Digital Commons Network^™

Options For Adaption To Climate Change, Richard L. Ottinger, Pianpian Wang, Kristin M. Motel

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In order to tackle climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC”) provided a portfolio of measures: mitigation, adaptation and constant research. Although Article 10 of the Kyoto Protocol underlined the importance of adaptation, adaptation to climate change had been obtained limited attention in the early negotiations of climate talks. In 2010, Cancun Session of Conference of Parties (“COP”) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (“UNFCCC”) highlighted the equal importance of adaptation just as mitigation. Since then, increasing attention has been drawn to adaptation practice by the international society. Typically, adaptation can be broken down into …

Establishment Of Larrea Tridentata At The Northern Edge Of The Modern Mojave Desert: Insights From Neotoma Paleomiddens, Clare E. Steinberg

Biology ETDs

Shifting climates affect the composition of biological communities. If environmental conditions change sufficiently, new species can invade, leading to large-scale community turnover. Understanding how and why such shifts occur is crucial in this era of anthropogenic global change. Paleontological studies provide a valuable long-term perspective of the dynamics of community turnover. Here, we examine changes in the plant community over the past 34 thousand years in what is now the northern Mojave Desert. This time period includes the last glacial maximum as well as numerous smaller climatic fluctuations in the Holocene and the end of the Pleistocene. We quantified plant …

Whole-System Agricultural Certification: Using Lessons Learned From Leed To Build A Resilient Agricultural System To Adapt To Climate Change, Mary Jane Angelo, Joanna Reilly-Brown

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article proposes a novel approach to addressing global climate change's impacts on agricultural production and food security. The climate change crisis is the most significant environmental issue facing our planet. The changes predicted to occur as the earth's climate warms include significant impacts to agriculture. At the same time that the planet is undergoing dramatic climatic changes, the global population is increasing, and economic development in many parts of the world is exerting increased demand for a greater and more diverse supply of food.

The relationship between climate change and agriculture is a close and complex one, as the …

Can Fire Atlas Data Improve Species Distribution Model Projections?, Shawn M. Crimmins, Solomon Z. Dobrowski, Alison R. Mynsberge, Hugh D. Safford

Forest Management Faculty Publications

Correlative species distribution models (SDMs) are widely used in studies of climate change impacts, yet are often criticized for failing to incorporate disturbance processes that can influence species distributions. Here we use two temporally independent data sets of vascular plant distributions, climate data, and fire atlas data to examine the influence of disturbance history on SDM projection accuracy through time in the mountain ranges of California, USA. We used hierarchical partitioning to examine the influence of fire occurrence on the distribution of 144 vascular plant species and built a suite of SDMs to examine how the inclusion of fire-related predictors …

Ecological Biogeography Of The Terrestrial Nematodes Of Victoria Land, Antarctica, Byron Adams, Diana Wall, Ross Virginia, Emma Broos, Matthew A. Knox

Dartmouth Scholarship

The terrestrial ecosystems of Victoria Land, Antarctica are characteristically simple in terms of biological diversity and ecological functioning. Nematodes are the most commonly encountered and abundant metazoans of Victoria Land soils, yet little is known of their diversity and distribution. Herein we present a summary of the geographic distribution, habitats and ecology of the terrestrial nematodes of Victoria Land from published and unpublished sources. All Victoria Land nematodes are endemic to Antarctica, and many are common and widely distributed at landscape scales. However, at smaller spatial scales, populations can have patchy distributions, with the presence or absence of each species …

Quantifying The Effects Of Vegetation On The Carbon Storage Of Northern Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands, Nia Hurst

DePaul Discoveries

Given the rising concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the Earth’s atmosphere, it is important to assess the natural reservoirs in which carbon can be stored. Great Lakes coastal wetlands are a potentially significant pool of carbon that have yet to be thoroughly investigated. Our study measured soil C (carbon) and depth of organic matter in swamp, transitional, and wet meadow vegetation zones of three wetlands located in the Eastern half of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, in the Les Chenaux Islands. It was hypothesized that soil C would decrease moving lakeward (swamp>transitional>wet meadow); however, this hypothesis was …

Forestry Professionals And Extension Educators Vs. Climate Change: Implications For Cooperative Extension Programming, Christopher Jones, Melanie Lenart

Journal of Extension

Extension educators seeking to integrate climate science into programming must respect different perceptions on climate change. We surveyed forestland managers and owners, researchers, and Extension educators nationally to compare perceptions about climate change adaptation and mitigation management in forests (n=576). Despite differences in perception that climate change is anthropogenic, we found the professional groups were often statistically similar in supporting or rejecting specific actions and receptive to learning more about a variety of forest adaptation and mitigation practices. Our findings support a role for Extension in addressing climate change and indicate areas of common ground that can minimize contention.

