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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Belowground Mechanism Reveals Climate Change Impacts On Invasive Clonal Plant Establishment, Surendra Bam, Jacqueline P. Ott, Jack L. Butler, Lan Xu Feb 2022

Belowground Mechanism Reveals Climate Change Impacts On Invasive Clonal Plant Establishment, Surendra Bam, Jacqueline P. Ott, Jack L. Butler, Lan Xu

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Climate change and disturbance can alter invasion success of clonal plants by differentially affecting the clonal traits influencing their establishment as young plants. Clonal traits related to the vegetative reproduction of native Pascopyrum smithii and non-native Bromus inermis grass seedlings were evaluated under altered precipitation frequencies and a single grazing event. Pascopyrum smithii maintained similar vegetative reproduction under three simulated precipitation frequencies whereas B. inermis vegetative reproduction declined as precipitation became more intermittent. Vegetative reproduction of the non-native B. inermis was greater than the native P. smithii under all simulated precipitation frequencies except the most intermittent scenario. A single grazing …


Climate Change Impacts On Freshwater Wetland Hydrology And Vegetation Cover Cycling Along A Regional Aridity Gradient, Philip A. Fay, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Jennifer H. Olker, W. Carter Johnson Oct 2016

Climate Change Impacts On Freshwater Wetland Hydrology And Vegetation Cover Cycling Along A Regional Aridity Gradient, Philip A. Fay, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Jennifer H. Olker, W. Carter Johnson

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Global mean temperature may increase up to 6°C by the end of this century and together with precipitation change may steepen regional aridity gradients. The hydrology, productivity, and ecosystem services from freshwater wetlands depend on their future water balance. We simulated the hydrology and vegetation dynamics of wetland complexes in the North American Prairie Pothole Region with the WETLANDSCAPE model. Simulations for 63 precipitation × temperature combinations spanning 6°C warming and −20% to +20% annual precipitation change at 19 locations along a mid-continental aridity gradient showed that aridity explained up to 99% of the variation in wetland stage and hydroperiod …


Mapping Temperate Vegetation Climate Adaptation Variability Using Normalized Land Surface Phenology, Liang Liang, Mark D. Schwartz, Xiaoyang Zhang Apr 2016

Mapping Temperate Vegetation Climate Adaptation Variability Using Normalized Land Surface Phenology, Liang Liang, Mark D. Schwartz, Xiaoyang Zhang

GSCE Faculty Publications

Climate influences geographic differences of vegetation phenology through both contemporary and historical variability. The latter effect is embodied in vegetation heterogeneity underlain by spatially varied genotype and species compositions tied to climatic adaptation. Such long-term climatic effects are difficult to map and therefore often neglected in evaluating spatially explicit phenological responses to climate change. In this study we demonstrate a way to indirectly infer the portion of land surface phenology variation that is potentially contributed by underlying genotypic differences across space. The method undertaken normalized remotely sensed vegetation start-of-season (or greenup onset) with a cloned plants-based phenological model. As the …


Probing The Past 30-Year Phenology Trend Of Us Deciduous Forests, X. Yue, N. Unger, Xiaoyang Zhang, C.S. Vogel Aug 2015

Probing The Past 30-Year Phenology Trend Of Us Deciduous Forests, X. Yue, N. Unger, Xiaoyang Zhang, C.S. Vogel

GSCE Faculty Publications

Phenology is experiencing dramatic changes over deciduous forests in the USA. Estimates of trends in phenology on the continental scale are uncertain, however, with studies failing to agree on both the magnitude and spatial distribution of trends in spring and autumn. This is due to the sparsity of in situ records, uncertainties associated with remote sensing data, and the regional focus of many studies. It has been suggested that reported trends are a result of recent temperature changes, though multiple processes are thought to be involved and the nature of the temperature forcing remains unknown. To date, no study has …


Estimation Of Crop Gross Primary Production (Gpp): Ii. Do Scaled Modis Vegetation Indices Improve Performance?, Qingyuan Zhang, Yen-Ben Cheng, Alexei I. Lyapustin, Yujie Wang, Xiaoyang Zhang, Andrew Suyker, Shashi Verma, Yanmin Shuai, Elizabeth M. Middleton Jan 2015

Estimation Of Crop Gross Primary Production (Gpp): Ii. Do Scaled Modis Vegetation Indices Improve Performance?, Qingyuan Zhang, Yen-Ben Cheng, Alexei I. Lyapustin, Yujie Wang, Xiaoyang Zhang, Andrew Suyker, Shashi Verma, Yanmin Shuai, Elizabeth M. Middleton

GSCE Faculty Publications

Satellite remote sensing estimates of gross primary production (GPP) have routinely been made using spectral vegetation indices (VIs) over the past two decades. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), the green band Wide Dynamic Range Vegetation Index (WDRVIgreen), and the green band Chlorophyll Index (CIgreen) have been employed to estimate GPP under the assumption that GPP is proportional to the product of VI and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) (where VI is one of four VIs: NDVI, EVI, WDRVIgreen, or CIgreen). However, the empirical regressions between VI*PAR and …


Evidence For 20th Century Climate Warming And Wetland Drying In The North American Prairie Pothole Region, Brett A. Werner, W. Carter Johnson, Glenn R. Guntenspergen Sep 2013

Evidence For 20th Century Climate Warming And Wetland Drying In The North American Prairie Pothole Region, Brett A. Werner, W. Carter Johnson, Glenn R. Guntenspergen

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America is a globally important resource that provides abundant and valuable ecosystem goods and services in the form of biodiversity, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood attenuation, and water and forage for agriculture. Numerous studies have found these wetlands, which number in the millions, to be highly sensitive to climate variability. Here, we compare wetland conditions between two 30-year periods (1946–1975; 1976–2005) using a hindcast simulation approach to determine if recent climate warming in the region has already resulted in changes in wetland condition. Simulations using the WETLANDSCAPE model show that 20th century climate …


Historical Crop / Climate Relationships In South Dakota, D.G. Kenefick, J.C. Harlan, K.K. Weischedel, P.D. Evenson Jan 1984

Historical Crop / Climate Relationships In South Dakota, D.G. Kenefick, J.C. Harlan, K.K. Weischedel, P.D. Evenson

Agronomy, Horticulture, and Plant Science Publications

Crop performance and climatic records were collated for high production counties in South Dakota to evaluate the effects of temperature and precipitation on yields. The crops involved were corn, soybeans, sorghum, oats, spring wheat, and winter wheat. Records were compared for the period from 1965 to 1982. The computer data file for each county includes seven climatic parameters, dates of plant development, adjusted yield-and yield rank by year. The crop/climate record for the 17-year period was evaluated in sixteen counties per crop each year. Thus, 272 county x year observations were made for each crop, except for soybeans which involved …