Climate Change and Events

Northern Research Station scientists are deeply involved in research to understand the processes and extent of global climate change and their probable/possible effects on forest ecosystems. What processes in forest ecosystems are sensitive to physical and chemical changes in the atmosphere? How will future physical and chemical climate changes influence the structure, function, and productivity of forest and related ecosystems, and to what extent will forest ecosystems change in response to atmospheric changes? What are the implications for forest management and how must forest management activities be altered to sustain forest productivity, health, and diversity?

Climate Change Research from NRS

Northern Institute of Applied Carbon Science
The Northern Institute of Applied Carbon Science (NIACS) is a collaborative effort of the Forest Service, universities, and forest industry to provide ecological, economic, and social information that can be used to manage forests for the sequestration of atmospheric carbon. Forests store and/or retain carbon while simultaneously producing sustainable supplies of renewable energy and materials that help society. There are significant uncertainties, however, about how forest systems might respond to future climate change and how forest management could be used to ameliorate any negative effects.

Aspen FACE Experiment
The Aspen FACE (Free-Air Carbon Enrichment) Experiment is a multi-disciplinary study to assess the effects of increasing tropospheric ozone and carbon dioxide levels on the structure and function of northern forest ecosystems.

Foliar biochemical indicators of environmental change and their relationship with site productivity
Methods are needed to assess the positive or negative impact of environmental pollution on forest productivity in an asymptomatic forest stand. A goal of several research groups in the Northern Research Station (NRS) is to develop a set of physiological and biochemical markers that can assess the early onset of stress in forests due to environmental factors, before injury is visible.

Enhanced Adaptation to Climate Change of Conifer Species and Provenances in Northern Forest Ecosystems
Over 12 million trees were distributed from Wisconsin state forest nurseries in 2007. The success of such regeneration programs depends upon the development of adaptation strategies for enhanced ecosystem sustainability under changing climates. There is a need to identify species and seed sources with enhanced adaptation to climate change pressures to ensure biologically and economically sustainable reforestation, afforestation, and gene conservation.

Estimating fine root biomass with DNA fingerprints
Because the aspen stands at the Aspen FACE experiment are a mixture of five clones, the development of highly discriminating molecular-methods are needed to assign fine-root fragments to individual clones.

Tracing the movement of an invasive insect using stable isotopes
To better understand the response of insect populations to increasing environmental pollution, we are using stable isotope analysis to trace the movement of an invasive insect in mixed tree communities grown under different air quality conditions.

Effects of Global Atmospheric Change on Forest Insects
We are studying seasonal and annual changes in forest insect populations at the Aspen FACE experiment site in northern Wisconsin where trees are growing under both elevated CO₂ (+200 ppm above ambient) and ozone (+50% above ambient).

Predicting global change effects on forest biomass and composition in south-central Siberia
Multiple global changes such as timber harvest of previously unexploited areas and climate change will undoubtedly affect the composition and spatial distribution of boreal forests, which will in turn affect the ability of these forests to sequester carbon.  To reliably predict future states of the boreal forest it is necessary to understand the complex interactions among forest regenerative processes (succession), natural disturbances (e.g., fire, wind and insects) and anthropogenic disturbances (e.g., timber harvest). 

Chequamegon Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (CHEAS)
As part of the cooperative Chequamegon Ecosystem Atmosphere Study (ChEAS), NRS scientists have been studying the energy, water vapor and CO₂ exchange between forest ecosystems and the atmosphere to understand the dynamics of forest productivity.

Baltimore Ecosystem Study
The Baltimore Ecosystem Study is part of the National Academy of Science’s Long-Term Ecosystem Research (LTER) Program and its 40-m AmeriFlux Tower near Baltimore is the first such permanent tower to estimate carbon flux and carbon sequestration built in an urban/suburban forest ecosystem. It has been in used continually since 2001 to study carbon dioxide CO2 concentration; H2O flux, and the effects of multiple air pollutants on the urban forests. Initial results of our profile system have validated the common-sense expectation that daily CO2 cycles show higher levels associated with energy use and rush hour traffic and decreased levels at other times and on weekends. Metropolitan areas have an average tree cover of 33.4% (urban counties) and support 25% of the USA's total tree canopy cover, and their inclusion in climate models is essential for accuracy.

Forest Service Research & Development
Climate Change