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Conference Report: Climate Change And Sustainable Investment In Natural Resources: From Consensus To Action, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Sabin Center For Climate Change Law

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment has produced this conference report on CCSI’s Conference on Climate Change and Sustainable Investment in Natural Resources: From Consensus to Action. A shorter outcome document, which was disseminated at COP22, is also available. These documents summarize the discussions at the eleventh annual Columbia International Investment Conference, which took place on November 2-3, 2016, at Columbia University. The Conference offered a high-level opportunity to discuss how countries can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement, while also advancing the Sustainable Development Goals, and in particular the important implications for the …

Multiplex Social Ecological Network Analysis Reveals How Social Changes Affect Community Robustness More Than Resource Depletion, Jacopo A. Baggio, Shauna B. Burnsilver, Alex Arenas, James S. Magdanz, Gary P. Kofinas, Manlio De Domenico

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Network analysis provides a powerful tool to analyze complex influences of social and ecological structures on community and household dynamics. Most network studies of social–ecological systems use simple, undirected, unweighted networks. We analyze multiplex, directed, and weighted networks of subsistence food flows collected in three small indigenous communities in Arctic Alaska potentially facing substantial economic and ecological changes. Our analysis of plausible future scenarios suggests that changes to social relations and key households have greater effects on community robustness than changes to specific wild food resources.

From Resistance To Receptiveness: Farmer Willingness To Participate In Extension Discussions About Climate Variability And Climate Change, David C. Diehl, Elder P. Garcia, Nicole L. Sloan, Daniel R. Dourte, Sebastian Galindo-Gonzalez, Clyde W. Fraisse

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

Identifying what Extension professionals believe are the critical elements of a communication strategy that is most likely to encourage agricultural producers to participate in discussions of climate variability and climate change is pivotal to providing timely solutions to issues facing farmers. The current study involved interviews with 50 Extension professionals from four southeastern states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina) who were engaged in ongoing work related to climate and agriculture. Respondents were asked to assess how best to engage farmers in conversations related to climate variability and climate change. Qualitative analysis showed that Extension professionals recommended avoiding content related …

Emerging Climate-Driven Disturbance Processes: Widespread Mortality Associated With Snow-To-Rain Transitions Across 10° Of Latitude And Half The Range Of A Climate-Threatened Conifer, Buma, Paul E. Hennon, Constance A. Harrington, Jamie R. Popkin, John Krapek, Melinda S. Lamb, Lauren E. Oakes, Sari Saunders, Stefan Zeglen

Faculty, Staff, and Students

Climate change is causing rapid changes to forest disturbance regimes worldwide. While the consequences of climate change for existing disturbance processes, like fires, are relatively well studied, emerging drivers of disturbance such as snow loss and subsequent mortality are much less documented. As the climate warms, a transition from winter snow to rain in high latitudes will cause significant changes in environmental conditions such as soil temperatures, historically buffered by snow cover. The Pacific coast of North America is an excellent test case, as mean winter temperatures are currently at the snow–rain threshold and have been warming for approximately 100 …

Winter Warming Effects On Overwinter Survival, Energy Use, And Spring Emergence Of Cerotoma Trifurcata (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Emily A. Berzitis, Heather A. Hager, Brent J Sinclair, Rebecca H. Hallett, Jonathan A. Newman

Biology Publications

1. Bean leaf beetle Cerotoma trifurcata (Förster) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) is a pest of soybean in the U.S.A. and is becoming a concern in Canada. The projected increase in winter temperatures under climate change could affect overwinter survival, timing of spring emergence and, ultimately, the severity of this pest.
2. We assessed the potential effects of warmer winters in field experiments performed in three consecutive years. Three warming levels were applied: (i) heated approximately 4 °C above ambient; (ii) unheated with snow cover left intact; and (iii) unheated with snow cover removed. Survival and date of emergence were assessed in all years, and …

Aggies In The Arctic: Usu Environmental Engineers Decode Icy Watersheds | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Published in Creating Tomorrow – Oct. 15, 2016 – When it comes right down to it, scientists and environmental engineers will tell you that nearly every ecosystem on Earth is driven by one simple thing: temperature.