Maple Syrup Value Systems And Value Chains - Considering Aboriginal And Non-Aboriginal Perspectives, Brenda Murphy, Annette Chrétien, Grant Morin

Contemporary Studies

Harvested from both intensive sugar maple stands and diverse mixed forest ecosystems across Ontario, maple syrup is an important rural and Aboriginal non-timber forest product that contributes to social, economic and environmental sustainability. This paper presents our ongoing work to map Ontario’s maple syrup value system from two different perspectives, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. In the economic sense, analyses of value systems are useful for members to identify the opportunities and challenges they are facing to advance industry growth and innovation. In the social and environmental sense, these analyses provide a window into how different worldviews and belief systems can lead …

Developing An Ontario Maple Syrup Sector Profile: A Value Chain Analysis, Grant Morin

Geography and Environmental Studies Major Research Papers

Through a sectorial profile, this study identifies the maple syrup value chain’s key players, processes, activities and inter-intra industry relationships (social capital) providing baseline data on the current status of the industry and an overall picture of the maple syrup value chain for members and new entrants. The study found that a) technological advancements over the years have lead to great efficiencies and eased the labour requirement; b) that strong social connections have great impact on marketing and retail of syrup; c) that innovation is found not only through research and development sectors of large companies but also from a …

Carbon Sequestration In Tidal Salt Marshes And Mangrove Ecosystems, Carlos Eduardo Quintana-Alcantara

Master's Projects and Capstones

Wetlands are dynamic systems that provide support to vital environmental functions and services. Wetlands take part in the global carbon cycle by holding organic carbon in biomass, soils and sediments. In recent years, the wetland carbon sequestration capacity has been researched worldwide due to the increase of the concentrations of greenhouse gasses implicated in global warming and climate change. Although coastal wetlands release the greenhouse gasses carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, these ecosystems maintain high performance in offsetting significant amounts of atmospheric carbon. This paper investigated the carbon sequestration capacity of coastal wetland ecosystems summarizing the environmental conditions and …

Assessment Of Climate Variability Impact On Water Resources Within The Alabama River Basin, Adalumo Oluwatomiwa

College of Agriculture, Environment and Nutrition Sciences Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Assessment of Climate Variability Impacts on Water Resources within the Alabama River Basin By Adalumo Oluwatomiwa Olubamidele Global climate change and variability alters hydrologic cycles and regimes within watersheds, adversely impacting ecosystems, water resources, agriculture and environmental sustainability. Understanding and predicting the interactions between the water systems, climate change and land use are priority science need and challenge areas. Such assessment through the integration of various climate and hydrologic models will allow for the development of appropriate climate change impact adaptation solutions. This study aims at assessing historical climate variability impacts on water resources within the Alabama River Basin. …

Effects Of Climate Change On The Potential Distribution Of 12 Endemic Lizards Of The Genus Plestiodon Of Mexico, Mayra Oyervides

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Anthropogenic global climate change is a large scale threat to biodiversity. Species distribution models (SDMs) were created to assess the possible effects of climate change on the distribution of 12 Plestiodon lizards of Mexico. Species presence data was obtained from online databases, literature, and field data. Occurrences were correlated with 19 climatic variables from www.worldclim.org to model species' current suitable habitat. These models were then projected to future (2050) conditions for which bioclimatic information was downloaded from the CCAFS website. Forecasts were made using 4 General Circulatory Models, 2 IPCC scenarios, and the software MaxEnt. Models were replicated 10 times …

