Extreme weather, floods, drought, and land-use change are impacting nutrient, element, and water cycling within mountainous watersheds that provide 60-90 percent of the world’s freshwater. Changes in precipitation and snowmelt influence the quantity and timing of water in streams and rivers. However, these changes can also affect water quality because they affect the fate and…
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California has the fifth largest economy in the world and is home to one of the largest agricultural regions in the United States. However, the state’s water resources are extremely vulnerable to climate change–in part because much of historical precipitation falls at or near the freezing line, so that small increases in temperature will have…
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Through its leadership of the NGEE-Tropics project, EESA and partners around the world are exploring how tropical ecosystems are changing in response to climate and land-use change. This type of leadership, according to an August 16 editorial in Nature, is more important than ever. Dense tropical forests cover only about 8% of Earth’s land…
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Fabio Ciulla, who received his B.S and M.S in physics from the University of Rome La Sapienza and his Ph.D. from Northeastern University, is a postdoc fellow in the Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division. Ciulla has researched both natural and social sciences, including modeling the spread of epidemics and studying how information diffuses in social…
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Wildfires are increasing in severity and frequency worldwide. A new report called Spreading like Wildfire: The Rising Threat of Extraordinary Landscape Fires indicates that wildfires are responsible for significant economic, environmental, and sociopolitical damage (UNEP, GRID-Arendal, 2021). They also contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions – thereby further fueling climate change. Researchers need to…
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EESA Staff Scientist Robinson Negron-Juarez will travel to Iquitos, Peru, in July to accept an Honoris Causa from the National University of the Peruvian Amazon (Universidad Nacional de la Amazonia Peruana, UNAP). Negron-Juarez joined EESA in 2013 and contributes to the NGEE-Tropics project led by EESA and to EESA’s wildfire Element. Through his research he…
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Burning more than 1,000 square kilometers of tundra on Alaska’s North Slope, the 2007 Anaktuvuk river wildfire is one of the largest fires to occur within Arctic ecosystems. Berkeley Lab scientist Nick Bouskill led a study that used data from this disturbance event to predict ecosystem recovery as fires advance in a changing climate. (Credit:…
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When envisioning renewable energy, sources that often come to mind are the sun, wind, batteries, and water. However, biofuel, a type of renewable energy that converts organic material from plants into liquid fuel, is an important part of a global effort to achieve net-zero emissions. Switchgrass, a deep-rooted native North American grass that grows in…
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Just one teaspoon of soil or sediment can contain up to one billion microbes. These microorganisms in Earth’s subsurface, although invisible, largely influence the global carbon cycle through their ability to break down organic material, which releases carbon dioxide in the process. However, environmental conditions within Earth’s subsurface such as moisture, nutrient availability, and…
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Climate change is leading to an increase in many vivid impacts, such as more frequent wildfires and floods. However, there are many effects of climate change that can’t be seen from miles away – or even seen at all. The intensity and frequency of drought is predicted to increase along with higher temperatures. Droughts can…
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