Oceans, rivers, forests and deserts are a product of the chemical and biological processes that depend on a predictable mix of hot and cold. Even in the Arctic, where shallow soils are frozen most of the year, tiny variations in temperature can impact entire regions.

The Sun Star Vol 36 No 7 ( October 11th, 2016), N/A N/A

Sun Star

No abstract provided.

Climate Change And The Delta, San Francisco Estuary And Watershed Science, Michael D. Dettinger, Jamie Anderson, Michael L. Anderson, Larry R. Brown, Daniel R. Cayan, Edwin P. Maurer

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering

Anthropogenic climate change amounts to a rapidly approaching, “new” stressor in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta system. In response to California’s extreme natural hydroclimatic variability, complex water-management systems have been developed, even as the Delta’s natural ecosystems have been largely devastated. Climate change is projected to challenge these management and ecological systems in different ways that are characterized by different levels of uncertainty. For example, there is high certainty that climate will warm by about 2°C more (than late-20th-century averages) by mid-century and about 4°C by end of century, if greenhouse-gas emissions continue their current rates of acceleration. Future precipitation changes …

Forecasting Climate Change Impacts On Plant Populations Over Large Spatial Extents, Andrew T. Tredennick, Melvin Hooten, Cameron L. Aldridge, Collin G. Homer, Andrew R. Kleinhesselink, Peter B. Adler

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Plant population models are powerful tools for predicting climate change impacts in one location, but are difficult to apply at landscape scales. We overcome this limitation by taking advantage of two recent advances: remotely sensed, species-specific estimates of plant cover and statistical models developed for spatiotemporal dynamics of animal populations. Using computationally efficient model reparameterizations, we fit a spatiotemporal population model to a 28-year time series of sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) percent cover over a 2.5 × 5 km landscape in southwestern Wyoming while formally accounting for spatial autocorrelation. We include interannual variation in precipitation and temperature as covariates in the …

The Impact Of A Large-Scale Climate Event On Antarctic Ecosystem Processes, Andrew G. Fountain, Grace Saba, Byron Adams, Peter Doran, William Fraser, Michael Gooseff, Maciej Obryk, John C. Priscu, Sharon Stammerjohn, Ross A. Virginia

Faculty Publications

© 2016 The Author(s) 2016. Extreme climate and weather events, such as a drought, hurricanes, or ice storms, can strongly imprint ecosystem processing and may alter ecosystem structure. Ecosystems in extreme environments are particularly vulnerable because of their adaptation to severe limitations in energy, water, or nutrients. The vulnerability can be expressed as a relatively long-lasting ecosystem response to a small or brief change in environmental conditions. Such an event occurred in Antarctica and affected two vastly different ecosystems: a marine-dominated coastal system and a terrestrial polar desert. Both sites experienced winds that warmed air temperatures above the 0°C threshold, …

Adaptation To Climate Change: Trade-Offs Among Responses To Multiple Stressors In An Intertidal Crustacean, Morgan W. Kelly, Melissa B. Debiasse, Vidal A. Villela, Hope L. Roberts, Colleen F. Cecola

Faculty Publications

© 2016 The Authors. Evolutionary Applications published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Trade-offs may influence both physiological and evolutionary responses to co-occurring stressors, but their effects on both plastic and adaptive responses to climate change are poorly understood. To test for genetic and physiological trade-offs incurred in tolerating multiple stressors, we hybridized two populations of the intertidal copepod Tigriopus californicus that were divergent for both heat and salinity tolerance. Starting in the F2 generation, we selected for increased tolerance of heat, low salinity, and high salinity in replicate lines. After five generations of selection, heat-selected lines had greater heat …

