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Publications

Listed here are publications, reports and articles by the Climate R&D program.

Filter Total Items: 1020

Effects of permafrost aggradation on peat properties as determined from a pan-Arctic synthesis of plant macrofossils

Permafrost dynamics play an important role in high-latitude peatland carbon balance and are key to understanding the future response of soil carbon stocks. Permafrost aggradation can control the magnitude of the carbon feedback in peatlands through effects on peat properties. We compiled peatland plant macrofossil records for the northern permafrost zone (515 cores from 280 sites) and classified s
Authors
Claire C. Treat, Miriam C. Jones, P. Camill, A. Gallego-Sala, M. Garneau, Jennifer W. Harden, G. Hugelius, E.S. Klein, Ulla Kokfelt, P. Kuhry, Julie Loisel, J.H. Mathijssen, J.A. O'Donnell, P.O. Oksanen, T.M. Ronkainen, A. B. K. Sannel, J. J. Talbot, C.M. Tarnocal, M. Valiranta

Evidence for nonuniform permafrost degradation after fire in boreal landscapes

Fire can be a significant driver of permafrost change in boreal landscapes, altering the availability of soil carbon and nutrients that have important implications for future climate and ecological succession. However, not all landscapes are equally susceptible to fire-induced change. As fire frequency is expected to increase in the high latitudes, methods to understand the vulnerability and resil
Authors
Burke J. Minsley, Neal J. Pastick, Bruce K. Wylie, Dana R.N. Brown, M. Andy Kass

Greenhouse gas fluxes from salt marshes exposed to chronic nutrient enrichment

We assessed the impact of nutrient additions on greenhouse gas fluxes using dark static chambers in a microtidal and a macrotidal marsh along the coast of New Brunswick, Canada approximately monthly over a year. Both were experimentally fertilized for six years with varying levels of N and P. For unfertilized, N and NPK treatments, average yearly CO2 emissions (which represent only respiration) at
Authors
Gail L. Chmura, Lisa Kellman, Lee van Ardenne, Glenn R. Guntenspergen

Impacts of climate change on land-use and wetland productivity in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America

Wetland productivity in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America is closely linked to climate. A warmer and drier climate, as predicted, will negatively affect the productivity of PPR wetlands and the services they provide. The effect of climate change on wetland productivity, however, will not only depend on natural processes (e.g., evapotranspiration), but also on human responses. Agric
Authors
Benjamin S. Rashford, Richard M. Adams, Jun Wu, Richard A. Voldseth, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Brett Werner, W. Carter Johnson

Comment on "Worldwide evidence of a unimodal relationship between productivity and plant species richness"

Fraser et al. (Reports, 17 July 2015, p. 302) report a unimodal relationship between productivity and species richness at regional and global scales, which they contrast with the results of Adler et al. (Reports, 23 September 2011, p. 1750). However, both data sets, when analyzed correctly, show clearly and consistently that productivity is a poor predictor of local species richness.
Authors
Andrew T. Tredennick, Peter B. Adler, James B. Grace, W Stanley Harpole, Elizabeth T. Borer, Eric W. Seabloom, T. Michael Anderson, Jonathan D. Bakker, Lori A. Biederman, Cynthia S. Brown, Yvonne M. Buckley, Cheng-Jin Chu, Scott L. Collins, Michael J. Crawley, Philip A. Fay, Jennifer Firn, Daniel S. Gruner, Nicole Hagenah, Yann Hautier, Andy Hector, Helmut Hillebrand, Kevin P. Kirkman, Johannes M. H. Knops, Ramesh Laungani, Eric M. Lind, Andrew S. MacDougall, Rebecca L. McCulley, Charles E. Mitchell, Joslin L. Moore, John W. Morgan, John L. Orrock, Pablo L. Peri, Suzanne M. Prober, Anita C. Risch, Martin Schuetz, Karina L. Speziale, Rachel J. Standish, Lauren L. Sullivan, Glenda M. Wardle, Ryan J. Williams, Louie H. Yang

Soil moisture and biogeochemical factors influence the distribution of annual Bromus species

