35% and the July mean temperature would increase only 0.10 C, compared to current situation. In contrast, if urbanization expands to 50% of the total land excluding forests and croplands but all short vegetation is replaced by native broadleaf deciduous trees, the annual carbon uptake would increase 39% and the July mean temperature would decrease by 0.9 C, compared to current configuration. These results provide guidelines for urban planners and land use managers and indicate possibilities for mitigating the urban heat.

Contrasting effects of urbanization and agriculture on surface temperature in eastern China

Treesearch

Decheng Zhou; Dan Li; Ge Sun; Liangxia Zhang; Yongqiang Liu; Lu Hao

2016-01-01

The combined effect of urbanization and agriculture, two most pervasive land use activities, on the surface climate remains poorly understood. Using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data over 2010–2015 and forests as reference, we showed that urbanization warmed the land surface temperature (LST), especially during the daytime and in growing seasons (...

Communicating Climate Hazards Information in the Urban Community to the Public

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCalla, M. R.

2004-12-01

Climate simulations are predicting an overall warming of the atmosphere due to greenhouse gases. For example, CO2 allows sunlight to reach the earth and warm its surface, but it prevents a portion of this surface heat from escaping the atmosphere. This greenhouse effect can result in higher mean atmospheric temperatures near the Earth's surface. If these predictions are correct, changes in temperature can increase the power demand to cool urban building structures (homes, schools, offices, storage facilities, etc.). Similarly, the regional and seasonal temperature fluctuations due to climate oscillations (El Nino, for example) may also increase the power demand for heating and cooling. A warming climate (or cooling climate, for that matter) can also affect the available water for drinking, irrigation, and generating power, all of which impact the viability and sustainability of the urban community. Additionally, urban areas are expanding. Consequently, the distance between city and wildlands is decreasing. The wildland-urban interface often stresses biodiversity, forestation, and the urban area's ability to respond adequately to such climate-induced hazards as forest fires, flooding, and coastal erosion. Thus climate has an impact on humans and vice versa. How can scientists communicate the impact of climate on the urban community? What is the best way to communicate the information so that the public can (1) be informed and (2) make informed decisions? How well is the nexus between climate science and impacts on and benefits to decision makers understood? What is the best way to fully exploit that connection so that the public can develop intervention measures to support the urban community's response to climatic impacts? The Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research (OFCM) is an interdepartmental office established in response to Public Law 87-843 with the express purpose of ensuring the effective use of federal meteorological resources by leading the systematic coordination of operational weather and climate requirements, services, products, capabilities, information, modeling, and supporting research among the federal agencies. Toward that end, the OFCM, in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, is sponsoring a September 2004 forum on urban meteorology. The theme of the forum is "Information to Improve Community Responses to Urban Atmospheric Hazards, Weather Events, and Climate." Forum participants and speakers will come from both the public and private sectors, as well as the academic community. The output of the forum will be to specifically answer such questions as (1) how will emerging technologies help communicate risks more effectively to the urban community; (2) how can education, outreach, and training be more effective in eliciting an appropriate public response; and (3) what methods are needed to better communicate and disseminate climate information to the public? The communication recommendations stemming from the urban meteorology forum will be shared with AGU conference participants.

Analysis of the spatial dynamics and drivers of forest cover change in the Lempa River Basin of El Salvador

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castaneda, Hector

This work studies the changes of forest cover that have happened in the Lempa River Basin of El Salvador during the period 1979-2003. Although historically the trend has been towards the loss of forest cover since colonial times, over the period of study a large increase in forest cover was detected. The main tool of evaluation was the analysis of LANDSAT satellite imagery. Images for the dates 1979, 1990-91, and 2003 were classified into forest and noon-forest land covers. Then the changes in land cover were analyzed to determine what were the social, geophysical and climatic drivers determining why and where these new forest appeared. The results indicate that there has been an overall increase in forest cover from 20% in 1979 to 43% in 2003. Although there has been extensive deforestation, this has happened mostly around the main urban centers within the basin. In the more rural and remote areas, the tendency has been towards a resurgence in forest cover. The increase in forest was found to be significantly related to remittances, inaccessibility to roads and markets, density of urban populations, poverty and the civil war of the 1980s. Among the geospatial factors that determined where deforestation and reforestation happened were distance to roads and urban centers, slope, elevation, land use capability, and irrigation potential. The results indicate that the tendency in the future will be towards further reforestation but at a slower rate. Although reforestation and deforestation happened simultaneously, there are clear differences in the spatial patterns that each of these phenomena follow. In terms of climate, it was found areas subjected to inter-annual rainfall extremes due to El Nino Southern Oscillation, particularly areas with low agricultural potential, were more likely to be abandoned and left to revert to forest than those with more stable rainfall. The results of this study support the hypothesis that El Salvador is undergoing a Forest Transition process, that is a recuperation of forest cover due to urbanization, migration and economic growth.

A study on the relationship between carbon budget and ecosystem service in urban areas according to urbanization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, S. J.; Lee, W. K.

2017-12-01

The study on the analysis of carbon storage capacity of urban green spaces with increasing urban forest. Modern cities have experienced rapid economic development since Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. The rapid economic growth caused an exponential concentration of population to the cities and decrease of green spaces due to the conversion of forest and agricultural lands to build-up areas with rapid urbanization. As green areas including forests, grasslands, and wetlands provide diverse economic, environmental, and cultural benefits, the decrease of green areas might be a huge loss. Also, the process of urbanization caused pressure on the urban environment more than its natural capacity, which accelerates global climate change. This study tries to see the relations between carbon budget and ecosystem services according to the urbanization. For calculating carbon dynamics, this study used VISIT(Vegetation Integrated Simulator for trace gases) model. And the value that ecosystem provides is explained with the concept of ecosystem service and calculated by InVEST model. Study sites are urban and peri-urban areas in Northeast Asia. From the result of the study, the effect of the urbanization can be understood in regard to carbon storage and ecosystem services.

Institute of forest tree breeding: Improvement and gene conservation of iconic tree species in the 21st Century

Treesearch

C. Dana Nelson; Jennifer L. Koch

2017-01-01

Our nation’s forests and forest trees are undergoing unprecedented stress from invasive pathogens and pests, climate change, land fragmentation, and urbanization. Some of these stresses are acute, either regionally or locally, and are having significant negative impacts on regional and local economies and ecosystems. Managing and improving the genetic resources of...

Tree Productivity Enhanced with Conversion from Forest to Urban Land Covers.

PubMed

Briber, Brittain M; Hutyra, Lucy R; Reinmann, Andrew B; Raciti, Steve M; Dearborn, Victoria K; Holden, Christopher E; Dunn, Allison L

2015-01-01

Urban areas are expanding, changing the structure and productivity of landscapes. While some urban areas have been shown to hold substantial biomass, the productivity of these systems is largely unknown. We assessed how conversion from forest to urban land uses affected both biomass structure and productivity across eastern Massachusetts. We found that urban land uses held less than half the biomass of adjacent forest expanses with a plot level mean biomass density of 33.5 ± 8.0 Mg C ha(-1). As the intensity of urban development increased, the canopy cover, stem density, and biomass decreased. Analysis of Quercus rubra tree cores showed that tree-level basal area increment nearly doubled following development, increasing from 17.1 ± 3.0 to 35.8 ± 4.7 cm(2) yr(-1). Scaling the observed stem densities and growth rates within developed areas suggests an aboveground biomass growth rate of 1.8 ± 0.4 Mg C ha(-1) yr(-1), a growth rate comparable to nearby, intact forests. The contrasting high growth rates and lower biomass pools within urban areas suggest a highly dynamic ecosystem with rapid turnover. As global urban extent continues to grow, cities consider climate mitigation options, and as the verification of net greenhouse gas emissions emerges as critical for policy, quantifying the role of urban vegetation in regional-to-global carbon budgets will become ever more important.

Tree Productivity Enhanced with Conversion from Forest to Urban Land Covers

PubMed Central

Briber, Brittain M.; Hutyra, Lucy R.; Reinmann, Andrew B.; Raciti, Steve M.; Dearborn, Victoria K.; Holden, Christopher E.; Dunn, Allison L.

2015-01-01

Urban areas are expanding, changing the structure and productivity of landscapes. While some urban areas have been shown to hold substantial biomass, the productivity of these systems is largely unknown. We assessed how conversion from forest to urban land uses affected both biomass structure and productivity across eastern Massachusetts. We found that urban land uses held less than half the biomass of adjacent forest expanses with a plot level mean biomass density of 33.5 ± 8.0 Mg C ha-1. As the intensity of urban development increased, the canopy cover, stem density, and biomass decreased. Analysis of Quercus rubra tree cores showed that tree-level basal area increment nearly doubled following development, increasing from 17.1 ± 3.0 to 35.8 ± 4.7 cm2 yr-1. Scaling the observed stem densities and growth rates within developed areas suggests an aboveground biomass growth rate of 1.8 ± 0.4 Mg C ha-1 yr-1, a growth rate comparable to nearby, intact forests. The contrasting high growth rates and lower biomass pools within urban areas suggest a highly dynamic ecosystem with rapid turnover. As global urban extent continues to grow, cities consider climate mitigation options, and as the verification of net greenhouse gas emissions emerges as critical for policy, quantifying the role of urban vegetation in regional-to-global carbon budgets will become ever more important. PMID:26302444

Impact of Climate Variability and Landscape Patterns on Water Budget and Nutrient Loads in a Peri-urban Watershed: A Coupled Analysis Using Process-based Hydrological Model and Landscape Indices.

PubMed

Li, Chongwei; Zhang, Yajuan; Kharel, Gehendra; Zou, Chris B

2018-06-01

Nutrient discharge into peri-urban streams and reservoirs constitutes a significant pressure on environmental management, but quantitative assessment of non-point source pollution under climate variability in fast changing peri-urban watersheds is challenging. Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to simulate water budget and nutrient loads for landscape patterns representing a 30-year progression of urbanization in a peri-urban watershed near Tianjin metropolis, China. A suite of landscape pattern indices was related to nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) loads under dry and wet climate using CANOCO redundancy analysis. The calibrated SWAT model was adequate to simulate runoff and nutrient loads for this peri-urban watershed, with Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient (NSE) and coefficient of determination (R 2 ) > 0.70 and percentage bias (PBIAS) between -7 and +18 for calibration and validation periods. With the progression of urbanization, forest remained the main "sink" landscape while cultivated and urban lands remained the main "source" landscapes with the role of orchard and grassland being uncertain and changing with time. Compared to 1984, the landscape use pattern in 2013 increased nutrient discharge by 10%. Nutrient loads modelled under wet climate were 3-4 times higher than that under dry climate for the same landscape pattern. Results indicate that climate change could impose a far greater impact on runoff and nutrient discharge in a peri-urban watershed than landscape pattern change.

Impact of Climate Variability and Landscape Patterns on Water Budget and Nutrient Loads in a Peri-urban Watershed: A Coupled Analysis Using Process-based Hydrological Model and Landscape Indices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Chongwei; Zhang, Yajuan; Kharel, Gehendra; Zou, Chris B.

2018-06-01

Nutrient discharge into peri-urban streams and reservoirs constitutes a significant pressure on environmental management, but quantitative assessment of non-point source pollution under climate variability in fast changing peri-urban watersheds is challenging. Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to simulate water budget and nutrient loads for landscape patterns representing a 30-year progression of urbanization in a peri-urban watershed near Tianjin metropolis, China. A suite of landscape pattern indices was related to nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) loads under dry and wet climate using CANOCO redundancy analysis. The calibrated SWAT model was adequate to simulate runoff and nutrient loads for this peri-urban watershed, with Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient (NSE) and coefficient of determination ( R 2) > 0.70 and percentage bias (PBIAS) between -7 and +18 for calibration and validation periods. With the progression of urbanization, forest remained the main "sink" landscape while cultivated and urban lands remained the main "source" landscapes with the role of orchard and grassland being uncertain and changing with time. Compared to 1984, the landscape use pattern in 2013 increased nutrient discharge by 10%. Nutrient loads modelled under wet climate were 3-4 times higher than that under dry climate for the same landscape pattern. Results indicate that climate change could impose a far greater impact on runoff and nutrient discharge in a peri-urban watershed than landscape pattern change.

Managing air pollution impacted forests of California

Treesearch

Michael J. Arbaugh; Trent Proctor; Annie Esperanza

2009-01-01

Fuel treatments (prescribed fire and mechanical removal) on public lands in California are critical for reducing fuel accumulation and wildfire frequency and severity and protecting private property located in the wildland–urban interface. Treatments are especially needed in forests impacted by air pollution and subject to climate change. High ambient ozone (O

Urban Forests and Carbon Markets: Buyers’ Perspectives

Treesearch

Neelam C. Poudyal; Jacek Siry; J.M. Bowker

2011-01-01

Currently, carbon credit prices frequently do not reflect the type and location of offset projects. Because of the social image and ancillary benefits, buyers may place higher value on credits sourced from certain types of projects such as urban forestry. This study surveyed carbon credit buyers participating in the Chicago Climate Exchange to assess their preferences...

Investigating Land-Use Effects on Hydrologic Processes and Water Quality in a Complex Karst Hydro-Region of the Central United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hubbart, J. A.; Bulliner, E. A.; Freeman, G. W.; Chinnasamy, P.; Hosmer, G. W.; Scollan, D. P.; Stokely, T. D.

2009-12-01

A century of watershed studies verify that hydrologic and water quality responses to land-use varies substantially physiographically. In the Oak dominated, Missouri Ozark Karst hydrogeologic region of the Central U.S., catchment studies are needed to validate current forest best management practices (BMPs). Similarly, studies are necessary that quantify urban degraded freshwater resources and disassembled riparian zone form and function. Given that continued human population growth over the next several decades will place unprecedented demands on forested and urban water resources, it is imperative to confront contemporary forested watershed issues that encompass the wildland - urban interface. Studies were initiated in the fall of 2008 to: a) validate current riparian forest BMPs, b) quantify peak flows and microclimate alteration due to urbanization, and c) quantify stream connectivity to adjacent riparian floodplains. Study catchments are located in the urbanizing Hinkson Creek Watershed (HCW, 231km2) and the Baskett Wildlife Research and Education Area (BREA, 8.9 km2), both watersheds centrally located in Missouri. Hydroclimate stations were installed at five locations along Hinkson Creek partitioning forest, cropland, and urban environments (nested-scale study design), and two opposing forested stream reaches of the BREA. Climate in central Missouri is generally classified as humid continental, with annual mean temperature and precipitation of approximately 12.6 °C and 1050 mm respectively. Study catchments land use spans old growth mixed deciduous forest to rural pastureland and the growing urbanized center of Columbia, Mo (population exceeding 101,000). Soils are highly variable prairie-forest transitional to loamy till with a well developed clay pan of thin cherty clay and silty to sandy clay. Preliminary analyses of BREA riparian data (summer 2009) indicate that average temperatures for E-W oriented stream reaches are 0.3 °C lower than the N-S reaches and 2.2 °C lower than climate reference sites, reflecting the effects of canopy layers, density, and landscape physiography. Average net shortwave radiation for N-S oriented reach was 3.2% higher than the E-W reach, while maximum net longwave radiation was 62.4% lower. These results may hold important implications for on-going surface energy balance computations assessing canopy influence on stream water temperature. Preliminary analyses of HCW flow data indicate that forested headwater systems better attenuate peak flows of small precipitation events (< 0.80 mm) relative to current urban capabilities. Precipitation events greater than 1.0 mm result in peak rainfall time to peak flow decreased by as much as 13% in urban settings accompanied by at least 4 cm higher stage and 5 to 10% greater flow volume. Average air temperature in urbanized Columbia can exceed the forested region by as much as 15%, and precipitation events can be 50% greater in magnitude. Results from these complimentary studies will produce necessary datasets to improve hydrologic process understanding and develop improved guidelines and management tools in complex hydrophysiographic regions of Missouri and the Central U.S.

Urbanization in China drives soil acidification of Pinus massoniana forests.

PubMed

Huang, Juan; Zhang, Wei; Mo, Jiangming; Wang, Shizhong; Liu, Juxiu; Chen, Hao

2015-09-24

Soil acidification instead of alkalization has become a new environmental issue caused by urbanization. However, it remains unclear the characters and main contributors of this acidification. We investigated the effects of an urbanization gradient on soil acidity of Pinus massoniana forests in Pearl River Delta, South China. The soil pH of pine forests at 20-cm depth had significantly positive linear correlations with the distance from the urban core of Guangzhou. Soil pH reduced by 0.44 unit at the 0-10 cm layer in urbanized areas compared to that in non-urbanized areas. Nitrogen deposition, mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation were key factors influencing soil acidification based on a principal component analysis. Nitrogen deposition showed significant linear relationships with soil pH at the 0-10 cm (for ammonium N(NH4+(-N)), P < 0.05; for nitrate N(NO3-(-N)), P < 0.01) and 10-20 cm (for NO3-(-N), P < 0.05) layers. However, there was no significant loss of exchangeable non-acidic cations along the urbanization gradient, instead their levels were higher in urban than in urban/suburban area at the 0-10 cm layer. Our results suggested N deposition particularly under the climate of high temperature and rainfall, greatly contributed to a significant soil acidification occurred in the urbanized environment.

Effects of sea-level rise and anthropogenic development on priority bird species habitats in coastal Georgia, USA.

PubMed

Brittain, Ross A; Craft, Christopher B

2012-02-01

We modeled changes in area of five habitats, tidal-freshwater forest, salt marsh, maritime shrub-scrub (shrub), maritime broadleaf forest (oak) and maritime narrowleaf (pine) forest, in coastal Georgia, USA, to evaluate how simultaneous habitat loss due to predicted changes in sea level rise (SLR) and urban development will affect priority bird species of the south Atlantic coastal plain by 2100. Development rates, based on regional growth plans, were modeled at 1% and 2.5% annual urban growth, while SLR rates, based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's A1B mean and maximum scenarios, were modeled at 52 cm and 82 cm, respectively. SLR most greatly affected the shrub habitat with predicted losses of 35-43%. Salt marsh and tidal forest also were predicted to lose considerable area to SLR (20-45 and 23-35%, respectively), whereas oak and pine forests had lesser impact from SLR, 18-22% and 11-15%, respectively. Urban development resulted in losses of considerable pine (48-49%) and oak (53-55%) habitat with lesser loss of shrub habitat (21-24%). Under maximum SLR and urban growth, shrub habitat may lose up to 59-64% compared to as much as 62-65% pine forest and 74-75% oak forest. Conservation efforts should focus on protection of shrub habitat because of its small area relative to other terrestrial habitats and use by Painted Buntings (Passerina ciris), a Partners In Flight (PIF) extremely high priority species. Tidal forests also deserve protection because they are a likely refuge for forest species, such as Northern Parula and Acadian Flycatcher, with the decline of oak and pine forests due to urban development.

Mapping and analyzing urban growth in West Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adhikari, P.; de Beurs, K. M.

2014-12-01

Africa has experienced the highest urban growth (~3.5% per year) in the developing world. West Africa in particular has seen significant urban growth mainly driven by the high natural population growth rate and the increasing percentage of population moving to urban areas. Urban growth in West Africa is expected to continue in decades to come. This study uses Landsat data at five different time steps (1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010) to map four cities from four different eco-regions of West Africa since the early 1970s. The selected four cities, Kumasi in Ghana, Abuja in Nigeria, Tahoua in Niger and Ouagadoughou in Burkina Faso, are some of the fastest growing cities in the region. We selected the cities in the following ecoregions: Eastern Guinean Forest, Guinean Forest-Savanna Mosaic, Sahelian Acacia Savanna and West Sudanian Savanna. We hypothesize that urban growth in West Africa is different compared to the other parts of the world primarily due to the dependency of about 60 percent of active labor force on subsistence agriculture in the region. As agriculture productivity is dependent on favorable climatic conditions (i.e., good rainfall, suitable temperature), any variability in climate impends the livelihood of subsistence farmers triggering the movements of more people towards the cities. Therefore, studying urban growth based on ecoregions help to better explain the urban development in West Africa. After mapping the urban areas, this study makes a comparative analysis of the temporal and spatial pattern of the urban growths across the ecoregions in West Africa.

Geospatial Technologies and i-Tree Echo Inventory for Predicting Climate Change on Urban Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sriharan, S.; Robinson, L.; Ghariban, N.; Comar, M.; Pope, B.; Frey, G.

2015-12-01

Urban forests can be useful both in mitigating climate change and in helping cities adapt to higher temperatures and other impacts of climate change. Understanding and managing the impacts of climate change on the urban forest trees and natural communities will help us maintain their environmental, cultural, and economic benefits. Tree Inventory can provide important information on tree species, height, crown width, overall condition, health and maintenance needs. This presentation will demonstrate that a trees database system is necessary for developing a sustainable urban tree program. Virginia State University (VSU) campus benefits from large number and diversity of trees that are helping us by cleaning the air, retaining water, and providing shade on the buildings to reduce energy cost. The objectives of this study were to develop campus inventory of the trees, identify the tree species, map the locations of the trees with user-friendly tools such as i-Tree Eco and geospatial technologies by assessing the cost/benefit of employing student labor for training and ground validation of the results, and help campus landscape managers implement adaptive responses to climate change impacts. Data was collected on the location, species, and size of trees by using i-Tree urban forestry analysis software. This data was transferred to i-Tree inventory system for demonstrating types of trees, diameter of the trees, height of the trees, and vintage of the trees. The study site was mapped by collecting waypoints with GPS (Global Positioning System) at the trees and uploading these waypoints in ArcMap. The results of this study showed that: (i) students make good field crews, (ii) if more trees were placed in the proper area, the heating and cooling costs will reduce, and (iii) trees database system is necessary for planning, designing, planting, and maintenance, and removal of campus trees Research sponsored by the NIFA Grant, "Urban Forestry Management" (2012-38821-20153).

The United States Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1993-01-01

Abstracts are presented from a meeting on landscape ecology. Topics include: conservation, climatic change, forest management, aquatic, wetland, rural and urban landscapes, land use, and biodiversity.

The United States Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1993-06-01

Abstracts are presented from a meeting on landscape ecology. Topics include: conservation, climatic change, forest management, aquatic, wetland, rural and urban landscapes, land use, and biodiversity.

An integrated land change model for projecting future climate and land change scenarios

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wimberly, Michael; Sohl, Terry L.; Lamsal, Aashis; Liu, Zhihua; Hawbaker, Todd J.

2013-01-01

Climate change will have myriad effects on ecosystems worldwide, and natural and anthropogenic disturbances will be key drivers of these dynamics. In addition to climatic effects, continual expansion of human settlement into fire-prone forests will alter fire regimes, increase human vulnerability, and constrain future forest management options. There is a need for modeling tools to support the simulation and assessment of new management strategies over large regions in the context of changing climate, shifting development patterns, and an expanding wildland-urban interface. To address this need, we developed a prototype land change simulator that combines human-driven land use change (derived from the FORE-SCE model) with natural disturbances and vegetation dynamics (derived from the LADS model) and incorporates novel feedbacks between human land use and disturbance regimes. The prototype model was implemented in a test region encompassing the Denver metropolitan area along with its surrounding forested and agricultural landscapes. Initial results document the feasibility of integrated land change modeling at a regional scale but also highlighted conceptual and technical challenges for this type of model integration. Ongoing development will focus on improving climate sensitivities and modeling constraints imposed by climate change and human population growth on forest management activities.

Future Wildfire and Managed Fire Interactions in the Lake Tahoe Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scheller, R.; Kretchun, A.

2017-12-01

Managing large forested landscape in the context of a changing climate and altered disturbance regimes presents new challenges and require integrated assessments of forest disturbance, management, succession, and the carbon cycle. Successful management under these circumstances will require information about trade-offs among multiple objectives and opportunities for spatially optimized landscape-scale management. Improved information about the effects of climate on forest communities, disturbance feedbacks, and the effectiveness of mitigation strategies enables actionable options for landscape managers. We evaluated the effects of fire suppression, wildfires, and forest fuel (thinning) treatments on the long-term carbon storage potential for Lake Tahoe Basin (LTB) forests under various climate futures. We simulated management scenarios that encompass fuel treatments across the larger landscape, beyond the Wildland Urban Interface. We improved upon current fire modeling under climate change via an integrated fire modeling module that, a) explicitly captures the influence of climate, fuels, topography, active fire management (e.g., fire suppression), and fuel treatments, and b) can be parameterized from available data, e.g., remote sensing, field reporting, fire databases, expert opinion. These improvements increase geographic flexibility and decrease reliance on broad historical fire regime statistics - imperfect targets for a no analog future and require minimal parameterization and calibration. We assessed the interactions among fuel treatments, prescribe fire, fire suppression, and stochastically recurring wildfires. Predicted changes in climate and ignition patterns in response to future climatic conditions, vegetation dynamics, and fuel treatments indicate larger potential long-term effects on C emissions, forest structure, and forest composition than prior studies.

Biomass Energy | Climate Neutral Research Campuses | NREL

Science.gov Websites

forest residues, mill and urban wastes, and agricultural residues, as well as energy crop potential developed biomass energy generation facilities including those that run on agricultural waste byproducts

Assessing Forest Carbon Response to Climate Change and Disturbances Using Long-term Hydro-climatic Observations and Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trettin, C.; Dai, Z.; Amatya, D. M.

2014-12-01

Long-term climatic and hydrologic observations on the Santee Experimental Forest in the lower coastal plain of South Carolina were used to estimate long-term changes in hydrology and forest carbon dynamics for a pair of first-order watersheds. Over 70 years of climate data indicated that warming in this forest area in the last decades was faster than the global mean; 35+ years of hydrologic records showed that forest ecosystem succession three years following Hurricane Hugo caused a substantial change in the ratio of runoff to precipitation. The change in this relationship between the paired watersheds was attributed to altered evapotranspiration processes caused by greater abundance of pine in the treatment watershed and regeneration of the mixed hardwood-pine forest on the reference watershed. The long-term records and anomalous observations are highly valuable for reliable calibration and validation of hydrological and biogeochemical models capturing the effects of climate variability. We applied the hydrological model MIKESHE that showed that runoff and water table level are sensitive to global warming, and that the sustained warming trends can be expected to decrease stream discharge and lower the mean water table depth. The spatially-explicit biogeochemical model Forest-DNDC, validated using biomass measurements from the watersheds, was used to assess carbon dynamics in response to high resolution hydrologic observation data and simulation results. The simulations showed that the long-term spatiotemporal carbon dynamics, including biomass and fluxes of soil carbon dioxide and methane were highly regulated by disturbance regimes, climatic conditions and water table depth. The utility of linked-modeling framework demonstrated here to assess biogeochemical responses at the watershed scale suggests applications for assessing the consequences of climate change within an urbanizing forested landscape. The approach may also be applicable for validating large-scale models.

Looking at the big picture: The importance of landbase interactions among forests, agriculture, and climate mitigation policies

Treesearch

Rhonda Mazza; Alig Ralph

2010-01-01

Land use change is a key part of global change. Deforestation, urban sprawl, agriculture, and other human influences have substantially altered natural ecosystems and fragmented the global landscape. Slowing down deforestation and afforesting environmentally sensitive agricultural land are important steps for mitigating climate change. Because no policy operates in a...

Urbanization in China drives soil acidification of Pinus massoniana forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Juan; Zhang, Wei; Mo, Jiangming; Wang, Shizhong; Liu, Juxiu; Chen, Hao

2015-09-01

Soil acidification instead of alkalization has become a new environmental issue caused by urbanization. However, it remains unclear the characters and main contributors of this acidification. We investigated the effects of an urbanization gradient on soil acidity of Pinus massoniana forests in Pearl River Delta, South China. The soil pH of pine forests at 20-cm depth had significantly positive linear correlations with the distance from the urban core of Guangzhou. Soil pH reduced by 0.44 unit at the 0-10 cm layer in urbanized areas compared to that in non-urbanized areas. Nitrogen deposition, mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation were key factors influencing soil acidification based on a principal component analysis. Nitrogen deposition showed significant linear relationships with soil pH at the 0-10 cm (for ammonium N (-N), P < 0.05 for nitrate N (-N), P < 0.01) and 10-20 cm (for -N, P < 0.05) layers. However, there was no significant loss of exchangeable non-acidic cations along the urbanization gradient, instead their levels were higher in urban than in urban/suburban area at the 0-10 cm layer. Our results suggested N deposition particularly under the climate of high temperature and rainfall, greatly contributed to a significant soil acidification occurred in the urbanized environment.

Urbanization in China drives soil acidification of Pinus massoniana forests

PubMed Central

Huang, Juan; Zhang, Wei; Mo, Jiangming; Wang, Shizhong; Liu, Juxiu; Chen, Hao

2015-01-01

Soil acidification instead of alkalization has become a new environmental issue caused by urbanization. However, it remains unclear the characters and main contributors of this acidification. We investigated the effects of an urbanization gradient on soil acidity of Pinus massoniana forests in Pearl River Delta, South China. The soil pH of pine forests at 20-cm depth had significantly positive linear correlations with the distance from the urban core of Guangzhou. Soil pH reduced by 0.44 unit at the 0–10 cm layer in urbanized areas compared to that in non-urbanized areas. Nitrogen deposition, mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation were key factors influencing soil acidification based on a principal component analysis. Nitrogen deposition showed significant linear relationships with soil pH at the 0–10 cm (for ammonium N (-N), P < 0.05; for nitrate N (-N), P < 0.01) and 10–20 cm (for -N, P < 0.05) layers. However, there was no significant loss of exchangeable non-acidic cations along the urbanization gradient, instead their levels were higher in urban than in urban/suburban area at the 0–10 cm layer. Our results suggested N deposition particularly under the climate of high temperature and rainfall, greatly contributed to a significant soil acidification occurred in the urbanized environment. PMID:26400019

The Effects of Nitrogen Deposition, Ambient Ozone, and Climate Change on Forests in the Western U.S.

Treesearch

M. E. Fenn

2006-01-01

Nitrogen (N) deposition in the western United States is most severe near major urban areas or downwind of agricultural regions, particularly in areas where confined animal feeding operations such as dairies or feedlots are located. Nitrogen saturated ecosystems are predominantly found in hotspots located within 60 km of urban or agricultural emissions source areas,...

Using Land Surface Phenology as the Basis for a National Early Warning System for Forest Disturbances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hargrove, W. W.; Spruce, J.; Norman, S. P.; Hoffman, F. M.

2011-12-01

The National Early Warning System (EWS) provides an 8-day coast-to-coast snapshot of potentially disturbed forests across the U.S.. A prototype system has produced national maps of potential forest disturbances every eight days since January 2010, identifying locations that may require further investigation. Through phenology, the system shows both early and delayed vegetation development and detects all types of unexpected forest disturbances, including insects, disease, wildfires, frost and ice damage, tornadoes, hurricanes, blowdowns, harvest, urbanization, landslides, drought, flood, and climate change. The USDA Forest Service Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center is collaborating with NASA Stennis Space Center and the Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center to develop the tool. The EWS uses differences in phenological responses between an expectation based on historical data and a current view to strategically identify potential forest disturbances and direct attention to locations where forest behavior seems unusual. Disturbance maps are available via the Forest Change Assessment Viewer (FCAV) (http://ews.forestthreats.org/gis), which allows resource managers and other users to see the most current national disturbance maps as soon as they are available. Phenology-based detections show not only vegetation disturbances in the classical sense, but all departures from normal seasonal vegetation behavior. In 2010, the EWS detected a repeated late-frost event at high elevations in North Carolina, USA, that resulted in delayed seasonal development, contrasting with an early spring development at lower elevations, all within close geographic proximity. Throughout 2011, there was a high degree of correspondence between the National Climatic Data Center's North American Drought Monitor maps and EWS maps of phenological drought disturbance in forests. Urban forests showed earlier and more severe phenological drought disturbance than surrounding non-urban forests. An EWS news page (http://www.geobabbble.org/~hnw/EWSNews) highlights disturbances the system has detected during the 2011 season. Unsupervised statistical multivariate clustering of smoothed phenology data every 8 days over an 11-year period produces a detailed map of national vegetation types, including major disturbances. Examining the constancy of these phenological classifications at a particular location from year to year produces a national map showing the persistence of vegetation, regardless of vegetation type. Using spectral unmixing methods, national maps of evergreen decline can be produced which are a composite of insect, disease, and anthropogenic factors causing chronic decline in these forests, including hemlock wooly adelgid, mountain pine beetle, wildfire, tree harvest, and urbanization. Because phenology shows vegetation responses, all disturbance and recovery events detected by the EWS are viewed through the lens of the vegetation.

Forecasting the combined effects of urbanization and climate change on stream ecosystems: from impacts to management options

PubMed Central

Nelson, Kären C; Palmer, Margaret A; Pizzuto, James E; Moglen, Glenn E; Angermeier, Paul L; Hilderbrand, Robert H; Dettinger, Michael; Hayhoe, Katharine

2009-01-01

Streams collect runoff, heat, and sediment from their watersheds, making them highly vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances such as urbanization and climate change. Forecasting the effects of these disturbances using process-based models is critical to identifying the form and magnitude of likely impacts. Here, we integrate a new biotic model with four previously developed physical models (downscaled climate projections, stream hydrology, geomorphology, and water temperature) to predict how stream fish growth and reproduction will most probably respond to shifts in climate and urbanization over the next several decades. The biotic submodel couples dynamics in fish populations and habitat suitability to predict fish assemblage composition, based on readily available biotic information (preferences for habitat, temperature, and food, and characteristics of spawning) and day-to-day variability in stream conditions. We illustrate the model using Piedmont headwater streams in the Chesapeake Bay watershed of the USA, projecting ten scenarios: Baseline (low urbanization; no on-going construction; and present-day climate); one Urbanization scenario (higher impervious surface, lower forest cover, significant construction activity); four future climate change scenarios [Hadley CM3 and Parallel Climate Models under medium-high (A2) and medium-low (B2) emissions scenarios]; and the same four climate change scenarios plus Urbanization. Urbanization alone depressed growth or reproduction of 8 of 39 species, while climate change alone depressed 22 to 29 species. Almost every recreationally important species (i.e. trouts, basses, sunfishes) and six of the ten currently most common species were predicted to be significantly stressed. The combined effect of climate change and urbanization on adult growth was sometimes large compared to the effect of either stressor alone. Thus, the model predicts considerable change in fish assemblage composition, including loss of diversity. Synthesis and applications. The interaction of climate change and urban growth may entail significant reconfiguring of headwater streams, including a loss of ecosystem structure and services, which will be more costly than climate change alone. On local scales, stakeholders cannot control climate drivers but they can mitigate stream impacts via careful land use. Therefore, to conserve stream ecosystems, we recommend that proactive measures be taken to insure against species loss or severe population declines. Delays will inevitably exacerbate the impacts of both climate change and urbanization on headwater systems. PMID:19536343

Effects of land cover change on litter decomposition and soil greenhouse gas fluxes in subtropical Hong Kong

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ngar Wong, Chun; Lai, Derrick Yuk Fo

2017-04-01

Nowadays, over 50% of the world's population live in urbanized areas and the level of urbanization varies substantially across countries. Intense human activities and management associated with urbanization can alter the microclimate and biogeochemical processes in urban areas, which subsequently affect the provision of ecosystem services and functions. Litter decomposition and soil greenhouse gas (GHG) exchange play an important role in governing nutrient cycling and future climate change, respectively. Yet, the effects of urbanization on these two biogeochemical processes remain uncertain and not well understood, especially in subtropical and high-density cities. This study aims to examine the effects of urbanization on decomposition and GHG fluxes among four land covers- natural forest, urban forest, farmland and roadside planter, in Hong Kong based on litterbag experiment and closed chamber measurements for one full year. Litter decomposition rate was significantly lower in farmland than in other land cover types. Significant differences in CO2 emission were detected among the four land cover types (p<0.05), with the highest and lowest CO2 emissions being recorded in farmland and roadside planter, respectively. CH4 emission varied significantly among the land covers as well (p<0.05), with the highest and lowest CH4 emissions being recorded in farmland and urban forest, respectively. Farmland and urban forest showed the highest and lowest mean N2O fluxes, respectively. The emission of CO2 was positively correlated with soil potassium content, while CH4 and N2O flux increased markedly with soil temperature and nitrate nitrogen content, respectively. The results obtained in this study will enhance our understanding on urban ecosystem and be useful for recommending sustainable management strategies for conservation of ecosystem services in urban areas.

Climate change: overview of data sources, observed and predicted temperature changes, and impacts on public and environmental health

Treesearch

David H. Levinson; Christopher J. Fettig

2014-01-01

This chapter addresses the societal and the environmental impacts of climate change related to increasing surface temperatures on air quality and forest health. Increasing temperatures at and near the earth’s surface, due to both a warming climate and urban heat island effects, have been shown to increase ground-level ozone concentrations in cities across the U.S. In...

Capacity of US Forests to Maintain Existing Carbon Sequestration will be affected by Changes in Forest Disturbances and to a greater extent, the Economic and Societal Influences on Forest Management and Land Use

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joyce, L. A.; Running, S. W.; Breshears, D. D.; Dale, V.; Malmsheimer, R. W.; Sampson, N.; Sohngen, B.; Woodall, C. W.

2012-12-01

Increasingly the value of US forest carbon dynamics and carbon sequestration is being recognized in discussions of adaptation and mitigation to climate change. Past exploitation of forestlands in the United States for timber, fuelwood, and conversion to agriculture resulted in large swings in forestland area and terrestrial carbon dynamics. The National Climate Assessment explored the implications of current and future stressors, including climate change, to the future of forest carbon dynamics in the United States. While U.S forests and associated harvested wood products sequestered roughly 13 percent of all carbon dioxide emitted in the United States in 2010, the capacity of forests to maintain this amount of carbon sequestration will be affected by the effects of climate change on forest disturbances, tree growth and mortality, changes in species composition, and to a greater extent, the economic and societal influences on forest management and forestland use. Carbon mitigation through forest management includes three strategies: 1) land management to increase forest area (afforestation) and/or avoid deforestation; 2) carbon management in existing forests; and 3) use of wood in place of materials that require more carbon emissions to produce, in place of fossil fuels to produce energy or in wood products for carbon storage. A significant financial incentive facing many private forest owners is the value of their forest lands for conversion to urban or developed uses. In addition, consequences of large scale die-off and wildfire disturbance events from climate change pose major challenges to forestland area and forest management with potential impacts occurring up to regional scales for timber, flooding and erosion risks, other changes in water budgets, and biogeochemical changes including carbon storage. Options for carbon management on existing forests include practices that increase forest growth such as fertilization, irrigation, switch to fast-growing planting stock and shorter rotations, and weed, disease, and insect control, and increasing the interval between harvests or decreasing harvest intensity. Economic drivers will affect future carbon cycle of forests such as shifts in forest age class structure in response to markets, land-use changes such as urbanization, and forest type changes. Future changes in forestland objectives include the potential for bioenergy based on forestland resources, which is as large as 504 million acres of timberland and 91 million acres of other forest land out of the 751 million acres of U.S. forestland. Implications of forest product use for bioenergy depend on the context of specific locations such as feedstock type and prior management, land conditions, transport and storage logistics, conversion processes used to produce energy, distribution and use. Markets for energy from biomass appear to be ready to grow in response to energy pricing, policy and demand, although recent increases in the supply of natural gas have reduced urgency for new biomass projects. Beyond use in the forest industry and some residences, biopower is not a large-scale enterprise in the United States. Societal choices about forest policy will also affect the carbon cycles on public and private forestland.

Unlikely alliances: encounters between state science, nature spirits, and indigenous industrial forestry in Mexico, 1926-2008.

PubMed

Mathews, Andrew S

2009-02-01

Indigenous community leaders and conservationists in Oaxaca, Mexico, believe that deforestation causes streams to dry up and threatens rainfall, authorizing popular mobilizations against industrial logging. This belief was produced by a combination of indigenous beliefs in nature spirits and early-twentieth-century state-sponsored desiccation theory, which was brought to the Valley of Mexico in the 1920s. Desiccation theory acquires political significance because it allows rural people to build political and epistemic alliances that bypass industrial forestry institutions and find sympathetic urban audiences and environmentalist allies, undermining state claims to reason and scientific authority. These alliances require the skillful translation and mistranslation of local environmental concerns by activists and conservationists, who link the concerns of urban audiences with those of rural people. Popular beliefs about climate and forests in Mexico structure the authority and credibility of the state and will powerfully affect efforts to protect forests to mitigate climate change.

The role of CVS (and FIA) data and genetic tests in assessing species vulnerability to invasive pests and changing climate

Treesearch

R.A. Sniezko; H.E. Lintz

2017-01-01

United States tree species and their associated ecosystems, managed forests, and urban plantings are increasingly vulnerable to non-native invasive pathogens and insects as well as effects associated with a changing climate. Some species, such as whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis), have been proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act. To...

Forestry in U.S. Climate Change Action Plans: From the Arch to Kyoto

Treesearch

Robert J. Moulton

1998-01-01

The international community has played a major role in prompting actions to address global climate change. The 1989 Summit of the Arch in Paris resulted in President Bush's announcement in his 1990 State of the Union message of the America the Beautiful (ATB) program, which greatly expanded federal funding for urban forestry and for forest stewardship programs...

Case study: Rainfall partitioning across a natural-to-urban forest gradient during an extreme rain event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akin, B. H.; Van Stan, J. T., II; Cote, J. F.; Jarvis, M. T.; Underwood, J.; Friesen, J.; Hildebrandt, A.; Maldonado, G.

2017-12-01

Trees' partitioning of rainfall is an important first process along the rainfall-to-runoff pathway that has economically significant influences on urban stormwater management. However, important knowledge gaps exist regarding (1) its role during extreme storms and (2) how this role changes as forest structure is altered by urbanization. Little research has been conducted on canopy rainfall partitioning during large, intense storms, likely because canopy water storage is rapidly overwhelmed (i.e., 1-3 mm) by short duration events exceeding, for example, 80 mm of rainfall. However, canopy structure controls more than just storage; it also affects the time for rain to drain to the surface (becoming throughfall) and the micrometeorological conditions that drive wet canopy evaporation. In fact, observations from an example extreme ( 100 mm with maximum 5-minute intensities exceeding 55 mm/h) storm across a urban-to-natural gradient in pine forests in southeast Georgia (USA), show that storm intensities were differentially dampened by 33% (tree row), 28% (forest fragment), and 17% (natural forests). In addition, maximum wet canopy evaporation rates were higher for the exposed tree row (0.18 mm/h) than for the partially-enclosed fragment canopy (0.14 mm/h) and the closed canopy natural forest site (0.11). This resulted in interception percentages decreasing from urban-to-natural stand structures (25% to 16%). A synoptic analysis of the extreme storm in this case study also shows that the mesoscale meteorological conditions that developed the heavy rainfall is expected to occur more often with projected climate changes.

Effects of Land Cover Change on Soil Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Subtropical Hong Kong

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wong, C. N.; Lai, D. Y. F.

2016-12-01

Nowadays, over 50% of the world's population live in urbanized areas and the level of urbanization varies substantially across countries. Intense human activities and management associated with urbanization can alter the microclimate and biochemical processes in urban areas, which subsequently affect the provision of ecosystem services and functions. Soil greenhouse gas (GHG) exchange plays an important role in governing future climate change. Yet, the effects of urbanization on soil GHG exchange remain uncertain and not well understood. This study aims to examine the effects of urbanization on GHG fluxes among four land covers- natural forest, urban forest, farmland and roadside planter in Hong Kong based on closed chamber measurements for one full year. CO2 emission significantly varied among land covers (p<0.05), with the highest and lowest CO2 emissions being recorded in roadside planter and farmland, respectively. The N2O flux was highest in roadside planter whereas the lowest flux was recorded in urban forest, though the difference in N2O fluxes was only statistically significant at a level of 0.1. No significant difference of CH4 emission was found among all the land covers. Emission of CO2 increased markedly with soil organic matter content, while N2O flux increased markedly with total Kjeldahl nitrogen content. The results obtained in this study will enhance our understanding on urban ecosystem and be useful for recommending sustainable management strategies for conservation of ecosystem services in urban areas.

Understanding the Effects of Urban Expansion on Spatio-temporal Variations of Vegetation Phenology at Global Scale from 1993 to 2014

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiu, T.; Song, C.

2017-12-01

Many studies have examined the urbanization-induced vegetation phenology changes in urban environments at regional scales. However, relatively few studies have investigated the effects of urban expansion on vegetation phenology at global scale. In this study, we used times series of NASA Vegetation Index and Phenology (VIP) and ESA Climate Change Initiative Land Cover datasets to quantify how urban expansion affects growing seasons of vegetation in 14 different biomes along both latitude and urbanization gradients from 1993 to 2014. First, we calculated the percentages of impervious surface area (ISA) at 0.05˚ grid to match the spatial resolution of VIP dataset. We then applied logistic models to the ISA series to characterize the time periods of stable ISA, pre-urbanization and post-urbanization for each grid. The amplitudes of urbanization were also derived from the fitted ISA series. We then calculated the mean values of the Start of Season (SOS), End of Season (EOS) and Length of Season (LOS) from VIP datasets within each period. Linear regressions were used to quantify the correlations between ISA and SOS/EOS/LOS in 14 biomes along the latitude gradient for each period. We also calculated the differences of SOS/EOS/LOS between pre-urbanization and post-urbanization periods and applied quantile regressions to characterize the relationships between amplitudes of urbanization and those differences. We found significant correlations (p-value < 0.05) between ISA and the growing seasons of a) boreal forests at 55-60 ˚N; b) temperate broadleaf and mixed forests at 30-55 ˚N; c) temperate coniferous forests at 30-45 ˚N; d) temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands at 35-60 ˚N and 30-35 ˚S. We also found a significant positive correlation (p-value <0.05) between amplitudes of urbanization and LOS as well as a significant negative correlation (p-value<0.05) between amplitudes of urbanization and SOS in temperate broadleaf and mixed forest.

Regional impacts of Atlantic Forest deforestation on climate and vegetation dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holm, J. A.; Chambers, J. Q.

2012-12-01

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest was a large and important forest due to its high biodiversity, endemism, range in climate, and complex geography. The original Atlantic Forest was estimated to cover 150 million hectares, spanning large latitudinal, longitudinal, and elevation gradients. This unique environment helped contribute to a diverse assemblage of plants, mammals, birds, and reptiles. Unfortunately, due to land conversion into agriculture, pasture, urban areas, and increased forest fragmentation, only ~8-10% of the original Atlantic Forest remains. Tropical deforestation in the Americas can have considerable effects on local to global climates, and surrounding vegetation growth and survival. This study uses a fully coupled, global climate model (Community Earth System Model, CESM v.1.0.1) to simulate the full removal of the historical Atlantic Forest, and evaluate the regional climatic and vegetation responses due to deforestation. We used the fully coupled atmosphere and land surface components in CESM, and a partially interacting ocean component. The vegetated grid cell portion of the land surface component, the Community Landscape Model (CLM), is divided into 4 of 16 plant functional types (PFTs) with vertical layers of canopy, leaf area index, soil physical properties, and interacting hydrological features all tracking energy, water, and carbon state and flux variables, making CLM highly capable in predicting the complex nature and outcomes of large-scale deforestation. The Atlantic Forest removal (i.e. deforestation) was conducted my converting all woody stem PFTs to grasses in CLM, creating a land-use change from forest to pasture. By comparing the simulated historical Atlantic Forest (pre human alteration) to a deforested Atlantic Forest (close to current conditions) in CLM and CESM we found that live stem carbon, NPP (gC m-2 yr-1), and other vegetation dynamics inside and outside the Atlantic Forest region were largely altered. In addition to vegetation effects, regional surface air temperature (C°), precipitation (mm day-1), and emitted longwave radiation (W m-2) were highly affected in the location of the removed forest, and throughout surrounding areas of South America. For example climate patterns of increased temperature and decreased precipitation were affected as far as the Amazon Forest region. The use of fully coupled global climate and terrestrial models to study the effects of large-scale forest removal have been rarely applied. This study successfully showed the valuation of an important tropical forest, and the consequences of large deforestation through the reporting of complex earth-atmosphere interactions between vegetation dynamics and climate.

High resolution remote sensing for reducing uncertainties in urban forest carbon offset life cycle assessments.

PubMed

Tigges, Jan; Lakes, Tobia

2017-10-04

Urban forests reduce greenhouse gas emissions by storing and sequestering considerable amounts of carbon. However, few studies have considered the local scale of urban forests to effectively evaluate their potential long-term carbon offset. The lack of precise, consistent and up-to-date forest details is challenging for long-term prognoses. Therefore, this review aims to identify uncertainties in urban forest carbon offset assessment and discuss the extent to which such uncertainties can be reduced by recent progress in high resolution remote sensing. We do this by performing an extensive literature review and a case study combining remote sensing and life cycle assessment of urban forest carbon offset in Berlin, Germany. Recent progress in high resolution remote sensing and methods is adequate for delivering more precise details on the urban tree canopy, individual tree metrics, species, and age structures compared to conventional land use/cover class approaches. These area-wide consistent details can update life cycle inventories for more precise future prognoses. Additional improvements in classification accuracy can be achieved by a higher number of features derived from remote sensing data of increasing resolution, but first studies on this subject indicated that a smart selection of features already provides sufficient data that avoids redundancies and enables more efficient data processing. Our case study from Berlin could use remotely sensed individual tree species as consistent inventory of a life cycle assessment. However, a lack of growth, mortality and planting data forced us to make assumptions, therefore creating uncertainty in the long-term prognoses. Regarding temporal changes and reliable long-term estimates, more attention is required to detect changes of gradual growth, pruning and abrupt changes in tree planting and mortality. As such, precise long-term urban ecological monitoring using high resolution remote sensing should be intensified, especially due to increasing climate change effects. This is important for calibrating and validating recent prognoses of urban forest carbon offset, which have so far scarcely addressed longer timeframes. Additionally, higher resolution remote sensing of urban forest carbon estimates can improve upscaling approaches, which should be extended to reach a more precise global estimate for the first time. Urban forest carbon offset can be made more relevant by making more standardized assessments available for science and professional practitioners, and the increasing availability of high resolution remote sensing data and the progress in data processing allows for precisely that.

Economic information on the historical behavior of forest fires in the forest lands in the state of Parana, Brazil

Treesearch

Vitor Afonso Hoeflich; Alexandre França Tetto; Antonio Carlos Batista

2013-01-01

It is widely acknowledged that the fires have caused severe impact in the world, and their frequency and intensity tend to increase as a result of ongoing climate changes which have occurred over the past decades. It should be also noted that the urban-rural interface has attracted the attention of governments by the concentration of the number of fire...

Experts Optimistic About Future of World Ecology, Economy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lepkowski, Wil

1984-01-01

Highlights an international conference which examined issues and actions related to environmental problems. Includes recommendations focusing on: population, poverty, environment; urban environment; fresh waters; biological diversity; tropical forests; land resources; energy; nonfuel minerals; and on air, atmosphere, and climate. (JN)

Using iTree Model in Clark County, Nevada

EPA Science Inventory

Ecosystem services are the services and benefits that human populations obtain from nature. Whether surrounded by a forested, coastal, or urban area, ecosystems provide recreation, food, shelter, cleaner air and water. As the climate and environment change due to human activity,...

On the added value of WUDAPT for Urban Climate Modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brousse, Oscar; Martilli, Alberto; Mills, Gerald; Bechtel, Benjamin; Hammerberg, Kris; Demuzere, Matthias; Wouters, Hendrik; Van Lipzig, Nicole; Ren, Chao; Feddema, Johannes J.; Masson, Valéry; Ching, Jason

2017-04-01

Over half of the planet's population now live in cities and is expected to grow up to 65% by 2050 (United Nations, 2014), most of whom will actually occupy new emerging cities of the global South. Cities' impact on climate is known to be a key driver of environmental change (IPCC, 2014) and has been studied for decades now (Howard, 1875). Still very little is known about our cities' structure around the world, preventing urban climate simulations to be done and hence guidance to be provided for mitigation. Assessing the need to bridge the urban knowledge gap for urban climate modelling perspectives, the World Urban Database and Access Portal Tool - WUDAPT - project (Ching et al., 2015; Mills et al., 2015) developed an innovative technique to map cities globally rapidly and freely. The framework established by Bechtel and Daneke (2012) derives Local Climate Zones (Stewart and Oke, 2012) city maps out of LANDSAT 8 OLI-TIRS imagery (Bechtel et al., 2015) through a supervised classification by a Random Forest Classification algorithm (Breiman, 2001). The first attempt to implement Local Climate Zones (LCZ) out of the WUDAPT product within a major climate model was carried out by Brousse et al. (2016) over Madrid, Spain. This study proved the applicability of LCZs as an enhanced urban parameterization within the WRF model (Chen et al. 2011) employing the urban canopy model BEP-BEM (Martilli, 2002; Salamanca et al., 2010), using the averaged values of the morphological and physical parameters' ranges proposed by Stewart and Oke (2012). Other studies have now used the Local Climate Zones for urban climate modelling purposes (Alexander et al., 2016; Wouters et al. 2016; Hammerberg et al., 2017; Brousse et al., 2017) and demonstrated the added value of the WUDAPT dataset. As urban data accessibility is one of the major challenge for simulations in emerging countries, this presentation will show results of simulations using LCZs and the capacity of the WUDAPT framework to be of high relevancy in multiple regions of the world, such as Africa or Asia.

Science-based Forest Management in an Era of Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Swanston, C.; Janowiak, M.; Brandt, L.; Butler, P.; Handler, S.; Shannon, D.

2014-12-01

Recognizing the need to provide climate adaptation information, training, and tools to forest managers, the Forest Service joined with partners in 2009 to launch a comprehensive effort called the Climate Change Response Framework (www.forestadaptation.org). The Framework provides a structured approach to help managers integrate climate considerations into forest management plans and then implement adaptation actions on the ground. A planning tool, the Adaptation Workbook, is used in conjunction with vulnerability assessments and a diverse "menu" of adaptation approaches to generate site-specific adaptation actions that meet explicit management objectives. Additionally, a training course, designed around the Adaptation Workbook, leads management organizations through this process of designing on-the-ground adaptation tactics for their management projects. The Framework is now being actively pursued in 20 states in the Northwoods, Central Hardwoods, Central Appalachians, Mid-Atlantic, and New England. The Framework community includes over 100 science and management groups, dozens of whom have worked together to complete six ecoregional vulnerability assessments covering nearly 135 million acres. More than 75 forest and urban forest adaptation strategies and approaches were synthesized from peer-reviewed and gray literature, expert solicitation, and on-the-ground adaptation projects. These are being linked through the Adaptation Workbook process to on-the-ground adaptation tactics being planned and employed in more than 50 adaptation "demonstrations". This presentation will touch on the scientific and professional basis of the vulnerability assessments, and showcase efforts where adaptation actions are currently being implemented in forests.

An integrated assessment of climate change impacts for Athens- relevance to stakeholders and policy makers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giannakopoulos, C.; Hatzaki, M.; Kostopoulou, E.; Varotsos, K.

2010-09-01

Analysing climate change and its impact needs a production of relevant elements for policy making that can be very different from the parameters considered by climate experts. In the framework of EU project CIRCE, a more realistic approach to match stakeholders and policy-makers demands is attempted. For this reason, within CIRCE selected case studies have been chosen that will provide assessments that can be integrated in practical decision making. In this work, an integrated assessment of climate change impacts on several sectors for the urban site of Athens in Greece is presented. The Athens urban case study has been chosen since it provides excellent opportunities for using an integrated approach across multiple temporal and spatial scales and sectors. In the spatial dimension, work extends from the inner city boundaries to the surrounding mountains and forests. In the temporal dimension, research ranges from the current observed time period (using available meteorological and sector data) to future time periods using data from several climate change projections. In addition, a multi-sector approach to climate change impacts is adopted. Impacts sectors covered range from direct climate impacts on natural ecosystems (such as flash floods, air pollution and forest fire risk) to indirect impacts resulting from combined climate-social-economic linkages (such as energy demand, tourism and health). Discussion of impact sector risks and adaptation measures are also exploited. Case-study work on impact sector risk to climate change is of particular interest to relevant policy makers and stakeholders, communication with who is ensured through a series of briefing notes and information sheets and through regional workshops.

The effects of hazardous fuel reduction treatments in the wildland urban interface on the activity of bark beetles infesting ponderosa pine

Treesearch

Christopher J. Fettig; Joel D. McMillin; John. A. Anhold; Shakeeb M. Hamud; Steven J. Seybold; Robert R. Borys

2008-01-01

(Please note, this is an abstract only) Selective logging, fire suppression, forest succession, and climatic changes have resulted in high fire hazards over large areas of the western United States. Federal and state hazardous fuel reduction programs have increased accordingly to reduce the risk, extent and severity of these events, particularly in the wildland urban...

The effect of mechanical fuel reduction treatments in the wildland-urban interface on the amount and distribution of bark beetle-caused tree mortality

Treesearch

Christopher J. Fettig; Joel D. McMillin; John A. Anhold; Shakeeb M. Hamud; Robert R. Borys; Steven J. Seybold

2007-01-01

Selective logging, fire suppression, forest succession, and climatic changes have resulted in high fire hazards over large areas of the western USA. Federal and state hazardous fuel reduction programs have increased accordingly to reduce the risk, extent and severity of these events, particularly in the wildland urban interface. In this study, we examined the effect of...

Climate Change for Agriculture, Forest Cover and 3d Urban Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kapoor, M.; Bassir, D.

2014-11-01

This research demonstrates the important role of the remote sensing in finding out the different parameters behind the agricultural crop change, forest cover and urban 3D models. Standalone software is developed to view and analysis the different factors effecting the change in crop productions. Open-source libraries from the Open Source Geospatial Foundation have been used for the development of the shape-file viewer. Software can be used to get the attribute information, scale, zoom in/out and pan the shapefiles. Environmental changes due to pollution and population that are increasing the urbanisation and decreasing the forest cover on the earth. Satellite imagery such as Landsat 5(1984) to Landsat TRIS/8 (2014), Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) and NDVI are used to analyse the different parameters that are effecting the agricultural crop production change and forest change. It is advisable for the development of good quality of NDVI and forest cover maps to use data collected from the same processing methods for the complete region. Management practices have been developed from the analysed data for the betterment of the crop and saving the forest cover

Vulnerability and adaptation to climate-related fire impacts in rural and urban interior Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Trainor, Sarah F.; Calef, Monika; Natcher, David; Chapin, F. Stuart; McGuire, A. David; Huntington, Orville; Duffy, Paul A.; Rupp, T. Scott; DeWilde, La'Ona; Kwart, Mary; Fresco, Nancy; Lovecraft, Amy Lauren

2009-01-01

This paper explores whether fundamental differences exist between urban and rural vulnerability to climate-induced changes in the fire regime of interior Alaska. We further examine how communities and fire managers have responded to these changes and what additional adaptations could be put in place. We engage a variety of social science methods, including demographic analysis, semi-structured interviews, surveys, workshops and observations of public meetings. This work is part of an interdisciplinary study of feedback and interactions between climate, vegetation, fire and human components of the Boreal forest social–ecological system of interior Alaska. We have learned that although urban and rural communities in interior Alaska face similar increased exposure to wildfire as a result of climate change, important differences exist in their sensitivity to these biophysical, climate-induced changes. In particular, reliance on wild foods, delayed suppression response, financial resources and institutional connections vary between urban and rural communities. These differences depend largely on social, economic and institutional factors, and are not necessarily related to biophysical climate impacts per se. Fire management and suppression action motivated by political, economic or other pressures can serve as unintentional or indirect adaptation to climate change. However, this indirect response alone may not sufficiently reduce vulnerability to a changing fire regime. More deliberate and strategic responses may be required, given the magnitude of the expected climate change and the likelihood of an intensification of the fire regime in interior Alaska.

Interdependency of fire and global change: The southern U.S. as an example

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zerbe, J.I.

1995-06-01

In the US South, increasing population, air pollution, urbanization of forest lands, and possible changes in climate can influence broad changes in forests and the atmosphere. As a result emissions from biomass burning in forests assume greater significance. For 350 years, people in the US South have practices woods burning. This was once considered a bad practice, but it is now recognized that this can assist in site preparation, release of longleaf pine seedlings, and improving production of plantations. One of the concerns with burning, both controlled and wildfire, is the release of undesirable chemicals to the atmosphere. Encroachment ofmore » wildfires on inhabited areas can threaten human life and property. And important to global warming, wildfires and controlled burning release CO{sub 2} and add to increase in CO{sub 2} concentration. Climate warming as a result of global change can cause drier forests and an increase in severity and extent of wildfires. Climate-driven changes in the structure and composition of plant communities will alter the chemical and physical properties of fuels, thereby altering susceptibility to fires.« less

Overview of the 2010 Carbonaceous Aerosols and Radiative Effects Study (CARES)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaveri, R. A.; Shaw, W. J.; Cziczo, D. J.; Schmid, B.; Ferrare, R. A.; Alexander, M. L.; Alexandrov, M.; Alvarez, R. J.; Arnott, W. P.; Atkinson, D. B.; Baidar, S.; Banta, R. M.; Barnard, J. C.; Beranek, J.; Berg, L. K.; Brechtel, F.; Brewer, W. A.; Cahill, J. F.; Cairns, B.; Cappa, C. D.; Chand, D.; China, S.; Comstock, J. M.; Dubey, M. K.; Easter, R. C.; Erickson, M. H.; Fast, J. D.; Floerchinger, C.; Flowers, B. A.; Fortner, E.; Gaffney, J. S.; Gilles, M. K.; Gorkowski, K.; Gustafson, W. I.; Gyawali, M.; Hair, J.; Hardesty, R. M.; Harworth, J. W.; Herndon, S.; Hiranuma, N.; Hostetler, C.; Hubbe, J. M.; Jayne, J. T.; Jeong, H.; Jobson, B. T.; Kassianov, E. I.; Kleinman, L. I.; Kluzek, C.; Knighton, B.; Kolesar, K. R.; Kuang, C.; Kubátová, A.; Langford, A. O.; Laskin, A.; Laulainen, N.; Marchbanks, R. D.; Mazzoleni, C.; Mei, F.; Moffet, R. C.; Nelson, D.; Obland, M. D.; Oetjen, H.; Onasch, T. B.; Ortega, I.; Ottaviani, M.; Pekour, M.; Prather, K. A.; Radney, J. G.; Rogers, R. R.; Sandberg, S. P.; Sedlacek, A.; Senff, C. J.; Senum, G.; Setyan, A.; Shilling, J. E.; Shrivastava, M.; Song, C.; Springston, S. R.; Subramanian, R.; Suski, K.; Tomlinson, J.; Volkamer, R.; Wallace, H. W.; Wang, J.; Weickmann, A. M.; Worsnop, D. R.; Yu, X.-Y.; Zelenyuk, A.; Zhang, Q.

2012-08-01

Substantial uncertainties still exist in the scientific understanding of the possible interactions between urban and natural (biogenic) emissions in the production and transformation of atmospheric aerosol and the resulting impact on climate change. The US Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program's Carbonaceous Aerosol and Radiative Effects Study (CARES) carried out in June 2010 in Central Valley, California, was a comprehensive effort designed to improve this understanding. The primary objective of the field study was to investigate the evolution of secondary organic and black carbon aerosols and their climate-related properties in the Sacramento urban plume as it was routinely transported into the forested Sierra Nevada foothills area. Urban aerosols and trace gases experienced significant physical and chemical transformations as they mixed with the reactive biogenic hydrocarbons emitted from the forest. Two heavily-instrumented ground sites - one within the Sacramento urban area and another about 40 km to the northeast in the foothills area - were set up to characterize the evolution of meteorological variables, trace gases, aerosol precursors, aerosol size, composition, and climate-related properties in freshly polluted and "aged" urban air. On selected days, the DOE G-1 aircraft was deployed to make similar measurements upwind and across the evolving Sacramento plume in the morning and again in the afternoon. The NASA B-200 aircraft, carrying remote sensing instruments, was also deployed to characterize the vertical and horizontal distribution of aerosols and aerosol optical properties within and around the plume. This overview provides: (a) the scientific background and motivation for the study, (b) the operational and logistical information pertinent to the execution of the study, (c) an overview of key observations and initial findings from the aircraft and ground-based sampling platforms, and (d) a roadmap of planned data analyses and focused modeling efforts that will facilitate the integration of new knowledge into improved representations of key aerosol processes and properties in climate models.

