Africa's fuelwood footprint and the biome-level impacts of tree harvest

2014 Summer.To view the abstract, please see the full text of the document

Do we need demographic data to forecast plant population dynamics?

Rapid environmental change has generated growing interest in forecasts of future population trajectories. Traditional population models built with detailed demographic observations from one study site can address the impacts of environmental change at particular locations, but are difficult to scale up to the landscape and regional scales relevant to management decisions. An alternative is to build models using population-level data that are much easier to collect over broad spatial scales than individual-level data. However, it is unknown whether models built using population-level data adequately capture the effects of density-dependence and environmental forcing that are necessary to generate skillful forecasts. Here, we test the consequences of aggregating individual responses when forecasting the population states (percent cover) and trajectories of four perennial grass species in a semi-arid grassland in Montana, USA. We parameterized two population models for each species, one based on individual-level data (survival, growth and recruitment) and one on population-level data (percent cover), and compared their forecasting accuracy and forecast horizons with and without the inclusion of climate covariates. For both models, we used Bayesian ridge regression to weight the influence of climate covariates for optimal prediction. In the absence of climate effects, we found no significant difference between the forecast accuracy of models based on individual-level data and models based on population-level data. Climate effects were weak, but increased forecast accuracy for two species. Increases in accuracy with climate covariates were similar between model types. In our case study, percent cover models generated forecasts as accurate as those from a demographic model. For the goal of forecasting, models based on aggregated individual-level data may offer a practical alternative to data-intensive demographic models. Long time series of percent cover data already exist for many plant species. Modelers should exploit these data to predict the impacts of environmental change

Forecasting climate change impacts on plant populations over large spatial extents

Plant population models are powerful tools for predicting climate change impacts in one location, but are difficult to apply at landscape scales. We overcome this limitation by taking advantage of two recent advances: remotely sensed, species-specific estimates of plant cover and statistical models developed for spatiotemporal dynamics of animal populations. Using computationally efficient model reparameterizations, we fit a spatiotemporal population model to a 28-year time series of sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) percent cover over a 2.5 × 5 km landscape in southwestern Wyoming while formally accounting for spatial autocorrelation. We include interannual variation in precipitation and temperature as covariates in the model to investigate how climate affects the cover of sagebrush. We then use the model to forecast the future abundance of sagebrush at the landscape scale under projected climate change, generating spatially explicit estimates of sagebrush population trajectories that have, until now, been impossible to produce at this scale. Our broadscale and long-term predictions are rooted in small-scale and short-term population dynamics and provide an alternative to predictions offered by species distribution models that do not include population dynamics. Our approach, which combines several existing techniques in a novel way, demonstrates the use of remote sensing data to model population responses to environmental change that play out at spatial scales far greater than the traditional field study plot

Ecosystem Functional Response Across Precipitation Extremes in a Sagebrush Steppe

Background Precipitation is predicted to become more variable in the western United States, meaning years of above and below average precipitation will become more common. Periods of extreme precipitation are major drivers of interannual variability in ecosystem functioning in water limited communities, but how ecosystems respond to these extremes over the long-term may shift with precipitation means and variances. Long-term changes in ecosystem functional response could reflect compensatory changes in species composition or species reaching physiological thresholds at extreme precipitation levels. Methods We conducted a five year precipitation manipulation experiment in a sagebrush steppe ecosystem in Idaho, United States. We used drought and irrigation treatments (approximately 50% decrease/increase) to investigate whether ecosystem functional response remains consistent under sustained high or low precipitation. We recorded data on aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP), species abundance, and soil moisture. We fit a generalized linear mixed effects model to determine if the relationship between ANPP and soil moisture differed among treatments. We used nonmetric multidimensional scaling to quantify community composition over the five years. Results Ecosystem functional response, defined as the relationship between soil moisture and ANPP, was similar among irrigation and control treatments, but the drought treatment had a greater slope than the control treatment. However, all estimates for the effect of soil moisture on ANPP overlapped zero, indicating the relationship is weak and uncertain regardless of treatment. There was also large spatial variation in ANPP within-years, which contributes to the uncertainty of the soil moisture effect. Plant community composition was remarkably stable over the course of the experiment and did not differ among treatments. Discussion Despite some evidence that ecosystem functional response became more sensitive under sustained drought conditions, the response of ANPP to soil moisture was consistently weak and community composition was stable. The similarity of ecosystem functional responses across treatments was not related to compensatory shifts at the plant community level, but instead may reflect the insensitivity of the dominant species to soil moisture. These species may be successful precisely because they have evolved life history strategies that buffer them against precipitation variability

Comment on “Worldwide evidence of a unimodal relationship between productivity and plant species richness”

Fraser et al. (Reports, 17 July 2015, p. 302) report a unimodal relationship between productivity and species richness at regional and global scales, which they contrast with the results of Adler et al. (Reports, 23 September 2011, p. 1750). However, both data sets, when analyzed correctly, show clearly and consistently that productivity is a poor predictor of local species richness

