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The Impacts of Major Disturbances on North America's Forest Carbon Budget in the 21st Century

This research investigates how major disturbance events—such as wildfires, insect infestations, and hurricanes—have affected the forest carbon budget in North America during the early 21st century. Findings highlight significant shifts, including boreal forests in the Yukon River Basin changing from carbon sinks to sources due to increased burned areas and fire severity. The study emphasizes the urgent need to understand both short-term impacts and long-term legacies of these disturbances, along with their implications for climate policy and societal impacts on health and economies.

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The Impacts of Major Disturbances on North America's Forest Carbon Budget in the 21st Century

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  1. Assessing the Impacts of Major Disturbance Events on North America’s Forest Carbon Budget During the Early 21st Century E. Kasischke, G. Hurtt, J. Hicke, S. Goward, J. Masek NACP 4th AIM 6 Feb 2013

  2. Results from recent research • Increased burned area and fire severity has resulted in the boreal forests in the Yukon River Basin switching from a net C sink to a net source of carbon • Increased insect mortality in the western U.S. has increased the C source strength of the forests in this region • Increased burned area in the western U.S. has increased the C source strength of the forests in this region • Increased hurricane activity in the southeast U.S. has shifted the forests in this region from a net C sink to a net C source

  3. Suggested Future Activities • Paper focused on synthesizing results of research on natural disturbance impacts on forest C sink strength • Short term impacts vs. long-term legacies • Modeling synthesis focused on impacts of recent natural disturbances, including mega-disturbances (fire, insects, hurricanes) and diffuse disturbances (drought, forest die back, wind damage, etc.) • Modeling approaches (Fire emissions, inventory-based models, net biome production models) • Regional to continental scale models

  4. Societal Importance of Natural Disturbances Climate Policy and Negotiations Direct impacts on society • Threats to life, health, and property • Huge impacts on local and regional economies based on wood products • Effect a wide range of other ecosystem services Stinson el 2011 See Tony Lempriere talk from Wed. a.m.

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