Overview of the 2010 Carbonaceous Aerosols and Radiative Effects Study (CARES)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaveri, R. A.; Shaw, W. J.; Cziczo, D. J.; Schmid, B.; Alexander, M. L.; Alexandrov, M.; Alvarez, R. J.; Arnott, W. P.; Atkinson, D. B.; Baidar, S.; Banta, R. M.; Barnard, J. C.; Beranek, J.; Berg, L. K.; Brechtel, F.; Brewer, W. A.; Cahill, J. F.; Cairns, B.; Cappa, C. D.; Chand, D.; China, S.; Comstock, J. M.; Dubey, M. K.; Easter, R. C.; Fast, J. D.; Floerchinger, C.; Flowers, B. A.; Fortner, E.; Gaffney, J. S.; Gilles, M. K.; Gorkowski, K.; Gustafson, W. I.; Gyawali, M.; Hair, J.; Hardesty, R. M.; Harworth, J. W.; Herndon, S.; Hiranuma, N.; Hostetler, C.; Hubbe, J. M.; Jayne, J. T.; Jeong, H.; Jobson, B. T.; Kleinman, L. I.; Kluzek, C.; Knighton, B.; Kolesar, K. R.; Kuang, C.; Langford, A. O.; Laskin, A.; Marchbanks, R. D.; Mazzoleni, C.; Mei, F.; Moffet, R. C.; Nelson, D.; Obland, M. D.; Oetjen, H.; Onasch, T. B.; Ortega, I.; Ottaviani, M.; Pekour, M.; Prather, K. A.; Radney, J. G.; Rogers, R. R.; Sandberg, S. P.; Sedlacek, A.; Senff, C. J.; Senum, G.; Setyan, A.; Shilling, J. E.; Shrivastava, M.; Song, C.; Springston, S. R.; Subramanian, R.; Tomlinson, J.; Volkamer, R.; Wallace, H. W.; Wang, J.; Weickmann, A. M.; Yu, X.-Y.; Zelenyuk, A.; Zhang, Q.

2012-01-01

Substantial uncertainties still exist in the scientific understanding of the possible interactions between urban and natural (biogenic) emissions in the production and transformation of atmospheric aerosol and the resulting impact on climate change. The US Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program's Carbonaceous Aerosol and Radiative Effects Study (CARES) carried out in June 2010 in Central Valley, California, was a comprehensive effort designed to improve this understanding. The primary objective of the field study was to investigate the evolution of secondary organic and black carbon aerosols and their climate-related properties in the Sacramento urban plume as it was routinely transported into the forested Sierra Nevada foothills area. Urban aerosols and trace gases experienced significant physical and chemical transformations as they mixed with the reactive biogenic hydrocarbons emitted from the forest. Two heavily-instrumented ground sites - one within the Sacramento urban area and another about 40 km to the northeast in the foothills area - were set up to characterize the evolution of meteorological variables, trace gases, aerosol precursors, aerosol size, composition, and climate-related properties in freshly polluted and "aged" urban air. On selected days, the DOE G-1 aircraft was deployed to make similar measurements upwind and across the evolving Sacramento plume in the morning and again in the afternoon. The NASA B-200 aircraft, carrying remote sensing instruments, was also deployed to characterize the vertical and horizontal distribution of aerosols and aerosol optical properties within and around the plume. This overview provides: (a) the scientific background and motivation for the study, (b) the operational and logistical information pertinent to the execution of the study, (c) an overview of key observations and initial results from the aircraft and ground-based sampling platforms, and (d) a roadmap of planned data analyses and focused modeling efforts that will facilitate the integration of new knowledge into improved representations of key aerosol processes in climate models.

Analysis of physical parameters related with water infiltration in tropical soils located in edges forest in urban areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Márcia Longo, Regina; Cunha, Jessica C. M.; Lammoglia, Rafaella; Mendes, Deborah R.; Mungilioli, Sarah S.; Damame, Desiree B.; Demamboro, Antônio C.; Bettine, Sueli C.; Ribeiro, Admilson I.; Fengler, Felipe H.

2015-04-01

A very important factor for water infiltration into the soil in urban forest systems and suffering constant anthropogenic pressures is the analysis of soil compaction where these forests are or will be established. In this context, this work aimed to promote studies on physical parameters related to distribution of pores, compaction and soil biological activity in forest remnants border areas located in urban watersheds in Campinas / SP - Brazil. The Forest of Santa Genebra (22°49'45 "S and 47°06'33" W) has an average altitude of 680m and tropical climate of altitude, has an area of 251 ha and a nine kilometer perimeter. It constitutes 85% of Semideciduos forests and 15% swamp forest. Due to its location close to urban centers, roads and agricultural areas under direct influence of the anthropic means. For the present study analyzes were performed: particle size, soil density, porosity, matters organic, of biopores, and root distribution (primary, secondary and tertiary) and seedlings in 40 points on the perimeter of the forest equidistant 200m remaining edge. The analysis of the results allowed us to observe that areas suffer direct influence of human activities surrounding. With the results set correlations between the different parameters in order to allow a better understanding of the dynamics of water infiltration into the soil under these conditions and the quantity of tertiary roots, biopores and soil density were the best indicator of environmental quality as suffer direct influence of the surrounding areas, especially those near the most urbanized regions. In general, it can be observed that human activities such as deforestation and vehicle traffic, animals and people, promoted soil compaction and consequent changes in water infiltration into the soil in areas of edges of this remnant of these consequences affect direct numerous parameters that directly influence the dynamics of an ecosystem restoration that is now significantly affected by the occupation of their surroundings.

Modeling the Effects of Drought Events on Forest Ecosystem Functioning Historically and Under Scenarios of Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, J.; Hanan, E. J.; Kolden, C.; Abatzoglou, J. T.; Tague, C.; Liu, M.; Adam, J. C.

2017-12-01

Drought events have been increasing across the western United States in recent years. Many studies have shown that, in the context of climate change, droughts will continue to be stronger, more frequent, and prolonged in the future. However, the response of forest ecosystems to droughts, particularly multi-year droughts, is not well understood. The objectives of this study are to examine how drought events of varying characteristics (e.g. intensity, duration, frequency, etc.) have affected the functioning of forest ecosystems historically, and how changing drought characteristics (including multi-year droughts) may affect forest functioning in a future climate. We utilize the Regional Hydro-Ecological Simulation System (RHESSys) to simulate impacts of both historical droughts and scenarios of future droughts on forest ecosystems. RHESSys is a spatially-distributed and process-based model that captures the interactions between coupled biogeochemical and hydrologic cycles at catchment scales. Here our case study is the Trail Creek catchment of the Big Wood River basin in Idaho, the Northwestern USA. For historical simulations, we use the gridded meteorological data of 1979 to 2016; for future climate scenarios, we utilize downscaled data from GCMs that have been demonstrated to capture drought events in the Northwest of the USA. From these climate projections, we identify various types of drought in intensity and duration, including multi-year drought events. We evaluate the following responses of ecosystems to these events: 1) evapotranspiration and streamflow; 2) gross primary productivity; 3) the post-drought recovery of plant biomass; and 4) the forest functioning and recovery after multi-year droughts. This research is part of an integration project to examine the roles of drought, insect outbreak, and forest management activities on wildfire activity and its impacts. This project will provide improved information for forest managers and communities in the wild urban interface to adapt to climate change.

Reconstructing the role of landuse change on water yield at the Maya urban center Tikal, Guatemala [700-800 AD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shu, L.; Duffy, C.; French, K. D.; Murtha, T., Jr.; Garcia-Gonzalez, S. E.

2014-12-01

In recent years scientists have been debating the role of climate on the trajectory of Maya culture in the Late Classic period, 600-900 AD. Paleo-climatologists have reconstructed realizations of climate [Haug 2003; Medina-Elizalde 2012; Hodell 1995] that offer evidence for reduced precipitation in the Late Classic period. Recently French et al [2014] proposed that landuse change may also play an important role in the available water supply at Tikal, with the removal of tropical forest and conversion to maize-agriculture and urban landuse leading to extensive development of sophisticated water storage systems and rainfall harvesting for water supply and irrigation. Rapid population growth is a concurrent and compounding factor [Scarborough 2012; Shaw 2003] where landuse impacts the distribution and availability of water storage in the surrounding watershed. Although proposed climate scenarios for the Late Classic offer a quantitative scenario for possible atmospheric conditions at Tikal, the impact of land use change on the distribution and availability of water supply has not been evaluated. In this research we reconstruct the plausible vulnerability of the water supply at Tikal under the combined forces of climatic and land use change. The Penn State Integrated Hydrologic Model (PIHM) [Qu and Duffy 2007] is used to simulate the daily-to-seasonal space and time distribution of soil moisture, groundwater and surface water storage for the period 700-800 AD, the peak of Tikal's population history. The analysis includes a quantitative assessment of the likely changes in available water storage as tropical forest is converted to maize agriculture and urban land. In particular we examine the important control that reduced canopy interception plays in the seasonal availability of water. Preliminary simulations suggest that removing tropical forest increases runoff and available water storage, which may serve to moderate seasonal and long-term drought conditions.

Carbon cycle dynamics within Oregon’s urban-suburban-forested-agricultural landscapes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Law, Beverly E.; Still, Christopher Jason; Schmidt, Andres

Our overarching goal was to develop and utilize an observation-based analysis framework to assess interactions between climate and mosaics of land use, land cover and urbanization on regional carbon, water, and energy dynamics, and potential changes associated with land management and climate. Carbon, water and energy cycling was quantified for the range of current and potential land uses under present and future climates. The study region of Oregon has a strong climatic gradient from the coastal mesic forests (2500mm ppt) to the Willamette Valley, Cascade Mountains, and the Northern Great Basin semi-arid “cold desert” to the east (300 mm). Themore » study was focused on the effects of (1) conversion of semi-arid sagebrush and Willamette Valley agricultural crops to bioenergy production; (2) afforestation of idle land and rangelands deemed suitable for forests or poplar crops under future climate conditions. We found that net ecosystem production (NEP), the net of ecosystem photosynthesis and respiration, was 10 times higher in the high biomass forests of the Coast Range compared with drier regions like sagebrush in the Northern Great Basin, which was nearly zero (Schmidt et al. 2016). The state total NEP averaged about 30 teragrams carbon (Tg C) per year for the years 2012 to 2014 using our model framework that we developed for predictions of current and future NEP, and compared well with our detailed inventory estimates (28 Tg C annual average for 2011-2015 for forests only; Law et al. 2017). Running our model framework until the year 2050, we found that climate alone only increased NEP by less than 1 Tg C per decade (~3%) using the current trajectory of carbon dioxide emissions, however, changes are expected to be more rapid in subsequent years. We evaluated the possibility of land use change from grass seed crops to poplar for bioenergy, which slightly increased NEP by 2050. The most important variable for carbon sequestration estimates (net carbon sources and sinks) is net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB), which accounts for NEP and losses associated with harvest removals and wildfire emissions. Here, we focus on forests because they have the largest effect on carbon sequestration. We found that NECB in Oregon averaged 18.8 Tg C per year in 2011-2015, offsetting fossil fuel emissions (16 Tg C per year). Annual fire emissions reducing NECB by about 5% (0.97 Tg C per year) in the state. The mesic Coast Range and West Cascades ecoregions that make up the western third of Oregon account for 60% of the forest NECB. This analysis illustrates that annual emissions from forests disturbances are low relative to annual fossil fuel emissions for the same area (Law et al. 2017, Hudiburg et al. in review).« less

The Effect of Land Use (Deforestation) on Global Changing and its consequences in Turkey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Onursal Denli, G.; Denli, H. H.

2015-12-01

Land use has generally been considered as a local environmental issue, but it is becoming a force of global importance. Global changes to forests, farmlands, waterways, and air are being driven by the need to provide food, water and shelter to more than six billion people. Global croplands, pastures, plantations and urban areas have expanded in recent decades, accompanied by large increases in energy, water and fertilizer consumption, along with considerable losses of biodiversity. Especially the forests influence climate through physical, chemical and biological processes that affect planetary energetics, the hydrologic cycle, and atmospheric composition. Such changes in land use have enabled humans to appropriate an increasing share of the planet's resources, but they also potentially undermine the capacity of ecosystems to sustain food production, maintain freshwater and forest resources, regulate climate and air quality. Global Warming and Climate Change are the two main fundamental problems facing Turkey as well as the World. The expedition and size of this change is becoming noticeably conspicuous now. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the global temperature has been increased of about 0.74 degree Celsius since the Industrial Revolution. Interdisciplinary science that integrates knowledge of the many interacting climate services of forests with the impacts of global change is necessary to identify and understand as yet unexplored feedbacks in the Earth system and the potential of forests to mitigate climate change. The general scientific opinions on the climate change states that in the past 50 years, global warming has effected the human life resulting with very obvious influences. High rates of deforestation within a country are most commonly linked to population growth and poverty. In Turkey, the forests are destroyed for various reasons resulting to a change in the climate. This study examines the causes of deforestation and its consequences on the climate change in Turkey. Suggestions on preventing negative effects are also given.

Urban warming trumps natural enemy regulation of herbivorous pests.

PubMed

Dale, Adam G; Frank, Steven D

Trees provide ecosystem services that counter negative effects of urban habitats on human and environmental health. Unfortunately, herbivorous arthropod pests are often more abundant on urban than rural trees, reducing tree growth, survival, and ecosystem services. Previous research where vegetation complexity was reduced has attributed elevated urban pest abundance to decreased regulation by natural enemies. However, reducing vegetation complexity, particularly the density of overstory trees, also makes cities hotter than natural habitats. We ask how urban habitat characteristics influence an abiotic factor, temperature, and a biotic factor, natural enemy abundance, in regulating the abundance of an urban forest pest, the gloomy scale, (Melanaspis tenebricosa). We used a map of surface temperature to select red maple trees (Acer rubrum) at warmer and cooler sites in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. We quantified habitat complexity by measuring impervious surface cover, local vegetation structural complexity, and landscape scale vegetation cover around each tree. Using path analysis, we determined that impervious surface (the most important habitat variable) increased scale insect abundance by increasing tree canopy temperature, rather than by reducing natural enemy abundance or percent parasitism. As a mechanism for this response, we found that increasing temperature significantly increases scale insect fecundity and contributes to greater population increase. Specifically, adult female M. tenebricosa egg sets increased by approximately 14 eggs for every 1°C increase in temperature. Climate change models predict that the global climate will increase by 2–3°C in the next 50–100 years, which we found would increase scale insect abundance by three orders of magnitude. This result supports predictions that urban and natural forests will face greater herbivory in the future, and suggests that a primary cause could be direct, positive effects of warming on herbivore fitness rather than altered trophic interactions.

The natural flow regime of Hawaíi streams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsang, Y. P.; Strauch, A. M.; Clilverd, H. M.

2016-12-01

Freshwater is a critical, but limited natural resource on tropical islands; sustaining agriculture, industry, hydropower, urban development, and domestic water supply. The hydrology of Hawaíi islands is largely influenced by the health of mountain forests, which capture and absorb rain and fog drip, recharging aquifers and sustaining stream flow. Forests in Hawaíi are being degraded through the replacement of native vegetation with introduced species or conversion to another land use. Streams in the tropics frequently experience flash flooding due to extreme rainfall-runoff events and low flows due to seasonal drought. These patterns drive habitat availability for freshwater fauna, as well as sediment and nutrient export to near-shore ecosystems. Flow regimes can be used to characterize the frequency and magnitude of extreme high and low flows and are influenced by watershed climate, geology, land cover and soil composition. We examined the effect of climate extremes on stream flow from Hawaiian forests using historical flow data to characterize the spatial and temporal patterns in surface water resources. By defining flow regimes from forests we can improve our understanding of climate extremes on water resource availability across tropical island landscapes.

Global change and the distributional dynamics of migratory bird populations wintering in Central America.

PubMed

La Sorte, Frank A; Fink, Daniel; Blancher, Peter J; Rodewald, Amanda D; Ruiz-Gutierrez, Viviana; Rosenberg, Kenneth V; Hochachka, Wesley M; Verburg, Peter H; Kelling, Steve

2017-12-01

Understanding the susceptibility of highly mobile taxa such as migratory birds to global change requires information on geographic patterns of occurrence across the annual cycle. Neotropical migrants that breed in North America and winter in Central America occur in high concentrations on their non-breeding grounds where they spend the majority of the year and where habitat loss has been associated with population declines. Here, we use eBird data to model weekly patterns of abundance and occurrence for 21 forest passerine species that winter in Central America. We estimate species' distributional dynamics across the annual cycle, which we use to determine how species are currently associated with public protected areas and projected changes in climate and land-use. The effects of global change on the non-breeding grounds is characterized by decreasing precipitation, especially during the summer, and the conversion of forest to cropland, grassland, or peri-urban. The effects of global change on the breeding grounds are characterized by increasing winter precipitation, higher temperatures, and the conversion of forest to peri-urban. During spring and autumn migration, species are projected to encounter higher temperatures, forests that have been converted to peri-urban, and increased precipitation during spring migration. Based on current distributional dynamics, susceptibility to global change is characterized by the loss of forested habitats on the non-breeding grounds, warming temperatures during migration and on the breeding grounds, and declining summer rainfall on the non-breeding grounds. Public protected areas with low and medium protection status are more prevalent on the non-breeding grounds, suggesting that management opportunities currently exist to mitigate near-term non-breeding habitat losses. These efforts would affect more individuals of more species during a longer period of the annual cycle, which may create additional opportunities for species to respond to changes in habitat or phenology that are likely to develop under climate change. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Project ATLANTA (Atlanta Land use Analysis: Temperature and Air Quality): Use of Remote Sensing and Modeling to Analyze How Urban Land Use Change Affects Meteorology and Air Quality Through Time

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quattrochi, Dale A.; Luvall, Jeffrey C.; Estes, Maurice G., Jr.

1999-01-01

This paper presents an overview of Project ATLANTA (ATlanta Land use ANalysis: Temperature and Air-quality) which is an investigation that seeks to observe, measure, model, and analyze how the rapid growth of the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area since the early 1970's has impacted the region's climate and air quality. The primary objectives for this research effort are: (1) To investigate and model the relationships between land cover change in the Atlanta metropolitan, and the development of the urban heat island phenomenon through time; (2) To investigate and model the temporal relationships between Atlanta urban growth and land cover change on air quality; and (3) To model the overall effects of urban development on surface energy budget characteristics across the Atlanta urban landscape through time. Our key goal is to derive a better scientific understanding of how land cover changes associated with urbanization in the Atlanta area, principally in transforming forest lands to urban land covers through time, has, and will, effect local and regional climate, surface energy flux, and air quality characteristics. Allied with this goal is the prospect that the results from this research can be applied by urban planners, environmental managers and other decision-makers, for determining how urbanization has impacted the climate and overall environment of the Atlanta area. Multiscaled remote sensing data, particularly high resolution thermal infrared data, are integral to this study for the analysis of thermal energy fluxes across the Atlanta urban landscape.

Vegetation coupling to global climate: Trajectories of vegetation change and phenology modeling from satellite observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fisher, Jeremy Isaac

Important systematic shifts in ecosystem function are often masked by natural variability. The rich legacy of over two decades of continuous satellite observations provides an important database for distinguishing climatological and anthropogenic ecosystem changes. Examples from semi-arid Sudanian West Africa and New England (USA) illustrate the response of vegetation to climate and land-use. In Burkina Faso, West Africa, pastoral and agricultural practices compete for land area, while degradation may follow intensification. The Nouhao Valley is a natural experiment in which pastoral and agricultural land uses were allocated separate, coherent reserves. Trajectories of annual net primary productivity were derived from 18 years of coarse-grain (AVHRR) satellite data. Trends suggested that pastoral lands had responded rigorously to increasing rainfall after the 1980's droughts. A detailed analysis at Landsat resolution (30m) indicated that the increased vegetative cover was concentrated in the river basins of the pastoral region, implying a riparian wood expansion. In comparison, riparian cover was reduced in agricultural regions. We suggest that broad-scale patterns of increasing semi-arid West African greenness may be indicative of climate variability, whereas local losses may be anthropogenic in nature. The contiguous deciduous forests, ocean proximity, topography, and dense urban developments of New England provide an ideal landscape to examine influences of climate variability and the impact of urban development vegetation response. Spatial and temporal patterns of interannual climate variability were examined via green leaf phenology. Phenology, or seasonal growth and senescence, is driven by deficits of light, temperature, and water. In temperate environments, phenology variability is driven by interannual temperature and precipitation shifts. Average and interannual phenology analyses across southern New England were conducted at resolutions of 30m (Landsat) and 500m Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS). A robust logistic-growth model of canopy cover was employed to determine phenological characteristics at each forest stand. The duel analyses revealed important findings: (a) local phenological gradients from microclimatic structures are highly influential in broad-scale phenological observations; (b) satellite observed phenology reflects observations of canopy growth from field studies; (c) phenological anomalies in urban areas which were previously attributed to urban heat may be a function of urban-specific land cover (i.e. green lawns); and (d) patterns of interannual variability in phenology at the regional scale have high spatial coherency and appear to be driven by broad-scale climatic change. Satellite-observed phenology may reflect temperatures during spring and provides a proxy of climate variability.

[Basic theory and research method of urban forest ecology].

PubMed

He, Xingyuan; Jin, Yingshan; Zhu, Wenquan; Xu, Wenduo; Chen, Wei

2002-12-01

With the development of world economy and the increment of urban population, the urban environment problem hinders the urban sustainable development. Now, more and more people realized the importance of urban forests in improving the quality of urban ecology. Therefore, a new subject, urban forest ecology, and correlative new concept frame in the field formed. The theoretic foundation of urban forest ecology derived from the mutual combination of theory relating to forest ecology, landscape ecology, landscape architecture ecology and anthrop-ecology. People survey the development of city from the view of ecosystem, and regard the environment, a colony of human, animals and plants, as main factors of the system. The paper introduces systematically the urban forest ecology as follows: 1) the basic concept of urban forest ecology; 2) the meaning of urban forest ecology; 3) the basic principle and theoretic base of urban forest ecology; 4) the research method of urban forest ecology; 5) the developmental expectation of urban forest ecology.

Innovative urban forestry governance in Melbourne?: Investigating "green placemaking" as a nature-based solution.

PubMed

Gulsrud, Natalie Marie; Hertzog, Kelly; Shears, Ian

2018-02-01

A nature-based approach to climate resilience aims to challenge and re-frame conventional environmental management methods by refocusing solutions from technological strategies to socio-ecological principles such as human well-being and community-based governance models, thereby improving and legitimizing the delivery of ecosystem services (ES). There are, however, many challenges to applying a socio-ecological agenda to urban climate resilience and thereby re-framing ES delivery as community and people focused, a knowledge gap extensively outlined in the environmental governance literature. In this paper, we aim to contribute to this re-assesment of urban environmental governance by examining the City of Melbourne's approach to urban re-naturing governance from a place-based perspective. Here we focus on the city's internationally-acclaimed urban forest strategy (UFS), investigating how and to which extent the governance arrangements embedded within the UFS draw strength from diverse perspectives and allow for institutional arrangements that support "situated" reflexive decision making and co-creation. We find that Melbourne's UFS governance process fosters green placemaking by re-focusing climate adaptation solutions from technological strategies to situated socio-ecological principles such as human well-being and community-based decision making. In this sense, this case provides valuable insight for the broader UGI governance field regarding the opportunities and challenges associated with a socio-cultural approach to urban re-naturing and ES delivery. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Climate change and the future of natural disturbances in the central hardwood region

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dale, Virginia H; Hughes, M. Joseph; Hayes, Daniel J

The spatial patterns and ecological processes of the southeastern upland hardwood forests have evolved to reflect past climatic conditions and natural disturbance regimes. Changes in climate can lead to disturbances that exceed their natural range of variation, and the impacts of these changes will depend on the vulnerability or resiliency of these ecosystems. Global Circulation Models generally project annual increases in temperature across the southeastern United States over the coming decades, but changes in precipitation are less consistent. Even more unclear is how climate change might affect future trends in the severity and frequency of natural disturbances, such as severemore » storms, fires, droughts, floods, and insect outbreaks. Here, we use a time-series satellite data record to map the spatial pattern and severity of broad classes of natural disturbances the southeast region. The data derived from this map allow analysis of regional-scale trends in natural and anthropogenic disturbances in the region over the last three decades. Throughout the region, between 5% and 25% of forest land is affected by some sort of disturbance each year since 1985. The time series reveals periodic droughts that themselves are widespread and of low severity but are associated with more localized, high-severity disturbances such as fire and insect outbreaks. The map also reveals extensive anthropogenic disturbance across the region in the form of forest conversion related to resource extraction and urban and residential development. We discuss how changes in climate and disturbance regimes might affect southeastern forests in the future via altering the exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity of these ecosystems. Changes in climate are highly likely to expose southeastern forests to more frequent and severe disturbances, but ultimately how vulnerable or resilient southeastern forests are to these changes will depend on their sensitivity and capacity to adapt to these novel conditions.« less

Ancient Maya impacts on the Earth's surface: An Early Anthropocene analog?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beach, Tim; Luzzadder-Beach, Sheryl; Cook, Duncan; Dunning, Nicholas; Kennett, Douglas J.; Krause, Samantha; Terry, Richard; Trein, Debora; Valdez, Fred

2015-09-01

The measure of the "Mayacene," a microcosm of the Early Anthropocene that occurred from c. 3000 to 1000 BP, comes from multiple Late Quaternary paleoenvironmental records. We synthesized the evidence for Maya impacts on climate, vegetation, hydrology and the lithosphere, from studies of soils, lakes, floodplains, wetlands and other ecosystems. Maya civilization had likely altered local to regional ecosystems and hydrology by the Preclassic Period (3000-1700 BP), but these impacts waned by 1000 BP. They altered ecosystems with vast urban and rural infrastructure that included thousands of reservoirs, wetland fields and canals, terraces, field ridges, and temples. Although there is abundant evidence that indicates the Maya altered their forests, even at the large urban complex of Tikal as much as 40% of the forest remained intact through the Classic period. Existing forests are still influenced by ancient Maya forest gardening, particularly by the large expanses of ancient stone structures, terraces, and wetland fields that form their substrates. A few studies suggest deforestation and other land uses probably also warmed and dried regional climate by the Classic Period (1700-1100 BP). A much larger body of research documents the Maya impacts on hydrology, in the form of dams, reservoirs, canals, eroded soils and urban design for runoff. Another metric of the "Mayacene" are paleosols, which contain chemical evidence for human occupation, revealed by high phosphorus concentrations and carbon isotope ratios of C4 species like maize in the C3-dominated tropical forest ecosystem. Paleosol sequences exhibit "Maya Clays," a facies that reflects a glut of rapidly eroded sediments that overlie pre-Maya paleosols. This stratigraphy is conspicuous in many dated soil profiles and marks the large-scale Maya transformation of the landscape in the Preclassic and Classic periods. Some of these also have increased phosphorous and carbon isotope evidence of C4 species. We synthesize and provide new evidence of Maya-period soil strata that show elevated carbon isotope ratios (δ13C), indicating the presence of C4 species in typical agricultural sites. This is often the case in ancient Maya wetland systems, which also have abundant evidence for the presence of several other economic plant species. The "Mayacene" of c. 3000 to 1000 BP was thus a patchwork of cities, villages, roads, urban heat islands, intensive and extensive farmsteads, forests and orchards. Today, forests and wetlands cover much of the Maya area but like so many places, these are now under the onslaught of the deforestation, draining, and plowing of the present Anthropocene.

Overview of the 2010 Carbonaceous Aerosols and Radiative Effects Study (CARES)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zaveri, R. A.; Shaw, W. J.; Cahill, J. F.; Cairns, Brian; Cappa, C. D.; Ottaviani, Matteo; Cziczo, D. J.; Ferrare, Richard A.; Alexander, M. L.; Alexandrov, Mikhail Dmitrievic;

Subpixel urban impervious surface mapping: the impact of input Landsat images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Chengbin; Li, Chaojun; Zhu, Zhe; Lin, Weiying; Xi, Li

2017-11-01

Due to the heterogeneity of urban environments, subpixel urban impervious surface mapping is a challenging task in urban environmental studies. Factors, such as atmospheric correction, climate conditions, seasonal effect, urban settings, substantially affect fractional impervious surface estimation. Their impacts, however, have not been well studied and documented. In this research, we performed direct and comprehensive examinations to explore the impacts of these factors on subpixel estimation when using an effective machine learning technique (Random Forest) and provided solutions to alleviate these influences. Four conclusions can be drawn based on the repeatable experiments in three study areas under different climate conditions (humid continental, tropical monsoon, and Mediterranean climates). First, the performance of subpixel urban impervious surface mapping using top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance imagery is comparable to, and even slightly better than, the surface reflectance imagery provided by U.S. Geological Services in all seasons and in all testing regions. Second, the effect of images with leaf-on/off season varies, and is contingent upon different climate regions. Specifically, humid continental areas may prefer the leaf-on imagery (e.g., summer), while the tropical monsoon and Mediterranean regions seem to favor the fall and winter imagery. Third, the overall estimation performance in the humid continental area is somewhat better than the other regions. Finally, improvements can be achieved by using multi-season imagery, but the increments become less obvious when including more than two seasons. The strategy and results of this research could improve and accommodate regional/national subpixel land cover mapping using Landsat images for large-scale environmental studies.

Risk to a Changing Climate in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vargas, N. D.

2016-12-01

The issue of climate change has dominated the atmospheric sciences agenda in recent decades. The concern about an increase in climate related disasters, mainly in large population centers, has led to ask whether they are mainly due to changes in climate or in vulnerability.The Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) is an example of megalopolis under high climate risk, where floods, landslides, health problems, high air pollution events, socioeconomic droughts are becoming important environmental and social problems. As urbanization spreads and population increases exposure to natural hazards increases, and so the magnitude of risk to a changing climate and the negative impacts. Since the late nineteenth century, in the MCMA an average maximum temperature could be around 22°C, whereas today it is about 24.5ºC. That is, the increase in the average temperature in Mexico City is around 3°C in a hundred years. But there are areas where an increase in the average temperature is similar in only thirty years. The heating rate of the city can vary depending on the change in land use. Areas that conserve forested regions in the process of urbanization tend to warm less than areas where the transformation into concrete and cement is almost complete. Thus, the climate of the MCMA shows important changes mainly in relation to land use changes. Global warming and natural climate variability were also analyzed as possible forcing factors of the observed warming by comparing low frequency variations in local temperature and indices for natural forcing. The hydrological cycle of the MCMA has also changed with urbanization. The "bubble of hot air" over the urban area has more capacity to hold moisture now than before the UHI. However, the increased risk to floods, heat or drought appears to be related not only to more frequent intense climatic hazards induced by the urbanization effect. This process also induces increased vulnerability to a changing climate. The establishment of areas with trees, water parks or green infrastructure can recover some ecosystem services and therefore, reduce climate risk in cities, with co-benefits that costly infrastructure does not always provide. Contemplating the services of urban ecosystems in the management of cities would lead to lower impacts of climate change for residents of cities.

Urban climate effects on extreme temperatures in Madison, Wisconsin, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schatz, Jason; Kucharik, Christopher J.

2015-09-01

As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme heat, cities and their urban heat island (UHI) effects are growing, as are the urban populations encountering them. These mutually reinforcing trends present a growing risk for urban populations. However, we have limited understanding of urban climates during extreme temperature episodes, when additional heat from the UHI may be most consequential. We observed a historically hot summer and historically cold winter using an array of up to 150 temperature and relative humidity sensors in and around Madison, Wisconsin, an urban area of population 402 000 surrounded by lakes and a rural landscape of agriculture, forests, wetlands, and grasslands. In the summer of 2012 (third hottest since 1869), Madison’s urban areas experienced up to twice as many hours ⩾32.2 °C (90 °F), mean July TMAX up to 1.8 °C higher, and mean July TMIN up to 5.3 °C higher than rural areas. During a record setting heat wave, dense urban areas spent over four consecutive nights above the National Weather Service nighttime heat stress threshold of 26.7 °C (80 °F), while rural areas fell below 26.7 °C nearly every night. In the winter of 2013-14 (coldest in 35 years), Madison’s most densely built urban areas experienced up to 40% fewer hours ⩽-17.8 °C (0 °F), mean January TMAX up to 1 °C higher, and mean January TMIN up to 3 °C higher than rural areas. Spatially, the UHI tended to be most intense in areas with higher population densities. Temporally, both daytime and nighttime UHIs tended to be slightly more intense during more-extreme heat days compared to average summer days. These results help us understand the climates for which cities must prepare in a warming, urbanizing world.

Relative importance of climate and mountain pine beetle outbreaks on the occurrence of large wildfires in the western USA.

PubMed

Mietkiewicz, Nathan; Kulakowski, Dominik

2016-12-01

Extensive outbreaks of bark beetles have killed trees across millions of hectares of forests and woodlands in western North America. These outbreaks have led to spirited scientific, public, and policy debates about consequential increases in fire risk, especially in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), where homes and communities are at particular risk from wildfires. At the same time, large wildfires have become more frequent across this region. Widespread expectations that outbreaks increase extent, severity, and/or frequency of wildfires are based partly on visible and dramatic changes in foliar moisture content and other fuel properties following outbreaks, as well as associated modeling projections. A competing explanation is that increasing wildfires are driven primarily by climatic extremes, which are becoming more common with climate change. However, the relative importance of bark beetle outbreaks vs. climate on fire occurrence has not been empirically examined across very large areas and remains poorly understood. The most extensive outbreaks of tree-killing insects across the western United States have been of mountain pine beetle (MPB; Dendroctonus ponderosae), which have killed trees over >650,000 km 2 , mostly in forests dominated by lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta). We show that outbreaks of MPB in lodgepole pine forests of the western United States have been less important than climatic variability for the occurrence of large fires over the past 29 years. In lodgepole pine forests in general, as well as those in the WUI, occurrence of large fires was determined primarily by current and antecedent high temperatures and low precipitation but was unaffected by preceding outbreaks. Trends of increasing co-occurrence of wildfires and outbreaks are due to a common climatic driver rather than interactions between these disturbances. Reducing wildfire risk hinges on addressing the underlying climatic drivers rather than treating beetle-affected forests. © 2016 by the Ecological Society of America.

Tracking forest cover change of Margalla Hills over a period of two decades (1992-2011): A remote sensing perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khalid, Noora; Ullah, Saleem

2016-07-01

Forests play a critical role in balancing the ecological soundness of a region and in the facilitation of essential forest resources. Depletion of forest cover is a serious environmental problem throughout the world including Pakistan where a striking degradation of forest reserves has been an ecological concern for quite some time. Remote sensing techniques have been used to monitor land use and forest cover changes. The present study aims at exploring the potential impacts of climate change in the decline of forest reserves on Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP), since it remains the primary culprit behind this depletion. Landsat images for 1992, 2000 and 2011 were manipulated for the spatial and temporal analysis, interpretation and computation of the change and shift that has occurred over the past two decades. The analysis revealed a great increase in the built-up area, barren soil and agricultural land. Though other classes such as water body, lower vegetation, scrub and conifer forest showed a diminishing trend. The rise in temperature and relative humidity, the depletion in annual precipitation, frequent wild fires and the boost in urbanization and agricultural practices are the climatic conditions and causative agents chiefly responsible for the decline shown by the vegetation of the area. The degrading condition of the forest is below par and requires conservation practices to be carried out in order to avoid ecological disturbances.

Variability in soil CO2 efflux across distinct urban land cover types

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weissert, Lena F.; Salmond, Jennifer A.; Schwendenmann, Luitgard

2015-04-01

As a main source of greenhouse gases urban areas play an important role in the global carbon cycle. To assess the potential role of urban vegetation in mitigating carbon emissions we need information on the magnitude of biogenic CO2 emissions and its driving factors. We examined how urban land use types (urban forest, parklands, sportsfields) vary in their soil CO2 efflux. We measured soil CO2 efflux and its isotopic signature, soil temperature and soil moisture over a complete growing season in Auckland, New Zealand. Soil physical and chemical properties and vegetation characteristics were also measured. Mean soil CO2 efflux ranged from 4.15 to 12 μmol m-2 s-1. We did not find significant differences in soil CO2 efflux among land cover types due to high spatial variability in soil CO2 efflux among plots. Soil (soil carbon and nitrogen density, texture, soil carbon:nitrogen ratio) and vegetation characteristics (basal area, litter carbon density, grass biomass) were not significantly correlated with soil CO2 efflux. We found a distinct seasonal pattern with significantly higher soil CO2 efflux in autumn (Apr/May) and spring (Oct). In urban forests and sportsfields over 80% of the temporal variation was explained by soil temperature and soil water content. The δ13C signature of CO2 respired from parklands and sportsfields (-20 permil - -25 permil) were more positive compared to forest plots (-29 permil) indicating that parkland and sportsfields had a considerable proportion of C4 grasses. Despite the large intra-urban variability, our results compare to values reported from other, often climatically different cities, supporting the hypothesis of homogenization across urban areas as a result of human management practices.

Trace elements and nitrogen content in naturally growing moss Hypnum cupressiforme in urban and peri-urban forests of the Municipality of Ljubljana (Slovenia).

PubMed

Berisha, S; Skudnik, M; Vilhar, U; Sabovljević, M; Zavadlav, S; Jeran, Z

2017-02-01

We monitored trace metals and nitrogen using naturally growing moss Hypnum cupressiforme Hedw. in urban and peri-urban forests of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. The aim of this study was to explore the differences in atmospheric deposition of trace metals and nitrogen between urban and peri-urban forests. Samples were collected at a total of 44 sites in urban forests (forests within the motorway ring road) and peri-urban forests (forests outside the motorway ring road). Mosses collected in urban forests showed increased trace metal concentrations compared to samples collected from peri-urban forests. Higher values were significant for As, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Tl and V. Within the motorway ring road, the notable differences in element concentrations between the two urban forests were significant for Cr, Ni and Mo. Factor analysis showed three groups of elements, highlighting the contribution of traffic emissions, individual heating appliances and the resuspension of contaminated soils and dust as the main sources of trace elements in urban forests.

Extending large-scale forest inventories to assess urban forests.

PubMed

Corona, Piermaria; Agrimi, Mariagrazia; Baffetta, Federica; Barbati, Anna; Chiriacò, Maria Vincenza; Fattorini, Lorenzo; Pompei, Enrico; Valentini, Riccardo; Mattioli, Walter

2012-03-01

Urban areas are continuously expanding today, extending their influence on an increasingly large proportion of woods and trees located in or nearby urban and urbanizing areas, the so-called urban forests. Although these forests have the potential for significantly improving the quality the urban environment and the well-being of the urban population, data to quantify the extent and characteristics of urban forests are still lacking or fragmentary on a large scale. In this regard, an expansion of the domain of multipurpose forest inventories like National Forest Inventories (NFIs) towards urban forests would be required. To this end, it would be convenient to exploit the same sampling scheme applied in NFIs to assess the basic features of urban forests. This paper considers approximately unbiased estimators of abundance and coverage of urban forests, together with estimators of the corresponding variances, which can be achieved from the first phase of most large-scale forest inventories. A simulation study is carried out in order to check the performance of the considered estimators under various situations involving the spatial distribution of the urban forests over the study area. An application is worked out on the data from the Italian NFI.

Quantification and Mitigation of Long-Term Impacts of Urbanization and Climate Change in the Tropical Coastal City of San Juan, Puerto Rico

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Comarazamy, Daniel; Gonzalez, Jorge E.; Luvall, Jeffrey C.

2014-01-01

Urbanization, along with other cases of land cover and land use changes, has significant climate impacts in tropical regions with the added complexity of occurring within the context of global warming. The individual and combined effects of these two factors on the surface energy balance of a tropical city are investigated by use of an integrated atmospheric modeling approach, taking the San Juan Metropolitan Area (SJMA), Puerto Rico as the test case. To achieve this goal, an ensemble of climate and weather simulations is performed, with the climate scenarios combining urban development and sprawl with regional climate change over the past 50 years, and the short-term simulations designed to test the sensitivity to different urban vegetation configurations as mitigating alternatives. As indicator of change, we use the thermal response number (TRN), which is a measure of the sensible heating to the thermal storage of a surface or region, and the Bowen ratio, which is defined as the ratio of sensible to latent heat fluxes. The TRN of the area occupied by the SJMA has decreased as a consequence of replacing the low land coastal plain vegetation with man made materials, indicating that it takes less energy to raise the surface temperature of the urban area, whereas the TRN of forested regions has remained virtually unchanged. The global warming signal also has effects on the thermal response of the SJMA, where dryer current conditions generate lower TRN values. Differences due to global warming are more evident in the Bowen ratio pattern, mostly associated with the drier present conditions observed and its effects on sensible and latent heat fluxes. In terms of testing different mitigation strategies, the short-term simulations show that the urban area is more efficient in partitioning surface energy balance terms when green roofs are specified, as opposed to including vegetation inside the urban core.

Calculating net primary productivity of forest ecosystem with G4M model: case study on South Korea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sung, S.; Forsell, N.; Kindermann, G.; Lee, D. K.

2015-12-01

Net primary productivity (NPP) is considered as an important indicator for forest ecosystem since the role of forest is highlighted as a stepping stone for mitigating climate change. Especially rapidly urbanizing countries which have high carbon dioxide emission have large interest in calculating forest NPP under climate change. Also maximizing carbon sequestration in forest sector has became a global goal to minimize the impacts of climate change. Therefore, the objective of this research is estimating carbon stock change under the different climate change scenarios by using G4M (Global Forestry Model) model in South Korea. We analyzed four climate change scenarios in different Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP). In this study we used higher resolution data (1kmx1km) to produce precise estimation on NPP from regionalized four climate change scenarios in G4M model. Finally, we set up other environmental variables for G4M such as water holding capacity, soil type and elevation. As a result of this study, temperature showed significant trend during 2011 to 2100. Average annual temperature increased more than 5℃ in RCP 8.5 scenario while 1℃ increased in RCP 2.6 scenario. Each standard deviation of the annual average temperature showed similar trend. Average annual precipitation showed similarity within four scenarios. However the standard deviation of average annual precipitation is higher in RCP8.5 scenario which indicates the ranges of precipitation is wider in RCP8.5 scenario. These results present that climate indicators such as temperature and precipitation have uncertainties in climate change scenarios. NPP has changed from 5-13tC/ha/year in RCP2.6 scenario to 9-21 tC/ha/year in RCP8.5 scenario in 2100. In addition the spatial distribution of NPP presented different trend among the scenarios. In conclusion we calculated differences in temperature and precipitation and NPP change in different climate change scenarios. This study can be applied for maximizing carbon seqestration of vegetation.

Assessing the impact of urbanization on urban climate by remote satellite perspective: a case study in Danang city, Vietnam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoang Khanh Linh, N.; Van Chuong, H.

2015-04-01

Urban climate, one of the challenges of human being in 21 century, is known as the results of land use/cover transformation. Its characteristics are distinguished by different varieties of climatic conditions in comparison with those of less built-up areas. The alterations lead to "Urban Heat Island", in which temperature in urban places is higher than surrounding environment. This happens not only in mega cities but also in less urbanized sites. The results determine the change of land use/cover and land surface temperature in Danang city by using multi-temporal Landsat and ASTER data for the period of 1990-2009. Based on the supervised classification method of maximum likelihood algorithm, satellite images in 1990, 2003, 2009 were classified into five classes: water, forest, shrub, agriculture, barren land and built-up area. For accuracy assessment, the error metric tabulations of mapped classes and reference classes were made. The Kappa statistics, derived from error matrices, were over 80% for all of land use maps. An comparison change detection algorithm was made in three intervals, 1990-2003, 2003-2009 and 1990-2009. The results showed that built-up area increased from 8.95% to 17.87% between 1990 and 2009, while agriculture, shrub and barren decreased from 12.98% to 7.53%, 15.72% to 9.89% and 3.88% to 1.77% due to urbanization that resulted from increasing of urban population and economic development, respectively. Land surface temperature (LST) maps were retrieved from thermal infrared bands of Landsat and ASTER data. The result indicated that the temperature in study area increased from 39oC to 41oC for the period of 1990-2009. Our analysis showed that built-up area had the highest LST values, whereas water bodies had the least LST. This study is expected to be useful for decision makers to make an appropriate land use planning which can mitigate the effect to urban climate.

Developing an urban forest carbon market

Treesearch

M. Armstrong; J. Siry; Michael Bowker

2009-01-01

Countries, states, localities, businesses, and individuals are taking action to mitigate greenhouse gas levels and production as a response to concerns over climate change. Europe currently has mandatory greenhouse gas emission legislation and a large developed emission trading market, as opposed to the U.S. where voluntary markets to reduce green house gas emissions...

Analysis of the role of urban vegetation in local climate of Budapest using satellite measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pongracz, Rita; Bartholy, Judit; Dezso, Zsuzsanna; Fricke, Cathy

2016-08-01

Urban areas significantly modify the natural environment due to the concentrated presence of humans and the associated anthropogenic activities. In order to assess this effect, it is essential to evaluate the relationship between urban and vegetated surface covers. In our study we focused on the Hungarian capital, Budapest, in which about 1.7 million inhabitants are living nowadays. The entire city is divided by the river Danube into the hilly, greener Buda side on the west, and the flat, more densely built-up Pest side on the east. Most of the extended urban vegetation, i.e., forests are located in the western Buda side. The effects of the past changing of these green areas are analyzed using surface temperature data calculated from satellite measurements in the infrared channels, and NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) derived from visible and near-infrared satellite measurements. For this purpose, data available from sensor MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) of NASA satellites (i.e., Terra and Aqua) are used. First, the climatological effects of forests on the urban heat island intensity are evaluated. Then, we also aim to evaluate the relationship of surface temperature and NDVI in this urban environment with special focus on vegetation-related sections of the city where the vegetation cover either increased or decreased remarkably.

Assessment of urban tree growth from structure, nutrients and composition data derived from airborne lidar and imaging spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, H.; Townsend, P. A.; Singh, A.

2014-12-01

Urban forests provide important ecosystem services related to climate, nutrients, runoff and aesthetics. Assessment of variations in urban forest growth is critical to urban management and planning, as well as to identify responses to climate and other environmental changes. We estimated annual relative basal area increment by tree rings from 37 plots in Madison, Wisconsin and neighboring municipalities. We related relative basal area growth to variables of vegetation traits derived from remote sensing, including structure (aboveground biomass, diameter, height, basal area, crown width and crown length) from discrete-return airborne lidar, and biochemical variables (foliar nitrogen, carbon, lignin, cellulose, fiber and LMA), spectral indices (NDVI, NDWI, PRI, NDII etc.) and species composition from AVIRIS hyperspectral imagery. Variations in tree growth was mainly correlated with tree species composition (R2 = 0.29, RMSE = 0.004) with coniferous stands having a faster growth rate than broadleaf plots. Inclusion of stand basal area improved model prediction from R2 = 0.29 to 0.35, with RMSE = 0.003. Then, we assessed the growth by functional type, we found that foliar lignin concentration and the proportion of live coniferous trees explained 57% variance in the growth of conifer stands. In contrast, broadleaf forest growth was more strongly correlated with species composition and foliar carbon (R2 = 0.59, RMSE = 0.003). Finally, we compared the relative basal area growth by species. In our study area, red pine and white pine exhibited higher growth rates than other species, while white oak plots grew slowest. There is a significant negative relationship between tree height and the relative growth in red pine stands (r = -0.95), as well as a strong negative relationship between crown width and the relative growth in white pine stands (r = -0.87). Growth declines as trees grow taller and wider may partly be the result of reduced photosynthesis and water availability. We also found that canopy cellulose content was negatively correlated with growth in white oak (r = -0.59), which could be caused by trade off of carbon allocation from shoot storage to leaves. These results demonstrate the potential of lidar and hyperspectral imagery to characterize important traits associated with biomass accumulation in urban forests.

Assessing the relationship between surface urban heat islands and landscape patterns across climatic zones in China.

PubMed

Yang, Qiquan; Huang, Xin; Li, Jiayi

2017-08-24

The urban heat island (UHI) effect exerts a great influence on the Earth's environment and human health and has been the subject of considerable attention. Landscape patterns are among the most important factors relevant to surface UHIs (SUHIs); however, the relationship between SUHIs and landscape patterns is poorly understood over large areas. In this study, the surface UHI intensity (SUHII) is defined as the temperature difference between urban and suburban areas, and the landscape patterns are quantified by the urban-suburban differences in several typical landscape metrics (ΔLMs). Temperature and land-cover classification datasets based on satellite observations were applied to analyze the relationship between SUHII and ΔLMs in 332 cities/city agglomerations distributed in different climatic zones of China. The results indicate that SUHII and its correlations with ΔLMs are profoundly influenced by seasonal, diurnal, and climatic factors. The impacts of different land-cover types on SUHIs are different, and the landscape patterns of the built-up and vegetation (including forest, grassland, and cultivated land) classes have the most significant effects on SUHIs. The results of this study will help us to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between the SUHI effect and landscape patterns.

Sustaining Urban Forests

Treesearch

John F. Dwyer; David J. Nowak

2003-01-01

The significance of the urban forest resource and the powerful forces for change in the urban environment make sustainability a critical issue in urban forest management. The diversity, connectedness, and dynamics of the urban forest establish the context for management that will determine the sustainability of forest structure, health, functions, and benefits. A...

Temporal changes in potential regulating ecosystem services driven by urbanization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferreira, Carla; Amorim, Inês; Pires, Evanilton; Kalantari, Zahra; Walsh, Rory; Ferreira, António

2017-04-01

Ecosystem services (ES) are understood to be the capacity of the landscape of a particular area to provide goods and services to society. In terms of human benefits, four categories of ES are usually considered: provisioning (e.g. seafood), regulating (e.g. climate regulation, air quality, water purification and natural hazard protection), supporting (e.g. maintenance of biodiversity), and cultural (e.g. recreation). The potential supply of ecosystem services has receive increasing interest as a tool for natural resource management. Nevertheless, the capacity to supply ES depends on biophysical conditions, as well as climate and land-use changes, induced by human activities. This study aims to investigate the potential for regulating ecosystem service supply of a Portuguese peri-urban catchment, and attempts to understand the temporal changes in ES over the last decades driven by urbanization. The study was developed in Ribeira dos Covões catchment (6.2 km2), in Portugal. Due to its proximity to Coimbra, a major city in the central region of Portugal, the catchment has undergone major land-use changes over the last half-century. Since 1958, the agricultural area, comprising mainly olives and arable land, has declined from 48% to 4%, due to increases in urban land (from 8% to 40%) and forest (from 44% to 53%), as well as a temporary creation of open spaces (from 0% to 3%). The nature of forest cover also changed, from native species, such as oaks (Quercus sp.), to commercial timber plantations, mostly of Pinus pinaster L. and Eucaliptus globulus L.. Urbanization became more pronounced after 1973, exhibiting a discontinuous pattern until 1995, and then later more continuous urban areas through the infilling of areas between the earlier urban cores. Quantification of regulating ES in the study catchment was achieved using GIS techniques, in order to gain a spatial dimension of ES distribution (Burkhard et al., 2009). Mapping ecosystem service capacities at a 5×5m resolution involved the use of CORINE land cover data and aerial photographs, available for the years 1958, 1973, 1979, 1990, 1995, 2002, 2007 and 2012. The resulting land-use maps include 11 land cover classes: equipment and infrastructure, discontinuous urban fabric, continuous urban fabric, natural areas with shrubs and herbaceous plants, softwoods, hardwoods, mixed forest, permanent crops, arable land, bare soil and water bodies. Quantitative assessment of regulating services of these land-use classes was achieved based on interviews with 31 experts. Each expert prepared a matrix using a scale from "0" to "5", where "0" refers to the land cover as having no capacity to provide regulating services, while 5 indicates that the land cover provides a wide range of ecosystem services. A final matrix was prepared based on mean values of all the experts. This matrix was then integrated with the land-use maps of different years to generate a spatially explicit potential ecosystem service supply model. The results showed decreasing ecosystem regulation services over time, mainly due to increasing urban area but also changes on forest types. The methodology used can be easily applied to test distinct urbanization scenarios, thus, providing a valuable support for urban planning.

i-Tree: Tools to assess and manage structure, function, and value of community forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hirabayashi, S.; Nowak, D.; Endreny, T. A.; Kroll, C.; Maco, S.

2011-12-01

Trees in urban communities can mitigate many adverse effects associated with anthropogenic activities and climate change (e.g. urban heat island, greenhouse gas, air pollution, and floods). To protect environmental and human health, managers need to make informed decisions regarding urban forest management practices. Here we present the i-Tree suite of software tools (www.itreetools.org) developed by the USDA Forest Service and their cooperators. This software suite can help urban forest managers assess and manage the structure, function, and value of urban tree populations regardless of community size or technical capacity. i-Tree is a state-of-the-art, peer-reviewed Windows GUI- or Web-based software that is freely available, supported, and continuously refined by the USDA Forest Service and their cooperators. Two major features of i-Tree are 1) to analyze current canopy structures and identify potential planting spots, and 2) to estimate the environmental benefits provided by the trees, such as carbon storage and sequestration, energy conservation, air pollution removal, and storm water reduction. To cover diverse forest topologies, various tools were developed within the i-Tree suite: i-Tree Design for points (individual trees), i-Tree Streets for lines (street trees), and i-Tree Eco, Vue, and Canopy (in the order of complexity) for areas (community trees). Once the forest structure is identified with these tools, ecosystem services provided by trees can be estimated with common models and protocols, and reports in the form of texts, charts, and figures are then created for users. Since i-Tree was developed with a client/server architecture, nationwide data in the US such as location-related parameters, weather, streamflow, and air pollution data are stored in the server and retrieved to a user's computer at run-time. Freely available remote-sensed images (e.g. NLCD and Google maps) are also employed to estimate tree canopy characteristics. As the demand for i-Tree grows internationally, environmental databases from more countries will be coupled with the software suite. Two more i-Tree applications, i-Tree Forecast and i-Tree Landscape are now under development. i-Tree Forecast simulates canopy structures for up to 100 years based on planting and mortality rates and adds capabilities for other i-Tree applications to estimate the benefits of future canopy scenarios. While most i-Tree applications employ a spatially lumped approach, i-Tree landscape employs a spatially distributed approach that allows users to map changes in canopy cover and ecosystem services through time and space. These new i-Tree tools provide an advanced platform for urban managers to assess the impact of current and future urban forests. i-Tree allows managers to promote effective urban forest management and sound arboricultural practices by providing information for advocacy and planning, baseline data for making informed decisions, and standardization for comparisons with other communities.

Urban ecosystem services: tree diversity and stability of tropospheric ozone removal.

PubMed

Manes, Fausto; Incerti, Guido; Salvatori, Elisabetta; Vitale, Marcello; Ricotta, Carlo; Costanza, Robert

2012-01-01

Urban forests provide important ecosystem services, such as urban air quality improvement by removing pollutants. While robust evidence exists that plant physiology, abundance, and distribution within cities are basic parameters affecting the magnitude and efficiency of air pollution removal, little is known about effects of plant diversity on the stability of this ecosystem service. Here, by means of a spatial analysis integrating system dynamic modeling and geostatistics, we assessed the effects of tree diversity on the removal of tropospheric ozone (O3) in Rome, Italy, in two years (2003 and 2004) that were very different for climatic conditions and ozone levels. Different tree functional groups showed complementary uptake patterns, related to tree physiology and phenology, maintaining a stable community function across different climatic conditions. Our results, although depending on the city-specific conditions of the studied area, suggest a higher function stability at increasing diversity levels in urban ecosystems. In Rome, such ecosystem services, based on published unitary costs of externalities and of mortality associated with O3, can be prudently valued to roughly US$2 and $3 million/year, respectively.

Gainesville's urban forest structure and composition

Treesearch

Francisco Francisco Escobedo; Jennifer A. Seitz; Wayne Zipperer

2009-01-01

The urban forest provides a community numerous benefits. The urban forest is composed of a mix of native and non-native species introduced by people managing this forest and by residents. Because they usually contain non-native species, many urban forests often have greater species diversity than forests in the surrounding natural...

Air-quality bioindication in the greater central valley of California, with epiphytic macrolichen communities.

Treesearch

Sarah Jovan; Bruce McCune

2005-01-01

Air-quality monitoring in the United States is typically focused on urban areas even though the detrimental effects of pollution often extend into surrounding ecosystems. The purpose of this study was to construct a model, based upon epiphytic macrolichen community data, to indicate air-quality and climate in forested areas throughout the greater Central Valley of...

Impacts of forest biomass removal on water yield across the United States

Treesearch

Ge Sun; Liangxia Zhang; Kai Duan; Benjamin Rau

2017-01-01

Water is essential to all forms of life on earth and is a powerful, integrated indicator of environmental health and ecosystem sustainability (Asbjornsen et al. 2015). In some areas of the United States, water availability and water quality are declining as a result of urbanization, climate change, and increased water demand for agricul- tural irrigation, power...

A framework for developing safe and effective large-fire response in a new fire management paradigm

Treesearch

Christopher J. Dunn; Matthew P. Thompson; David E. Calkin

2017-01-01

The impacts of wildfires have increased in recent decades because of historical forest and fire management, a rapidly changing climate, and an increasingly populated wildland urban interface. This increasingly complex fire environment highlights the importance of developing robust tools to support risk-informed decision making. While tools have been developed to aid...

A National Assessment of the Urban Forest: An Overview

Treesearch

John F. Dwyer; David J. Nowak

2000-01-01

Urban forest management promises to play a critical role in the management of .... our nation's forest resources in the 21st century. Urban forests are significant and diverse ecosystems with intricate connections among their physical, biological, and social components; as well as with other elements of urban and natural resource systems. Urban forests are also...

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Flood Control Strategies in Contrasting Urban Watersheds and Implications for Houston's Future Flood Vulnerability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ganguly, S.; Kumar, U.; Nemani, R. R.; Kalia, S.; Michaelis, A.

2016-12-01

In this work, we use a Fully Constrained Least Squares Subpixel Learning Algorithm to unmix global WELD (Web Enabled Landsat Data) to obtain fractions or abundances of substrate (S), vegetation (V) and dark objects (D) classes. Because of the sheer nature of data and compute needs, we leveraged the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) high performance computing architecture to optimize and scale our algorithm for large-scale processing. Subsequently, the S-V-D abundance maps were characterized into 4 classes namely, forest, farmland, water and urban areas (with NPP-VIIRS - national polar orbiting partnership visible infrared imaging radiometer suite nighttime lights data) over California, USA using Random Forest classifier. Validation of these land cover maps with NLCD (National Land Cover Database) 2011 products and NAFD (North American Forest Dynamics) static forest cover maps showed that an overall classification accuracy of over 91% was achieved, which is a 6% improvement in unmixing based classification relative to per-pixel based classification. As such, abundance maps continue to offer an useful alternative to high-spatial resolution data derived classification maps for forest inventory analysis, multi-class mapping for eco-climatic models and applications, fast multi-temporal trend analysis and for societal and policy-relevant applications needed at the watershed scale.

Ensemble simulations to study the impact of land use change of Atlanta to regional climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, P.; Hu, Y.; Stone, B.; Vargo, J.; Nenes, A.; Russell, A.; Trail, M.; Tsimpidi, A.

2012-12-01

Studies show that urban areas may be the "first responders" to climate change (Rosenzweig et al., 2010). Of particular interest is the potential increased temperatures in urban areas, due to use of structures and surfaces that increase local heating, and how that may impact health, air quality and other environmental factors. In response, interest has grown as to how the modification of land use in urban areas, in order to mitigate the adverse effects of urbanization can serve to reduce local temperatures, and how climate is impacted more regionally. Studies have been conducted to investigate the impact of land use change on local or regional climate by dynamic downscaling using regional climate models (RCMs), the boundary conditions (BCs) and initial conditions (ICs) of which result from coarser-resolution reanalysis data or general circulation models (GCMs). However, few studies have focused on demonstrating whether the land use change in local areas significantly impacts the climate of the larger region of the domain, and the spatial scale of the impact from urban-scale changes. This work investigated the significance of the impact of land use change in the Atlanta city area on different scales, using a range of modeling resolutions, including the contiguous US (with 36km resolution), the southeastern US (with 12km resolution) and the state of Georgia (with 4km resolution). We used WRF version 3.1.1 with and ran continuous from June to August of a simulated year 2050, driven by GISS ModelE with inputs corresponding to RCP4.5. During the simulation, spectral nudging is used in the 36km resolution domain to maintain the climate patterns with scales larger than 2000km. Two-way nesting is also used in order to take into account the feedback of nesting domains across model domains. Two land use cases over the Atlanta city are chosen. For the base case, most of the urban area of Atlanta is covered with forest; while for the second, "impervious" case, all the urban area within 30 miles of the center of Atlanta is replaced with asphalt. This choice is made to maximize the potential effects and scales of impact. To make the two cases different as much as possible, a constant green vegetation fraction of 1.0 is assigned to the forest over the Atlanta; while 0.0 is assigned to the asphalt. To test the significance of the impact of land use change, 5 ensemble members were generated for each land use case using different initial conditions. The results of student's t test found that the impact of land use change in Atlanta city has a very local impact. This finding indicates that using WRF, applied at continental and regional scales, with BCs from the GCM and with spectral nudging, is appropriate. Although our results showed the impact is very local, results may change when meteorological conditions change or the area where land use changes is increased. Therefore, when investigating the land use change relevant issues, similar testing is suggested in order to demonstrate that the domain is large enough so that downscaling by RCMs is an appropriate approach. References: Rosenzweig, C., W. Solecki, S.A. Hammer, and S. Mehrotra, 2010: Cities lead the way in climate-change action. Nature, 467, 909-911, doi:10.1038/467909a

Triangulating the Sociohydrology of Water Supply, Quality and Forests in the Triangle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Band, L. E.

2016-12-01

The North Carolina Research Triangle is among the most rapidly growing metropolitan areas in the United States, with decentralized governance split among several different municipalities, counties and water utilities. Historically smaller populations, plentiful rainfall, and riparian rights based water law provided both a sense of security for water resources and influenced the development of separate infrastructure systems across the region. The growth of water demand with rising populations with typical suburban sprawl, the development of multi-use reservoirs immediately downstream of urban areas, and increased hydroclimate variability have raised the potential for periodic water scarcity coupled with increasing eutrophication of water supplies. We discuss the interactions and tradeoffs between management of emerging water scarcity, quality and forest biodiversity in the Triangle as a model for the US Southeast. Institutional stakeholders include water supply and stormwater utilities, environmental NGOs, federal, state, county and municipal governments, developers and home owner associations. We emphasize principles of ecohydrologic resilience learned in heavily instrumented research watersheds, adapted to rapidly developing urban systems, and including socioeconomic and policy dynamics. Significant 20th century reforestation of central North Carolina landscapes have altered regional water balances, while providing both flood and water quality mitigation. The regrowth forest is dynamic and heterogeneous in water use based on age class and species distribution, with substantial plantation and natural regeneration. Forecasts of land use and forest structural and compositional change are based on scenario socioeconomic development, climate change and forecast wood product markets. Urban forest and green infrastructure has the potential to mediate the trade-offs and synergies of these goals, but is in a very nascent state. Computational tools to assess policy alternatives impacts on water quality, quantity and forest biodiversity are developed to serve information to multiple stakeholders, and communicate and visualize outcomes.

