Presenters/Co-Authors:

Dennis Ojima, Senior Research Scientist, Natural Resources Ecology Lab, Colorado State University: dennis.ojima@colostate.edu

Trevor Even, Climate Change Analyst, Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands, Colorado State University: trevorleven@gmail.com

Abstract:

A partnership at Colorado State University draws on climate assessments conducted for over 100 US Air Force sites to create a climate change atlas to help conceptualize climate change vulnerabilities and needs vary by ecosystem. As we look to manage our natural resource base to various climate change impacts it is necessary to incorporate ecological lens in developing appropriate management options. Relevant biological components of installation ecosystems are determined by climate regimes from which they evolved. However, as changes occur in the climate regime of interest, it necessary to utilize an ecological perspective to understand and evaluate how climate changes are affecting weather extremes and seasonal changes and how these changes affect installations’ managed ecosystems. Changes in extreme temperature (both hot and cold events), high intensity rainfall, extent and intensity of droughts, and intra-seasonal patterns affects plants and animals differentially. Our presentation will provide insights on how climate change effects different ecological processes and how these cascade through natural resource issues we attempting manage.