Abiotic Drivers Of Chihuahuan Desert Plant Communities, Laura Marie Ladwig

Biology ETDs

Within grasslands, precipitation, fire, nitrogen (N) addition, and extreme temperatures influence community composition and ecosystem function. The differential influences of these abiotic factors on Chihuahuan Desert grassland communities was examined within the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, located in central New Mexico, U.S.A. Although fire is a natural disturbance in many grasslands, fire during drought temporarily increased forb cover and decreased grass cover for several years. The seasonal timing of fire was not important, rather community recovery was more influenced by the persistent drought conditions. N deposition is increasing worldwide due to human activities, and although additional N increases productivity and …

Adapting To A Changing Climate: Local Drivers For Policy Response, Andrew J. Bilich

Honors Scholar Theses

Responding to the present and looming effects of global climate change presents a challenging task for policymakers at all levels of governance. The outcomes of climate change do present serious adaptation problems for global policy makers, but the implications of climate change are more immediately experienced by local communities and policy makers. Historical policymaking models suggest that economic well-being is an influential driver in local policy adoption. This particular analysis explores the relationship between economic variables and the development of climate adaptation policies by Connecticut municipalities. To test the degree of interaction present, adaptation policy data in the form of …

Inferring Herpetofaunal Distributions And Habitat Preferences For Conservation Planning, Lisa M. Prowant

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Global climate change is a serious threat to global biodiversity (IPCC, 2001). Due to their limited dispersal ability, reptiles and amphibians might be more vulnerable to rapid climate change than are other taxonomic groups (Gibbons et al., 2000). Herpetofauna in south-central Kansas was sampled from May through August in 2012 and 2013. Seven study sites spanning Meade, Clark, Comanche, and Barber counties were sampled. Drift fence and cover-board traps were arranged in transects at each site to capture reptiles and amphibians. Species were also sampled through surveys on all-terrain vehicles and on foot. Two thousand nine hundred and forty five …

Range Collapse, Genetic Differentiation, And Climate Change: An Ecological History Of The Diana Fritillary, Speyeria Diana And Projections For Its Future, Carrie Wells

All Dissertations

The geographic ranges of most plant and animal species are tied closely to climatic factors, including temperature, precipitation, and soil moisture. For this reason, recent changes in the global climate due to human activities are predicted to have profound effects on natural populations, communities and ecosystems over a relatively short period of time. Combined effects from global warming and other anthropogenic activities such as land-use changes, pollution, and habitat loss/fragmentation, are altering species' distributions faster than they can be documented. Recent climate change has also been shown to alter species' breeding behaviors and alter the synchrony and timing of species' …

Prediction Of Climate Change Effects On Streamflow Regime Important To Stream Ecology, Sulochan Dhungel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Streamflow is expected to change with climate change, but a general understanding of how climate change will affect the characteristics of streamflow important to stream ecosystems is lacking. This thesis focused on specific characteristics of streamflow, or the streamflow regime, that are important to stream ecosystems. The need to evaluate the potential impacts of climate change on stream ecosystems makes it important to study how streamflow regime may change. This work has identified 16 characteristics of daily streamflow time series that quantify the patterns and span the aspects of streamflow regimes important for stream ecosystems. Principal component analysis objectively identified …

Population Response To Climate Change: Wintering Strategy Has Carryover Effects On The Timing Of Nest Initiation And Mate Choice In A Partial Migrant, The American Kestrel (Falco Sparverius), Alexandra Marie Anderson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The ability of a population to respond to climate change will depend on phenotypic plasticity, adaptation, or both. Bird populations have already responded to warming temperatures by shifting their distributions, adjusting migration distance and timing, and breeding earlier. A population of American kestrels (Falco sparverius) in southwestern Idaho has advanced its nesting by approximately 30 days, on average, in the last 30 years and this has been correlated with changes in winter climate. The mechanisms allowing for this shift, however, are not clearly understood. I investigated if assortative mating of wintering kestrels and non-wintering kestrels is accompanying to …

Biotic And Abiotic Influences On Algal Symbiont (Symbiodinium Spp.) Community Dynamics In Reef Corals Recovering From Disturbance, Paul R. Jones

Open Access Dissertations

Reef corals are mutualisms between invertebrate animals and diverse dinoflagellate algae (Symbiodinium spp.). Originally thought to be specific relationships between particular corals and Symbiodinium types, it is now accepted that many coral species can host different types of symbionts, often simultaneously. This adds complexity to the study of coral-algal symbiosis, because subtle changes in the symbiont community may result in a coral host with increased thermal tolerance or resilience. To determine how Symbiodinium community dynamics are affected by environmental stressors (abiotic factors) and exogenous sources of algal-symbionts (biotic factors), this project utilized a highly sensitive real-time PCR assay to quantify …