Mapping forest structure, species gradients and growth in an urban area using lidar and hyperspectral imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Huan

Urban forests play an important role in the urban ecosystem by providing a range of ecosystem services. Characterization of forest structure, species variation and growth in urban forests is critical for understanding the status, function and process of urban ecosystems, and helping maximize the benefits of urban ecosystems through management. The development of methods and applications to quantify urban forests using remote sensing data has lagged the study of natural forests due to the heterogeneity and complexity of urban ecosystems. In this dissertation, I quantify and map forest structure, species gradients and forest growth in an urban area using discrete-return lidar, airborne imaging spectroscopy and thermal infrared data. Specific objectives are: (1) to demonstrate the utility of leaf-off lidar originally collected for topographic mapping to characterize and map forest structure and associated uncertainties, including aboveground biomass, basal area, diameter, height and crown size; (2) to map species gradients using forest structural variables estimated from lidar and foliar functional traits, vegetation indices derived from AVIRIS hyperspectral imagery in conjunction with field-measured species data; and (3) to identify factors related to relative growth rates in aboveground biomass in the urban forests, and assess forest growth patterns across areas with varying degree of human interactions. The findings from this dissertation are: (1) leaf-off lidar originally acquired for topographic mapping provides a robust, potentially low-cost approach to quantify spatial patterns of forest structure and carbon stock in urban areas; (2) foliar functional traits and vegetation indices from hyperspectral data capture gradients of species distributions in the heterogeneous urban landscape; (3) species gradients, stand structure, foliar functional traits and temperature are strongly related to forest growth in the urban forests; and (4) high uncertainties in our ability to map forest structure, species gradient and growth rate occur in residential neighborhoods and along forest edges. Maps generated from this dissertation provide estimates of broad-scale spatial variations in forest structure, species distributions and growth to the city forest managers. The associated maps of uncertainty help managers understand the limitations of the maps and identify locations where the maps are more reliable and where more data are needed.

Strengthening Carbon Sinks in Urban Soils to Mitigate and Adapt to Climate Change (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lorenz, K.

2010-12-01

Urban lands comprise the most intensively transformed lands on earth. Urban land cover changed from 0.01% of the global ice-free land area in 1700 to 0.5% in 2002. Globally, urbanization is now the primary process of land cover transformation. Urbanization accentuates conversion of natural or agricultural lands to urban soils with altered biological, chemical and physical properties. Soil functions particularly important in urban ecosystems are the protection against damages by intense precipitation and flooding, retention and immobilization of contaminants, production of clean water, and buffering of climate extremes, mainly through evaporative cooling. Because of their disturbance by human activities, urban soils have distinct properties. In contrast to natural soils, human-made materials dominate or strongly influence urban soils as human activities constitute important soil-forming factors in urban ecosystems. Soils whose properties and pedogenesis are dominated by their technical origin are classified as Technosols in the World Reference Base (WRB) for Soil Resources. They contain large proportions of artifacts, or are sealed by technic hard rock. Technosols include soils from wastes (e.g., landfills, sludge, cinders, mine spoils and ashes), pavements with their underlying unconsolidated materials, soils with geomembranes and constructed soils in human-made materials. However, Technosols and their properties have not yet been studied extensively. Yet, a greater understanding of urban soil properties is urgently needed to assess their biogeochemical cycles and role in the global carbon (C) cycle, and to manage their ecosystem services for the well-being of the urban population. Studies of biogeochemical cycles in urban soils of Stuttgart, Germany, have shown that soils from as deep as 1.9-m depth contain significant amounts of microbial biomass and are metabolically active. Buried organic matter (OM) rich artifacts where frequently observed originating from a long industrial history and devastations during World War II. In most surface soils in Stuttgart, however, OM was dominated by plant litter derived compounds but in one urban soil anthropogenic OM and black carbon (BC) dominated soil organic carbon (SOC) as indicated by bloch decay solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Artifacts such as municipal solid waste, construction waste, and fragments of charcoal, coal and glass were also found in urban forest soil profiles to 1-m depth in Columbus, OH. To this depth, about 150 Mg SOC ha-1 were stored and, thus, more than in urban forest soils of Baltimore, MD, and New York City, NY. However, the contribution of litter derived vs. artifact derived OM compounds such as BC has not been assessed for urban soils in the U.S.. In summary, studies on biogeochemical cycles in urban ecosystems must include the entire soil profile as anthropogenic activities may create Technosols with properties not encountered in soils of natural ecosystems. As urban ecosystems are major sources of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), Technosols may be tailor-made to imitate natural soils with high SOC pools and long carbon mean residence times. Thus, the C sink in urban soils must be strengthened to mitigate and adapt urban ecosystems to abrupt climate change.

Forestry in urban and urbanizing areas of the United States; connecting people with forest in the 21st century

Treesearch

John F. Dwyer; Gina M. Childs; David J. Nowak

2000-01-01

Resource managers worldwide face challenges in responding to expanding urbanization and its effects on forest resources. These challenges can be met head on if managers work toward: (1) comprehensive management of forest resources in urban and urbanizing areas, and (2)connection of urban people with forests and their management. Opportunities exist for...

Using urban forest assessment tools to model bird habitat potential

Treesearch

Susannah B. Lerman; Keith H. Nislow; David J. Nowak; Stephen DeStefano; David I. King; D. Todd Jones-Farrand

2014-01-01

The alteration of forest cover and the replacement of native vegetation with buildings, roads, exotic vegetation, and other urban features pose one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity. As more land becomes slated for urban development, identifying effective urban forest wildlife management tools becomes paramount to ensure the urban forest provides habitat...

Assessment of soil quality in different ecosystems (with soils of Podolsk and Serpukhov districts of Moscow oblast as examples)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gavrilenko, E. G.; Ananyeva, N. D.; Makarov, O. A.

2013-12-01

The values of the soil-ecological index and microbiological parameters (the carbon of microbial biomass Cmic, its ratio to the total organic carbon Cmic/Corg, and basal respiration) were determined for the soddy-podzolic, soddy-gley, bog-podzolic, meadow alluvial, and gray forest soils under different land uses (forest, fallow, cropland, and urban areas) in the Podolsk and Serpukhov districts of Moscow oblast (237 and 45 sampling points, respectively). The soil sampling from the upper 10 cm (without the litter horizon) was performed in September and October. To calculate the soil-ecological index, both soil (physicochemical and agrochemical) and climatic characteristics were taken into account. Its values for fallow, cropland, and urban ecosystems averaged 70.2, 72.8, and 64.2 points ( n = 90, 17, and 24, respectively). For the soils of forest ecosystems, the average value of the soil-ecological index was lower (54.4; n = 151). At the same time, the micro-biological characteristics of the studied forest soils were generally higher than those in the soils of fallow, cropland, and urban ecosystems. In this context, to estimate the soil quality in different ecosystems on the basis of the soil-ecological index, the use of a correction coefficient for the biological properties of the soils (the Cmic content) was suggested. The ecological substantiation of this approach for assessing the quality of soils in different ecosystems is presented in the paper.

The effect of urban heat island on Izmir's city ecosystem and climate.

PubMed

Corumluoglu, Ozsen; Asri, Ibrahim

2015-03-01

Depending on the researches done on urban landscapes, it is found that the heat island intensity caused by the activities in any city has some impact on the ecosystem of the region and on the regional climate. Urban areas located in arid and semiarid lands somehow represent heat increase when it is compared with the heat in the surrounding rural areas. Thus, cities located amid forested and temperate climate regions show moderate temperatures. The impervious surfaces let the rainfall leave the city lands faster than undeveloped areas. This effect reduces water's cooling effects on these lands. More significantly, if trees and other vegetations are rare in any region, it means less evapotranspiration-the process by which trees "exhale" water. Trees also contribute to the cooling of urban lands by their shade. Land cover and land use maps can easily be produced by processing of remote sensing satellites' images, like processing of Landsat's images. As a result of this process, urban regions can be distinguished from vegetation. Analyzed GIS data produced and supported by these images can be utilized to determine the impact of urban land on energy, water, and carbon balances at the Earth's surface. Here in this study, it is found that remote sensing technique with thermal images is a liable technique to asses where urban heat islands and hot spots are located in cities. As an application area, in Izmir, it was found that the whole city was in high level of surface temperature as it was over 28 °C during the summer times. Beside this, the highest temperature values which go up to 47 °C are obtained at industrial regions especially where the iron-steel factories and the related industrial activities are.

Sustaining America's urban trees and forests: a Forests on the Edge report

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Paula B. Randler; Eric J. Greenfield; Sara J. Comas; Mary A. Carr; Ralph J. Alig

2010-01-01

Close to 80 percent of the U.S. population lives in urban areas and depends on the essential ecological, economic, and social benefits provided by urban trees and forests. However, the distribution of urban tree cover and the benefits of urban forests vary across the United States, as do the challenges of sustaining this important resource. As urban areas expand...

Assessing the Urban Heat Island Effect Across Biomes in the Continental USA Using Landsat and MODIS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Imhoff, Marc L.; Bounoua, L.; Zhang, Ping; Wolfe, Robert

2011-01-01

Impervious surface area (ISA) from the Landsat TM and land surface temperature (LST) from MODIS averaged over three annual cycles (2003-2005) are used in a spatial analysis to assess the urban heat island (UHI) skin temperature amplitude and its relationship to development intensity, size, and ecological setting for 38 of the most populous cities in the continental United States. Development intensity zones based on %ISA are defined across urban gradients and used to stratify sampling of LST and NDVI. We find that ecological context significantly influences the amplitude of summer daytime UHI (urban - rural temperature difference) with the largest 8 C (average) for cities built in mixed forest biomes. For all cities ISA is the primary driver for increase in temperature explaining 70% of the total variance. Annually, urban areas are warmer than the non-urban fringe by 2.9 C, except in biomes with arid and semiarid climates. The average amplitude of the UHI is asymmetric with a 4.3 C difference in summer and 1.3 C in winter. In desert environments, UHI's point to a possible heat sink effect. Results show that the urban heat island amplitude increases with city size and is seasonally asymmetric for a large number of cities across most biomes. The implications are that for urban areas developed within forested ecosystems the summertime UHI can be quite high relative to the wintertime UHI suggesting that the residential energy consumption required for summer cooling is likely to increase with urban growth within those biomes.

Urban Forests

Treesearch

David Nowak

2016-01-01

Urban forests (and trees) constitute the second forest resource considered in this report. We specifically emphasize the fact that agricultural and urban forests exist on a continuum defined by their relationship (and interrelationship) with a given landscape. These two forest types generally serve different purposes, however. Whereas agricultural forests are...

Urban forests for sustainable urban development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sundara, Denny M.; Hartono, Djoko M.; Suganda, Emirhadi; Haeruman, S. Herman J.

2017-11-01

This paper explores the development of the urban forest in East Jakarta. By 2030 Jakarta area has a target of 30% green area covering 19,845 hectares, including urban forest covering an area of 4,631 hectares. In 2015, the city forest is only 646 hectares, while the city requires 3,985 hectares of new land Urban forest growth from year to year showed a marked decrease with increasing land area awoke to commercial functions, environmental conditions encourage the development of the city to become unsustainable. This research aims to support sustainable urban development and ecological balance through the revitalization of green areas and urban development. Analytical methods for urban forest area is calculated based on the amount of CO2 that comes from people, vehicles, and industrial. Urban spatial analysis based on satellite image data, using a GIS program is an analysis tool to determine the distribution and growth patterns of green areas. This paper uses a dynamic system model to simulate the conditions of the region against intervention to be performed on potential areas for development of urban forests. The result is a model urban forest area is integrated with a social and economic function to encourage the development of sustainable cities.

Forest dynamics in the U.S. indicate disproportionate attrition in western forests, rural areas and public lands

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Forests are experiencing significant changes; studying geographic patterns in forests is critical in understanding the impact of forest dynamics to biodiversity, soil erosion, water chemistry and climate. Few studies have examined forest geographic pattern changes other than fragmentation; however, other spatial processes of forest dynamics are of equal importance. Here, we study forest attrition, the complete removal of forest patches, that can result in complete habitat loss, severe decline of population sizes and species richness, and shifts of local and regional environmental conditions. We aim to develop a simple yet insightful proximity-based spatial indicator capturing forest attrition that is independent of spatial scale and boundaries with worldwide application potential. Using this proximity indicator, we evaluate forest attrition across ecoregions, land ownership and urbanization stratifications across continental United States of America. Nationally, the total forest cover loss was approximately 90,400 km2, roughly the size of the state of Maine, constituting a decline of 2.96%. Examining the spatial arrangement of this change the average FAD was 3674m in 1992 and increased by 514m or 14.0% in 2001. Simulations of forest cover loss indicate only a 10m FAD increase suggesting that the observed FAD increase was more than an order of magnitude higher than expected. Furthermore, forest attrition is considerably higher in the western United States, in rural areas and in public lands. Our mathematical model (R2 = 0.93) supports estimation of attrition for a given forest cover. The FAD metric quantifies forest attrition across spatial scales and geographic boundaries and assesses unambiguously changes over time. The metric is applicable to any landscape and offers a new complementary insight on forest landscape patterns from local to global scales, improving future exploration of drivers and repercussions of forest cover changes and supporting more informative management of forest carbon, changing climate and species biodiversity. PMID:28225787

Forest dynamics in the U.S. indicate disproportionate attrition in western forests, rural areas and public lands.

PubMed

Yang, Sheng; Mountrakis, Giorgos

2017-01-01

Forests are experiencing significant changes; studying geographic patterns in forests is critical in understanding the impact of forest dynamics to biodiversity, soil erosion, water chemistry and climate. Few studies have examined forest geographic pattern changes other than fragmentation; however, other spatial processes of forest dynamics are of equal importance. Here, we study forest attrition, the complete removal of forest patches, that can result in complete habitat loss, severe decline of population sizes and species richness, and shifts of local and regional environmental conditions. We aim to develop a simple yet insightful proximity-based spatial indicator capturing forest attrition that is independent of spatial scale and boundaries with worldwide application potential. Using this proximity indicator, we evaluate forest attrition across ecoregions, land ownership and urbanization stratifications across continental United States of America. Nationally, the total forest cover loss was approximately 90,400 km2, roughly the size of the state of Maine, constituting a decline of 2.96%. Examining the spatial arrangement of this change the average FAD was 3674m in 1992 and increased by 514m or 14.0% in 2001. Simulations of forest cover loss indicate only a 10m FAD increase suggesting that the observed FAD increase was more than an order of magnitude higher than expected. Furthermore, forest attrition is considerably higher in the western United States, in rural areas and in public lands. Our mathematical model (R2 = 0.93) supports estimation of attrition for a given forest cover. The FAD metric quantifies forest attrition across spatial scales and geographic boundaries and assesses unambiguously changes over time. The metric is applicable to any landscape and offers a new complementary insight on forest landscape patterns from local to global scales, improving future exploration of drivers and repercussions of forest cover changes and supporting more informative management of forest carbon, changing climate and species biodiversity.

Climate changes associated with nuclear war

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Toon, O. B.

1986-01-01

Nuclear war, featuring explosion of half the world arsenal of nuclear weapons, would cause urban and forest fires that would inject 20-650 megatons of smoke into the atmosphere. The Northern Hemisphere optical depth would increase to between 0.5-14. All models indicate an increase in optical depths, a large net radiation gain in the smoke layer, and an antigreenhouse effect at the surface. Significant global cooling would proceed, transforming the global climate to a large degree toward that of an airless world. Persisting deficiencies in the models are identified, noting research areas which would improve the accuracies of the predictions.

High resolution stream water quality assessment in the Vancouver, British Columbia region: a citizen science study.

PubMed

Shupe, Scott M

2017-12-15

Changing land cover and climate regimes modify water quantity and quality in natural stream systems. In regions undergoing rapid change, it is difficult to effectively monitor and quantify these impacts at local to regional scales. In Vancouver, British Columbia, one of the most rapidly urbanizing areas in Canada, 750 measurements were taken from a total of 81 unique sampling sites representing 49 streams located in urban, forest, and agricultural-dominant watersheds at a frequency of up to 12 times per year between 2013 and 2016. Dissolved nitrate (NO 3 -N) and phosphate (PO 4 -P) concentrations, turbidity, water temperature, pH and conductivity were measured by citizen scientists in addition to observations of hydrology, vegetation, land use, and visible stream impacts. Land cover was mapped at a 15-m resolution using Landsat 8 OLI imagery and used to determine dominant land cover for each watershed in which a sample was recorded. Regional, seasonal, and catchment-type trends in measurements were determined using statistical analyses. The relationships of nutrients to land cover varied seasonally and on a catchment-type basis. Nitrate showed seasonal highs in winter and lows in summer, though phosphate had less seasonal variation. Overall, nitrate concentrations were positively associated to agriculture and deciduous forest and negatively associated with coniferous forest. In contrast, phosphate concentrations were positively associated with agricultural, deciduous forest, and disturbed land cover and negatively associated with urban land cover. Both urban and agricultural land cover were significantly associated with an increase in water conductivity. Increased forest land cover was associated with better water quality, including lower turbidity, conductivity, and water temperature. This study showed the importance of high resolution sampling in understanding seasonal and spatial dynamics of stream water quality, made possible with the large number of measurements taken with the help of trained volunteers. The results underscore the value of citizen science in freshwater research. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

140-Year Dynamics of a Forest Ecotone Under Climate and Environmental Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thorne, J. H.; Kelsey, R.

2006-12-01

Terrestrial plant species live within elevational limits. Response to climate change at the lower edge of a species' range can be quite different from response at its upper limits. Lower edge dynamics can sometimes lead to rapid shifts, if establishment conditions have changed. Under those circumstances, stand replacing disturbances can cause the local extirpation of the species because subsequent recruitment is ineffectual. We examined the position of lower edge of Pinus ponderosa forests in El Dorado County, California, where the tree occupies a broad elevational gradient. We found that over 140 years, this forest had shifted upslope over 500 meters. Minimum monthly air temperatures from stations forming an elevational transect in these mountains have warmed over the past 60 years by over 30 C. In the zone of the shift, this means that now no months are frozen, whereas 60 years ago December, January and February were below 00C. This warming is associated with advancing summer drought conditions, which set the stage for drought stress and reduced competitive abilities in the seedlings. We present an estimate for how much sooner summer drought conditions begin. Potential confounding factors: including grazing, agriculture, fires and urban expansion were found to occupy only 40% of the 540 km2 of forests lost since 1850 in the County. Forest change here is a disturbance initiated, recruitment limited system. Implications of this research include that the lower edge of coniferous systems are sensitive to climate change, via a combination of direct and indirect effects. A possible feedback between this edge and the lower limits of the snowline is discussed.

Temporal dynamics of a subtropical urban forest in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2001-2010

Treesearch

J. M. Tucker Lima; C. L. Staudhammer; T. J. Brandeis; F. J. Escobedo; W. Zipperer

2013-01-01

Several studies report urban tree growth and mortality rates as well as species composition, structural dynamics, and other characteristics of urban forests in mostly temperate, inland urban areas. Temporal dynamics of urban forests in subtropical and tropical forest regions are, until now, little explored and represent a new and important direction for study and...

Satellite Imagery Data: Dynamic Systems Model for sustainable urban forest in area of Halim Perdana Kusuma, East Jakarta

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sundara, D. M.; Hartono, D. M.; Suganda, E.; Haeruman, JS H.

2018-05-01

East Jakarta icon as a buffer and the lungs of the city is still a big dream of Jakarta. It is a classic problem that there is a struggle for land between current economic interests and sustainable environmental interests for the future. This paper discusses the development of urban forest area of Halim Perdana Kusuma, East Jakarta. The forest area according to regulations of existing city local governments is not enough to support sustainable urban development indicators. Therefore, it requires an extensive mapping of urban forest potential development accurately by utilizing satellite imaging technology. Landsat-TM satellite imagery data can provide a full picture of the potential land width for urban forest area development. The results of this satellite image will then be made into a model of urban forest as one of the indicators of sustainable urban development. This research aims to support sustainable urban development through environmental balance in the form of a green neighborhood revitalization and development of urban forests and to create socio-economic balance. This paper uses a dynamic system model to simulate the conditions of the region against the intervention performed in the potential area for development of urban forests which are derived from urban spatial analysis based on satellite image data, using GIS program as a tool. The result is a model of urban forest area which is integrated with a social and economic function to encourage the development of sustainable cities.

The Detection and Characterization of Urbanization, Industrialization, and Longwall Mining Impacts on Forest Ecosystems Through the Use of GiS and Remote Sensing Techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pfeil-McCullough, Erin Kathleen

Urbanization has far reaching and significant effects on forest ecosystems, directly through urban development and indirectly through supportive processes such as coal mining and agriculture. Urban processes modify the landscape leading to altered hillslope hydrology, increased disturbance, and the introduction of non-native forest pathogens. This dissertation addresses several challenges in our ability to detect these urbanization impacts on forests via geospatial analyses. The role of forests in urban hydrological processes has been extensively studied, but the impacts of urbanized hydrology on forests remain poorly examined. This dissertation documented impacts to hydrology and forests at variety of temporal and spatial scales: 1) A geospatial comparison of the historic and contemporary forests of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania revealed substantial shifts in tree species, but less change in the species soil moisture preference. These results document additional evidence that increased heterogeneity in urban soil moisture alters forest structure. 2) To examine soil moisture changes, impacts of longwall mine subsidence were assessed by using a Landsat based canopy moisture index and hot spot analysis tools at the forest patch scale. Declines in forest canopy moisture were detected over longwall mines as mining progressed through time, and results contradicted assumptions that the hydrological impacts overlying LMS recover within 4-5 years following subsidence of undermined land. 3) Utilizing a landslide susceptibility model (SINMAP), increases in landslide susceptibility were predicted in Pittsburgh, PA based on several scenarios of ash tree loss to the emerald ash borer (EAB), a bark beetle that rapidly kills ash trees. This model provides a tool to predict changes in landslide susceptibility following tree loss, increasing the understanding of urban forest function and its role in slope stability. Detecting how urbanized hydrology impacts forest health, function, and development is fundamental to sustaining the services forests provide. Results from this dissertation will ultimately allow improvements in the management and protection of both trees and water resources in urban systems and beyond.

Environmental and biological controls of urban tree transpiration in the Upper Midwest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peters, E. B.; McFadden, J.; Montgomery, R.

2009-12-01

Urban trees provide a variety of ecosystem services to urban and suburban areas, including carbon uptake, climate amelioration, energy reduction, and stormwater management. Tree transpiration, in particular, modifies urban water budgets by providing an alternative pathway for water after rain events. The relative importance of environmental and biological controls on transpiration are poorly understood in urban areas, yet these controls are important for quantifying and scaling up the ecosystem services that urban trees provide at landscape and regional scales and predicting how urban ecosystems will respond to climate changes. The objectives of our study were to quantify the annual cycle of tree transpiration in an urban ecosystem and to determine how different urban tree species and plant functional types respond to environmental drivers. We continuously measured whole-tree transpiration using thermal dissipation sap flow at four urban forest stands that were broadly representative of the species composition and tree sizes found in a suburban residential neighborhood of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota. A total of 40 trees, representing different species, plant functional types, successional stages, and xylem anatomy, were sampled throughout the 2007 and 2008 growing seasons (April-November). At each site we monitored soil moisture, air temperature, and relative humidity continuously, and we measured leaf area index weekly. Urban tree transpiration was strongly correlated with diurnal changes in vapor pressure deficit and photosynthetically active radiation and with seasonal changes in leaf area index. We found that plant functional type better explained species differences in transpiration per canopy area than either successional stage or xylem anatomy, largely due to differences in canopy structure between conifer and broad-leaf deciduous trees. We also observed inter-annual differences in transpiration rates due to a mid-season drought and longer growing season in 2007, compared with the cooler, wetter conditions in 2008. These results were scaled to estimate the relative contribution of each tree type at the scale of a suburban landscape. The findings of this study have implications for understanding the role of trees in managing urban water budgets and predicting the impacts of climate change on urban ecosystem services.

Late-Holocene climate andecosystem history from Chesapeake Bay sediment cores, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Willard, D.A.; Cronin, T. M.; Verardo, S.

2003-01-01

Palaeoclimate records from late-Holocene sediments in Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the USA, provide evidence that both decadal to centennial climate variability and European colonization had severe impacts on the watershed and estuary. Using pollen and dinoflagellate cysts as proxies for mid-Atlantic regional precipitation, estuarine salinity and dissolved oxygen (DO) during the last 2300 years, we identified four dry intervals, centred on AD 50 (P1/D1), AD 1000 (P2/D2), AD 1400 (P3) and AD 1600 (P4). Two centennial-scale events, P1/D1 and P2/D2, altered forest composition and led to increased salinity and DO levels in the estuary. Intervals P3 and P4 lasted several decades, leading to decreased production of pine pollen. Periods of dry mid-Atlantic climate correspond to 'megadroughts' identified from tree-ring records in the southeastern and central USA. The observed mid-Atlantic climate variability may be explained by changes in atmospheric circulation resulting in longer-term, perhaps amplified, intervals of meridional flow. After European colonization in the early seventeenth century, forest clearance for agriculture, timber and urbanization altered estuarine water quality, with dinoflagellate assemblages indicating reduced DO and increased turbidity.

Airborne dust absorption by semi-arid forests reduces PM pollution in nearby urban environments.

PubMed

Uni, Daphna; Katra, Itzhak

2017-11-15

Dust storms are a major source of global atmospheric particulate matter (PM), having significant impacts on air pollution and human health. During dust storms, daily averages of atmospheric PM concentrations can reach high levels above the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline for air quality. The objective of this study was to explore the impact of forests on PM distribution following dust events in a region that is subjected to frequent dust storms (Northern Negev, Israel). Dust was measured in a forest transect including urban environments that are nearby the forest and at a distal location. During a background period, without dust events, the forest with its surrounding areas were characterized by lower monthly average of PM concentrations (38μg/m 3 ) compared with areas that are not affected by the forest (54μg/m 3 ). Such difference can be meaningful for long-term human health exposure. A reduction in PM levels in the forest transect was evident at most measured dust events, depending on the storm intensity and the locations of the protected areas. A significant reduction in PM 2.5 /PM 10 during dust events, indicates the high efficiency of the forest trees to absorb airborne PM 2.5 . Analysis of dust particles absorbed on the foliage revealed a total dust deposits of 8.1-9.2g/m 2 , which is equal to a minimum of 418.2tons removed from the atmosphere per a forest foliage area (30km 2 ). The findings can support environmental strategies to enhance life quality in regions that are subjected to dust storms, or under potential risk of dust-related PM due to land use and/or climate changes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Long-term (10 year) trends in the chemistry of urban streams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Groffman, P. M.; Band, L. E.; Belt, K. T.; Kaushal, S.; Fisher, G. T.

2010-12-01

Weekly sampling of eight streams in the Baltimore metropolitan area has been carried out since 1998 as part of the NSF funded Baltimore urban Long-Term Ecological Research (BES LTER) project. The BES watersheds include 100% forested and agricultural catchments and developed watersheds ranging from very low-density (<1% impervious surface) suburban watersheds serviced by septic systems to more dense (> 40% impervious surface) urban watersheds. Stream discharge is continuously monitored at these sites by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Stream samples are collected weekly regardless of flow conditions (no bias towards storm versus baseflow) and analyzed for nitrate, total nitrogen (N), phosphate, total phosphorus (P), chloride and sulfate. Ten-year analysis of the BES long-term study sites reveals several interesting spatial and temporal patterns. For N, the highest concentrations were found in the agricultural and suburban watersheds, followed by the urban sites, and finally by the forested site. Organic N was most important as a proportion of total N in the urban and forested sites. Spatial patterns in P were more complex, with urban, suburban and agricultural sites having the highest values. Over the ten year record, many sites showed significant changes in N concentrations, but few sites showed consistent patterns in P. The patterns in N were quite variable however, with some sites showing striking increases, while others showed striking decreases. Most (7 of 8) sites showed a decrease in the proportion of organic N, the trend was significant at 4 of the sites. There were few trends in the proportion of organic P. Discharge was a significant driver of variation in N and P export at some (mostly smaller watersheds) sites, for some solutes, but was not an overwhelmingly important driver of temporal variation. Key factors driving long-term patterns include climate variation and efforts to improve urban stream water quality by municipal authorities.

The Urban Forest Effects (UFORE) model: quantifying urban forest structure and functions

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Daniel E. Crane

2000-01-01

The Urban Forest Effects (UFORE) computer model was developed to help managers and researchers quantify urban forest structure and functions. The model quantifies species composition and diversity, diameter distribution, tree density and health, leaf area, leaf biomass, and other structural characteristics; hourly volatile organic compound emissions (emissions that...

Modeling the potential persistence of various ecological systems under CMIP5 future climate and land use scenarios throughout California, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baker, B.; Ferschweiler, K.; Bachelet, D. M.; Sleeter, B. M.

2016-12-01

California's geographic location, topographic complexity and latitudinal climatic gradient give rise to great biological and ecological diversity. However, increased land use pressure, altered seasonal weather patterns, and changes in temperature and precipitation regimes are having pronounced effects on ecosystems and the multitude of services they provide for an increasing population. As a result, natural resource managers are faced with formidable challenges to maintain these critical services. The goals of this project were to better understand how projected 21st century climate and land-use change scenarios may alter ecosystem dynamics, the spatial distribution of various vegetation types and land-use patterns, and to provide a coarse scale "triage map" of where land managers may want to concentrate efforts to reduce ecological stress in order to mitigate the potential impacts of a changing climate. We used the MC2 dynamic global vegetation model and the LUCAS state-and-transition simulation model to simulate the potential effects of future climate and land-use change on ecological processes for the state of California. Historical climate data were obtained from the PRISM dataset and nine CMIP5 climate models were run for the RCP 8.5 scenario. Climate projections were combined with a business-as-usual land-use scenario based on local-scale land use histories. For ease of discussion, results from five simulation runs (historic, hot-dry, hot-wet, warm-dry, and warm-wet) are presented. Results showed large changes in the extent of urban and agricultural lands. In addition, several simulated potential vegetation types persisted in situ under all four future scenarios, although alterations in total area, total ecosystem carbon, and forest vigor (NPP/LAI) were noted. As might be expected, the majority of the forested types that persisted occurred on public lands. However, more than 78% of the simulated subtropical mixed forest and 26% of temperate evergreen needleleaf forest types persisted on private lands under all four future scenarios. Result suggest that building collaborations across management borders could be valuable tool to guide natural resource management actions into the future.

Variable effects of climate on forest growth in relation to climate extremes, disturbance, and forest dynamics.

PubMed

Itter, Malcolm S; Finley, Andrew O; D'Amato, Anthony W; Foster, Jane R; Bradford, John B

2017-06-01

Changes in the frequency, duration, and severity of climate extremes are forecast to occur under global climate change. The impacts of climate extremes on forest productivity and health remain difficult to predict due to potential interactions with disturbance events and forest dynamics-changes in forest stand composition, density, size and age structure over time. Such interactions may lead to non-linear forest growth responses to climate involving thresholds and lag effects. Understanding how forest dynamics influence growth responses to climate is particularly important given stand structure and composition can be modified through management to increase forest resistance and resilience to climate change. To inform such adaptive management, we develop a hierarchical Bayesian state space model in which climate effects on tree growth are allowed to vary over time and in relation to past climate extremes, disturbance events, and forest dynamics. The model is an important step toward integrating disturbance and forest dynamics into predictions of forest growth responses to climate extremes. We apply the model to a dendrochronology data set from forest stands of varying composition, structure, and development stage in northeastern Minnesota that have experienced extreme climate years and forest tent caterpillar defoliation events. Mean forest growth was most sensitive to water balance variables representing climatic water deficit. Forest growth responses to water deficit were partitioned into responses driven by climatic threshold exceedances and interactions with insect defoliation. Forest growth was both resistant and resilient to climate extremes with the majority of forest growth responses occurring after multiple climatic threshold exceedances across seasons and years. Interactions between climate and disturbance were observed in a subset of years with insect defoliation increasing forest growth sensitivity to water availability. Forest growth was particularly sensitive to climate extremes during periods of high stem density following major regeneration events when average inter-tree competition was high. Results suggest the resistance and resilience of forest growth to climate extremes can be increased through management steps such as thinning to reduce competition during early stages of stand development and small-group selection harvests to maintain forest structures characteristic of older, mature stands. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Variable effects of climate on forest growth in relation to climate extremes, disturbance, and forest dynamics

USGS Publications Warehouse

Itter, Malcolm S.; Finley, Andrew O.; D'Amato, Anthony W.; Foster, Jane R.; Bradford, John B.

2017-01-01

Changes in the frequency, duration, and severity of climate extremes are forecast to occur under global climate change. The impacts of climate extremes on forest productivity and health remain difficult to predict due to potential interactions with disturbance events and forest dynamics—changes in forest stand composition, density, size and age structure over time. Such interactions may lead to non-linear forest growth responses to climate involving thresholds and lag effects. Understanding how forest dynamics influence growth responses to climate is particularly important given stand structure and composition can be modified through management to increase forest resistance and resilience to climate change. To inform such adaptive management, we develop a hierarchical Bayesian state space model in which climate effects on tree growth are allowed to vary over time and in relation to past climate extremes, disturbance events, and forest dynamics. The model is an important step toward integrating disturbance and forest dynamics into predictions of forest growth responses to climate extremes. We apply the model to a dendrochronology data set from forest stands of varying composition, structure, and development stage in northeastern Minnesota that have experienced extreme climate years and forest tent caterpillar defoliation events. Mean forest growth was most sensitive to water balance variables representing climatic water deficit. Forest growth responses to water deficit were partitioned into responses driven by climatic threshold exceedances and interactions with insect defoliation. Forest growth was both resistant and resilient to climate extremes with the majority of forest growth responses occurring after multiple climatic threshold exceedances across seasons and years. Interactions between climate and disturbance were observed in a subset of years with insect defoliation increasing forest growth sensitivity to water availability. Forest growth was particularly sensitive to climate extremes during periods of high stem density following major regeneration events when average inter-tree competition was high. Results suggest the resistance and resilience of forest growth to climate extremes can be increased through management steps such as thinning to reduce competition during early stages of stand development and small-group selection harvests to maintain forest structures characteristic of older, mature stands.

Modeling urban host tree distributions for invasive forest insects using a two-step approach

Treesearch

Mark J. Ambrose; Frank H. Koch; Denys Yemshanov; P. Eric Wiseman

2015-01-01

Many alien insect species currently impacting forested ecosystems in North America first appeared in urban forests. Unfortunately, despite serving as critical gateways for the human-mediated spread of these and other forest pests, urban forests remain less well documented than their “natural” forest counterparts. While Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data provide...

Landscape controls on the timing of spring, autumn, and growing season length in mid-Atlantic forests

USGS Publications Warehouse

Elmore, A.J.; Guinn, S.M.; Minsley, B.J.; Richardson, A.D.

2012-01-01

The timing of spring leaf development, trajectories of summer leaf area, and the timing of autumn senescence have profound impacts to the water, carbon, and energy balance of ecosystems, and are likely influenced by global climate change. Limited field-based and remote-sensing observations have suggested complex spatial patterns related to geographic features that influence climate. However, much of this variability occurs at spatial scales that inhibit a detailed understanding of even the dominant drivers. Recognizing these limitations, we used nonlinear inverse modeling of medium-resolution remote sensing data, organized by day of year, to explore the influence of climate-related landscape factors on the timing of spring and autumn leaf-area trajectories in mid-Atlantic, USA forests. We also examined the extent to which declining summer greenness (greendown) degrades the precision and accuracy of observations of autumn offset of greenness. Of the dominant drivers of landscape phenology, elevation was the strongest, explaining up to 70% of the spatial variation in the onset of greenness. Urban land cover was second in importance, influencing spring onset and autumn offset to a distance of 32 km from large cities. Distance to tidal water also influenced phenological timing, but only within ~5 km of shorelines. Additionally, we observed that (i) growing season length unexpectedly increases with increasing elevation at elevations below 275 m; (ii) along gradients in urban land cover, timing of autumn offset has a stronger effect on growing season length than does timing of spring onset; and (iii) summer greendown introduces bias and uncertainty into observations of the autumn offset of greenness. These results demonstrate the power of medium grain analyses of landscape-scale phenology for understanding environmental controls on growing season length, and predicting how these might be affected by climate change.

Urban forests and pollution mitigation: analyzing ecosystem services and disservices.

PubMed

Escobedo, Francisco J; Kroeger, Timm; Wagner, John E

2011-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to integrate the concepts of ecosystem services and disservices when assessing the efficacy of using urban forests for mitigating pollution. A brief review of the literature identifies some pollution mitigation ecosystem services provided by urban forests. Existing ecosystem services definitions and typologies from the economics and ecological literature are adapted and applied to urban forest management and the concepts of ecosystem disservices from natural and semi-natural systems are discussed. Examples of the urban forest ecosystem services of air quality and carbon dioxide sequestration are used to illustrate issues associated with assessing their efficacy in mitigating urban pollution. Development of urban forest management alternatives that mitigate pollution should consider scale, contexts, heterogeneity, management intensities and other social and economic co-benefits, tradeoffs, and costs affecting stakeholders and urban sustainability goals. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Urbanization effects on soil nitrogen transformations and microbial biomass in the subtropics

Treesearch

Heather A. Enloe; B. Graeme Lockaby; Wayne C. Zipperer; Greg L. Somers

2015-01-01

As urbanization can involve multiple alterations to the soil environment, it is uncertain how urbanization effects soil nitrogen cycling. We established 22–0.04 ha plots in six different land cover types—rural slash pine (Pinus elliottii) plantations (n=3), rural natural pine forests (n=3), rural natural oak forests (n=4), urban pine forests (n=3), urban oak forests (n...

Effect of urbanization on the structure and functional traits of remnant subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests in South China.

PubMed

Huang, Liujing; Chen, Hongfeng; Ren, Hai; Wang, Jun; Guo, Qinfeng

2013-06-01

We investigated the effects of major environmental drivers associated with urbanization on species diversity and plant functional traits (PFTs) in the remnant subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests in Metropolitan Guangzhou (Guangdong, China). Twenty environmental factors including topography, light, and soil properties were used to quantify the effects of urbanization. Vegetation data and soil properties were collected from 30 400-m(2) plots at 6 study sites in urban and rural areas. The difference of plant species diversity and PFTs of remnant forests between urban and rural areas were analyzed. To discern the complex relationships, multivariate statistical analyses (e.g., canonical correspondence analysis and regression analysis) were employed. Pioneer species and stress-tolerant species can survive and vigorously establish their population dominance in the urban environment. The native herb diversity was lower in urban forests than in rural forests. Urban forests tend to prefer the species with Mesophanerophyte life form. In contrast, species in rural forests possessed Chamaephyte and Nanophanerophyte life forms and gravity/clonal growth dispersal mode. Soil pH and soil nutrients (K, Na, and TN) were positively related to herb diversity, while soil heavy metal concentrations (Cu) were negatively correlated with herb diversity. The herb plant species diversity declines and the species in the remnant forests usually have stress-tolerant functional traits in response to urbanization. The factors related to urbanization such as soil acidification, nutrient leaching, and heavy metal pollution were important in controlling the plant diversity in the forests along the urban-rural gradients. Urbanization affects the structure and functional traits of remnant subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests.

Criterion 8: Urban and community forests

Treesearch

Stephen R. Shifley; Francisco X. Aguilar; Nianfu Song; Susan I. Stewart; David J. Nowak; Dale D. Gormanson; W. Keith Moser; Sherri Wormstead; Eric J. Greenfield

2012-01-01

Urban and community forests are the trees and forests found in cities, towns, villages, and communities. This category of forest includes both forested stands and trees along streets, in residential lots, and parks. These trees within cities and communities provide many ecosystem services and values to both urban and rural populations.

From the litter up and the sky down: Perspectives on urban forest structure and eco-hydrological processes (presentation)

EPA Science Inventory

The structure of the urban forest represents the complex product of local biophysical conditions, socio-economic milieu, people preferences and management with rare counterparts in rural forests. However, urban forest structure, as similarly observed in rural forests, affects key...

Using urban forest assessment tools to model bird habitat potential

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lerman, Susannah B.; Nislow, Keith H.; Nowak, David J.; DeStefano, Stephen; King, David I.; Jones-Farrand, D. Todd

2014-01-01

The alteration of forest cover and the replacement of native vegetation with buildings, roads, exotic vegetation, and other urban features pose one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity. As more land becomes slated for urban development, identifying effective urban forest wildlife management tools becomes paramount to ensure the urban forest provides habitat to sustain bird and other wildlife populations. The primary goal of this study was to integrate wildlife suitability indices to an existing national urban forest assessment tool, i-Tree. We quantified available habitat characteristics of urban forests for ten northeastern U.S. cities, and summarized bird habitat relationships from the literature in terms of variables that were represented in the i-Tree datasets. With these data, we generated habitat suitability equations for nine bird species representing a range of life history traits and conservation status that predicts the habitat suitability based on i-Tree data. We applied these equations to the urban forest datasets to calculate the overall habitat suitability for each city and the habitat suitability for different types of land-use (e.g., residential, commercial, parkland) for each bird species. The proposed habitat models will help guide wildlife managers, urban planners, and landscape designers who require specific information such as desirable habitat conditions within an urban management project to help improve the suitability of urban forests for birds.

Urban forest justice and the rights to wild foods, medicines, and materials in the city

Treesearch

Melissa R. Poe; Rebecca J. McClain; Marla Emery; Patrick Hurley

2013-01-01

Urban forests are multifunctional socio-ecological landscapes, yet some of their social benefits remain poorly understood. This paper draws on ethnographic evidence from Seattle, Washington to demonstrate that urban forests contain nontimber forest products that contribute a variety of wild foods, medicines, and materials for the wellbeing of urban residents. We show...

Assessing urban forest structure: summary and conclusions

Treesearch

David J. Nowak

2008-01-01

This special issue has presented data on several topics related to assessing urban forest structure. These topics include means to measure urban forest cover from aerial-based platforms (Walton et al. 2008), national and local ground-based assessments of urban forest structure and functions (Cumming et al. 2008; Nowak et al. 2008a), measurement of street tree...

Spatial heterogeneity and air pollution removal by an urban forest

Treesearch

Francisco J. Escobedo; David J. Nowak

2009-01-01

Estimates of air pollution removal by the urban forest have mostly been based on mean values of forest structure variables for an entire city. However, the urban forest is not uniformly distributed across a city because of biophysical and social factors. Consequently, air pollution removal function by urban vegetation should vary because of this spatial heterogeneity....

Climate and Management Controls on Forest Growth and Forest Carbon Balance in the Western United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kelsey, Katharine Cashman

Climate change is resulting in a number of rapid changes in forests worldwide. Forests comprise a critical component of the global carbon cycle, and therefore climate-induced changes in forest carbon balance have the potential to create a feedback within the global carbon cycle and affect future trajectories of climate change. In order to further understanding of climate-driven changes in forest carbon balance, I (1) develop a method to improve spatial estimates forest carbon stocks, (2) investigate the effect of climate change and forest management actions on forest recovery and carbon balance following disturbance, and (3) explore the relationship between climate and forest growth, and identify climate-driven trends in forest growth through time, within San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado, USA. I find that forest carbon estimates based on texture analysis from LandsatTM imagery improve regional forest carbon maps, and this method is particularly useful for estimating carbon stocks in forested regions affected by disturbance. Forest recovery from disturbance is also a critical component of future forest carbon stocks, and my results indicate that both climate and forest management actions have important implications for forest recovery and carbon dynamics following disturbance. Specifically, forest treatments that use woody biomass removed from the forest for electricity production can reduce carbon emissions to the atmosphere, but climate driven changes in fire severity and forest recovery can have the opposite effect on forest carbon stocks. In addition to the effects of disturbance and recovery on forest condition, I also find that climate change is decreasing rates of forest growth in some species, likely in response to warming summer temperatures. These growth declines could result in changes of vegetation composition, or in extreme cases, a shift in vegetation type that would alter forest carbon storage. This work provides insight into both current and future changes in forest carbon balance as a consequence of climate change and forest management in the western US.

UFORE (i-Tree Eco) Analysis of Chicago

Treesearch

Cherie LeBlanc Fisher; David Nowak

2010-01-01

The USDA Forest Service and City of Chicago conducted a UFORE (now called i-Tree Eco) analysis of Chicago's urban forest in the summer of 2007. The UFORE (Urban FORest Effects) model developed by the Forest Service uses on-the-ground sampling data to understand the composition of on urban forest and calculate the forest's impacts on air pollution and energy...

Vulnerability Assessment, Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Measures in Slovenia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cegnar, T.

2010-09-01

In relation to the priority tasks of the climate change measures, the Republic of Slovenia estimates that special attention needs to be devoted to the following sectors in general: - sectors that currently indicate a strong vulnerability for the current climate variability (for instance, agriculture), - sectors where the vulnerability for climate change is increased by current trends (for instance, urban development, use of space), - sectors where the adaptation time is the longest and the subsequent development changes are connected with the highest costs (for instance, use of space, infrastructural objects, forestry, urban development, building stock). Considering the views of Slovenia to the climate change problem in Europe and Slovenia, priority measures and emphasis on future adaptation to climate change, the Republic of Slovenia has especially exposed the following action areas: - sustainable and integrated management of water sources for water power production, prevention of floods, provision of water for the enrichment of low flow rates, and preservation of environmental function as well as provision of water for other needs; - sustainable management of forest ecosystems, adjusted to changes, for the provision of their environmental function as well as being a source of biomass, wood for products for the conservation of carbon, and carbon sinks; - spatial planning as one of the important preventive instruments for the adaptation to climate change through the processes of integral planning of spatial and urban development; - sustainable use and preservation of natural wealth and the preservation of biodiversity as well as ecosystem services with measures and policies that enable an enhanced resistance of ecosystems to climate change, and the role of biological diversity in integral adaptation measures; - informing and awareness on the consequences of climate change and adaptation possibilities. For years, the most endangered sectors have been agriculture and forestry; therefore, they are also the only sectors for which a national adaptation strategy was adopted.

Forests [Chapter 7

Treesearch

Linda A. Joyce; Steven W. Running; David D. Breshears; Virginia H. Dale; Robert W. Malmsheimer; R. Neil Sampson; Brent Sohngen; Christopher W. Woodall

2014-01-01

Forests occur within urban areas, at the interface between urban and rural areas (wildland-urban interface), and in rural areas. Urban forests contribute to clean air, cooling buildings, aesthetics, and recreation in parks. Development in the wildland-urban interface is increasing because of the appeal of owning homes near or in the woods. In rural areas, market...

Greener cities: U.S. Forest Service software package helps cities manage their urban treescape

Treesearch

Jim Kling; Greg Featured: McPherson

2008-01-01

Urban forests don't get the recognition that natural forests do. They don't encompass sweeping vistas and magnificent views and they don't provide critical habitat to endangered species. Nevertheless, they are vital. More than 90 percent of all Californians live, work, and play in urban forests. Trees in the urban landscape provide vital ecosystem...

From the litter up and the sky down: Perspectives on urban ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The structure of the urban forest represents the complex product of local biophysical conditions, socio-economic milieu, people preferences and management with rare counterparts in rural forests. However, urban forest structure, as similarly observed in rural forests, affects key ecological and hydrological processes as well as the plethora of organisms regulating these processes. This seminar talk will firstly present key mechanisms regulating urban eco-hydrological processes “from a litter up” perspective. In particular, fine scale effects of urban forest structure upon i) organic matter decomposition, and comminution, ii) community-assembly of decomposers, detritivores, and ecosystem engineers (i.e. bacteria, litter-dwelling macrofauna, ants), and iii) stormwater runoff infiltration and interception will be discussed. The second part of this intervention will look at the structure of the urban forest “from a sky down” perspective. Recent findings from large scale LiDAR investigations will be presented to discuss social and biophysical drivers affecting urban forest structure at sub-continental scale, as well as short-term tree loss dynamics across residential landscapes, and how these can potentially affect eco-hydrological processes at large scale. Urban forest structure, as similarly observed in rural forests, affects key ecological and hydrological processes as well as the plethora of organisms regulating these processes.

Hydrologic Impacts Associated with the Increased Role of Wildland Fire Across the Rangeland-Xeric Forest Continuum of the Great Basin and Intermountain West, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, C. J.; Pierson, F. B.; Robichaud, P. R.; Boll, J.; Al-Hamdan, O. Z.

2011-12-01

The increased role of wildland fire across the rangeland-xeric forest continuum in the western United States (US) presents landscape-scale consequences relative runoff and erosion. Concomitant climate conditions and altered plant community transitions in recent decades along grassland-shrubland-woodland-xeric forest transitions have promoted frequent and large wildland fires, and the continuance of the trend appears likely if current or warming climate conditions prevail. Much of the Great Basin and Intermountain West in the US now exists in a state in which rangeland and woodland wildfires stimulated by invasive cheatgrass and dense, horizontal and vertical fuel layers have a greater likelihood of progressing upslope into xeric forests. Drier moisture conditions and warmer seasonal air temperatures, along with dense fuel loads, have lengthened fire seasons and facilitated an increase in the frequency, severity and area burned in mid-elevation western US forests. These changes potentially increase the overall hydrologic vulnerability across the rangeland-xeric forest continuum by spatially and temporally increasing soil surface exposure to runoff and erosion processes. Plot-to-hillslope scale studies demonstrate burning may increase event runoff and/or erosion by factors of 2-40 over small-plots scales and more than 100-fold over large-plot to hillslope scales. Anecdotal reports of large-scale flooding and debris-flow events from rangelands and xeric forests following burning document the potential risk to resources (soil loss, water quality, degraded aquatic habitat, etc.), property and infrastructure, and human life. Such risks are particularly concerning for urban centers near the urban-wildland interface. We do not yet know the long-term ramifications of frequent soil loss associated with commonly occurring runoff events on repeatedly burned sites. However, plot to landscape-scale post-fire erosion rate estimates suggest potential losses of biologically important surface soils may be critically damaging for rangelands given inherent slow soil formation rates. This study presents a summary of fire effects on runoff and erosion across the rangeland-xeric forest continuum of the western US and highlights how that knowledge addresses post-fire hydrologic modeling needs. Further, we present a conceptual framework for advancing post-fire hydrologic vulnerability assessment and identify key areas for future research.

Project ATLANTA (ATlanta Land-use ANalysis: Temperature and Air quality): A Study of how the Urban Landscape Affects Meteorology and Air Quality Through Time

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quattrochi, Dale A.; Luvall, Jeffrey C.; Estes, Maurice G.; Lo, C. P.; Kidder, Stanley Q.; Hafner, Jan; Taha, Haider; Bornstein, Robert D.; Gillies, Robert R.; Gallo, Kevin P.

1998-01-01

It is our intent through this investigation to help facilitate measures that can be Project ATLANTA (ATlanta Land-use ANalysis: applied to mitigate climatological or air quality Temperature and Air-quality) is a NASA Earth degradation, or to design alternate measures to sustain Observing System (EOS) Interdisciplinary Science or improve the overall urban environment in the future. investigation that seeks to observe, measure, model, and analyze how the rapid growth of the Atlanta. The primary objectives for this research effort are: 1) To In the last half of the 20th century, Atlanta, investigate and model the relationship between Atlanta Georgia has risen as the premier commercial, urban growth, land cover change, and the development industrial, and transportation urban area of the of the urban heat island phenomenon through time at southeastern United States. The rapid growth of the nested spatial scales from local to regional; 2) To Atlanta area, particularly within the last 25 years, has investigate and model the relationship between Atlanta made Atlanta one of the fastest growing metropolitan urban growth and land cover change on air quality areas in the United States. The population of the through time at nested spatial scales from local to Atlanta metropolitan area increased 27% between 1970 regional; and 3) To model the overall effects of urban and 1980, and 33% between 1980-1990 (Research development on surface energy budget characteristics Atlanta, Inc., 1993). Concomitant with this high rate of across the Atlanta urban landscape through time at population growth, has been an explosive growth in nested spatial scales from local to regional. Our key retail, industrial, commercial, and transportation goal is to derive a better scientific understanding of how services within the Atlanta region. This has resulted in land cover changes associated with urbanization in the tremendous land cover change dynamics within the Atlanta area, principally in transforming forest lands to metropolitan region, wherein urbanization has urban land covers through time, has, and will, effect consumed vast acreas of land adjacent to the city local and regional climate, surface energy flux, and air proper and has pushed the rural/urban fringe farther quality characteristics. Allied with this goal is the and farther away from the original Atlanta urban core. prospect that the results from this research can be An enormous transition of land from forest and applied by urban planners, environmental managers agriculture to urban land uses has occurred in the and other decision-makers, for determining how Atlanta area in the last 25 years, along with subsequent urbanization has impacted the climate and overall

Discerning fragmentation dynamics of tropical forest and wetland during reforestation, urban sprawl, and policy shifts.

PubMed

Gao, Qiong; Yu, Mei

2014-01-01

Despite the overall trend of worldwide deforestation over recent decades, reforestation has also been found and is expected in developing countries undergoing fast urbanization and agriculture abandonment. The consequences of reforestation on landscape patterns are seldom addressed in the literature, despite their importance in evaluating biodiversity and ecosystem functions. By analyzing long-term land cover changes in Puerto Rico, a rapidly reforested (6 to 42% during 1940-2000) and urbanized tropical island, we detected significantly different patterns of fragmentation and underlying mechanisms among forests, urban areas, and wetlands. Forest fragmentation is often associated with deforestation. However, we also found significant fragmentation during reforestation. Urban sprawl and suburb development have a dominant impact on forest fragmentation. Reforestation mostly occurs along forest edges, while significant deforestation occurs in forest interiors. The deforestation process has a much stronger impact on forest fragmentation than the reforestation process due to their different spatial configurations. In contrast, despite the strong interference of coastal urbanization, wetland aggregation has occurred due to the effective implementation of laws/regulations for wetland protection. The peak forest fragmentation shifted toward rural areas, indicating progressively more fragmentation in forest interiors. This shift is synchronous with the accelerated urban sprawl as indicated by the accelerated shift of the peak fragmentation index of urban cover toward rural areas, i.e., 1.37% yr-1 in 1977-1991 versus 2.17% yr-1 in 1991-2000. Based on the expected global urbanization and the regional forest transition from deforested to reforested, the fragmented forests and aggregated wetlands in this study highlight possible forest fragmentation processes during reforestation in an assessment of biodiversity and functions and suggest effective laws/regulations in land planning to reduce future fragmentation.

Discerning Fragmentation Dynamics of Tropical Forest and Wetland during Reforestation, Urban Sprawl, and Policy Shifts

PubMed Central

Gao, Qiong; Yu, Mei

2014-01-01

Despite the overall trend of worldwide deforestation over recent decades, reforestation has also been found and is expected in developing countries undergoing fast urbanization and agriculture abandonment. The consequences of reforestation on landscape patterns are seldom addressed in the literature, despite their importance in evaluating biodiversity and ecosystem functions. By analyzing long-term land cover changes in Puerto Rico, a rapidly reforested (6 to 42% during 1940–2000) and urbanized tropical island, we detected significantly different patterns of fragmentation and underlying mechanisms among forests, urban areas, and wetlands. Forest fragmentation is often associated with deforestation. However, we also found significant fragmentation during reforestation. Urban sprawl and suburb development have a dominant impact on forest fragmentation. Reforestation mostly occurs along forest edges, while significant deforestation occurs in forest interiors. The deforestation process has a much stronger impact on forest fragmentation than the reforestation process due to their different spatial configurations. In contrast, despite the strong interference of coastal urbanization, wetland aggregation has occurred due to the effective implementation of laws/regulations for wetland protection. The peak forest fragmentation shifted toward rural areas, indicating progressively more fragmentation in forest interiors. This shift is synchronous with the accelerated urban sprawl as indicated by the accelerated shift of the peak fragmentation index of urban cover toward rural areas, i.e., 1.37% yr−1 in 1977–1991 versus 2.17% yr−1 in 1991–2000. Based on the expected global urbanization and the regional forest transition from deforested to reforested, the fragmented forests and aggregated wetlands in this study highlight possible forest fragmentation processes during reforestation in an assessment of biodiversity and functions and suggest effective laws/regulations in land planning to reduce future fragmentation. PMID:25409016

Urbanization effects on leaf litter decomposition, foliar nutrient dynamics and aboveground net primary productivity in the subtropics

Treesearch

Heather A. Enloe; B. Graeme Lockaby; Wayne C. Zipperer; Greg L. Somers

2015-01-01

Urbanization can alter nutrient cycling. This research evaluated how urbanization affected nutrient dynamics in the subtropics. We established 17–0.04 ha plots in five different land cover types—slash pine (Pinus elliottii) plantations (n=3), rural natural pine forests (n= 3), rural natural oak forests (n=4), urban pine forests (n=3) and urban oak forests (n=4) in the...

Modeling ozone uptake by urban and peri-urban forest: a case study in the Metropolitan City of Rome.

PubMed

Fusaro, Lina; Mereu, Simone; Salvatori, Elisabetta; Agliari, Elena; Fares, Silvano; Manes, Fausto

2018-03-01

Urban and peri-urban forests are green infrastructures (GI) that play a substantial role in delivering ecosystem services such as the amelioration of air quality by the removal of air pollutants, among which is ozone (O 3 ), which is the most harmful pollutant in Mediterranean metropolitan areas. Models may provide a reliable estimate of gas exchanges between vegetation and atmosphere and are thus a powerful tool to quantify and compare O 3 removal in different contexts. The present study modeled the O 3 stomatal uptake at canopy level of an urban and a peri-urban forest in the Metropolitan City of Rome in two different years. Results show different rates of O 3 fluxes between the two forests, due to different exposure to the pollutant, management practice effects on forest structure and functionality, and environmental conditions, namely, different stressors affecting the gas exchange rates of the two GIs. The periodic components of the time series calculated by means of the spectral analysis show that seasonal variation of modeled canopy transpiration is driven by precipitation in peri-urban forests, whereas in the urban forest seasonal variations are driven by vapor pressure deficit of ambient air. Moreover, in the urban forest high water availability during summer months, owing to irrigation practice, leads to an increase in O 3 uptake, thus suggesting that irrigation may enhance air phytoremediation in urban areas.

Evaluating green infrastructure in urban environments using a multi-taxa and functional diversity approach.

PubMed

Pinho, Pedro; Correia, Otília; Lecoq, Miguel; Munzi, Silvana; Vasconcelos, Sasha; Gonçalves, Paula; Rebelo, Rui; Antunes, Cristina; Silva, Patrícia; Freitas, Catarina; Lopes, Nuno; Santos-Reis, Margarida; Branquinho, Cristina

2016-05-01

Forested areas within cities host a large number of species, responsible for many ecosystem services in urban areas. The biodiversity in these areas is influenced by human disturbances such as atmospheric pollution and urban heat island effect. To ameliorate the effects of these factors, an increase in urban green areas is often considered sufficient. However, this approach assumes that all types of green cover have the same importance for species. Our aim was to show that not all forested green areas are equal in importance for species, but that based on a multi-taxa and functional diversity approach it is possible to value green infrastructure in urban environments. After evaluating the diversity of lichens, butterflies and other-arthropods, birds and mammals in 31 Mediterranean urban forests in south-west Europe (Almada, Portugal), bird and lichen functional groups responsive to urbanization were found. A community shift (tolerant species replacing sensitive ones) along the urbanization gradient was found, and this must be considered when using these groups as indicators of the effect of urbanization. Bird and lichen functional groups were then analyzed together with the characteristics of the forests and their surroundings. Our results showed that, contrary to previous assumptions, vegetation density and more importantly the amount of urban areas around the forest (matrix), are more important for biodiversity than forest quantity alone. This indicated that not all types of forested green areas have the same importance for biodiversity. An index of forest functional diversity was then calculated for all sampled forests of the area. This could help decision-makers to improve the management of urban green infrastructures with the goal of increasing functionality and ultimately ecosystem services in urban areas. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Forests and climate change: forcings, feedbacks, and the climate benefits of forests.

PubMed

Bonan, Gordon B

2008-06-13

The world's forests influence climate through physical, chemical, and biological processes that affect planetary energetics, the hydrologic cycle, and atmospheric composition. These complex and nonlinear forest-atmosphere interactions can dampen or amplify anthropogenic climate change. Tropical, temperate, and boreal reforestation and afforestation attenuate global warming through carbon sequestration. Biogeophysical feedbacks can enhance or diminish this negative climate forcing. Tropical forests mitigate warming through evaporative cooling, but the low albedo of boreal forests is a positive climate forcing. The evaporative effect of temperate forests is unclear. The net climate forcing from these and other processes is not known. Forests are under tremendous pressure from global change. Interdisciplinary science that integrates knowledge of the many interacting climate services of forests with the impacts of global change is necessary to identify and understand as yet unexplored feedbacks in the Earth system and the potential of forests to mitigate climate change.

Climate change and forest diseases

Treesearch

R.N. Sturrock; Susan Frankel; A. V. Brown; Paul Hennon; J. T. Kliejunas; K. J. Lewis; J. J. Worrall; A. J. Woods

2011-01-01

As climate changes, the effects of forest diseases on forest ecosystems will change. We review knowledge of relationships between climate variables and several forest diseases, as well as current evidence of how climate, host and pathogen interactions are responding or might respond to climate change. Many forests can be managed to both adapt to climate change and...

Observations from old forests underestimate climate change effects on tree mortality.

PubMed

Luo, Yong; Chen, Han Y H

2013-01-01

Understanding climate change-associated tree mortality is central to linking climate change impacts and forest structure and function. However, whether temporal increases in tree mortality are attributed to climate change or stand developmental processes remains uncertain. Furthermore, interpreting the climate change-associated tree mortality estimated from old forests for regional forests rests on an un-tested assumption that the effects of climate change are the same for young and old forests. Here we disentangle the effects of climate change and stand developmental processes on tree mortality. We show that both climate change and forest development processes influence temporal mortality increases, climate change-associated increases are significantly higher in young than old forests, and higher increases in younger forests are a result of their higher sensitivity to regional warming and drought. We anticipate our analysis to be a starting point for more comprehensive examinations of how forest ecosystems might respond to climate change.

75 FR 57898 - National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-23

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice; Announcement for the 2011 U.S. Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost Share Grant Opportunity. SUMMARY: The National Urban and Community Foresty...

Syracuse urban forest master plan: guiding the city's forest resource into the 21st century

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Paul R. O' Connor; [Compilers

2001-01-01

The Syracuse Urban Forest Master Plan is one of the most comprehensive urban forest assessments ever developed for a city. This report combines a high-resolution digital urban cover map with field vegetation sampling data from all land uses, a 100-percent street-tree inventory, a survey of city residents regarding desirable and undesirable tree characteristics and...

The influence of the interactions between anthropogenic activities and multiple ecological factors on land surface temperatures of urban forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Y.

2017-12-01

Context Land surface temperatures (LSTs) spatio-temporal distribution pattern of urban forests are influenced by many ecological factors; the identification of interaction between these factors can improve simulations and predictions of spatial patterns of urban cold islands. This quantitative research requires an integrated method that combines multiple sources data with spatial statistical analysis. Objectives The purpose of this study was to clarify urban forest LST influence interaction between anthropogenic activities and multiple ecological factors using cluster analysis of hot and cold spots and Geogdetector model. We introduced the hypothesis that anthropogenic activity interacts with certain ecological factors, and their combination influences urban forests LST. We also assumed that spatio-temporal distributions of urban forest LST should be similar to those of ecological factors and can be represented quantitatively. Methods We used Jinjiang as a representative city in China as a case study. Population density was employed to represent anthropogenic activity. We built up a multi-source data (forest inventory, digital elevation models (DEM), population, and remote sensing imagery) on a unified urban scale to support urban forest LST influence interaction research. Through a combination of spatial statistical analysis results, multi-source spatial data, and Geogdetector model, the interaction mechanisms of urban forest LST were revealed. Results Although different ecological factors have different influences on forest LST, in two periods with different hot spots and cold spots, the patch area and dominant tree species were the main factors contributing to LST clustering in urban forests. The interaction between anthropogenic activity and multiple ecological factors increased LST in urban forest stands, linearly and nonlinearly. Strong interactions between elevation and dominant species were generally observed and were prevalent in either hot or cold spots areas in different years. Conclusions In conclusion, a combination of spatial statistics and GeogDetector models should be effective for quantitatively evaluating interactive relationships among ecological factors, anthropogenic activity and LST.

Understanding the structure

Treesearch

David J. Nowak

1994-01-01

Urban forests are complex ecosystems created by the interaction of anthropogenic and natural processes. One key to better management of these systems is to understand urban forest structure and its relationship to forest functions. Through sampling and inventories, urban foresters often obtain structural information (e.g., numbers, location, size, and condition) on...

Vulnerability of the Metropolitan District of Quito's Water Resources in the face of Climatic and Anthropogenic Uncertainties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Depsky, N. J.; Flores-Lopez, F.