Variable Effects Of Snow Conditions Across Boreal Mesocarnivore Species, C. B. Pozzanghera, K. J. Sivy, M. S. Lindberg, L. R. Prugh

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mesocarnivores are increasingly recognized as key drivers of community dynamics, but the effects of bottom-up and abiotic factors on mesocarnivore populations remain poorly understood. We evaluated the effects of snow conditions, prey abundance, and habitat type on the distribution of five sympatric mesocarnivore species in interior Alaska using repeated snow track surveys and occupancy modelling. Snow depth and snow compaction were the best predictors of mesocarnivore occupancy, with differential effects across species. Coyotes (Canis latrans (Say, 1823)) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes L., 1758) occurred in areas of shallow, compact snow, Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis (Kerr, 1792)) …

Predictions Of Ponderosa Pine Resiliency To Climate Change In The Cebolla Canyon Watershed, New Mexico, Breana N. Chavez

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

This project was designed to understand the potential impacts of climate change on soil moisture and the resiliency of ponderosa pine in the forested region of the Cebolla Canyon watershed (Cebolla), located in eastern New Mexico. Much of the watershed is administered as public domain land by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). This project aims to help BLM managers understand how climate change is projected to impact ponderosa pine seedling establishment and mature ponderosa pine productivity in Cebolla.

Current and potential future soil moisture regimes in Cebolla were simulated on three hills using HYDRUS-1D. The soil moisture regimes …

Coarse Root Biomass And Architecture: Applications Of Ground Penetrating Radar, John Claude Bain

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The effectiveness of ground penetrating radar (GPR) to identify and quantify coarse roots was tested in a mixed-oak forest in Southeastern Virginia using experimental pits and locally excavated root segments. GPR was found to be highly dependent on low soil moisture levels as it is unable to differentiate root structures if they possess similar moisture content as their surrounding soil. Likewise, GPR was unable to identify simulated dead roots. This does not alter the effectiveness of GPR to measure living coarse root biomass, but does present the potential for underestimation of carbon storage in coarse root structures, as a dead …

Water Management Decision Making In The Face Of Multiple Forms Of Uncertainty And Risk, Morey Burnham, Zhao Ma, Joanna Endter-Wada, Tim Bardsley

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

In the Wasatch Range Metropolitan Area of Northern Utah, water management decision makers confront multiple forms of uncertainty and risk. Adapting to these uncertainties and risks is critical for maintaining the long‐term sustainability of the region's water supply. This study draws on interview data to assess the major challenges climatic and social changes pose to Utah's water future, as well as potential solutions. The study identifies the water management adaptation decision‐making space shaped by the interacting institutional, social, economic, political, and biophysical processes that enable and constrain sustainable water management. The study finds water managers and other water actors see …

Climate-Induced Habitat Fragmentation Affects Metapopulation Structure Of Arctic Grayling In Tundra Streams, Heidi E. Golden

Doctoral Dissertations

Climate change is altering ecosystems across the globe, with ecological and evolutionary consequences affecting species persistence and biodiversity. I investigated the effects of changing hydrology on Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) metapopulation structure, microgeographic differentiation, movement patterns and vital rates using neutral genetic microsatellite markers, remote sensing of PIT-tagged individuals, body condition and ovarian histology. Arctic grayling within the study area on Alaska’s North Slope comprised five distinct genetic clusters. River distance and dry zones were significant factors explaining genetic differentiation among locations. Migration was low and asymmetrical among genetic clusters, but higher from headwater populations to the large …

Century-Long Increasing Trend And Variability Of Dissolved Organic Carbon Export From The Mississippi River Basin Driven By Natural And Anthropogenic Forcing, Wei Ren, Hanqin Tian, Wei-Jun Cai, Steven E. Lohrenz, Charles S. Hopkinson, Wei-Jen Huang, Jia Yang, Bo Tao, Shufen Pan, Ruoying He

