Projecting future forest condition under changing climate in Sierra Nevada Mountains

April 9, 2014 @ 01:20 pm to 02:10 pm

Shuang Liang, Penn State

104 Forest Resources Building

Forest sustainability is of significant importance in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of the Pacific U.S., since these forests span a substantial latitudinal and elevation range, providing important ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and wildlife habitats. These ecosystem services, however, face multiple potential threats from climate change, such as changes in temperature extremes and precipitation patterns, ecosystem processes, wildfire regimes and shifting species dominance of forests. Long-term sustainability of ecosystem services is paramount for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Concerns surrounding this issue remain over the ability of forests to continue to sequester carbon and maintain productivity under conditions of climate change. Here I will discuss my dissertation proposal around this topic.