2014-12-01

Earlier this year the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) concluded a vulnerability analysis for the Metropolitan District of Quito (DMQ) in Ecuador. Vulnerability assessments were done for five sectors in the region: water resources, public health, agriculture, ecosystems and forest fires. This abstract focuses specifically on the vulnerability of the DMQ's water resources to climatic and anthropogenic uncertainties. This analysis focused on vulnerability of potable water supply for the city of Quito, as well as industrial and agricultural water needs. Current and future vulnerability was assessed in the face of a number of scenarios of climatic and non-climatic uncertainties. The assessment used an integrated water resources model developed by Quito's National Polytechnic University for the surrounding Guayllabamba river basin. The model was built using the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) software, and encompasses the urban, rural/agricultural, and industrial demands throughout the basin, linking them with existing surface and ground-water supplies. Five future scenarios were constructed in the WEAP basin model out the year 2050 in order to assess their effects: Urban population growth (~70% by 2050). Urban population growth + rising mean air temperatures (~+2°C by 2050). Urban population growth + rising temperatures + drought (recurring 3-year drought cycles built into the projection) Urban population growth + rising temperatures + conversion of 'paramo' alpine tundra ecosystem into cultivated land. (WEAP allows the user to define various types of land cover extent throughout the basin, along with their unique physical characteristics to simulate rainfall-runoff. Conversion of 'paramo' land cover to agriculture was evaluated to see potential effects it may have on the system's hydrology) Urban population growth + rising temperatures + drought + conversion of 'paramos' Coverage of demands in the model was used as the primary vulnerability metric, with urban demands experiencing supply shortages of up to 20-25% under the most stressful scenarios, a shortage which is dampened by significantly increased groundwater pumping. Rural and industrial demands suffer much more severe shortages, with nearly all demands going unmet in a number of scenarios.

National Forest Health Monitoring Program, Monitoring Urban Forests in Indiana: Pilot Study 2002, Part 2: Statewide Estimates Using the UFORE Model

Treesearch

David Nowak; Anne Buckelew Cumming; Daniel Twardus; Robert Hoehn; Manfred Mielke

2007-01-01

Trees in cities can improve environmental quality and human health. Unfortunately, little is known about the urban forest resource and what and how it contributes to local, regional, and national societies and economies. To better understand the urban forest resource and its value, the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Health Monitoring Program...

77 FR 24457 - National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-24

... the U.S. Forest Service's Urban and Community Forestry Web site: www.fs.fed.us/ucf/. DATES: Nomination... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: 2012 Notice call for nominations. SUMMARY: The National Urban and...

[Analysis of urban forest landscape pattern in Hefei].

PubMed

Wu, Zemin; Wu, Wenyou; Gao, Jian; Zhang, Shaojie

2003-12-01

Based on the theory and methodology of landscape ecology, the landscape pattern of the study area (17.6 km2) in the downtown of Hefei was analyzed by using the techniques of RS, GPS and GIS. The object was to provide a comprehensive method to study urban forest structure and its function in environmental improvement. The results showed that there were 5 major landscape elements, i.e., building and hard pavement surface, water, road, urban forest, and general green land in the area. The landscape matrix was building and pavement surface, occupied 73.13% of total land. Road was the typical corridor element in the city and occupied 6.89%. Green land occupied 11.44%, in which, urban forest patch occupied 9.18%. There were 408 urban forest patches, with an area of 161.16 hm2. The average area of the patch was 0.396 hm2, and the maximum area was 12 hm2. 48% of urban forest patch was identified as small scale patches with < 500 m2 of area, and only 8.6% of them was larger than 1 hm2. The number of general green land patch was 255, with an area of 39.74 hm2, which accounted for 2.26% of land area, and its average and maximum area was 0.1558 hm2 and 3.86 hm2, respectively. There were 147 water patches, with an area of 149.93 hm2, and occupied 8.54% of land, and the average and maximum area of the patch was 1.02 hm2 and 16 hm2, respectively. In the study area, both of the Shannon-Weiner landscape diversity index and evenness were low, only 0.928 and 0.576, respectively. In addition, the dominance of urban forest patch and general green land was 0.39 showing that the two landscape elements had a certain influence on the environment of the study area. The concept of interior habitat for forest was introduced in this paper, which was employed to make a scale class system of urban forest patch. The threshold area with interior habitat for urban forest patch was 9800 m2, and there was 31.69 hm2 of interior habitat of urban forest in total, which occupied 19.7% of the total area of urban forest patch. This situation was not favorable for providing more habitats to support species diversity. It's suggested that the concept of interior habitat could be employed to identify urban forest patch, and a scale system of small scale patch of urban forest-middle patch-large patch-extra large patch was build in the paper. Based on this system, the ratio of different scales of urban forest patch in the study area should be 2:2:2:3. The authors also suggested that larger pieces (1.5-3.0 hm2) of urban forest patch should be built, and more urban forests should be established in the northeastern part of the city in the future.

A citizen science campaign encouraging urban forest professionals to engage the public in the collection of tree phenological data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clarke, K. C.

2009-12-01

There are growing concerns among leading national and local organizations about American scientific literacy, fundamental understanding of science, and the value of scientific research. These organizations, including the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, have been at the forefront in addressing these concerns. In an effort to improve scientific literacy, research conducted by Sam Droege, among others, suggested using citizen science and public participation as instrumental methods to engage the public. Urban Tree Phenology (UTP), a project of Project BudBurst and the USDA Forest Service, is one such citizen science program that sought to engage the public, including the professionals and amateurs among them, in collecting urban tree phenophase data. UTP participants monitored and reported the stages of phenological events, such as First Leaf and Leaf Fall, of 24 native and cultivated urban tree species, using the steps shown in Figure 1. Data collected will support the long-term research of plant ecology, climate change, public health, urban heat islands on tree physiology, and urban tree management. UTP, using the architectures of online learning, has developed two instructional tutorials to assist data collection (Phase 1). The instructional tutorials were published online, in print and PowerPoint formats, at www.UrbanTreePhenology.com. By completing these tutorials, participants will gain the skills necessary to provide urban tree phenological data to national research databases via the Internet. Phase 2 will test and review the instructional materials developed, and in Phase 3, the administrators of UTP will distribute promotional materials to national research organizations and to participants of the Project BudBurst national citizen science campaign.

[Changes of agroecosystem service value during urbanization of Guangzhou City, South China].

PubMed

Ye, Yan-Qiong; Li, Yi-Mian; Zhang, Jia-En

2011-06-01

Based on the 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008 statistical data of Guangzhou City, and by the methods of marketing valuation, shadow price, afforestation cost, carbon tax, and industrial oxygen-producing, this paper calculated the related service values of various agroecosystems in Guangzhou, and assessed the changes of agroecosystem service value during the rapid urbanization of the City. In 1996-2008, though the service values of farmland, grassland, and water ecosystems had somewhat increase, the overall agroecosystem service value of Guangzhou decreased, mainly due to the more decrease of forest ecosystem service value which occupied more than 90% of the total service value each year. Over the studied period, the proportion of each individual functional service value to the total service value changed little, and the contribution of each individual functional service value was in the order of climate regulation > gases regulation > product service > waste treatment > soil conservation > biodiversity conservation > recreation and culture > water source retention and storage. The sum of climate regulation and gases regulation service values took over 91% of the total agroecosystem service value. There was a significant negative correlation (R = -0.905, P < 0.01)between urbanization rate and total agroecosystem service value, suggesting that the increase of urbanization rate would lead to a decrease of agroecosystem service value. Therefore, it requires an appropriate reservation of various agroecosystems to maintain the regional sustainable development during urbanization.

Assessing urban forest effects and values: Morgantown's Urban Forest

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Robert E. III Hoehn; Daniel E. Crane; Jack C. Stevens; Jonathan Cumming; Sandhya Mohen; Anne Buckelew. Cumming

2012-01-01

An analysis of the community forest in Morgantown, WV, was undertaken in 2004 to characterize the structural and functional attributes of this forest resource. The assessment revealed that this city has about 658,000 trees with canopies that cover 35.5 percent of the area. The most common tree species are sugar maple, black cherry, and hawthorn. The urban forest...

Forecasting Urban Forest Ecosystem Structure, Function, and Vulnerability

Treesearch

James W. N. Steenberg; Andrew A. Millward; David J. Nowak; Pamela J. Robinson; Alexis Ellis

2016-01-01

The benefits derived from urban forest ecosystems are garnering increasing attention in ecological research and municipal planning. However, because of their location in heterogeneous and highly-altered urban landscapes, urban forests are vulnerable and commonly suffer disproportionate and varying levels of stress and disturbance. The objective of this study is to...

Impacts of urban forests on offsetting carbon emissions from industrial energy use in Hangzhou, China.

PubMed

Zhao, Min; Kong, Zheng-hong; Escobedo, Francisco J; Gao, Jun

2010-01-01

This study quantified carbon storage and sequestration by urban forests and carbon emissions from energy consumption by several industrial sources in Hangzhou, China. Carbon (C) storage and sequestration were quantified using urban forest inventory data and by applying volume-derived biomass equations and other models relating net primary productivity (NPP) and mean annual biomass increments. Industrial energy use C emissions were estimated by accounting for fossil fuel use and assigning C emission factors. Total C storage by Hangzhou's urban forests was estimated at 11.74 Tg C, and C storage per hectare was 30.25 t C. Carbon sequestration by urban forests was 1,328, 166.55 t C/year, and C sequestration per ha was 1.66 t C/ha/year. Carbon emissions from industrial energy use in Hangzhou were 7 Tg C/year. Urban forests, through sequestration, annually offset 18.57% of the amount of carbon emitted by industrial enterprises, and store an amount of C equivalent to 1.75 times the amount of annual C emitted by industrial energy uses within the city. Management practices for improving Hangzhou's urban forests function of offsetting C emissions from energy consumption are explored. These results can be used to evaluate the urban forests' role in reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Response of forest soil properties to urbanization gradients in three metropolitan areas

Treesearch

Richard V. Pouyat; Ian D. Yesilonis; Katalin Szlavecz; Csaba Csuzdi; Elizabeth Hornung; Zoltan Kors& #243; s; Jonathan Russell-Anelli; Vincent Giorgio

2008-01-01

We investigated the effects of urban environments on the chemical properties of forest soils in the metropolitan areas of Baltimore, New York, and Budapest. We hypothesized that soils in forest patches in each city will exhibit changes in chemistry corresponding to urbanization gradients, but more strongly with various urban metrics than distance to the urban core....

[Estimation of Shenyang urban forest green biomass].

PubMed

Liu, Chang-fu; He, Xing-yuan; Chen, Wei; Zhao, Gui-ling; Xu, Wen-duo

2007-06-01

Based on ARC/GIS and by using the method of "planar biomass estimation", the green biomass (GB) of Shenyang urban forests was measured. The results demonstrated that the GB per unit area was the highest (3.86 m2.m(-2)) in landscape and relaxation forest, and the lowest (2.27 m2.m(-2)) in ecological and public welfare forest. The GB per unit area in urban forest distribution area was 2.99 m2.m(-2), and that of the whole Shenyang urban area was 0.25 m2.m(-2). The total GB of Shenyang urban forests was about 1.13 x 10(8) m2, among which, subordinated forest, ecological and public welfare forest, landscape and relaxation forest, road forest, and production and management forest accounted for 36.64% , 23.99% , 19.38% , 16.20% and 3.79%, with their GB being 4. 15 x 10(7), 2.72 x 10(7), 2.20 x 10(7), 1.84 x 10(7) and 0.43 x 10(7) m2, respectively. The precision of the method "planar biomass estimation" was 91.81% (alpha = 0.05) by credit test.

Temporal change and its spatial variety on land surface temperature and land use changes in the Red River Delta, Vietnam, using MODIS time-series imagery.

PubMed

Van Nguyen, On; Kawamura, Kensuke; Trong, Dung Phan; Gong, Zhe; Suwandana, Endan

2015-07-01

Temporal changes in the land surface temperature (LST) in urbanization areas are important for studying an urban heat island (UHI) and regional climate change. This study examined the LST trends under different land use categories in the Red River Delta, Vietnam, using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LST product (MOD11A2) and land cover type product (MCD12Q1) for 11 years (2002-2012). Smoothened time-series MODIS LST data were reconstructed by the Harmonic Analysis of Time Series (HANTS) algorithm. The reconstructed LST (maximum and minimum temperatures) was assessed using the hourly air temperature dataset in two land-based meteorological stations provided by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). Significant correlation was obtained between MODIS LST and the air temperature for the daytime (R (2) = 0.73, root mean square error [RMSE] = 1.66 °C) and night time (R (2) = 0.84, RMSE = 1.79 °C). Statistical analysis also showed that LST trends vary strongly depending on the land cover type. Forest, wetland, and cropland had a slight tendency to decline, whereas cropland and urban had sharper increases. In urbanized areas, these increasing trends are even more obvious. This is undeniable evidence of the negative impact of urbanization on a surface urban heat island (SUHI) and global warming.

Forest cover loss and urban area expansion in the Conterminous Unites States in the first decade of the third millennium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huo, L. Z.; Boschetti, L.

2016-12-01

Remote sensing has been successfully used for global mapping of changes in forest cover, but further analysis is needed to characterize those changes - and in particular to classify the total loss of forest loss (Gross Forest Cover Loss, GFCL) based on the cause (natural/human) and on the outcome of the change (regeneration to forest/transition to non-forest) (Kurtz et al., 2010). While natural forest disturbances (fires, insect outbreaks) and timber harvest generally involve a temporary change of land cover (vegetated to non-vegetated), they generally do not involve a change in land use, and it is expected that the forest cover loss is followed by recovery. Change of land use, such as the conversion of forest to agricultural or urban areas, is instead generally irreversible. The proper classification of forest cover loss is therefore necessary to properly model the long term effects of the disturbances on the carbon budget. The present study presents a spatial and temporal analysis of the forest cover loss due to urban expansion in the Conterminous United States. The Landsat-derived University of Maryland Global Forest Change product (Hansen et al, 2013) is used to identify all the areas of gross forest cover loss, which are subsequently classified into disturbance type (deforestation, stand-replacing natural disturbances, industrial forest clearcuts) using an object-oriented time series analysis (Huo and Boschetti, 2015). A further refinement of the classification is conducted to identify the areas of transition from forest land use to urban land use based on ancillary datasets such as the National Land Cover Database (Homer et al., 2015) and contextual image analysis techniques (analysis of object proximity, and detection of shapes). Results showed that over 4000 km2of forest were lost to urban area expansion in CONUS over the 2001 to 2010 period (1.8% of the gross forest cover loss). Most of the urban growth was concentrated in large urban areas: Atlanta, GA ranked first, followed by Houston, TX; Charlotte, NC; Jacksonville, FL; and Raleigh, NC. At the state level, the top 10 states with urban growth due to forest loss were GA, FL, TX, NC, SC, AL, LA, MS, VA and WA, which cumulatively accounted for 76 % of the total forest cover loss due to urban growth.

Warming and drought combine to increase pest insect fitness on urban trees

PubMed Central

Frank, Steven D.

2017-01-01

Urban habitats are characterized by impervious surfaces, which increase temperatures and reduce water availability to plants. The effects of these conditions on herbivorous insects are not well understood, but may provide insight into future conditions. Three primary hypotheses have been proposed to explain why multiple herbivorous arthropods are more abundant and damaging in cities, and support has been found for each. First, less complex vegetation may reduce biological control of pests. Second, plant stress can increase plant quality for pests. And third, urban warming can directly increase pest fitness and abundance. These hypotheses are not mutually exclusive, and the effects of temperature and plant stress are particularly related. Thus, we test the hypothesis that urban warming and drought stress combine to increase the fitness and abundance of the scale insect, Melanaspis tenebricosa, an urban tree pest that is more abundant in urban than rural areas of the southeastern U.S. We did this by manipulating drought stress across an existing mosaic of urban warming. We found support for the additive effect of temperature and drought stress such that female embryo production and body size increased with temperature and was greater on drought-stressed than watered trees. This study provides further evidence that drivers of pest insect outbreaks act in concert, rather than independently, and calls for more research that manipulates multiple abiotic factors related to urbanization and climate change to predict their effects on ecological interactions. As cities expand and the climate changes, warmer temperatures and drought conditions may become more widespread in the native range of this pest. These changes have direct physiological benefits for M. tenebricosa, and potentially other pests, that may increase their fitness and abundance in urban and natural forests. PMID:28278206

Analysis of Urban Forest Needs as Anthropogenic (CO2) Gas Absorbent in Semarang City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Febriani, Anisa Putri; Retnaningsih Soeprobowati, Tri; Maryono

2018-02-01

Green open space in cities in significant needs to maintenance environment quality. On of the critical function is to absorb increasing number of gas CO2. Therefore, developing urban forest in cities is very importance. The objective of the study is to determine the area of urban forest as CO2 gas anthropogenic absorb which is formed from fuel, diesel fuel, liquid petroleum gas. The study consists of (1) Analyzing the number of CO2 gas emission by calculating the needs of petroleum and gas based on the number of population, (2) Analyzing the power of gas absorption, (3) Measuring the air concentration of CO2 gas ambient based on daily traffic activities. This study shown that from year 2013 to year 2017, the increasing of urban forest is not so significant. For year 2013 the green open space in Semarang City are 373.67 hectares (7.5 percent from Semarang City area), consists of 239 parks, 11 public cemeteries, production forests, community forests, and urban forests, however the area of urban forest is not increase. The study assess that Antidesmabunius is one of the green species which high absorb capacity planted for Semarang. This trees produce 31,31 ton annually. This study proposed to fostering Antidesmabunius as one principle threes in Semarang urban forest.

Seeing the future impacts of climate change and forest management: a landscape visualization system for forest managers

Treesearch

Eric J. Gustafson; Melissa Lucash; Johannes Liem; Helen Jenny; Rob Scheller; Kelly Barrett; Brian R. Sturtevant

2016-01-01

Forest managers are increasingly considering how climate change may alter forests' capacity to provide ecosystem goods and services. But identifying potential climate change effects on forests is difficult because interactions among forest growth and mortality, climate change, management, and disturbances are complex and uncertain. Although forest landscape models...

Interactions of forest disturbance-recovery dynamics with a changing climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson-Teixeira, K. J.; Miller, A. D.; Tepley, A. J.; Bennett, A. C.; Wang, M.

2015-12-01

As the climate changes, altered disturbance-recovery dynamics in forests worldwide are likely to result in significant biogeochemical and biophysical feedbacks to the climate system. Climate shapes forest disturbance events including tree mortality and fire, with consequent climate feedbacks. For instance, in forests globally, drought increases tree mortality rates, having a stronger impact on larger trees and resulting in greater feedbacks to climate change than would occur if drought sensitivities were equal across tree size classes. Forest regeneration and associated biogeochemical and biophysical feedbacks are also shaped by climate: across the tropics the rate of biomass accumulation is faster in everwet than in seasonally dry climates, and in the Klamath region (N California / S Oregon), post-fire vegetation dynamics and microclimate are shaped by aridity. Forest recovery dynamics will be affected by elevated CO2 and climate change; for instance, models predict that forest regeneration rate, successional dynamics, and climate feedbacks will all be altered under elevated CO2. In combination, climatic impacts on disturbance and recovery can result in dramatic shifts in forest cover on the landscape level. For instance, in fire-prone forested landscapes, forest cover decreases with increasing frequency of high-severity fire and decreasing forest recovery rate, both of which could be altered by climate change, producing rapid loss of forest on the landscape level. Such effects may be amplified by the existence of alternative stable states, which can cause systems to experience non-reversible changes in cover type. Critical transitions in landscape-level forest cover would have significant biogeochemical and biophysical feedbacks. Thus, altered disturbance-recovery dynamics under a changing climate may have sudden and dramatic impacts on forest-climate interactions.

Differences in the timing of reproduction between urban and forest European blackbirds (Turdus merula): result of phenotypic flexibility or genetic differences?

PubMed Central

Partecke, Jesko; Van't Hof, Thomas; Gwinner, Eberhard

2004-01-01

Species which have settled in urban environments are exposed to different conditions from their wild conspecifics. A previous comparative study of an urban and a forest-living European blackbird population had revealed a three weeks earlier onset of gonadal growth in urban individuals. These physiological adjustments are either the result of genetic differences that have evolved during the urbanization process, or of phenotypic flexibility resulting from the bird's exposure to the different environmental conditions of town or forest. To identify which of these two mechanisms causes the differences in reproductive timing, hand-reared birds originating from the urban and the forest populations were kept in identical conditions. The substantial differences in the timing of reproduction between urban and forest birds known from the field did not persist under laboratory conditions, indicating that temporal differences in reproductive timing between these two populations are mainly a result of phenotypic flexibility. Nevertheless, urban males initiated plasma luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion and testicular development earlier than forest males in their first reproductive season. Moreover, plasma LH concentration and follicle size declined earlier in urban females than in forest females, suggesting that genetic differences are also involved and might contribute to the variations in the timing of reproduction in the wild. PMID:15451688

[Responses of boreal forest landscape in northern Great Xing'an Mountains of Northeast China to climate change].

PubMed

Li, Xiao-Na; He, Hong-Shi; Wu, Zhi-Wei; Liang, Yu

2012-12-01

With the combination of forest landscape model (LANDIS) and forest gap model (LINKAGES), this paper simulated the effects of climate change on the boreal forest landscape in the Great Xing'an Mountains, and compared the direct effects of climate change and the effects of climate warming-induced fires on the forest landscape. The results showed that under the current climate conditions and fire disturbances, the forest landscape in the study area could maintain its dynamic balance, and Larix gmelinii was still the dominant tree species. Under the future climate and fire disturbances scenario, the distribution area of L. gmelinii and Pinus pumila would be decreased, while that of Betula platyphylla, Populus davidiana, Populus suaveolens, Chosenia arbutifolia, and Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica would be increased, and the forest fragmentation and forest diversity would have an increase. The changes of the forest landscape lagged behind climate change. Climate warming would increase the growth of most tree species except L. gmelinii, while the increased fires would increase the distribution area of P. davidiana, P. suaveolens, and C. arbutifolia and decrease the distribution area of L. gmelinii, P. sylvestris var. mongolica, and P. pumila. The effects of climate warming-induced fires on the forest landscape were almost equal to the direct effects of climate change, and aggravated the direct effects of climate change on forest composition, forest landscape fragmentation, and forest landscape diversity.

Approaches to predicting potential impacts of climate change on forest disease: An example with Armillaria root disease

Treesearch

Ned B. Klopfenstein; Mee-Sook Kim; John W. Hanna; Bryce A. Richardson; John E. Lundquist

2011-01-01

Climate change will likely have dramatic impacts on forest health because many forest trees could become maladapted to climate. Furthermore, climate change will have additional impacts on forest health through changes in the distribution and severity of forest disease. Methods are needed to predict the influence of climate change on forest disease so that appropriate...

Can forest watershed management mitigate climate change effects on water resources

Treesearch

James M. Vose; Chelcy R. Ford; Stephanie Laseter; Salli Dymond; Ge Sun; Mary Beth Adams; Stephen Sebestyen; John Campbell; Charlie Luce; Devendra Amatya; Kelly Elder; Tamara Heartsill Scalley

2012-01-01

Long-term hydrology and climate data from United States Forest Service Experimental Forests and Ranges (EFR) provide critical information on the interactions among climate, streamflow, and forest management practices. We examined the relationships among streamflow responses to climate variation and forest management using long-term data. Analysis of climate data from a...

Can forest watershed management mitigate climate change impacts on water resources?

Treesearch

James M. Vose; Chelcy R. Ford; Stephanie Laseter; Salli Dymond; GE Sun; Mary Beth Adams; Stephen Sebestyen; John Campbell; Charles Luce; Devendra Amatya; Kelly Elder; Tamara. Heartsill-Scalley

2012-01-01

Long-term hydrology and climate data from United States Forest Service Experimental Forests and Ranges (EFR) provide critical information on the interactions among climate, streamflow, and forest management practices. We examined the relationships among streamflow responses to climate variation and forest management using long-term data. Analysis of climate data from a...

Analyzing the causal factors of carbon stores in a subtropical urban forest

Treesearch

William Headlee; Richard Hall; C. Staudhammer; T. Brandeis; and Other

2014-01-01

Studies of forests and urban forest ecosystems have documented the various biophysical and socioeconomic correlates of carbon storage. Tree cover in particular is often used as a determinant of carbon storage for local and national level urban forest assessments. However, the relationships among variables describing the biophysical and socioeconomic environment and...

A Guide to Assessing Urban Forests

Treesearch

David Nowak

2013-01-01

Urban forests provide numerous ecosystem services. To quantify these services and guide management to sustain these services for future generations, the structure or composition of the forest must be assessed. There are two basic ways of assessing the structure or composition of the urban forest: Bottom-up approach. Field-based assessments to measure the physical...

Urban Forest Health Monitoring in the United States

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Robert Hoehn; Jeffrey T. Walton; Daniel E. Crane; Jack C. Stevens; Daniel Twardus; Anne Cumming; Manfred Mielke; Bill Smith

2006-01-01

Trees in cities can contribute significantly to human health and environmental quality. Unfortunately, little is known about the urban forest resource and what it contributes to the local, regional, and national societal and economic interests. To help better understand the urban forest resource and its numerous values, the USDA Forest Service has initiated a pilot...

Modeling the Local Ecological Response to Regional Landscape and Global Change Forcings: A Case Study of Bioenergy in North Carolina, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Terando, A. J.; Costanza, J. K.; Tarr, N. M.; Apt, R.; Rubino, M. J.

2015-12-01

Sustainable energy policies in Europe have led to a growing market for bioenergy, and especially wood pellets, as a means to reduce fossil fuel emissions and the attendant socio-environmental consequences from climate change. However the introduction of this market has the potential to create significant negative ecological impacts whose costs are borne far from Europe. Because of its existing forest products infrastructure and resources, the Southeast US is viewed as an attractive supplier of wood pellets to Europe. Consequently, a new global telecoupling has developed between these two regions linking the natural capital of one region to the energy needs and greenhouse gas abatement policy of the other. Additionally, habitat for many important wildlife species in the Southeast lie within a rapidly urbanizing region characterized by low-density auto-dependent growth. Combined, these two forcings have the potential to rapidly degrade species-rich ecosystems. Here the ecological effects of increased European demand for wood pellets are examined in North Carolina. Future land use and vegetation change were projected using the results from linked urbanization, vegetation dynamics, life cycle analysis, and forest timber economics models. Ecological impacts as measured for 16 amphibian and avian species were evaluated under five bioenergy production scenarios and one urbanization-only scenario. Results indicate that highly vagile or upland species are able to take advantage of the increase in vegetated land cover, even if the majority of new habitat is in intensively managed forests. Conversely, more sessile and range-limited species, particularly those found in coastal plain systems such as bottomland hardwood forest, show steeper declines under the wood pellet scenarios than under the urbanization-only scenario. These results highlight the challenge of evaluating the sustainability of developing markets that seek to mitigate certain aspects of global environmental change but risk exacerbating others.

Classification and ordination of main plant communities along an altitudinal gradient in the arid and temperate climates of northeastern Mexico.

PubMed

Castillón, Eduardo Estrada; Arévalo, José Ramón; Quintanilla, José Ángel Villarreal; Rodríguez, María Magdalena Salinas; Encina-Domínguez, Juan Antonio; Rodríguez, Humberto González; Ayala, César Martín Cantú

2015-10-01

Quantitative data on the ecology of the main plant communities along an altitudinal gradient in northeastern Mexico were obtained with the aim of identifying the most important environmental variables that affect plant distribution and composition. The main threats to these communities were also investigated. Importance value index (IVi) of the 39 most important species and 16 environmental variables were recorded at 35 altitudinal gradients each spaced at intervals of at least 100-m altitude. Classification and ordination of vegetation showed six well-differentiated but overlapping plant communities: alpine meadow, cold conifer forest, mesic mixed forest, xeric scrub, Tamaulipan piedmont scrub, and halophytic grassland. Altitude, minimum and average temperatures, and organic matter content are the main variables affecting the plant distribution in northeastern Mexico. Urban growth, mechanized agriculture, and changes in land use are the main threats in the short and medium term to plant communities in this area. Climate change also seems to be having an impact at present or in the near future as shown by the presence of exotic shrubs from warmer areas in mesic and temperate areas inhabited by oak and oak-pine forest.

Urban forests

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Eric J. Greenfield

2016-01-01

Trees and forests are resources that significantly affect the health and well-being of people who live in urban areas where more than 80 percent of the U.S. population resides. These trees within our cities and communities provide many ecosystem services and values to both urban and rural populations. Healthy urban and rural forests are critical for sustaining quality...

Quantifying suspended sediment flux in a mixed-land-use urbanizing watershed using a nested-scale study design.

PubMed

Zeiger, Sean; Hubbart, Jason A

2016-01-15

Suspended sediment (SS) remains the most pervasive water quality problem globally and yet, despite progress, SS process understanding remains relatively poor in watersheds with mixed-land-use practices. The main objective of the current work was to investigate relationships between suspended sediment and land use types at multiple spatial scales (n=5) using four years of suspended sediment data collected in a representative urbanized mixed-land-use (forest, agriculture, urban) watershed. Water samples were analyzed for SS using a nested-scale experimental watershed study design (n=836 samples×5 gauging sites). Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn's post-hoc multiple comparison tests were used to test for significant differences (CI=95%, p<0.05) in SS levels between gauging sites. Climate extremes (high precipitation/drought) were observed during the study period. Annual maximum SS concentrations exceeded 2387.6 mg/L. Median SS concentrations decreased by 60% from the agricultural headwaters to the rural/urban interface, and increased by 98% as urban land use increased. Multiple linear regression analysis results showed significant relationships between SS, annual total precipitation (positive correlate), forested land use (negative correlate), agricultural land use (negative correlate), and urban land use (negative correlate). Estimated annual SS yields ranged from 16.1 to 313.0 t km(-2) year(-1) mainly due to differences in annual total precipitation. Results highlight the need for additional studies, and point to the need for improved best management practices designed to reduce anthropogenic SS loading in mixed-land-use watersheds. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Stream Nitrate Concentrations Diverge at Baseflow and Converge During Storms in Watersheds with Contrasting Urbanization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carey, R. O.; Wollheim, W. M.; Mulukutla, G. K.; Cook, C. S.

2013-12-01

Management of non-point sources is challenging because it requires adequate quantification of non-point fluxes that are highly dynamic over time. Most fluxes occur during storms and are difficult to characterize with grab samples alone in flashy, urban watersheds. Accurate and relatively precise measurements using in situ sensor technology can quantify fluxes continuously, avoiding the uncertainties in extrapolation of infrequently collected grab samples. In situ nitrate (NO3-N) sensors were deployed simultaneously from April to December 2013 in two streams with contrasting urban land uses in an urbanizing New Hampshire watershed (80 km2). Nitrogen non-point fluxes and temporal patterns were evaluated in Beards Creek (forested: 50%; residential: 24%; commercial/institutional/transportation: 7%; agricultural: 6%) and College Brook (forested: 35%; residential: 11%; commercial/institutional/transportation: 20%; agricultural: 17%). Preliminary data indicated NO3-N concentrations in Beards Creek (mean: 0.37 mg/L) were lower than College Brook (mean: 0.60 mg/L), but both streams exhibited rapid increases in NO3-N during the beginning of storms followed by overall dilution. While baseflow NO3-N was greater in College Brook than Beards Creek, NO3-N at the two sites consistently converged during storms. This suggests that standard grab sampling may overestimate fluxes in urban streams, since short-term dilution occurred during periods of highest flow. Analyzing NO3-N flux patterns in smaller urban streams that are directly impacted by watershed activities could help to inform management decisions regarding N source controls, ultimately allowing an assessment of the interactions of climate variability and management actions.

Are forest disturbances amplifying or canceling out climate change-induced productivity changes in European forests?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reyer, Christopher P. O.; Bathgate, Stephen; Blennow, Kristina; Borges, Jose G.; Bugmann, Harald; Delzon, Sylvain; Faias, Sonia P.; Garcia-Gonzalo, Jordi; Gardiner, Barry; Gonzalez-Olabarria, Jose Ramon; Gracia, Carlos; Guerra Hernández, Juan; Kellomäki, Seppo; Kramer, Koen; Lexer, Manfred J.; Lindner, Marcus; van der Maaten, Ernst; Maroschek, Michael; Muys, Bart; Nicoll, Bruce; Palahi, Marc; Palma, João HN; Paulo, Joana A.; Peltola, Heli; Pukkala, Timo; Rammer, Werner; Ray, Duncan; Sabaté, Santiago; Schelhaas, Mart-Jan; Seidl, Rupert; Temperli, Christian; Tomé, Margarida; Yousefpour, Rasoul; Zimmermann, Niklaus E.; Hanewinkel, Marc

2017-03-01

Recent studies projecting future climate change impacts on forests mainly consider either the effects of climate change on productivity or on disturbances. However, productivity and disturbances are intrinsically linked because 1) disturbances directly affect forest productivity (e.g. via a reduction in leaf area, growing stock or resource-use efficiency), and 2) disturbance susceptibility is often coupled to a certain development phase of the forest with productivity determining the time a forest is in this specific phase of susceptibility. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of forest productivity changes in different forest regions in Europe under climate change, and partition these changes into effects induced by climate change alone and by climate change and disturbances. We present projections of climate change impacts on forest productivity from state-of-the-art forest models that dynamically simulate forest productivity and the effects of the main European disturbance agents (fire, storm, insects), driven by the same climate scenario in seven forest case studies along a large climatic gradient throughout Europe. Our study shows that, in most cases, including disturbances in the simulations exaggerate ongoing productivity declines or cancel out productivity gains in response to climate change. In fewer cases, disturbances also increase productivity or buffer climate-change induced productivity losses, e.g. because low severity fires can alleviate resource competition and increase fertilization. Even though our results cannot simply be extrapolated to other types of forests and disturbances, we argue that it is necessary to interpret climate change-induced productivity and disturbance changes jointly to capture the full range of climate change impacts on forests and to plan adaptation measures.

Are forest disturbances amplifying or canceling out climate change-induced productivity changes in European forests?

PubMed Central

Reyer, Christopher P O; Bathgate, Stephen; Blennow, Kristina; Borges, Jose G; Bugmann, Harald; Delzon, Sylvain; Faias, Sonia P; Garcia-Gonzalo, Jordi; Gardiner, Barry; Gonzalez-Olabarria, Jose Ramon; Gracia, Carlos; Hernández, Juan Guerra; Kellomäki, Seppo; Kramer, Koen; Lexer, Manfred J; Lindner, Marcus; van der Maaten, Ernst; Maroschek, Michael; Muys, Bart; Nicoll, Bruce; Palahi, Marc; Palma, João HN; Paulo, Joana A; Peltola, Heli; Pukkala, Timo; Rammer, Werner; Ray, Duncan; Sabaté, Santiago; Schelhaas, Mart-Jan; Seidl, Rupert; Temperli, Christian; Tomé, Margarida; Yousefpour, Rasoul; Zimmermann, Niklaus E; Hanewinkel, Marc

2017-01-01

Recent studies projecting future climate change impacts on forests mainly consider either the effects of climate change on productivity or on disturbances. However, productivity and disturbances are intrinsically linked because 1) disturbances directly affect forest productivity (e.g. via a reduction in leaf area, growing stock or resource-use efficiency), and 2) disturbance susceptibility is often coupled to a certain development phase of the forest with productivity determining the time a forest is in this specific phase of susceptibility. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of forest productivity changes in different forest regions in Europe under climate change, and partition these changes into effects induced by climate change alone and by climate change and disturbances. We present projections of climate change impacts on forest productivity from state-of-the-art forest models that dynamically simulate forest productivity and the effects of the main European disturbance agents (fire, storm, insects), driven by the same climate scenario in seven forest case studies along a large climatic gradient throughout Europe. Our study shows that, in most cases, including disturbances in the simulations exaggerate ongoing productivity declines or cancel out productivity gains in response to climate change. In fewer cases, disturbances also increase productivity or buffer climate-change induced productivity losses, e.g. because low severity fires can alleviate resource competition and increase fertilization. Even though our results cannot simply be extrapolated to other types of forests and disturbances, we argue that it is necessary to interpret climate change-induced productivity and disturbance changes jointly to capture the full range of climate change impacts on forests and to plan adaptation measures. PMID:28855959

Are forest disturbances amplifying or canceling out climate change-induced productivity changes in European forests?

PubMed

Reyer, Christopher P O; Bathgate, Stephen; Blennow, Kristina; Borges, Jose G; Bugmann, Harald; Delzon, Sylvain; Faias, Sonia P; Garcia-Gonzalo, Jordi; Gardiner, Barry; Gonzalez-Olabarria, Jose Ramon; Gracia, Carlos; Hernández, Juan Guerra; Kellomäki, Seppo; Kramer, Koen; Lexer, Manfred J; Lindner, Marcus; van der Maaten, Ernst; Maroschek, Michael; Muys, Bart; Nicoll, Bruce; Palahi, Marc; Palma, João Hn; Paulo, Joana A; Peltola, Heli; Pukkala, Timo; Rammer, Werner; Ray, Duncan; Sabaté, Santiago; Schelhaas, Mart-Jan; Seidl, Rupert; Temperli, Christian; Tomé, Margarida; Yousefpour, Rasoul; Zimmermann, Niklaus E; Hanewinkel, Marc

2017-03-16

Recent studies projecting future climate change impacts on forests mainly consider either the effects of climate change on productivity or on disturbances. However, productivity and disturbances are intrinsically linked because 1) disturbances directly affect forest productivity (e.g. via a reduction in leaf area, growing stock or resource-use efficiency), and 2) disturbance susceptibility is often coupled to a certain development phase of the forest with productivity determining the time a forest is in this specific phase of susceptibility. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of forest productivity changes in different forest regions in Europe under climate change, and partition these changes into effects induced by climate change alone and by climate change and disturbances. We present projections of climate change impacts on forest productivity from state-of-the-art forest models that dynamically simulate forest productivity and the effects of the main European disturbance agents (fire, storm, insects), driven by the same climate scenario in seven forest case studies along a large climatic gradient throughout Europe. Our study shows that, in most cases, including disturbances in the simulations exaggerate ongoing productivity declines or cancel out productivity gains in response to climate change. In fewer cases, disturbances also increase productivity or buffer climate-change induced productivity losses, e.g. because low severity fires can alleviate resource competition and increase fertilization. Even though our results cannot simply be extrapolated to other types of forests and disturbances, we argue that it is necessary to interpret climate change-induced productivity and disturbance changes jointly to capture the full range of climate change impacts on forests and to plan adaptation measures.

Simulating post-wildfire forest trajectories under alternative climate and management scenarios

Treesearch

Alicia Azpeleta Tarancon; Peter Z. Fule; Kristen L. Shive; Carolyn H. Sieg; Andrew Sanchez Meador; Barbara Strom

2014-01-01

Post-fire predictions of forest recovery under future climate change and management actions are necessary for forest managers to make decisions about treatments. We applied the Climate-Forest Vegetation Simulator (Climate-FVS), a new version of a widely used forest management model, to compare alternative climate and management scenarios in a severely burned...

The relationship between urban forests and race: A meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Watkins, Shannon Lea; Gerrish, Ed

2018-01-01

There is ample evidence that urban trees benefit the physical, mental, and social health of urban residents. The environmental justice hypothesis posits that environmental amenities are inequitably low in poor and minority communities, and predicts these communities experience fewer urban environmental benefits. Some previous research has found that urban forest cover is inequitably distributed by race, though other studies have found no relationship or negative inequity. These conflicting results and the single-city nature of the current literature suggest a need for a research synthesis. Using a systematic literature search and meta-analytic techniques, we examined the relationship between urban forest cover and race. First, we estimated the average (unconditional) relationship between urban forest cover and race across studies (studies = 40; effect sizes = 388). We find evidence of significant race-based inequity in urban forest cover. Second, we included characteristics of the original studies and study sites in meta-regressions to illuminate drivers of variation of urban forest cover between studies. Our meta-regressions reveal that the relationship varies across racial groups and by study methodology. Models reveal significant inequity on public land and that environmental and social characteristics of cities help explain variation across studies. As tree planting and other urban forestry programs proliferate, urban forestry professionals are encouraged to consider the equity consequences of urban forestry activities, particularly on public land. PMID:29289843

The relationship between urban forests and race: A meta-analysis.

PubMed

Watkins, Shannon Lea; Gerrish, Ed

2018-03-01

There is ample evidence that urban trees benefit the physical, mental, and social health of urban residents. The environmental justice hypothesis posits that environmental amenities are inequitably low in poor and minority communities, and predicts these communities experience fewer urban environmental benefits. Some previous research has found that urban forest cover is inequitably distributed by race, though other studies have found no relationship or negative inequity. These conflicting results and the single-city nature of the current literature suggest a need for a research synthesis. Using a systematic literature search and meta-analytic techniques, we examined the relationship between urban forest cover and race. First, we estimated the average (unconditional) relationship between urban forest cover and race across studies (studies = 40; effect sizes = 388). We find evidence of significant race-based inequity in urban forest cover. Second, we included characteristics of the original studies and study sites in meta-regressions to illuminate drivers of variation of urban forest cover between studies. Our meta-regressions reveal that the relationship varies across racial groups and by study methodology. Models reveal significant inequity on public land and that environmental and social characteristics of cities help explain variation across studies. As tree planting and other urban forestry programs proliferate, urban forestry professionals are encouraged to consider the equity consequences of urban forestry activities, particularly on public land. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Science in the city: Urban trees, forests, and people

Treesearch

Kathleen L. Wolf

2016-01-01

The article, intended for professional and manager audiences, is an overview of current research in urban forestry. Topics include tree science, forest risks, forest management and assessment, ecosystem services, and urban socio-ecological systems (including governance and stewardship).

Spatial-temporal eco-environmental vulnerability assessment and its influential factors based on Landsat data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anh, N. K.; Liou, Y. A.; Ming-Hsu, L.

2016-12-01

Regional land use/land cover (LULC) changes lead to various changes in ecological processes and, in turn, alter regional micro-climate. To understand eco-environmental responses to LULC changes, eco-environmental evaluation is thus required with aims to identify vulnerable regions and influential factors, so that practical measures for environmental protection and management may be proposed. The Thua Thien - Hue Province has been experiencing urbanization at a rapid rate in both population and physical size. The urban land, agricultural land, and aquaculture activities have been invasively into natural space and caused eco-environment deterioration by land desertification, soil erosion, shrinking forest resources,…etc. In this study, an assessment framework that is composed by 11 variables with 9 of them constructed from Landsat time series is proposed to serve as basis to examine eco-environmental vulnerability in the Thua Thien - Hue Province in years 1989, 2003, and 2014. An eco-environmental vulnerability map is assorted into six vulnerability levels consisting of potential, slight, light, medium, heavy, and very heavy vulnerabilities. Result shows that there is an increasing trend in eco-environmental vulnerability in general with expected evolving distributions in heavy and very heavy vulnerability levels, which mainly lying on developed land, bare land, semi bare land, agricultural land, and poor and recovery forests. In contrast, there is a significant decline in potential vulnerability level. The contributing factors of an upward trend in medium, heavy, and very heavy levels include: (i) a large natural forest converted to plantation forest and agriculture land; and (ii) significant expansion of developed land leading to difference in thermal signatures in urban areas as compared with those of the surrounding areas. It is concluded that anthropogenic processes with transformation on LULC has amplified the vulnerability of eco-environment in the study area.

Quantifying the influences of various ecological factors on land surface temperature of urban forests.

PubMed

Ren, Yin; Deng, Lu-Ying; Zuo, Shu-Di; Song, Xiao-Dong; Liao, Yi-Lan; Xu, Cheng-Dong; Chen, Qi; Hua, Li-Zhong; Li, Zheng-Wei

2016-09-01

Identifying factors that influence the land surface temperature (LST) of urban forests can help improve simulations and predictions of spatial patterns of urban cool islands. This requires a quantitative analytical method that combines spatial statistical analysis with multi-source observational data. The purpose of this study was to reveal how human activities and ecological factors jointly influence LST in clustering regions (hot or cool spots) of urban forests. Using Xiamen City, China from 1996 to 2006 as a case study, we explored the interactions between human activities and ecological factors, as well as their influences on urban forest LST. Population density was selected as a proxy for human activity. We integrated multi-source data (forest inventory, digital elevation models (DEM), population, and remote sensing imagery) to develop a database on a unified urban scale. The driving mechanism of urban forest LST was revealed through a combination of multi-source spatial data and spatial statistical analysis of clustering regions. The results showed that the main factors contributing to urban forest LST were dominant tree species and elevation. The interactions between human activity and specific ecological factors linearly or nonlinearly increased LST in urban forests. Strong interactions between elevation and dominant species were generally observed and were prevalent in either hot or cold spots areas in different years. In conclusion, quantitative studies based on spatial statistics and GeogDetector models should be conducted in urban areas to reveal interactions between human activities, ecological factors, and LST. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

National Forest Health Monitoring Program, Monitoring Urban Forests in Indiana: Pilot Study 2002, Part 1: Analysis of Field Methods and Data Collection

Treesearch

US Forest Service, Northeastern Area, State and Private Forestry

2006-01-01

This report highlights findings from the first statewide urban forest health monitoring pilot study conducted in the State of Indiana in 2002. The report is in two parts. Part One summarizes analysis of the field methods and data collected on the urban nonforest plots of one panel in Indiana, and Part Two expands these data to statewide urban forest estimates with the...

National Forest Health Monitoring Program Monitoring Urban Forests in Indiana: Pilot Study 2002, Part 1: Analysis of Field Methods and Data Collection

Treesearch

Matt Lake; Philip Marshall; Manfred Mielke; Anne Buckelew Cumming; Daniel Twardus

2006-01-01

This report highlights findings from the first statewide urban forest health monitoring pilot study conducted in the State of Indiana in 2002. The report is in two parts: Part One summarizes analysis of the field methods and data collected on the urban nonforest plots of one panel in Indiana, and Part Two expands these data to statewide urban forest estimates with the...

Climate limits across space and time on European forest structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moreno, A. L. S.; Neumann, M.; Hasenauer, H.

2017-12-01

The impact climate has on forests has been extensively studied. However, the large scale effect climate has on forest structures, such as average diameters, heights and basal area are understudied in a spatially explicit manner. The limits, tipping points and thresholds that climate places on forest structures dictate the services a forest may provide, the vulnerability of a forest to mortality and the potential value of the timber there within. The majority of current research either investigates climate impacts on forest pools and fluxes, on a tree physiological scale or on case studies that are used to extrapolate results and potential impacts. A spatially explicit study on how climate affects forest structure over a large region would give valuable information to stakeholders who are more concerned with ecosystem services that cannot be described by pools and fluxes but require spatially explicit information - such as biodiversity, habitat suitability, and market values. In this study, we quantified the limits that climate (maximum, minimum temperature and precipitation) places on 3 forest structures, diameter at breast height, height, and basal area throughout Europe. Our results show clear climatic zones of high and low upper limits for each forest structure variable studied. We also spatially analyzed how climate restricts the potential bio-physical upper limits and creates tipping points of each forest structure variable and which climate factors are most limiting. Further, we demonstrated how the climate change has affected 8 individual forests across Europe and then the continent as a whole. We find that diameter, height and basal area are limited by climate in different ways and that areas may have high upper limits in one structure and low upper limits in another limitted by different climate variables. We also found that even though individual forests may have increased their potential upper limit forest structure values, European forests as a whole have lost, on average, 5.0%, 1.7% and 6.5% in potential mean forest diameter, height and basal area, respectively.

Soil nitrogen levels are linked to decomposition enzyme activities along an urban-remote tropical forest gradient

Treesearch

D. F. Cusack

2013-01-01

Urban areas in tropical regions are expanding rapidly, with significant potential to affect local ecosystem dynamics. In particular, nitrogen (N) availability may increase in urban-proximate forests because of atmospheric N deposition. Unlike temperate forests, many tropical forests on highly weathered soils have high background N availability, so plant growth is...

Restoring ecosystem resilience to urban forests using Dutch elm disease-tolerant American elm trees

Treesearch

Charles E. Flower; Cornelia C. Pinchot; James M. Slavicek

2017-01-01

Urban forests contribute significantly to human health and environmental quality (Sanesi et al. 2011). As such, maintaining healthy urban forests resilient to pollution (atmospheric and soil), high temperatures, compacted soils, and poor drainage is critical. However, these forests have been hard hit by development, pests, and pathogens, consequently reshaping their...

Factors driving natural regeneration beneath a planted urban forest

Treesearch

Danica A. Doroski; Alexander J. Felson; Mark A. Bradford; Mark P. Ashton; Emily E. Oldfield; Richard A. Hallett; Sara E. Kuebbing

2018-01-01

Cities around the world are investing in urban forest plantings as a form of green infrastructure. The aim is that these plantations will develop into naturally-regenerating native forest stands. However, woody plant recruitment is often cited as the most limiting factor to creating self-sustaining urban forests. As such, there is interest in site treatments that...

Urban forests and parks as privacy refuges

Treesearch

William E. Hammitt

2002-01-01

Urban forests and parks are forested areas that can serve as refuges for privacy. This article presents a conceptual argument for urban forests and parks as privacy refuges, and data that support the argument. On-site visitors (n = 610) to four Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., Metroparks were surveyed in 1995. Results indicated that considerable amounts of privacy were obtained...

Intra-Urban Variability in Elemental Carbon Deposition to Tree Canopies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barrett, T. E.; Ponette-González, A.; Rindy, J. E.; Sheesley, R. J.

2017-12-01

Urban areas cover <1% of the earth's land surface, yet they represent globally significant sources of atmospheric elemental carbon (EC). A product of incomplete fossil fuel, biofuel, and biomass combustion, EC is a powerful climate-forcing agent and a significant component of fine particulate matter in urban atmospheres. Thus, understanding the factors that govern EC removal in urban areas could help mitigate climate change, while improving air quality for urban residents. EC particles can be removed from the atmosphere in precipitation (wet and fog deposition) or they can settle directly onto receptor surfaces (dry deposition). Only limited measurements indicate that EC deposition is higher in urban than in rural and remote regions. However, EC deposition likely exhibits considerable intra-urban variability, with tree canopies serving as potentially important sinks for EC on the cityscape. The goal of this research is to quantify spatial variability in total (wet + dry) EC deposition to urban tree canopies in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Using a stratified non-random sampling design, 41 oak trees (22 post oak (Quercus stellata) and 19 live oak (Quercus virginiana)) were selected near (<100 m) and far from roads (>100 m) for measurements of throughfall (water that falls from the canopy to the forest floor). Additionally, 16 bulk rainfall samplers were deployed in grassy areas with no canopy cover. Results from one rain event indicate a volume weighted mean concentration of 83 µg EC L-1 in post oak throughfall, 36 µg EC L-1 in live oak throughfall, and 4 µg EC L-1 in bulk rainfall. Total EC deposition to oak tree canopies was 2.0 ± 2.1 (SD) mg m-2 for post oak and 0.7 ± 0.3 mg m-2 for live oak. Bulk rainfall deposition was 0.08 ± 0.1 mg m-2. Our preliminary findings show that trees are effective urban air filters, removing 9-25 times more EC from the atmosphere than rainwater alone. Resolving surface controls on atmospheric EC removal is key to developing and assessing near-term climate and air quality mitigation strategies.

Forest environmental investments and implications for climate change mitigation.

Treesearch

Ralph J. Alig; Lucas S. Bair

2006-01-01

Forest environmental conditions are affected by climate change, but investments in forest environmental quality can be used as part of the climate change mitigation strategy. A key question involving the potential use of forests to store more carbon as part of climate change mitigation is the impact of forest investments on the timing and quantity of forest volumes...

Using AVIRIS data and multiple-masking techniques to map urban forest trees species

Treesearch

Q. Xiao; S.L. Ustin; E.G. McPherson

2004-01-01

Tree type and species information are critical parameters for urban forest management, benefit cost analysis and urban planning. However, traditionally, these parameters have been derived based on limited field samples in urban forest management practice. In this study we used high-resolution Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) data and multiple-...

Identifying forest lands in urban areas in the Central Hardwood Region

Treesearch

Thomas W. Birch; Rachel Riemann Hershey; Philip Kern

1997-01-01

Forests in urban areas are an important component of urban and suburban environments. They provide places for recreation and environmental education, wildlife habitat for species adapted to living near humans, contribute to general human physical and psychological health. Knowing how much and what type of forest exists in urban areas provides critical baseline data for...

Urban Forest Health Monitoring in the United States

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Daniel Twardus; Robert Hoehn; Manfred Mielke; Jeffery T. Walton; Daniel E. Crane; Anne Cumming; Jack C. Stevens

2006-01-01

To better understand the urban forest resource and its numerous values, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service has initiated a pilot program to sample the urban tree population in Indiana, Wisconsin, and New Jersey and statewide urban street tree populations in Maryland, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts. Results from the pilot study in Indiana revealed that...

Geospatial methods provide timely and comprehensive urban forest information

Treesearch

Kathleen T. Ward; Gary R. Johnson

2007-01-01

Urban forests are unique and highly valued resources. However, trees in urban forests are often under greater stress than those in rural or undeveloped areas due to soil compaction, restricted growing spaces, high temperatures, and exposure to air and water pollution. In addition, conditions change more quickly in urban as opposed to rural and undeveloped settings....

Vulnerability of forest vegetation to anthropogenic climate change in China.

PubMed

Wan, Ji-Zhong; Wang, Chun-Jing; Qu, Hong; Liu, Ran; Zhang, Zhi-Xiang

2018-04-15

China has large areas of forest vegetation that are critical to biodiversity and carbon storage. It is important to assess vulnerability of forest vegetation to anthropogenic climate change in China because it may change the distributions and species compositions of forest vegetation. Based on the equilibrium assumption of forest communities across different spatial and temporal scales, we used species distribution modelling coupled with endemics-area relationship to assess the vulnerability of 204 forest communities across 16 vegetation types under different climate change scenarios in China. By mapping the vulnerability of forest vegetation to climate change, we determined that 78.9% and 61.8% of forest vegetation should be relatively stable in the low and high concentration scenarios, respectively. There were large vulnerable areas of forest vegetation under anthropogenic climate change in northeastern and southwestern China. The vegetation of subtropical mixed broadleaf evergreen and deciduous forest, cold-temperate and temperate mountains needleleaf forest, and temperate mixed needleleaf and broadleaf deciduous forest types were the most vulnerable under climate change. Furthermore, the vulnerability of forest vegetation may increase due to high greenhouse gas concentrations. Given our estimates of forest vegetation vulnerability to anthropogenic climate change, it is critical that we ensure long-term monitoring of forest vegetation responses to future climate change to assess our projections against observations. We need to better integrate projected changes of temperature and precipitation into climate-adaptive conservation strategies for forest vegetation in China. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Minnesota forest ecosystem vulnerability assessment and synthesis: a report from the Northwoods Climate Change Response Framework project

Treesearch

Stephen Handler; Matthew J. Duveneck; Louis Iverson; Emily Peters; Robert M. Scheller; Kirk R. Wythers; Leslie Brandt; Patricia Butler; Maria Janowiak; P. Danielle Shannon; Chris Swanston; Kelly Barrett; Randy Kolka; Casey McQuiston; Brian Palik; Peter B. Reich; Clarence Turner; Mark White; Cheryl Adams; Anthony D' Amato; Suzanne Hagell; Patricia Johnson; Rosemary Johnson; Mike Larson; Stephen Matthews; Rebecca Montgomery; Steve Olson; Matthew Peters; Anantha Prasad; Jack Rajala; Jad Daley; Mae Davenport; Marla R. Emery; David Fehringer; Christopher L. Hoving; Gary Johnson; Lucinda Johnson; David Neitzel; Adena Rissman; Chadwick Rittenhouse; Robert. Ziel

2014-01-01

Forests in northern Minnesota will be affected directly and indirectly by a changing climate over the next 100 years. This assessment evaluates the vulnerability of forest ecosystems in Minnesota's Laurentian Mixed Forest Province to a range of future climates. Information on current forest conditions, observed climate trends, projected climate changes, and...

Seeing the forest beyond the carbon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwalm, C.; Giffen, A.; Duffy, P.; Houghton, R. A.; Lowenstein, F.; Perschel, R.; Rogers, B. M.

2016-12-01

Climate policy should be about more than obviating greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion. From Kyoto onward forests and forest management have played a role-albeit a misspecified one-in climate policy. The 2015 COP21 Paris Agreement took the unprecedented step of providing funding for REDD+; re-emphasizing the importance of forest stewardship as a policy vehicle. This step is welcome but still falls well short of leveraging the full effect of forests on climate in the context of policy. Forest-climate effects can be grouped in three broad categories: (1) land carbon sink, i.e., maximizing carbon contained in forest carbon stocks; (2) biophysical effects whereby forest structure and extent influence climate directly; and (3) the use of wood in long-lived structures, i.e., "build it with wood". This last category refers to offsetting fossil fuel emissions through forest management and the use of wood products. Climate policy strongly emphasizes the land carbon sink. This ignores management as a means to alter climate-through, for example, evaporative cooling, cloud engineering, and the albedo effect-as well as the up to 31% decrease in CO2 emissions if wood were substituted for other construction materials. We present a new framework for forest-based climate policy that accounts for all three types for forest-climate effects. A clear change in course is needed. This agenda-for-change must move toward policy and subsidy that foster forest management and use that (1) minimizes total CO2 emissions, (2) maximizes biophysical climate benefits, and (3) provides communities with still greater incentives to maintain forest cover and quality. Absent such incentives we are left with the prospect that we are not harnessing the full potential of forests in climate regulation. Indeed, we may be making our climate situation worse.

Soil respiration contributes substantially to urban carbon fluxes in the greater Boston area.

PubMed

Decina, Stephen M; Hutyra, Lucy R; Gately, Conor K; Getson, Jackie M; Reinmann, Andrew B; Short Gianotti, Anne G; Templer, Pamela H

2016-05-01

Urban areas are the dominant source of U.S. fossil fuel carbon dioxide (FFCO2) emissions. In the absence of binding international treaties or decisive U.S. federal policy for greenhouse gas regulation, cities have also become leaders in greenhouse gas reduction efforts through climate action plans. These plans focus on anthropogenic carbon flows only, however, ignoring a potentially substantial contribution to atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations from biological respiration. Our aim was to measure the contribution of CO2 efflux from soil respiration to atmospheric CO2 fluxes using an automated CO2 efflux system and to use these measurements to model urban soil CO2 efflux across an urban area. We find that growing season soil respiration is dramatically enhanced in urban areas and represents levels of CO2 efflux of up to 72% of FFCO2 within greater Boston's residential areas, and that soils in urban forests, lawns, and landscaped cover types emit 2.62 ± 0.15, 4.49 ± 0.14, and 6.73 ± 0.26 μmolCO2 m(-2) s(-1), respectively, during the growing season. These rates represent up to 2.2 times greater soil respiration than rates found in nearby rural ecosystems in central Massachusetts (MA), a potential consequence of imported carbon amendments, such as mulch, within a general regime of landowner management. As the scientific community moves rapidly towards monitoring, reporting, and verification of CO2 emissions using ground based approaches and remotely-sensed observations to measure CO2 concentrations, our results show that measurement and modeling of biogenic urban CO2 fluxes will be a critical component for verification of urban climate action plans. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Coast Range Ecoregion: Chapter 1 in Status and trends of land change in the Western United States--1973 to 2000

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sohl, Terry L.

2012-01-01

The Coast Range Ecoregion, which covers approximately 57,338 km2 (22,138 mi2), is a thin, linear ecoregion along the Pacific Coast, stretching roughly 1,300 km from the Olympic Peninsula, in northwest Washington, to an area south of San Francisco, California (fig. 1) (Omernik, 1987; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1997). It is bounded on the east by the Puget Lowland, the Willamette Valley, the Klamath Mountains, and the Southern and Central California Chaparral and Oak Woodlands Ecoregions. Almost the entire Coast Range Ecoregion lies within 100 km of the coast. Topography is highly variable, with coastal mountain ranges and valleys ranging from sea level to over 1,000 m in elevation (fig. 2). A maritime climate, along with high topographic relief, results in substantial, but regionally variable, amounts of rainfall, ranging from 130 cm to more than 350 cm per year. The favorable climate of the Coast Range Ecoregion has supported forests of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) along its northern coast and coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) along its southern coast, as well as Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), western red cedar (Thuja plicata), and western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) inland (Omernik, 1987). Today, however, much of the forest is heavily managed for logging (fig. 3), although the ecoregion still supports some of the largest remaining areas of old-growth forest in the Pacific Northwest. Agriculture is a minor component of the landscape, present locally in flat lands and valleys near the coast. Urban development is minimal; Eureka, California, is the only urban center in the ecoregion, with a population of over 26,000 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000).

The Long, Hard Journey: Expanding the Use of NASA Data and Models for Sustainable Development Planning Around the World

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Khan, Maudood; Limaye, Ashutosh; Crosson, William; Unal, Alper; Kete, nancy; Rickman, Douglas

2009-01-01

In 2007, the National Research Council's committee on Extending Observations and Research Results to Practical Applications recommended that NASA's Applied Science Program (ASP) directly engage with a broader community of users - not just federal agencies. Soon afterwards, scientists at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center began discussions on a collaborative research project with EMBARQ - the World Resource Institute's Center for Sustainable Transport. The discussions initially focused on how best to utilize satellite observations and atmospheric models for assessing the impact of a proposed transportation project on land use and air quality. Discussions exposed the participants to a broad spectrum of science and policy challenges that these diverse organizations face on a routine basis. It brought into clear focus the need for an observation-modeling system that will allow a proactive approach towards development planning, and the fact that satellite systems do not always provide the spatial and temporal resolution useful for urban-scale applications, underscoring the need for earth system models to bridge this gap. Realizing the significant risk that unplanned urbanization and climate change pose to the social and functional stability of large cities, both organizations decided to expand the scope of their preliminary discussion to include water resources and agriculture. A pilot project, funded by NASA ASP, EMBARQ and Istanbul Technical University focused on quantifying the magnitude and extent of urbanization in Istanbul, and analyzed the combined effect of urbanization and projected climate change on local climate, air quality, and its consequent effects on agricultural productivity. Preliminary results show that Istanbul has undergone a significant amount of Land Use/Land Cover change over the past two decades. While some forested areas have been lost to urban-landscapes, urbanization has mostly occurred over former croplands due to the fact that in contrast to forested areas, croplands have flat terrain, making them a more attractive target for conversion to urban land. The reduction in land area for agricultural and increase in temperature has reduced agricultural production in the vicinity of the city. The United Nations expects the world population to reach 9.2 billion by 2050. Most of this increase will be absorbed by countries that are least able to sustain it. Rapid economic growth is likely to continue and will require massive infrastructure investments. If not properly managed, the magnitude and extent of these initiatives will overwhelm sensitive ecosystems around the world. Successful relationships such as the one described here are critically important if we are to stabilize the threatened ecosystems on which human systems ultimately rely. The challenges, needs, culture, and operating environment of development planning organizations are fundamentally different from a research organization. An appreciation of these differences is a prerequisite for any successful collaboration.

Southern Foresters' Perceptions of Climate Change: Implications for Educational Program Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boby, Leslie; Hubbard, William; Megalos, Mark; Morris, Hilary L. C.

2016-01-01

An understanding of foresters' perceptions of climate change is important for developing effective educational programs on adaptive forest management. We surveyed 1,398 foresters in the southern United States regarding their perceptions of climate change, observations and concerns about climatic and forest conditions, and knowledge of and interest…

Updating beliefs and combining evidence in adaptive forest management under climate change: a case study of Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst) in the Black Forest, Germany.

