Browsing by Subject "climate change"
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Item Acclimation of photosynthetic temperature optima of temperate and boreal tree species in response to experimental forest warming(Wiley, 2015) Sendall, Kerrie M; Reich, Peter B; Zhao, Changming; Jihua, Hou; Wei, Xiaorong; Stefanski, Artur; Rice, Karen; Rich, Roy L; Montgomery, Rebecca A.Rising temperatures caused by climate change could negatively alter plant ecosystems if temperatures exceed optimal temperatures for carbon gain. Such changes may threaten temperature-sensitive species, causing local extinctions and range migrations. This study examined the optimal temperature of net photosynthesis (Topt) of two boreal and four temperate deciduous tree species grown in the field in northern Minnesota, United States under two contrasting temperature regimes. We hypothesized that Topt would be higher in temperate than co-occurring boreal species, with temperate species exhibiting greater plasticity in Topt, resulting in better acclimation to elevated temperatures. The chamberless experiment, located at two sites in both open and understory conditions, continuously warmed plants and soils during three growing seasons. Results show a modest, but significant shift in Topt of 1.1 ± 0.21 °C on average for plants subjected to a mean 2.9 ± 0.01 °C warming during midday hours in summer, and shifts with warming were unrelated to species native ranges. The 1.1 °C shift in Topt with 2.9 °C warming might be interpreted as suggesting limited capacity to shift temperature response functions to better match changes in temperature. However, Topt of warmed plants was as well-matched with prior midday temperatures as Topt of plants in the ambient treatment, and Topt in both treatments was at a level where realized photosynthesis was within 90–95% of maximum. These results suggest that seedlings of all species were close to optimizing photosynthetic temperature responses, and equally so in both temperature treatments. Our study suggests that temperate and boreal species have considerable capacity to match their photosynthetic temperature response functions to prevailing growing season temperatures that occur today and to those that will likely occur in the coming decades under climate change.Item Adaptation to changing environment in Scots pine populations across a latitudinal gradient(1998) Oleksyn, Jacek; Tjoelker, Mark G; Reich, Peter BIn several growth chamber and field experiments we examined the growth response of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) populations from a wide latitudinal range to temperature and photoperiod. The duration of the shoot elongation period of one-year-old seedlings was affected by temperature and photoperiod. In contrasting temperatures, 23/20 °C, 20/17 °C, and 17/14 °C (day/night), shoot elongation period for all populations was shortest in the high and longest in the low temperature treatments. The northern populations from 61–57°N ceased height growth earlier than the other populations in the southern 50°N photoperiod. The order of growth cessation among populations at 50°N in the chamber experiment and at 52°N in the field experiment was similar and related to observed population differences in terminal leader growth and total tree height. Since the length of growing season is under strong environmentally-mediated genetic control in Scots pine, potential climatic changes such as increasing temperature will probably alter the length and timing of growth in aboveground tree parts, but likely in the opposite direction (a shorter growing season) than has been often hypothesized (a longer growing season). Tree-ring analyses of a provenance experiment established in 1912 indicate that the main climatic factors that limited ring-width growth in Scots pine were air temperatures in the winter months of December through March. Low winter temperatures were followed by the formation of narrow rings over the next summer. Based on responses to temperature, Scots pine populations from the continuous European range can be divided in several geographic groups along a latitudinal gradient. Our results suggest that in developing new models to predict the response of Scots pine to changing environmental conditions, it is necessary to include intraspecific differentiation in acclimation and adaptation to environmental factors.Item Air-quality related health impacts of food in the United States(2021-05) Domingo, Nina GabrielleThe challenge of feeding a growing and increasingly affluent population has spurred interest in identifying diets and food production practices that improve human health and protect the environment. The environmental impacts of our food system on climate change, on land, energy, and water use, and on water quality are well established. Less is known about the role of food in influencing human health via reduced air quality. This is despite the food sector being a major contributor to air pollution and reduced air quality being the largest environmental risk to premature mortality. This dissertation addresses that gap by advancing understanding of the air-quality related health impacts of US food in three ways: (i) by examining air-quality related health impacts of individual foods and diets, I find that 80% of the 15,900 annual death from food-related fine particulate matter is attributable to animal source foods; (ii) by estimating the air-quality related health impacts of pork and chicken along 79 company-specific supply chains, I find that the associated air-quality related health damages are concentrated in a small fraction of the total companies and the slaughter facilities they operate; and (iii) by calculating the external costs linked to the air-quality related health impacts and climate impacts of individual foods, I find that total