Annual Report: 2008

I submit herewith the annual report from the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, for the period ending December 31, 2008. This is done in accordance with an act of Congress, approved March 2, 1887, entitled, “An act to establish agricultural experiment stations, in connection with the agricultural college established in the several states under the provisions of an act approved July 2, 1862, and under the acts supplementary thereto,” and also of the act of the Alaska Territorial Legislature, approved March 12, 1935, accepting the provisions of the act of Congress. The research reports are organized according to our strategic plan, which focuses on high-latitude soils, high-latitude agriculture, natural resources use and allocation, ecosystems management, and geographic information. These areas cross department and unit lines, linking them and unifying the research. We have also included in our financial statement information on the special grants we receive. These special grants allow us to provide research and outreach that is targeted toward economic development in Alaska. Research conducted by our graduate and undergraduate students plays an important role in these grants and the impact they make on Alaska.Financial statement -- Grants -- Students -- Research reports: Partners, Facilities, and Programs; Geographic Information; High-Latitude Agriculture; High-Latitude Soils, Management of Ecosystems; Natural Resources Use and Allocation; Index to Reports -- Publications -- Facult

Toward an Integrated Regional Research Program on Global Change and the Nation\u27s Major Grasslands: Second Annual Report

I DIRECTOR\u27S REPORT: A GPRC Research Framework and Thrusts B FY94 GPRC Grant Competition C Synopsis of Current Projects 1 Thrust 1: Impacts of Climate Change 2 Thrust 2: Measuring and Modeling Net Carbon Exchange 3 Other Projects D Summary and Recommendations of FY94 GPRC PI\u27s Workshop 1 Biogeochemical Cycling Group 2 Climate Scenarios Group 3 Managed and Unmanaged Ecosystem Impacts Group 4 Scaling Group 5 Actions Prompted by the Workshop E Research Integration with ARM-CART: Eco-ARM F Future Directions for the GPRC Appendix I-A: Biogeochemical Cycling Group Workshop Report • Appendix I-B: Climate Change Scenarios Group Workshop Report • Appendix I-C: Managed and Unmanaged Ecosystem Impacts Group Workshop Report • Appendix 1-0: Funded Projects Table • Appendix I-E: Core Research Program Diagram • Appendix I-F: Regional Map II RESEARCH PROGRESS REPORTS (Title, Principal Investigator, Institution): A IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE 1 Process Studies Effects of Altered Soil Moisture and Temperature on Soil Communities, Primary Producers and Ecological Processes in Grassland Ecosystems · John M Blair, Kansas State University Impacts of global climate change on phytoplankton productivity in lakes along a thermal gradient · Kyle D Hoagland, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Natural Responses of Shallow Lakes and Wetlands for Detecting Climatic/Environmental Change · Donald C Rundquist, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 2 Climate Scenarios for Impact Analysis Space-time Local Hydrology Influenced by Changing Climatology: Disaggregation, Prediction and Comparison · Istvan Bogardi, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Observational and Numerical Study for Interannual and Interdecadel Variabilities of the Atmospheric Circulation · Tsing-Chang Chen, Iowa State University The Effect of Ecosystems on Cloud Microphysics and Aerosol Distribution · Qinghuan Han, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Development of a Nested Regional Model for the Conterminous United States and Formation of High Resolution Climate Change Scenarios with an Application to Crop Climate Models · Linda Mearns, National Center for Atmospheric Research The detection of Climate Change Using Long Term Daily Climate Records Over Grassland Regions of the Northern Hemisphere · Michael A Palecki, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 3 Modeling Impacts of Climate Change Assessment of Climate Change on a Mixed Agricultural Landscape on the North American Great Plains · James R Brandle, University of Nebraska-Lincoln The Economic and Environmental Impact of Major Shifts in Land Use into Energy Biomass Production for Part of the Great Plains · Paul T Dyke, Texas A&M University Local and Regional Scaling With a Spatially Explicit Ecological Model · George P Malanson, University of Iowa Potential Global Warming Impacts on Vegetation Distribution, Productivity, and Hydrology at Landscape to Regional Scales in the Great Plains Region · Ronald P Neilson, Oregon State University B MEASUREMENT AND MODELING OF NET CARBON EXCHANGE 1 Process Studies Carbon, Water, and Energy Fluxes From a Tallgrass Prairie: A Long-term investigation of Biological, Environmental, and Land Use Factors · Jay M Ham, Kansas State University An Integrated Investigation of Methane and Carbon Dioxide Fluxes in Mid-Latitude Prairie Wetlands: Micrometeorological Measurements, Process-Level Studies and Modeling · Shashi B Verma, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 2 Modeling Studies Regional projections of C Dynamics with Global Change in the Central US Edward T Elliott, Colorado State University Assessment of Climate and Management Induced Directional Changes in Great Plains Vegetation with NDVI and Stable Carbon Isotopes Larry L Tieszen, Augustana College C DETECTION OF CLIMATE CHANGE Climate Change in the Mid-continent of North America William D Gosnold, University of North Dakota 105 Satellite Observation of Lake Ice as a Robust Indicator of Regional Climate Change Thomas M Ullesand, University of Wisconsin-Madison Appendix II-A: Author Index Great Plains Regional Center for Global Environmental Change 20 LW Chase Hall University of Nebraska-Lincoln PO Box 830725 Lincoln, NE 68583-0725 Phone 4021472-7887 Fax 4021472-6614 E-mail agme022@unlvmunledu ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This material is based upon work supported by the US Department of Energy under Cooperative Agreement No DE-FC03-90ER61 01 O Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the US Department of Energ

