Each spring and fall, Sierra Streams in partnership with Sierra College puts on the Science Speaker Series the second Tuesday of each month. The talks focus science happening in the Sierra Foothills and Sierra Nevada range.
Impact of a Warmer and Drier Future: Rangeland Ecosystems and Ecosystem Services
Between 2012 and 2014 California experienced conditions that were warmer and drier than any period over the last 1200 years. Evidence is rapidly mounting indicating that these co-occurring periods of precipitation deficit and warm temperatures are human caused, likely to increase over the next century, and result in levels of drought intensity and duration rivaling those documented in the paleoclimate records. Understanding how these anthropogenic stressors will impact flows of ecosystem services in California is one of the most serious research challenges of our time.
Rangelands are the largest land use type in California, providing vast flows of critical ecosystem services to the state, including forage production for livestock, carbon sequestration and wildlife habitat. However, our ability to forecast how warming and precipitation deficit will impact these key ecosystem services is alarming limited.
Here we explore drought impacts on ranching and California grassland net primary productivity and look at how we can usedownscaled climate models to create forecasts of how future climate may impact ecological function of California grassland and oak woodlands in the decades to come.
Dr. Jeremy James has served as Director of the University of California Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center since 2012. His research program centers on understanding climate change impacts on California grasslands and how ranchers that use theses systems for livestock production can adapt to these impacts. He also is involved in several national and international projects that are focused on understanding how to restore arid land systems following catastrophic fire or disturbance. Dr. James completed his doctoral work at the University of California Davis in 2004. Following this program and prior to his current position he served as a research scientist in eastern Oregon for the USDA Agricultural Research Service.
April 9th 6pm-8pm – Sierra College Multipurpose Room, Nevada County Campus
FREE EVENT
For more information contact: Jason Giuliani at jgiuliani@sierracollege.ed