Ecosystem water balance and ecological drought patterns under historical and future climate conditions for the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) Landscape (COPY)
Dates
Publication Date
2020-10-08
Time Period
2020
Citation
Andrews, C.A., and Bradford, J.B., 2020, Ecosystem water balance and ecological drought patterns under historical and future climate conditions for the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) Landscape: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P937Z0R9.
Summary
These data were compiled for research pertaining to the effects of stand density treatments on growth rates in semi-arid, ponderosa pine forests. Also, these data examined how the planned restoration treatments in the Four Forests Restoration Initiative (4FRI), the largest forest restoration project being implemented in the United States, would alter landscape-scale patterns of forest growth and drought vulnerability throughout the 21st century. Using drought-growth relationships developed within the landscape, we considered a suite of climate and thinning scenarios and estimated both average forest growth and the proportion of years with extremely low growth as a measure of vulnerability to long-term decline. The severity of drought [...]
Summary
These data were compiled for research pertaining to the effects of stand density treatments on growth rates in semi-arid, ponderosa pine forests. Also, these data examined how the planned restoration treatments in the Four Forests Restoration Initiative (4FRI), the largest forest restoration project being implemented in the United States, would alter landscape-scale patterns of forest growth and drought vulnerability throughout the 21st century. Using drought-growth relationships developed within the landscape, we considered a suite of climate and thinning scenarios and estimated both average forest growth and the proportion of years with extremely low growth as a measure of vulnerability to long-term decline. The severity of drought and the magnitude of future growth declines experienced by these stands is influenced by the thinning treatments. These data consist of field measurements from Terrestrial Ecosystem Surveys of the Coconino and Kaibab National Forests and other sources including Downscaled CMIP3 and CMIP5 Climate and Hydrology Projections. SOILWAT2 was used to model treatment-specific interactions between forest BA, soil conditions, and climate, and to simulate soil moisture. The 4FRI landscape is located on the Coconino and Kaibab National Forests in Northern Arizona. The landscape is dominated by ponderosa pine forest types, and ranges from 1780 to 3850 m elevation with a mean of 2190 meters.
The purpose of these data are to assess the potential consequences of the planned 4FRI treatments for forest growth resilience in the context of climate change. Specifically, we quantified the impacts of planned 4FRI restoration treatments and projected 21st century climate conditions on 1) stand-level growth, represented by both basal area increment (BAI, a useful measure of potential wood product yield) and proportional growth rates, quantified as BAI divided by basal area (BA), which provides a perspective on the stand vigor), and 2) tree drought stress, represented by the proportion of years with extremely low growth rates, a recognized precursor to eventual drought-driven tree mortality. These data could be used by future researchers to assess the impact of different thinning treatment and climate scenarios on stand-level growth. Additionally, the climate and soil moisture data presented here could be looked at for any number of studies wishing to explore the impact of climate change in the region.
Rights
The author(s) of these data request that data users contact them regarding intended use and to assist with understanding limitations and interpretation. Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data for other purposes, nor on all computer systems, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty.
