Forest ThreatNet
Major climate change publications released
The Threat Center and the Southeast Climate Hub have made important contributions over the past year to the study of climate change impacts on forest ecosystems and the many services forests provide to people. New publications include basic science, as well as major synthesis documents that summarize the current state of knowledge on the topic for public consumption.
Southeast Climate Hub Director Steve McNulty served as federal coordinating lead author for the Southeast chapter of the Fifth National Climate Assessment, summarizing the full range of climate change impacts in the Southeast. The NCA5 is "the US Government’s preeminent report on climate change impacts, risks, and responses. It is a congressionally mandated interagency effort that provides the scientific foundation to support informed decision-making across the United States." (NCA5 website). Forest Service scientists also served as authors or co-authors for many other NCA5 sections.
A new book edited by McNulty entitled Future Forests exhaustively covers a wide range of climate change impacts on different forest biomes and types. Across 14 chapters, researchers develop a baseline against which future changes in forest conditions can be compared, and provide insights into how forests can be managed for resilience to ongoing and future threats. In this volume, Threat Center Director Ge Sun leads a chapter entitled Climate change and forest hydrology in future forests, reviewing the many ways in which climate change leads to changes in the clean water supplies that forests provide.
Other selected Threat Center publications examining climate change impacts and solutions:
- Meta-analysis shows the impacts of ecological restoration on greenhouse gas emissions
- Modeling the impacts of hot drought on forests in Texas
- Shifts in ecological patterns and processes under global changes
- Forest water-use efficiency: effects of climate change and management on the coupling of carbon and water processes
- Future exposure of forest ecosystems to multi-year drought in the United States
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