external costs of food production are comparable to the net cash income of the US farm sector. These findings can inform decisions of food producers, processors and distributors, policymakers, and the broader public interested in improving the health and environmental outcomes linked to the food we eat. Future work should explore the air-quality related health impacts of the food system at a global scale, examine the relationship between food’s air-quality related health impacts and other environmental impacts, and evaluate solutions with respect to broader social and environmental goals.Item An analysis of atmospheric and oceanic variability on North American regional climate under historical and future conditions(2019-08) Serakos, AllisonLarge-scale climate patterns affect many areas of our global environment either directly or indirectly. They provide the background conditions for regional climate patterns and weather events that in turn affect many areas of our society, such as agriculture, water supply, energy demand, and natural ecosystem development. Many scientists have analyzed how these large-scale modes of climate variability influence the climate response over North America on an individual basis, however, it is still unclear how the combination of modes of variability affect North American climate. In this study, I analyze the four leading modes of climate variability that influence North American climate patterns: the El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), the Pacific – North American (PNA) Pattern, and the Northern Annular Mode (NAM). Through an observational analysis, I show which climate pattern has the largest influence on a particular region of North America as well as the most common combinations of patterns to influence the continent. The oceanic patterns, ENSO and AMO, have the largest influence on the background conditions of regional climate due to their slow-varying nature, while the atmospheric patterns, PNA and NAM, have the largest influence on wintertime temperature and precipitation anomalies. The North American climate response of the combined PNA and NAM patterns is seasonally dependent, where in the boreal winter they have the largest influence when in opposition and in the summer when in the same phase. This is due in part to their common link with the Aleutian Low in the North Pacific. Furthermore, the AMO has a large influence on summer climate due to its weak seasonality and the lack of strength of the other regional climate patterns. Moreover, this study also presents an analysis on the North American climate influence of the ENSO and AMO using the NCAR CESM1 global climate model. The model results for the ENSO response are corroborated well with observations, however, the AMO response in the model is weak, which might be a result of the internal metrics of the model or a weak AMO forcing. The largest North American climate response occurs when the combined ENSO and AMO patterns are in opposition. The ENSO and AMO response is also simulated under RCP8.5 end-of-century conditions to analyze the pattern response under global warming. An eastward shift in the ENSO teleconnection occurs under future warming with the largest shift occurring under +ENSO conditions. An eastward shift occurs under –ENSO conditions only when in combination with a +AMO in the winter, suggesting the AMO having an influence on the ENSO teleconnection. Additionally, the shift in the ENSO response highlights the nonlinear nature of the ENSO teleconnection and an element of future climate change over North America.Item Analysis Of Response To Climate Change In The Le Sueur River Watershed With Generated Climate Predictions(2020-03) Steinweg, EmilyClimate change may have a variety of impacts on Midwest USA agriculture, including impacts to water quality, soil erosion, and nutrient loss. Existing and future climate scenarios were modeled in the Le Sueur watershed using the Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to compare the watershed outflow and nutrient concentration outflows under those scenarios. The Le Sueur watershed, in south-central Minnesota, USA, is approximately 1,112 square miles, 87% of which is agriculture. The agriculture land is predominantly in corn and soybean rotations. Much work has been done using global climate models to predict the climate impacts from anthropogenic climate changes, resulting in predictions that the Midwest will experience increased temperatures, increased precipitation in the winter months, and decreased precipitation in the summer months. Minnesota has already documented an increase in extreme rainfall events. These events can cause flooding, damage land and property, and impact agricultural production. This analysis uses six global climate model (GCM) projections from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) for the Le Sueur River watershed area. The magnitude of change of five weather inputs; maximum temperature, minimum temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, and wind speed, was averaged over three future climate time periods (2006-2029, 2030-2059, and 2060-2099) for two emissions scenarios, RCP 4.5 and 8.5. Average changes were applied to local weather in the Weather Input for Nonpoint Data Simulations (WINDS) model to simulate local climate projections. Predictions from WINDS are used in SWAT, to investigate watershed response to climate change in the Le Sueur River watershed.Item Arctic Peregrine Falcon Abundance on Cliffs Along the Colville River, Alaska, 1981-2002 and Covariate Input Files(2015-04-15) Bruggeman, Jason E.; Swem, Ted; Andersen, David E; Kennedy, Patricia L.; Nigro, Debora; brug0006@umn.edu; Bruggeman, Jason E.Arctic peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus tundrius; hereafter Arctic peregrine) have a limited and