Research: Global Climate Change

Belfort and Noah IV precipitation gages, part of the primary weather station in the Loch Vale watershed study area, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colo. The station is collocated with the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) monitor for precipitation chemistry. Photo by Michael Johns. Used with permission.

Effective river management depends on understanding the relations between variables—both the expected responses to alternative management actions and the management actions required to produce a desired objective. Describing and quantifying these relations improve the foundation on which river management decisions are made.

An important long-term focus of riverine science at FORT is on connections between physical and biological factors, processes, and effects. FORT scientists increasingly have directed attention to how river ecosystems and their management might be altered by global climate change.  

Baron, J.S., D. Peterson, and J. Wilson. 2008. Western Mountain Initiative: Predicting ecosystem responses to climate change. U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2008-3093. 2 p.

Baron, J.S., S.H. Julius, J.M. West, L.A. Joyce, G. Blate, C.H. Peterson, M. Palmer, B.D. Keller, P. Kareiva, J.M. Scott, and B. Griffith. 2008. Some guidelines for helping natural resources adapt to climate change. IHDP Update 2: 46-52.

Baron, J.S., T.S. Schmidt, and M.D. Hartman. 2009. Climate-induced changes in high elevation stream nitrate dynamics. Global Change Biology 15: 1777-1789.

Friedman, J.M., J.E. Roelle, J.F. Gaskin, A.E. Pepper, and J.R. Manhart. 2008. Latitudinal variation in cold hardiness in introduced Tamarix and native Populus. Evolutionary Applications 1(4): 598-607.

Hartman, M.D., J.S. Baron, D.W. Clow, I.F. Creed, C.T. Driscoll, H.A. Ewing, B.D. Haines, J. Knoepp, K. Lajtha, D.S. Ojima, W.J. Parton, J. Renfro, R.B. Robinson, H. Van Miegroet, K.C. Weathers, and M.W. Williams. 2009. DayCent-Chem simulations of ecological and biogeochemical processes of eight mountain ecosystems in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2009–5150. 174 p.

Hartman, M.D., J.S. Baron, D.S. Ojima. 2007. Application of a coupled ecosystem-chemical equilibrium model, DayCent-Chem, to stream and soil chemistry in an alpine watershed. Ecological Modeling 200(3–4):493-510.

Miller, J.R., and J.M. Friedman. 2009. Influence of flow variability on floodplain formation and destruction, Little Missouri River, North Dakota. Geological Society of America Bulletin 121:752-759.

Murdoch, P.S., J.S. Baron, and T.L. Miller. 2000. Potential effects of climate change on surface-water quality in North America. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 36(2): 347-366.

Staff

Baron, Jill (water quality, pollutants, limnology, ecosystem modeling)

Friedman, Jonathan (riparian vegetation, floodplains)

Roelle, Butch (riparian vegetation, avian conservation)

Schmidt, Travis (ecotoxicology, climate change, landscape controls on water quality)

Skagen, Susan (migratory birds, habitat, climate change)

Current Studies

• Climate Change as a Challenge to Bird Conservation in Arid and Semi-arid Regions of North America
• Global Change: Riparian Exotic Species
• Invasive Species of Riparian Ecosystems: Ecology, Restoration Implications, Effects of Climate Change, and Interactions with Streamflow and Fluvial Processes
• Western Mountain Initiative — Colorado

 Click HERE for all current riverine studies at FORT