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Riparian Restoration Decision Support Tool Fact Sheet
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An innovative web-based tool - funded by the Appalachian Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) and developed by researchers from the U.S. Forest Service and the University of Massachusetts - is allowing managers to rapidly identify high-priority riparian targets for restoration to make more resilient in preparation for changes in future climate. The Riparian Restoration Prioritization to Promote Climate Change Resilience (RPCCR) tool identifies vulnerable stream and riverbanks that lack tree cover and shade in coldwater stream habitats. By locating the best spots to plant trees in riparian zones, resource managers can provide shade that limits the amount of solar radiation heating the water and reduces the impacts from climate change. This well-established management strategy will benefit high-elevation, cold-water aquatic communities.
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Resources
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How-To Guides and Handouts
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Appalachian LCC part of Premiere Climate Education and Literacy Training Program
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The inaugural Educator Climate and Conservation Colloquium (or EC3) brought together 50 teachers and school decision makers from across the nation to receive training on campus sustainability and wildlife conservation issues to better serve schools and communities.
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News & Events
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Global Vulnerability of Forests to Climate Change-Related Tree Mortality is Widely Underestimated
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Forests worldwide are vulnerable to growing risks of drought- and heat-induced tree mortality and forest die-off because of a rapidly warming Earth, according to just-published research in the scientific journal Ecosphere. The paper is an invited “ESA Centennial Paper” to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Ecological Society of America.
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News & Events
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Researchers Seek a Sneak Peek Into the Future of Forests
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In May 2015, scores of scientists from dozens of research institutions descended on a patch of forest in central North Carolina, taking samples of everything from ants and mites to other microbes – samples they hope will offer a glimpse into the future of forest ecosystems.
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News & Events
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Geodiversity Key to Conserving Biodiversity Under Climate Change
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The physical factors that create diversity (landform, bedrock, soil and topography), collectively known as geodiversity, might be the key to conserving biodiversity under a changing climate.
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News & Events
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Conservation in the face of climate change: The roles of alternative models, monitoring, and adaptation in confronting and reducing uncertainty
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The broad physical and biological principles behind climate change and its potential large scale ecological impacts on biota are fairly well understood, although likely responses of biotic communities at fine spatio-temporal scales are not, limiting the ability of conservation programs to respond effectively to climate change outside the range of human experience. Much of the climate debate has focused on attempts to resolve key uncertainties in a hypothesis-testing framework. However, conservation decisions cannot await resolution of these scientific issues and instead must proceed in the face of uncertainty. We suggest that conservation should precede in an adaptive management framework, in which decisions are guided by predictions under multiple, plausible hypotheses about climate impacts. Under this plan, monitoring is used to evaluate the response of the system to climate drivers, and management actions (perhaps experimental) are used to confront testable predictions with data, in turn providing feedback for future decision making. We illustrate these principles with the problem of mitigating the effects of climate change on terrestrial bird communities in the southern Appalachian Mountains, USA.
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Reports & Documents
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Monthly carbon dioxide levels hit new milestone
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NOAA scientists reported that in March 2015 the monthly average global carbon dioxide level went above 400 parts per million for the first time.
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News & Events
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A Complex Landscape has both Vulnerabilities and Resilience to Climate Change
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Central Appalachian forests have been experiencing the effects of a changing climate for decades, and effects such as more heavy rainfall events, more drought, and more hot days are likely to continue, according to a new vulnerability assessment for the region by the U.S. Forest Service and many partners.
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News & Events
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Assessing climate-sensitive ecosystems in the southeastern United States
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The southeastern U.S. contains a unique diversity of ecosystems that provide important benefits, including habitat for wildlife and plants, water quality, and recreation opportunities. As climate changes, a better understanding of how our ecosystems will be affected is vital for identifying strategies to protect these ecosystems.
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News & Events
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Events
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Announcing the January 2015 Decision Analysis for Climate Change Online Course (ALC 3196)
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Have you always wanted to know how to address climate change related concerns and uncertainties using decision analysis? Do you have a small to moderate scale climate change problem you are working on and wondered if decision analysis can help you solve that problem? We have the class for you!
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News and Webinars
