Climatic suitability models and assessments for plant species and communities of the Southwestern US

These data were compiled to assess potential changes in the climatic suitability for 66 species (dominant and associate plant species) and forecast climate exposure for 29 major plant communities within major plant communities in the southwestern United States. An objective of our study was that species within plant communities have unique climate suitability signatures and forecast changes in climatic suitability will not be uniform within the species respective communities or among species within the community. The climate suitability spatial models were developed under a modern baseline (1960-90) and future climate scenario (2041-2060) using Maxent and WorldClim temperature and precipitation variables. Plant...

Tags: Arizona, Botany, CCSM4, California, Climatology, All tags... Colorado, Community Climate System Model v4, Ecology, Geography, Information Sciences, Maxent, Nevada, New Mexico, RCP, Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5, Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 8.5, Southwest United States, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Utah, air temperature, atmospheric and climatic processes, biogeography, biota, climate change, climate exposure, climate suitability models, ecological processes, environment, machine learning, mathematical modeling, plant communities, plant species, precipitation (atmospheric), raster data, relative climatic suitability, spatial forecasts, Fewer tags

Plant Community Exposure Models

These data were compiled to forecast climate exposure for 29 major plant communities in the southwestern United States to changing climate under two future climate change scenarios. An objective of our study was that species within plant communities have unique climate suitability signatures and forecast changes in climatic suitability will not be uniform within the species respective communities or among species within the community. We developed these spatial models where climate exposure is represented as a composite score of the climate exposure of characteristic plants for each community. Baseline climate exposure rasters represent a baseline climate change and were developed for current climate conditions...

Tags: Arizona, CCSM4, California, Colorado, Community Climate System Model v4, All tags... Maxent, Nevada, New Mexico, RCP, Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5, Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 8.5, Southwest United States, Utah, atmospheric and climatic processes, biogeography, biota, climate change, climate exposure, climate suitability models, ecological processes, environment, machine learning, mathematical modeling, plant communities, plant species, raster data, relative climatic suitability, spatial forecasts, Fewer tags

Ecosystem water balance and ecological drought patterns under historical and future climate conditions for the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) Landscape

These data were compiled for research pertaining to the effects of stand density treatments on growth rates in semi-arid, ponderosa pine forests. Also, these data examined how the planned restoration treatments in the Four Forests Restoration Initiative (4FRI), the largest forest restoration project being implemented in the United States, would alter landscape-scale patterns of forest growth and drought vulnerability throughout the 21st century. Using drought-growth relationships developed within the landscape, we considered a suite of climate and thinning scenarios and estimated both average forest growth and the proportion of years with extremely low growth as a measure of vulnerability to long-term decline. The...

Tags: 21st century, 4FRI, Arizona, Climatology, Coconino National Forest, All tags... Colorado Plateau, Ecology, Flagstaff, Forestry, Four Forests Restoration Initiative, Geography, Information Sciences, Kaibab National Forest, RCP, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), air temperature, atmospheric and climatic processes, basal area, basal area increment, basal area reduction, biomass, biomass increment, climate, climate change, climate impacts, climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere, density treatment, drought severity, drought vulnerability, drought-growth relationships, droughts, ecological distribution, ecological drought, ecological processes, ecological restoration, ecosystem restoration, environmental driver, environmental restoration, forest density, forest ecosystems, forest growth, forest stand, forest treatment, future time period (late), future time period (near), geography, geoscientificInformation, growth, growth rate, growth rates, growth vulnerability, historical time period, landscape, landscape, landscape structure, landscape-scale patterns, northern Arizona, pine forests, ponderosa pine forests, precipitation, precipitation (atmospheric), predicted growth, relative growth, representative concentration pathway, restoration treatments, semi-arid forests, shifting climate, soil moisture, stand density treatments, stand driver, temperature, thinning, thinning treatments, Fewer tags

Ecosystem water balance and ecological drought patterns under historical and future climate conditions for the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) Landscape (COPY)

These data were compiled for research pertaining to the effects of stand density treatments on growth rates in semi-arid, ponderosa pine forests. Also, these data examined how the planned restoration treatments in the Four Forests Restoration Initiative (4FRI), the largest forest restoration project being implemented in the United States, would alter landscape-scale patterns of forest growth and drought vulnerability throughout the 21st century. Using drought-growth relationships developed within the landscape, we considered a suite of climate and thinning scenarios and estimated both average forest growth and the proportion of years with extremely low growth as a measure of vulnerability to long-term decline. The...

Tags: 21st century, 4FRI, Arizona, Climatology, Coconino National Forest, All tags... Colorado Plateau, Ecology, Flagstaff, Forestry, Four Forests Restoration Initiative, Geography, Information Sciences, Kaibab National Forest, RCP, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), air temperature, atmospheric and climatic processes, basal area, basal area increment, basal area reduction, biomass, biomass increment, climate, climate change, climate impacts, climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere, density treatment, drought severity, drought vulnerability, drought-growth relationships, droughts, ecological distribution, ecological drought, ecological processes, ecological restoration, ecosystem restoration, environmental driver, environmental restoration, forest density, forest ecosystems, forest growth, forest stand, forest treatment, future time period (late), future time period (near), geography, geoscientificInformation, growth, growth rate, growth rates, growth vulnerability, historical time period, landscape, landscape, landscape structure, landscape-scale patterns, northern Arizona, pine forests, ponderosa pine forests, precipitation, precipitation (atmospheric), predicted growth, relative growth, representative concentration pathway, restoration treatments, semi-arid forests, shifting climate, soil moisture, stand density treatments, stand driver, temperature, thinning, thinning treatments, Fewer tags