Treesearch

Climate change presents many challenges for ecosystems, biodiversity, and ecosystem services, particularly in combination with non-climate stressors. Progressive warming, variable precipitation, and more frequent extreme weather events produce changes in ecosystem structure and function, species distribution and abundance, and productivity (IPCC 2021; Lipton et al. 2018). Climate change affects natural resources and interacts with disturbances, such as fire, and non-climate stressors, such as habitat loss, to sometimes generate synergistic effects (Coristine and Kerr 2011). However,...

This chapter provides a summary of the climate change analysis done for Colorado’s Front Range forests that include the Pike-San Isabel and Arapaho-Roosevelt (PSIAR) National Forests. This analysis includes assessment of historical climate trends and future climate projections by 2050. Because of the wide range of future climate projections simulated by global climate models, four divergent future climate scenarios were selected to incorporate that large range and to quantify plausible future climate scenarios for PSI-AR. Following sections provide information on the (1) data and approaches...

The Colorado Front Range is the meeting of the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains, a nexus of great topographic, geologic, and atmospheric forces. As water collects in the mountains and moves to the deserts and plains, it fosters unique ecosystems, some of which support rare and sensitive species. This water also creates opportunities and challenges for a growing metro area, fuels the recreational activities of residents and visitors, and supports an expansive agricultural industry. A complex system of ditches, pipelines, reservoirs, and transbasin diversions has been constructed to meet...

The term “rangeland” is rather nebulous and there is no single definition of rangeland that is universally accepted by land managers, scientists, or international bodies (Reeves and Mitchell, 2011; Lund, 2007). Dozens and possibly hundreds (Lund, 2007) of definitions and ideologies exist because various stakeholders often have unique objectives requiring different information. To describe the role of remote sensing in a global context it is, however, necessary to provide definitions to orient the reader. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) convened a conferenc...

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) are desirable material due to universal accessibility, and superior mechanical properties. A major challenge is non-uniform dispersion of CNC in the hydrophobic matrices due to their tendency to agglomerate. A novel technique was evaluated to prepare a hybrid system of cellulose nanocrystal (CNC)/graphene quantum dots (GQD). Hybrid system of CNC/GQD was added to high density poly (ethylene) (HDPE) to manufacture composites. The CNC/GQD inclusion complex properties were evaluated using Zeta potential measurement, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectrosco...

Amphiphilic sulfated cellulose nanofibrils were synthesized with yields in excess of 99% by sulfation of dissolving pulp cellulose using chlorosulfonic acid in anhydrous N,N-dimethyl formamide followed by high-speed blending. The sulfation level was stoichiometrically tunable to between 1.48 and 2.23 mmol g−1. The optimized SCNF demonstrated the ability to act as an effective dispersant for graphene produced via exfoliation in aqueous media, allowing for the production of aqueous stabilized graphene with 3.9 ± 0.3 wt% graphite to graphene conversion and suspended solids comprised of 19.5 ±...

The New World genus Calyxochaetus Bigot (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) is revised and 36 species are recognized, including 14 new species. These species are classified into five species groups as follows: the C. tripilus species group including C. angustipennis (Aldrich, 1901) comb. nov., C. longitarsus sp. nov. and C. tripilus (Van Duzee, 1930); the C. cilifemoratus species group including C. anisoaristus sp. nov., C. arizonicus (Harmston, 1968), C. brooksi sp. nov., C. celatus sp. nov., C. cilifemoratus (Van Duzee, 1924), C. clavicornis (Van Duzee, 1930), C. coloradensis sp. nov., C. distortus...

Many greentree reservoirs (GTRs) and other bottomland hardwood forests have experienced a shift in tree species composition away from desired red oaks (Quercus section Lobatae), like willow oak (Quercus phellos L.), due to flood stress mortality. Trees experience flood stress primarily through their root system, so it is surmised that GTR flooding may be occurring before root systems have reduced their activity entering the winter. Because soils buffer seasonal temperature changes, we hypothesized that root activity would respond to the belowground environment rather than the aboveground...

Using the US Geological Survey groundwater model, we compared spatial distribution, flow exchange, and storage of groundwater between cropland and forestland in the Upper Yazoo River Watershed, Mississippi, from 1900 to 2014. Under normal climate, average groundwater head declined 2.7 m in cropland but only 1 m in forestland over the 115 years. The average groundwater flow from forestland to cropland surpassed the reverse flow by a factor of 238, owing to a higher elevation in forestland and intensive groundwater pumping in cropland. Cropland was a net groundwater sink while forestland was...

Climate change and fire management actions are the two key drivers of fire regime changes now and into the future. The predicted effects of these drivers vary between regions and global climate projections; however, it is expected that fire regimes globally are likely to intensify. Increased wildfire extent, frequency and severity mean impacts to people, property, infrastructure, production and the environment are also likely to increase under worsening climate conditions. Fire management programs aim to reduce the influence of worsening climatic conditions on wildfires and risk to assets...