Climate Change

A few weeks ago I attended a workshop on Climate and Forests in Flagstaff, AZ. The field trip before the start of the workshop took us to areas of aspen decline, pinyon mortality, and other landscapes devastated by recent fires. On the second day, speakers from the forest industry gave interesting presentations about what they saw was the future of their trade: Carbon credits for growing young trees and revenue from wood sold as a renewable source of energy.

Last week scientists from Russia, Sandinavia, Canada and Alaska, as well as falconers from United Arab Emirates are getting together in Boise to discuss the probable impacts of climate change on gyrfalcons and their main prey, ptarmigans (conference web site). The conference brought together experts from around the world who will share results of their research to better understand changing population viability throughout their circumpolar distribution.  These experts discussed both challenges (interspecific competition, changes in prey phenology such as bird migration and land-mammal cycles) and opportunities (longer summers may increase prey base, allow interbreeding with other falcons; captive breeding can help replenish declining populations).Such international collaboration and sharing of resources is essential to begin developing global strategies and international policies addressing climate change issues (see new Nature article on the subject).

Often when graduate students or visiting scientists start research projects that include some modeling, they read relevant publications and talk to modelers.  Learning how a model really works, aka "looking under the hood," is usually a steep learning curve that takes time and energy from the one learning how to use the model, as well as from its developers whose research does not often stop to allow this "teaching moment".

 On behalf of the Southern Sierra Partnership, I am delighted to post our recently completed Framework for Cooperative Conservation and Climate Adaptation for the Southern Sierra Nevada and Tehachapi Mountains and associated datasets.

It has become a habit for politicians and journalists in the USA to point the finger at China when referring to greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, the Chinese government has been much more proactive than our own and is becoming a leader of climate change mitigation efforts.

 “Survival of the fittest.” Those best adapted to survive under certain circumstances will reproduce and pass their genes to offspring. What exactly does that mean for humans? The most physically strong? The most stereotypically beautiful by a given culture’s standards? The wealthiest? The smartest? The most self-promoting? Evidence of the “typical” human doesn’t support any of these ideas.

As I was sitting in the office one fine June day in 2009 watching a severe weather cell steamroll its way through the Willamette Valley, I couldn’t help but marvel at its awesome, enveloping presence and destructive potential. My officemates and I were first alerted to its impending arrival by the rapid darkening of the skies to the East and South of us.

The theme of the annual Ecological Society of America meetings this year was climate change. One talk I listened to really stands out in my mind. Tom Stohlgren (USGS Fort Collins) gave a thought provoking talk about the role of invasives  species (harmful plants, animals and diseases from other countries) in shaping the world we live in.

I'm a new subscriber to Data Basin working on climate adaptation for The Nature Conservancy's California field program. Part of my position supports a cooperative conservation planning process in the southern Sierra by forecasting potential vegetation responses to future changes in climate. My goal is to help put a face on what climate change may mean for the species and places our group cares most about.

A great deal of focus is given to CO2 emissions and their role in the greenhouse effect, however the public is less aware of other powerful greenhouse gases.  Atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O) concentrations have been rising since the Industrial Revolution due to anthropogenic activities. It is estimated that N2O accounts for 6% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Due to its atmospheric lifetime of approximately 120 years combined with its heat-trapping effects,  N2O has approximately 310 times more warming power than CO2 on a per molecule basis.