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

There has been considerable debate as to how natural forcing and anthropogenic activities alter the timing and magnitude of the delivery of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to the coastal ocean, which has ramifications for the ocean carbon budget, land-ocean interactions, and coastal life. Here we present an analysis of DOC export from the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico during 1901–2010 as influenced by changes in climate, land use and management practices, atmospheric CO₂, and nitrogen deposition, through the integration of observational data with a coupled hydrologic/biogeochemical land model. Model simulations show that DOC export in the …

Using Photovoice To Understand Climate Change Adaptation In Rural Ontario, Kylie Hissa

Geography and Environmental Studies Major Research Papers

The examination of community adaptation and resilience approaches to address the threats of climate change in rural Ontario is becoming increasingly important in emergency management and preparedness. Community engagement becomes critical in this regard, as local experiences partly influence perceptions of climate change risks within municipalities. Photovoice is a community-based participatory research methodology that empowers participants to document their perceptions and understandings of a particular issue through the use of visual images. This technique was undertaken to understand the impacts of the F3 tornado that hit the community of Goderich, Ontario in 2011 and capture their member’s perceptions on disaster …

Icelandic Fisheries: Scenario Planning For Climate Change, Tara Sorrels

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This study aimed to develop an understanding of how a scenario planning process could be used to assist businesses to adapt to climate change. The focus of this study was on the Icelandic fishing industry since Iceland is experiencing firsthand climate change impacts. Mitigation strategies are the main focus in climate change research, but this study focused on a possible adaptation method that requires changing management practices in order to reduce the impact of climate change on the economy. Tours of Icelandic fisheries and interviews with individuals within the Icelandic fishing industry were conducted to assess the current adaptive capacity …

Methane Emissions From Global Rice Fields: Magnitude, Spatiotemporal Patterns, And Environmental Controls, Bowen Zhang, Hanqin Tian, Wei Ren, Bo Tao, Chaoqun Lu, Jia Yang, Kamaljit Banger, Shufen Pan

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Given the importance of the potential positive feedback between methane (CH₄) emissions and climate change, it is critical to accurately estimate the magnitude and spatiotemporal patterns of CH₄ emissions from global rice fields and better understand the underlying determinants governing the emissions. Here we used a coupled biogeochemical model in combination with satellite-derived contemporary inundation area to quantify the magnitude and spatiotemporal variation of CH₄ emissions from global rice fields and attribute the environmental controls of CH₄ emissions during 1901–2010. Our study estimated that CH₄ emissions from global rice fields varied from 18.3 ± …

Rapid Museum, Gary Barwin

The Goose

Poetry by Gary Barwin

The International Whaling Commission—Beyond Whaling, Andrew J. Wright, Mark P. Simmonds, Barbara Galletti Vernazzani

Environment and Nature Conservation Collection

Since its establishment in 1946 as the international body intended to manage whaling, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has expanded its areas of interest to ensure the wider conservation of whales. Several key conservation topics have been taken forward under its auspices including climate change, chemical and noise pollution, marine debris and whale watching. Work on each of these topics at the IWC has grown substantially since the 1990s and remains ongoing. Important developments were the establishment of the Standing Working Group on Environmental Concerns in 1996 and the IWC’s Conservation Committee in 2003. Trying to address this diverse set …

The International Whaling Commission—Beyond Whaling, Andrew J. Wright, Mark P. Simmonds, Barbara Galletti Vernazzani

Wildlife Population Management Collection

Since its establishment in 1946 as the international body intended to manage whaling, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has expanded its areas of interest to ensure the wider conservation of whales. Several key conservation topics have been taken forward under its auspices including climate change, chemical and noise pollution, marine debris and whale watching. Work on each of these topics at the IWC has grown substantially since the 1990s and remains ongoing. Important developments were the establishment of the Standing Working Group on Environmental Concerns in 1996 and the IWC’s Conservation Committee in 2003. Trying to address this diverse set …

Adaptive Water Governance: Integrating The Human Dimensions Into Water Resource Governance, Kofi Akamani

