Other Environmental Sciences Commons^™

Comment On "Comparison Of 15 Evaporation Models Applied To A Small Mountain Lake In The Northeastern Usa", Jozsef Szilagyi

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Riparian Zone Evapotranspiration From Diurnal Groundwater-Level Fluctuations, Zoltan Gribovszki, Peter Kalicz, Jozsef Szilagyi, Mihaly Kucsara

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Evapotranspiration Calculation On The Basis Of The Riparian Zone Water Balance, Zoltan Gribovszki, Peter Kalicz, Mihaly Kucsara, Jozsef Szilagyi, Peter Vig

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Fish Distributions And Nutrient Cycling In Streams: Can Fish Create Biogeochemical Hotspots?, Peter B. Mcintyre, Alexander S. Flecker, Michael J. Vanni, James M. Hood, Brad W. Taylor, Steven A. Thomas

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Rates of biogeochemical processes often vary widely in space and time, and characterizing this variation is critical for understanding ecosystem functioning. In streams, spatial hotspots of nutrient transformations are generally attributed to physical and microbial processes. Here we examine the potential for heterogeneous distributions of fish to generate hotspots of nutrient recycling. We measured nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) excretion rates of 47 species of fish in an N-limited Neotropical stream, and we combined these data with population densities in each of 49 stream channel units to estimate unit- and reach-scale nutrient recycling. Species varied widely in rates of N …

2008 Interior Least Tern And Piping Plover Monitoring, Research, Management, And Outreach Report For The Lower Platte River, Nebraska, Mary Bomberger Brown, Joel G. Jorgensen

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

This document reports on our monitoring, research, management, and outreach activities during the past 12 months. The report was prepared to inform our partners and funding agencies of our activities and to provide a preliminary summary of results. These data analyses are not final and should be treated as such when citing information, data, or analyses found in this document.

The Interior Least Tern (Sternula antillarum athallassos) is a state and federal endangered species; it was first listed in 1985. The Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) is a state and federal threatened species; it was also first …

From Debate To Design: Issues In Clean Energy And Climate Change Law And Policy, Leslie Parker, Jennifer Ronk, Rachel Maxwell, Bradford Gentry, Marijn Wilder, James Cameron

Yale School of the Environment Publications Series

A report on the work of the REIL Network 2007-2008

New Findings About The Complementary Relationship-Based Evaporation Estimation Methods, Jozsef Szilagyi, Janos Jozsa

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Synthesis Of Live Fuel Moisture And Wildland Fire And Development Of A National Historical Live Fuel Moisture Database, William M. Jolly Dr.

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Live fuels are a key component to the wildland fuel complex but little is know about their contribution to fire danger or fire behavior. This review attempts to quantify our current understanding of the role that live fuels play in combustion and how those characteristics are quantified into prediction systems that fire managers use to assess fire danger or fire behavior as well as how live fuel parameters for those systems are measured. We review how live fuels are incorporated into three fire danger and fire behavior prediction systems that have found widespread use throughout the world. We discuss the …

Behaveplus And Flammap Technology Transfer, Patricia Andrews, Mark Finney

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This project was conducted in response to the need identified under Task 1 (RFP 2005-4)—extension of technology transfer activities beyond the conclusion of successfully completed JFSP funded projects or other applicable wildland fire research. Development of the BehavePlus fire modeling system and the FlamMap fire behavior analysis and mapping system and supporting technology transfer material was funded in part under JFSP project #98-1-8-02. After successful completion of that project, development of those systems and supporting material continued under other funding. FlamMap was used in JFSP project #01-1-3-21 “Cumulative effects of fuel management on landscape-scale fire behavior and effects.” A significant …

Bringing The Fire Effects Information System Up-To-Date And Improving Service To Land Managers, Jane Kapler Smith, Fire Modeling Institute Information Team