Exploring and Describing the Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Medusahead in the Channeled Scablands of Eastern Washington Using Remote Sensing Techniques

Medusahead is a harmful weed that is invading public lands in the West. The invasion is a serious concern to the public because it can reduce forage for livestock and wildlife, increase fire frequency, alter important ecosystem cycles (like water), reduce recreational activities, and produce landscapes that are aesthetically unpleasing. Invasions can drive up costs that generally require taxpayer’s dollars. Medusahead seedlings typically spread to new areas by attaching itself to passing objects (e.g. vehicles, animals, clothing) where it can quickly begin to affect plants communities. To be effective, management plans need to be sustainable, informed, and considerate to invasion levels across large landscapes. Ecological remote sensing analysis is a method that uses airborne imagery, taken from drones, aircrafts, or satellites, to gather information about ecological systems. This Thesis strived to use remote sensing techniques to identify medusahead in the landscape and its changes through time. This was done for an extensive area of rangelands in the Channel Scabland region of eastern ashington. This Thesis provided results that would benefit land managers that include: 1) a dispersal map of medusahead, 2) a time line of medusahead cover through time, 3) “high risk’ dispersal areas, 4) climatic factors showing an influence on the time line of medusahead, 5) a strategy map that can be utilized by land managers to direct management needs. This Thesis shows how remote sensing applications can be used to detect medusahead in the landscape and understand its invasiveness through time. This information can help create sustainable and effective management plans so land managers can continue to protect and improve western public lands threatened by the invasion of medusahead

Mapping alpine treeline with high resolution imagery and LiDAR data in North Cascades National Park, Washington

We evaluated several approaches for the automated detection and mapping of trees and treeline in an alpine environment. Using multiple remote sensing platforms and software programs, we evaluated both pixel-based and object-based classification approaches in combination with high-resolution multispectral imagery and LiDAR-derived tree height data. The study area in North Cascades National Park included over 10,000 hectares of some of the most rugged terrain in the conterminous U.S. Through the use of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), differences in illumination conditions created by steep slopes and tall trees were minimized. Data fusion of the multispectral imagery, NDVI, and LiDAR-derived tree height data produced the highest percent accuracies using both the pixel-based (88.4%) and the object-based classifications (92.9%). These results demonstrate that either method will produce an acceptable level of accuracy, and that the availability of a near-infrared band to calculate NDVI is extremely important. The NDVI used in conjunction with the multispectral imagery helped to minimize issues with shadows caused by rugged terrain. Furthermore, LiDAR-derived tree heights were used to augment classification routines to achieve even greater accuracy; where shadows were too dark to produce meaningful NDVI values, the LiDAR-derived tree height data was instrumental in helping to distinguish trees from other land cover types. Both the pixel-based and the object-based approaches hold considerable promise for automated mapping and monitoring of the treeline ecotone; however, the pixel-based approach may be superior because it is more straightforward and easily replicable compared to the object-based approach. These treeline mapping efforts will enhance future ecological treeline research by producing more accurate detections of trees and estimations of treeline position, and will be instrumental in building time series of imagery for future scientists conducting change detection studies at treeline