Iterative Near-Term Ecological Forecasting: Needs, Opportunities, And Challenges

Two foundational questions about sustainability are “How are ecosystems and the services they provide going to change in the future?” and “How do human decisions affect these trajectories?” Answering these questions requires an ability to forecast ecological processes. Unfortunately, most ecological forecasts focus on centennial-scale climate responses, therefore neither meeting the needs of near-term (daily to decadal) environmental decision-making nor allowing comparison of specific, quantitative predictions to new observational data, one of the strongest tests of scientific theory. Near-term forecasts provide the opportunity to iteratively cycle between performing analyses and updating predictions in light of new evidence. This iterative process of gaining feedback, building experience, and correcting models and methods is critical for improving forecasts. Iterative, near-term forecasting will accelerate ecological research, make it more relevant to society, and inform sustainable decision-making under high uncertainty and adaptive management. Here, we identify the immediate scientific and societal needs, opportunities, and challenges for iterative near-term ecological forecasting. Over the past decade, data volume, variety, and accessibility have greatly increased, but challenges remain in interoperability, latency, and uncertainty quantification. Similarly, ecologists have made considerable advances in applying computational, informatic, and statistical methods, but opportunities exist for improving forecast-specific theory, methods, and cyberinfrastructure. Effective forecasting will also require changes in scientific training, culture, and institutions. The need to start forecasting is now; the time for making ecology more predictive is here, and learning by doing is the fastest route to drive the science forward

Climate Change on the Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming: A Synthesis of Past Climate, Climate Projections, and Ecosystem Implications

The Shoshone National Forest (Shoshone) covers 2.4 million acres of mountainous topography in northwest Wyoming and is a vital ecosystem that provides clean water, wildlife habitat, timber, grazing, recreational opportunities, and aesthetic value. The Shoshone has experienced and adapted to changes in climate for many millennia, and is currently experiencing a warming trend that is expected to accelerate in the next century. Climate change directly and indirectly affects the Shoshone’s high-elevation, mountainous terrain that supports unique and sometimes rare ecological components. Several vulnerable and very responsive resources and processes on the Shoshone could interact to produce unforeseeable or undesirable ecosystem changes, highlighting the need to identify potential resource vulnerabilities and develop adaptation pathways and flexibility in resource management options. The objective of this report is to synthesize the current understanding of the paleo and historical climate of the Shoshone as a reference point, determine what future climates may look like, and what the effects of future climate may be on natural resources. This information allows for the identification of vulnerabilities and information gaps, thereby aiding the development of adaptation tools and strategies

Diversity-stability relationships and coexistence: new theory and empirical tests (DBI-1400370)

Funded National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology (Intersection of Biology and Mathematics) award to Andrew Tredennick (2014-2017). From NSF website:<div><br></div><div>"NSF Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biology combine research and training components to prepare young scientists for careers in emerging areas where biology intersects with other scientific disciplines, in this case with mathematics and physical sciences. The Fellows are expected to be leaders of the nation's scientific workforce in the future. This fellowship to Andrew Tredennick supports research and training at the intersection of biology, mathematics, and statistics and addresses the relationship of ecological diversity versus stability using new theorical and experimental approaches. The host institution is Utah State University, and the sponsoring scientists are Peter Adler and Fred Adler. Plant biomass is the base of energy captured on Earth and necessary for all life. In an era of rapid environmental change, it is critical to discover the processes that promote the stability of plant biomass production over time. A deeper understanding of how biodiversity influences stability promises to inform conservation efforts as well as management decisions in many economically significant ways, including livestock production. </div><br>Almost all ecological systems are subject to fluctuations in environmental conditions through time. In plant communities, it is now widely observed that increases in the number of species present in a community can dampen the effect of environmental fluctuations and stabilize biomass production. This research seeks to develop a more mechanistic understanding of the processes that increase, or decrease, ecosystem stability than now exists. The research employs natural ecological communities to consider how population dynamics add-up to produce observed stability and how coexistence among species mediates their population dynamics. The research confronts new predictive theory with five long-term data sets of perennial plant communities from across the western United States. <br><br>Training goals include gaining expertise in theoretical and analytical approaches in ecology, including training in model-data assimilation using advanced statistical methods. The research promises new tools for ecological modeling, and public outreach includes producing a series of "Whiteboard Ecology" videos to introduce ecological theories.

Fuelwood, Savannas, and Climate Change: Integrating Modeling, Field Experimentation, and Optical and Radar Remote Sensing (NASA grant NNX11AL43H)

<p>Funded NASA Earth and Space Science Graduate Fellowship proposal to use remote sensing, field experimentation, and ecosystem modeling to assess fuelwood harvest in Africa generally and in Mali specifically.</p

Mali_Savanna_AllometricData

This is data collected in the field from three sites in Mali, West Africa. See publication for description of field sites. Diameter and length are measured in centimeters. All weights for biomass are measured in grams