PubMed

Yousefpour, Rasoul; Temperli, Christian; Bugmann, Harald; Elkin, Che; Hanewinkel, Marc; Meilby, Henrik; Jacobsen, Jette Bredahl; Thorsen, Bo Jellesmark

2013-06-15

We study climate uncertainty and how managers' beliefs about climate change develop and influence their decisions. We develop an approach for updating knowledge and beliefs based on the observation of forest and climate variables and illustrate its application for the adaptive management of an even-aged Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst) forest in the Black Forest, Germany. We simulated forest development under a range of climate change scenarios and forest management alternatives. Our analysis used Bayesian updating and Dempster's rule of combination to simulate how observations of climate and forest variables may influence a decision maker's beliefs about climate development and thereby management decisions. While forest managers may be inclined to rely on observed forest variables to infer climate change and impacts, we found that observation of climate state, e.g. temperature or precipitation is superior for updating beliefs and supporting decision-making. However, with little conflict among information sources, the strongest evidence would be offered by a combination of at least two informative variables, e.g., temperature and precipitation. The success of adaptive forest management depends on when managers switch to forward-looking management schemes. Thus, robust climate adaptation policies may depend crucially on a better understanding of what factors influence managers' belief in climate change. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Restoration treatments in urban park forests drive long-term changes in vegetation trajectories.

PubMed

Johnson, Lea R; Handel, Steven N

2016-04-01

Municipalities are turning to ecological restoration of urban forests as a measure to improve air quality, ameliorate urban heat island effects, improve storm water infiltration, and provide other social and ecological benefits. However, community dynamics following urban forest restoration treatments are poorly documented. This study examines the long-term effects of ecological restoration undertaken in New York City, New York, USA, to restore native forest in urban park natural areas invaded by woody non-native plants that are regional problems. In 2009 and 2010, we sampled vegetation in 30 invaded sites in three large public parks that were restored 1988-1993, and 30 sites in three large parks that were similarly invaded but had not been restored. Data from these matched plots reveal that the restoration treatment achieved its central goals. After 15-20 years, invasive species removal followed by native tree planting resulted in persistent structural and compositional shifts, significantly lower invasive species abundance, a more complex forest structure, and greater native tree recruitment. Together, these findings indicate that successional trajectories of vegetation dynamics have diverged between restored forests and invaded forests that were not restored. In addition, the data suggest that future composition of these urban forest patches will be novel assemblages. Restored and untreated sites shared a suite of shade-intolerant, quickly-growing tree species that colonize disturbed sites, indicating that restoration treatments created sites hospitable for germination and growth of species adapted to high light conditions and disturbed soils. These findings yield an urban perspective on the use of succession theory in ecological restoration. Models of ecological restoration developed in more pristine environments must be modified for use in cities. By anticipating both urban disturbances and ecological succession, management of urban forest patches can be adjusted to better predict and direct long-term outcomes. An urban approach to ecological restoration must use realistic, flexible targets to preserve and enhance urban biodiversity for both short-term benefits and long-term sustainability.

The interplay between climate change, forests, and disturbances.

PubMed

Dale, V H; Joyce, L A; McNulty, S; Neilson, R P

2000-11-15

Climate change affects forests both directly and indirectly through disturbances. Disturbances are a natural and integral part of forest ecosystems, and climate change can alter these natural interactions. When disturbances exceed their natural range of variation, the change in forest structure and function may be extreme. Each disturbance affects forests differently. Some disturbances have tight interactions with the species and forest communities which can be disrupted by climate change. Impacts of disturbances and thus of climate change are seen over a board spectrum of spatial and temporal scales. Future observations, research, and tool development are needed to further understand the interactions between climate change and forest disturbances.

Urban expansion in the forests of the Puget Sound region.

Treesearch

Colin D. MacLean; Charles L. Bolsinger

1997-01-01

As part of a 1979 forest resource inventory, over 9,000 points on aerial photographs were sorted into three development zones-primary forest, suburban, and urban. These same points were reexamined in 1989, and zone changes were noted. This report summarizes urban expansion into the primary forest lands of the Puget Sound region (Island, King, Kitsap, Pierce, San Juan,...

Growing the urban forest: tree performance in response to biotic and abiotic land management

Treesearch

Emily E. Oldfield; Alexander J. Felson; D. S. Novem Auyeung; Thomas W. Crowther; Nancy F. Sonti; Yoshiki Harada; Daniel S. Maynard; Noah W. Sokol; Mark S. Ashton; Robert J. Warren; Richard A. Hallett; Mark A. Bradford

2015-01-01

Forests are vital components of the urban landscape because they provide ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, storm-water mitigation, and air-quality improvement. To enhance these services, cities are investing in programs to create urban forests. A major unknown, however, is whether planted trees will grow into the mature, closed-canopied forest on which...

Evaluating the effects of historical land cover change on summertime weather and climate in New Jersey: Land cover and surface energy budget changes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wichansky, P.S.; Steyaert, L.T.; Walko, R.L.; Waever, C.P.

2008-01-01

The 19th-century agrarian landscape of New Jersey (NJ) and the surrounding region has been extensively transformed to the present-day land cover by urbanization, reforestation, and localized areas of deforestation. This study used a mesoscale atmospheric numerical model to investigate the sensitivity of the warm season climate of NJ to these land cover changes. Reconstructed 1880s-era and present-day land cover data sets were used as surface boundary conditions for a set of simulations performed with the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS). Three-member ensembles with historical and present-day land cover were compared to examine the sensitivity of surface air and dew point temperatures, rainfall, and the individual components of the surface energy budget to these land cover changes. Mean temperatures for the present-day landscape were 0.3-0.6??C warmer than for the historical landscape over a considerable portion of NJ and the surrounding region, with daily maximum temperatures at least 1.0??C warmer over some of the highly urbanized locations. Reforested regions, however, were slightly cooler. Dew point temperatures decreased by 0.3-0.6??C, suggesting drier, less humid near-surface air for the present-day landscape. Surface warming was generally associated with repartitioning of net radiation from latent to sensible heat flux, and conversely for cooling. While urbanization was accompanied by strong surface albedo decreases and increases in net shortwave radiation, reforestation and potential changes in forest composition have generally increased albedos and also enhanced landscape heterogeneity. The increased deciduousness of forests may have further reduced net downward longwave radiation. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.

Mercury in leaf litter in typical suburban and urban broadleaf forests in China.

PubMed

Niu, Zhenchuan; Zhang, Xiaoshan; Wang, Zhangwei; Ci, Zhijia

2011-01-01

To study the role of leaf litter in the mercury (Hg) cycle in suburban broadleaf forests and the distribution of Hg in urban forests, we collected leaf litter and soil from suburban evergreen and deciduous broadleaf forests and from urban forests in Beijing. The Hg concentrations in leaf litter from the suburban forests varied from 8.3 to 205.0 ng/g, with an average (avg) of (49.7 +/- 36.9) ng/g. The average Hg concentration in evergreen broadleaf forest leaf litter (50.8 + 39.4) ng/g was higher than that in deciduous broadleaf forest leaf litter (25.8 +/- 10.1) ng/g. The estimated Hg fluxes of leaf litter in suburban evergreen and deciduous broadleaf forests were 179.0 and 83.7 mg/(ha x yr), respectively. The Hg concentration in organic horizons (O horizons) ((263.1 +/- 237.2) ng/g) was higher than that in eluvial horizons (A horizons) ((83.9 +/- 52.0) ng/g). These results indicated that leaf litterfall plays an important role in transporting atmospheric mercury to soil in suburban forests. For urban forests in Beijing, the Hg concentrations in leaf litter ranged from 8.8-119.0 (avg 28.1 +/- 16.6) ng/g, with higher concentrations at urban sites than at suburban sites for each tree. The Hg concentrations in surface soil in Beijing were 32.0-25300.0 ng/g and increased from suburban sites to urban sites, with the highest value from Jingshan (JS) Park at the centre of Beijing. Therefore, the distribution of Hg in Beijing urban forests appeared to be strongly influenced by anthropogenic activities.

Compensatory value of an urban forest: an application of the tree-value formula

Treesearch

David J. Nowak

1993-01-01

Understanding the value of an urban forest can give decisionmakers a better foundation for urban tree management. According to the tree-valuation formula of the Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers, the estimated compensatory value of the urban forest in Oakland, California, (21% tree cover) is $385.7 million, with residential trees accounting for 58.6% of the...

A ground-based method of assessing urban forest structure and ecosystem services

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Daniel E. Crane; Jack C. Stevens; Robert E. Hoehn; Jeffrey T. Walton; Jerry Bond

2008-01-01

To properly manage urban forests, it is essential to have data on this important resource. An efficient means to obtain this information is to randomly sample urban areas. To help assess the urban forest structure (e.g., number of trees, species composition, tree sizes, health) and several functions (e.g., air pollution removal, carbon storage and sequestration), the...

Vulnerability of Forests in India: A National Scale Assessment.

PubMed

Sharma, Jagmohan; Upgupta, Sujata; Jayaraman, Mathangi; Chaturvedi, Rajiv Kumar; Bala, Govindswamy; Ravindranath, N H

2017-09-01

Forests are subjected to stress from climatic and non-climatic sources. In this study, we have reported the results of inherent, as well as climate change driven vulnerability assessments for Indian forests. To assess inherent vulnerability of forests under current climate, we have used four indicators, namely biological richness, disturbance index, canopy cover, and slope. The assessment is presented as spatial profile of inherent vulnerability in low, medium, high and very high vulnerability classes. Fourty percent forest grid points in India show high or very high inherent vulnerability. Plantation forests show higher inherent vulnerability than natural forests. We assess the climate change driven vulnerability by combining the results of inherent vulnerability assessment with the climate change impact projections simulated by the Integrated Biosphere Simulator dynamic global vegetation model. While 46% forest grid points show high, very high, or extremely high vulnerability under future climate in the short term (2030s) under both representative concentration pathways 4.5 and 8.5, such grid points are 49 and 54%, respectively, in the long term (2080s). Generally, forests in the higher rainfall zones show lower vulnerability as compared to drier forests under future climate. Minimizing anthropogenic disturbance and conserving biodiversity can potentially reduce forest vulnerability under climate change. For disturbed forests and plantations, adaptive management aimed at forest restoration is necessary to build long-term resilience.

Vulnerability of Forests in India: A National Scale Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Jagmohan; Upgupta, Sujata; Jayaraman, Mathangi; Chaturvedi, Rajiv Kumar; Bala, Govindswamy; Ravindranath, N. H.

2017-09-01

Forests are subjected to stress from climatic and non-climatic sources. In this study, we have reported the results of inherent, as well as climate change driven vulnerability assessments for Indian forests. To assess inherent vulnerability of forests under current climate, we have used four indicators, namely biological richness, disturbance index, canopy cover, and slope. The assessment is presented as spatial profile of inherent vulnerability in low, medium, high and very high vulnerability classes. Fourty percent forest grid points in India show high or very high inherent vulnerability. Plantation forests show higher inherent vulnerability than natural forests. We assess the climate change driven vulnerability by combining the results of inherent vulnerability assessment with the climate change impact projections simulated by the Integrated Biosphere Simulator dynamic global vegetation model. While 46% forest grid points show high, very high, or extremely high vulnerability under future climate in the short term (2030s) under both representative concentration pathways 4.5 and 8.5, such grid points are 49 and 54%, respectively, in the long term (2080s). Generally, forests in the higher rainfall zones show lower vulnerability as compared to drier forests under future climate. Minimizing anthropogenic disturbance and conserving biodiversity can potentially reduce forest vulnerability under climate change. For disturbed forests and plantations, adaptive management aimed at forest restoration is necessary to build long-term resilience.

Regional differences of urbanization in the conterminous U.S. on upland forest land cover, 1973-2011

USGS Publications Warehouse

Auch, Roger F.; Drummond, Mark A.; Xian, George Z.; Sayler, Kristi L.; Acevedo, William; Taylor, Janis

2016-01-01

In this U.S. Geological Survey study of forest land cover across the conterminous U.S. (CONUS), specific proportions and rates of forest conversion to developed (urban) land were assessed on an ecoregional basis. The study period was divided into six time intervals between 1973 and 2011. Forest land cover was the source of 40% or more of the new urban land in 35 of the 84 ecoregions located within the CONUS. In 11 of these ecoregions this threshold exceeded in every time interval. When the percent of change, forest to urban, was compared to the percent of forest in each ecoregion, 58 ecoregions had a greater percent of change and, in six of those, change occurred in every time interval. Annual rates of forest to urban land cover change of 0.2% or higher occurred in 12 ecoregions at least once and in one ecoregion in all intervals. There were three ecoregions where the above conditions were met for nearly every time interval. Even though only a small number of the ecoregions were heavily impacted by forest loss to urban development within the CONUS, the ecosystem services provided by undeveloped forest land cover need to be quantified more completely to better inform future regional land management.

Suggestions for Forest Conservation Policy under Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choe, H.; Thorne, J. H.; Lee, D. K.; Seo, C.

2015-12-01

Climate change and the destruction of natural habitats by land-use change are two main factors in decreasing terrestrial biodiversity. Studying land-use and climate change and their impact under different scenarios can help suggest policy directions for future events. This study explores the spatial results of different land use and climate models on the extent of species rich areas in South Korea. We built land use models of forest conversion and created four 2050 scenarios: (1) a loss trend following current levels, resulting in 15.5% lost; (2) similar loss, but with forest conservation in areas with suitable future climates; (3) a reduction of forest loss by 50%; and (4) a combination of preservation of forest climate refugia and overall reduction of loss by 50%. Forest climate refugia were identified through the use of species distribution models run on 1,031 forest plant species to project current and 2050 distributions. We calculated change in species richness under four climate projections, permitting an assessment of forest refugia zones. We then crossed the four land use models with the climate-driven change in species richness. Forest areas predominantly convert to agricultural areas, while climate-suitable extents for forest plants decline and move northward, especially to higher elevations. Scenario 2, that has the higher level of deforestation but protects future species rich areas, conserves nearly as much future biodiversity as scenario 3, which reduced deforestation rates by 50%. This points to the importance of including biogeographic climate dynamics in forest policy. Scenario 4 was the most effective at conserving forest biodiversity. We suggest conserving forest areas with suitable climates for biodiversity conservation and the establishment of monoculture plantations targeted to areas where species richness will decline based on our results.

75 FR 64985 - National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-21

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: The National Urban and Community..., recommendations for the Secretary of Agriculture, develop the 2011 plan of work, meet with the Forest Services's...

[Simulation study on the effects of climate change on aboveground biomass of plantation in southern China: Taking Moshao forest farm in Huitong Ecological Station as an example].

PubMed

Dai, Er Fu; Zhou, Heng; Wu, Zhuo; Wang, Xiao-Fan; Xi, Wei Min; Zhu, Jian Jia

2016-10-01

Global climate warming has significant effect on territorial ecosystem, especially on forest ecosystem. The increase in temperature and radiative forcing will significantly alter the structure and function of forest ecosystem. The southern plantation is an important part of forests in China, its response to climate change is getting more and more intense. In order to explore the responses of southern plantation to climate change under future climate scenarios and to reduce the losses that might be caused by climate change, we used climatic estimated data under three new emission scenarios, representative concentration pathways (RCPs) scenarios (RCP2.6 scenario, RCP4.5 scenario, and RCP8.5 scenario). We used the spatially dynamic forest landscape model LANDIS-2, coupled with a forest ecosystem process model PnET-2, to simulate the impact of climate change on aboveground net primary production (ANPP), species' establishment probability (SEP) and aboveground biomass of Moshao forest farm in Huitong Ecological Station, which located in Hunan Province during the period of 2014-2094. The results showed that there were obvious differences in SEP and ANPP among different forest types under changing climate. The degrees of response of SEP to climate change for different forest types were shown as: under RCP2.6 and RCP4.5, artificial coniferous forest>natural broadleaved forest>artificial broadleaved forest. Under RCP8.5, natural broadleaved forest>artificial broadleaved forest>artificial coniferous forest. The degrees of response of ANPP to climate change for different forest types were shown as: under RCP2.6, artificial broadleaved forest> natural broadleaved forest>artificial coniferous forest. Under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, natural broadleaved forest>artificial broadleaved forest>artificial coniferous forest. The aboveground biomass of the artificial coniferous forest would decline at about 2050, but the natural broadleaved forest and artificial broadleaved forest showed a rising trend in general. During the period of 2014-2094, the total aboveground biomass under RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios increased by 68.2%, 79.3% and 72.6%, respectively. The total aboveground biomass under various climatic scenarios sort as: RCP4.5>RCP8.5>RCP2.6. We thought that an appropriate temperature might be beneficial to the biomass accumulation in this study area. However, overextended temperature might hinder the sustainable development of forest production and ecological function.

Urban climate modifies tree growth in Berlin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dahlhausen, Jens; Rötzer, Thomas; Biber, Peter; Uhl, Enno; Pretzsch, Hans

2017-12-01

Climate, e.g., air temperature and precipitation, differs strongly between urban and peripheral areas, which causes diverse life conditions for trees. In order to compare tree growth, we sampled in total 252 small-leaved lime trees (Tilia cordata Mill) in the city of Berlin along a gradient from the city center to the surroundings. By means of increment cores, we are able to trace back their growth for the last 50 to 100 years. A general growth trend can be shown by comparing recent basal area growth with estimates from extrapolating a growth function that had been fitted with growth data from earlier years. Estimating a linear model, we show that air temperature and precipitation significantly influence tree growth within the last 20 years. Under consideration of housing density, the results reveal that higher air temperature and less precipitation led to higher growth rates in high-dense areas, but not in low-dense areas. In addition, our data reveal a significantly higher variance of the ring width index in areas with medium housing density compared to low housing density, but no temporal trend. Transferring the results to forest stands, climate change is expected to lead to higher tree growth rates.

Urban climate modifies tree growth in Berlin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dahlhausen, Jens; Rötzer, Thomas; Biber, Peter; Uhl, Enno; Pretzsch, Hans

2018-05-01

Climate, e.g., air temperature and precipitation, differs strongly between urban and peripheral areas, which causes diverse life conditions for trees. In order to compare tree growth, we sampled in total 252 small-leaved lime trees ( Tilia cordata Mill) in the city of Berlin along a gradient from the city center to the surroundings. By means of increment cores, we are able to trace back their growth for the last 50 to 100 years. A general growth trend can be shown by comparing recent basal area growth with estimates from extrapolating a growth function that had been fitted with growth data from earlier years. Estimating a linear model, we show that air temperature and precipitation significantly influence tree growth within the last 20 years. Under consideration of housing density, the results reveal that higher air temperature and less precipitation led to higher growth rates in high-dense areas, but not in low-dense areas. In addition, our data reveal a significantly higher variance of the ring width index in areas with medium housing density compared to low housing density, but no temporal trend. Transferring the results to forest stands, climate change is expected to lead to higher tree growth rates.

Urban climate modifies tree growth in Berlin.

PubMed

Dahlhausen, Jens; Rötzer, Thomas; Biber, Peter; Uhl, Enno; Pretzsch, Hans

2018-05-01

Climate, e.g., air temperature and precipitation, differs strongly between urban and peripheral areas, which causes diverse life conditions for trees. In order to compare tree growth, we sampled in total 252 small-leaved lime trees (Tilia cordata Mill) in the city of Berlin along a gradient from the city center to the surroundings. By means of increment cores, we are able to trace back their growth for the last 50 to 100 years. A general growth trend can be shown by comparing recent basal area growth with estimates from extrapolating a growth function that had been fitted with growth data from earlier years. Estimating a linear model, we show that air temperature and precipitation significantly influence tree growth within the last 20 years. Under consideration of housing density, the results reveal that higher air temperature and less precipitation led to higher growth rates in high-dense areas, but not in low-dense areas. In addition, our data reveal a significantly higher variance of the ring width index in areas with medium housing density compared to low housing density, but no temporal trend. Transferring the results to forest stands, climate change is expected to lead to higher tree growth rates.

Urban soils as hotspots of anthropogenic carbon accumulation: Review of stocks, mechanisms and factors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vasenev, Viacheslav; Kuzyakov, Yakov

2017-04-01

Urban soils and cultural layers accumulate carbon (C) over centuries and consequently large C stocks are sequestered below the cities. These C stocks as well as the full range of processes and mechanisms leading to high C accumulation in urban soils remain unknown. We collected data on organic (SOC), inorganic (SOC) and black (pyrogenic) (BC) C content in urban and natural soils from 100 papers based on Scopus and Web-of-Knowledge databases. The yielded database includes 770 values on SOC, SIC and BC stocks from 118 cities worldwide. The collected data were analyzed considering the effects of climatic conditions and urban-specific factors: city size, age and functional zoning. For the whole range of climatic conditions, the C contents in urban soils were 1.5-3 times higher than in respective natural soils. This higher C content and much deeper C accumulation in urban soils resulted in 3 to 5 times higher C stocks compared to natural soils. Urban SOC stocks were positively correlated with latitude, whereas SIC stocks were less affected by climate. The city size and age were the main factors controlling intra-city variability of C stocks with higher stocks in small cities compared to megapolises and in medieval compared to new cities. The inter-city variability of C stocks was dominated by functional zoning: large SOC and N stocks in residential areas and large SIC and BC stocks in industrial zones and roadsides were similar for all climates and for cities of different size and age. Substantial stocks of SOC, SIC and N were sequestered for long-term in the subsoils and cultural layers of the sealed soils, which underline the importance of these 'hidden' stocks for C assessments. Typical and specific for urban soils is that the anthropogenic factor overshadows the other five factors of soil formation. Substantial C stocks in urban soils and cultural layers result from specific mechanisms of C accumulation in cities: i) large and long-term C inputs from outside the city (e.g. suburban, agricultural and forest areas), and ii) C accumulation in parallel with upward soil growing without complete mineralization (common in natural soils). These mechanisms result over long period in gradual growing-up of urban soils and C accumulation. The average rate of urban soils' uprising growth of 50 cm per century and the average SOC contents of 3-5% led conclude that urban soils accumulate 15-30 kg C m-2 per century without steady state (common for all natural soils). These factors lead to high potential of urban soils for long-term C sequestration. We conclude that despite small area under the cities, urban soils are hotspots of belowground long-term C sequestration worldwide and the importance of urban soils will increase in future with global urbanization.

Demand-based urban forest planning using high-resolution remote sensing and AHP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolanuvada, Srinivasa Raju; Mariappan, Muneeswaran; Krishnan, Vani

2016-05-01

Urban forest planning is important for providing better urban ecosystem services and conserve the natural carbon sinks inside the urban area. In this study, a demand based urban forest plan was developed for Chennai city by using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Population density, Tree cover, Air quality index and Carbon stocks are the parameters were considered in this study. Tree cover and Above Ground Biomass (AGB) layers were prepared at a resolution of 1m from airborne LiDAR and aerial photos. The ranks and weights are assigned by the spatial priority using AHP. The results show that, the actual status of the urban forest is not adequate to provide ecosystem services on spatial priority. From this perspective, we prepared a demand based plan for improving the urban ecosystem.

The impact of future forest dynamics on climate: interactive effects of changing vegetation and disturbance regimes.

PubMed

Thom, Dominik; Rammer, Werner; Seidl, Rupert

2017-11-01

Currently, the temperate forest biome cools the earth's climate and dampens anthropogenic climate change. However, climate change will substantially alter forest dynamics in the future, affecting the climate regulation function of forests. Increasing natural disturbances can reduce carbon uptake and evaporative cooling, but at the same time increase the albedo of a landscape. Simultaneous changes in vegetation composition can mitigate disturbance impacts, but also influence climate regulation directly (e.g., via albedo changes). As a result of a number of interactive drivers (changes in climate, vegetation, and disturbance) and their simultaneous effects on climate-relevant processes (carbon exchange, albedo, latent heat flux) the future climate regulation function of forests remains highly uncertain. Here we address these complex interactions to assess the effect of future forest dynamics on the climate system. Our specific objectives were (1) to investigate the long-term interactions between changing vegetation composition and disturbance regimes under climate change, (2) to quantify the response of climate regulation to changes in forest dynamics, and (3) to identify the main drivers of the future influence of forests on the climate system. We investigated these issues using the individual-based forest landscape and disturbance model (iLand). Simulations were run over 200 yr for Kalkalpen National Park (Austria), assuming different future climate projections, and incorporating dynamically responding wind and bark beetle disturbances. To consistently assess the net effect on climate the simulated responses of carbon exchange, albedo, and latent heat flux were expressed as contributions to radiative forcing. We found that climate change increased disturbances (+27.7% over 200 yr) and specifically bark beetle activity during the 21st century. However, negative feedbacks from a simultaneously changing tree species composition (+28.0% broadleaved species) decreased disturbance activity in the long run (-10.1%), mainly by reducing the host trees available for bark beetles. Climate change and the resulting future forest dynamics significantly reduced the climate regulation function of the landscape, increasing radiative forcing by up to +10.2% on average over 200 yr. Overall, radiative forcing was most strongly driven by carbon exchange. We conclude that future changes in forest dynamics can cause amplifying climate feedbacks from temperate forest ecosystems.

Forest ecosystems: Vegetation, disturbance, and economics: Chapter 5

USGS Publications Warehouse

Littell, Jeremy S.; Hicke, Jeffrey A.; Shafer, Sarah L.; Capalbo, Susan M.; Houston, Laurie L.; Glick, Patty

2013-01-01

Forests cover about 47% of the Northwest (NW–Washington, Oregon, and Idaho) (Smith et al. 2009, fig. 5.1, table 5.1). The impacts of current and future climate change on NW forest ecosystems are a product of the sensitivities of ecosystem processes to climate and the degree to which humans depend on and interact with those systems. Forest ecosystem structure and function, particularly in relatively unmanaged forests where timber harvest and other land use have smaller effects, is sensitive to climate change because climate has a strong influence on ecosystem processes. Climate can affect forest structure directly through its control of plan physiology and life history (establishment, individual growth, productivity, and morality) or indirectly through its control of disturbance (fire, insects, disease). As climate changes, many forest processes will be affected, altering ecosystem services such as timber production and recreation. These changes have socioeconomic implications (e.g. for timber economies) and will require changes to current management of forests. Climate and management will interact to determine the forests of the future, and the scientific basis for adaptation to climate change in forests thus depends significantly on how forests will be affected.

76 FR 44893 - National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-27

... position descriptions from the U.S. Forest Service's Urban and Community Forestry Web site: http://www.fs... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of May Call for Nominations 2011. SUMMARY: The National...

Chapter 13: Water and Forests

Treesearch

Graeme Lockaby; Chelsea Nagy; James M. Vose; Chelcy R. Ford; Ge Sun; Steve McNulty; Pete Caldwell; Erika Cohen; Jennifer Moore Meyers

2011-01-01

Forest conversion to agriculture or urban use consistently causes increased discharge, peak flow, and velocity of streams. Subregional differences in hydrologic responses to urbanization are substantial. Sediment, water chemistry indices, pathogens, and other substances often become more concentrated after forest conversion. If the conversion is to an urban use, the...

Controls on Nitrogen Retention and Loss in Urban and Rural Forest Ecosystems.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Templer, P. H.

2011-12-01

Human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels and production of fertilizer, have increased the amount of nitrogen deposited onto terrestrial ecosystems. In addition to changes in atmospheric deposition of nitrogen, other human-induced disturbances have led to dramatic shifts in forest composition of the United States over the last 100 years. Tree species composition of many forests is changing in response to introduced pests and pathogens, competition with introduced plant species and changes in climate. Understanding the combined effects of increased nitrogen inputs and changes in plant species composition on forest nitrogen cycling is critical to our understanding of forest biogeochemistry and nutrient budgets. Despite several decades of research on the effects of atmospheric nitrogen deposition, there is still significant uncertainty about the factors that regulate nitrogen retention and loss in forest ecosystems. The use of natural abundance stable isotopes of nitrogen and oxygen has proven to be a powerful tool for tracing the sources of nitrate in water, from inputs to leaching, as it moves through an ecosystem. The evaluation of natural abundance nitrogen values in atmospheric deposition has been used to partition sources of nitrogen, such as coal-fired power plants vs. tailpipe exhaust, since each of their isotopic signatures is distinct. Similarly, natural abundance oxygen values of nitrate in atmospheric inputs and soil leachate have been used as a tool to partition sources of nitrate between precipitation and nitrate produced microbially during nitrification. We measured the natural abundance isotopic composition of nitrate to quantify rates of nitrogen inputs to the forest and to determine rates of nitrogen losses from healthy, declining and preemptively cut eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) stands in both an urban forest at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, MA, and a rural forest at Harvard Forest in Petersham, MA. The hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae Annand), an introduced aphid-like insect from Japan, threatens hemlock stands throughout the eastern United States. The hemlock woolly adelgid was first reported in forests of the eastern United States in the early 1950s and is currently leading to mortality of eastern hemlock trees from Georgia to Massachusetts. We found that rates of nitrogen inputs to the forest floor were 4-5 times greater, and rates of nitrogen losses via leachate were more than ten times greater, at the Arnold Arboretum compared to Harvard Forest. Our results also show that current management regimes used to control the hemlock woolly adelgid, such as salvage cutting, may be reducing nitrogen losses in urban areas due to rapid regrowth of vegetation and the associated uptake of nitrogen by those plants. In contrast, cutting of trees in rural areas may be leading to proportionately greater losses of nitrogen in those sites, though the total magnitude of nitrogen lost is still smaller than in urban sites. Results of this study suggest that the combination of the hemlock woolly adelgid, atmospheric nitrogen inputs and management practices lead to changes in the nitrogen cycle within eastern hemlock forest ecosystems.

San Juan Bay Estuary watershed urban forest inventory

Treesearch

Thomas J. Brandeis; Francisco J. Escobedo; Christina L. Staudhammer; David J. Nowak; Wayne C. Zipperer

2014-01-01

We present information on the urban forests and land uses within the watershed of Puerto Rico’s 21 658-ha San Juan Bay Estuary based on urban forest inventories undertaken in 2001 and 2011. We found 2548 ha of mangrove and subtropical moist secondary forests covering 11.8 percent of the total watershed area in 2011. Red, black, and white mangroves (Rhizophora...

Management and protection of peri-urban forests of three towns in Greece

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Georgi, J.; Zigkiris, S.; Ftika, Z.; Konstantinidou, E.

2016-08-01

The satisfaction of continuous leisure demand in suburban forest requires a proper management of space so as on the one hand to provide better services to visitors and on the other hand to protect against excessive and improper use by guests. In the present study we investigated and analyzed the current situation of the suburban forests of Drama, Limni and Elassona and proposed the appropriate future management. The views of residents are reflected in primary research using a questionnaire (personal interview). The results focus, regardless of the region, to the multiple roles played by suburban forests for urban and suburban areas. The integration of suburban forests and especially of all the urban green as key elements of spatial planning and urban reconstruction of large and small urban centers, are the means that will create favorable conditions for future upgrading of suburban forests in order to sufficiently accomplish a modern triple role; productive, ecological and social.

Estimation of biogeochemical climate regulation services in Chinese forest ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Y.; Li, S.

2016-12-01

As the global climate is changing, the climate regulation service of terrestrial ecosystem has been widely studied. Forests, as one of the most important terrestrial ecosystem types, is the biggest carbon pool or sink on land and can regulate climate through both biophysical and biogeochemical means. China is a country with vast forested areas and a variety of forest ecosystems types. Although current studies have related the climate regulation service of forest in China with biophysical or biogeochemical mechanism, there is still a lack of quantitative estimation of climate regulation services, especially for the biogeochemical climate regulation service. The GHGV (greenhouse gas value) is an indicator that can quantify the biochemical climate regulation service using ecosystems' stored organic matter, annual greenhouse gas flux, and potential greenhouse gas exchange rates during disturbances over a multiple year time frame. Therefore, we used GHGV to estimate the contribution of China's ten main forest types to biogeochemical climate regulation and generate the pattern of biochemical climate regulation service in Chinese forest ecosystems.

Urban forest cover of the Chicago region and its relation to household density and income

Treesearch

Louis R. Iverson; Elizabeth A. Cook; Elizabeth A. Cook

2000-01-01

Urban forests and herbaceous open space play a vital role in the environmental and aesthetic ?health? of cities, yet they are rarely identified in land-use inventories of urban areas. To provide information on urban forests and other vegetative land cover in Illinois cities, Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data from June 27, 1988, were classified for the Chicago...

Assessing urban forest effects and values, Scranton's urban forest

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Robert E. III Hoehn; Daniel E. Crane; Jack C. Stevens; Vincent Cotrone

2010-01-01

An analysis of trees in the urbanized portion of Scranton, PA, reveals that this area has about 1.2 million trees with canopies that cover 22.0 percent of the area. The most common tree species are red maple, gray birch, black cherry, northern red oak, and quaking aspen. Scranton's urban forest currently store about 93,300 tons of carbon valued at $1.9 million. In...

Vegetation composition and structure of forest patches along urban-rural gradients

Treesearch

W.C. Zipperer; G.R. Guntenspergen

2009-01-01

The urban landscape is highly altered by human activities and is a mosaic of different land covers and land uses. Imbedded in this are forest patches of different origins (Zipperer et al .• 1997). How these patches influence and are influenced by the urban landscape is of ecological importance when managing the urban forest for ecosystem goods and services.

Modelling the Spatial-temporal Variation of Urban/peri-urban Forests and Their Ecosystem Services: a Case Study of North-West Sydney

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Odeh, I. A.; Zou, X. L.

2015-12-01

In terms of total terrestrial sequestered carbon, the global soils and forests are recognized as the predominant C sinks. Even though urban forests stored a relatively small proportion of the total terrestrial C, they also provide other important ecosystem services such as improving air quality, cooling effect in buildings and aesthetics. Thus in view of these environmental services the quantification of urban tree is increasingly viewed as essential to the understanding of how these ecosystem services can be optimized. The aims of this paper are to: i) quantify the spatial-temporal distribution of urban forests in Northwest Sydney using remote sensing techniques; ii) determine the total urban C-storage over many decades; iii) apply UFORE model to estimate air pollutant removal ability of urban forest. The results revealed the estimated total trees in Northwest Sydney in 2011was approximately 2.3 million. These urban forests potentially store an estimated 1.3 million tons of carbon in various forms such as biomass, soil carbon, etc. The relative carbon sequestration rate of these trees was estimated to be about 20,500 tC/yr (equivalent to AUD 467,000/year). Furthermore, the results show that trees near buildings can potentially avoid AUD 12.9 million of energy cost every year and 70000 tons of carbon emission, the latter which is equivalent to additional savings of nearly AUD 1.6 million per year. We also estimated that urban forests in the study area could potentially remove about 44,600 tons of pollutants (mainly greenhouse gases) annually equivalent to a saving of about AUD 409 million per year. Thus the results reveal the spatial-temporal variation of urban vegetation in the last twenty year between 1991 and 2011. The study has showcased the importance and potential role of urban forests in preserving carbon and thus reducing GHG emissions into atmosphere. Furthermore, these results highlight the significant value of urban forests in term of pollutant removal. The significance of these outcomes, if extrapolated to other cities of Australia and the world, is huge.

An isoline separating relatively warm from relatively cool wintertime forest surface temperatures for the southeastern United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wickham, J.; Wade, T. G.; Riitters, K. H.

2014-09-01

Forest-oriented climate mitigation policies promote forestation as a means to increase uptake of atmospheric carbon to counteract global warming. Some have pointed out that a carbon-centric forest policy may be overstated because it discounts biophysical aspects of the influence of forests on climate. In extra-tropical regions, many climate models have shown that forests tend to be warmer than grasslands and croplands because forest albedos tend to be lower than non-forest albedos. A lower forest albedo results in higher absorption of solar radiation and increased sensible warming that is not offset by the cooling effects of carbon uptake in extra-tropical regions. However, comparison of forest warming potential in the context of climate models is based on a coarse classification system of tropical, temperate, and boreal. There is considerable variation in climate within the broad latitudinal zonation of tropical, temperate, and boreal, and the relationship between biophysical (albedo) and biogeochemical (carbon uptake) mechanisms may not be constant within these broad zones. We compared wintertime forest and non-forest surface temperatures for the southeastern United States and found that forest surface temperatures shifted from being warmer than non-forest surface temperatures north of approximately 36°N to cooler south of 36°N. Our results suggest that the biophysical aspects of forests' influence on climate reinforce the biogeochemical aspects of forests' influence on climate south of 36°N. South of 36°N, both biophysical and biogeochemical properties of forests appear to support forestation as a climate mitigation policy. We also provide some quantitative evidence that evergreen forests tend to have cooler wintertime surface temperatures than deciduous forests that may be attributable to greater evapotranspiration rates.

Biogenic Aerosols—Effects on Clouds and Climate (BAECC) Final Campaign Summary

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Petäjä, T; Moisseev, D; Sinclair, V

Atmospheric aerosol particles impact human health in urban environments, while on regional and global scales they can affect climate patterns, the hydrological cycle, and the intensity of radiation that reaches the Earth’s surface. In spite of recent advances in the understanding of aerosol formation processes and the links between aerosol dynamics and biosphere-atmosphere-climate interactions, great challenges remain in the analysis of related processes on a global scale. Boreal forests, situated in a circumpolar belt in the Northern latitudes throughout the United States, Canada, Russia, and Scandinavia, are, of all biomes, among the most active areas of atmospheric aerosol formation. Themore » formation of aerosol particles and their growth to cloud condensation nuclei sizes in these areas are associated with biogenic volatile organic emissions (BVOC) from vegetation and soil.« less

National forest economic clusters: a new model for assessing national-forest-based natural resources products and services.

Treesearch

Thomas D. Rojas

2007-01-01

National forest lands encompass numerous rural and urban communities. Some national-forest-based communities lie embedded within national forests, and others reside just outside the official boundaries of national forests. The urban and rural communities within or near national forest lands include a wide variety of historical traditions and cultural values that affect...

Human and biophysical legacies shape contemporary urban forests: A literature synthesis

Treesearch

Lara A. Roman; Hamil Pearsall; Theodore S. Eisenman; Tenley M. Conway; Robert T. Fahey; Shawn Landry; Jess Vogt; Natalie S. van Doorn; J. Morgan Grove; Dexter H. Locke; Adrina C. Bardekjian; John J. Battles; Mary L. Cadenasso; Cecil C. Konijnendijk van den Bosch; Meghan Avolio; Adam Berland; G. Darrel Jenerette; Sarah K. Mincey; Diane E. Pataki; Christina Staudhammer

2018-01-01

Understanding how urban forests developed their current patterns of tree canopy cover, species composition, and diversity requires an appreciation of historical legacy effects. However, analyses of current urban forest characteristics are often limited to contemporary socioeconomic factors, overlooking the role of history. The institutions, human communities, and...

Modeling the human invader in the United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stohlgren, Thomas J.; Jarnevich, Catherine S.; Giri, Chandra P.

2010-01-01

Modern biogeographers recognize that humans are seen as constituents of ecosystems, drivers of significant change, and perhaps, the most invasive species on earth. We found it instructive to model humans as invasive organisms with the same environmental factors. We present a preliminary model of the spread of modern humans in the conterminous United States between 1992 and 2001 based on a subset of National Land Cover Data (NLCD), a time series LANDSAT product. We relied on the commonly used Maxent model, a species-environmental matching model, to map urbanization. Results: Urban areas represented 5.1% of the lower 48 states in 2001, an increase of 7.5% (18,112 km2) in the nine year period. At this rate, an area the size of Massachusetts is converted to urban land use every ten years. We used accepted models commonly used for mapping plant and animal distributions and found that climatic and environmental factors can strongly predict our spread (i.e., the conversion of forests, shrub/grass, and wetland areas into urban areas), with a 92.5% success rate (Area Under the Curve). Adding a roads layer in the model improved predictions to a 95.5% success rate. 8.8% of the 1-km2> cells in the conterminous U.S. now have a major road in them. In 2001, 0.8% of 1-km2 > cells in the U.S. had an urbanness value of > 800, (>89% of a 1-km2> cell is urban), while we predict that 24.5% of 1-km2> cells in the conterminous U.S. will be > 800 eventually. Main conclusion: Humans have a highly predictable pattern of urbanization based on climatic and topographic variables. Conservation strategies may benefit from that predictability.

Variation in streamwater quality in an Urban Headwater Stream in the Southern Appalachians

Treesearch

Barton D. Clinton; James M. Vose

2006-01-01

We examined the influence of a forested landscape on the quality of water in a stream originating on an urban landscape and flowing through National Forest lands. Sample sites included an urban stream (URB), a site on the same stream but within a National Forest (FOR) and 2 km downstream from the URB site, and a small, undisturbed, forested reference tributary of the...

The changing effects of Alaska's boreal forest on the climate system

Treesearch

E.S. Euskirchen; A.D. McGuire; F.S. Chapin; T.S. Rupp

2010-01-01

In the boreal forests of Alaska, recent changes in climate have influenced the exchange of trace gases, water, and energy between these forests and the atmosphere. These changes in the structure and function of boreal forests can then feed back to impact regional and global climates. We examine the type and magnitude of the climate feedbacks from boreal forests in...

The potential negative impacts of global climate change on tropical montane cloud forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foster, Pru

2001-10-01

Nearly every aspect of the cloud forest is affected by regular cloud immersion, from the hydrological cycle to the species of plants and animals within the forest. Since the altitude band of cloud formation on tropical mountains is limited, the tropical montane cloud forest occurs in fragmented strips and has been likened to island archipelagoes. This isolation and uniqueness promotes explosive speciation, exceptionally high endemism, and a great sensitivity to climate. Global climate change threatens all ecosystems through temperature and rainfall changes, with a typical estimate for altitude shifts in the climatic optimum for mountain ecotones of hundreds of meters by the time of CO 2 doubling. This alone suggests complete replacement of many of the narrow altitude range cloud forests by lower altitude ecosystems, as well as the expulsion of peak residing cloud forests into extinction. However, the cloud forest will also be affected by other climate changes, in particular changes in cloud formation. A number of global climate models suggest a reduction in low level cloudiness with the coming climate changes, and one site in particular, Monteverde, Costa Rica, appears to already be experiencing a reduction in cloud immersion. The coming climate changes appear very likely to upset the current dynamic equilibrium of the cloud forest. Results will include biodiversity loss, altitude shifts in species' ranges and subsequent community reshuffling, and possibly forest death. Difficulties for cloud forest species to survive in climate-induced migrations include no remaining location with a suitable climate, no pristine location to colonize, migration rates or establishment rates that cannot keep up with climate change rates and new species interactions. We review previous cloud forest species redistributions in the paleo-record in light of the coming changes. The characteristic epiphytes of the cloud forest play an important role in the light, hydrological and nutrient cycles of the cloud forest and are especially sensitive to atmospheric climate change, especially humidity, as the epiphytes can occupy incredibly small eco-niches from the canopy to crooks to trunks. Even slight shifts in climate can cause wilting or death to the epiphyte community. Similarly, recent cloud forest animal redistributions, notably frog and lizard disappearances, may be driven by climate changes. Death of animals or epiphytes may have cascading effects on the cloud forest web of life. Aside from changes in temperature, precipitation, and cloudiness, other climate changes may include increasing dry seasons, droughts, hurricanes and intense rain storms, all of which might increase damage to the cloud forest. Because cloud forest species occupy such small areas and tight ecological niches, they are not likely to colonize damaged regions. Fire, drought and plant invasions (especially non-native plants) are likely to increase the effects of any climate change damage in the cloud forest. As has frequently been suggested in the literature, all of the above factors combine to make the cloud forest a likely site for observing climate change effects in the near future.

Spatial and temporal patterns of microclimates at an urban forest edge and their management implications.

PubMed

Li, Yingnan; Kang, Wanmo; Han, Yiwen; Song, Youngkeun

2018-01-23

Fragmented forests generate a variety of forest edges, leading to microclimates in the edge zones that differ from those in the forest interior. Understanding microclimatic variation is an important consideration for managers because it helps when making decisions about how to restrict the extent of edge effects. Thus, our study attempted to characterize the changing microclimate features at an urban forest edge located on Mt. Gwanak, Seoul, South Korea. We examined edge effects on air temperature, relative humidity, soil temperature, soil moisture, and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) during the hottest three consecutive days in August 2016. Results showed that each variable responded differently to the edge effects. This urban forest edge had an effect on temporal changes at a diurnal scale in all microclimate variables, except soil moisture. In addition, all variables except relative humidity were significantly influenced by the edge effect up to 15 m inward from the forest boundary. The relative humidity fluctuated the most and showed the deepest extent of the edge effect. Moreover, the edge widths calculated from the relative humidity and air temperature both peaked in the late afternoon (16:00 h). Our findings provide a reference for forest managers in designing urban forest zones and will contribute to the conservation of fragmented forests in urban areas.

Michigan forest ecosystem vulnerability assessment and synthesis: a report from the Northwoods Climate Change Response Framework project

Treesearch

Stephen Handler; Matthew J. Duveneck; Louis Iverson; Emily Peters; Robert M. Scheller; Kirk R. Wythers; Leslie Brandt; Patricia Butler; Maria Janowiak; P. Danielle Shannon; Chris Swanston; Amy Clark Eagle; Joshua G. Cohen; Rich Corner; Peter B. Reich; Tim Baker; Sophan Chhin; Eric Clark; David Fehringer; Jon Fosgitt; James Gries; Christine Hall; Kimberly R. Hall; Robert Heyd; Christopher L. Hoving; Ines Ibáñez; Don Kuhr; Stephen Matthews; Jennifer Muladore; Knute Nadelhoffer; David Neumann; Matthew Peters; Anantha Prasad; Matt Sands; Randy Swaty; Leiloni Wonch; Jad Daley; Mae Davenport; Marla R. Emery; Gary Johnson; Lucinda Johnson; David Neitzel; Adena Rissman; Chadwick Rittenhouse; Robert. Ziel

2014-01-01

Forests in northern Michigan will be affected directly and indirectly by a changing climate during the next 100 years. This assessment evaluates the vulnerability of forest ecosystems in Michigan's eastern Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula to a range of future climates. Information on current forest conditions, observed climate trends, projected climate...

The role of urban forest to reduce rain acid in urban industrial areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slamet, B.; Agustiarni, Y.; Hidayati; Basyuni, M.

2018-03-01

Urban forest has many functions mainly on improving the quality of the urban environment. One of the functions is to increase pH and reduce dangerous chemical content. The aim of the research is to find out the role of vegetation density of urban forest around the industrial area in reducing the acid rain. The condition of land cover was classified into four classes which are dense, medium, sparse and open area. The water of the throughfall and stemflow was taken from each type of land cover except in the open area. Parameters measured in this study are water acidity (pH), anion content (SO4 2- and NO3 -), cation content (Ca2+, Mg2+, and NH4 +) and electrical conductivity (EC). The results indicated that urban forest vegetation was able to increase the pH of rain water from 5.42 which is in an open area without vegetation to be 7.13 and 7.32 in dense and moderate vegetation cover by throughfall mechanism, respectively. Rain water acidity also decreased through stemflow mechanism with a pH ranged from 5.92 - 6.43. Urban forest vegetation decreased sulfate content (SO42-) from 528.67 mg/l in open area to 44 - 118 mg/l by throughfall mechanism and ranged from 90 to 366.67 mg/l through stemflow mechanism. Urban forest vegetation significantly decreased the rainwater nitrate content from 27 mg/l to 0.03 - 0.70 mg/l through the mechanism of throughfall and between 1.53 - 8.82 mg/l through the stemflow mechanism. Urban forest vegetation also increased the concentration of cations (NH4+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+) compared with open areas. Urban forest vegetation showed increased the electrical conductivity (EC) from 208.12 μmhos/cm to 344.67 - 902.17 μmhos/cm through the through fall mechanism and 937.67 - 1058.70 μmhos/cm through the stemflow mechanism. The study suggested that urban forests play a significant role in reducing rainwater acidity and improving the quality of rainwater that reached the soil surface.

Impact of anthropogenic climate change on wildfire across western US forests.

PubMed

Abatzoglou, John T; Williams, A Park

2016-10-18

Increased forest fire activity across the western continental United States (US) in recent decades has likely been enabled by a number of factors, including the legacy of fire suppression and human settlement, natural climate variability, and human-caused climate change. We use modeled climate projections to estimate the contribution of anthropogenic climate change to observed increases in eight fuel aridity metrics and forest fire area across the western United States. Anthropogenic increases in temperature and vapor pressure deficit significantly enhanced fuel aridity across western US forests over the past several decades and, during 2000-2015, contributed to 75% more forested area experiencing high (>1 σ) fire-season fuel aridity and an average of nine additional days per year of high fire potential. Anthropogenic climate change accounted for ∼55% of observed increases in fuel aridity from 1979 to 2015 across western US forests, highlighting both anthropogenic climate change and natural climate variability as important contributors to increased wildfire potential in recent decades. We estimate that human-caused climate change contributed to an additional 4.2 million ha of forest fire area during 1984-2015, nearly doubling the forest fire area expected in its absence. Natural climate variability will continue to alternate between modulating and compounding anthropogenic increases in fuel aridity, but anthropogenic climate change has emerged as a driver of increased forest fire activity and should continue to do so while fuels are not limiting.

Impact of anthropogenic climate change on wildfire across western US forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abatzoglou, John T.; Park Williams, A.

2016-10-01

Increased forest fire activity across the western continental United States (US) in recent decades has likely been enabled by a number of factors, including the legacy of fire suppression and human settlement, natural climate variability, and human-caused climate change. We use modeled climate projections to estimate the contribution of anthropogenic climate change to observed increases in eight fuel aridity metrics and forest fire area across the western United States. Anthropogenic increases in temperature and vapor pressure deficit significantly enhanced fuel aridity across western US forests over the past several decades and, during 2000-2015, contributed to 75% more forested area experiencing high (>1 σ) fire-season fuel aridity and an average of nine additional days per year of high fire potential. Anthropogenic climate change accounted for ˜55% of observed increases in fuel aridity from 1979 to 2015 across western US forests, highlighting both anthropogenic climate change and natural climate variability as important contributors to increased wildfire potential in recent decades. We estimate that human-caused climate change contributed to an additional 4.2 million ha of forest fire area during 1984-2015, nearly doubling the forest fire area expected in its absence. Natural climate variability will continue to alternate between modulating and compounding anthropogenic increases in fuel aridity, but anthropogenic climate change has emerged as a driver of increased forest fire activity and should continue to do so while fuels are not limiting.

Human influences on forest ecosystems: the southern wildland-urban interface assessment

Treesearch

Edward A. Macie; L. Annie Hermansen; [Editors

2002-01-01

This publication provides a review of critical wildland-urban interface issues, challenges, and needs for the Southern United States. Chapter topics include population and demographic trends; economic and tax issues; land use planning and policy; urban effects on forest ecosystems; challenges for forest resource management and conservation; social consequences of...

Assessing urban forest effects and values, Chicago's urban forest

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Robert E. III Hoehn; Daniel E. Crane; Jack C. Stevens; Cherie Leblanc Fisher

2010-01-01

An analysis of trees in Chicago, IL, reveals that this city has about 3,585,000 trees with canopies that cover 17.2 percent of the area. The most common tree species are white ash, mulberry species, green ash, and tree-of-heaven. Chicago's urban forest currently stores about 716,000 tons of carbon...

Assessing urban forest canopy cover using airborne or satellite imagery

Treesearch

Jeffrey T. Walton; David J. Nowak; Eric J. Greenfield

2008-01-01

With the availability of many sources of imagery and various digital classification techniques, assessing urban forest canopy cover is readily accessible to most urban forest managers. Understanding the capability and limitations of various types of imagery and classification methods is essential to interpreting canopy cover values. An overview of several remote...

7.0 Monitoring the status and impacts of forest fragmentation and urbanization

Treesearch

Rachel Riemann; Karen Riva-Murray; Peter S. Murdoch

2008-01-01

The geographic expansion of urban and suburban development and the influx of residential and recreational development into previously forested areas are growing concerns for natural resource managers. This project sought to: identify and characterize urbanization and forest fragmentation over large areas with the detail and accuracy required for studies of wildlife...

[Selection of distance thresholds of urban forest landscape connectivity in Shenyang City].

PubMed

Liu, Chang-fu; Zhou, Bin; He, Xing-yuan; Chen, Wei

2010-10-01

By using the QuickBird remote sensing image interpretation data of urban forests in Shenyang City in 2006, and with the help of geographical information system, this paper analyzed the landscape patches of the urban forests in the area inside the third ring-road of Shenyang. Based on the habitat availability and the dispersal potential of animal and plant species, 8 distance thresholds (50, 100, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000, and 1200 m) were selected to compute the integral index of connectivity, probability of connectivity, and important value of the landscape patches, and the computed values were used for analyzing and screening the distance thresholds of urban forest landscape connectivity in the City. The results showed that the appropriate distance thresholds of the urban forest landscape connectivity in Shenyang City in 2006 ranged from 100 to 400 m, with 200 m being most appropriate. It was suggested that the distance thresholds should be increased or decreased according to the performability of urban forest landscape connectivity and the different demands for landscape levels.

Characteristics of urban natural areas influencing winter bird use in southern Ontario, Canada.

PubMed

Smith, Paul G R

2007-03-01

Characteristics of urban natural areas and surrounding landscapes were identified that best explain winter bird use for 28 urban natural areas in southern Ontario, Canada. The research confirms for winter birds the importance of area (size) and natural vegetation, rather than managed, horticultural parkland, within urban natural areas as well as percent urban land use and natural habitat in surrounding landscapes. Alien bird density and percent ground feeding species increased with percent surrounding urban land use. Higher percent forest cover was associated with higher percentages of forest, bark feeding, small (<20 g) and insectivorous species. Natural area size (ha) was related to higher species richness, lower evenness and higher percentages of insectivorous, forest interior, area-sensitive, upper canopy, bark feeding, and non-resident species. Higher number of habitat types within natural areas and percent natural habitat in surrounding landscapes were also associated with higher species richness. Common, resident bird species dominated small areas (<6.5 ha), while less common non-residents increased with area, indicative of a nested distribution. Areas at least 6.5 ha and more generally >20 ha start to support some area-sensitive species. Areas similar to rural forests had >25% insectivores, >25% forest interior species, >25% small species, and <5% alien species. Indicator species separated urban natural areas from rural habitats and ordination placed urban natural areas along a gradient between urban development and undisturbed, rural forests. More attention is needed on issues of winter bird conservation in urban landscapes.

Characteristics of Urban Natural Areas Influencing Winter Bird Use in Southern Ontario, Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Paul G. R.

2007-03-01

Characteristics of urban natural areas and surrounding landscapes were identified that best explain winter bird use for 28 urban natural areas in southern Ontario, Canada. The research confirms for winter birds the importance of area (size) and natural vegetation, rather than managed, horticultural parkland, within urban natural areas as well as percent urban land use and natural habitat in surrounding landscapes. Alien bird density and percent ground feeding species increased with percent surrounding urban land use. Higher percent forest cover was associated with higher percentages of forest, bark feeding, small (<20 g) and insectivorous species. Natural area size (ha) was related to higher species richness, lower evenness and higher percentages of insectivorous, forest interior, area-sensitive, upper canopy, bark feeding, and non-resident species. Higher number of habitat types within natural areas and percent natural habitat in surrounding landscapes were also associated with higher species richness. Common, resident bird species dominated small areas (<6.5 ha), while less common non-residents increased with area, indicative of a nested distribution. Areas at least 6.5 ha and more generally >20 ha start to support some area-sensitive species. Areas similar to rural forests had >25% insectivores, >25% forest interior species, >25% small species, and <5% alien species. Indicator species separated urban natural areas from rural habitats and ordination placed urban natural areas along a gradient between urban development and undisturbed, rural forests. More attention is needed on issues of winter bird conservation in urban landscapes.

Climate change-associated trends in net biomass change are age dependent in western boreal forests of Canada.

PubMed

Chen, Han Y H; Luo, Yong; Reich, Peter B; Searle, Eric B; Biswas, Shekhar R

2016-09-01

The impacts of climate change on forest net biomass change are poorly understood but critical for predicting forest's contribution to the global carbon cycle. Recent studies show climate change-associated net biomass declines in mature forest plots. The representativeness of these plots for regional forests, however, remains uncertain because we lack an assessment of whether climate change impacts differ with forest age. Using data from plots of varying ages from 17 to 210 years, monitored from 1958 to 2011 in western Canada, we found that climate change has little effect on net biomass change in forests ≤ 40 years of age due to increased growth offsetting increased mortality, but has led to large decreases in older forests due to increased mortality accompanying little growth gain. Our analysis highlights the need to incorporate forest age profiles in examining past and projecting future forest responses to climate change. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

The impact of future forest dynamics on climate: interactive effects of changing vegetation and disturbance regimes

PubMed Central

Thom, Dominik; Rammer, Werner; Seidl, Rupert

2018-01-01

Currently, the temperate forest biome cools the earth’s climate and dampens anthropogenic climate change. However, climate change will substantially alter forest dynamics in the future, affecting the climate regulation function of forests. Increasing natural disturbances can reduce carbon uptake and evaporative cooling, but at the same time increase the albedo of a landscape. Simultaneous changes in vegetation composition can mitigate disturbance impacts, but also influence climate regulation directly (e.g., via albedo changes). As a result of a number of interactive drivers (changes in climate, vegetation, and disturbance) and their simultaneous effects on climate-relevant processes (carbon exchange, albedo, latent heat flux) the future climate regulation function of forests remains highly uncertain. Here we address these complex interactions to assess the effect of future forest dynamics on the climate system. Our specific objectives were (1) to investigate the long-term interactions between changing vegetation composition and disturbance regimes under climate change, (2) to quantify the response of climate regulation to changes in forest dynamics, and (3) to identify the main drivers of the future influence of forests on the climate system. We investigated these issues using the individual-based forest landscape and disturbance model (iLand). Simulations were run over 200 yr for Kalkalpen National Park (Austria), assuming different future climate projections, and incorporating dynamically responding wind and bark beetle disturbances. To consistently assess the net effect on climate the simulated responses of carbon exchange, albedo, and latent heat flux were expressed as contributions to radiative forcing. We found that climate change increased disturbances (+27.7% over 200 yr) and specifically bark beetle activity during the 21st century. However, negative feedbacks from a simultaneously changing tree species composition (+28.0% broadleaved species) decreased disturbance activity in the long run (−10.1%), mainly by reducing the host trees available for bark beetles. Climate change and the resulting future forest dynamics significantly reduced the climate regulation function of the landscape, increasing radiative forcing by up to +10.2% on average over 200 yr. Overall, radiative forcing was most strongly driven by carbon exchange. We conclude that future changes in forest dynamics can cause amplifying climate feedbacks from temperate forest ecosystems. PMID:29628526

CTFS/ForestGEO: A global network to monitor forest interactions with a changing climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson-Teixeira, K. J.; Muller-Landau, H.; McMahon, S.; Davies, S. J.

2013-12-01

Forests are an influential component of the global carbon cycle and strongly influence Earth's climate. Climate change is altering the dynamics of forests globally, which may result in significant climate feedbacks. Forest responses to climate change entail both short-term ecophysiological responses and longer-term directional shifts in community composition. These short- and long-term responses of forest communities to climate change may be better understood through long-term monitoring of large forest plots globally using standardized methodology. Here, we describe a global network of forest research plots (CTFS/ForestGEO) of utility for understanding forest responses to climate change and consequent feedbacks to the climate system. CTFS/ForestGEO is an international network consisting of 51 sites ranging in size from 2-150 ha (median size: 25 ha) and spanning from 25°S to 52°N latitude. At each site, every individual > 1cm DBH is mapped and identified, and recruitment, growth, and mortality are monitored every 5 years. Additional measurements include aboveground productivity, carbon stocks, soil nutrients, plant functional traits, arthropod and vertebrates monitoring, DNA barcoding, airborne and ground-based LiDAR, micrometeorology, and weather monitoring. Data from this network are useful for understanding how forest ecosystem structure and function respond to spatial and temporal variation in abiotic drivers, parameterizing and evaluating ecosystem and earth system models, aligning airborne and ground-based measurements, and identifying directional changes in forest productivity and composition. For instance, CTFS/ForestGEO data have revealed that solar radiation and night-time temperature are important drivers of aboveground productivity in moist tropical forests; that tropical forests are mixed in terms of productivity and biomass trends over the past couple decades; and that the composition of Panamanian forests has shifted towards more drought-tolerant species. Ongoing monitoring will be vital to understanding global forest dynamics in an era of climate change.

Modeling climate and fuel reduction impacts on mixed-conifer forest carbon stocks in the Sierra Nevada, California

Treesearch

Matthew D. Hurteau; Timothy A. Robards; Donald Stevens; David Saah; Malcolm North; George W. Koch

2014-01-01

Quantifying the impacts of changing climatic conditions on forest growth is integral to estimating future forest carbon balance. We used a growth-and-yield model, modified for climate sensitivity, to quantify the effects of altered climate on mixed-conifer forest growth in the Lake Tahoe Basin, California. Estimates of forest growth and live tree carbon stocks were...

Potential Climate-driven Silvicultural and Agricultural Transformations in Siberia in the 21 Century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tchebakova, N. M.; Parfenova, E. I.; Shvetsov, E.; Soja, A. J.

2017-12-01

Simulations of Siberian forests in a changing climate showed them to be changed in composition, decreased, and shifted northwards. Our goals were to evaluate the ecological consequences for the forests and agriculture in Siberia and to offer adaptive measures that may be undertaken to minimize negative consequences and maximize benefits from a rapidly changing environment in the socially important region of southern Siberia. We considered two strategies to estimate climate-change effects on potentially failing forests within an expanding forest-steppe ecotone. To support forestry, seed transfers from locations that are best suited to the genotypes in future climates may be applied to assist trees and forests in a changing climate. To support agriculture, in view of the growing world concerns on food safety, new farming lands may be established in a new forest-steppe ecotone with its favorable climatic and soil resources. We used our bioclimatic vegetation models of various levels: a forest type model to predict forest shifts and forest-failing lands, tree species range and their climatypes models to predict what tree species/climatype would be suitable and crop models to predict crops to introduce in potentially climate-disturbed areas in Siberia. Climate change data for the 2080s were calculated from the ensemble of 20 general circulation models of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) and two scenarios to characterize the range of climate change: mild climate (RCP2.6 scenario) and sharp climate (RCP 8.5 scenario). By the 2080s, forest-steppe and steppe rather than forests would dominate up to half of Siberia in the warmer and dryer RCP 8.5 climate. Water stress tolerant and fire-resistant light-needled species Pinus sylvestris and Larix spp. would dominate the forest-steppe ecotone. Failing forests in a dryer climate may be maintained by moving and substituting proper climatypes from locations often hundreds of km away. Agriculture in Siberia would likely benefit from climate warming. Farming may be a choice to use lands where forests would fail. Potential croplands would be limited by suitable soils in the north and irrigation in the south. To recommend an economic strategy that would optimize economic gains/losses due to the effects of climate change will require additional research

Synergy between land use and climate change increases future fire risk in Amazon forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Page, Yannick; Morton, Douglas; Hartin, Corinne; Bond-Lamberty, Ben; Cardoso Pereira, José Miguel; Hurtt, George; Asrar, Ghassem

2017-12-01

Tropical forests have been a permanent feature of the Amazon basin for at least 55 million years, yet climate change and land use threaten the forest's future over the next century. Understory forest fires, which are common under the current climate in frontier forests, may accelerate Amazon forest losses from climate-driven dieback and deforestation. Far from land use frontiers, scarce fire ignitions and high moisture levels preclude significant burning, yet projected climate and land use changes may increase fire activity in these remote regions. Here, we used a fire model specifically parameterized for Amazon understory fires to examine the interactions between anthropogenic activities and climate under current and projected conditions. In a scenario of low mitigation efforts with substantial land use expansion and climate change - Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 - projected understory fires increase in frequency and duration, burning 4-28 times more forest in 2080-2100 than during 1990-2010. In contrast, active climate mitigation and land use contraction in RCP4.5 constrain the projected increase in fire activity to 0.9-5.4 times contemporary burned area. Importantly, if climate mitigation is not successful, land use contraction alone is very effective under low to moderate climate change, but does little to reduce fire activity under the most severe climate projections. These results underscore the potential for a fire-driven transformation of Amazon forests if recent regional policies for forest conservation are not paired with global efforts to mitigate climate change.