Forest disturbance and recovery: A general review in the context of spaceborne remote sensing of impacts on aboveground biomass and canopy structure

Abrupt forest disturbances generating gaps \u3e0.001 km2 impact roughly 0.4–0.7 million km2a−1. Fire, windstorms, logging, and shifting cultivation are dominant disturbances; minor contributors are land conversion, flooding, landslides, and avalanches. All can have substantial impacts on canopy biomass and structure. Quantifying disturbance location, extent, severity, and the fate of disturbed biomass will improve carbon budget estimates and lead to better initialization, parameterization, and/or testing of forest carbon cycle models. Spaceborne remote sensing maps large-scale forest disturbance occurrence, location, and extent, particularly with moderate- and fine-scale resolution passive optical/near-infrared (NIR) instruments. High-resolution remote sensing (e.g., ∼1 m passive optical/NIR, or small footprint lidar) can map crown geometry and gaps, but has rarely been systematically applied to study small-scale disturbance and natural mortality gap dynamics over large regions. Reducing uncertainty in disturbance and recovery impacts on global forest carbon balance requires quantification of (1) predisturbance forest biomass; (2) disturbance impact on standing biomass and its fate; and (3) rate of biomass accumulation during recovery. Active remote sensing data (e.g., lidar, radar) are more directly indicative of canopy biomass and many structural properties than passive instrument data; a new generation of instruments designed to generate global coverage/sampling of canopy biomass and structure can improve our ability to quantify the carbon balance of Earth\u27s forests. Generating a high-quality quantitative assessment of disturbance impacts on canopy biomass and structure with spaceborne remote sensing requires comprehensive, well designed, and well coordinated field programs collecting high-quality ground-based data and linkages to dynamical models that can use this information

Annual Report: 2009

I submit herewith the annual report from the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, for the period ending December 31, 2009. This is done in accordance with an act of Congress, approved March 2, 1887, entitled, “An act to establish agricultural experiment stations, in connection with the agricultural college established in the several states under the provisions of an act approved July 2, 1862, and under the acts supplementary thereto,” and also of the act of the Alaska Territorial Legislature, approved March 12, 1935, accepting the provisions of the act of Congress. The research reports are organized according to our strategic plan, which focuses on high-latitude soils, high-latitude agriculture, natural resources use and allocation, ecosystems management, and geographic information. These areas cross department and unit lines, linking them and unifying the research. We have also included in our financial statement information on the special grants we receive. These special grants allow us to provide research and outreach that is targeted toward economic development in Alaska. Research conducted by our graduate and undergraduate students plays an important role in these grants and the impact they make on Alaska.Financial statement -- Grants -- Students -- Research Reports: Partners, Facilities, and Programs; Geography; High-Latitude Agriculture; High-Latitude Soils; Management of Ecosystems; Natural Resources Use and Allocation; Index to Reports -- Publications -- Facult

Compendium of Yukon climate change science: 2016 supplement

"The Compendium is intended to provide an overview of recent climate change work involving Yukon. This document is intended to supplement the 2003-2013 version of the Compendium with climate change work that has taken place during 2015 and 2016. It is comprised of various types of documents, including scientific journal articles, government publications, workshop reports, and conference proceedings."--from Foreword

Compendium of Yukon climate change science: 2015 supplement

This compendium is intended to provide an overview of recent climate change work involving Yukon. It is comprised of various types of documents including scientific journal articles, government publications, workshop reports, and conference proceedings