northern breeding distribution, including the Colville River Special Area (CRSA) in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, USA. We quantified influences of climate, topography, nest productivity, prey habitat, density dependence, and interspecific competition affecting Arctic peregrines in the CRSA by applying the Dail-Madsen model to estimate abundance and vital rates of adults on nesting cliffs from 1981 through 2002. Arctic peregrine abundance increased throughout the 1980s, which spanned the population's recovery from DDT-induced reproductive failure, until exhibiting a stationary trend in the 1990s. Apparent survival rate (i.e., emigration; death) was negatively correlated with number of adult Arctic peregrines on the cliff the previous year, suggesting effects of density-dependent population regulation. Apparent survival rate and arrival rate (i.e., immigration; recruitment) were higher during years with earlier snowmelt and milder winters, and apparent survival was positively correlated with nesting season maximum daily temperature. Arrival rate was positively correlated with average Arctic peregrine productivity along a cliff segment from the previous year and initial abundance was positively correlated with cliff height. Higher cliffs with documented higher productivity, and presumably indicative of higher quality habitat, are a priority for continued protection from potential nearby development and disturbance to minimize population-level impacts. Our work provides insight into factors affecting a population during and after recovery, and demonstrates how the Dail-Madsen model can be used for any unmarked population with multiple years of abundance data collected through repeated surveys.Item Are Minnesota moose warming up to climate change? A validation of techniques for remotely monitoring moose behavior and body temperature.(2017-04) Herberg, AndrewClimate change is causing rapid shifts in species distributions across the globe. Large-bodied endotherms, especially those at the edge of their bioclimatic range, are particularly vulnerable to these changes. It is critical that we understand the physiology, behavior, and energetic needs of these animals to develop effective management and conservation plans. Advancements in biotelemetry devices have greatly improved our ability to collect physiological and behavioral data from free-ranging animals; however, our understanding of how the data can be processed and used is still in its infancy. One species of conservation concern, the moose (Alces alces), experienced a 58% population decline in northeastern Minnesota between 2006 and 2017. To better understand behavioral and physiological responses of this species to increasing ambient temperature, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources deployed two types of biotelemetry devices in moose throughout northeastern MN: 1) rumen boluses, known as mortality implant transmitters (MITs), capable of recording internal body temperatures, and 2) global positioning system (GPS) collars equipped with dual-axis activity sensors that detect and record changes in neck movements. The main goals of my research were to determine the accuracy of MIT-derived core body temperatures and test the efficacy of using dual-axis activity sensors for remotely predicting behavioral states of moose. Ten captive female moose (>2 years old) at the Moose Research Center in Kenai, Alaska with MITs were fit with vaginal implant transmitters (VITs) capable of recording internal body temperature, and GPS collars for 12 months starting in December 2014. A total of 384 hours of behavioral observations were collected during four, two-week windows distributed across seasons. I observed a notable effect of water intake on MIT-derived temperatures and developed an approach for censoring these observations. Using linear mixed-effects models, I predicted moose core body temperature (as measured by VITs) and found that on average, the difference between predicted and observed body temperatures was 0.05°C for winter and 0.33°C for summer, with >90% of prediction intervals containing the observed VIT-derived temperatures. Using a Dirichlet regression approach to analyze the dual-axis activity sensor data, I predicted the proportion of time individual animals spent resting, foraging, and moving during 5-minute intervals; these results were used to understand how behavioral states change as a function of habitat, ambient temperature, and time of day. I demonstrated that combining biotelemetry devices with modern statistical approaches allows researchers to examine the physiological and behavioral responses of moose to increasing ambient temperatures and changing landscapes at finer temporal and spatial scales than previously possible.Item Canopy nitrogen, carbon assimilation, and albedo in temperate and boreal forests: Functional relations and potential climate feedbacks(National Academy of Sciences, 2008) Ollinger, S V; Richardson, A D; Martin, M E; Hollinger, D Y; Frolking, S E; Reich, Peter B; Plourdea, L C; Katul, G G; Munger, J W; Orend, R; Smith, M L; Paw U, K T; Bolstad, P V; Cook, B D; Day, M C; Martin, T A; Monson, R K; Schmid, H PThe availability of nitrogen represents a key constraint on carbon cycling in terrestrial ecosystems, and it is largely in this capacity that the role of N in the Earth’s climate system has been considered. Despite this, few studies have included continuous variation in plant N status as a driver of broad-scale carbon cycle analyses. This is partly because of uncertainties in how leaf-level physiological relationships scale to whole ecosystems and because methods for regional to continental detection of plant N concentrations have yet to be developed. Here, we show that ecosystem CO2 uptake capacity in temperate and boreal forests scales directly