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This project delivers up-to-date, science-based information about species nominated by wildland managers for revision in or addition to the Fire Effects Information System (FEIS). FEIS now provides 1,081 literature reviews covering 1,139 taxa. This JFSP task has supported the rewriting of 9% of FEIS reviews, addition of reviews that increase FEIS content by 9%, and small updates to 25% of the database. Each FEIS species review addresses the basic biology of the species, fire regimes, fire's role in the life history and persistence of the species, competition and successional patterns, and issues regarding fuel management, prescribed fire, and postfire rehabilitation. …

Burn Severity Mapping Using Simulation Modeling And Satellite Imagery, Robert E. Keane, Eva C. Karau, Elizabeth Reinhardt

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

As wildfires becomes an increasingly important issue affecting our nation’s landscapes, fire managers must quickly assess possible adverse fire effects to efficiently allocate resources for rehabilitation or remediation. While burn severity maps derived from satellite imagery can provide a landscape view of relative fire impacts, fire effects simulation models can also provide spatial fire severity estimates along with the biotic context in which to interpret severity. In this project, we evaluated two methods of mapping burn severity for four wildfires in western Montana using 64 plots as field reference: 1) an image-based burn severity mapping approach using the Differenced Normalized …

Carbon Cycling At The Landscape Scale: The Effect Of Changes In Climate And Fire Frequency On Age Distribution, Stand Structure, And Net Ecosystem Production., Michael G. Ryan, Daniel M. Kashian, Erica A.H. Smithwick, William H. Romme, Monica G. Turner, Daniel B. Tinker

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Understanding the interactions between climate, fire and forest characteristics-- and how carbon dynamics are affected by these factors--remains an important challenge in ecology. As the size and severity of fires in the western US continues to increase (Westerling et al. 2006), it has become increasingly important to understand carbon dynamics in response to fire. In this study, we investigated these key interactions in the landscape of Yellowstone National Park (YNP). We asked how initial post-fire heterogeneity in forest structure (especially tree density and stand age) controls carbon dynamics over the full life cycle of individual forest stands, and how climate-mediated …

Delayed Tree Mortality Following Fire In Western Conifers, Sheri Smith, Danny Chuck, Elizabeht Reinhardt, Kevin Ryan, Charles Mchugh

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

We developed 3-year post-fire mortality models for 12 western conifer species by pooling data collected from multiple fire-injury studies. Models were developed for white fir, red fir, subalpine fir, incense cedar, western larch, lodgepole pine, whitebark pine, ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine, sugar pine, Engelmann spruce, and Douglas-fir. Two sets of models were created, one for use in pre-fire planning where only crown injury and DBH were potential variables, and a second, optimal model for use in post-fire planning that used all significant variables. Predictive accuracy of all models was compared to the accuracy of the mortality model currently used in …

Effects Of Fuels Treatments And Wildfire On Understory Species And Fuels In The Ponderosa Pine Zone Of The Colorado Front Range, Paula Fornwalt, Merrill Kaufmann

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The first clear indication that unnaturally dense forest conditions existed in ponderosa pine – Douglas-fir forests of the Colorado Front Range was the Buffalo Creek Fire, a large, catastrophic wildfire that burned in 1996. Ongoing research in the Front Range indicated that the Buffalo Creek Fire likely would have burned very differently under pre-settlement forest conditions; early photographs and written descriptions, as well as fire history and stand reconstruction data, all suggested that historically these forests were characterized by a matrix of low-density forests and shrubland or grassland openings that was created and maintained by a mixed-severity fire regime. As …

Effects Of Mechanically Generated Slash Particle Size On Prescribed Fire Behavior And Subsequent Vegetation Effects, Richy J. Harrod, David W. Peterson, Roger Ottmar, Peter Ohlson, Brad Flatten, Arlo Vanderwoude