Implications Of Climate Change On The Distribution Of The Tick Vector Ixodes Scapularis And Risk For Lyme Disease In The Texas-Mexico Transboundary Region, Teresa Patricia Feria-Arroyo, Ivan Castro-Arellano, Guadalupe Gordillo Pérez, Ana L. Cavazos, Margarita Vargas-Sandoval, Abha Grover, Javier Torres, Raul F. Medina, Adalberto A. Pérez De León, Maria Dolores Esteve-Gassent

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Background: Disease risk maps are important tools that help ascertain the likelihood of exposure to specific infectious agents. Understanding how climate change may affect the suitability of habitats for ticks will improve the accuracy of risk maps of tick-borne pathogen transmission in humans and domestic animal populations. Lyme disease (LD) is the most prevalent arthropod borne disease in the US and Europe. The bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi causes LD and it is transmitted to humans and other mammalian hosts through the bite of infected Ixodes ticks. LD risk maps in the transboundary region between the U.S. and Mexico are lacking. Moreover, …

Changing Forest Water Yields In Response To Climate Warming: Results From Long-Term Experimental Watershed Sites Across North America, Irena F. Creed, Adam T. Spargo, Julia A. Jones, Jim M. Buttle, Mary B. Adams, Fred D. Beall, Eric G. Booth, John L. Campbell, Dave Clow, Kelly Elder, Mark B. Green, Nancy B. Grimm, Chelcy Miniat, Patricia Ramlal, Amartya Saha, Stephen Sebestyen, Dave Spittlehouse, Shannon Sterling, Mark W. Williams, Rita Winkler, Huaxia Yao

New Hampshire EPSCoR

Climate warming is projected to affect forest water yields but the effects are expected to vary. We investigated how forest type and age affect water yield resilience to climate warming. To answer this question, we examined the variability in historical water yields at long-term experimental catchments across Canada and the United States over 5-year cool and warm periods. Using the theoretical framework of the Budyko curve, we calculated the effects of climate warming on the annual partitioning of precipitation (P) into evapotranspiration (ET) and water yield. Deviation (d) was defined as a catchment's change in actual ET divided by P …

Measuring The Support For Climate Change Researchers At The University Of Richmond, Adam Forrer, Brianna Miller, Hunterr Payeur

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

Climate change has been recognized globally as one of the leading issues of our generation. In order for the United States to make an appropriate response to climate change there is a need to facilitate climate change research in institutions of higher learning. Making climate change research available to undergraduate students has the potential for positive results for the issue of climate change and the undergraduates who choose to participate in research (Seymor et. al. 2004). As an institution of higher learning and the resources at our disposal, the University of Richmond should be at the forefront of climate change …

Evolution Of Marine Organisms Under Climate Change At Different Levels Of Biological Organisation., Ben P. Harvey, Balsam Al-Janabi, Stefanie Broszeit, Rebekah Cioffi, Amit Kumar, Maria Aranguren-Gassi, Allison Bailey, Leon Green, Carina M. Gsottbauer, Emilie F. Hall, Maria Lechler, Francesco P. Mancuso, Camila O. Pereira, Elena Ricevuto, Julie B. Schram, Laura S. Stapp, Simon Stenberg, Lindzai T. Santa Rosa

Faculty, Staff, and Students

Research to date has suggested that both individual marine species and ecological processes are expected to exhibit diverse responses to the environmental effects of climate change. Evolutionary responses can occur on rapid (ecological) timescales, and yet studies typically do not consider the role that adaptive evolution will play in modulating biological responses to climate change. Investigations into such responses have typically been focused at particular biological levels (e.g., cellular, population, community), often lacking interactions among levels. Since all levels of biological organisation are sensitive to global climate change, there is a need to elucidate how different processes and hierarchical interactions …

Sex Ratio Bias And Extinction Risk In An Isolated Population Of Tuatara (Sphenodon Punctatus), Kristine L. Grayson, Nicola J. Mitchell, Joanne M. Monks, Susan N. Keall, Joanna N. Wilson, Nicola J. Nelson