with whole-canopy N concentrations, mirroring a leaf-level trend that has been observed for woody plants worldwide. We further show that both CO2 uptake capacity and canopy N concentration are strongly and positively correlated with shortwave surface albedo. These results suggest that N plays an additional, and overlooked, role in the climate system via its influence on vegetation reflectivity and shortwave surface energy exchange. We also demonstrate that much of the spatial variation in canopy N can be detected by using broad-band satellite sensors, offering a means through which these findings can be applied toward improved application of coupled carbon cycle–climate models.Item Carbon and Phosphorus Dynamics in Restored Minnesota Peatlands(2022-04) Wille, EmilieWhile many peatlands have been drained for anthropogenic purposes across the world, there is currently high interest in restoring peatlands for carbon and nutrient cycling benefits. Peat holds a disproportionate amount of the world’s soil carbon, making peatlands promising ecosystems for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Additionally, peatlands can sequester phosphorus (P) and prevent it from causing eutrophication in downstream waters, but they can also act as a P source under high runoff conditions. This study aimed to investigate the factors impacting 1) peat carbon dioxide (CO2) flux and 2) mobilization of peat P to porewater in a restored bog and fen in Minnesota. Peat CO2 flux was monitored in-situ throughout the growing season in conjunction with peat type, water table depth, and temperature. Peat columns from each site were saturated and subjected to controlled laboratory incubations to relate porewater ortho-P content to temperature and porewater aluminum (Al), calcium (Ca), and iron (Fe) content. A higher water table was significantly related to lower peat CO2 flux in the fen, and peat CO2 flux across both sites was higher in regions with more decomposed peat. During the peak of the growing season, CO2 flux was much higher in the fen than the bog, but both sites had similarly low CO2 flux at the end of the growing season. It is important that restoration ecologists consider a peatland’s water table when restoring a site’s hydrological, ecological, and biogeochemical functioning in order to achieve the greatest carbon benefit. Higher porewater ortho-P corresponded to higher dissolved porewater Al, Ca, and Fe. Additionally, higher initial peat Ca was significantly related to lower porewater P. These ions play a role in binding and mobilizing P, and their dynamics can help researchers predict and mitigate P release and subsequent export.Item City of Edina Density Study(Resilient Communities Project (RCP), University of Minnesota, 2024) Briggs, Kenton; Leaf, Holly; Menhennet, Johnny; Olberding, Greg; Thompson, Jem; Wu, YupingThis project was completed through a partnership between the City of Edina and the University of Minnesota’s Resilient Communities Project (https://rcp.umn.edu/). The goal of this project was to investigate if the City of Edina’s 2030 population density targets are adequate to meet its transportation and climate goals, analyze how this density target aligns with the City’s current comprehensive plan, and recommend site-specific and general strategies for increasing density to meet the target goal. City of Edina project lead Matthew Gabb collaborated with a team of students in Dr. Nichola Lowe’s course PA 8081, which performed policy and literature reviews, ran multivariate regression analyses to determine which factors impact vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions, modeled potential density scenarios and relevant policy changes to introduce greater density, and made final recommendations for how the city might best achieve its transportation and climate goals. A final student report and presentation from the project are available.Item Climate and competition affect growth and survival of transplanted sugar maple seedlings along a 1700‐km gradient(Wiley, 2017) Putnam, Rachel CPlant species distributions, broadly shaped by climate, may also be constrained by other species. The degree to which biotic factors affect range limits is unclear, however, and few experimental studies have investigated both biotic and abiotic factors across and beyond a species’ range. We examined seedling survival and net growth for three years in contrasting canopy type (closed canopy vs. gap) and neighbor density (clipped vs. unclipped) environments for northern, central, and southern populations of sugar maple (Acer saccharum) representing a climate- of- origin gradient, experimentally planted from Arkansas, USA to Ontario, Canada at ten forested sites along a 1700- km transect spanning beyond the species’ range. We hypoth-esized that each population’s highest survival and growth would occur in its region of origin, with poorer performance in cooler or warmer areas. Refuting this hypothesis, seedlings of all three populations had greater growth and survival in sites increasingly warmer than their point of origin, although they did show poorer growth and survival at increasingly colder sites. We also hypothesized that maple survival and net growth near and beyond range margins are con-strained primarily by cold temperature limitation in the north, where we expected neighbors to facilitate survival, and by competition in the south, where we expected to enhance survival and growth by reducing neighbor density. Results partially supported the hypothesis concerning biotic interactions: in canopy gaps, understory neighbors enhanced maple growth at the cool-est sites but did not suppress growth as expected at the warmest sites. As the northern popula-tion grew and survived reasonably well beyond the northern range limit, and as all populations performed best at warmer