2013 Research Highlights
Southeastern Pine Forests Respond to Climate Change
PINEMAP addresses impacts on productivity and water yield with monitoring, modeling, and management tools
Southeastern forests contain one-third of US forest carbon, and form the backbone of an industry that supplies 16 percent of global industrial wood, 5.5 percent of the jobs, and 7.5 percent of the industrial economic activity of the region. As part of PINEMAP, Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center scientists are working with partners from North Carolina State University to apply the Water Supply Stress Index (WaSSI) model in a multi-scale, region-wide assessment of future climate scenarios for managed forests in the southeast. This partnership also plays a critical role in PINEMAP’s regional monitoring network, which includes detailed measurements at sites in Virginia, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Florida, as well as carbon and nitrogen budgets at more than 100 other sites. These data are being integrated with thousands of legacy experiments across the region.
Eastern Threat Center researchers are also working with PINEMAP partners to build the joint capacity of university researchers and extension specialists and agents to deliver climate science information to the public using the Template for Assessming Climate Change Impacts and Management Options (TACCIMO). The partners include 11 land-grant universities, eight regional university-corporate-governmental research cooperatives, state and regional climate offices, the Regional Extension Forestry office, the Southeast Climate Consortium, and the Florida Climate Institute.
Right: A PINEMAP research site diverts rainfall to simulate future precipitation changes. Photo courtesy of Duncan Wilson.
External Partners/Collaborators: North Carolina State University (NCSU), PINEMAP
Contact: Eric J. Ward, NCSU cooperating researcher, (919) 452-6652, ejward3@ncsu.edu
