Forest insects are major disturbances that induce tree mortality in eastern coniferous (or fir-spruce) forests in eastern North America. The spruce budworm (SBW) (Choristoneura fumiferana [Clemens]) is the most devastating insect causing tree mortality. However, the relative importance of insect-caused mortality versus tree mortality caused by other agents and how this relationship will change ...

     Diurnal air temperature modeling is a beneficial experimental and mathematical approach which can be used in many fields related to Geosciences. The modeling and spatio-temporal analysis of air Diurnal Temperature Cycle (DTC) was conducted using data obtained from 105 synoptic stations in Iran during the years 2013-2014 for the first time; the key variable for controlling the cosine term i...

Global sensitivity analysis is a useful tool to understand process-based ecosystem models by identifying key parameters and processes controlling model predictions. This study reported a comprehensive global sensitivity analysis for DRAINMOD-FOREST, an integrated model for simulating water, carbon (C), and nitrogen (N) cycles and plant growth in lowland forests. The analysis was carried out for...

There has been evidence of warming rate varying largely over space and between seasons. However, little has been done to evaluate the spatial and temporal variability of air temperature in the Tarim Basin, northwest China. In this study, we collected daily air temperature from 19 meteorological stations for the period of 1960-2012, and analyzed annual mean temperature (AMT), the annual minimum ...

We exploited an elevation (climate) gradient ranging from 1,700 to 2,500 m in Poudre Canyon of LarimerCounty, CO, to determine climatic correlates of abundance per 15-s drag sampling time unit (hereafter referred to as abundance) of the human-biting adult life stage of the Rocky Mountain wood tick, Dermacentor andersoni Stiles (Acari: Ixodidae), in a key risk habitat for tick exposure: south/we...

Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) is a tree species of high economic and ecological value, but is also considered to be highly invasive. Understanding the global potential distribution and ecological characteristics of this species is a prerequisite for its practical exploitation as a resource. Here, a maximum entropy modeling (MaxEnt) was used to simulate the potential distribution of thi...

An analysis of the annual mean temperature (TMEAN) (1961-2010) has revealed that warming amplification (altitudinal amplification and regional amplification) is a common feature of major high-elevation regions across the globe against the background of global warming since the mid-20th century. In this study, the authors further examine whether this holds for annual mean minimum temperature (TM...

[1] Global upper ocean evolution in the Holocene is studied in two coupled ocean-atmosphere models under orbital forcing conditions at 3, 6, 8, and 11 ka. The annual mean sea surface temperature (SST) changes in the early to mid-Holocene are found to be forced mainly by the annual mean insolation forcing with an overall symmetric response of colder equator (<0.5 C)/warmer high latitudes (<0.4 C...

The quantification and description of sea surface temperature (SST) is critically important because it can influence the distribution, migration, and invasion of marine species; furthermore, SSTs are expected to be affected by climate change. To better understand present temperature regimes, we assembled a 29-year nearshore time series of mean monthly SSTs along the North Pacific coastline usin...

Soil respiration (SR) constitutes the largest flux of CO(2) from terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere. However, there still exist considerable uncertainties as to its actual magnitude, as well as its spatial and interannual variability. Based on a reanalysis and synthesis of 80 site-years for 57 forests, plantations, savannas, shrublands and grasslands from boreal to tropical climates we pr...