Biology Faculty Publications

Understanding the mechanisms underlying population declines is critical for preventing the extinction of endangered populations. Positive feedbacks can hasten the process of collapse and create an ‘extinction vortex,’ particularly in small, isolated populations. We provide a case study of a male-biased sex ratio creating the conditions for extinction in a natural population of tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) on North Brother Island in the Cook Strait of New Zealand. We combine data from long term mark-recapture surveys, updated model estimates of hatchling sex ratio, and population viability modeling to measure the impacts of sex ratio skew. Results from the mark-recapture …

Water At The Centre Of Environmental Issues – Research At The Ucd Dooge Centre For Water Resources Research, Zeinab Bedri, Eva M. Mockler, Michael Bruen, Yaqian Zhao, Pj Purcell, John O'Sullivan, M. Alsaji, Aisling Corkery, Liam Doherty, M. Dzakpasu, M. Martins, A. Rymszewicz, L. Willuwet

Conference papers

Since 1988, the UCD Dooge Centre for Water Resources Research has been conducting research in a wide range of water topics including hydraulics, hydrology, coastal dynamics and wastewater with an emphasis on multi-disciplinary collaboration. This paper presents an overview of this research, both past and present, and provides an outlook to the future research directions of the Centre.

Climate Change And Forest Herbs Of Temperate Deciduous Forests, Jesse Bellemare, David A. Moeller

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

This chapter reviews what is known about the long-term, large-scale range dynamics of forest herbs in response to past climate change. It presents a new biogeographic analysis investigating how contemporary distribution and diversity patterns among a subset of rare forest herbs may relate to these past climate dynamics. It also discusses how forest herb species may be affected by contemporary climate change and considers options for species conservation.

Climate Change And The Westhampton Lake: Review And Recommendations, Kendel Ahnell, Yazmeen Nuñez, Natasha Rathlev

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

The Westhampton Lake is a campus icon and one of the University of Richmond's most prominent features. The significant attachment that members of the University community hold toward the lake imbues great value on the lake as a key geographic element of campus (Devine-Wright, 2013). However, the lake’s status as a campus monument does not absolve it from the greater effects of climate change, a phenomenon which will continue to transform the geography and ecology of the lake. Without a concrete understanding of the implications of current and future climate change on campus, the community may leave the Westhampton Lake …

Measuring Support For Climate Change Research At The University Of Richmond, Adam Forrer, Brianna Miller, Hunterr Payeur

Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects

This study investigated the possibility of hiring new faculty at the University of Richmond whose area of expertise incorporates climate change. The study used a survey of Richmond students to gauge interest in academic areas such as climate change classes and research with faculty. In depth interviews with faculty members from various departments within the University were also conducted. Further research showed that although 12 of the top 25 liberal arts schools in the United States offered two or more classes specifically on the issue of climate change, the University of Richmond intermittently offers one climate change class, located in …

Attitudes Towards Climate Change And Sustainability, Sammy Easby, Tess Manning

Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects

Climate change is an important issue in the world today and the University of Richmond has the ability to make a difference. The purpose of this project was to gain information about University of Richmond students’ awareness, attitudes, and behaviors related to climate change and sustainability on campus. A short survey was composed and sent to students via email. Over the course of two weeks, 274 students completed the survey. The data from the survey was composed and analyzed. Based on the data, for the most part our community’s behaviors have stayed consistent. Student awareness has slightly increased but they …

Exposure Of U.S. National Parks To Land Use And Climate Change 1900-2100, Andrew J. Hansen, Cory Davis, Jessica Haas, David M. Theobald, John E. Gross, William B. Monahan, Tom Olliff, Steven W. Running

Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences Faculty Publications

Many protected areas may not be adequately safeguarding biodiversity from human activities on surrounding lands and global change. The magnitude of such change agents and the sensitivity of ecosystems to these agents vary among protected areas. Thus, there is a need to assess vulnerability across networks of protected areas to determine those most at risk and to lay the basis for developing effective adaptation strategies. We conducted an assessment of exposure of U.S. National Parks to climate and land use change and consequences for vegetation communities. We first defined park protected-area centered ecosystems (PACEs) based on ecological principles. We then …