Vegetation indicators of transformation in the urban forest ecosystems of "Kuzminki-Lyublino" Park

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buyvolova, Anna; Trifonova, Tatiana; Bykova, Elena

2017-04-01

Forest ecosystems in the city are at the same time a component of its natural environment and part of urban developmental planning. It imposes upon urban forests a large functional load, both environmental (formation of environment, air purification, noise pollution reducing, etc.) and social (recreational, educational) which defines the special attitude to their management and study. It is not a simple task to preserve maximum accessibility to the forest ecosystems of the large metropolises with a minimum of change. The urban forest vegetates in naturally formed soil, it has all the elements of a morphological structure (canopy layers), represented by natural species of the zonal vegetation. Sometimes it is impossible for a specialist to distinguish between an urban forest and a rural one. However, the urban forests are changing, being under the threat of various negative influences of the city, of which pollution is arguably the most significant. This article presents some indicators of structural changes to the plant communities, which is a response of forest ecosystems to an anthropogenic impact. It is shown that the indicators of the transformation of natural ecosystems in the city can be a reduction of the projective cover of moss layer, until its complete absence (in the pine forest), increasing the role of Acer negundo (adventive species) in the undergrowth, high variability of floristic indicators of the ground herbaceous vegetation, and a change in the spatial arrangement of adventive species. The assessment of the impact of the urban environment on the state of vegetation in the "Kuzminki-Lyublino" Natural-Historical Park was conducted in two key areas least affected by anthropogenic impacts under different plant communities represented by complex pine and birch forests and in similar forest types in the Prioksko-Terrasny Biosphere Reserve. The selection of pine forests as a model is due to the fact that, according to some scientists, pine (Pinus Sylvestris L.), a very ductile and widespread species, is a sensitive indicator of anthropogenic burden, responding to the impact of defoliation and needles discoloration, and survives even at fairly high levels of pollution. The vegetation cover is one of the most dynamic components of the ecosystem and under the conditions of urban existence it is subject to transformation. The indicators of the transformation of natural ecosystems in the city can be a reduction of the projective cover of moss layer, until its complete absence (in the pine forest), increasing the role of Acer negundo (adventive species) in the undergrowth, high variability of floristic indicators of the ground herbaceous vegetation, and a change in the spatial arrangement of adventive species. The further study of plant communities with a view to identifying indicators of transformation in urban environmental conditions will help for the early detection of reversible changes in the ecosystems of urban forests and the development of rational urban forest care technologies.

Inclusion of an ultraviolet radiation transfer component in an urban forest effects model for predicting tree influences on potential below-canopy exposure to UVB radiation

Treesearch

Gordon M. Heisler; Richard H. Grant; David J. Nowak; Wei Gao; Daniel E. Crane; Jeffery T. Walton

2003-01-01

Evaluating the impact of ultraviolet-B radiation (UVB) on urban populations would be enhanced by improved predictions of the UVB radiation at the level of human activity. This paper reports the status of plans for incorporating a UVB prediction module into an existing Urban Forest Effects (UFORE) model. UFORE currently has modules to quantify urban forest structure,...

Detecting Changes of Thermal Environment over the Bohai Coastal Region by Spectral Change Vector Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Y.; Jia, G.

2009-12-01

Change vector analysis (CVA) is an effective approach for detecting and characterizing land-cover change by comparing pairs of multi-spectral and multi-temporal datasets over certain area derived from various satellite platforms. NDVI is considered as an effective detector for biophysical changes due to its sensitivity to red and near infrared signals, while land surface temperature (LST) is considered as a valuable indicator for changes of ground thermal conditions. Here we try to apply CVA over satellite derived LST datasets to detect changes of land surface thermal properties parallel to climate change and anthropogenic influence in a city cluster since 2001. In this study, monthly land surface temperature datasets from 2001-2008 derived from MODIS collection 5 were used to examine change pattern of thermal environment over the Bohai coastal region by using spectral change vector analysis. The results from principle component analysis (PCA) for LST show that the PC 1-3 contain over 80% information on monthly variations and these PCA components represent the main processes of land thermal environment change over the study area. Time series of CVA magnitude combined with land cover information show that greatest change occurred in urban and heavily populated area, featured with expansion of urban heat island, while moderate change appeared in grassland area in the north. However few changes were observed over large plain area and forest area. Strong signals also are related to economy level and especially the events of surface cover change, such as emergence of railway and port. Two main processes were also noticed about the changes of thermal environment. First, weak signal was detected in mostly natural area influenced by interannual climate change in temperate broadleaf forest area. Second, land surface temperature changes were controlled by human activities as 1) moderate change of LST happened in grassland influenced by grazing and 2) urban heat island was intensifier in major cities, such as Beijing and Tianjin. Further, the continual drier climate combined with human actions over past fifties years have intensified land thermal pattern change and the continuation will be an important aspects to understand land surface processes and local climate change. Land surface temperature trends from 2000-2008 over the Bohai coastal region

The Impact of Urban Growth and Climate Change on Heat Stress in an Australian City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chapman, S.; Mcalpine, C. A.; Thatcher, M. J.; Salazar, A.; Watson, J. R.

2017-12-01

Over half of the world's population lives in urban areas. Most people will therefore be exposed to climate change in an urban environment. One of the climate risks facing urban residents is heat stress, which can lead to illness and death. Urban residents are at increased risk of heat stress due to the urban heat island effect. The urban heat island is a modification of the urban environment and increases temperatures on average by 2°C, though the increase can be much higher, up to 8°C when wind speeds and cloud cover are low. The urban heat island is also expected to increase in the future due to urban growth and intensification, further exacerbating urban heat stress. Climate change alters the urban heat island due to changes in weather (wind speed and cloudiness) and evapotranspiration. Future urban heat stress will therefore be affected by urban growth and climate change. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of urban growth and climate change on the urban heat island and heat stress in Brisbane, Australia. We used CCAM, the conformal cubic atmospheric model developed by the CSIRO, to examine temperatures in Brisbane using scenarios of urban growth and climate change. We downscaled the urban climate using CCAM, based on bias corrected Sea Surface Temperatures from the ACCESS1.0 projection of future climate. We used Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 for the periods 1990 - 2000, 2049 - 2060 and 2089 - 2090 with current land use and an urban growth scenario. The present day climatology was verified using weather station data from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. We compared the urban heat island of the present day with the urban heat island with climate change to determine if climate change altered the heat island. We also calculated heat stress using wet-bulb globe temperature and apparent temperature for the climate change and base case scenarios. We found the urban growth scenario increased present day temperatures by 0.5°C in the inner city and by 6°C during a period of hot days. The scenarios of future temperature are ongoing and will show how heat stress will change in Brisbane when both urban growth and climate change are considered.

Deforestation alters rainfall: a myth or reality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanif, M. F.; Mustafa, M. R.; Hashim, A. M.; Yusof, K. W.

2016-06-01

To cope with the issue of food safety and human shelter, natural landscape has gone through a number of alterations. In the coming future, the expansion of urban land and agricultural farms will likely disrupt the natural environment. Researchers have claimed that land use change may become the most serious issue of the current century. Thus, it is necessary to understand the consequences of land use change on the climatic variables, e.g., rainfall. This study investigated the impact of deforestation on local rainfall. An integrated methodology was adopted to achieve the objectives. Above ground biomass was considered as the indicator of forest areas. Time series data of a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor were obtained for the year of 2000, 2005, and 2010. Rainfall data were collected from the Department of Irrigation and Drainage, Malaysia. The MODIS time series data were classified and four major classes were developed based on the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) ranges. The results of the classification showed that water, and urban and agricultural lands have increased in their area by 2, 3, and 6%, respectively. On the other hand, the area of forest has decreased 10% collectively from 2000 to 2010. The results of NDVI and rainfall data were analysed by using a linear regression analysis. The results showed a significant relationship at a 90% confidence interval between rainfall and deforestation (t = 1.92, p = 0.06). The results of this study may provide information about the consequences of land use on the climate on the local scale.

75 FR 27703 - National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-18

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: The National Urban and Community... discuss emerging issues in urban and community forestry, work on Council administrative items and hear...

Threat of attacks of Ixodes ricinus ticks (Ixodida: Ixodidae) and Lyme borreliosis within urban heat islands in south-western Poland.

PubMed

Buczek, Alicja; Ciura, Dariusz; Bartosik, Katarzyna; Zając, Zbigniew; Kulisz, Joanna

2014-12-11

The increased incidence of Lyme disease in Europe necessitates permanent monitoring of the occurrence and activity of its vector. Therefore, in this study, we have investigated the presence and seasonal activity of Ixodes ricinus ticks in various habitats of a large industrial region in south-western Poland in correlation with environmental factors present in urban heat islands. Additionally, the risk of borreliosis in this part of Poland has been assessed. The investigations were carried out at two-week intervals between April and October 2001 and 2002. Ticks were collected from four localities in Upper Silesia, i.e. in a city park (CH), on the outskirts of two large cities (KO, MI), and in a forest (KL). We analysed the impact of temperature and humidity measured during the collection period in the I. ricinus habitats, the climatic conditions prevailing in the study area, and the degree of environmental contamination on the abundance and activity of these ticks in the respective sites. The degree of borreliosis risk in the region was determined on the basis of the results of research on the prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. in ticks and reports from sanitary-epidemiological stations. In total, 2061 I. ricinus ticks, including 606 nymphs and 1455 adults, were collected in the study area. The number and activity of the ticks varied during the collection in the different sites. In the urban locality CH, tick abundance was the lowest (455 throughout the investigation period), and the seasonal activity of females was unimodal and persisted for as long as 4 months. In the suburban localities KO and MI, tick abundance was higher (485 and 481 specimens, respectively) and the activity of females was unimodal. The highest abundance (640 ticks) and a bimodal pattern of female activity were reported from the forest locality KL. In all the localities, the activity of nymphs was unimodal. Humidity was found to be a factor influencing I. ricinus abundance and activity, whereas temperature did not affect their number and behaviour significantly. The climate parameters within the urban heat islands noted during the investigations contributed to dispersal of dust and gas pollutants. The analysis of the data reveals that there is a risk of borreliosis in the entire study area; however, it is higher in the urban localities than in the suburban sites. Environmental conditions (habitat, climate, and dust and gas pollution) prevailing within urban heat islands may exert an impact on tick abundance and activity and the prevalence of Lyme disease in the study area. The greatest effect of the environmental factors on ticks was found in the city park, where the risk of human infection with B. burgdorferi s.l. spirochetes is the highest as well.

Boreal forests, aerosols and the impacts on clouds and climate.

PubMed

Spracklen, Dominick V; Bonn, Boris; Carslaw, Kenneth S

2008-12-28

Previous studies have concluded that boreal forests warm the climate because the cooling from storage of carbon in vegetation and soils is cancelled out by the warming due to the absorption of the Sun's heat by the dark forest canopy. However, these studies ignored the impacts of forests on atmospheric aerosol. We use a global atmospheric model to show that, through emission of organic vapours and the resulting condensational growth of newly formed particles, boreal forests double regional cloud condensation nuclei concentrations (from approx. 100 to approx. 200 cm(-3)). Using a simple radiative model, we estimate that the resulting change in cloud albedo causes a radiative forcing of between -1.8 and -6.7 W m(-2) of forest. This forcing may be sufficiently large to result in boreal forests having an overall cooling impact on climate. We propose that the combination of climate forcings related to boreal forests may result in an important global homeostasis. In cold climatic conditions, the snow-vegetation albedo effect dominates and boreal forests warm the climate, whereas in warmer climates they may emit sufficiently large amounts of organic vapour modifying cloud albedo and acting to cool climate.

Estimating the deposition of urban atmospheric NO2 to the urban forest in Portland-Vancouver USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rao, M.; Gonzalez Abraham, R.; George, L. A.

2016-12-01

Cities are hotspots of atmospheric emissions of reactive nitrogen oxides, including nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a US EPA criteria pollutant that affects both human and environmental health. A fraction of this anthropogenic, atmospheric NO2 is deposited onto the urban forest, potentially mitigating the impact of NO2 on respiratory health within cities. However, the role of the urban forest in removal of atmospheric NO2 through deposition has not been well studied. Here, using an observationally-based statistical model, we first estimate the reduction of NO2 associated with the urban forest in Portland-Vancouver, USA, and the health benefits accruing from this reduction. In order to assess if this statistically observed reduction in NO2 associated with the urban forest is consistent with deposition, we then compare the amount of NO2 removed through deposition to the urban forest as estimated using a 4km CMAQ simulation. We further undertake a sensitivity analysis in CMAQ to estimate the range of NO2removed as a function of bulk stomatal resistance. We find that NO2 deposition estimated by CMAQ accounts for roughly one-third of the reduction in NO2 shown by the observationally-based statistical model (Figure). Our sensitivity analysis shows that a 3-10 fold increase in the bulk stomatal resistance parameter in CMAQ would align CMAQ-estimated deposition with the statistical model. The reduction of NO2 by the urban forest in the Portland-Vancouver area may yield a health benefit of at least $1.5 million USD annually, providing strong motivation to better understand the mechanism through which the urban forest may be removing air pollutants such as NO2and thus helping create healthier urban atmospheres. Figure: Comparing the amount of NO2 deposition as estimated by CMAQ and the observationally-based statistical model (LURF). Each point corresponds to a single 4 x 4km CMAQ grid cell.

Distribution of wild mammal assemblages along an urban-rural-forest landscape gradient in warm-temperate East Asia.

PubMed

Saito, Masayuki; Koike, Fumito

2013-01-01

Urbanization may alter mammal assemblages via habitat loss, food subsidies, and other factors related to human activities. The general distribution patterns of wild mammal assemblages along urban-rural-forest landscape gradients have not been studied, although many studies have focused on a single species or taxon, such as rodents. We quantitatively evaluated the effects of the urban-rural-forest gradient and spatial scale on the distributions of large and mid-sized mammals in the world's largest metropolitan area in warm-temperate Asia using nonspecific camera-trapping along two linear transects spanning from the urban zone in the Tokyo metropolitan area to surrounding rural and forest landscapes. Many large and mid-sized species generally decreased from forest landscapes to urban cores, although some species preferred anthropogenic landscapes. Sika deer (Cervus nippon), Reeves' muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi), Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata), Japanese squirrel (Sciurus lis), Japanese marten (Martes melampus), Japanese badger (Meles anakuma), and wild boar (Sus scrofa) generally dominated the mammal assemblage of the forest landscape. Raccoon (Procyon lotor), raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides), and Japanese hare (Lepus brachyurus) dominated the mammal assemblage in the intermediate zone (i.e., rural and suburban landscape). Cats (feral and free-roaming housecats; Felis catus) were common in the urban assemblage. The key spatial scales for forest species were more than 4000-m radius, indicating that conservation and management plans for these mammal assemblages should be considered on large spatial scales. However, small green spaces will also be important for mammal conservation in the urban landscape, because an indigenous omnivore (raccoon dog) had a smaller key spatial scale (500-m radius) than those of forest mammals. Urbanization was generally the most important factor in the distributions of mammals, and it is necessary to consider the spatial scale of management according to the degree of urbanization.

Distribution and Source Apportionment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Forest Soils from Urban to Rural Areas in the Pearl River Delta of Southern China

PubMed Central

Xiao, Yihua; Tong, Fuchun; Kuang, Yuanwen; Chen, Bufeng

2014-01-01

The upper layer of forest soils (0–20 cm depth) were collected from urban, suburban, and rural areas in the Pearl River Delta of Southern China to estimate the distribution and the possible sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Total concentrations of PAHs in the forest soils decreased significantly along the urban–suburban–rural gradient, indicating the influence of anthropogenic emissions on the PAH distribution in forest soils. High and low molecular weight PAHs dominated in the urban and rural forest soils, respectively, implying the difference in emission sources between the areas. The values of PAH isomeric diagnostic ratios indicated that forest soil PAHs were mainly originated from traffic emissions, mixed sources and coal/wood combustion in the urban, suburban and rural areas, respectively. Principal component analysis revealed that traffic emissions, coal burning and residential biomass combustion were the three primary contributors to forest soil PAHs in the Pearl River Delta. Long range transportation of PAHs via atmosphere from urban area might also impact the PAHs distribution in the forest soils of rural area. PMID:24599040

Institutionalizing urban forestry as a "biotechnology" to improve environmental quality

Treesearch

David J. Nowak

2006-01-01

Urban forests can provide multiple environmental benefits. As urban areas expand, the role of urban vegetation in improving environmental quality will increase in importance. Quantification of these benefits has revealed that urban forests can significantly improve air quality. As a result, national air quality regulations are now willing to potentially credit tree...

Observed forest sensitivity to climate implies large changes in 21st century North American forest growth.

PubMed

Charney, Noah D; Babst, Flurin; Poulter, Benjamin; Record, Sydne; Trouet, Valerie M; Frank, David; Enquist, Brian J; Evans, Margaret E K

2016-09-01

Predicting long-term trends in forest growth requires accurate characterisation of how the relationship between forest productivity and climatic stress varies across climatic regimes. Using a network of over two million tree-ring observations spanning North America and a space-for-time substitution methodology, we forecast climate impacts on future forest growth. We explored differing scenarios of increased water-use efficiency (WUE) due to CO2 -fertilisation, which we simulated as increased effective precipitation. In our forecasts: (1) climate change negatively impacted forest growth rates in the interior west and positively impacted forest growth along the western, southeastern and northeastern coasts; (2) shifting climate sensitivities offset positive effects of warming on high-latitude forests, leaving no evidence for continued 'boreal greening'; and (3) it took a 72% WUE enhancement to compensate for continentally averaged growth declines under RCP 8.5. Our results highlight the importance of locally adapted forest management strategies to handle regional differences in growth responses to climate change. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

Climate Change Effects of Forest Management and Substitution of Carbon-Intensive Materials and Fossil Fuels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sathre, R.; Gustavsson, L.; Haus, S.; Lundblad, M.; Lundström, A.; Ortiz, C.; Truong, N.; Wikberg, P. E.

2016-12-01

Forests can play several roles in climate change mitigation strategies, for example as a reservoir for storing carbon and as a source of renewable materials and energy. To better understand the linkages and possible trade-offs between different forest management strategies, we conduct an integrated analysis where both sequestration of carbon in growing forests and the effects of substituting carbon intensive products within society are considered. We estimate the climate effects of directing forest management in Sweden towards increased carbon storage in forests, with more land set-aside for protection, or towards increased forest production for the substitution of carbon-intensive materials and fossil fuels, relative to a reference case of current forest management. We develop various scenarios of forest management and biomass use to estimate the carbon balances of the forest systems, including ecological and technological components, and their impacts on the climate in terms of cumulative radiative forcing over a 100-year period. For the reference case of current forest management, increasing the harvest of forest residues is found to give increased climate benefits. A scenario with increased set-aside area and the current level of forest residue harvest begins with climate benefits compared to the reference scenario, but the benefits cannot be sustained for 100 years because the rate of carbon storage in set-aside forests diminishes over time as the forests mature, but the demand for products and fuels remains. The most climatically beneficial scenario, expressed as reduced cumulative radiative forcing, in both the short and long terms is a strategy aimed at high forest production, high residue recovery rate, and high efficiency utilization of harvested biomass. Active forest management with high harvest level and efficient forest product utilization will provide more climate benefit, compared to reducing harvest and storing more carbon in the forest. Figure. Schematic diagram of complete modelled forest system including ecological and technological components, showing major flows of carbon.

The interplay between climate change, forests, and disturbances

Treesearch

Virginia H. Dale; Linda A. Joyce; Steve McNulty; Ronald P. Neilson

2000-01-01

Climate change affects forests both directly and indirectly through disturbances. Disturbances are a natural and integral part of forest ecosystems, and climate change can alter these natural interactions. When disturbances exceed their natural range of variation, the change in forest structure and function may be extreme. Each disturbance affects forests differently....

Influence of landscape mosaic on streamflow of a peri-urban catchment under Mediterranean climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferreira, Carla; Walsh, Rory; Ferreira, António

2017-04-01

Peri-urban areas tend to be characterized by patchy landscape mosaics of different land-uses. Although the impact of land-use changes on catchment hydrology have been widely investigated, the impact of mixed land-use patterns on the streamflow of peri-urban areas is still poorly understood. This study aims to (i) explore and quantify streamflow delivery from sub-catchments characterized by distinct landscape mosaics; (ii) assess the impact of different urbanization styles on hydrograph properties; and (iii) explore the influence of urbanization type on flow connectivity and stream discharge. The study was carried out in Ribeira dos Covões, a small (6.2km2) peri-urban catchment in central Portugal. The climate is Mediterranean, with a mean annual rainfall of 892mm. Catchment geology comprises sandstone (56%), limestone (41%) and alluvial deposits (3%). Soils developed on sandstone are generally deep (>3m) Fluvisols and Podsols, whereas on limestone the Leptic Cambisols are typically shallow (<0.4m). Forest is the dominant land-use (56%), but urban areas cover an extensive area (40%), whereas agricultural land has declined to a very small area (4%). The urban area comprises contrasting urban styles, notably older discontinuous urban areas with buildings separated by gardens of low population density (<25 inhabitants km-2), and recent well-defined continuous urban cores dominated by apartment blocks and of high population density (9900 inhabitants km-2). The study uses hydrological data recorded over three hydrological years, starting in November 2010, in a monitoring network comprising eight streamflow gauging stations (instrumented with water level recorders) and five rainfall gauges. The gauging stations provide information on the discharge response to rainstorms of the catchment outlet and upstream sub-catchments of different size, urban pattern (in terms of percentage urban land-use and impervious area, distance to the stream network, and storm water management), and lithology (either sandstone or limestone). Annual storm runoff coefficients were lowest (13.7%) in catchments dominated by forest (>80%) and greatest (17.3-17.6%) in the most urbanized sub-catchments (49-53% urban). Impervious area seems to control streamflow particularly during dry periods. Winter runoff (streamflow per unit area) was 2-4 times higher than summer runoff in highly urbanized areas, but was 21-fold higher in winter than in summer in the least urbanized sub-catchment, indicating greater flow connectivity in winter, enhanced by increased soil moisture. Lithology also played an important role on hydrology, with sandstone sub-catchments exhibiting greater annual baseflow index values (23-46%) than found in limestone ones (<5%). For sub-catchments underlain by both lithologies, linear relationships were found between storm runoff coefficients and percentage urban and percentage impervious area, but with greater runoff responses in the sandstone ones. Nevertheless, linear regression lines for both lithologies get close to each other when the extent of urban areas reached about 50%. The proximity of urban areas to the stream network and whether urban storm runoff is directly piped to the stream network were important parameters influencing peak flows and response time. Landscape mosaics that include land-use patches of high soil permeability tend to provide locations of surface water retention and enhanced infiltration, thereby breaking flow connectivity between hillslope urban surfaces and the stream network. This kind of spatial pattern should be considered for urban planning, in order to minimize flood hazards.

Forest ecosystem vulnerability assessment and synthesis for northern Wisconsin and western Upper Michigan: a report from the Northwoods Climate Change Response Framework project

Treesearch

Maria K. Janowiak; Louis R. Iverson; David J. Mladenoff; Emily Peters; Kirk R. Wythers; Weimin Xi; Leslie A. Brandt; Patricia R. Butler; Stephen D. Handler; P. Danielle Shannon; Chris Swanston; Linda R. Parker; Amy J. Amman; Brian Bogaczyk; Christine Handler; Ellen Lesch; Peter B. Reich; Stephen Matthews; Matthew Peters; Anantha Prasad; Sami Khanal; Feng Liu; Tara Bal; Dustin Bronson; Andrew Burton; Jim Ferris; Jon Fosgitt; Shawn Hagan; Erin Johnston; Evan Kane; Colleen Matula; Ryan O' Connor; Dale Higgins; Matt St. Pierre; Jad Daley; Mae Davenport; Marla R. Emery; David Fehringer; Christopher L. Hoving; Gary Johnson; David Neitzel; Michael Notaro; Adena Rissman; Chadwick Rittenhouse; Robert Ziel

2014-01-01

Forest ecosystems across the Northwoods will face direct and indirect impacts from a changing climate over the 21st century. This assessment evaluates the vulnerability of forest ecosystems in the Laurentian Mixed Forest Province of northern Wisconsin and western Upper Michigan under a range of future climates. Information on current forest conditions, observed climate...

Considerations for forest adaptation to climate change in sustainable production of wood/fiber/biomass and ecosystem services

Treesearch

Roger A. Sedjo

2014-01-01

Climate change is expected to affect forests into the future. Although forests have an inherent resiliency that allows them to adapt to various disturbances, including past climate change, concerns are expressed that the rate of change of current and future climate may be more rapid than the ability of many forests to adapt. This paper examines the background of forest...

A Technical Guide to Urban Community Forestry: Urban and Community Forestry: Improving Our Quality of Life

Treesearch

USDA Forest Service

1993-01-01

Trees growing within cities and towns form a forest-an urban forest. But urban trees require special attention, because they are expected to exist within the urban environment. With its infrastructure of streets, sidewalks, curbs, buried utilities, overhead power lines and buildings, the urban environment places tremendous stresses on trees. With proper care, trees...

Urban forest biomass estimates: is it important to use allometric relationships developed specifically for urban trees? 

Treesearch

M.R. McHale; I.C. Burke; M.A. Lefsky; P.J. Peper; E.G. McPherson

2009-01-01

Many studies have analyzed the benefits, costs, and carbon storage capacity associated with urban trees. These studies have been limited by a lack of research on urban tree biomass, such that estimates of carbon storage in urban systems have relied upon allometric relationships developed in traditional forests. As urbanization increases globally, it is becoming...

Simulating post-wildfire forest trajectories under alternative climate and management scenarios.

PubMed

Tarancón, Alicia Azpeleta; Fulé, Peter Z; Shive, Kristen L; Sieg, Carolyn H; Meador, Andrew Sánchez; Strom, Barbara

Post-fire predictions of forest recovery under future climate change and management actions are necessary for forest managers to make decisions about treatments. We applied the Climate-Forest Vegetation Simulator (Climate-FVS), a new version of a widely used forest management model, to compare alternative climate and management scenarios in a severely burned multispecies forest of Arizona, USA. The incorporation of seven combinations of General Circulation Models (GCM) and emissions scenarios altered long-term (100 years) predictions of future forest condition compared to a No Climate Change (NCC) scenario, which forecast a gradual increase to high levels of forest density and carbon stock. In contrast, emissions scenarios that included continued high greenhouse gas releases led to near-complete deforestation by 2111. GCM-emissions scenario combinations that were less severe reduced forest structure and carbon stock relative to NCC. Fuel reduction treatments that had been applied prior to the severe wildfire did have persistent effects, especially under NCC, but were overwhelmed by increasingly severe climate change. We tested six management strategies aimed at sustaining future forests: prescribed burning at 5, 10, or 20-year intervals, thinning 40% or 60% of stand basal area, and no treatment. Severe climate change led to deforestation under all management regimes, but important differences emerged under the moderate scenarios: treatments that included regular prescribed burning fostered low density, wildfire-resistant forests composed of the naturally dominant species, ponderosa pine. Non-fire treatments under moderate climate change were forecast to become dense and susceptible to severe wildfire, with a shift to dominance by sprouting species. Current U.S. forest management requires modeling of future scenarios but does not mandate consideration of climate change effects. However, this study showed substantial differences in model outputs depending on climate and management actions. Managers should incorporate climate change into the process of analyzing the environmental effects of alternative actions.

The compositional similarity of urban forests among the world's cities is scale dependent

Treesearch

Jun Yang; Frank A. La Sorte; Petr Pysek; Pengbo Yan; David Nowak; Joe McBride

2015-01-01

Aim We examined species composition of urban forests from local to global scales using occurrence and abundance information to determine how compositional similarity is defined across spatial scales. We predicted that urban forests have become more homogeneous world-wide, which should result in minimal scale dependence that is more pronounced for non-native species,...

Preferred features of urban parks and forests

Treesearch

Herbert W. Schroeder

1982-01-01

To make the most efficient use of scarce recreation resources, urban forest managers need to know what features of recreation sites are the most important for creating high-quality recreation environments. In this study, observers viewed photographs of urban forest sites in the Chicago area and described the features of the sites that they liked and disliked. Natural...

Subpixel urban land cover estimation: comparing cubist, random forests, and support vector regression

Treesearch

Jeffrey T. Walton

2008-01-01

Three machine learning subpixel estimation methods (Cubist, Random Forests, and support vector regression) were applied to estimate urban cover. Urban forest canopy cover and impervious surface cover were estimated from Landsat-7 ETM+ imagery using a higher resolution cover map resampled to 30 m as training and reference data. Three different band combinations (...

Urban forests and social inequality in the Pacific Northwest

Treesearch

John R. Mills; Pat Cunningham; Geoffrey H. Donovan

2016-01-01

Research has shown there is a positive relationship between urban greenness and the well-being of cityresidents. But greenness is often unevenly distributed across a city, raising environmental justice issues.In 2011 and 2012 the USDA Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis program installed ground plotsin the urbanized areas of Oregon and Washington. We analyze...

Historical vegetation change in Oakland and its implications for urban forest management

Treesearch

David J. Nowak

1993-01-01

The history of Oakland, California's urban forest was researched to determine events that could influence future urban forests. Vegetation in Oakland has changed drastically from a preurbanized area with approximately 2% tree cover to a present tree cover of 19%. Species composition of trees was previously dominated by coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia...

A framework for developing urban forest ecosystem services and goods indicators

Treesearch

Cynnamon Dobbs; Francisco J. Escobedo; Wayne C. Zipperer

2011-01-01

The social and ecological processes impacting on urban forests have been studied at multiple temporal and spatial scales in order to help us quantify, monitor, and value the ecosystem services that benefit people. Few studies have comprehensively analyzed the full suite of ecosystem services, goods (ESG), and ecosystem disservices provided by an urban forest....

Quality of urban forest carbon credits

Treesearch

Neelam C. Poudyala; Jacek P. Siry; J.M. Bowker

2011-01-01

While the urban forest is considered an eligible source of carbon offset credits, little is known about its market potential and the quality aspects of the credits. As credit suppliers increase in number and credit buyers become more interested in purchasing carbon credits, it is unclear whether and how urban forest carbon credits can perform relative to the other...

Allometric equations for urban ash trees (Fraxinus spp.) in Oakville, Southern Ontario, Canada

Treesearch

Paula J. Peper; Claudia P. Alzate; John W. McNeil; Jalil Hashemi

2014-01-01

Tree growth equations are an important and common tool used to effectively assess the yield and determine management practices in forest plantations. Increasingly, they are being developed for urban forests, providing tools to assist urban forest managers with species selection, placement, and estimation of management costs and ecosystem services. This study describes...

Foliar nitrogen characteristics of four tree species planted in New York City forest restoration sites

Treesearch

Nancy Falxa-Raymond; Matthew I. Palmer; Timon McPhearson; Kevin L. Griffin

2014-01-01

Urban forests provide important environmental benefits, leading many municipal governments to initiate citywide tree plantings. However, nutrient cycling in urban ecosystems is difficult to predict, and nitrogen (N) use in urban trees may be quite different from use in rural forests. To gain insight into these biogeochemical and physiological processes, we compared...

The impact of anthropogenic climate change on wildfire across western US forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, P.; Abatzoglou, J. T.

2016-12-01

Increased forest fire activity across the western United States (US) in recent decades has contributed to widespread forest mortality, carbon emissions, periods of degraded air quality, and substantial fire suppression expenditures. The increase in forest fire activity has likely been enabled by a number of factors including the legacy of fire suppression and human settlement, changes in suppression policies, natural climate variability, and human-caused climate change. We use modeled climate projections to estimate the contribution of anthropogenic climate change to observed increases in eight fuel aridity metrics and forest fire area across the western US. Anthropogenic increases in temperature and vapor pressure deficit have significantly enhanced fuel aridity across western US forests over the past several decades. Comparing observational climate records to records recalculated after removal of modeled anthropogenic trends, we find that anthropogenic climate change accounted for approximately 55% of observed increases in the eight-metric mean fuel aridity during 1979-2015 across western US forests. This implicates anthropogenic climate change as an important driver of observed increases in fuel aridity, and also highlights the importance of natural multi-decadal climate variability in influencing trends in forest fire potential on the timescales of human lives. Based on a very strong (R2 = 0.76) and mechanistically reasonable relationship between interannual variability in the eight-metric mean fuel aridity and forest-fire area in the western US, we estimate that anthropogenic increases in fuel aridity contributed to an additional 4.2 million ha (95% confidence range: 2.7-6.5 million ha) of forest fire area during 1984-2015, nearly doubling the total forest fire area expected in the absence of anthropogenic climate change. The relationship between annual forest fire area and fuel aridity is exponential and the proportion of total forest area burned in a given year has grown rapidly over the past 32 years. Natural climate variability will continue to alternate between modulating and compounding anthropogenic increases in fuel aridity, but anthropogenic climate change has emerged as a chronic driver of increased forest fire activity and should continue to do so where fuels are not limiting.

The urban forest and ecosystem services: impact on urban water, heat, and pollution cycles at the tree, street, and city scale

Treesearch

S. J. Livesley; E. G. McPherson; C. Calfapietra

2016-01-01

Many environmental challenges are exacerbated within the urban landscape, such as stormwater runoff and flood risk, chemical and particulate pollution of urban air, soil and water, the urban heat island, and summer heat waves. Urban trees, and the urban forest as a whole, can be managed to have an impact on the urban water, heat, carbon and pollution cycles. However,...

Appendix: Assessment of watershed vulnerability to climate change - Pilot National Forest reports

Treesearch

Michael J. Furniss; Ken B. Roby; Dan Cenderelli; John Chatel; Caty F. Clifton; Alan Clingenpeel; Polly E. Hays; Dale Higgins; Ken Hodges; Carol Howe; Laura Jungst; Joan Louie; Christine Mai; Ralph Martinez; Kerry Overton; Brian P. Staab; Rory Steinke; Mark Weinhold

2013-01-01

Assessment of watershed vulnerability to climate change. Pilot National Forest reports: Gallatin National Forest, Helena National Forest, Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests, White River National Forest, Coconino National Forest, Sawtooth National Forest, Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Umatilla National Forest, Umatilla National Forest, Ouachita...

Baseline for Climate Change: Modeling Watershed Aquatic Biodiversity Relative to Environmental and Anthropogenic Factors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Maurakis, Eugene G

Objectives of the two-year study were to (1) establish baselines for fish and macroinvertebrate community structures in two mid-Atlantic lower Piedmont watersheds (Quantico Creek, a pristine forest watershed; and Cameron Run, an urban watershed, Virginia) that can be used to monitor changes relative to the impacts related to climate change in the future; (2) create mathematical expressions to model fish species richness and diversity, and macroinvertebrate taxa and macroinvertebrate functional feeding group taxa richness and diversity that can serve as a baseline for future comparisons in these and other watersheds in the mid-Atlantic region; and (3) heighten people’s awareness, knowledgemore » and understanding of climate change and impacts on watersheds in a laboratory experience and interactive exhibits, through internship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, a week-long teacher workshop, and a website about climate change and watersheds. Mathematical expressions modeled fish and macroinvertebrate richness and diversity accurately well during most of the six thermal seasons where sample sizes were robust. Additionally, hydrologic models provide the basis for estimating flows under varying meteorological conditions and landscape changes. Continuations of long-term studies are requisite for accurately teasing local human influences (e.g. urbanization and watershed alteration) from global anthropogenic impacts (e.g. climate change) on watersheds. Effective and skillful translations (e.g. annual potential exposure of 750,000 people to our inquiry-based laboratory activities and interactive exhibits in Virginia) of results of scientific investigations are valuable ways of communicating information to the general public to enhance their understanding of climate change and its effects in watersheds.« less

Long-term forest resilience to climate change indicated by mortality, regeneration, and growth in semiarid southern Siberia.

PubMed

Xu, Chongyang; Liu, Hongyan; Anenkhonov, Oleg A; Korolyuk, Andrey Yu; Sandanov, Denis V; Balsanova, Larisa D; Naidanov, Bulat B; Wu, Xiuchen

2017-06-01

Several studies have documented that regional climate warming and the resulting increase in drought stress have triggered increased tree mortality in semiarid forests with unavoidable impacts on regional and global carbon sequestration. Although climate warming is projected to continue into the future, studies examining long-term resilience of semiarid forests against climate change are limited. In this study, long-term forest resilience was defined as the capacity of forest recruitment to compensate for losses from mortality. We observed an obvious change in long-term forest resilience along a local aridity gradient by reconstructing tree growth trend and disturbance history and investigating postdisturbance regeneration in semiarid forests in southern Siberia. In our study, with increased severity of local aridity, forests became vulnerable to drought stress, and regeneration first accelerated and then ceased. Radial growth of trees during 1900-2012 was also relatively stable on the moderately arid site. Furthermore, we found that smaller forest patches always have relatively weaker resilience under the same climatic conditions. Our results imply a relatively higher resilience in arid timberline forest patches than in continuous forests; however, further climate warming and increased drought could possibly cause the disappearance of small forest patches around the arid tree line. This study sheds light on climate change adaptation and provides insight into managing vulnerable semiarid forests. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

77 FR 27179 - National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-09

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: The National Urban and Community... Staff to the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council, 201 14th Street SW., Yates Building...

Implications of rural-urban migration for conservation of the Atlantic Forest and urban growth in Misiones, Argentina (1970-2030).

PubMed

Izquierdo, Andrea E; Grau, Héctor R; Aide, T Mitchell

2011-05-01

Global trends of increasing rural-urban migration and population urbanization could provide opportunities for nature conservation, particularly in regions where deforestation is driven by subsistence agriculture. We analyzed the role of rural population as a driver of deforestation and its contribution to urban population growth from 1970 to the present in the Atlantic Forest of Argentina, a global conservation priority. We created future land-use-cover scenarios based on human demographic parameters and the relationship between rural population and land-cover change between 1970 and 2006. In 2006, native forest covered 50% of the province, but by 2030 all scenarios predicted a decrease that ranged from 18 to 39% forest cover. Between 1970 and 2001, rural migrants represented 20% of urban population growth and are expected to represent less than 10% by 2030. This modeling approach shows how rural-urban migration and land-use planning can favor nature conservation with little impact on urban areas.

Impact of anthropogenic climate change on wildfire across western US forests

PubMed Central

Williams, A. Park

2016-01-01

Increased forest fire activity across the western continental United States (US) in recent decades has likely been enabled by a number of factors, including the legacy of fire suppression and human settlement, natural climate variability, and human-caused climate change. We use modeled climate projections to estimate the contribution of anthropogenic climate change to observed increases in eight fuel aridity metrics and forest fire area across the western United States. Anthropogenic increases in temperature and vapor pressure deficit significantly enhanced fuel aridity across western US forests over the past several decades and, during 2000–2015, contributed to 75% more forested area experiencing high (>1 σ) fire-season fuel aridity and an average of nine additional days per year of high fire potential. Anthropogenic climate change accounted for ∼55% of observed increases in fuel aridity from 1979 to 2015 across western US forests, highlighting both anthropogenic climate change and natural climate variability as important contributors to increased wildfire potential in recent decades. We estimate that human-caused climate change contributed to an additional 4.2 million ha of forest fire area during 1984–2015, nearly doubling the forest fire area expected in its absence. Natural climate variability will continue to alternate between modulating and compounding anthropogenic increases in fuel aridity, but anthropogenic climate change has emerged as a driver of increased forest fire activity and should continue to do so while fuels are not limiting. PMID:27791053

Urban forest health monitoring: large-scale assessments in the United States

Treesearch

Anne Buckelew Cumming; Daniel B. Twardus; David J. Nowak

2008-01-01

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (USFS), together with state partners, developed methods to monitor urban forest structure, function, and health at a large statewide scale. Pilot studies have been established in five states using protocols based on USFS Forest Inventory and Analysis and Forest Health Monitoring program data collection standards....

Climate and Wildfire in Mountains of the Western United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alfaro, E.; Westerling, A. L.; Cayan, D. R.

2004-12-01

Since the mid-1980s, there has been a dramatic increase in the area burned in wildfires in mountain forests of the western United States, with mean annual area burned nearly three and a half times higher compared to the preceding one and a half decades.(1) Concomitant increases in variability in annual area burned and in fire suppression costs pose a serious challenge for land management in the mountainous West. The variance in annual area burned since 1987 is nineteen times its previous level. Since managers must be prepared for the worst possible scenarios in every fire season, increased uncertainty about the scale of the western fire season each year imposes high costs on public agencies. Annual real suppression costs in western forests have more than doubled for the Forest Service since 1987, while the variance in annual suppression costs is over four times higher. Although federal agencies' fire suppression budgets have increased recently, they are still close to what would be spent in an "average" year that seldom occurs, while costs tend to fluctuate between low and high extremes. Modeling area burned and suppression costs as a function of climate variability alone, Westerling (2004, unpublished work) found that the probability of the Forest Service's suppression expenses exceeding the current annual suppression budget has exceeded 50% since 1987, a substantial increase from the one-in-three chance over the preceding 40 years. Recent progress in our understanding of the links between climate and wildfire, and in our ability to forecast some aspects of both climate and wildfire season severity a season or more in advance, offers some hope that these costs might be ameliorated through the integration of climate information into fire and fuels management. In addition to the effects of climate variability on wildfire, long-term biomass accumulations in some western ecosystems have fueled an increasing incidence of large, stand-replacing wildfires where such fires were previously rare. These severe large fires can result in erosion and changes in vegetation type, with consequences for water quality, stream flow, future biological productivity of the affected areas, and habitat loss for endangered species. Apart from their deleterious ecological consequences, severe fires can also dramatically affect amenity values for public lands and for homeowners living in the wildland-urban interface. In the National Fire Plan, land management agencies have committed to reducing fuels on millions of hectares of public lands. The primary means are mechanical removal, prescribed fire and wildland fire use. The Forest Service estimates they will need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars per year to meet their fuel reduction targets, while efforts in recent years have not kept up with the current rate of biomass increase. Use of climate information for targeting resources and scheduling prescribed burns could increase the efficiency of these efforts. In this study we review the fire history since 1970 for western mountain forests, and demonstrate apparent links between regional climate variability and decadal-scale changes in annual area burned. This analysis explores how wildfire size and frequency have varied over the past thirty-five years by elevation and latitude, and how climate indices such as precipitation, temperature, drought indices and the timing of spring runoff vary in importance for fire season severity by elevation in forests around the western United States.

Are Urban Ecosystem Services Useful for a Sustainable City?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jenerette, D.

2014-12-01

In meeting the needs of rapidly expanding city residents, ecosystem functioning within the urban boundary may provide several key services ranging from life-sustaining services such as climate regulation and food production to services associated with recreation and aesthetics. In contrast, ecosystem disservices are associated with ecosystem characteristics that have a negative impact on residents and range from potentially injurious components such as increasing pollutant exposure or additional resource requirements such as irrigation water. Identifying trade-offs in both services and disservices is a priority for assessing how ecosystem functioning influences urban residents. Such assessments require a baseline understanding of their rates of production and acutely need expanded monitoring and modeling. Recent efforts at quantifying ecosystem services and disservices have relied on combinations of direct field surveys, in-situ environmental sensor networks, and remotely sensed vegetation. While much work has been conducted within single metropolitan regions, expanded efforts are underway to analyze networks of urban sites. Here I highlight recent findings associated with urban ecosystem services associated with variation in urban forests and urban gardens as two contrasting ecosystem types within a city. These research efforts are leading to improved understanding of the variation in the production of and specific desires for ecosystem services and disservices. Initial data across several studies suggests desires for services show sensitivity to both socioeconomic status as suggested by a hierarchy of needs hypothesis and local environmental conditions as suggested by an environmental determinism hypothesis. Consequently, the production of ecosystem services also varies dramatically across socioeconomic and climate gradients. Future projections of the rates of service production are highly uncertain with likely strong nonlinearities in responses to urban conditions. Designing for sustainable ecosystem services within cities such that benefits are maximized and costs are minimized as we prepare for a near future with 2.5 billion more urban residents.

Particle deposition in a peri-urban Mediterranean forest.

PubMed

Fares, Silvano; Savi, Flavia; Fusaro, Lina; Conte, Adriano; Salvatori, Elisabetta; Aromolo, Rita; Manes, Fausto

2016-11-01

Urban and peri-urban forests provide a multitude of Ecosystem Services to the citizens. While the capacity of removing carbon dioxide and gaseous compounds from the atmosphere has been tested, their capacity to sequestrate particles (PM) has been poorly investigated. Mediterranean forest ecosystems are often located nearby or inside large urban areas. This is the case of the city of Rome, Italy, which hosts several urban parks and is surrounded by forested areas. In particular, the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano is a 6000 ha forested area located between the Tyrrhenian coast and the city (25 km downtown of Rome). Under the hypothesis that forests can ameliorate air quality thanks to particle deposition, we measured fluxes of PM1, 2.5 and 10 with fast optical sensors and eddy covariance technique. We found that PM1 is mainly deposited during the central hours of the day, while negligible fluxes were observed for PM 2.5 and 10. A Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model (HYSPLIT v4) simulated PM emission from traffic areas in the city of Rome and showed that a significant portion of PM is removed by vegetation in the days when the plume trajectory meets the urban forest. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methane uptake in urban forests and lawns.

PubMed

Groffman, Peter M; Pouyat, Richard V

2009-07-15

The largest natural biological sink for the radiatively active trace gas methane (CH4) is bacteria in soils that consume CH4 as an energy and carbon source. This sink has been shown to be sensitive to nitrogen (N) inputs and alterations of soil physical conditions. Given this sensitivity, conversion of native ecosystems to urban, suburban, and exurban managed lawns thus has potential to affect regional CH4 budgets. We measured CH4 fluxes monthly from four urban forest, four rural forest and four urban lawn plots in the Baltimore, MD, metropolitan area from 2001 to 2005. Our objectives were to evaluate the effects of urban atmospheric and land use change on CH4 uptake and the importance of these changes relative to other greenhouse forcings in the urban landscape. Rural forests had a high capacity for CH4 uptake (1.68 mg m(-2) day(-1)). This capacity was reduced in urban forests (0.23 mg m(-2) day(-1)) and almost completely eliminated in lawns. Possible mechanisms for these reductions include increases in atmospheric N deposition and CO2 levels, fertilization of lawns, and alteration of soil physical conditions that influence diffusion. Although conversion of native forests to lawns had dramatic effects on CH4 uptake, these effects do not appear to be significant to statewide greenhouse gas forcing.

Local Climate Zones Classification to Urban Planning in the Mega City of São Paulo - SP, Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gonçalves Santos, Rafael; Saraiva Lopes, António Manuel; Prata-Shimomura, Alessandra

2017-04-01

Local Climate Zones Classification to Urban Planning in the Mega city of São Paulo - SP, Brazil Tropical megacities have presented a strong trend in growing urban. Urban management in megacities has as one of the biggest challenges is the lack of integration of urban climate and urban planning to promote ecologically smart cities. Local Climatic Zones (LCZs) are considered as important and recognized tool for urban climate management. Classes are local in scale, climatic in nature, and zonal in representation. They can be understood as regions of uniform surface cover, structure, material and human activity that have to a unique climate response. As an initial tool to promote urban climate planning, LCZs represent a simple composition of different land coverages (buildings, vegetation, soils, rock, roads and water). LCZs are divided in 17 classes, they are based on surface cover (built fraction, soil moisture, albedo), surface structure (sky view factor, roughness height) and cultural activity (anthropogenic heat flux). The aim of this study is the application of the LCZs classification system in the megacity of São Paulo, Brazil. Located at a latitude of 23° 21' and longitude 46° 44' near to the Tropic of Capricorn, presenting humid subtropical climate (Cfa) with diversified topographies. The megacity of São Paulo currently concentrates 11.890.000 inhabitants is characterized by large urban conglomerates with impermeable surfaces and high verticalization, having as result high urban heat island intensity. The result indicates predominance in urban zones of Compact low-rise, Compact Mid-rise, Compact High-rise and Open Low-rise. Non-urban regions are mainly covered by dense vegetation and water. The LCZs classification system promotes significant advantages for climate sensitive urban planning in the megacity of São Paulo. They offers new perspectives to the management of temperature and urban ventilation and allows the formulation of urban planning guidelines and climatic. Key words: Local Climatic Zones; Urban Panning; Megacities; São Paulo.

Synergy between land use and climate change increases future fire risk in Amazon forests

DOE PAGES

Le Page, Yannick; Morton, Douglas; Hartin, Corinne; ...

2017-12-20

Tropical forests have been a permanent feature of the Amazon basin for at least 55 million years, yet climate change and land use threaten the forest's future over the next century. Understory forest fires, which are common under the current climate in frontier forests, may accelerate Amazon forest losses from climate-driven dieback and deforestation. Far from land use frontiers, scarce fire ignitions and high moisture levels preclude significant burning, yet projected climate and land use changes may increase fire activity in these remote regions. Here, we used a fire model specifically parameterized for Amazon understory fires to examine the interactionsmore » between anthropogenic activities and climate under current and projected conditions. In a scenario of low mitigation efforts with substantial land use expansion and climate change – Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 – projected understory fires increase in frequency and duration, burning 4–28 times more forest in 2080–2100 than during 1990–2010. In contrast, active climate mitigation and land use contraction in RCP4.5 constrain the projected increase in fire activity to 0.9–5.4 times contemporary burned area. Importantly, if climate mitigation is not successful, land use contraction alone is very effective under low to moderate climate change, but does little to reduce fire activity under the most severe climate projections. These results underscore the potential for a fire-driven transformation of Amazon forests if recent regional policies for forest conservation are not paired with global efforts to mitigate climate change.« less

Synergy between land use and climate change increases future fire risk in Amazon forests

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Le Page, Yannick; Morton, Douglas; Hartin, Corinne

Tropical forests have been a permanent feature of the Amazon basin for at least 55 million years, yet climate change and land use threaten the forest's future over the next century. Understory forest fires, which are common under the current climate in frontier forests, may accelerate Amazon forest losses from climate-driven dieback and deforestation. Far from land use frontiers, scarce fire ignitions and high moisture levels preclude significant burning, yet projected climate and land use changes may increase fire activity in these remote regions. Here, we used a fire model specifically parameterized for Amazon understory fires to examine the interactionsmore » between anthropogenic activities and climate under current and projected conditions. In a scenario of low mitigation efforts with substantial land use expansion and climate change – Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 – projected understory fires increase in frequency and duration, burning 4–28 times more forest in 2080–2100 than during 1990–2010. In contrast, active climate mitigation and land use contraction in RCP4.5 constrain the projected increase in fire activity to 0.9–5.4 times contemporary burned area. Importantly, if climate mitigation is not successful, land use contraction alone is very effective under low to moderate climate change, but does little to reduce fire activity under the most severe climate projections. These results underscore the potential for a fire-driven transformation of Amazon forests if recent regional policies for forest conservation are not paired with global efforts to mitigate climate change.« less

Legacy effects of land-use modulate tree growth responses to climate extremes.

PubMed

Mausolf, Katharina; Härdtle, Werner; Jansen, Kirstin; Delory, Benjamin M; Hertel, Dietrich; Leuschner, Christoph; Temperton, Vicky M; von Oheimb, Goddert; Fichtner, Andreas

2018-05-10

Climate change can impact forest ecosystem processes via individual tree and community responses. While the importance of land-use legacies in modulating these processes have been increasingly recognised, evidence of former land-use mediated climate-growth relationships remain rare. We analysed how differences in former land-use (i.e. forest continuity) affect the growth response of European beech to climate extremes. Here, using dendrochronological and fine root data, we show that ancient forests (forests with a long forest continuity) and recent forests (forests afforested on former farmland) clearly differ with regard to climate-growth relationships. We found that sensitivity to climatic extremes was lower for trees growing in ancient forests, as reflected by significantly lower growth reductions during adverse climatic conditions. Fine root morphology also differed significantly between the former land-use types: on average, trees with high specific root length (SRL) and specific root area (SRA) and low root tissue density (RTD) were associated with recent forests, whereas the opposite traits were characteristic of ancient forests. Moreover, we found that trees of ancient forests hold a larger fine root system than trees of recent forests. Our results demonstrate that land-use legacy-mediated modifications in the size and morphology of the fine root system act as a mechanism in regulating drought resistance of beech, emphasising the need to consider the 'ecological memory' of forests when assessing or predicting the sensitivity of forest ecosystems to global environmental change.

A climate responsive urban design tool: a platform to improve energy efficiency in a dry hot climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El Dallal, Norhan; Visser, Florentine

2017-09-01

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, new urban developments should address the climatic conditions to improve outdoor comfort and to reduce the energy consumption of buildings. This article describes a design tool that supports climate responsive design for a dry hot climate. The approach takes the climate as an initiator for the conceptual urban form with a more energy-efficient urban morphology. The methodology relates the different passive strategies suitable for major climate conditions in MENA region (dry-hot) to design parameters that create the urban form. This parametric design approach is the basis for a tool that generates conceptual climate responsive urban forms so as to assist the urban designer early in the design process. Various conceptual scenarios, generated by a computational model, are the results of the proposed platform. A practical application of the approach is conducted on a New Urban Community in Aswan (Egypt), showing the economic feasibility of the resulting urban form and morphology, and the proposed tool.

Climate-FVS Version 2: Content, users guide, applications, and behavior

Treesearch

Nicholas L. Crookston

2014-01-01

Climate change in the 21st Century is projected to cause widespread changes in forest ecosystems. Climate-FVS is a modification to the Forest Vegetation Simulator designed to take climate change into account when predicting forest dynamics at decadal to century time scales. Individual tree climate viability scores measure the likelihood that the climate at a given...

Spatial modeling of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Andean region of Colombia.

PubMed

Pérez-Flórez, Mauricio; Ocampo, Clara Beatriz; Valderrama-Ardila, Carlos; Alexander, Neal

2016-06-27

The objective of this research was to identify environmental risk factors for cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Colombia and map high-risk municipalities. The study area was the Colombian Andean region, comprising 715 rural and urban municipalities. We used 10 years of CL surveillance: 2000-2009. We used spatial-temporal analysis - conditional autoregressive Poisson random effects modelling - in a Bayesian framework to model the dependence of municipality-level incidence on land use, climate, elevation and population density. Bivariable spatial analysis identified rainforests, forests and secondary vegetation, temperature, and annual precipitation as positively associated with CL incidence. By contrast, livestock agroecosystems and temperature seasonality were negatively associated. Multivariable analysis identified land use - rainforests and agro-livestock - and climate - temperature, rainfall and temperature seasonality - as best predictors of CL. We conclude that climate and land use can be used to identify areas at high risk of CL and that this approach is potentially applicable elsewhere in Latin America.

76 FR 85 - National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-03

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: The National Urban and Community..., recommendations for the Secretary of Agriculture, develop the 2011 plan of work, hear from some of the Urban and...

77 FR 13262 - National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-06

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: The National Urban and Community..., recommendations for the Secretary of Agriculture, the 2012 plan of work, and hear public input related to urban...

High-resolution records detect human-caused changes to the boreal forest wildfire regime in interior Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gaglioti, Benjamin V.; Mann, Daniel H.; Jones, Benjamin M.; Wooller, Matthew J.; Finney, Bruce P.

2016-01-01

Stand-replacing wildfires are a keystone disturbance in the boreal forest, and they are becoming more common as the climate warms. Paleo-fire archives from the wildland–urban interface can quantify the prehistoric fire regime and assess how both human land-use and climate change impact ecosystem dynamics. Here, we use a combination of a sedimentary charcoal record preserved in varved lake sediments (annually layered) and fire scars in living trees to document changes in local fire return intervals (FRIs) and regional fire activity over the last 500 years. Ace Lake is within the boreal forest, located near the town of Fairbanks in interior Alaska, which was settled by gold miners in AD 1902. In the 400 years before settlement, fires occurred near the lake on average every 58 years. After settlement, fires became much more frequent (average every 18  years), and background charcoal flux rates rose to four times their preindustrial levels, indicating a region-wide increase in burning. Despite this surge in burning, the preindustrial boreal forest ecosystem and permafrost in the watershed have remained intact. Although fire suppression has reduced charcoal influx since the 1950s, an aging fuel load experiencing increasingly warm summers may pose management problems for this and other boreal sites that have similar land-use and fire histories. The large human-caused fire events that we identify can be used to test how increasingly common megafires may alter ecosystem dynamics in the future.

Observations of atmospheric monoaromatic hydrocarbons at urban, semi-urban and forest environments in the Amazon region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paralovo, Sarah L.; Borillo, Guilherme C.; Barbosa, Cybelli G. G.; Godoi, Ana Flavia L.; Yamamoto, Carlos I.; de Souza, Rodrigo A. F.; Andreoli, Rita V.; Costa, Patrícia S.; Almeida, Gerson P.; Manzi, Antonio O.; Pöhlker, Christopher; Yáñez-Serrano, Ana M.; Kesselmeier, Jürgen; Godoi, Ricardo H. M.

2016-03-01

The Amazon region is one of the most significant natural ecosystems on the planet. Of special interest as a major study area is the interface between the forest and Manaus city, a state capital in Brazil embedded in the heart of the Amazon forest. In view of the interactions between natural and anthropogenic processes, an integrated experiment was conducted measuring the concentrations of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and meta, ortho, para-xylene (known as BTEX), all of them regarded as pollutants with harmful effects on human health and vegetation and acting also as important precursors of tropospheric ozone. Furthermore, these compounds also take part in the formation of secondary organic aerosols, which can influence the pattern of cloud formation, and thus the regional water cycle and climate. The samples were collected in 2012/2013 at three different sites: (i) The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO), a pristine rain forest region in the central Amazon Basin; (ii) Manacapuru, a semi-urban site located southwest and downwind of Manaus as a preview of the Green Ocean Amazon Experiment (GoAmazon 2014/15); and (iii) the city of Manaus (distributed over three sites). Results indicate that there is an increase in pollutant concentrations with increasing proximity to urban areas. For instance, the benzene concentration ranges were 0.237-19.6 (Manaus), 0.036-0.948 (Manacapuru) and 0.018-0.313 μg m-3 (ATTO). Toluene ranges were 0.700-832 (Manaus), 0.091-2.75 μg m-3 (Manacapuru) and 0.011-4.93 (ATTO). For ethylbenzene, they were 0.165-447 (Manaus), 0.018-1.20 μg m-3 (Manacapuru) and 0.047-0.401 (ATTO). Some indication was found for toluene to be released from the forest. No significant difference was found between the BTEX levels measured in the dry season and the wet seasons. Furthermore, it was observed that, in general, the city of Manaus seems to be less impacted by these pollutants than other cities in Brazil and in other countries, near the coastline or on the continent. A risk analysis for the health of Manaus' population was performed and indicated that the measured concentrations posed a risk for development of chronic diseases and cancer for the population of Manaus.

Riparian influences on stream fish assemblage structure in urbanizing streams

USGS Publications Warehouse

Roy, A.H.; Freeman, B.J.; Freeman, Mary C.

2007-01-01

We assessed the influence of land cover at multiple spatial extents on fish assemblage integrity, and the degree to which riparian forests can mitigate the negative effects of catchment urbanization on stream fish assemblages. Riparian cover (urban, forest, and agriculture) was determined within 30 m buffers at longitudinal distances of 200 m, 1 km, and the entire network upstream of 59 non-nested fish sampling locations. Catchment and riparian land cover within the upstream network were highly correlated, so we were unable to distinguish between those variables. Most fish assemblage variables were related to % forest and % urban land cover, with the strongest relations at the largest spatial extent of land cover (catchment), followed by riparian land cover in the 1-km and 200-m reach, respectively. For fish variables related to urban land cover in the catchment, we asked whether the influence of riparian land cover on fish assemblages was dependent on the amount of urban development in the catchment. Several fish assemblage metrics (endemic richness, endemic:cosmopolitan abundance, insectivorous cyprinid richness and abundance, and fluvial specialist richness) were all best predicted by single variable models with % urban land cover. However, endemic:cosmopolitan richness, cosmopolitan abundance, and lentic tolerant abundance were related to % forest cover in the 1-km stream reach, but only in streams that had <15% catchment urban land cover. In these cases, catchment urbanization overwhelmed the potential mitigating effects of riparian forests on stream fishes. Together, these results suggest that catchment land cover is an important driver of fish assemblages in urbanizing catchments, and riparian forests are important but not sufficient for protecting stream ecosystems from the impacts of high levels of urbanization.

Characterization of environmental quality of forest fragments changes in Jundiaí-Mirim river basin-Brazil using the Markov Chain model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasimoto Fengler, Felipe; Leite de Moraes, Jener Fernando; Irio Ribeiro, Admilson; Peche Filho, Afonso; Araujo de Medeiros, Gerson; Baldin Damame, Desirée; Márcia Longo, Regina

2015-04-01

In Brazil is common practice the concurrency of large urban centers water catchment in distant sites. There's no policy to preserve strategic springs in the urban territory. Thus, rural areas, located in the surrounds of municipals, usually provide water and others environment services to the population that reside on cities. The Jundiaí-Mirim river basin, located in the most urbanized state in Brazil, São Paulo, composes an interesting example of this situation. It is located in a rural area near large urban centers, with large industrial parks, near the capital of state. As result of expansion of the cities on its surrounds their lands have had a historic of monetary valorization, making its territories attractive to the housing market. Consequently, the region has an intense process of urbanization that resulted in an increasing environmental disturbance in the areas of natural vegetation. In the other hand, the watershed is the principal water supplier of Jundiaí city, and houses forest remaining of an important Biome in Brazil, the Atlantic Rain Forest. Given the need to preserve its water production capacity and the forest remnants there, this study modeled the environmental quality of forest fragments through indicators of disturbance and evaluated the changes that occur between 1972 and 2013 using the Markov Chain model. The environment quality was determined by nine indicators of environmental disturbance (distance of urban areas, roads, edge land use, size, distance of others forest fragments, land capacity of use, watershed forest cover, number of forest fragments in the watersheds, shape of the forest fragment), obtained by techniques of Geoprocessing, and integrated by Multicriteria Analysis. The Markov Chain model showed a constant tendency of deteriorating in natural vegetation environmental quality, attributed to the intense process of occupation of the river basin. The results showed a historical trend of transformation in forest fragments with very low environmental quality to others uses and a static behavior of forest fragments with high environmental quality. It was explained by the tendency of occupation in forest fragments near urban areas, roads, with small size and high perturbation, and difficulties in occupation of forest fragments with high size, isolated from urban areas end roads. It was concluded that: (a) urbanization and deforestation of natural vegetation were primarily responsible for changes in environmental quality; (b) there is a need to create public policies to preserve the natural vegetation in the Jundiaí-Mirim river basin.

Patterns in understory woody diversity and soil nitrogen across native- and non-native-urban tropical forests

Treesearch

D.F. Cusack; T.L. McCleery; NO-VALUE

2014-01-01

Urban expansion is accelerating in the tropics, and may promote the spread of introduced plant species into urban-proximate forests. For example, soil disturbance can deplete the naturally high soil nitrogen pools in wet tropical soils, favoring introduced species with nitrogen-fixing capabilities. Also, forest fragmentation and canopy disturbance are likely to favor...

Whose urban forest? The political ecology of foraging urban nontimber forest products

Treesearch

Patrick T. Hurley; Marla R. Emery; Rebecca McLain; Melissa Poe; Brian Grabbatin; Cari L. Goetcheus

2015-01-01

Drawing on case studies of foraging in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, we point to foraging landscapes and practices within diverse urban forest spaces. We examine these spaces in relation to U.S. conservation and development processes and the effects of management and governance on species valued by foragers. These case studies reveal the...

Factors influencing buyers' willingness to offer price premiums for carbon credits sourced from urban forests

Treesearch

N.C. Poudyal; J.M. Bowker; J.P. Siry

2015-01-01

Marketing carbon offset credits generated by urban forest projects could help cities and local governments achieve their financial self-sufficiency and environmental sustainability goals. Understanding the value of carbon credits sourced from urban forests, and the factors that determine buyers’ willingness to pay a premium for such credits could benefit cities in...

Analyzing the efficacy of subtropical urban forests in offsetting carbon emissions from cities

Treesearch

Francisco Escobedo; Sebastian Varela; Min Zhao; John E. Wagner; Wayne Zipperer

2010-01-01

Urban forest management and policies have been promoted as a tool to mitigate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This study used existing CO2 reduction measures from subtropical Miami-Dade and Gainesville, USA and modeled carbon storage and sequestration by trees to analyze policies that use urban forests to offset carbon emissions. Field data were analyzed, modeled, and...

Observing urban forests in Australia

Treesearch

E.G. McPherson

2009-01-01

From February 13 to 28, 2009 I had the good fortune of visiting Australia, and touring urban forests in Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, and Melbourne. My visits were only a day or two in each city, so in no case did I get an in-depth view of the urban forest resource or its management. The following observations are based on rather superficial field assessments and brief...