Abiotic factors have a strong influence on where annual Bromus species are found. At the large regional scale, temperature and precipitation extremes determine the boundaries of Bromus occurrence. At the more local scale, soil characteristics and climate influence distribution, cover, and performance. In hot, dry, summer-rainfall-dominated deserts (Sonoran, Chihuahuan), little or no Bromus is foun
Authors
Jayne Belnap, John Thomas Stark, Benjamin Rau, Edith B. Allen, Susan L. Phillips

Lake oxygen isotopes as recorders of North American Rocky Mountain hydroclimate: Holocene patterns and variability at multi-decadal to millennial time scales

Lake sediment oxygen isotope records (calcium carbonate-δ18O) in the western North American Cordillera developed during the past decade provide substantial evidence of Pacific ocean–atmosphere forcing of hydroclimatic variability during the Holocene. Here we present an overview of 18 lake sediment δ18O records along with a new compilation of lake water δ18O and δ2H that are used to characterize la
Authors
Lesleigh Anderson, Max Berkelhammer, John A. Barron, Byron A. Steinman, Bruce P. Finney, Mark B. Abbott

Cannibalistic-morph Tiger Salamanders in unexpected ecological contexts

Barred tiger salamanders [Ambystoma mavortium (Baird, 1850)] exhibit two trophic morphologies; a typical and a cannibalistic morph. Cannibalistic morphs, distinguished by enlarged vomerine teeth, wide heads, slender bodies, and cannibalistic tendencies, are often found where conspecifics occur at high density. During 2012 and 2013, 162 North Dakota wetlands and lakes were sampled for salamanders.
Authors
Kyle I. McLean, Craig A. Stockwell, David M. Mushet

Differential response of carbon fluxes to climate in three peatland ecosystems that vary in the presence and stability of permafrost

Changes in vegetation and soil properties following permafrost degradation and thermokarst development in peatlands may cause changes in net carbon storage. To better understand these dynamics, we established three sites in Alaska that vary in permafrost regime, including a black spruce peat plateau forest with stable permafrost, an internal collapse scar bog formed as a result of thermokarst, and
Authors
Eugenie S. Euskirchen, C.W. Edgar, M.R. Turetsky, Mark P. Waldrop, Jennifer W. Harden

Soil mercury distribution in adjacent coniferous and deciduous stands highly impacted by acid rain in the Ore Mountains, Czech Republic

Forests play a primary role in the cycling and storage of mercury (Hg) in terrestrial ecosystems. This study aimed to assess differences in Hg cycling and storage resulting from different vegetation at two adjacent forest stands - beech and spruce. The study site Načetín in the Czech Republic's Black Triangle received high atmospheric loadings of Hg from coal combustion in the second half of the 2
Authors
Tomáš Navrátil, James B. Shanley, Jan Rohovec, Filip Oulehle, Martin Šimeček, Jakub Houška, Pavel Cudlín

The Bear River's history and diversion: Constraints, unsolved problems, and implications for the Lake Bonneville record: Chapter 2

The shifting course of the Bear River has influenced the hydrologic balance of the Bonneville basin through time, including the magnitude of Lake Bonneville. This was first recognized by G.K. Gilbert and addressed in the early work of Robert Bright, who focused on the southeastern Idaho region of Gem Valley and Oneida Narrows. In this chapter, we summarize and evaluate existing knowledge from this
Authors
Joel L. Pederson, Susanne U. Janecke, Marith C. Reheis, Darrell S. Kaufmann, Robert Q. Oaks

Data, age uncertainties and ocean δ18O under the spotlight for Ocean2k Phase 2

The oceans make up 71% of the Earth’s surface area and are a major component of the global climate system. They are the world’s primary heat reservoir, and knowledge of the global ocean response to past and present radiative forcing is important for understanding climate change. PAGES’ Ocean2k working group aims to place marine climate of the past century within the context of the previous 2000 ye
Authors
Helen V. McGregor, Belen Martrat, Michael N. Evans, Diane Thompson, D. Reynolds, Jason A. Addison