Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Thomas D. Stokely, Urs G. Kormann, Jake Verschuyl, Andrew J. Kroll, David W. Frey, Scott H. Harris, Doug Mainwaring, Doug Maguire, Jeff A. Hatten, James W. Rivers, Stephen Fitzgerald, Matthew G. Betts
Summary: The research shows that increasing management intensity through herbicide use in forests may decrease biodiversity conservation and certain non-timber services, pointing to trade-offs between some services and timber production. However, some services appear to be compatible with timber production, suggesting that a balance may need to be struck for optimal ecosystem service provision across managed forest landscapes.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Adrianna C. Foster, Jacquelyn K. Shuman, Brendan M. Rogers, Xanthe J. Walker, Michelle C. Mack, Laura L. Bourgeau-Chavez, Sander Veraverbeke, Scott J. Goetz
Summary: Forest characteristics, structure, and dynamics in the North American boreal region are influenced by wildfire intensity, severity, and frequency. Increasing temperatures may result in more intense and frequent fires, but an increase in deciduous forest cover could decrease flammability. A forest model was used to analyze the bottom-up (fuels) and top-down (climate) controls on fire activity and project future dynamics. The model showed good agreement with observations and predicted changes in biomass and fire probability.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Colin A. Quinn, Patrick Burns, Gurman Gill, Shrishail Baligar, Rose L. Snyder, Leonardo Salas, Scott J. Goetz, Matthew L. Clark
Summary: This study successfully predicted different components of soundscape using an acoustic dataset and deep learning framework, and identified patterns of soundscape variation across space and time, which are significant for environmental planning, ecosystem conservation and restoration, and biodiversity monitoring.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Matthew J. Macander, Peter R. Nelson, Timm W. Nawrocki, Gerald Frost, Kathleen M. Orndahl, Eric C. Palm, Aaron F. Wells, Scott J. Goetz
Summary: Widespread changes in plant functional types (PFTs) are occurring in Arctic and boreal ecosystems. This study improves on previous methods by modeling plant abundance and mapping PFT changes over a 35-year time series. The maps have important applications for assessing surface energy budgets, permafrost changes, nutrient cycling, and wildlife management and movement analysis.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Logan T. Berner, Scott J. Goetz
Summary: The boreal forest biome is projected to shift northward due to climate change, with increasing greening observed in cold areas and decreasing browning observed in warm margins.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Letter
Biodiversity Conservation
Logan T. Berner, Scott J. Goetz
Summary: This study responds to a reader's concerns regarding vegetation greenness changes and their association with climate warming, reaffirming the initial conclusion.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Heidi Rodenhizer, Fay Belshe, Gerardo Celis, Justin Ledman, Marguerite Mauritz, Scott Goetz, Temuulen Sankey, Edward A. G. Schuur
Summary: Abrupt thaw of permafrost ecosystems could result in the release of more carbon than predicted from gradual thaw alone. A thermokarst detection algorithm was developed and applied in Healy, Alaska, with an accuracy of 71.5%. The study found that abrupt thaw was positively correlated with carbon uptake during the growing season, but led to higher carbon release in thermokarst features during the nongrowing season. Additionally, abrupt thaw was positively correlated with methane production year-round.
ARCTIC ANTARCTIC AND ALPINE RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Kathleen M. Orndahl, Matthew J. Macander, Logan T. Berner, Scott J. Goetz
Summary: Changes in vegetation distribution in the Arctic and boreal regions, driven by climate warming and fire disturbance, have wide-ranging impacts. A study mapped live aboveground biomass for five plant functional types. The results showed increases in deciduous and evergreen shrub biomass, and decreases in graminoid and lichen biomass, with fire being an important driver of these changes.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Editorial Material
Environmental Sciences
Scott Goetz, Ralph Dubayah, Laura Duncanson
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Rajeev Pillay, James E. M. Watson, Andrew J. Hansen, Patrick A. Jantz, Jose Aragon-Osejo, Dolors Armenteras, Scott C. Atkinson, Patrick Burns, Jamison Ervin, Scott J. Goetz, Pamela Gonzalez-del-Pliego, Nathaniel P. Robinson, Christina Supples, Anne L. S. Virnig, Brooke A. Williams, Oscar Venter
Summary: Reducing deforestation is crucial for global biodiversity conservation. Forest structure and integrity, in addition to forest cover, play a significant role in determining the extinction risk and population trends of vertebrate species in tropical rainforests.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2022)
Letter
Ecology
Christopher R. Hakkenberg, Hao Tang, Patrick Burns, Scott J. Goetz
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
L. Duncanson, M. Liang, V. Leitold, J. Armston, S. M. Krishna Moorthy, R. Dubayah, S. Costedoat, B. J. Enquist, L. Fatoyinbo, S. J. Goetz, M. Gonzalez-Roglich, C. Merow, P. R. Roehrdanz, K. Tabor, A. Zvoleff
Summary: Forests are crucial in stabilizing Earth's climate, and protected areas (PAs) are one approach to conserving forests. However, the global impact of PAs on the carbon cycle has not been quantified due to a lack of accurate global-scale carbon stock maps. Using lidar samples from NASA's GEDI mission, this study estimated a total PA aboveground carbon stock of 61.43 Gt, with 26% attributed to PAs. These higher carbon stocks are mainly from avoided emissions in PAs compared to unprotected forests, equivalent to one year of global fossil fuel emissions.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Matthew L. Clark, Leonardo Salas, Shrishail Baligar, Colin A. Quinn, Rose L. Snyder, David Leland, Wendy Schackwitz, Scott J. Goetz, Shawn Newsam
Summary: Monitoring biodiversity at multiple scales is crucial for conservation efforts. Autonomous recording units (ARUs) provide a cost-effective way to collect long-term and systematic data on sound-producing wildlife. By using deep learning and citizen science, we developed a CNN-based classification pipeline to detect bird species in Sonoma County, California.
ECOLOGICAL INFORMATICS
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Melissa A. Boyd, Xanthe J. Walker, Jennifer Barnes, Gerardo Celis, Scott J. Goetz, Jill F. Johnstone, Nicholas T. Link, April M. Melvin, Lisa Saperstein, Edward A. G. Schuur, Michelle C. Mack
Summary: As climate warms and fires become more common in boreal forests, fuel reduction treatments are used to mitigate fire risks. However, these treatments introduce uncertainties to ecosystem structure and fire behavior. This study evaluated the long-term effects of fuel reduction treatments in Interior Alaska and found that they can promote low flammability and deciduous tree dominance, but their effectiveness in reducing fire spread and behavior varies depending on the treatment methods and locations. The study highlights the importance of considering these factors in the design and management of fuel reduction treatments.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Richard Massey, Brendan M. Rogers, Logan T. Berner, Sol Cooperdock, Michelle C. Mack, Xanthe J. Walker, Scott J. Goetz
Summary: Deciduous tree cover is expected to increase in North American boreal forests with climate warming and wildfire, potentially generating biophysical cooling. However, recent decades have seen a small net decrease in deciduous fraction and near-neutral net biophysical change in radiative forcing associated with albedo, indicating no systematic negative feedbacks to climate warming.
NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE
(2023)