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Forest managers have begun to restore ecosystem structure and function in fire-prone ecosystems that have experienced fire exclusion, commodity based resource extraction, and extensive grazing during much of the 20th century. Mechanical thinning and prescribed burning are the primary tools for thinning dense stands and restoring pre-settlement forest structure, reducing the likelihood of devastating crown fires. Mechanical thinning can be costly when trees are nonmerchantable and prescribed burning can be risky unless fuel loadings are first reduced. Furthermore, stands that remain dense after commercial thinning can produce undesirable wildland fire- or even prescribed fire- effects on vegetation and soils. Land …

Expansion Of The Southern Variant Of The Fire And Fuels Extension For The Forest Vegetation Simulator, S. M. Zedaker, S. A. Rebain, P. J. Radtke

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This project specifically addressed AFP 2006-3, Task 3, by providing guidance for maintaining effective fire and non-fire fuels treatments, with the aim of supporting long-term fuels management. The overall goals of the project were to parameterize, expand, and improve the Southern Variant of the Fire and Fuels Extension (FFE) to the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) with the best data currently available, to identify data weaknesses and gaps that may require additional research to reduce the uncertainty of Southern FFE model predictions, and to determine a validation framework for the Southern FFE. A wide variety of fire and fuels data and …

Evaluating The Efficacy And Ecological Impacts Of Baer Slope Stabilization Treatments On The Pot Peak/Deep Harbor Wildfire Complex, David W. Peterson, Richy J. Harrod, Terry Lillybridge, Mel Bennett

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Post-fire slope stabilization treatments are often prescribed for severely burned areas of a wildfire, through burned area emergency response (BAER), to reduce erosion, maintain soil productivity, protect water quality, and reduce risks to human life and property. Prescribed slope stabilization treatments can include seeding of cereal grains or grasses, fertilization, mulching, and installation of physical barriers across slope contours (e.g., contour-felled logs and straw wattles). Seeding and fertilization treatments have been proposed following several high severity wildfires in the Pacific Northwest. These treatments are designed to reduce erosion by supplementing native vegetation recovery with additional populations of fast-growing species (seeding) …

Evaluation Of Science Delivery Of Joint Fire Science Program Research, David Seesholtz

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Since its inception in 1998, the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) has funded over 400 projects. The Joint Fire Science Program has long recognized that the investments made in wildland fire science need to be accompanied by an emphasis on science interpretation and delivery. Program success is ultimately measured by how well information from research efforts is being conveyed to resource managers and end users, and whether this information is improving management decisions. This study reviewed a sample of environmental documents from three JFSP sponsoring agencies to determine to what extent JFSP research is being incorporated into local planning efforts …

Rationale For A Permanent Seismic Network In The U.S. Central Plains Utilizing U.S. Array, Stephen S. Gao, Tina M. Niemi, Ross A. Black, Kelly H. Liu, Raymond R. Anderson, Robert M. Joeckel, Robert W. Busby, John Taber

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Droughtscape, Winter 2008, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Now Up & On-Line:

Winter 2008 Outlook and Oct.-Dec. ’07 Summary

NDMC Experts Serve as Resource for Media

Drought Hits Ag and Urban Interests in 2007

Climatological Summary of Drought in 2007

NDMC Welcomes Data Miner Bo Zhang

New Grant Awards

A Coupled Mm5-Noah And Surface Model-Based Assessment Of Sensitivity Of Planetary Boundary Layer Variables To Anomalous Soil Moisture Conditions, Rezaul Mahmood

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Nutrient Uptake By Intact And Disturbed Roots Of Loblolly Pine Seedlings, Melissa S. Lucash, Ruth D. Yanai, J. Devereux Joslin

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Most measurements of nutrient uptake use either hydroponic systems or soil-grown roots that have been disturbed by excavation. The first objective of this study was to test how root excavation affects nitrate uptake. Rates of NO3− uptake by mycorrhizal loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) seedlings were measured in intact sand-filled columns, hydroponics, and disturbed sand-filled columns. Total nitrate uptake in intact sand-filled columns was higher than in disturbed columns, indicating that disturbance lowers uptake. Transferring plants from the sand-filled columns to hydroponics had little effect on NO3− uptake beyond delaying uptake for an hour. The second objective of this study …

