scholarly journals Modeling the potential impacts of climate change on the water table level of selected forested wetlands in the southeastern United States

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 6289-6305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Zhu ◽  
Ge Sun ◽  
Wenhong Li ◽  
Yu Zhang ◽  
Guofang Miao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Water Table ◽  
Potential Evapotranspiration ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Forested Wetlands ◽  
Wildlife Habitat ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Southeastern Us

Abstract. The southeastern United States hosts extensive forested wetlands, providing ecosystem services including carbon sequestration, water quality improvement, groundwater recharge, and wildlife habitat. However, these wetland ecosystems are dependent on local climate and hydrology, and are therefore at risk due to climate and land use change. This study develops site-specific empirical hydrologic models for five forested wetlands with different characteristics by analyzing long-term observed meteorological and hydrological data. These wetlands represent typical cypress ponds/swamps, Carolina bays, pine flatwoods, drained pocosins, and natural bottomland hardwood ecosystems. The validated empirical models are then applied at each wetland to predict future water table changes using climate projections from 20 general circulation models (GCMs) participating in Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project 5 (CMIP5) under the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios. We show that combined future changes in precipitation and potential evapotranspiration would significantly alter wetland hydrology including groundwater dynamics by the end of the 21st century. Compared to the historical period, all five wetlands are predicted to become drier over time. The mean water table depth is predicted to drop by 4 to 22 cm in response to the decrease in water availability (i.e., precipitation minus potential evapotranspiration) by the year 2100. Among the five examined wetlands, the depressional wetland in hot and humid Florida appears to be most vulnerable to future climate change. This study provides quantitative information on the potential magnitude of wetland hydrological response to future climate change in typical forested wetlands in the southeastern US.

scholarly journals Modeling the Potential Impacts of Climate Change on the Hydrology of Selected Forested Wetlands in the Southeastern United States

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Zhu ◽  
Ge Sun ◽  
Wenhong Li ◽  
Yu Zhang ◽  
Guofang Miao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Water Table ◽  
Potential Evapotranspiration ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Forested Wetlands ◽  
Wetland Hydrology ◽  
Wildlife Habitat ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Abstract. Riverine floodplains and coastal margins of the southeastern United States host extensive forested wetlands, providing myriad ecosystem services including carbon sequestration, water quality improvement, groundwater recharge, and wildlife habitat. However, these ecosystems, which are closely dependent on wetland hydrology, are at risk due to human-made climate change. This study develops site-specific empirical hydrologic models for five forested wetlands with different characteristics by synthesizing long-term observed meteorological and hydrological data. These wetlands represent typical Cypress Ponds/Swamps, Carolina Bays, Pine Flatwoods, and Wet Pine, and natural Bottomland Hardwoods ecosystems. The validated empirical models are then applied at each wetland to predict future water table changes using climate projections from 20 General Circulation Models (GCMs) participating in the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project 5 (CMIP5) under both Regional Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5 and RCP 8.5 greenhouse gas emission scenarios. We show that projected combined changes in precipitation and potential evapotranspiration would significantly alter wetland groundwater dynamics in the 21st century. Compared to the historical period, all five studied wetlands are predicted to become drier by the end of this century. The water table depth increases vary from 4 cm to 22 cm due to global warming. The large decrease in water availability (i.e., precipitation minus potential evapotranspiration) will cause a drop in the water table in all the five studied wetlands by the late 21st century. Among the five examined wetlands, the depression wetland in hot and humid Florida appears to be most sensitive to climate change. This modeling study provides quantitative information on the potential magnitude of wetland hydrological response to future climate change for typical forested wetlands in the southern U.S. Study results suggest that the ecosystem functions of southern forested wetlands will be substantially impacted by future climate change due to hydrological changes that are the key control to wetland biogeochemical cycles, vegetation distribution, fire regimes, and wildlife habitat. We conclude that climate change assessment on wetland forest ecosystems and adaptation management planning in the southeastern U.S. must first evaluate the impacts of climate change on wetland hydrology.

scholarly journals Is the future already here? The impact of climate change on the distribution of the eastern coral snake (Micrurus fulvius)

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e4647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer N. Archis ◽  
Christopher Akcali ◽  
Bryan L. Stuart ◽  
David Kikuchi ◽  
Amanda J. Chunco
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Species Distribution Modeling ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Range Shifts ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Coral Snake ◽  
Distribution Modeling

Anthropogenic climate change is a significant global driver of species distribution change. Although many species have undergone range expansion at their poleward limits, data on several taxonomic groups are still lacking. A common method for studying range shifts is using species distribution models to evaluate current, and predict future, distributions. Notably, many sources of ‘current’ climate data used in species distribution modeling use the years 1950–2000 to calculate climatic averages. However, this does not account for recent (post 2000) climate change. This study examines the influence of climate change on the eastern coral snake (Micrurus fulvius). Specifically, we: (1) identified the current range and suitable environment of M. fulvius in the Southeastern United States, (2) investigated the potential impacts of climate change on the distribution of M. fulvius, and (3) evaluated the utility of future models in predicting recent (2001–2015) records. We used the species distribution modeling program Maxent and compared both current (1950–2000) and future (2050) climate conditions. Future climate models showed a shift in the distribution of suitable habitat across a significant portion of the range; however, results also suggest that much of the Southeastern United States will be outside the range of current conditions, suggesting that there may be no-analog environments in the future. Most strikingly, future models were more effective than the current models at predicting recent records, suggesting that range shifts may already be occurring. These results have implications for both M. fulvius and its Batesian mimics. More broadly, we recommend future Maxent studies consider using future climate data along with current data to better estimate the current distribution.

