Treesearch

In wildland fires, wind affects fire propagation, emission intensity, and smoke transport; therefore, uncertainties in wind simulations can critically impact PM2.5 concentration produced by coupled fire-atmosphere models or chemical transport models. These uncertainties must be addressed prior to assessing other parameters that may affect model-predicted PM2.5 concentrations through comparisons with observations. This study simulated prescribed fire events with accurate ignition pattern design and high spatial-temporal resolutions using the coupled fire-atmosphere model WRF-SFIRE. We...

Rapids are common in steep rivers, often forming where flow transitions from supercritical (Froude number, Fr>1) to subcritical (Fr<1) through a hydraulic jump. When upstream Fr is supercritical but close to 1, this transition may occur as an undular hydraulic jump, exhibiting a train of stationary waves downstream of the jump toe. Previous studies proposed a method to estimate discharge using only UHJ wave spacing and channel width combined with a wave dispersion equation for large water depths relative to the UHJ wavelength. This method is based on the hypotheses that, by their presence,...

Giant reed ( Arundo donax ) has invaded biologically diverse riparian ecosystems in warm and arid regions globally, yet its impacts on wildlife are still poorly understood. Resolving the multi-taxa, scale-explicit impacts of giant reed in the broader context of the riparian vegetation mosaics that support wildlife can help target ecological restoration efforts. We quantified effects of giant reed and other dominant riparian vegetation on bird and butterfly habitat occupancies at two spatial scales along the Rio Grande in west Texas, USA. Birds and butterflies are diverse in riparian...

Pine (Pinus spp.) forests are found in many areas with a wide range of bioclimates, providing a myriad of ecosystem services. Pine trees have been widely planted for various purposes such as commercial timber production, soil erosion control and water quality improvement of source waters, urban forestry, wildlife habitat, and bioenergy for carbon sequestration. Quantifying these benefits requires a clear understanding of the hydrological cycle in pine forests, especially the evapo-transpiration processes. This synthesis study aims at synthesizing published litera-ture documenting the water...

Urban forests have been widely recognized as a nature-based solution to address urban environmental changes like urban heat islands. Although previous studies have explored the cooling effects of urban forests, the extent of this effect and related influencing factors remain unclear and have not been comprehensively synthesized yet. To fill this research gap, we conducted a systematic literature review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) method with 20 keywords and their combinations in Web of Science to address 3 main research questions:...

Over the last half‐century, land use changes, including deforestation, urban sprawl, and open‐pit surface mining, have accelerated across the Susurluk Basin in northwestern Türkiye. This study analysed how land use changes, damming and mining activities affected basin hydrology using empirical and analytical methods and the process‐based Water Supply Stress Index Model (WaSSI). The monthly WaSSI water balance model was validated using streamflow data from gaging stations between 1980 and 2005. Two of the eight subbasins exhibited streamflow reductions of about 32%–42%, with mean annual...

Extreme precipitation events, intensified by climate change, are increasingly disrupting nutrient dynamics in large river systems worldwide. Beyond altering the magnitude of individual nutrient fluxes, extreme precipitation may fundamentally reshape nutrient composition and stoichiometric balances, with critical implications for aquatic ecosystem health. Here, we apply an integrated data-model framework to assess how these events have altered nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fluxes across the Mississippi River Basin from 1980 to 2018. We find that extreme rainfall disproportionately...

The Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center convened 92 researchers and practitioners from 37 different organizations across Washington, Oregon, and Idaho to create a community of practice around the ecological impacts of extreme heat in the region, using the record-breaking 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave to explore potential impacts and adaptation responses. Through a kick-off meeting, workgroups, and final workshop, participants synthesized the state of knowledge around the biophysical, management and practice, and policy and human dimensions of this topic and identified research...

The generality of the worldwide leaf economics spectrum (LES) has made it a pillar of trait-based ecological research. Yet, few studies have examined the processes shaping the evolution of the LES within species, in part, because most species occupy only a small portion of the LES. To address this gap, we took advantage of the distinct leaf economics strategies present in different ecotypes of the phenotypically diverse perennial grass Panicum virgatum (switchgrass) to generate a genetic mapping population, which we planted in common gardens at three sites spanning 12 degrees of latitude...

The natural background contribution from grasslands and forest lands is important to consider in research and management to address the contribution of agricultural, industrial, and urban lands to water quality degradation. To our knowledge, no study has compiled and analyzed reference water quality from small reference grasslands and forests even though land use export coefficients for background water quality are assigned at that scale in decision support tools and models, total maximum daily load projects, and comparative analysis. Thus, our major objective was to summarize nitrogen...