Meso-Scale Weather And Climate Observations In Kentucky For Societal Benefit, Rezaul Mahmood

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Equilibrium Sampling Used To Monitor Malodors In A Swine Waste Lagoon, Rezaul Mahmood

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Fire History And Forest Structural Change In The Spring Mountains, Scott R. Abella

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

Since early 2006 we have been working to develop a partnership with the Spring Mountains District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest to provide science support for understanding fire history and forest structural changes in support of ecologically based management strategies. We teamed up with the Ecological Restoration Institute (ERI) at Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona Tree Ring Lab to deliver a workshop on March 6, 2008 at the interagency office in Las Vegas, Nevada. On September 16-18, we again teamed up with colleagues at ERI to conduct a preliminary field assessment of forest change at 10 sites …

Opportunities For New Collaborative Projects, Scott R. Abella, Jill E. Craig

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

The Research Group is currently working in successful partnerships with Lake Mead National Recreation Area, BLM Las Vegas, Desert National Wildlife Refuge (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), Joshua Tree National Park, and in collaboration with the Ecological Restoration Institute, the U.S. Forest Service (Region 3).

Unresolved Issues With The Assessment Of Multidecadal Global Land Surface Temperature Trends, Roger A. Pielke Sr., Christopher A. Davey, Dev Niyogi, Souleymane Fall, Jesse Steinweg-Woods, Ken Hubbard, Xiaomao Lin, Ming Cai, Young-Kwon Lim, Hong Li, John Nielsen-Gammon, Kevin Gallo, Robert Hale, Rezaul Mahmood, Stuart Foster, Richard T. Mcnider, Peter Blanken

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

This paper documents various unresolved issues in using surface temperature trends as a metric for assessing global and regional climate change. A series of examples ranging from errors caused by temperature measurements at a monitoring station to the undocumented biases in the regionally and globally averaged time series are provided. The issues are poorly understood or documented and relate to micrometeorological impacts due to warm bias in nighttime minimum temperatures, poor siting of the instrumentation, effect of winds as well as surface atmospheric water vapor content on temperature trends, the quantification of uncertainties in the homogenization of surface temperature data, …

If Larvae Were Smart: A Simple Model For Optimal Settlement Behavior Of Competent Larvae, Robert J. Toonen, Andrew J. Tyre

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Much research has been done on larval settlement cues. Rather than having simple fixed responses to constant environmental stimuli, it seems likely that settlement decisions made by individual larvae should vary depending on the individual and the conditions under which it encounters that cue. Here, we present a simple stochastic dynamic programming model that explores the conditions under which larvae may maximize their lifetime fitness by accepting lower quality habitat rather than continuing to search for superior habitat. Our model predicts that there is a relatively narrow range of parameter values over which larval selectivity among habitat types changes dramatically …

Droughtscape, Fall 2007, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Fall 2007 Outlook

Diverse Impacts Reported in Summer of 2007

Decadal Climate Cycles Hold Predictive Potential

Drought Experts Take Roadmap to Congress

NDMC Research Updates

Increase In Near-Surface Atmospheric Moisture Content Due To Land Use Changes: Evidence From The Observed Dewpoint Temperature Data, Rezaul Mamood, Kenneth G. Hubbard, Ronnie D. Leeper, Stuart A. Foster

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Land use change can significantly affect root zone soil moisture, surface energy balance, and near-surface atmospheric temperature and moisture content. During the second half of the twentieth century, portions of the North American Great Plains have experienced extensive introduction of irrigated agriculture. It is expected that land use change from natural grass to irrigated land use would significantly increase nearsurface atmospheric moisture content. Modeling studies have already shown an enhanced rate of evapotranspiration from the irrigated areas. The present study analyzes observed dewpoint temperature (Td) to assess the affect of irrigated land use on near-surface atmospheric moisture content. This investigation …