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The research in the Euskirchen lab focuses on terrestrial ecology in high latitude regions, and their interactions with the surrounding natural and human-altered landscapes. We work towards gaining a better understanding of the sensitivity of Arctic tundra and boreal forest ecosystems to warming, and in particular, how this shifts the timing and dynamics of multiple climatological and ecological factors, eventually feeding back to influence the climate. We pursue research questions at multiple temporal and spatial scales, using both model- and field-based approaches. The outcomes of this research can be applied to evaluate biodiversity, ecosystem services, and management options.
Examples of research projects include:
1. Collaborative Research on Carbon, Water, and Energy Balance of the Arctic Landscape at Flagship Observatories in Alaska and Siberia, Funding source: National Science Foundation
This is a project that was begun during the International Polar Year (2007 - 2009) and continues to present. The overall objective of this project is to gain a better understanding of the interactions among carbon, water, and energy fluxes in arctic landscapes, including those in Alaska and northeast Siberia. A large focus of this project has been on continuous collection of data, throughout the Arctic winter. For more information on this project, including data downloads, see the project webpage: http://aon.iab.uaf.edu/index.php
In the top photo is an eddy covariance tripod at a heath tundra site in Imnavait watershed in northern Alaska, and in the bottom photo, winter operations at the site
(bottom photo credit: Tracy Dahl)
2. Projected effects of climate-induced vegetation changes on caribou (Rangifer tarandus) energetics in northern Alaska, Funding source: U.S. Geological Survey/ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
This project is completed. It involved examining how changes in future vegetation as modeled with a dynamic vegetation model may impact the caribou from the five main caribou herds in northern Alaska.
In the photo above, caribou browsing underneath the snow in Alaska.
3. Effects of climate change in the Yukon River Basin: Changes in water and implications for wildlife habitat, human subsistence, and climate regulation, Funding source: U.S. Geological Survey (from 2009 - 2014), and continuing through funding from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Geological Survey
As part of this project, beginning in 2010 and continuing to present, we installed eddy covariance towers across a permafrost chronosequence, from a black spruce forest with cold soils and stable permafrost to two differing ages of thermokarst collapse scar bogs with degrading permafrost to a moderately rich fen with no surface permafrost. These measurements are helping us to understand how carbon, water, and energy fluxes may change following permafrost thaw.
In the photo on the far left, Glenn Scott climbs the black spruce eddy covariance tower located in the Bonanza Creek LTER in interior Alaska. On the right, Colin Edgar examines the instrumentation at the thermokarst site. Note the tree dieback at this site.
4. An Integrated Ecosystem Model for Alaska, Funding sources: U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The aim of this project is to link various models of arctic and boreal systems to provide a cohesive framework for managers to gain more accurate predictions of future habitat conditions.
See more about the project here: https://uaf-snap.org/project/iem-an-integrated-ecosystem-model-for-alaska-and-northwest-canada/
5. The Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment (NGEE), Funding Source: The U.S. Department of Energy
The goal of this project is to improve the predictions made my climate models through furthering our understanding of Arctic system processes.
The project website is available here: http://ngee-arctic.ornl.gov/
The project blog is available here: http://ngee-arctic.blogspot.com/
In the field at Utqiagvik, Alaska, one of the primary study locations of the NGEE project.
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