Last Updated:
February 28, 2007

GCRIO Program Overview

Library 
Our extensive collection of documents.

Privacy Policy

Archives of the
Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 7, NUMBERS 11-12, NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1994

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS... IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE: ECOSYSTEMS

Item #d94nov21

"The Impact of a 2 x CO2 Climate on Lightning-Caused Fires," C. Price (Global Clim. Res. Div., L-262, Lawrence Livermore Natl. Lab., POB 808, Livermore CA 94550), D. Rind, J. Clim., 7(10), 1484-1494, Oct. 1994.

Presents two models (one for seasonal variations and one for interannual variations) relating the frequency of fires and the area burned to effective precipitation and frequency of thunderstorms. For CO2 doubling, the annual mean number of fires in the U.S., and the area burned, would increase by 44% and 78% respectively. Globally, the largest increase in fires is expected in untouched tropical ecosystems, where few natural fires now occur.

Item #d94nov22

"Global Climate Change and Biodiversity in Forests of the Southern United States," M.S. Devall (USDA Forest Serv., 701 Loyola Ave., Rm. T-10210, New Orleans LA 70113), B.R. Parresol, World Resour. Rev., 6(3), 376-394, Sep. 1994.

Climate change could affect biodiversity at all levels (from species to landscape) as well as the interactions of organisms, and could cause other modifications that few scientists so far have considered. Species will relocate northward, and the numbers of threatened, endangered and extinct species will increase. Wetland vegetation will be especially at risk.

Item #d94nov23

"Climate Effects on Mountain Plants," G. Grabherr (Dept. Vegetation Ecol., Univ. Vienna, POB 285, A1091 Vienna, Austria), M. Gottfried, H. Pauli, Nature, 369(6480), 448, June 9, 1994.

Compares results of a recent survey of cover and abundance of vascular plant species above 3,000 meters in the central Alps with historical data. There is no doubt that even moderate warming induces upward migration, and that this process is underway; results suggest that global warming is already having a significant effect on alpine plant ecology.

Item #d94nov24

"Global Terrestrial Vegetation 'Prediction': The Use and Abuse of Climate and Application Models," A. Henderson-Sellers (Clim. Impacts Ctr., Macquarie Univ., N. Ryde, Sydney NSW 2109, Australia), Prog. Phys. Geog., 18(2), 209-246, June 1994.

Examines the Holdridge life-zone classification scheme, an impacts model which is being applied to output from global climate models. Very different conclusions can be drawn about future distributions of continental vegetation, depending on the version of the model, the input and the assessment procedure used.

Item #d94nov25

"Climate Change and the British Scene," D.J. Beerling (Dept. Animal & Plant Sci., Univ. Sheffield, POB 601, Sheffield S10 2UQ, UK), F.I. Woodward, J. Ecol., 82, 391-397, June 1994.

To predict the responses of alien species to global change, it is critical to identify the fundamental processes controlling their distribution. Considers how localized topographies, water availability, and soil types might modify the invasive potential of these species in the U.K.

Item #d94nov26

"Physiological Derivation of the Observed Relationship Between Net Primary Production [NPP] and Mean Annual Air Temperature," G.B. Bonan (NCAR, POB 3000, Boulder CO 80307), Tellus, 45B(5), 397-408, Nov. 1993.

Presents a forest carbon exchange model that may provide a means of integrating terrestrial carbon flux into global climate models.

Item #d94nov27

Two items from Oecologia, 96(4), 1993:

"Effects of Temperature Elevation on a Field Population of Acyrthosiphon svalbardicum (Hemiptera: Aphididae) on Spitsbergen," A.T. Strathdee (Sch. Biol. Sci., Univ. Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK), J.S. Bale et al., 457-465. A field study indicates that the life-cycle of this aphid is well suited to exploit higher summer temperatures, that the annual success of local populations are sensitive to small changes in temperature, and that it is living at the limits of its thermal range at Ny Ålesund. (See "Insects That Carry a Global Warming," New Scientist, pp. 32-35, Apr. 1994.)

"Climate Change and the Short-Term Impact of Feral House Mice at the Sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands," S.L. Chown (Dept. Entomol., Univ. Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, S. Africa), V.R. Smith, 508-516. This field study supports the hypotheses of global warming effects on mouse-plant-invertebrate interactions, provides evidence for the first reported case of predator-mediated speciation, and shows that the interaction of human-induced changes operating at different scales may have profound consequences for local systems.

Item #d94nov28

"In Situ Mineralization of Nitrogen and Phosphorus of Arctic Soils After Perturbations Simulating Climate Change," S. Jonasson (Bot. Inst., Univ. Copenhagen, Oster Farimagsgade 2D, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Den.), M. Havström et al., ibid., 95(2), 179-186, 1993.

Suggests that soil temperature increases of up to 2·C have only small effects on net mineralization in at least two tundra soils. A further soil temperature increase of up to 4-5·C may enhance decomposition and gross mineralization.

Item #d94nov29

"A Possible Mechanism Relating Increased Soil Temperature to Forest Decline," G.H. Tomlinson (920 Perrot Blvd., Ile-Perrot PQ J7V 3K1, Can.), Water, Air & Soil Pollut., 66, 365-380, 1993.

Leaching of nutrient cations in soils by acid deposition is associated with periods of increased temperature and reduced rainfall. This paper discusses the relevance of earlier studies on the influence of temperature, when considered in relation to more recent findings such as the impacts of increased temperature and drought in Hawaii resulting from the El Niño/Southern Oscillation. The unusual periods of increased temperature and drought that have occurred in other localized areas may have led to the decline symptoms recently observed; this possibility should be investigated in view of the threat of global warming.

Specialized Papers

Item #d94nov30

"Holocene Changes in Semiarid Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands: Response to Climate, Fire, and Human Activities in the US Great Basin," R.F. Miller (Northern Great Basin Experimental Range, HC 71 4.51 Hwy. 205, Burns OR 97720), P.E. Wigand, BioScience, 44(7), 465-474, July-Aug. 1994.

Item #d94nov31

"Biomass Allocation of Montane and Desert Ponderosa Pine: An Analog for Response to Climate Change," R.M. Callaway, E.H. DeLucia (Plant Biol., Univ. Illinois, Urbana IL 61801), W.H. Schlesinger, Ecology, 75(5), 1474-1481, July 1994.

Item #d94nov32

"Growth Responses of Four Sub-Arctic Dwarf Shrubs to Simulated Environmental Change," A.N. Parsons (Natural Resour. Ecol. Lab., Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins CO 80523), J.M. Welker et al., J. Ecol.,82, 307-318, June 1994.

Item #d94nov33

"Leaf Carbon Isotope Discrimination and Vegetative Responses of Dryas octopetala to Temperature and Water Manipulations in a High Arctic Polar Semi-Desert, Svalbard," J.M. Welker (addr. immed. above), P.A. Wookey et al., Oecologia, 95(4), 463-469, 1993.