2009 Research Highlights
Climate change impacts on ecosystem services: water, carbon, and biodiversity
Ecosystems and natural resources across the United States have been increasingly stressed over the past decades, mainly due to population growth and climate change and variability. Quantifying changes in ecosystem processes and ecosystem services under a changing environment is critical for management decisionmaking. Scientists working with the Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center are developing an integrated model to estimate ecosystem water and carbon balances and the interactions among ecosystem evapotranspiration, productivity, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity at the continental scale by coupling the key processes of the hydrologic and carbon cycles. This integrated, water-centered modeling system is being built upon previous water supply and demand research that resulted in a Water Supply Stress Index (WaSSI) model. Scientists have used the WaSSI model to examine potential impacts of climate, land use, and population changes individually or in combination. The new model, WaSSI-Carbon and Biodiversity, or WaSSI-CB, is being developed by literature synthesis of international carbon fluxes network data and regional relationships among climate and ecosystem processes. The model will be developed and applied in the United States and internationally in Asia and South America.
Contact: Ge Sun, research hydrologist, ge.sun@usda.gov
Partners: USDA Forest Service International Programs
