Ecological and Landscape Impacts of Recent Climate Change in the Rocky Mountains

Instructor: Thomas T. Veblen

Office hours: Th 3:20 -4:00 or by appointment (email: Veblen@Colorado.edu)

 

 

SYLLABUS

 

Readings (difficult to find readings posted here – the remaining can be found through CU library):

 

Jan. 22:      Concepts and Methods for Ecosystem-Based Management

 

Hildebrand et al. 2005. The myths of restoration ecology.

                   Veblen. 2003. Key issues in fire regime research for fuels management and ecological restoration.

                   Additional Notes: Ecosystem management and HRV Methods

Jan. 29:      The Rocky Mountains: Climate Change-Past, Present, Future

Diaz et al. 2007. Disappearing “alpine tundra” Koppen climatic type in the western United States.

Hoerling and Eisheid. 2008. Attribution of Colorado Climate Variations and Change.

Hoerling and Eischeid. 2007. Past Peak water in the Southwest.

Kerr. 2004. A few good climate shifters.

Pielke et al. 2005. Drought 2002 in Colorado – An unprecedented drought or a routine drought?

Saunders et al. 2003. Hotter and Drier – The West’s Changed Climate. Also available at http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/west/contents.asp

Note: McCabe et al. 2008 has been removed from the reading list.

Feb. 5:       Climate Impacts: Wildfire

Gavin et al. 2007. Forest fire and climate change in western North America: insights from sediment charcoal records.

Schoennagel et al. 2004. The Interaction of Fire, Fuels, and Climate across Rocky Mountain Forests.

Sherriff and Veblen. 2008. Variability in fire-climate relationships in ponderosa pine forests in the Colorado Front Range.

Westerling et al. 2006. Warming and Earlier Spring Increase Western U.S. Forest Wildfire Activity.

Feb.16: Bark Beetle Outbreaks and Other Forest Insect Pests

Fettig et al. 2006 The effects of mechanical fuel reduction treatments on the activity of bark beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) infesting ponderosa pine.

Jenkins et al. 2008. Bark beetles, fuels, fires and implications for forest management in the Intermountain west.

Logan et al. 2003. Assessing the impacts of global warming on forest pest dynamics.

McHugh et al. 2006. Insect and Fire Interactions on Fire Behavior.

Raffa et al. 2008. Cross-scale Drivers of Natural Disturbances Prone to Anthropogenic Amplification: The Dynamics of Bark Beetle Eruptions.

Simard et al. 2008. Annotated Bibliography for Forest Managers on Fire-Bark-Beetle Interactions.

Feb. 19-26: Climate Impacts: Tree Mortality and Implications for Carbon Release/Storage

                   Policy Responses: Mitigation and Adaptation

                   NOTE: other citiations

 

Allen 2007. Interactions across spatial scales among forest dieback, fire, and erosion in northern New Mexico landscapes.

Breshears et al. 2005. Regional vegetation die-off in response to global-change-type drought.

Kurz et al. 2008. Mountain pine beetle and forest carbon feedback to climate change.

Running. 2008. Ecosystem Disturbance, Carbon, and Climate.