Urban forest assessment in northern Delaware

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Robert E. Hoehn; Jun Wang; Andy Lee; Vikram Krishnamurthy; Gary Schwetz

2009-01-01

Presents results of an analysis of the urban forest of the Wilmington, Delaware, the metropolitan corridor in New Castle County (NCC), and Rattlesnake Run sewershed in the city of Wilmington using the Urban Forest Effects (UFORE) model. This analysis reveals that there are about 882,700 trees (19.3 percent tree cover) in the NCC metro corridor and about 136,000 trees (...

Resilient landscapes in Mediterranean urban areas: Understanding factors influencing forest trends.

PubMed

Tomao, Antonio; Quatrini, Valerio; Corona, Piermaria; Ferrara, Agostino; Lafortezza, Raffaele; Salvati, Luca

2017-07-01

Urban and peri-urban forests are recognized as basic elements for Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), as they preserve and may increase environmental quality in urbanized contexts. For this reason, the amount of forest land per inhabitant is a pivotal efficiency indicator to be considered in the sustainable governance, land management, planning and design of metropolitan areas. The present study illustrates a multivariate analysis of per-capita forest area (PFA) in mainland Attica, the urban region surrounding Athens, Greece. Attica is considered a typical case of Mediterranean urbanization where planning has not regulated urban expansion and successive waves of spontaneous growth have occurred over time. In such a context, an analysis of factors that can affect landscape changes in terms of PFA may inform effective strategies for the sustainable management of socio-ecological local systems in light of the NBS perspective. A total of 26 indicators were collected per decade at the municipal scale in the study area with the aim to identify the factors most closely associated to the amount of PFA. Indicators of urban morphology and functions have been considered together with environmental and topographical variables. In Attica, PFA showed a progressive decrease between 1960 and 2010. In particular, PFA progressively declined (1980, 1990) along fringe areas surrounding Athens and in peri-urban districts experiencing dispersed expansion of residential settlements. Distance from core cities and from the seacoast, typical urban functions (e.g., multiple use of buildings and per capita built-up area) and percentage of agricultural land-use in each municipality are the variables most associated with high PFA. In recent years, some municipalities have shown an expansion of forest cover, mainly due to land abandonment and forest recolonization. Findings from this case study have allowed us to identify priorities for NBS at metropolitan level aimed at promoting more sustainable urbanization. Distinctively, proposed NBS basically focus on (i) the effective protection of crop mosaics with relict woodlots; (ii) the improvement of functionality, quality and accessibility of new forests; and (iii) the establishment of new forests in rural municipalities. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Climate change impacts on forest fires: the stakeholders' perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giannakopoulos, C.; Roussos, A.; Karali, A.; Hatzaki, M.; Xanthopoulos, G.; Chatzinikos, E.; Fyllas, N.; Georgiades, N.; Karetsos, G.; Maheras, G.; Nikolaou, I.; Proutsos, N.; Sbarounis, T.; Tsaggari, K.; Tzamtzis, I.; Goodess, C.

2012-04-01

In this work, we present a synthesis of the presentations and discussions which arose during a workshop on 'Impacts of climate change on forest fires' held in September 2011 at the National Observatory of Athens, Greece in the framework of EU project CLIMRUN. At first, a general presentation about climate change and extremes in the Greek territory provided the necessary background to the audience and highlighted the need for data and information exchange between scientists and stakeholders through climate services within CLIMRUN. Discussions and presentations that followed linked climate with forest science through the use of a meteorological index for fire risk and future projections of fire danger using regional climate models. The current situation on Greek forests was also presented, as well as future steps that should be taken to ameliorate the situation under a climate change world. A time series analysis of changes in forest fires using available historical data on forest ecosystems in Greece was given in this session. This led to the topic of forest fire risk assessment and fire prevention, stating all actions towards sustainable management of forests and effective mechanisms to control fires under climate change. Options for a smooth adaptation of forests to climate change were discussed together with the lessons learned on practical level on prevention, repression and rehabilitation of forest fires. In between there were useful interventions on sustainable hunting and biodiversity protection and on climate change impacts on forest ecosystems dynamics. The importance of developing an educational program for primary/secondary school students on forest fire management was also highlighted. The perspective of forest stakeholders on climate change and how this change can affect their current or future activities was addressed through a questionnaire they were asked to complete. Results showed that the majority of the participants consider climate variability to be important or very important and to influence their activities. Extreme climate events, desertification and drought were regarded as the most important environmental problems along with loss of biodiversity. Most of the participants answered that they use historical data for research, and would welcome climate data and services targeted to their sector if offered. Acknowledgement: This work was supported by the EU project CLIMRUN under contract FP7-ENV-2010- 265192.

Spatiotemporal variability of hydrologic soil properties and the implications for overland flow and land management in a peri-urban Mediterranean catchment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferreira, C. S. S.; Walsh, R. P. D.; Steenhuis, T. S.; Shakesby, R. A.; Nunes, J. P. N.; Coelho, C. O. A.; Ferreira, A. J. D.

2015-06-01

Planning of semi-urban developments is often hindered by a lack of knowledge on how changes in land-use affect catchment hydrological response. The temporal and spatial patterns of overland flow source areas and their connectivity in the landscape, particularly in a seasonal climate, remain comparatively poorly understood. This study investigates seasonal variations in factors influencing runoff response to rainfall in a peri-urban catchment in Portugal characterized by a mosaic of landscape units and a humid Mediterranean climate. Variations in surface soil moisture, hydrophobicity and infiltration capacity were measured in six different landscape units (defined by land-use on either sandstone or limestone) in nine monitoring campaigns at key times over a one-year period. Spatiotemporal patterns in overland flow mechanisms were found. Infiltration-excess overland flow was generated in rainfalls during the dry summer season in woodland on both sandstone and limestone and on agricultural soils on limestone due probably in large part to soil hydrophobicity. In wet periods, saturation overland flow occurred on urban and agricultural soils located in valley bottoms and on shallow soils upslope. Topography, water table rise and soil depth determined the location and extent of saturated areas. Overland flow generated in upslope source areas potentially can infiltrate in other landscape units downslope where infiltration capacity exceeds rainfall intensity. Hydrophilic urban and agricultural-sandstone soils were characterized by increased infiltration capacity during dry periods, while forest soils provided potential sinks for overland flow when hydrophilic in the winter wet season. Identifying the spatial and temporal variability of overland flow sources and sinks is an important step in understanding and modeling flow connectivity and catchment hydrologic response. Such information is important for land managers in order to improve urban planning to minimize flood risk.

Biodiversity as a solution to mitigate climate change impacts on the functioning of forest ecosystems.

PubMed

Hisano, Masumi; Searle, Eric B; Chen, Han Y H

2018-02-01

Forest ecosystems are critical to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions through carbon sequestration. However, climate change has affected forest ecosystem functioning in both negative and positive ways, and has led to shifts in species/functional diversity and losses in plant species diversity which may impair the positive effects of diversity on ecosystem functioning. Biodiversity may mitigate climate change impacts on (I) biodiversity itself, as more-diverse systems could be more resilient to climate change impacts, and (II) ecosystem functioning through the positive relationship between diversity and ecosystem functioning. By surveying the literature, we examined how climate change has affected forest ecosystem functioning and plant diversity. Based on the biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning (B→EF), we specifically address the potential for biodiversity to mitigate climate change impacts on forest ecosystem functioning. For this purpose, we formulate a concept whereby biodiversity may reduce the negative impacts or enhance the positive impacts of climate change on ecosystem functioning. Further B→EF studies on climate change in natural forests are encouraged to elucidate how biodiversity might influence ecosystem functioning. This may be achieved through the detailed scrutiny of large spatial/long temporal scale data sets, such as long-term forest inventories. Forest management strategies based on B→EF have strong potential for augmenting the effectiveness of the roles of forests in the mitigation of climate change impacts on ecosystem functioning. © 2017 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Robustness of plant-insect herbivore interaction networks to climate change in a fragmented temperate forest landscape.

PubMed

Bähner, K W; Zweig, K A; Leal, I R; Wirth, R

2017-10-01

Forest fragmentation and climate change are among the most severe and pervasive forms of human impact. Yet, their combined effects on plant-insect herbivore interaction networks, essential components of forest ecosystems with respect to biodiversity and functioning, are still poorly investigated, particularly in temperate forests. We addressed this issue by analysing plant-insect herbivore networks (PIHNs) from understories of three managed beech forest habitats: small forest fragments (2.2-145 ha), forest edges and forest interior areas within three continuous control forests (1050-5600 ha) in an old hyper-fragmented forest landscape in SW Germany. We assessed the impact of forest fragmentation, particularly edge effects, on PIHNs and the resulting differences in robustness against climate change by habitat-wise comparison of network topology and biologically realistic extinction cascades of networks following scores of vulnerability to climate change for the food plant species involved. Both the topological network metrics (complexity, nestedness, trophic niche redundancy) and robustness to climate change strongly increased in forest edges and fragments as opposed to the managed forest interior. The nature of the changes indicates that human impacts modify network structure mainly via host plant availability to insect herbivores. Improved robustness of PIHNs in forest edges/small fragments to climate-driven extinction cascades was attributable to an overall higher thermotolerance across plant communities, along with positive effects of network structure. The impoverishment of PIHNs in managed forest interiors and the suggested loss of insect diversity from climate-induced co-extinction highlight the need for further research efforts focusing on adequate silvicultural and conservation approaches.

Climate change impacts and adaptation in forestry: responses by trees and markets.

Treesearch

Ralph Alig; Darius Adams; Linda Joyce; Brent Sohngen

2004-01-01

The forest sector-forestry and forest industries-plays an important role in the global climate change debate. The sector influences the global carbon cycle through the sequestration of atmospheric carbon in forests and is in turn influenced by global climate change through its impacts on the rates of forest growth and climate-induced changes in natural disturbances...

Forest Adaptation Resources: climate change tools and approaches for land managers, 2nd edition

Treesearch

Christopher W. Swanston; Maria K. Janowiak; Leslie A. Brandt; Patricia R. Butler; Stephen D. Handler; P. Danielle Shannon; Abigail Derby Lewis; Kimberly Hall; Robert T. Fahey; Lydia Scott; Angela Kerber; Jason W. Miesbauer; Lindsay Darling

2016-01-01

Forests across the United States are expected to undergo numerous changes in response to the changing climate. This second edition of the Forest Adaptation Resources provides a collection of resources designed to help forest managers incorporate climate change considerations into management and devise adaptation tactics. It was developed as part of the Climate Change...

Spatial variability in forest growth—climate relationships in the Olympic Mountains, Washington.

Treesearch

Jill M. Nakawatase; David L. Peterson

2006-01-01

For many Pacific Northwest forests, little is known about the spatial and temporal variability in tree growth - climate relationships, yet it is this information that is needed to predict how forests will respond to future climatic change. We studied the effects of climatic variability on forest growth at 74 plots in the western and northeastern Olympic Mountains....

Response of evapotranspiration to changes in land use and land cover and climate in China during 2001-2013.

PubMed

Li, Gen; Zhang, Fangmin; Jing, Yuanshu; Liu, Yibo; Sun, Ge

2017-10-15

Land surface evapotranspiration (ET) is a central component of the Earth's global energy balance and water cycle. Understanding ET is important in quantifying the impacts of human influences on the hydrological cycle and thus helps improving water use efficiency and strengthening water use planning and watershed management. China has experienced tremendous land use and land cover changes (LUCC) as a result of urbanization and ecological restoration under a broad background of climate change. This study used MODIS data products to analyze how LUCC and climate change affected ET in China in the period 2001-2013. We examined the separate contribution to the estimated ET changes by combining LUCC and climate data. Results showed that the average annual ET in China decreased at a rate of -0.6mm/yr from 2001 to 2013. Areas in which ET decreased significantly were mainly distributed in the northwest China, the central of southwest China, and most regions of south central and east China. The trends of four climatic factors including air temperature, wind speed, sunshine duration, and relative humidity were determined, while the contributions of these four factors to ET were quantified by combining the ET and climate datasets. Among the four climatic factors, sunshine duration and wind speed had the greatest influence on ET. LUCC data from 2001 to 2013 showed that forests, grasslands and croplands in China mutually replaced each other. The reduction of forests had much greater effects on ET than change by other land cover types. Finally, through quantitative separation of the distinct effects of climate change and LUCC on ET, we conclude that climate change was the more significant than LULC change in influencing ET in China during the period 2001-2013. Effective water resource management and vegetation-based ecological restoration efforts in China must consider the effects of climate change on ET and water availability. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Forests and water

Treesearch

Graeme Lockaby; Chelsea Nagy; James M. Vose; Chelcy R. Ford; Ge Sun; Steve McNulty; Pete Caldwell; Erika Cohen; Jennifer Moore Myers

2013-01-01

Key FindingsForest conversion to agriculture or urban use consistently causes increased discharge, peak flow, and velocity of streams. Subregional differences in hydrologic responses to urbanization are substantial.Sediment, water chemistry indices, pathogens, and other substances often become more concentrated after forest...

The long-term effects of planting and harvesting on secondary forest dynamics under climate change in northeastern China

PubMed Central

Yao, Jing; He, Xingyuan; He, Hongshi; Chen, Wei; Dai, Limin; Lewis, Bernard J.; Yu, Lizhong

2016-01-01

Unlike the virgin forest in the Changbaishan Nature Reserve in northeastern China, little research on a landscape scale has been conducted on secondary forests in the region under conditions of a warming climate. This research was undertaken in the upper Hun River region where the vegetation is representative of the typical secondary forest of northeastern China. The spatially explicit forest landscape model LANDIS was utilized to simulate the responses of forest restoration dynamics to anthropogenic disturbance (planting and harvesting) and evaluate the difference of the restoration process under continuation of current climatic conditions and climate warming. The results showed that: (1) The interaction of planting and harvesting has organizational scale effects on the forest. The combination of planting and harvesting policies has significant effects on the overall forest but not on individual species. (2) The area expansion of the historically dominant species Pinus koraiensis is less under climate warming than under continuation of current climatic conditions. These suggests that we should carefully take historically dominant species as the main focus for forest restoration, especially when they are near their natural distribution boundary, because they are probably less capable of successfully adapting to climate change. PMID:26725308

The long-term effects of planting and harvesting on secondary forest dynamics under climate change in northeastern China.

PubMed

Yao, Jing; He, Xingyuan; He, Hongshi; Chen, Wei; Dai, Limin; Lewis, Bernard J; Yu, Lizhong

2016-01-04

Unlike the virgin forest in the Changbaishan Nature Reserve in northeastern China, little research on a landscape scale has been conducted on secondary forests in the region under conditions of a warming climate. This research was undertaken in the upper Hun River region where the vegetation is representative of the typical secondary forest of northeastern China. The spatially explicit forest landscape model LANDIS was utilized to simulate the responses of forest restoration dynamics to anthropogenic disturbance (planting and harvesting) and evaluate the difference of the restoration process under continuation of current climatic conditions and climate warming. The results showed that: (1) The interaction of planting and harvesting has organizational scale effects on the forest. The combination of planting and harvesting policies has significant effects on the overall forest but not on individual species. (2) The area expansion of the historically dominant species Pinus koraiensis is less under climate warming than under continuation of current climatic conditions. These suggests that we should carefully take historically dominant species as the main focus for forest restoration, especially when they are near their natural distribution boundary, because they are probably less capable of successfully adapting to climate change.

The nature of the beast: examining climate adaptation options in forests with stand-replacing fire regimes

Treesearch

Joshua S. Halofsky; Daniel C. Donato; Jerry F. Franklin; Jessica E. Halofsky; David L. Peterson; Brian J. Harvey

2018-01-01

Building resilience to natural disturbances is a key to managing forests for adaptation to climate change. To date, most climate adaptation guidance has focused on recommendations for frequent-fire forests, leaving few published guidelines for forests that naturally experience infrequent, stand-replacing wildfires. Because most such forests are inherently resilient to...

Climate regulation services by urban lakes in Bucharest city

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ioja, Cristian; Cheval, Sorin; Vanau, Gabriel; Sandric, Ionut; Onose, Diana; Carstea, Elfrida

2017-04-01

Urban ecosystems services assessment is an important challenge for practitioners, due to the high complexity of relations between urban systems components, high vulnerability to climate change, and consequences in social-economical systems. Urban lakes represent a significant component in more European cities (average 5% of total surface). Adequate urban management supports diverse benefits of urban lakes: clean water availability, mediation of waste, toxics and other nuisance, air quality and climate regulation, support for physical, intelectual or spiritual interactions. Due to underestimation of climate change and misfit urban planning decision, these benefits may be lost or chaged into diservices. The aim of the paper is to assess the changes in terms of the urban lakes contribution role to regulate urban climate, using the Bucharest as case study. Using sensors and Modis, Sentinel and Landsat images, the paper experiments the evolution of climate regulation services of urban lakes under the pressure of urbanisation and climate change between 2008 and 2015. Urban lakes management has to include specific measures in order to help the cities to become more sustainable, resilient, liveable and healthly.

Urban climate, weather and sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mills, Gerald

As concentrated areas of human activities, urban areas and urbanization are key drivers of global environmental change and pose a challenge to the achievement of sustainability. One of the key goals of sustainable development is to separate increases in non-renewable resource use (particularly fossil fuels) from economic growth. This is to be accomplished by modifying individual practices, encouraging technological innovation and redesigning systems of production and consumption. Settlements represent a scale at which significant advances on each of these can be made and where there is an existing management structure. However, urban areas currently consume a disproportionate share of the Earth's resources and urbanization has modified local climate and weather significantly, usually to the detriment of urban dwellers. There is now a lengthy history of urban climate study that links existing settlement form to climatic consequences yet, there is little evidence that climate information is incorporated into urban designs or that the climatic impact of different plans is considered. Consequently, opportunities for planning sustainable urban forms that are suitable to local climates and promote energy conservation and healthy atmospheres are not taken and much effort is later expended in `fixing' problems that emerge. This paper will outline the links between urban climate and sustainability, identify gaps in our urban climate knowledge and discuss the opportunities and barriers to the application of this knowledge to urban design and planning.

Canopy rainfall partitioning across an urbanization gradient in forest structure as characterized by terrestrial LiDAR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mesta, D. C.; Van Stan, J. T., II; Yankine, S. A.; Cote, J. F.; Jarvis, M. T.; Hildebrandt, A.; Friesen, J.; Maldonado, G.

2017-12-01

As urbanization expands, greater forest area is shifting from natural stand structures to urban stand structures, like forest fragments and landscaped tree rows. Changes in forest canopy structure have been found to drastically alter the amount of rainwater reaching the surface. However, stormwater management models generally treat all forest structures (beyond needle versus broadleaved) similarly. This study examines the rainfall partitioning of Pinus spp. canopies along a natural-to-urban forest gradient and compares these to canopy structural measurements using terrestrial LiDAR. Throughfall and meteorological observations were also used to estimate parameters of the commonly-used Gash interception model. Preliminary findings indicate that as forest structure changed from natural, closed canopy conditions to semi-closed canopy fragments and, ultimately, to exposed urban landscaping tree rows, the interchange between throughfall and rainfall interception also changed. This shift in partitioning between throughfall and rainfall interception may be linked to intuitive parameters, like canopy closure and density, as well as more complex metrics, like the fine-scale patterning of gaps (ie, lacunarity). Thus, results indicate that not all forests of the same species should be treated the same by stormwater models. Rather, their canopy structural characteristics should be used to vary their hydrometeorological interactions.

Modeling the Ecosystem Services Provided by Trees in Urban Ecosystems: Using Biome-BGC to Improve i-Tree Eco

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Molly E.; McGroddy, Megan; Spence, Caitlin; Flake, Leah; Sarfraz, Amna; Nowak, David J.; Milesi, Cristina

2012-01-01

As the world becomes increasingly urban, the need to quantify the effect of trees in urban environments on energy usage, air pollution, local climate and nutrient run-off has increased. By identifying, quantifying and valuing the ecological activity that provides services in urban areas, stronger policies and improved quality of life for urban residents can be obtained. Here we focus on two radically different models that can be used to characterize urban forests. The i-Tree Eco model (formerly UFORE model) quantifies ecosystem services (e.g., air pollution removal, carbon storage) and values derived from urban trees based on field measurements of trees and local ancillary data sets. Biome-BGC (Biome BioGeoChemistry) is used to simulate the fluxes and storage of carbon, water, and nitrogen in natural environments. This paper compares i-Tree Eco's methods to those of Biome-BGC, which estimates the fluxes and storage of energy, carbon, water and nitrogen for vegetation and soil components of the ecosystem. We describe the two models and their differences in the way they calculate similar properties, with a focus on carbon and nitrogen. Finally, we discuss the implications of further integration of these two communities for land managers such as those in Maryland.

Modeling Forest Composition and Carbon Dynamics Under Projected Climate-Fire Interactions in the Sierra Nevada, California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, S.; Hurteau, M. D.; Westerling, A. L.

2014-12-01

The Sierra Nevada Mountains are occupied by a diversity of forest types that sort by elevation. The interaction of changing climate and altered disturbance regimes (e.g. fire) has the potential to drive changes in forest distribution as a function of species-specific response. Quantifying the effects of these drivers on species distributions and productivity under future climate-fire interactions is necessary for informing mitigation and adaptation efforts. In this study, we assimilated forest inventory and soil survey data and species life history traits into a landscape model, LANDIS-II, to quantify the response of forest dynamics to the interaction of climate change and large wildfire frequency in the Sierra Nevada. We ran 100-year simulations forced with historical climate and climate projections from three models (GFDL, CNRM and CCSM3) driven by the A2 emission scenario. We found that non-growing season NPP is greatly enhanced by 15%-150%, depending on the specific climate projection. The greatest increase occurs in subalpine forests. Species-specific response varied as a function of life history characteristics. The distribution of drought and fire-tolerant species, such as ponderosa pine, expanded by 7.3-9.6% from initial conditions, while drought and fire-intolerant species, such as white fir, showed little change in the absence of fire. Changes in wildfire size and frequency influence species distributions by altering the successional stage of burned patches. The range of responses to different climate models demonstrates the sensitivity of these forests to climate variability. The scale of climate projections relative to the scale of forest simulations presents a source of uncertainty, particularly at the ecotone between forest types and for identifying topographically mediated climate refugia. Improving simulations will likely require higher resolution climate projections.

Wintertime urban heat island modified by global climate change over Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hara, M.

2015-12-01

Urban thermal environment change, especially, surface air temperature (SAT) rise in metropolitan areas, is one of the major recent issues in urban areas. The urban thermal environmental change affects not only human health such as heat stroke, but also increasing infectious disease due to spreading out virus vectors habitat and increase of industry and house energy consumption. The SAT rise is mostly caused by global climate change and urban heat island (hereafter UHI) by urbanization. The population in Tokyo metropolitan area is over 30 millions and the Tokyo metropolitan area is one of the biggest megacities in the world. The temperature rise due to urbanization seems comparable to the global climate change in the major megacities. It is important to project how the urbanization and the global climate change affect to the future change of urban thermal environment to plan the adaptation and mitigation policy. To predict future SAT change in urban scale, we should estimate future UHI modified by the global climate change. This study investigates change in UHI intensity (UHII) of major metropolitan areas in Japan by effects of the global climate change. We performed a series of climate simulations. Present climate simulations with and without urban process are conducted for ten seasons using a high-resolution numerical climate model, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Future climate projections with and without urban process are also conducted. The future projections are performed using the pseudo global warming method, assuming 2050s' initial and boundary conditions estimated by a GCM under the RCP scenario. Simulation results indicated that UHII would be enhanced more than 30% in Tokyo during the night due to the global climate change. The enhancement of urban heat island is mostly caused by change of lower atmospheric stability.

Sensitivity of managed boreal forests in Finland to climate change, with implications for adaptive management.

PubMed

Kellomäki, Seppo; Peltola, Heli; Nuutinen, Tuula; Korhonen, Kari T; Strandman, Harri

2008-07-12

This study investigated the sensitivity of managed boreal forests to climate change, with consequent needs to adapt the management to climate change. Model simulations representing the Finnish territory between 60 and 70 degrees N showed that climate change may substantially change the dynamics of managed boreal forests in northern Europe. This is especially probable at the northern and southern edges of this forest zone. In the north, forest growth may increase, but the special features of northern forests may be diminished. In the south, climate change may create a suboptimal environment for Norway spruce. Dominance of Scots pine may increase on less fertile sites currently occupied by Norway spruce. Birches may compete with Scots pine even in these sites and the dominance of birches may increase. These changes may reduce the total forest growth locally but, over the whole of Finland, total forest growth may increase by 44%, with an increase of 82% in the potential cutting drain. The choice of appropriate species and reduced rotation length may sustain the productivity of forest land under climate change.

Remote sensing assessment of carbon storage by urban forest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kanniah, K. D.; Muhamad, N.; Kang, C. S.

2014-02-01

Urban forests play a crucial role in mitigating global warming by absorbing excessive CO2 emissions due to transportation, industry and house hold activities in the urban environment. In this study we have assessed the role of trees in an urban forest, (Mutiara Rini) located within the Iskandar Development region in south Johor, Malaysia. We first estimated the above ground biomass/carbon stock of the trees using allometric equations and biometric data (diameter at breast height of trees) collected in the field. We used remotely sensed vegetation indices (VI) to develop an empirical relationship between VI and carbon stock. We used five different VIs derived from a very high resolution World View-2 satellite data. Results show that model by [1] and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index are correlated well (R2 = 0.72) via a power model. We applied the model to the entire study area to obtain carbon stock of urban forest. The average carbon stock in the urban forest (mostly consisting of Dipterocarp species) is ~70 t C ha-1. Results of this study can be used by the Iskandar Regional Development Authority to better manage vegetation in the urban environment to establish a low carbon city in this region.

Trees, houses, and habitat: private forests at the wildland-urban interface.

Treesearch

Jonathan. Thompson

2004-01-01

How population growth and development affect forests is a shared concern among forest managers, policymakers, land use planners, and fish and wildlife specialists. Of particular interest is the "wildland-urban interface." It is characterized by expansion of residential and other developed land uses onto forest landscapes in a manner that threatens the...

Modeling Urban Growth Spatial Dynamics: Case studies of Addis Ababa and Dar es Salaam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buchta, Katja; Abo El Wafa, Hany; Printz, Andreas; Pauleit, Stephan

2013-04-01

Rapid urbanization, and consequently, the dramatic spatial expansion of mostly informal urban areas increases the vulnerability of African cities to the effects of climate change such as sea level rise, more frequent flooding, droughts and heat waves. The EU FP 7 funded project CLUVA (Climate Change and Urban Vulnerability in Africa, www.cluva.eu) aims to develop strategies for minimizing the risks of natural hazards caused by climate change and to improve the coping capacity of African cities. Green infrastructure may play a particular role in climate change adaptation by providing ecosystem services for flood protection, stormwater retention, heat island moderation and provision of food and fuel wood. In this context, a major challenge is to gain a better understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of the cities and how these impact on green infrastructure and hence their vulnerability. Urban growth scenarios for two African cities, namely Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, were developed based on a characterization of their urban morphology. A population growth driven - GIS based - disaggregation modeling approach was applied. Major impact factors influencing the urban dynamics were identified both from literature and interviews with local experts. Location based factors including proximity to road infrastructure and accessibility, and environmental factors including slope, surface and flood risk areas showed a particular impact on urban growth patterns. In Addis Ababa and Dar es Salaam, population density scenarios were modeled comparing two housing development strategies. Results showed that a densification scenario significantly decreases the loss of agricultural and green areas such as forests, bushland and sports grounds. In Dar es Salaam, the scenario of planned new settlements with a population density of max. 350 persons per hectare would lead until 2025 to a loss of agricultural land (-10.1%) and green areas (-6.6%). On the other hand, 12.4% of agricultural land and 16.1% of green areas would be lost in the low density development scenario of unplanned settlements of max. 150 persons per hectare. Relocating the population living in flood prone areas in the case of Addis Ababa and keeping those areas free from further settlements in the case of Dar es Salaam would result in even lower losses (agricultural land: -10.0%, green areas: -5.6%) as some flood prone areas overlap with agricultural/ green areas. The scenario models introduced in this research can be used by planners as tools to understand and manage the different outcomes of distinctive urban development strategies on growth patterns and how they interact with different climate change drivers such as loss of green infrastructure and effects such as frequent flooding hazards. Due to the relative simplicity of their structure and the single modeling environment, the models can be transferred to similar cities with minor modifications accommodating the different conditions of each city. Already, in Addis Ababa the results of the model will be used in the current revision of the Master plan of the city. Keywords: GIS, modeling, Urban Dynamics, Dar es Salaam, Addis Ababa, urbanization

Enhancing early detection of exotic pests in agricultural and forest ecosystems using an urban-gradient framework.

PubMed

Colunga-Garcia, Manuel; Magarey, Roger A; Haack, Robert A; Gage, Stuart H; Qi, Jiaquo

2010-03-01

Urban areas are hubs of international transport and therefore are major gateways for exotic pests. Applying an urban gradient to analyze this pathway could provide insight into the ecological processes involved in human-mediated invasions. We defined an urban gradient for agricultural and forest ecosystems in the contiguous United States to (1) assess whether ecosystems nearer more urbanized areas were at greater risk of invasion, and (2) apply this knowledge to enhance early detection of exotic pests. We defined the gradient using the tonnage of imported products in adjacent urban areas and their distance to nearby agricultural or forest land. County-level detection reports for 39 exotic agricultural and forest pests of major economic importance were used to characterize invasions along the gradient. We found that counties with more exotic pests were nearer the urban end of the gradient. Assuming that the exotic species we analyzed represent typical invaders, then early detection efforts directed at 21-26% of U.S. agricultural and forest land would likely be able to detect 70% of invaded counties and 90% of the selected species. Applying an urban-gradient framework to current monitoring strategies should enhance early detection efforts of exotic pests, facilitating optimization in allocating resources to areas at greater risk of future invasions.

Climate warming feedback from mountain birch forest expansion: reduced albedo dominates carbon uptake.

PubMed

de Wit, Heleen A; Bryn, Anders; Hofgaard, Annika; Karstensen, Jonas; Kvalevåg, Maria M; Peters, Glen P

2014-07-01

Expanding high-elevation and high-latitude forest has contrasting climate feedbacks through carbon sequestration (cooling) and reduced surface reflectance (warming), which are yet poorly quantified. Here, we present an empirically based projection of mountain birch forest expansion in south-central Norway under climate change and absence of land use. Climate effects of carbon sequestration and albedo change are compared using four emission metrics. Forest expansion was modeled for a projected 2.6 °C increase in summer temperature in 2100, with associated reduced snow cover. We find that the current (year 2000) forest line of the region is circa 100 m lower than its climatic potential due to land-use history. In the future scenarios, forest cover increased from 12% to 27% between 2000 and 2100, resulting in a 59% increase in biomass carbon storage and an albedo change from 0.46 to 0.30. Forest expansion in 2100 was behind its climatic potential, forest migration rates being the primary limiting factor. In 2100, the warming caused by lower albedo from expanding forest was 10 to 17 times stronger than the cooling effect from carbon sequestration for all emission metrics considered. Reduced snow cover further exacerbated the net warming feedback. The warming effect is considerably stronger than previously reported for boreal forest cover, because of the typically low biomass density in mountain forests and the large changes in albedo of snow-covered tundra areas. The positive climate feedback of high-latitude and high-elevation expanding forests with seasonal snow cover exceeds those of afforestation at lower elevation, and calls for further attention of both modelers and empiricists. The inclusion and upscaling of these climate feedbacks from mountain forests into global models is warranted to assess the potential global impacts. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Urban Watershed Forestry Manual Part 1: Methods for Increasing Forest Cover in a Watershed

Treesearch

Karen Cappiella; Tom Schueler; Tiffany Wright

2005-01-01

This manual is one in a three-part series on using trees to protect and restore urban watersheds. A brief description of each part follows. Part 1: Methods for Increasing Forest Cover in a Watershed introduces the emerging topic of urban watershed forestry. This part also presents new methods for the watershed planner or forester to systematically measure watershed...

Urban forests' potential to supply marketable carbon emission offsets: a survey of municipal governments in the United States

Treesearch

Neelam C. Poudyal; Jacek P. Siry; J. M. Bowker

2010-01-01

This study assesses the motivation, willingness, and technical as well as managerial capacities of U.S. cities to store carbon and sell carbon offsets. Based on a national survey of urban foresters, arborists, and other officials responsible for urban forest management within U.S. municipal governments, results indicate that local governments are interested in selling...

Carbon stocks in urban forest remnants: Atlanta and Baltimore as case studies. Chapter 5.

Treesearch

Ian D. Yesilonis; Richard V. Pouyat

2012-01-01

Urban environments influence carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles of forest ecosystems by altering plant biomass, litter mass and chemistry, passive and active pools of C and N, and the occurrence and activity of decomposer organisms. It is difficult to determine the net effect of C storage due to the number of environmental factors exerting stress on urban forests....

Urbanization in the US: land use trends, impacts on forest area, projections, and policy considerations

Treesearch

Ralph Alig

2010-01-01

Since World War II, socio-economic drivers of US urbanization such as population totals and personal income levels have increased substantially. Human land use is the primary force driving changes in forest ecosystem attributes including forest area, which is the focus of this paper. The percentage of the US population residing in urban areas is higher than that in...

Enjoying green cities: Assessing visitors' attitude and preferences of urban forests in Washington, D.C.

Treesearch

Rogelio II Andrada; Jinyang Deng

2012-01-01

This study examined the attitudes and preferences of visitors toWashington, D.C., one of the top tourism cities in the United States. Results of a visitor survey conducted at two sites show that respondents have a highly positive attitude towards the city's urban forest and that their appreciation of the urban forest has a positive influence on their experiences...

Effects of LiDAR point density and landscape context on the retrieval of urban forest biomass

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, K. K.; Chen, G.; McCarter, J. B.; Meentemeyer, R. K.

2014-12-01

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), as an alternative to conventional optical remote sensing, is being increasingly used to accurately estimate aboveground forest biomass ranging from individual tree to stand levels. Recent advancements in LiDAR technology have resulted in higher point densities and better data accuracies, which however pose challenges to the procurement and processing of LiDAR data for large-area assessments. Reducing point density cuts data acquisition costs and overcome computational challenges for broad-scale forest management. However, how does that impact the accuracy of biomass estimation in an urban environment containing a great level of anthropogenic disturbances? The main goal of this study is to evaluate the effects of LiDAR point density on the biomass estimation of remnant forests in the rapidly urbanizing regions of Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. We used multiple linear regression to establish the statistical relationship between field-measured biomass and predictor variables (PVs) derived from LiDAR point clouds with varying densities. We compared the estimation accuracies between the general Urban Forest models (no discrimination of forest type) and the Forest Type models (evergreen, deciduous, and mixed), which was followed by quantifying the degree to which landscape context influenced biomass estimation. The explained biomass variance of Urban Forest models, adjusted R2, was fairly consistent across the reduced point densities with the highest difference of 11.5% between the 100% and 1% point densities. The combined estimates of Forest Type biomass models outperformed the Urban Forest models using two representative point densities (100% and 40%). The Urban Forest biomass model with development density of 125 m radius produced the highest adjusted R2 (0.83 and 0.82 at 100% and 40% LiDAR point densities, respectively) and the lowest RMSE values, signifying the distance impact of development on biomass estimation. Our evaluation suggests that reducing LiDAR point density is a viable solution to regional-scale forest biomass assessment without compromising the accuracy of estimation, which may further be improved using development density.

Bird response to future climate and forest management focused on mitigating climate change

Treesearch

Jaymi J. LeBrun; Jeffrey E. Schneiderman; Frank R. Thompson; William D. Dijak; Jacob S. Fraser; Hong S. He; Joshua J. Millspaugh

2016-01-01

Context. Global temperatures are projected to increase and affect forests and wildlife populations. Forest management can potentially mitigate climateinduced changes through promoting carbon sequestration, forest resilience, and facilitated change. Objectives. We modeled direct and indirect effects of climate change on avian...

Impacts of fire and climate change on long-term nitrogen availability and forest productivity in the New Jersey Pine Barrens

Treesearch

Melissa S. Lucash; Robert M. Scheller; Alec M. Kretchun; Kenneth L. Clark; John Hom

2014-01-01

Increased wildfires and temperatures due to climate change are expected to have profound effects on forest productivity and nitrogen (N) cycling. Forecasts about how wildfire and climate change will affect forests seldom consider N availability, which may limit forest response to climate change, particularly in fire-prone landscapes. The overall objective of this study...

Chapter 2: Effects of climatic variability and change. In Effects of Climate Variability and Change on Forest Ecosystems: A Comprehensive Science Synthesis for the U.S. Forest Sector; General Technical Report PNW-GTR-870, Washington DC

EPA Science Inventory

Climate profoundly shapes forests. Forest species composition, productivity, availability of goods and services, disturbance regimes, and location on the landscape are all regulated by climate. Much research attention has focused on the problem of predicting the response of fores...

[Remote sensing estimation of urban forest carbon stocks based on QuickBird images].

PubMed

Xu, Li-Hua; Zhang, Jie-Cun; Huang, Bo; Wang, Huan-Huan; Yue, Wen-Ze

2014-10-01

Urban forest is one of the positive factors that increase urban carbon sequestration, which makes great contribution to the global carbon cycle. Based on the high spatial resolution imagery of QuickBird in the study area within the ring road in Yiwu, Zhejiang, the forests in the area were divided into four types, i. e., park-forest, shelter-forest, company-forest and others. With the carbon stock from sample plot as dependent variable, at the significance level of 0.01, the stepwise linear regression method was used to select independent variables from 50 factors such as band grayscale values, vegetation index, texture information and so on. Finally, the remote sensing based forest carbon stock estimation models for the four types of forest were established. The estimation accuracies for all the models were around 70%, with the total carbon reserve of each forest type in the area being estimated as 3623. 80, 5245.78, 5284.84, 5343.65 t, respectively. From the carbon density map, it was found that the carbon reserves were mainly in the range of 25-35 t · hm(-2). In the future, urban forest planners could further improve the ability of forest carbon sequestration through afforestation and interplanting of trees and low shrubs.

Improving predictions of tropical forest response to climate change through integration of field studies and ecosystem modeling.

PubMed

Feng, Xiaohui; Uriarte, María; González, Grizelle; Reed, Sasha; Thompson, Jill; Zimmerman, Jess K; Murphy, Lora

2018-01-01

Tropical forests play a critical role in carbon and water cycles at a global scale. Rapid climate change is anticipated in tropical regions over the coming decades and, under a warmer and drier climate, tropical forests are likely to be net sources of carbon rather than sinks. However, our understanding of tropical forest response and feedback to climate change is very limited. Efforts to model climate change impacts on carbon fluxes in tropical forests have not reached a consensus. Here, we use the Ecosystem Demography model (ED2) to predict carbon fluxes of a Puerto Rican tropical forest under realistic climate change scenarios. We parameterized ED2 with species-specific tree physiological data using the Predictive Ecosystem Analyzer workflow and projected the fate of this ecosystem under five future climate scenarios. The model successfully captured interannual variability in the dynamics of this tropical forest. Model predictions closely followed observed values across a wide range of metrics including aboveground biomass, tree diameter growth, tree size class distributions, and leaf area index. Under a future warming and drying climate scenario, the model predicted reductions in carbon storage and tree growth, together with large shifts in forest community composition and structure. Such rapid changes in climate led the forest to transition from a sink to a source of carbon. Growth respiration and root allocation parameters were responsible for the highest fraction of predictive uncertainty in modeled biomass, highlighting the need to target these processes in future data collection. Our study is the first effort to rely on Bayesian model calibration and synthesis to elucidate the key physiological parameters that drive uncertainty in tropical forests responses to climatic change. We propose a new path forward for model-data synthesis that can substantially reduce uncertainty in our ability to model tropical forest responses to future climate. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Improving predictions of tropical forest response to climate change through integration of field studies and ecosystem modeling

USGS Publications Warehouse

Feng, Xiaohui; Uriarte, María; González, Grizelle; Reed, Sasha C.; Thompson, Jill; Zimmerman, Jess K.; Murphy, Lora

2018-01-01

Tropical forests play a critical role in carbon and water cycles at a global scale. Rapid climate change is anticipated in tropical regions over the coming decades and, under a warmer and drier climate, tropical forests are likely to be net sources of carbon rather than sinks. However, our understanding of tropical forest response and feedback to climate change is very limited. Efforts to model climate change impacts on carbon fluxes in tropical forests have not reached a consensus. Here we use the Ecosystem Demography model (ED2) to predict carbon fluxes of a Puerto Rican tropical forest under realistic climate change scenarios. We parameterized ED2 with species-specific tree physiological data using the Predictive Ecosystem Analyzer workflow and projected the fate of this ecosystem under five future climate scenarios. The model successfully captured inter-annual variability in the dynamics of this tropical forest. Model predictions closely followed observed values across a wide range of metrics including above-ground biomass, tree diameter growth, tree size class distributions, and leaf area index. Under a future warming and drying climate scenario, the model predicted reductions in carbon storage and tree growth, together with large shifts in forest community composition and structure. Such rapid changes in climate led the forest to transition from a sink to a source of carbon. Growth respiration and root allocation parameters were responsible for the highest fraction of predictive uncertainty in modeled biomass, highlighting the need to target these processes in future data collection. Our study is the first effort to rely on Bayesian model calibration and synthesis to elucidate the key physiological parameters that drive uncertainty in tropical forests responses to climatic change. We propose a new path forward for model-data synthesis that can substantially reduce uncertainty in our ability to model tropical forest responses to future climate.

Urban environment of New York City promotes growth in northern red oak seedlings.

PubMed

Searle, Stephanie Y; Turnbull, Matthew H; Boelman, Natalie T; Schuster, William S F; Yakir, Dan; Griffin, Kevin L

2012-04-01

Urbanization is accelerating across the globe, elevating the importance of studying urban ecology. Urban environments exhibit several factors affecting plant growth and function, including high temperatures (particularly at night), CO(2) concentrations and atmospheric nitrogen deposition. We investigated the effects of urban environments on growth in Quercus rubra L. seedlings. We grew seedlings from acorns for one season at four sites along an urban-rural transect from Central Park in New York City to the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York (difference in average maximum temperatures of 2.4 °C; difference in minimum temperatures of 4.6 °C). In addition, we grew Q. rubra seedlings in growth cabinets (GCs) mimicking the seasonal differential between the city and rural sites (based on a 5-year average). In the field experiment, we found an eightfold increase in biomass in urban-grown seedlings relative to those grown at rural sites. This difference was primarily related to changes in growth allocation. Urban-grown seedlings and seedlings grown at urban temperatures in the GCs exhibited a lower root: shoot ratio (urban ~0.8, rural/remote ~1.5), reducing below-ground carbon costs associated with construction and maintenance. These urban seedlings instead allocated more growth to leaves than did rural-grown seedlings, resulting in 10-fold greater photosynthetic area but no difference in photosynthetic capacity of foliage per unit area. Seedlings grown at urban temperatures in both the field and GC experiments had higher leaf nitrogen concentrations per unit area than those grown at cooler temperatures (increases of 23% in field, 32% in GC). Lastly, we measured threefold greater (13)C enrichment of respired CO(2) (relative to substrate) in urban-grown leaves than at other sites, which may suggest greater allocation of respiratory function to growth over maintenance. It also shows that lack of differences in total R flux in response to environmental conditions may mask dramatic shifts in respiratory functioning. Overall, our findings indicating greater seedling growth and establishment at a critical regeneration phase of forest development may have important implications for the ecology of urban forests as well as the predicted growth of the terrestrial biosphere in temperate regions in response to climate change.

Upper Middle Pleistocene climate and landscape development of Northern Germany

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Urban, B.

2009-04-01

The Pleistocene sequence of the Schöningen lignite mine contains a number of interglacial and interstadial limnic and peat deposits, travertine tuff, soils, tills and fluvioglacial sediments as well as loess deposits. The complex Quaternary sequence contains six major cycles with evidence of four interglacials younger than the Elsterian glaciation and preceding the Holocene. The sequence begins with Late Elsterian glacial and three interstadial deposits formed in shallow basins. Cycle I is assigned to late parts of the Holsteinian interglacial. A strong cooling is recorded by a significant increase of Artemisia and grasses during the following Buschhaus A Stadial, which is considered to mark the onset of the Saalian Complex sensu lato (penultimate glacial-complex). The lacustrine sediments of Cycle II, Reinsdorf interglacial sequence (Urban, 1995), have been found to occur at archaeological sites Schöningen 12 and 13 (Thieme,1997). Recent investigations give evidence for at least 13 Local Pollen Assemblage Zones showing a five-fold division of the interglacial and a sequence of five climatic oscillations following the interglacial (Urban, 2006). From the relative high values for grasses and herbs in the inferred forested periods of the interglacial, a warm dry forest steppe climate can be deduced. The stratigraphic position of throwing spears (Thieme, 1997), can clearly be allocated to Reinsdorf Interstadial B (level II-4) characterized by an open pine-birch forest. Uppermost parts (level II-5) represent the transition into a periglacial environment indicating the definite end of cycle II. The Schöningen Interglacial (Cycle III) represents the youngest of the pre-Drenthe (Early Saalian Stadial) interglacials (Urban, 1995). In summary, it can be concluded that the Middle Pleistocene terrestrial pollen record of the Schöningen sequence represents tentative correlatives of MIS 7, 9 and 11. North of Leck (North Friesland, Schleswig-Holstein) sediments of the centre and the margin of a 286 m deep channel, subglacially eroded during the Elsterian, have recently been investigated by 9 counter flash or cored drillings (Stephan et al., in press). Studies focussed on the uppermost 50 m, made up of a series of approximately 9 m thick fluviatile sediments ("Leck-Folge") with intercalations of organic sand layers and a gyttja band, up to 1.5 m thick. This sequence is overlain by several metres of mainly decalcified groundmoraine, that, itself, is overlain by glaciofluvial and periglacial sediments. The palynological investigations of the gyttja reveal a floral development of interglacial character ("Leck-Thermomer"). Compared to other Middle Pleistocene warm periods in North Germany, correlations of the Leck-Thermomer with the Holsteinian and with the warm periods of the Reinsdorf and Wacken (Dömnitz) interglacials are precluded or appear rather implausible. The Leck-Thermomer is most likely a correlative of the marine oxigen isotope stage 7 c (MIS 7). Stephan, H.-J., Urban, B., Lüttig, G., Menke, B. und M. Sierralta: Palynologische, petrographische und geochronologische Untersuchungen der Leck-Warmzeit (spätes Mittelpleistozän) und ihrer begleitenden Sedimente.- [Palynological, petrographical, and geochronological investigations of deposits of the "Leck-Thermomer" and accompanying sediments].- Geologisches Jahrbuch, in press. Thieme, H., 1997. Lower Paleolithic hunting spears from Germany. Nature 385, 807-810. Urban, B. 1995. Palynological evidence of younger Middle Pleistocene Interglacials (Holsteinian, Reinsdorf, Schöningen) in the Schöningen open cast lignite mine (eastern Lower Saxony/Germany). Mededelingen Rijks Geologische Dienst 52, 175-186. Urban, B. 2006. Interglacial pollen records from Schöningen, north Germany.- In: THE CLIMATE OF PAST INTERGLACIALS. Sirocko, F., Litt, T., Claussen, M., Sanchez-Goni, M.F. (eds.), Springer Verlag; in press.

Assessing the effect of climate change on carbon sequestration in a Mexican dry forest in the Yucatan Peninsula

Treesearch

Z. Dai; K.D. Johnson; R.A. Birdsey; J.L. Hernandez-Stefanoni; J.M. Dupuy

2015-01-01

Assessing the effect of climate change on carbon sequestration in tropical forest ecosystems is important to inform monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) for reducing deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), and to effectively assess forest management options under climate change. Two process-based models, Forest-DNDC and Biome-BGC, with different spatial...

[Effects of climate change on forest soil organic carbon storage: a review].

PubMed

Zhou, Xiao-yu; Zhang, Cheng-yi; Guo, Guang-fen

2010-07-01

Forest soil organic carbon is an important component of global carbon cycle, and the changes of its accumulation and decomposition directly affect terrestrial ecosystem carbon storage and global carbon balance. Climate change would affect the photosynthesis of forest vegetation and the decomposition and transformation of forest soil organic carbon, and further, affect the storage and dynamics of organic carbon in forest soils. Temperature, precipitation, atmospheric CO2 concentration, and other climatic factors all have important influences on the forest soil organic carbon storage. Understanding the effects of climate change on this storage is helpful to the scientific management of forest carbon sink, and to the feasible options for climate change mitigation. This paper summarized the research progress about the distribution of organic carbon storage in forest soils, and the effects of elevated temperature, precipitation change, and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration on this storage, with the further research subjects discussed.

Carbon dioxide fluxes dynamics comparison in Moscow urban forest and adjacent urban areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yaroslavtsev, Alexis; Meshalkina, Joulia; Mazirov, Ilya; Vasenev, Ivan

2017-04-01

In the beginning of the 2014 in northern district of Moscow was installed eddy covariance tower on the edge of Timiryazevskiy urban forest and Timiryazevskiy district of Moscow. Tower 34m high was constructed inside the territory of LOD (Lesnaya Opytnaya Dacha) experimental station in the south-eastern part of the forest. Main tree species of urban forest and neighboring urban areas are Acer Plantanoides, Tilia cordata, Betula pendula, Quercus robur, Pinus sylvestris. Forest itself is mixed with some small plots dominated only by deciduous or coniferous species, whether trees in urban areas was mainly deciduous. Mean canopy height is about 30m. in both forest and urban areas. The soil cover of the studied sections is represented by sod-podzolic soils with different degree of development of the humus horizon. All soils have well-developed profile of sod-podzolic soil with low power litter (only in forest area) and developed humus-accumulative horizon with high humus content (3,24%) Carbon dioxide daily fluxes from investigated area was calculated for six months of 2014 (from April till October) utilizing eddy covariance method. Most (90%) of fluxes footprints was no longer than 500m for all wind directions during the time of monitoring. Forest in 500m radius around tower is a zone of active recreation with several roads and wide path network. On the other hand closest to tower urban area characterized by a low-rise buildings (in most cases no more than 5 floors) which are mainly administration ones and have wide green areas around them very few roads and low traffic. As a result difference in calculated fluxes was not so dramatic, as it was expected. Diurnal carbon dioxide fluxes dynamics was pretty the same for all months except August, due to long period without precipitation and higher soil moisture under the forest canopy. Estimated daily fluxes values was higher in forest areas for the whole period of investigation, except August, and ranged from -2 to 8 g C CO2 d-1 m-2 with mean about 2,5 g C CO2 d-1 m-2 .

Climate seasonality limits leaf carbon assimilation and wood productivity in tropical forests

DOE PAGES

Wagner, Fabien H.; Hérault, Bruno; Bonal, Damien; ...

2016-04-28

Here, the seasonal climate drivers of the carbon cycle in tropical forests remain poorly known, although these forests account for more carbon assimilation and storage than any other terrestrial ecosystem. Based on a unique combination of seasonal pan-tropical data sets from 89 experimental sites (68 include aboveground wood productivity measurements and 35 litter productivity measurements), their associated canopy photosynthetic capacity (enhanced vegetation index, EVI) and climate, we ask how carbon assimilation and aboveground allocation are related to climate seasonality in tropical forests and how they interact in the seasonal carbon cycle. We found that canopy photosynthetic capacity seasonality responds positivelymore » to precipitation when rainfall is < 2000 mm yr -1 (water-limited forests) and to radiation otherwise (light-limited forests). On the other hand, independent of climate limitations, wood productivity and litterfall are driven by seasonal variation in precipitation and evapotranspiration, respectively. Consequently, light-limited forests present an asynchronism between canopy photosynthetic capacity and wood productivity. First-order control by precipitation likely indicates a decrease in tropical forest productivity in a drier climate in water-limited forest, and in current light-limited forest with future rainfall < 2000 mm yr -1.« less

Climate seasonality limits leaf carbon assimilation and wood productivity in tropical forests

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wagner, Fabien H.; Hérault, Bruno; Bonal, Damien

Here, the seasonal climate drivers of the carbon cycle in tropical forests remain poorly known, although these forests account for more carbon assimilation and storage than any other terrestrial ecosystem. Based on a unique combination of seasonal pan-tropical data sets from 89 experimental sites (68 include aboveground wood productivity measurements and 35 litter productivity measurements), their associated canopy photosynthetic capacity (enhanced vegetation index, EVI) and climate, we ask how carbon assimilation and aboveground allocation are related to climate seasonality in tropical forests and how they interact in the seasonal carbon cycle. We found that canopy photosynthetic capacity seasonality responds positivelymore » to precipitation when rainfall is < 2000 mm yr -1 (water-limited forests) and to radiation otherwise (light-limited forests). On the other hand, independent of climate limitations, wood productivity and litterfall are driven by seasonal variation in precipitation and evapotranspiration, respectively. Consequently, light-limited forests present an asynchronism between canopy photosynthetic capacity and wood productivity. First-order control by precipitation likely indicates a decrease in tropical forest productivity in a drier climate in water-limited forest, and in current light-limited forest with future rainfall < 2000 mm yr -1.« less

Land-use controls on sources and processing of nitrate in small watersheds: Insights from dual isotopic analysis

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barnes, R.T.; Raymond, P.A.

2010-01-01

Studies have repeatedly shown that agricultural and urban areas export considerably more nitrogen to streams than forested counterparts, yet it is difficult to identify and quantify nitrogen sources to streams due to complications associated with terrestrial and in-stream biogeochemical processes. In this study, we used the isotopic composition of nitrate (??15N-NO3- and ??18O- NO3-) in conjunction with a simple numerical model to examine the spatial and temporal variability of nitrate (NO3-) export across a land-use gradient and how agricultural and urban development affects net removal mechanisms. In an effort to isolate the effects of land use, we chose small headwater systems in close proximity to each other, limiting the variation in geology, surficial materials, and climate between sites. The ??15N and ??18Oof stream NO 3- varied significantly between urban, agricultural, and forested watersheds, indicating that nitrogen sources are the primary determinant of the ??15N-NO3-, while the ??18O-NO3- was found to reflect biogeochemical processes. The greatest NO3- concentrations corresponded with the highest stream ??15N-NO3- values due to the enriched nature of two dominant anthropogenic sources, septic and manure, within the urban and agricultural watersheds, respectively. On average, net removal of the available NO3- pool within urban and agricultural catchments was estimated at 45%. The variation in the estimated net removal of NO3- from developed watersheds was related to both drainage area and the availability of organic carbon. The determination of differentiated isotopic land-use signatures and dominant seasonal mechanisms illustrates the usefulness of this approach in examining the sources and processing of excess nitrogen within headwater catchments. ?? 2010 by the Ecological Society of America.

Effects of LiDAR point density and landscape context on estimates of urban forest biomass

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Kunwar K.; Chen, Gang; McCarter, James B.; Meentemeyer, Ross K.

2015-03-01

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data is being increasingly used as an effective alternative to conventional optical remote sensing to accurately estimate aboveground forest biomass ranging from individual tree to stand levels. Recent advancements in LiDAR technology have resulted in higher point densities and improved data accuracies accompanied by challenges for procuring and processing voluminous LiDAR data for large-area assessments. Reducing point density lowers data acquisition costs and overcomes computational challenges for large-area forest assessments. However, how does lower point density impact the accuracy of biomass estimation in forests containing a great level of anthropogenic disturbance? We evaluate the effects of LiDAR point density on the biomass estimation of remnant forests in the rapidly urbanizing region of Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. We used multiple linear regression to establish a statistical relationship between field-measured biomass and predictor variables derived from LiDAR data with varying densities. We compared the estimation accuracies between a general Urban Forest type and three Forest Type models (evergreen, deciduous, and mixed) and quantified the degree to which landscape context influenced biomass estimation. The explained biomass variance of the Urban Forest model, using adjusted R2, was consistent across the reduced point densities, with the highest difference of 11.5% between the 100% and 1% point densities. The combined estimates of Forest Type biomass models outperformed the Urban Forest models at the representative point densities (100% and 40%). The Urban Forest biomass model with development density of 125 m radius produced the highest adjusted R2 (0.83 and 0.82 at 100% and 40% LiDAR point densities, respectively) and the lowest RMSE values, highlighting a distance impact of development on biomass estimation. Our evaluation suggests that reducing LiDAR point density is a viable solution to regional-scale forest assessment without compromising the accuracy of biomass estimates, and these estimates can be further improved using development density.

Climate Warming Threatens Semi-arid Forests in Inner Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

WU, X.; Liu, H.; Qi, Z.; Li, X.

2014-12-01

A line of evidences reveal an increasing tree growth decline and tree mortality mainly attributable to climate warming and the warming-mediated changes in drought and other processes (such as fire and insect dynamics) in many parts of world tropical, temperate and boreal forests. However, the growth responses to climate change of the widely distributed semi-arid forests are unclear. Here, we synthetically investigate the tree growth patterns during past decades and its interannual response to climate variations in Inner Asia combining the ground truth field survey and samplings, remote sensing observations and climate data. We identified a pervasive tree growth decline since mid-1990s in semi-arid forests in Inner Asia. The widely observed tree growth decline is dominantly attributable to warming-induced water stress during pre- and early growing season. Tree growth of semi-arid forests in Inner Asia is particularly susceptible to spring warming and has been suffering a prolonged growth limitation in recent decades due to spring warming-mediated water conditions. Additionally, we identified a much slower growth rate in younger trees and a lack of tree regeneration in these semi-arid forests. The widely observed forest growth reduction and lack of tree regeneration over semi-arid forests in Inner Asia could predictably exert great effects on forest structure, regionally/globally biophysical and biochemical processes and the feedbacks between biosphere and atmosphere. Notably, further increases in forest stress and tree mortality could be reasonably expected, especially in context of the increase frequency and severity of high temperature and heat waves and changes in forest disturbances, potentially driving the eventual regional loss of current semi-arid forests. Given the potential risks of climate induced forest dieback, increased management attention to adaptation options for enhancing forest resistance and resilience to projected climate stress can be expected. However, the functionally realistic mechanisms beneath the pervasively climate-induced forest decline/dieback still remain unclear. Network-based long-term surveys and experiment studies are urgently needed for further understandings regarding the responses of forest/tree growth to climate warming/variations.

Forest Influences on Climate and Water Resources at the Landscape to Regional Scale

Treesearch

Ge Sun; Yongqiang Liu

2013-01-01

Although it is well known that climate controls the distribution, productivity and functioning of vegetation on earth, our knowledge about the role of forests in regulating regional climate and water resources is lacking. The studies on climate-forests feedbacks have received increasing attention from the climate change and ecohydrology research communities. The goal...

Competition alters tree growth responses to climate at individual and stand scales

Treesearch

Kevin Ford; Ian K. Breckheimer; Jerry F. Franklin; James A. Freund; Steve J. Kroiss; Andrew J. Larson; Elinore J. Theobald; Janneke. HilleRisLambers

2015-01-01

Understanding how climate affects tree growth is essential for assessing climate change impacts on forests, but is complicated by the effects of competition, which strongly influences growth and could alter how forests respond to climate change. We characterized the joint effects of climate and competition on diameter growth in the mountain forests of Mount Rainier...

Using dung beetles to evaluate the effects of urbanization on Atlantic Forest biodiversity.

PubMed

Korasaki, Vanesca; Lopes, José; Gardner Brown, George; Louzada, Julio

2013-06-01

We used dung beetles to evaluate the impact of urbanization on insect biodiversity in three Atlantic Forest fragments in Londrina, Paraná, Brazil. This study provides the first empirical evidence of the impact of urbanization on richness, abundance, composition and guild structure of dung beetle communities from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We evaluated the community aspects (abundance, richness, composition and food guilds) of dung beetles in fragments with different degrees of immersion in the urban matrix using pitfall traps with four alternative baits (rotten meat, rotten fish, pig dung and decaying banana). A total of 1 719 individuals were collected, belonging to 29 species from 11 genera and six Scarabaeinae tribes. The most urban-immersed fragment showed a higher species dominance and the beetle community captured on dung presented the greatest evenness. The beetle communities were distinct with respect to the fragments and feeding habits. Except for the dung beetle assemblage in the most urbanized forest fragment, all others exhibited contrasting differences in species composition attracted to each bait type. Our results clearly show that the degree of urbanization affects Atlantic Forest dung beetle communities and that the preservation of forest fragments inside the cities, even small ones, can provide refuges for Scarabaeinae. © 2012 The Authors Insect Science © 2012 Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

A new climatic classification of afforestation in Three-North regions of China with multi-source remote sensing data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Xiao; Zhu, Jiaojun

2017-01-01

Afforestation and reforestation activities achieve high attention at the policy agenda as measures for carbon sequestration in order to mitigate climate change. The Three-North Shelter Forest Program, the largest ecological afforestation program worldwide, was launched in 1978 and will last until 2050 in the Three-North regions (accounting for 42.4 % of China's territory). Shelter forests of the Three-North Shelter Forest Program have exhibited severe decline after planting in 1978 due to lack of detailed climatic classification. Besides, a comprehensive assessment of climate adaptation for the current shelter forests was lacking. In this study, the aridity index determined by precipitation and reference evapotranspiration was employed to classify climatic zones for the afforestation program. The precipitation and reference evapotranspiration with 1-km resolution were estimated based on data from the tropical rainfall measuring mission and moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer, respectively. Then, the detailed climatic classification for the afforestation program was obtained based on the relationship between the different vegetation types and the aridity index. The shelter forests in 2008 were derived from Landsat TM in the Three-North regions. In addition, climatic zones and shelter forests were corrected by comparing with natural vegetation map and field surveys. By overlaying the shelter forests on the climatic zones, we found that 16.30 % coniferous forests, 8.21 % broadleaved forests, 2.03 % mixed conifer-broadleaved forests, and 10.86 % shrubs were not in strict accordance with the climate conditions. These results open new perspectives for potential use of remote sensing techniques for afforestation management.

Effects of climatic variability and change

Treesearch

Michael G. Ryan; James M. Vose

2012-01-01

Climate profoundly shapes forests. Forest species composition, productivity, availability of goods and services, disturbance regimes, and location on the landscape are all regulated by climate. Much research attention has focused on the problem of projecting the response of forests to changing climate, elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2)...

Disturbances catalyze the adaptation of forest ecosystems to changing climate conditions

PubMed Central

Thom, Dominik; Rammer, Werner; Seidl, Rupert

2016-01-01

The rates of anthropogenic climate change substantially exceed those at which forest ecosystems – dominated by immobile, long-lived organisms – are able to adapt. The resulting maladaptation of forests has potentially detrimental effects on ecosystem functioning. Furthermore, as many forest-dwelling species are highly dependent on the prevailing tree species, a delayed response of the latter to a changing climate can contribute to an extinction debt and mask climate-induced biodiversity loss. However, climate change will likely also intensify forest disturbances. Here, we tested the hypothesis that disturbances foster the reorganization of ecosystems and catalyze the adaptation of forest composition to climate change. Our specific objectives were (i) to quantify the rate of autonomous forest adaptation to climate change, (ii) examine the role of disturbance in the adaptation process, and (iii) investigate spatial differences in climate-induced species turnover in an unmanaged mountain forest landscape (Kalkalpen National Park, Austria). Simulations with a process-based forest landscape model were performed for 36 unique combinations of climate and disturbance scenarios over 1000 years. We found that climate change strongly favored European beech and oak species (currently prevailing in mid- to low-elevation areas), with novel species associations emerging on the landscape. Yet, it took between 357 and 706 years before the landscape attained a dynamic equilibrium with the climate system. Disturbances generally catalyzed adaptation and decreased the time needed to attain equilibrium by up to 211 years. However, while increasing disturbance frequency and severity accelerated adaptation, increasing disturbance size had the opposite effect. Spatial analyses suggest that particularly the lowest and highest elevation areas will be hotspots of future species change. We conclude that the growing maladaptation of forests to climate and the long lead times of autonomous adaptation need to be considered more explicitly in the ongoing efforts to safeguard biodiversity and ecosystem services provisioning. PMID:27633953

Disturbances catalyze the adaptation of forest ecosystems to changing climate conditions.

