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Bill Parton

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Integrating modeling and empirical approaches to improve predictions of tropical forest responses to global warming
Tropical forests contain > 50% of the world’s known species (Heywood 1995), 55% of global forest biomass (Pan et al. 2011), and exchange more carbon (C), water and energy with the atmosphere than any other ecosystem type (e.g., Saugier et al. 2001). Despite their importance, there is more uncertainty associated with predictions of how tropical forests will respond to warming than for any other biome (Randerson et al. 2009). This uncertainty is of global concern due to the large quantity of C cycled by these forests and the high potential for biodiversity loss. Given the importance of tropical forests, decision makers and land managers around the globe need increased predictive capacity regarding how tropical forests...
We used long-term observations of grassland aboveground net plant production (ANPP, 1939– 2016), growing seasonal advanced very-high-resolution radiometer remote sensing normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data (1982–2016), and simulations of actual evapotranspiration (1912–2016) to evaluate the impact of Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and El Nino~ –Southern Oscillation (ENSO) sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies on a semiarid grassland in northeastern Colorado. Because ANPP was well correlated (R2 = 0.58) to cumulative April to July actual evapotranspiration (iAET) and cumulative growing season NDVI (iNDVI) was well correlated to iAET and ANPP (R2 = 0.62 [quadratic model] and 0.59, respectively),...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
The Great Plains region plays an important role in providing water and land resources and habitat for wildlife and livestock, crops, energy production, and other critical ecosystem services to support rural livelihoods. The semiarid conditions of the region and tight coupling of livelihood enterprises with ecosystem services creates a situation of increased sensitivity to climate changes and enhanced vulnerability among the rural communities and Native American nations across the region. Recent climate conditions associated with warming trends, and altered atmospheric flows have resulted in rapid onset of drought conditions and other extreme weather events across the region that are changing seasonal patterns of...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
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System analysis of land use and climate effects on ecosystem services affecting C and N exchanges with the atmosphere and water cycles
Current land use practices have affected ecosystem structure and processes in ways that have degraded delivery of key ecosystem services controlling exchanges of carbon and nitrogen with the atmosphere and surface and groundwater systems. These impacts are observed in the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and N pollution in our nation’s water systems and coastal areas. Improvements in databases of climate, soils, and land use practices in the north central Great Plains (i.e., NCGP: Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, South Dakota, and North Dakota) provide a unique opportunity for integration and synthesis of this information on the exchanges of C and N affecting our environmental resources. In addition,...
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