News in 2009
Dec. 9, 2009
In collaboration with scientists in Canadian Forest Services, our lab just published an analysis about the relationship between wildfire numbers and their burned areas in Canadian boreal forest ecosystems.
Citation:
Jiang Y, Zhuang Q, Flannigan MD, Little JM (2009) Characterization of wildfire regimes in Canadian boreal terrestrial ecosystems. International Journal of Wildland Fire 18, 992-1002. doi:10.1071/WF08096.
Abstract:
In the study, wildfires were found to follow power?Claw relationships between frequency densities (number of fires normalized to unit bins) and burned areas in all ecozones. Power?Claw frequency?Carea relationships also held for both anthropogenic fires and natural fires in the 1980s and 1990s.
Nov. 18, 2009
In collaboration with scientists in Chinese Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Sciences, our lab just published a study focusing on carbon cycling in Mongolian Plateau during the 21st century.
Citation:
Y. Lu, Q. Zhuang, G. Zhou, A. Sirin, J. Melillo and D. Kicklighter (2009) Possible decline of the carbon sink in the Mongolian Plateau during the 21st century, Environ. Res. Lett. 4 045023 (8pp)
Abstract:
The study estimates the region acted as a C sink of 31 Tg C yr-1 in the 1990s, but this sink will likely decline in both magnitude and extent under future climate conditions. This change is due to the relatively larger enhancement of soil organic matter decomposition, which releases carbon to the atmosphere, than the corresponding enhancement of plant C uptake, by rising temperatures and atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
Sept. 14, 2009
In collaboration with Chinese Academy of Sciences, our lab just published a study focusing analyzing the drought effects on carbon dynamics in China during the 20th century with a tree-ring data and a process-based ecosystem model.
Citation:
Xiao, J., Q. Zhuang, E. Liang, A.D. McGuire, A. Moody, D.W. Kicklighter, X. Shao, and J.M. Melillo, 2009: Twentieth-Century Droughts and Their Impacts on Terrestrial Carbon Cycling in China. Earth Interactions, 13, 1-31.
Aug. 11, 2009
Our second of a series of studies in quantifying the uncertainty of large-scale carbon dynamics has been just published in Journal of Geophysical Research- Atmosphere.
Citation:
Tang, J., and Q. Zhuang (2009), A global sensitivity analysis and Bayesian inference framework for improving the parameter estimation and prediction of a process-based Terrestrial Ecosystem Model, J. Geophys. Res., 114, D15303, doi:10.1029/2009JD011724.
Abstract:
In this study, a global sensitivity analysis and Bayesian inference framework was developed for improving the parameterization and predictability of a monthly time step process-based biogeochemistry model TEM. Our study suggests that the developed global sensitivity analysis and Bayesian framework could further be used to analyze and improve the predictability and parameterization of relatively coarse time step biogeochemistry models when the eddy flux and satellite data are available for other terrestrial ecosystems.
July 23, 2009
Our lab has been just funded by NSF Ecosystem Program to document ecosystem changes that occurred 10,000 years ago across Alaska and to assess effects of a warmer climate and different seasonality on nutrient and water cycling using the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model. The project is a collaborative effort with Lehigh University.
Apr. 8, 2009
Congratulations to Yueyang Jiang, who has successfully defended his MS thesis on "Modeling Wildfire Regimes in northern North America"and moved towards his PhD at Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences!
Apr. 7, 2009
Our lab has been just funded by NASA land-use and land-cover change program to investigate Changes of Land Cover and Land Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Northern Eurasia: Impacts on Human Adaptation and Quality of Life at Regional and Global Scales.
The collaborators include the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Japan, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Feb. 4, 2009
A feature article, one of the synthesis products of a Working Group led by Prof. Zhuang, supported by National Center of Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), was published this week in EOS.
Citation:
Zhuang, Q., J. M. Melack, S. Zimov, K. M. Walter, C. L. Butenhoff, and M. A. K. Khalil (2009), Global methane emissions from wetlands, rice paddies, and lakes, Eos, 90(5), 37-38.