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

The command-and-control paradigm of water resource management that dominated 20th century water policy has resulted in vulnerabilities due to its inadequate consideration of the human dimensions as well as its failure to prioritize the need for learning and adapting to change and uncertainties. In response to these shortfalls, recent years have seen the emergence of alternative water policy frameworks, notably integrated water resource management (IWRM) and adaptive management. However, while IWRM broadens the planning goals and scope of water resource governance through integration and coordination across scales and sectors, it does not adequately emphasize learning to deal with uncertainty. On …

Building Watershed Management Capacity In Nigeria: Expanding The Role Of Agriculture Colleges, John W. Groninger

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

Developing countries face many critical social, agricultural, and natural resource-related issues where watershed management plays a prominent role. Short-term gains in productivity often occur at the expense of long term system resiliency needed to achieve sustainability. Post-secondary (tertiary) education institutions are underfunded and hampered by bureaucratic inertia limiting their relevance toward addressing emerging water resources concerns. As populations urbanize, rural constituencies continue to lose influence. Using the case of Samaru College of Agriculture, part of Ahmadu Bello University in north-central Nigeria, this paper identifies institutional challenges and suggests solutions to help similar institutions better address watershed management issues. Given current …

Climate Change, Agriculture And Water Resources In The Southwestern United States, Emile Elias, Al Rango, Ryann Smith, Connie Maxwell, Caiti Steele, Kris Havstad

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

In February 2014 the USDA established regional climate hubs across the United States to assist farmers, ranchers and foresters in adapting to the effects of climate change. The Southwest (SW) region encompasses six states which provide highly diverse agricultural crops including cotton, stone fruit and grapes. Here we report on the hydrologic context within which SW working landowners operate, with focus on regional water resources and likely impacts of climate change. Water is a critical component of agricultural vulnerability in the SW, where high agricultural production can occur with sufficient irrigation. Since 1978, crop yield declines were reported on 11-21% …

Climate Change And Bioenergy Crop Production Impacts On Watershed Sustainability, Cibin Raj, Indrajeet Chaubey, Sylvie M. Brouder, Laura Bowling, Keith A. Cherkauer, Jane Frankenberger, Reuben R. Goforth, Benjamin Gramig, Jeffrey J. Volenec

AgroEnviron 2016: 10th International Symposium on Agriculture and the Environment - May 23-27, 2016

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Climate Change On Wepp Runoff And Soil Loss Predictions In Iowa, Nayereh Ghazanfarpour

AgroEnviron 2016: 10th International Symposium on Agriculture and the Environment - May 23-27, 2016

No abstract provided.

Agro-Climatic Change, Crop Production And Mitigation Strategies-Case Studies In Arkansas, Usa And Kenya, John Westley Magugu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although climate change impacts vary geographically and temporally, studies at local levels are not readily available for stakeholders to better understand how their local communities would be affected and what remedial measures could be more effective in their local contexts. This dissertation has examined climate change and its impacts in two different local contexts: eastern Arkansas in the USA and Nyando in Kenya. The first part of this dissertation develops agro-meteorological indicators and examines the relationship between agro-meteorological indicators and crop yields in eastern Arkansas between 1960 and 2014. Results reveal that temperature based indicators were more strongly correlated to …

Evolutionary Potential Of A Dispersal-Restricted Species In Response To Climate Change, Lorena Torres Martinez

Open Access Dissertations

Habitat replacement and fragmentation associated with projected climate change pose a critical threat to global biodiversity. Edaphically limited plant species with restricted dispersal abilities will be especially handicapped to track their optimal climate spatially. Instead, the persistence of these species will depend on their capacity to adapt in situ to novel climate regimes. Here I evaluated the evolutionary potential of Lasthenia fremontii, an annual plant species restricted to ephemeral wetlands called vernal pools in California to adapt to the projected patterns of climate change. Across L. fremontii distribution there is a latitudinal gradient in precipitation which, combined with reduced …