NAU projects addressing climate change or climate change impacts.
To view a list of individual researchers and educators, click here.

Interaction of Fire, Climate and Forest Structure in Northern Mexico
What determines when forest fires will occur? Why do some forests burn more than others? How do El Niño and other climatic factors influence forest fires? Do widespread climate events or local characteristics, such as fuel, topography and ignition events, have the greatest effect on fire occurrence? These are questions we are trying to answer in this study focused on fire, climate, and forest structure in the mountains of northern Mexico.
Lead Researchers: Armando Becvor, Erica Bigio, Julián Cerano Paredes, Vicenta Constante García, Julián Charles.

Modeling the influence of management actions on fire risk and spread under future climatic conditions
Researchers are using a process-based model and a range of climate-change scenarios to model tree and stand growth for the Tahoe basin. They will then use these growth rates to model the influence of structural treatments on fire risk and fire spread under different carbon dioxide scenarios. The results will determine which fuel treatments reduce the risk of catastrophic fire and best meet location-specific goals.
Lead Researchers: Matthew Hurteau, Northern Arizona University; George Koch, Northern Arizona University.

Does Climate-Change-Associated Drought Predispose Trees to Insect Attack?
Study Objectives: 1) Measure effects of experimentally controlled precipitation (ambient, wet, drought) on susceptibility of mature pinyon pine (Pinus edulis) to insect attacks. 2) Evaluate the role of carbon starvation leading to insect attacks in the mortality of pinyon pine during the severe natural drought of 2002.
Participants:  Tom Kolb and Monica Gaylord (NAU) Nate McDowell (Los Alamos National Laboratory) and William Pockman (University of New Mexico), and key project staff (Erico Yepez, Research Associate, University of New Mexico).

2000 Years of Climate Variability from Arctic Lakes
The overall goal of this project is to reconstruct the low-frequency behavior of the Aleutian Low pressure system, and assess how its variability relates to past shifts in the mean state of climate during the Holocene.

Principal Investigator: Darrell Kaufman (Geology and Environmental Sciences); Research Specialist: Caleb Schiff (Geology).

Endemic Plant Climate Change Modeling  
This project is designed to build an understanding of how climate change impacts and other disturbances may effect endemic species distribution on the Colorado Plateau. The Colorado Plateau ecoregion supports one of the highest levels of endemism in the United States.

Participants: Crystal Krause, Neil Cobb (NAU) and Deana Pennington (UNM).

Dominant Species Plant Response to Climate Change This project models the distribution of 26 dominant plant species occuring along a 3,000 meter elevation gradient in northern Arizona. The study hypothesizes that future changes in climate change will cause dominant plant species to independently shift distributions, resulting in a reshuffling of plant associations. Many future disturbance processes influenced by climate can be simulated using the type of modeling developed for this study.

Participants: Ken Cole, Kirsten Ironside, Neil Cobb (NAU) and Gregg Garfin (UA), Jon Eischied (Colorado), Jimmie Chew (USFS), and Phil Duffy

Bryce Canyon National Park: Utah Prairie Dog Management and Conservation Strategy
This project will inventory park meadows that are currently occupied or are areas of potential habitat, determine their condition and carrying capacity, and establish prescriptions for the management of these meadows as UPD habitat. This information will help park managers to set long-term population goals for UPD colonies in light of climate change scenarios.

Participants: Kirsten Ironside, Dana Ikeda, and Neil Cobb (Merriam-Powell Center)

NAU programs and facilities addressing climate change or climate change impacts

DOE National Insitute for Climate Change Research (NICCR)
The Western Regional Center of the National Institute for Climatic Change Research (NICCR, pronounced “nicer”) supports research on the impacts of climatic change on ecosystems, and on how altered ecosystems feed back to the climate system. Directors: Bruce Hungate and George Koch (Biology)

NAU Carbon Flux Research
The Carbon Flux Research project at NAU is investigating impacts of ecosystem disturbances and forest management activities on fluxes of CO2 and CH4 in forests dominated by ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), the most widely distributed and most important pine in western North America.
Project team: Tom Kolb (NAU Forestry), George Koch (NAU Biology), Bruce Hungate (NAU Biology), Jason Kaye (Pennsylvania State University - Crop & Soil Sciences), Mario Montes-Helu (NAU Forestry), Sabina Dore (NAU Forestry), Ben Sullivan (NAU Forestry), Sara Eckert (Pennsylvania State University - Crop & Soil Sciences)

Sedimentary Records of Environmental Change Laboratory
This laboratory analyzes the physical, biological, and isotopic properties of sediment, especially from lakes and wetlands, to interpret past environmental and climate changes. Director: Darrell Kaufman (Geology / Environmental Science)

Center for Sustainable Environments
CSE is a national leader in university-based sustainability science. Northern Arizona University, which is becoming increasingly known as a "green" campus, is a fantastic resource for students who are eager to combine their academic careers with social outreach in environmental fields.

Interaction of Fire, Climate and Forest Structure in Northern Mexico
What determines when forest fires will occur? Why do some forests burn more than others? How do El Niño and other climatic factors influence forest fires? Do widespread climate events or local characteristics, such as fuel, topography and ignition events, have the greatest effect on fire occurrence? These are questions we are trying to answer in this study focused on fire, climate, and forest structure in the mountains of northern Mexico.

View The Climate History of Flagstaff, AZ from 1950-2007
Includes: Introduction, Precipitation, Temperature, What is Happening to Flagstaff's Climate?, Further Reading and more.

More projects will be added regularly, so please check back often. If you are affiliated with NAU and would like to be added to this list, contact mpcer[at]nau.edu.