scholarly journals The Response of surface ozone to climate change over the Eastern United States

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 9867-9897 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. N. Racherla ◽  
P. J. Adams
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Surface Ozone ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Chemical Production ◽  
Annual Average ◽  
Mixing Ratios ◽  
Ozone Episodes

Abstract. We examined the response of surface ozone to future climate change over the eastern United States by performing simulations corresponding to present (1990s) and future (2050s) climates using an integrated model of global climate, tropospheric gas-phase chemistry, and aerosols. A future climate has been imposed using ocean boundary conditions corresponding to the IPCC SRES A2 scenario for the 2050 s decade, resulting in an increase in the global annual-average surface air temperature by 1.7°C, with a 1.4°C increase over the surface layer of the eastern United States. Present-day anthropogenic emissions and CO2/CH4 mixing ratios have been used in both simulations while climate-sensitive natural emissions were allowed to vary with the simulated climate. There is practically zero change in the spatiotemporally averaged ozone mixing ratios predicted over the eastern United States. However, the severity and frequency of ozone episodes over the eastern United States increased due to future climate change, primarily as a result of increased ozone chemical production due to increased natural isoprene emissions. The 95th percentile ozone mixing ratio increased by 5 ppbv and the largest frequency increase occured in the 80–90 ppbv range. The most substantial and statistically significant (p-value <0.05) increases in episode frequency occurred over the southeast and midatlantic United States, largely as a result of 20% higher annual-average natural isoprene emissions. Increased chemical production and shorter average lifetime are consistent features of the predicted seasonal surface ozone response, with the former's magnitude for a location largely a function of increased natural isoprene emissions, and the latter largely due to faster dry deposition removal rates. Future climate change is also predicted to lengthen the ozone season over the eastern United States to include late spring and early fall. Significant interannual variability is observed in the frequency of ozone episodes and we find that it is necessary to utilize 5 years or more of simulation data in order to separate the effects of interannual variability and climate change on ozone episodes.

scholarly journals Drought Hazard Evaluation in Boro Paddy Cultivated Areas of Western Bangladesh at Current and Future Climate Change Conditions

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abu Reza Md. Towfiqul Islam ◽  
Shuanghe Shen ◽  
Zhenghua Hu ◽  
M. Atiqur Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Potential Evapotranspiration ◽  
Hazard Index ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Hazard Evaluation ◽  
Drought Hazard ◽  
Northwestern Region

Drought hazard is one of the main hindrances for sustaining food security in Bangladesh, and climate change may exacerbate it in the next several decades. This study aims to evaluate drought hazard at current and future climate change conditions in theBoropaddy cultivated areas of western Bangladesh using simulated climate data from the outputs of three global climate models (GCMs) based on the SRES A1B scenario for the period between 2041 and 2070. The threshold level of Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) was employed to identify drought events and its probability distribution function (PDF) was applied to create the drought hazard index. The study demonstrates that enhancement of potential evapotranspiration (PET) will surpass that of precipitation, resulting in intensified drought events in future. In addition, the PDFs of drought events will move the upper tail in future period compared to the baseline. The results showed that the southwestern region was more severe to the drought hazard than the northwestern region during the period of 1984 to 2013. From the results of three GCMs, in the mid-century period, drought hazard will slightly increase in the northwestern region and flatten with a decrease in the southwestern region. The outcomes will help to allocate agricultural adaptation plans under climate change condition in Bangladesh.

scholarly journals Impacts of future climate change and emissions reductions on nitrogen and sulfur deposition over the United States

2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Efthimios Tagaris ◽  
Kuo-Jen Liao ◽  
Kasemsan Manomaiphiboon ◽  
Jung-Hun Woo ◽  
Shan He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Sulfur Deposition ◽  
Emissions Reductions

scholarly journals ESTIMATES OF CHANGES IN COUNTY-LEVEL HOUSING PRICES IN THE UNITED STATES UNDER SCENARIOS OF FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE

2014 ◽  
Vol 05 (03) ◽  
pp. 1450009
Author(s):  
FRANCES SUSSMAN ◽  
BANSARI SAHA ◽  
BRITTA G. BIERWAGEN ◽  
CHRISTOPHER P. WEAVER ◽  
WILL COOPER ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Price Change ◽  
Housing Prices ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Climate Variables ◽  
Climate Scenarios ◽  
Amenity Value

Climate in a given location influences people's housing decisions, and changes in climate may affect these decisions in ways that alter our understanding of desirable locations. This study examines the potential sensitivity of future housing prices in the United States to changes in temperature, precipitation, and humidity by developing a hedonic regression model of the relationship between climate variables and housing prices and exploring implications of different climate futures for the amenity value of climate in these prices. The model shows a significant relationship between housing prices in urban areas and certain climate variables. The study then examines the sensitivity of the amenity value of climate to future climate scenarios. Results suggest that, nationally, climate change represents a disamenity, particularly in central-to-southeastern states. However, detailed housing prices vary spatially and among scenarios. Seasonal variation in temperature, including the relative magnitudes of the change in January and July temperatures, is a key determinant of housing price change, contributing to variation across both climate scenarios and geographic location.

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