PubMed

Thom, Dominik; Rammer, Werner; Seidl, Rupert

2017-01-01

The rates of anthropogenic climate change substantially exceed those at which forest ecosystems - dominated by immobile, long-lived organisms - are able to adapt. The resulting maladaptation of forests has potentially detrimental effects on ecosystem functioning. Furthermore, as many forest-dwelling species are highly dependent on the prevailing tree species, a delayed response of the latter to a changing climate can contribute to an extinction debt and mask climate-induced biodiversity loss. However, climate change will likely also intensify forest disturbances. Here, we tested the hypothesis that disturbances foster the reorganization of ecosystems and catalyze the adaptation of forest composition to climate change. Our specific objectives were (i) to quantify the rate of autonomous forest adaptation to climate change, (ii) examine the role of disturbance in the adaptation process, and (iii) investigate spatial differences in climate-induced species turnover in an unmanaged mountain forest landscape (Kalkalpen National Park, Austria). Simulations with a process-based forest landscape model were performed for 36 unique combinations of climate and disturbance scenarios over 1000 years. We found that climate change strongly favored European beech and oak species (currently prevailing in mid- to low-elevation areas), with novel species associations emerging on the landscape. Yet, it took between 357 and 706 years before the landscape attained a dynamic equilibrium with the climate system. Disturbances generally catalyzed adaptation and decreased the time needed to attain equilibrium by up to 211 years. However, while increasing disturbance frequency and severity accelerated adaptation, increasing disturbance size had the opposite effect. Spatial analyses suggest that particularly the lowest and highest elevation areas will be hotspots of future species change. We conclude that the growing maladaptation of forests to climate and the long lead times of autonomous adaptation need to be considered more explicitly in the ongoing efforts to safeguard biodiversity and ecosystem services provisioning. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Potential ecological and economic consequences of climate-driven agricultural and silvicultural transformations in central Siberia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tchebakova, Nadezhda M.; Zander, Evgeniya V.; Pyzhev, Anton I.; Parfenova, Elena I.; Soja, Amber J.

2014-05-01

Increased warming predicted from general circulation models (GCMs) by the end of the century is expected to dramatically impact Siberian forests. Both natural climate-change-caused disturbance (weather, wildfire, infestation) and anthropogenic disturbance (legal/illegal logging) has increased, and their impact on Siberian boreal forest has been mounting over the last three decades. The Siberian BioClimatic Model (SiBCliM) was used to simulate Siberian forests, and the resultant maps show a severely decreased forest that has shifted northwards and a changed composition. Predicted dryer climates would enhance the risks of high fire danger and thawing permafrost, both of which challenge contemporary ecosystems. Our current goal is to evaluate the ecological and economic consequences of climate warming, to optimise economic loss/gain effects in forestry versus agriculture, to question the relative economic value of supporting forestry, agriculture or a mixed agro-forestry at the southern forest border in central Siberia predicted to undergo the most noticeable landcover and landuse changes. We developed and used forest and agricultural bioclimatic models to predict forest shifts; novel tree species and their climatypes are introduced in a warmer climate and/or potential novel agriculture are introduced with a potential variety of crops by the end of the century. We applied two strategies to estimate climate change effects, motivated by forest disturbance. One is a genetic means of assisting trees and forests to be harmonized with a changing climate by developing management strategies for seed transfer to locations that are best ecologically suited to the genotypes in future climates. The second strategy is the establishment of agricultural lands in new forest-steppe and steppe habitats, because the forests would retreat northwards. Currently, food, forage, and biofuel crops primarily reside in the steppe and forest-steppe zones which are known to have favorable climatic and soil resources. During this century, traditional Siberian crops are predicted to gradually shift northwards and new crops, which are currently non-existent but potentially important in a warmer climate, could be introduced in the extreme south. In a future warmer climate, the economic effect of climate change impacts on agriculture was estimated based on a production function approach and the Ricardian model. The production function estimated climate impacts of temperature, precipitation and carbon dioxide levels. The Ricardian model examined climate impacts on the net rent or value of farmland at various regions. The models produced the optimal distribution of agricultural lands between crop, livestock, and forestry sectors to compensate economic losses in forestry in potential landuse areas depending on climatic change.

Physiological and psychological effects of walking in stay-in forest therapy.

PubMed

Park, Bum-Jin; Tsunetsugu, Yuko; Morikawa, Takeshi; Kagawa, Takahide; Lee, Juyoung; Ikei, Harumi; Song, Chorong; Miyazaki, Yoshifumi

2014-01-01

To provide scientific evidence of the physiological and psychological effects of forest and urban environments on 47 young male adults undergoing stay-in forest therapy. Field experiments were conducted at four sites in Japan. At each site, 12 subjects participated in the experiment. The experiments were conducted in forest and urban environments, and the subjects' physiological and psychological responses to these environments were compared. On the first day, six subjects were sent to a forest area, and the other six were sent to an urban area as controls. The groups were switched the next day. Heart rate variability and heart rate were measured to assess physiological responses. The semantic differential method for assessing emotions, the reports of "refreshed" feeling, and the Profile of Mood States (POMS) were used to assess psychological responses. The physiological and psychological responses of each subject were recorded during and after walking, and the differences in indices were compared between the two environments. The forest environment was associated with a higher parasympathetic nervous activity, a lower sympathetic nervous activity, and a lower heart rate than the urban environment. The subjective evaluation scores were generally in accordance with the physiological reactions and were significantly higher in the forest environment than in the urban environment. POMS measurements showed that the forest environment was psychologically relaxing and enhanced psychological vigor. This study provided clear scientific evidence of the physiological effects of forest therapy. The results will contribute to the development of forest therapy research and support the inclusion of forest therapy in preventive medicine.

Shifts in tree functional composition amplify the response of forest biomass to climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Tao; Niinemets, Ülo; Sheffield, Justin; Lichstein, Jeremy W.

2018-04-01

Forests have a key role in global ecosystems, hosting much of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity and acting as a net sink for atmospheric carbon. These and other ecosystem services that are provided by forests may be sensitive to climate change as well as climate variability on shorter time scales (for example, annual to decadal). Previous studies have documented responses of forest ecosystems to climate change and climate variability, including drought-induced increases in tree mortality rates. However, relationships between forest biomass, tree species composition and climate variability have not been quantified across a large region using systematically sampled data. Here we use systematic forest inventories from the 1980s and 2000s across the eastern USA to show that forest biomass responds to decadal-scale changes in water deficit, and that this biomass response is amplified by concurrent changes in community-mean drought tolerance, a functionally important aspect of tree species composition. The amplification of the direct effects of water stress on biomass occurs because water stress tends to induce a shift in tree species composition towards species that are more tolerant to drought but are slower growing. These results demonstrate concurrent changes in forest species composition and biomass carbon storage across a large, systematically sampled region, and highlight the potential for climate-induced changes in forest ecosystems across the world, resulting from both direct effects of climate on forest biomass and indirect effects mediated by shifts in species composition.

Shifts in tree functional composition amplify the response of forest biomass to climate.

PubMed

Zhang, Tao; Niinemets, Ülo; Sheffield, Justin; Lichstein, Jeremy W

2018-04-05

Forests have a key role in global ecosystems, hosting much of the world's terrestrial biodiversity and acting as a net sink for atmospheric carbon. These and other ecosystem services that are provided by forests may be sensitive to climate change as well as climate variability on shorter time scales (for example, annual to decadal). Previous studies have documented responses of forest ecosystems to climate change and climate variability, including drought-induced increases in tree mortality rates. However, relationships between forest biomass, tree species composition and climate variability have not been quantified across a large region using systematically sampled data. Here we use systematic forest inventories from the 1980s and 2000s across the eastern USA to show that forest biomass responds to decadal-scale changes in water deficit, and that this biomass response is amplified by concurrent changes in community-mean drought tolerance, a functionally important aspect of tree species composition. The amplification of the direct effects of water stress on biomass occurs because water stress tends to induce a shift in tree species composition towards species that are more tolerant to drought but are slower growing. These results demonstrate concurrent changes in forest species composition and biomass carbon storage across a large, systematically sampled region, and highlight the potential for climate-induced changes in forest ecosystems across the world, resulting from both direct effects of climate on forest biomass and indirect effects mediated by shifts in species composition.

Built Expansion and Global Climate Change Drive Projected Urban Heat: Relative Magnitudes, Interactions, and Mitigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krayenhoff, E. S.; Georgescu, M.; Moustaoui, M.

2016-12-01

Surface climates are projected to warm due to global climate change over the course of the 21st century, and demographic projections suggest urban areas in the United States will continue to expand and develop, with associated local climate outcomes. Interactions between these two drivers of urban heat have not been robustly quantified to date. Here, simulations with the Weather Research and Forecasting model (coupled to a Single-Layer Urban Canopy Model) are performed at 20 km resolution over the continental U.S. for two 10-year periods: contemporary (2000-2009) and end-of-century (2090-2099). Present and end of century urban land use are derived from the Environmental Protection Agency's Integrated Climate and Land-Use Scenarios. Modelled effects on urban climates are evaluated regionally. Sensitivity to climate projection (Community Climate System Model 4.0, RCP 4.5 vs. RCP 8.5) and associated urban development scenarios are assessed. Effects on near-surface urban air temperature of RCP8.5 climate change are greater than those attributable to the corresponding urban development in many regions. Interaction effects vary by region, and while of lesser magnitude, are not negligible. Moreover, urban development and its interactions with RCP8.5 climate change modify the distribution of convective precipitation over the eastern US. Interaction effects result from the different meteorological effects of urban areas under current and future climate. Finally, the potential for design implementations such as green roofs and high albedo roofs to offset the projected warming is considered. Impacts of these implementations on precipitation are also assessed.

Land use change and human health

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patz, Jonathan A.; Norris, Douglas E.

Disease emergence events have been documented following several types of land use change. This chapter reviews several health-relevant land use changes recognized today, including: 1) urbanization and urban sprawl; 2) water projects and agricultural development; 3) road construction and deforestation in the tropics; and 4) regeneration of temperate forests. Because habitat or climatic change substantially affects intermediate invertebrate hosts involved in many prevalent diseases, this chapter provides a basic description of vector-borne disease biology as a foundation for analyzing the effects of land use change. Urban sprawl poses health challenges stemming from heat waves exacerbated by the "urban heat island" effect, as well as from water contamination due to expanses of impervious road and concrete surfaces. Dams, irrigation and agricultural development have long been associated with diseases such as schistosomiasis and filariasis. Better management methods are required to address the trade-offs between expanded food production and altered habitats promoting deadly diseases. Deforestation can increase the nature and number of breeding sites for vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and onchocerciasis. Human host and disease vector interaction further increases risk, as can a change in arthropod-vector species composition.

[Soil meso- and micro-fauna community structures in different urban forest types in Shanghai, China.

PubMed

Jin, Shi Ke; Wang, Juan Juan; Zhu, Sha; Zhang, Qi; Li, Xiang; Zheng, Wen Jing; You, Wen Hui

2016-07-01

Soil meso- and micro-fauna of four urban forest types in Shanghai were investigated in four months which include April 2014, July 2014, October 2014 and January 2015. A total of 2190 soil fauna individuals which belong to 6 phyla, 15 classes and 22 groups were collected. The dominant groups were Nematoda and Arcari, accounting for 56.0% and 21.8% of the total in terms of individual numbers respectively. The common groups were Enchytraeidae, Rotatoria, Collembola and Hymenoptera and they accounted for 18.7% of the total in terms of individual numbers. There was a significant difference (P<0.05) among soil meso- and micro-fauna density in the four urban forest types and the largest density was found in Metasequoia glyptostroboides forest, the smallest in Cinnamomum camphora forest. The largest groupe number was found in near-nature forest, the smallest was found in M. glyptostroboides forest. There was obvious seasonal dynamics in each urban forest type and green space which had larger density in autumn and larger groupe number in summer and autumn. In soil profiles, the degree of surface accumulation of soil meso- and micro-fauna in C. camphora forest was higher than in other forests and the vertical distribution of soil meso- and micro-fauna in near-nature forest was relatively homogeneous in four layers. Density-group index was ranked as: near-nature forest (6.953)> C. camphora forest (6.351)> Platanus forest (6.313)>M. glyptostroboides forest (5.910). The community diversity of soil fauna in each vegetation type could be displayed preferably by this index. It could be inferred through redundancy analysis (RDA) that the soil bulk density, organic matter and total nitrogen were the main environmental factors influencing soil meso- and micro-fauna community structure in urban forest. The positive correlations occurred between the individual number of Arcari, Enchytraeidae and soil organic matter and total nitrogen, as well as between the individual number of Diptera larvae, Rotatoria and soil water content.

Urbanization impacts on mammals across urban-forest edges and a predictive model of edge effects.

PubMed

Villaseñor, Nélida R; Driscoll, Don A; Escobar, Martín A H; Gibbons, Philip; Lindenmayer, David B

2014-01-01

With accelerating rates of urbanization worldwide, a better understanding of ecological processes at the wildland-urban interface is critical to conserve biodiversity. We explored the effects of high and low-density housing developments on forest-dwelling mammals. Based on habitat characteristics, we expected a gradual decline in species abundance across forest-urban edges and an increased decline rate in higher contrast edges. We surveyed arboreal mammals in sites of high and low housing density along 600 m transects that spanned urban areas and areas turn on adjacent native forest. We also surveyed forest controls to test whether edge effects extended beyond our edge transects. We fitted models describing richness, total abundance and individual species abundance. Low-density housing developments provided suitable habitat for most arboreal mammals. In contrast, high-density housing developments had lower species richness, total abundance and individual species abundance, but supported the highest abundances of an urban adapter (Trichosurus vulpecula). We did not find the predicted gradual decline in species abundance. Of four species analysed, three exhibited no response to the proximity of urban boundaries, but spilled over into adjacent urban habitat to differing extents. One species (Petaurus australis) had an extended negative response to urban boundaries, suggesting that urban development has impacts beyond 300 m into adjacent forest. Our empirical work demonstrates that high-density housing developments have negative effects on both community and species level responses, except for one urban adapter. We developed a new predictive model of edge effects based on our results and the literature. To predict animal responses across edges, our framework integrates for first time: (1) habitat quality/preference, (2) species response with the proximity to the adjacent habitat, and (3) spillover extent/sensitivity to adjacent habitat boundaries. This framework will allow scientists, managers and planners better understand and predict both species responses across edges and impacts of development in mosaic landscapes.

Urbanization Impacts on Mammals across Urban-Forest Edges and a Predictive Model of Edge Effects

PubMed Central

Villaseñor, Nélida R.; Driscoll, Don A.; Escobar, Martín A. H.; Gibbons, Philip; Lindenmayer, David B.

2014-01-01

With accelerating rates of urbanization worldwide, a better understanding of ecological processes at the wildland-urban interface is critical to conserve biodiversity. We explored the effects of high and low-density housing developments on forest-dwelling mammals. Based on habitat characteristics, we expected a gradual decline in species abundance across forest-urban edges and an increased decline rate in higher contrast edges. We surveyed arboreal mammals in sites of high and low housing density along 600 m transects that spanned urban areas and areas turn on adjacent native forest. We also surveyed forest controls to test whether edge effects extended beyond our edge transects. We fitted models describing richness, total abundance and individual species abundance. Low-density housing developments provided suitable habitat for most arboreal mammals. In contrast, high-density housing developments had lower species richness, total abundance and individual species abundance, but supported the highest abundances of an urban adapter (Trichosurus vulpecula). We did not find the predicted gradual decline in species abundance. Of four species analysed, three exhibited no response to the proximity of urban boundaries, but spilled over into adjacent urban habitat to differing extents. One species (Petaurus australis) had an extended negative response to urban boundaries, suggesting that urban development has impacts beyond 300 m into adjacent forest. Our empirical work demonstrates that high-density housing developments have negative effects on both community and species level responses, except for one urban adapter. We developed a new predictive model of edge effects based on our results and the literature. To predict animal responses across edges, our framework integrates for first time: (1) habitat quality/preference, (2) species response with the proximity to the adjacent habitat, and (3) spillover extent/sensitivity to adjacent habitat boundaries. This framework will allow scientists, managers and planners better understand and predict both species responses across edges and impacts of development in mosaic landscapes. PMID:24810286

Assessing urban forest effects and values of the Great Plains: Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Robert E. III Hoehn; Daniel E. Crane; Allison R. Bodine

2012-01-01

This report details the evaluation of the urban tree resources of the north-central Great Plains region of the United States. Specifically this report provides a more comprehensive understanding of the species composition and structural and functional benefits of the urban forests in the states of Kansas (33.1 million urban trees), Nebraska (13.3 million urban trees),...

The role of a peri-urban forest on air quality improvement in the Mexico City megalopolis.

PubMed

Baumgardner, Darrel; Varela, Sebastian; Escobedo, Francisco J; Chacalo, Alicia; Ochoa, Carlos

2012-04-01

Air quality improvement by a forested, peri-urban national park was quantified by combining the Urban Forest Effects (UFORE) and the Weather Research and Forecasting coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) models. We estimated the ecosystem-level annual pollution removal function of the park's trees, shrub and grasses using pollution concentration data for carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O(3)), and particulate matter less than 10 microns in diameter (PM(10)), modeled meteorological and pollution variables, and measured forest structure data. Ecosystem-level O(3) and CO removal and formation were also analyzed for a representative month. Total annual air quality improvement of the park's vegetation was approximately 0.02% for CO, 1% for O(3,) and 2% for PM(10), of the annual concentrations for these three pollutants. Results can be used to understand the air quality regulation ecosystem services of peri-urban forests and regional dynamics of air pollution emissions from major urban areas. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improving predictions of tropical forest response to climate change through integration of field studies and ecosystem modeling

Treesearch

Xiaohui Feng; María Uriarte; Grizelle González; Sasha Reed; Jill Thompson; Jess K. Zimmerman; Lora Murphy

2018-01-01

Tropical forests play a critical role in carbon and water cycles at a global scale. Rapid climate change is anticipated in tropical regions over the coming decades and, under a warmer and drier climate, tropical forests are likely to be net sources of carbon rather than sinks. However, our understanding of tropical forest response and feedback to climate change is very...

Changing climate, changing forests: The impacts of climate change on forests of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada

Treesearch

Lindsey Rustad; John Campbell; Jeffrey S. Dukes; Thomas Huntington; Kathy Fallon Lambert; Jacqueline Mohan; Nicholas Rodenhouse

2012-01-01

Decades of study on climatic change and its direct and indirect effects on forest ecosystems provide important insights for forest science, management, and policy. A synthesis of recent research from the northeastern United States and eastern Canada shows that the climate of the region has become warmer and wetter over the past 100 years and that there are more extreme...

CTFS-ForestGEO: a worldwide network monitoring forests in an era of global change

Treesearch

Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira; Stuart J. Davies; Amy C. Bennett; Erika B. Gonzalez-Akre; Helene C. Muller-Landau; S. Joseph Wright; Kamariah Abu Salim; Angélica M. Almeyda Zambrano; Alfonso Alonso; Jennifer L. Baltzer; Yves Basset; Norman A. Bourg; Eben N. Broadbent; Warren Y. Brockelman; Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin; David F. R. P. Burslem; Nathalie Butt; Min Cao; Dairon Cardenas; George B. Chuyong; Keith Clay; Susan Cordell; Handanakere S. Dattaraja; Xiaobao Deng; Matteo Detto; Xiaojun Du; Alvaro Duque; David L. Erikson; Corneille E.N. Ewango; Gunter A. Fischer; Christine Fletcher; Robin B. Foster; Christian P. Giardina; Gregory S. Gilbert; Nimal Gunatilleke; Savitri Gunatilleke; Zhanqing Hao; William W. Hargrove; Terese B. Hart; Billy C.H. Hau; Fangliang He; Forrest M. Hoffman; Robert W. Howe; Stephen P. Hubbell; Faith M. Inman-Narahari; Patrick A. Jansen; Mingxi Jiang; Daniel J. Johnson; Mamoru Kanzaki; Abdul Rahman Kassim; David Kenfack; Staline Kibet; Margaret F. Kinnaird; Lisa Korte; Kamil Kral; Jitendra Kumar; Andrew J. Larson; Yide Li; Xiankun Li; Shirong Liu; Shawn K.Y. Lum; James A. Lutz; Keping Ma; Damian M. Maddalena; Jean-Remy Makana; Yadvinder Malhi; Toby Marthews; Rafizah Mat Serudin; Sean M. McMahon; William J. McShea; Hervé R. Memiaghe; Xiangcheng Mi; Takashi Mizuno; Michael Morecroft; Jonathan A. Myers; Vojtech Novotny; Alexandre A. de Oliveira; Perry S. Ong; David A. Orwig; Rebecca Ostertag; Jan den Ouden; Geoffrey G. Parker; Richard P. Phillips; Lawren Sack; Moses N. Sainge; Weiguo Sang; Kriangsak Sri-ngernyuang; Raman Sukumar; I-Fang Sun; Witchaphart Sungpalee; Hebbalalu Sathyanarayana Suresh; Sylvester Tan; Sean C. Thomas; Duncan W. Thomas; Jill Thompson; Benjamin L. Turner; Maria Uriarte; Renato Valencia; Marta I. Vallejo; Alberto Vicentini; Tomáš Vrška; Xihua Wang; Xugao Wang; George Weiblen; Amy Wolf; Han Xu; Sandra Yap; Jess Zimmerman

2014-01-01

Global change is impacting forests worldwide, threatening biodiversity and ecosystem services including climate regulation. Understanding how forests respond is critical to forest conservation and climate protection. This review describes an international network of 59 long-term forest dynamics research sites (CTFS-ForestGEO) useful for characterizing forest responses...

Assessing urban forest effects and values, Minneapolis' urban forest

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Robert E. III Hoehn; Daniel E. Crane; Jack C. Stevens; Jeffrey T. Walton

2006-01-01

An analysis of trees in Minneapolis, MN, reveals that the city has about 979,000 trees with canopies that cover 26.4 percent of the area. The most common tree species are green ash, American elm, and boxelder. The urban forest currently stores about 250,000 tons of carbon valued at $4.6 million. In addition, these trees remove about 8,900 tons of carbon per year ($164,...

Assessing urban forest effects and values, Casper's urban forest

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Robert E., III Hoehn; Daniel E. Crane; Jack C. Stevens; Jeffrey T. Walton

2006-01-01

An analysis of trees in Casper, WY reveals that this city has about 123,000 trees with canopies that cover 8.9 percent of the area. The most common tree species are plains cottonwood, blue spruce, and American elm. The urban forest currently store about 37,000 tons of carbon valued at $689,000. In addition, these trees remove about 1,200 tons of carbon per year ($22,...

National Forest Health Monitoring Program Wisconsin Street Tree Assessment 2002-2003, NA-FR-02-08 Brief

Treesearch

Anne Buckelew Cumming; Daniel Twardus; Robert Hoehn; David Nowak; Manfred Mielke; Richard Rideout; Helen Butalla; Patricia Lebow

2008-01-01

Street trees grow along roadways within the public right-ofway. They are an important part of the urban forest due to their visibility to motorists and pedestrians, even if their numbers represent a small fraction of trees in urban areas. Little data are available that describe this resource at a large, statewide scale. Street trees, a subpopulation of the urban forest...

Assessing urban forest effects and values: Toronto's urban forest

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Robert E. III Hoehn; Allison R. Bodine; Eric J. Greenfield; Alexis Ellis; Theodore A. Endreny; Yang Yang; Tian Zhou; Ruthanne Henry

2013-01-01

An analysis of trees in Toronto, Ontario, reveals that this city has about 10.2 million trees with a tree and shrub canopy that covers approximately 26.6 percent of the city. The most common tree species are eastern white-cedar, sugar maple, and Norway maple. The urban forest currently stores an estimated 1.1 million metric tons of carbon valued at CAD$25.0 million. In...

An analysis of the public discourse about urban sprawl in the United States: Monitoring concern about a major threat to forests

Treesearch

David N. Bengston; Robert S. Potts; David P. Fan; Edward G. Goetz

2005-01-01

Urban sprawl has been identified as a serious threat to forests and other natural areas in the United States, and public concern about the impacts of sprawling development patterns has grown in recent years. The prominence of public concern about sprawl is germane to planners, managers, and policymakers involved in efforts to protect interface forests from urban...

Assessing urban forest effects and values, Philladelphia's urban forest

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Robert E., III Hoehn; Daniel E. Crane; Jack C. Stevens; Jeffrey T. Walton

2007-01-01

An analysis of trees in Philadelphia reveals that this city has about 2.1 million trees with canopies that cover 15.7 percent of the area. The most common tree species are black cherry, crabapple, and tree of heaven. The urban forest currently stores about 530,000 tons of carbon valued at $9.8 million. In addition, these trees remove about 16,100 tons of carbon per...

Assessing urban forest effects and values, San Francisco's urban forest

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Robert E., III Hoehn; Daniel E. Crane; Jack C. Stevens; Jeffrey T. Walton

2007-01-01

An analysis of trees in San Francisco, CA reveals that this city has about 669,000 trees with canopies that cover 11.9 percent of the area. The most common tree species are blue gum eucalyptus, Monterey pine, and Monterey cypress. The urban forest currently stores about 196,000 tons of carbon valued at $3.6 million. In addition, these trees remove about 5,200 tons of...

75 FR 15403 - Plan Revision for Malheur, Umatilla and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests, Oregon and Washington...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-29

... and sometimes extended drought, climate change, increasing vegetative density, shifts in forest...; moderating floods; and maintaining reliable stream flows for downstream users. 4. To address climate change. The 1990 forest plans do not address climate change. Climate change is expected to [[Page 15405...

Early Impacts of Residential Development on Wood Thrushes in an Urbanizing Forest

Treesearch

L. E. Friesen; E. D. Cheskey; M. D. Cadman; V. E. Martin; R. J. MacKay

2005-01-01

Environmental protection policies sometimes protect forests along an advancing suburban front although many of the forests may be brought into close proximity to residential housing. Research suggests that even when forests are physically preserved, their bird communities are simplified as the surroundings become urbanized. However, little is known of the time required...

National Forest Health Monitoring Program, Urban Forests Of Wisconsin: Pilot Monitoring Project 2002

Treesearch

Anne Buckelew Cumming; David Nowak; Daniel Twardus; Robert Hoehn; Manfred Mielke; Richard Rideout

2007-01-01

Trees in cities can contribute significantly to human health and environmental quality. Unfortunately, little is known about the urban forest resource and what it contributes locally, regionally, and nationally in terms of ecology, economy, and social well-being. To better understand this resource and its values, the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture,...

Israel wildfires: future trends, impacts and mitigation strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wittenberg, Lea

2017-04-01

Forest fires in the Euro-Mediterranean region burn about 450,000 ha each year. In Israel, the frequency and extent of wildfires have been steadily increasing over the past decades, culminating in several large and costly fires in 2010, 2012 and 2016. The extensive development of forest areas since the 1950's and the accumulation of fuel in the forests, has led to increased occurrences of high intensity fires. Land-use changes and human population growth are the most prevailing and common determinant of wildfire occurrence and impacts. Climate extremes, possibly already a sign of regional climate change, are another frequent determinant of increasing wildfire risk. Therefore, the combination of extreme dry spells, high fuel loads and increased anthropogenic pressure on the open spaces result in an overall amplified wildfire risk. These fires not only cause loss of life and damage to properties but also carry serious environmental repercussions. Combustion of standing vegetation and the leaf litter leave the soil bare and vulnerable to runoff and erosion, thereby increasing risks of flooding. Today, all of Israel's open spaces, forests, natural parks, major metropolitan centers, towns and villages are embedded within the wildland urban interface (WUI). Typically, wildfires near or in the WUI occur on uplands and runoff generated from the burned area poses flooding risks in urban and agricultural zones located downstream. Post-fire management aims at reducing associated hazards as collapsing trees and erosion risk. Often the time interval between a major fire and the definition of priority sites is in the order of days-to-weeks since administrative procedures, financial estimates and implementation of post-fire salvage logging operations require time. Defining the magnitude of the burn scar and estimating its potential impact on runoff and erosion must therefore be done quickly. A post-fire burn severity, runoff and erosion model is a useful tool in estimating potential risks and management strategic. Moreover, national agencies and local authorities must decide on a range of post-fire measures to mitigate risks quickly since most large fires occur late in summer shortly before the winter season. Possible climate changes, socio-economic trends, and intense land use pressures are contributing factors in a national challenge to deal with forest fires along the WUI. However, in order to support integrated fire preparedness, response, management and recovery at the national, regional and local scales, stronger research and planning effort are required. This includes long-term monitoring programs and a systematic, standardized data acquisition scheme, compiling fire history, landscape-fire spread, mitigation and assessment of the immediate fire effects, land use changes and weather data. Knowledge of both short and long-term impacts of wildfire is essential for effective risk assessment, policy formulation and wildfire management.

An isoline separating relatively warm from relatively cool wintertime forest surface temperatures for the southeastern United States

Treesearch

J. Wickham; T.G. Wade; K.H. Riitters

2014-01-01

Forest-oriented climate mitigation policies promote forestation as a means to increase uptake of atmospheric carbon to counteract global warming. Some have pointed out that a carbon-centric forest policy may be overstated because it discounts biophysical aspects of the influence of forests on climate. In extra-tropical regions, many climate models have shown that...

A community based approach to improving resilience of forests and water resources: A local and regional climate adaptation methodology

Treesearch

Toby Thaler; Gwen Griffith; Nancy Gilliam

2014-01-01

Forest-based ecosystem services are at risk from human-caused stressors, including climate change. Improving governance and management of forests to reduce impacts and increase community resilience to all stressors is the objective of forest-related climate change adaptation. The Model Forest Policy Program (MFPP) has applied one method designed to meet this objective...

Comparing effects of climate warming, fire, and timber harvesting on a boreal forest landscape in northeastern China.

PubMed

Li, Xiaona; He, Hong S; Wu, Zhiwei; Liang, Yu; Schneiderman, Jeffrey E

2013-01-01

Forest management under a changing climate requires assessing the effects of climate warming and disturbance on the composition, age structure, and spatial patterns of tree species. We investigated these effects on a boreal forest in northeastern China using a factorial experimental design and simulation modeling. We used a spatially explicit forest landscape model (LANDIS) to evaluate the effects of three independent variables: climate (current and expected future), fire regime (current and increased fire), and timber harvesting (no harvest and legal harvest). Simulations indicate that this forested landscape would be significantly impacted under a changing climate. Climate warming would significantly increase the abundance of most trees, especially broadleaf species (aspen, poplar, and willow). However, climate warming would have less impact on the abundance of conifers, diversity of forest age structure, and variation in spatial landscape structure than burning and harvesting. Burning was the predominant influence in the abundance of conifers except larch and the abundance of trees in mid-stage. Harvesting impacts were greatest for the abundance of larch and birch, and the abundance of trees during establishment stage (1-40 years), early stage (41-80 years) and old- growth stage (>180 years). Disturbance by timber harvesting and burning may significantly alter forest ecosystem dynamics by increasing forest fragmentation and decreasing forest diversity. Results from the simulations provide insight into the long term management of this boreal forest.

Disequilibrium of fire-prone forests sets the stage for a rapid decline in conifer dominance during the 21st century.

PubMed

Serra-Diaz, Josep M; Maxwell, Charles; Lucash, Melissa S; Scheller, Robert M; Laflower, Danelle M; Miller, Adam D; Tepley, Alan J; Epstein, Howard E; Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J; Thompson, Jonathan R

2018-04-30

The impacts of climatic changes on forests may appear gradually on time scales of years to centuries due to the long generation times of trees. Consequently, current forest extent may not reflect current climatic patterns. In contrast with these lagged responses, abrupt transitions in forests under climate change may occur in environments where alternative vegetation states are influenced by disturbances, such as fire. The Klamath forest landscape (northern California and southwest Oregon, USA) is currently dominated by high biomass, biodiverse temperate coniferous forests, but climate change could disrupt the mechanisms promoting forest stability (e.g. growth, regeneration and fire tolerance). Using a landscape simulation model, we estimate that about one-third of the Klamath forest landscape (500,000 ha) could transition from conifer-dominated forest to shrub/hardwood chaparral, triggered by increased fire activity coupled with lower post-fire conifer establishment. Such shifts were widespread under the warmer climate change scenarios (RCP 8.5) but were surprisingly prevalent under the climate of 1949-2010, reflecting the joint influences of recent warming trends and the legacy of fire suppression that may have enhanced conifer dominance. Our results demonstrate that major forest ecosystem shifts should be expected when climate change disrupts key stabilizing feedbacks that maintain the dominance of long-lived, slowly regenerating trees.

Growing Canopy on a College Campus: Understanding Urban Forest Change through Archival Records and Aerial Photography.

PubMed

Roman, Lara A; Fristensky, Jason P; Eisenman, Theodore S; Greenfield, Eric J; Lundgren, Robert E; Cerwinka, Chloe E; Hewitt, David A; Welsh, Caitlin C

2017-12-01

Many municipalities are setting ambitious tree canopy cover goals to increase the extent of their urban forests. A historical perspective on urban forest development can help cities strategize how to establish and achieve appropriate tree cover targets. To understand how long-term urban forest change occurs, we examined the history of trees on an urban college campus: the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. Using a mixed methods approach, including qualitative assessments of archival records (1870-2017), complemented by quantitative analysis of tree cover from aerial imagery (1970-2012), our analysis revealed drastic canopy cover increase in the late 20th and early 21st centuries along with the principle mechanisms of that change. We organized the historical narrative into periods reflecting campus planting actions and management approaches; these periods are also connected to broader urban greening and city planning movements, such as City Beautiful and urban sustainability. University faculty in botany, landscape architecture, and urban design contributed to the design of campus green spaces, developed comprehensive landscape plans, and advocated for campus trees. A 1977 Landscape Development Plan was particularly influential, setting forth design principles and planting recommendations that enabled the dramatic canopy cover gains we observed, and continue to guide landscape management today. Our results indicate that increasing urban tree cover requires generational time scales and systematic management coupled with a clear urban design vision and long-term commitments. With the campus as a microcosm of broader trends in urban forest development, we conclude with a discussion of implications for municipal tree cover planning.

Growing Canopy on a College Campus: Understanding Urban Forest Change through Archival Records and Aerial Photography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roman, Lara A.; Fristensky, Jason P.; Eisenman, Theodore S.; Greenfield, Eric J.; Lundgren, Robert E.; Cerwinka, Chloe E.; Hewitt, David A.; Welsh, Caitlin C.

2017-12-01

Many municipalities are setting ambitious tree canopy cover goals to increase the extent of their urban forests. A historical perspective on urban forest development can help cities strategize how to establish and achieve appropriate tree cover targets. To understand how long-term urban forest change occurs, we examined the history of trees on an urban college campus: the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. Using a mixed methods approach, including qualitative assessments of archival records (1870-2017), complemented by quantitative analysis of tree cover from aerial imagery (1970-2012), our analysis revealed drastic canopy cover increase in the late 20th and early 21st centuries along with the principle mechanisms of that change. We organized the historical narrative into periods reflecting campus planting actions and management approaches; these periods are also connected to broader urban greening and city planning movements, such as City Beautiful and urban sustainability. University faculty in botany, landscape architecture, and urban design contributed to the design of campus green spaces, developed comprehensive landscape plans, and advocated for campus trees. A 1977 Landscape Development Plan was particularly influential, setting forth design principles and planting recommendations that enabled the dramatic canopy cover gains we observed, and continue to guide landscape management today. Our results indicate that increasing urban tree cover requires generational time scales and systematic management coupled with a clear urban design vision and long-term commitments. With the campus as a microcosm of broader trends in urban forest development, we conclude with a discussion of implications for municipal tree cover planning.

Global spatial assessment of WUI and related land cover in Portugal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tonini, Marj; Parente, Joana; Pereira, Mário G.

2017-04-01

Forest fires as hazardous events are assuming an increasing importance all around the world, especially in relation to climate changes and to urban sprawl, which makes it difficult to outline a border between human infrastructures and wildland areas. This zone, known as the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), is defined as the area where structures and other human development meet or intermingle with undeveloped wildland (USDA 2001). Its extension is influenced by anthropogenic features, since, as it was proved, the distance to roads and houses negatively influence the probability of forest fires ignitions, while the population density positively affects it. Land use is also a crucial feature to be considered in the analyses of the impact of forest fires, and each natural, semi-natural and artificial land cover can be affected in a different proportion. The aim of the present study is to investigate and mapping the wildland urban interface and its temporal dynamic in Portugal at global scale. Secondly, it aims at providing a quantitative characterization of forest fires occurred in the last few decades (1990 - 2012) in relation to the burned area and the land covers evolution. The National mapping burnt area dataset (by the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests) provided the information allowing to precisely localize forest fires. The land cover classes were derived from the Corinne Land Cover, available for four periods (1990-2000-2006-2012). The following two classes were retained to outline the WUI: 1) artificial surfaces, as representative of the human development; 2) forest and semi-natural area, as representative of undeveloped wildland. First, we investigated the distribution of the burned areas among the different detailed land covers classes. Then, to map the WUI, we considered a buffer distance around artificial surfaces located in proximity of forests and semi-natural areas. The descriptive statistic carried out individually within each district revealed that in the southern part of the country forest fires are highly dispersed, while in the northern regions they tend to be aggregated around the anthropogenic infrastructures. This WUI-model can be replicated to assess the WUI at different periods, namely 1990, 2000, 2006, and to analyses the evolution of the WUI up to 2012. More accurate analyses at large scale for characterizing and mapping WUI using precise data (e.g. the true houses footprints) will be necessary to give practical indications in term of land and fire management. Nevertheless our study is necessary to give precious suggestions as for what is the global distribution on WUI in Portugal and which regions need to be prioritized in term of WUI extension and fires protection. References: Conedera M., Tonini M., Oleggini L., Vega Orozco C., Leuenberger M., Pezzati G.B. (2015) - Geospatial approach for defining the Wildland-Urban Interface in the Alpine environment. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, Vol. 52: 10-20 Bouillon C., Fernandez R., Sirca C., Fierro G., Casula F., Vila B., Long Fournel M., Pellizzaro G., Arca B., Tedim F., Trebini F., Derudas A., Cane S. (2014) - A tool for mapping rural-urban interfaces on different scales. Advanced in Forest Fire Research, Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra ED, pp. 611-625 Acknowledgements: This work was supported by: (i) the FIREXTR project, PTDC/ATP¬GEO/0462/2014; (ii) the project Interact - Integrative Research in Environment,Agro-Chain and Technology, NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000017, research line BEST, cofinanced by FEDER/NORTE 2020; and, (iii) European Investment Funds by FEDER/COMPETE/POCI-Operacional Competitiveness and Internacionalization Programme, under Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006958 and National Funds by FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project UID/AGR/04033. We are especially grateful to ICNF for providing the fire.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Petäjä, T

Atmospheric aerosol particles impact human health in urban environments, while on regional and global scales they can affect climate patterns, the hydrological cycle, and the intensity of radiation that reaches the Earth’s surface. In spite of recent advances in the understanding of aerosol formation processes and the links between aerosol dynamics and biosphere-atmosphere-climate interactions, great challenges remain in the analysis of related processes on a global scale. Boreal forests, situated in a circumpolar belt in the northern latitudes throughout the United States, Canada, Russia and Scandinavia, are among the most active areas of atmospheric aerosol formation among all biomes. Themore » formation of aerosol particles and their growth to the sizes of cloud condensation nuclei in these areas are associated with biogenic volatile organic emissions from vegetation and soil.« less

Addressing climate change in the Forest Vegetation Simulator to assess impacts on landscape forest dynamics

Treesearch

Nicholas L. Crookston; Gerald E. Rehfeldt; Gary E. Dixon; Aaron R. Weiskittel

2010-01-01

To simulate stand-level impacts of climate change, predictors in the widely used Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) were adjusted to account for expected climate effects. This was accomplished by: (1) adding functions that link mortality and regeneration of species to climate variables expressing climatic suitability, (2) constructing a function linking site index to...

Addressing climate change in the forest vegetation simulator to assess impacts on landscape forest dynamics

Treesearch

Nicholas L. Crookston; Gerald E. Rehfeldt; Gary E. Dixon; Aaron R. Weiskittel

2010-01-01

To simulate stand-level impacts of climate change, predictors in the widely used Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) were adjusted to account for expected climate effects. This was accomplished by: (1) adding functions that link mortality and regeneration of species to climate variables expressing climatic suitability, (2) constructing a function linking site index to...

Forest ecosystems, disturbance, and climate change in Washington State, USA

Treesearch

Jeremy S. Littell; Elaine E. Oneil; Donald McKenzie; Jeffrey A. Hicke; James A. Lutz; Robert A. Norheim; Marketa M. Elsner

2010-01-01

Climatic change is likely to affect Pacific Northwest (PNW) forests in several important ways. In this paper, we address the role of climate in four forest ecosystem processes and project the effects of future climatic change on these processes across Washington State. First, we relate Douglas-fir growth to climatic limitation and suggest that where Douglas-fir is...

Remote Sensing of the Urban Heat Island Effect Across Biomes in the Continental USA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Imhoff, Marc L.; Zhang, Ping; Wolfe, Robert E.; Bounoua, Lahouari

2010-01-01

Impervious surface area (ISA) from the Landsat TM-based NLCD 2001 dataset and land surface temperature (LST) from MODIS averaged over three annual cycles (2003-2005) are used in a spatial analysis to assess the urban heat island (UHI) skin temperature amplitude and its relationship to development intensity, size, and ecological setting for 38 of the most populous cities in the continental United States. Development intensity zones based on %ISA are defined for each urban area emanating outward from the urban core to the nonurban rural areas nearby and used to stratify sampling for land surface temperatures and NDVI. Sampling is further constrained by biome and elevation to insure objective intercomparisons between zones and between cities in different biomes permitting the definition of hierarchically ordered zones that are consistent across urban areas in different ecological setting and across scales. We find that ecological context significantly influences the amplitude of summer daytime UHI (urban-rural temperature difference) the largest (8 C average) observed for cities built in biomes dominated by temperate broadleaf and mixed forest. For all cities combined, ISA is the primary driver for increase in temperature explaining 70% of the total variance in LST. On a yearly average, urban areas are substantially warmer than the non-urban fringe by 2.9 C, except for urban areas in biomes with arid and semiarid climates. The average amplitude of the UHI is remarkably asymmetric with a 4.3 C temperature difference in summer and only 1.3 C in winter. In desert environments, the LST's response to ISA presents an uncharacteristic "U-shaped" horizontal gradient decreasing from the urban core to the outskirts of the city and then increasing again in the suburban to the rural zones. UHI's calculated for these cities point to a possible heat sink effect. These observational results show that the urban heat island amplitude both increases with city size and is seasonally asymmetric for a large number of cities across most biomes. The implications are that for urban areas developed within forested ecosystems the summertime UHI can be quite high relative to the wintertime UHI suggesting that the residential energy consumption required for summer cooling is likely to increase with urban growth within those biomes.

Exotic grasses and nitrate enrichment alter soil carbon cycling along an urban-rural tropical forest gradient.

PubMed

Cusack, Daniela F; Lee, Joseph K; McCleery, Taylor L; LeCroy, Chase S

2015-12-01

Urban areas are expanding rapidly in tropical regions, with potential to alter ecosystem dynamics. In particular, exotic grasses and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition simultaneously affect tropical urbanized landscapes, with unknown effects on properties like soil carbon (C) storage. We hypothesized that (H1) soil nitrate (NO3 (-) ) is elevated nearer to the urban core, reflecting N deposition gradients. (H2) Exotic grasslands have elevated soil NO3 (-) and decreased soil C relative to secondary forests, with higher N promoting decomposer activity. (H3) Exotic grasslands have greater seasonality in soil NO3 (-) vs. secondary forests, due to higher sensitivity of grassland soil moisture to rainfall. We predicted that NO3 (-) would be positively related to dissolved organic C (DOC) production via changes in decomposer activity. We measured six paired grassland/secondary forest sites along a tropical urban-to-rural gradient during the three dominant seasons (hurricane, dry, and early wet). We found that (1) soil NO3 (-) was generally elevated nearer to the urban core, with particularly clear spatial trends for grasslands. (2) Exotic grasslands had lower soil C than secondary forests, which was related to elevated decomposer enzyme activities and soil respiration. Unexpectedly, soil NO3 (-) was negatively related to enzyme activities, and was lower in grasslands than forests. (3) Grasslands had greater soil NO3 (-) seasonality vs. forests, but this was not strongly linked to shifts in soil moisture or DOC. Our results suggest that exotic grasses in tropical regions are likely to drastically reduce soil C storage, but that N deposition may have an opposite effect via suppression of enzyme activities. However, soil NO3 (-) accumulation here was higher in urban forests than grasslands, potentially related to of aboveground N interception. Net urban effects on C storage across tropical landscapes will likely vary depending on the mosaic of grass cover, rates of N deposition, and responses by local decomposer communities. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The roles of hydraulic and carbon stress in a widespread climate-induced forest die-off

PubMed Central

Anderegg, William R. L.; Berry, Joseph A.; Smith, Duncan D.; Sperry, John S.; Anderegg, Leander D. L.; Field, Christopher B.

2012-01-01

Forest ecosystems store approximately 45% of the carbon found in terrestrial ecosystems, but they are sensitive to climate-induced dieback. Forest die-off constitutes a large uncertainty in projections of climate impacts on terrestrial ecosystems, climate–ecosystem interactions, and carbon-cycle feedbacks. Current understanding of the physiological mechanisms mediating climate-induced forest mortality limits the ability to model or project these threshold events. We report here a direct and in situ study of the mechanisms underlying recent widespread and climate-induced trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) forest mortality in western North America. We find substantial evidence of hydraulic failure of roots and branches linked to landscape patterns of canopy and root mortality in this species. On the contrary, we find no evidence that drought stress led to depletion of carbohydrate reserves. Our results illuminate proximate mechanisms underpinning recent aspen forest mortality and provide guidance for understanding and projecting forest die-offs under climate change. PMID:22167807

Managing burned landscapes: Evaluating future management strategies for resilient forests under a warming climate

Treesearch

K. L. Shive; P. Z. Fule; C. H. Sieg; B. A. Strom; M. E. Hunter

2014-01-01

Climate change effects on forested ecosystems worldwide include increases in drought-related mortality, changes to disturbance regimes and shifts in species distributions. Such climate-induced changes will alter the outcomes of current management strategies, complicating the selection of appropriate strategies to promote forest resilience. We modelled forest growth in...

U.S. National forests adapt to climate change through science-management partnerships

Treesearch

Jeremy S. Littell; David L. Peterson; Constance I. Millar; Kathy A. O' Halloran

2011-01-01

Developing appropriate management options for adapting to climate change is a new challenge for land managers, and integration of climate change concepts into operational management and planning on United States national forests is just starting. We established science-management partnerships on the Olympic National Forest (Washington) and Tahoe National Forest (...

Consequences of climate change for biogeochemical cycling in forests of northeastern North America

Treesearch

John L. Campbell; Lindsey E. Rustad; Elizabeth W. Boyer; Sheila F. Christopher; Charles T. Driscoll; Ivan .J. Fernandez; Peter M. Groffman; Daniel Houle; Jana Kiekbusch; Alison H. Magill; Myron J. Mitchell; Scott V. Ollinger

2009-01-01

A critical component of assessing the impacts of climate change on forest ecosystems involves understanding associated changes in biogeochemical cycling of elements. Evidence from research on northeastern North American forests shows that direct effects of climate change will evoke changes in biogeochemical cycling by altering plant physiology forest productivity, and...

Urban Forest Health Needs Assessment Survey: Results and Recommendations

Treesearch

Jill D. Pokorny

1998-01-01

The survey was designed to query urban forestry professionals in the 20 northeastern and Midwest States and the District of Columbia, which are served by the Northeastern Area, to learn about their attitudes toward the general issue of urban forest health, identify specific training and information needs in the area of urban tree health management, and discover...

Carbon dioxide reduction through urban forestry: guidelines for professional and volunteer tree planters

Treesearch

E. Gregory McPherson; James R. Simpson

1999-01-01

Carbon dioxide reduction through urban forestry—Guidelines for professional and volunteer tree planters has been developed by the Pacific Southwest Research Station’s Western Center for Urban Forest Research and Education as a tool for utilities, urban foresters and arborists, municipalities, consultants, non-profit organizations and others to...

Ecological integrity of remnant montane forests along an urban gradient in the Sierra Nevada

Treesearch

K. E. Heckmann; P.N. Manley; M.D. Schlesinger

2008-01-01

Urban development typically has extensive and intensive effects on native ecosystems, including vegetation communities and their associated biota. Increasingly, urban planning strives to retain elements of native ecosystems to meet multiple social and ecological objectives. The ecological integrity of native forests in an urbanizing landscape is challenged by a myriad...

Protecting Your Forest from Climate Change

Treesearch

Steven McNulty

2009-01-01

Climate change is already impacting our forests and the situation is ongoing. As a landowner, there are management tools that you can use to help reduce the likelihood that climate change will cause serious harm to your forest.

Policy Implications and Suggestions on Administrative Measures of Urban Flood

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, S. V.; Lee, M. J.; Lee, C.; Yoon, J. H.; Chae, S. H.

2017-12-01

The frequency and intensity of floods are increasing worldwide as recent climate change progresses gradually. Flood management should be policy-oriented in urban municipalities due to the characteristics of urban areas with a lot of damage. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to prepare a flood susceptibility map by using data mining model and make a policy suggestion on administrative measures of urban flood. Therefore, we constructed a spatial database by collecting relevant factors including the topography, geology, soil and land use data of the representative city, Seoul, the capital city of Korea. Flood susceptibility map was constructed by applying the data mining models of random forest and boosted tree model to input data and existing flooded area data in 2010. The susceptibility map has been validated using the 2011 flood area data which was not used for training. The predictor importance value of each factor to the results was calculated in this process. The distance from the water, DEM and geology showed a high predictor importance value which means to be a high priority for flood preparation policy. As a result of receiver operating characteristic (ROC), random forest model showed 78.78% and 79.18% accuracy of regression and classification and boosted tree model showed 77.55% and 77.26% accuracy of regression and classification, respectively. The results show that the flood susceptibility maps can be applied to flood prevention and management, and it also can help determine the priority areas for flood mitigation policy by providing useful information to policy makers.

Response of Sierra Nevada forests to projected climate-wildfire interactions.

PubMed

Liang, Shuang; Hurteau, Matthew D; Westerling, Anthony LeRoy

2017-05-01

Climate influences forests directly and indirectly through disturbance. The interaction of climate change and increasing area burned has the potential to alter forest composition and community assembly. However, the overall forest response is likely to be influenced by species-specific responses to environmental change and the scale of change in overstory species cover. In this study, we sought to quantify how projected changes in climate and large wildfire size would alter forest communities and carbon (C) dynamics, irrespective of competition from nontree species and potential changes in other fire regimes, across the Sierra Nevada, USA. We used a species-specific, spatially explicit forest landscape model (LANDIS-II) to evaluate forest response to climate-wildfire interactions under historical (baseline) climate and climate projections from three climate models (GFDL, CCSM3, and CNRM) forced by a medium-high emission scenario (A2) in combination with corresponding climate-specific large wildfire projections. By late century, we found modest changes in the spatial distribution of dominant species by biomass relative to baseline, but extensive changes in recruitment distribution. Although forest recruitment declined across much of the Sierra, we found that projected climate and wildfire favored the recruitment of more drought-tolerant species over less drought-tolerant species relative to baseline, and this change was greatest at mid-elevations. We also found that projected climate and wildfire decreased tree species richness across a large proportion of the study area and transitioned more area to a C source, which reduced landscape-level C sequestration potential. Our study, although a conservative estimate, suggests that by late century, forest community distributions may not change as intact units as predicted by biome-based modeling, but are likely to trend toward simplified community composition as communities gradually disaggregate and the least tolerant species are no longer able to establish. The potential exists for substantial community composition change and forest simplification beyond this century. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Urban Growth Detection Using Filtered Landsat Dense Time Trajectory in an Arid City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ye, Z.; Schneider, A.

2014-12-01

Among all remote sensing environment monitoring techniques, time series analysis of biophysical index is drawing increasing attention. Although many of them studied forest disturbance and land cover change detection, few focused on urban growth mapping at medium spatial resolution. As Landsat archive becomes open accessible, methods using Landsat time-series imagery to detect urban growth is possible. It is found that a time trajectory from a newly developed urban area shows a dramatic drop of vegetation index. This enable the utilization of time trajectory analysis to distinguish impervious surface and crop land that has a different temporal biophysical pattern. Also, the time of change can be estimated, yet many challenges remain. Landsat data has lower temporal resolution, which may be worse when cloud-contaminated pixels and SLC-off effect exist. It is difficult to tease apart intra-annual, inter-annual, and land cover difference in a time series. Here, several methods of time trajectory analysis are utilized and compared to find a computationally efficient and accurate way on urban growth detection. A case study city, Ankara, Turkey is chosen for its arid climate and various landscape distributions. For preliminary research, Landsat TM and ETM+ scenes from 1998 to 2002 are chosen. NDVI, EVI, and SAVI are selected as research biophysical indices. The procedure starts with a seasonality filtering. Only areas with seasonality need to be filtered so as to decompose seasonality and extract overall trend. Harmonic transform, wavelet transform, and a pre-defined bell shape filter are used to estimate the overall trend in the time trajectory for each pixel. The point with significant drop in the trajectory is tagged as change point. After an urban change is detected, forward and backward checking is undertaken to make sure it is really new urban expansion other than short time crop fallow or forest disturbance. The method proposed here can capture most of the urban growth during research time period, although the accuracy of time point determination is a bit lower than this. Results from several biophysical indices and filtering methods are similar. Some fallows and bare lands in arid area are easily confused with urban impervious surface.

Climate- and successional-related changes in functional composition of European forests are strongly driven by tree mortality.

PubMed

Ruiz-Benito, Paloma; Ratcliffe, Sophia; Zavala, Miguel A; Martínez-Vilalta, Jordi; Vilà-Cabrera, Albert; Lloret, Francisco; Madrigal-González, Jaime; Wirth, Christian; Greenwood, Sarah; Kändler, Gerald; Lehtonen, Aleksi; Kattge, Jens; Dahlgren, Jonas; Jump, Alistair S

2017-10-01

Intense droughts combined with increased temperatures are one of the major threats to forest persistence in the 21st century. Despite the direct impact of climate change on forest growth and shifts in species abundance, the effect of altered demography on changes in the composition of functional traits is not well known. We sought to (1) quantify the recent changes in functional composition of European forests; (2) identify the relative importance of climate change, mean climate and forest development for changes in functional composition; and (3) analyse the roles of tree mortality and growth underlying any functional changes in different forest types. We quantified changes in functional composition from the 1980s to the 2000s across Europe by two dimensions of functional trait variation: the first dimension was mainly related to changes in leaf mass per area and wood density (partially related to the trait differences between angiosperms and gymnosperms), and the second dimension was related to changes in maximum tree height. Our results indicate that climate change and mean climatic effects strongly interacted with forest development and it was not possible to completely disentangle their effects. Where recent climate change was not too extreme, the patterns of functional change generally followed the expected patterns under secondary succession (e.g. towards late-successional short-statured hardwoods in Mediterranean forests and taller gymnosperms in boreal forests) and latitudinal gradients (e.g. larger proportion of gymnosperm-like strategies at low water availability in forests formerly dominated by broad-leaved deciduous species). Recent climate change generally favoured the dominance of angiosperm-like related traits under increased temperature and intense droughts. Our results show functional composition changes over relatively short time scales in European forests. These changes are largely determined by tree mortality, which should be further investigated and modelled to adequately predict the impacts of climate change on forest function. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Symptomatic Raccoon Dogs and Sarcoptic Mange Along an Urban Gradient.

PubMed

Saito, Masayuki U; Sonoda, Yoichi

2017-06-01

We quantitatively evaluated the effects of landscape factors on the distribution of symptomatic raccoon dogs with sarcoptic mange along an urban gradient. We used 246 camera traps (182 traps from April 2005 to December 2006; 64 traps from September 2009 to October 2010) to record the occurrence of asymptomatic and symptomatic raccoon dogs at 21 survey sites along an urban-rural gradient in the Tama Hills area of Tokyo. Each occurrence was explained in terms of the surrounding forest, agricultural, and grassland areas and additional factors (i.e., seasonal variations and survey methods) at various spatial scales using a generalized additive mixed model (GAMM). In our analysis, a 1000-m radius was identified as the important spatial scale for asymptomatic and symptomatic raccoon dog occurrence. The peak of the predicted occurrence probability of asymptomatic raccoon dogs appeared in the intermediate forest landscape as opposed to non-forest and forest landscapes. However, a high occurrence probability of symptomatic raccoon dogs was detected in non-forest and intermediate forest landscapes (i.e., urban and suburban) as opposed to a forest landscape, presumably because of animals occurring at much higher densities in more urbanized areas. Therefore, our results suggest that human-modified landscapes play an important role in the high occurrence of sarcoptic mange in raccoon dogs.

Part 1: Principles of Urban Watershed Forestry

Treesearch

Karen Cappiella; Tom Schueler; Tiffany Wright

2005-01-01

Conserving forests in a watershed? This manual introduces the emerging topic of urban watershed forestry and presents new methods for systematically measuring watershed forest cover and techniques for maintaining or increasing this cover. The audience for this manual includes the local watershed planner or forester.

Population-Based Study on the Effect of a Forest Environment on Salivary Cortisol Concentration

PubMed Central

Park, Bum-Jin; Lee, Juyoung

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a forest environment on salivary cortisol concentration, particularly on the characteristics of its distribution. The participants were 348 young male subjects. The experimental sites were 34 forests and 34 urban areas across Japan. The subjects viewed the landscape (forest or urban environment) for a period of 15 min while sitting in a chair. Saliva was sampled from the participants at the end of this 15-min period and then analyzed for cortisol concentration. Differences in the skewness and kurtosis of the distributions between the two environments were tested by performing a permutation test. The cortisol concentrations exhibited larger skewness (0.76) and kurtosis (3.23) in a forest environment than in an urban environment (skewness = 0.49; kurtosis = 2.47), and these differences were statistically significant. The cortisol distribution exhibited a more peaked and longer right-tailed curve in a forest environment than in an urban environment. PMID:28820452

Population-Based Study on the Effect of a Forest Environment on Salivary Cortisol Concentration.

PubMed

Kobayashi, Hiromitsu; Song, Chorong; Ikei, Harumi; Park, Bum-Jin; Lee, Juyoung; Kagawa, Takahide; Miyazaki, Yoshifumi

2017-08-18

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a forest environment on salivary cortisol concentration, particularly on the characteristics of its distribution. The participants were 348 young male subjects. The experimental sites were 34 forests and 34 urban areas across Japan. The subjects viewed the landscape (forest or urban environment) for a period of 15 min while sitting in a chair. Saliva was sampled from the participants at the end of this 15-min period and then analyzed for cortisol concentration. Differences in the skewness and kurtosis of the distributions between the two environments were tested by performing a permutation test. The cortisol concentrations exhibited larger skewness (0.76) and kurtosis (3.23) in a forest environment than in an urban environment (skewness = 0.49; kurtosis = 2.47), and these differences were statistically significant. The cortisol distribution exhibited a more peaked and longer right-tailed curve in a forest environment than in an urban environment.

Housing Shortages in Urban Regions: Aggressive Interactions at Tree Hollows in Forest Remnants

PubMed Central

Davis, Adrian; Major, Richard E.; Taylor, Charlotte E.

2013-01-01

Urbanisation typically results in a reduction of hollow-bearing trees and an increase in the density of particularly species, potentially resulting in an increased level of competition as cavity-nesting species compete for a limited resource. To improve understanding of hollow usage between urban cavity-nesting species in Australia, particularly parrots, we investigated how the hollow-using assemblage, visitation rate, diversity and number of interactions varied between hollows within urban remnant forest and continuous forest. Motion-activated video cameras were installed, via roped access to the canopy, and hollow usage was monitored at 61 hollows over a two-year period. Tree hollows within urban remnants had a significantly different assemblage of visitors to those in continuous forest as well as a higher rate of visitation than hollows within continuous forest, with the rainbow lorikeet making significantly more visitations than any other taxa. Hollows within urban remnants were characterised by significantly higher usage rates and significantly more aggressive interactions than hollows within continuous forest, with parrots responsible for almost all interactions. Within urban remnants, high rates of hollow visitation and both interspecific and intraspecific interactions observed at tree hollows suggest the number of available optimal hollows may be limiting. Understanding the usage of urban remnant hollows by wildlife, as well as the role of parrots as a potential flagship for the conservation of tree-hollows, is vital to prevent a decrease in the diversity of urban fauna, particularly as other less competitive species risk being outcompeted by abundant native species. PMID:23555657

Forests in a water limited world under climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mátyás, Csaba; Sun, Ge

2014-08-01

The debate on ecological and climatic benefits of planted forests at the sensitive dry edge of the closed forest belt (i.e. at the ‘xeric limits’) is still unresolved. Forests sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide, accumulate biomass, control water erosion and dust storms, reduce river sedimentation, and mitigate small floods. However, planting trees in areas previously dominated by grassland or cropland can dramatically alter the energy and water balances at multiple scales. The forest/grassland transition zone is especially vulnerable to projected drastic temperature and precipitation shifts and growing extremes due to its high ecohydrological sensitivity. We investigated some of the relevant aspects of the ecological and climatic role of forests and potential impacts of climate change at the dryland margins of the temperate-continental zone using case studies from China, the United States and SE Europe (Hungary). We found that, contrary to popular expectations, the effects of forest cover on regional climate might be limited and the influence of forestation on water resources might be negative. Planted forests generally reduce stream flow and lower groundwater table level because of higher water use than previous land cover types. Increased evaporation potential due to global warming and/or extreme drought events is likely to reduce areas that are appropriate for tree growth and forest establishment. Ecologically conscious forest management and forestation planning should be adjusted to the local, projected hydrologic and climatic conditions, and should also consider non-forest alternative land uses.

A roadmap to effective urban climate change adaptation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Setiadi, R.

2018-03-01

This paper outlines a roadmap to effective urban climate change adaptation built from our practical understanding of the evidence and effects of climate change and the preparation of climate change adaptation strategies and plans. This roadmap aims to drive research in achieving fruitful knowledge and solution-based achievable recommendations in adapting to climate change in urban areas with effective and systematic manner. This paper underscores the importance of the interplay between local government initiatives and a national government for effective adaptation to climate change and takes into account the policy process and politics. This paper argues that effective urban climate change adaptation has a contribution to build urban resilience and helps the achievement of national government goals and targets in climate change adaptation.

Carbon dynamics of forest in Washington, USA: 21st century projections based on climate-driven changes in fire regimes

Treesearch

Crystal L. Raymond; Donald McKenzie

2012-01-01

During the 21st century, climate-driven changes in fire regimes will be a key agent of change in forests of the U.S. Pacific Northwest (PNW). Understanding the response of forest carbon (C) dynamics to increases in fire will help quantify limits on the contribution of forest C storage to climate change mitigation and prioritize forest types for...

Climate of Priest River Experimental Forest, northern Idaho

Treesearch

Arnold I. Finklin

1983-01-01

Detailed climatic description of Priest River Experimental Forest; applies to much of the northern Idaho panhandle. Covers year-round pattern and focuses on the fire season. Topographic and local site differences in climate are examined; also, climatic trends or fluctuations during the past 70 years. Includes numerous tables and graphs. Written particularly for forest...

The impact of climate change on America's forests

Treesearch

Linda A. Joyce; Richard Birdsey

2000-01-01

This report documents trends and impacts of climate change on America's forests as required by the Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974. Recent research on the impact of climate and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide on plant productivity is synthesized. Modeling analyses explore the potential impact of climate changes on forests, wood products, and carbon in...

76 FR 38349 - Plan Revision for Colville, and the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forests, Washington (Collectively...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-30

... outbreaks. These are the cumulative effects of a periodic and sometimes extended drought, climate change... conservation strategy across the Colville and Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forests. 4. To address climate change. The 1988, 1989, and 1990 forest plans do not consider climate change. Climate change is expected to...