sites, including beyond the southern range limit, there was tepid, if any, support for the hypothesis that climate regulated the northern limit and absolutely no support for the hypothesis that competition regulated the southern limit. Together, these three- year findings with juvenile trees suggest that sugar maple range limits may instead be con-strained by factors besides climate and competition, by those factors at another life stage, and/or by climate events such as heat waves, droughts, and cold snaps that occur at longer return intervals.Item Climate Change Adaptation: A Resilient Communities Project–GreenStep Cities Guide(Resilient Communities Project (RCP), University of Minnesota., 2016) Butler, Megan (editor)The impacts of climate change are already being seen throughout Minnesota in the form of warmer average annual temperatures, higher precipitation rates, and stronger storm events. Minnesota has the ability to adapt to the threats posed by climate change and communities throughout the state are already working to address climate change locally by adopting local climate change resilience strategies. One of the first steps in climate change adaptation is addressing the issue of climate change with local residents. This toolkit is designed to help Minnesota communities develop climate change education programs by assessing the current level of resident knowledge, attitudes, and engagement related to climate change issues. The toolkit features a survey that can be used to assess city residents’ knowledge of and attitudes toward climate change, as well as gather information on extreme weather event vulnerability. The toolkit includes additional resources to help guide survey implementation, information on collaborating with local community groups to conduct surveys or climate change education programs, as well as examples of climate change preparedness plans that have been developed by cities in Minnesota. This document has been prepared by the University of Minnesota’s Resilient Communities Project (RCP) for the Minnesota GreenStep Cities Program. This resource was adapted from student work completed in partnership with RCP and the City of Rosemount during the 2014–2015 academic year. Although the original report was developed for a specific community, students’ findings and recommendations have been synthesized and generalized, and additional research has been conducted where necessary, to produce a resource that is relevant to communities throughout Minnesota. The original student report can be found at https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/180454.Item Climate Change and U.S. National Security(US Government Printing Office, 2020-05) Andregg, Michael M.In October of 2014 the U.S. Department of Defense published an “Adaptation Roadmap” for climate change that started with: “Climate change will affect the Department of Defense’s ability to defend the Nation and poses immediate risks to U.S. national security.” Then Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel was quoted saying: “Climate change does not directly cause conflict, but it can significantly add to the challenges of global instability, hunger, poverty, and conflict. Food and water shortages, pandemic disease, disputes over refugees and resources, more severe natural disasters – all place additional burdens on economies, societies, and institutions around the world.” This chapter will detail what those challenges and burdens are, with emphases on national security implications and consequences for U.S. Army personnel in particular. But it cannot and should not be narrowly focused, because this is a global problem with global consequences that affect the entire U.S. military. It affects alliances, flashpoints, basing issues, geopolitics and budgets in complex ways we will try to exemplify with specific cases, like Syria and South Asia. Propaganda can influence assessments in any war zone. So that is not new, but it is an especially pernicious problem with climate change. , , , , For example, at Minnesota’s leading public policy institute we have been talking about, and some studying, climate change since at least 1982. It took 31 years before Andy Marshall commissioned the first publically known, Pentagon study of national security implications of climate change in 2003. Yet this author was told personally at the National Intelligence University in 2005 that officers there had been “ordered not to talk about that subject.” This was all because of a sustained campaign by legacy industries to suppress discussion of something profound that they already knew was guaranteed to occur.Item Climate Change of Mind: Revisiting Dust Bowl Narratives in a Time of Climate Catastrophe(2023-06) Bowman, ChristopherThis dissertation analyzes the approaches that novelists have used to write about the 1930s Dust Bowl on the Great Plains, with particular attention to how writers have made this broad environmental disaster legible through its impacts on humans living in the affected regions. Far from merely portraying this historical “climate change,” novelists such as John Steinbeck and Sanora Babb instead sought to shape public opinions about this crisis by emphasizing the human cost of this environmental disaster and its ensuing migration. This dissertation furthermore applies these lessons from the past to contemporary climate destabilization, as it argues that effective writing about climate change must foreground the impacts on people affected by it.Item Climate change projections for improved management of infrastructure, industry, and water resources in Minnesota(2019-09-15) Noe, Ryan R; Keeler, Bonnie L; Twine, Tracy E; Brauman, Kate A; Mayer, Terin; Rogers, MaggieItem Climate change‐associated trends in net biomass change are age dependent in western boreal forests of Canada(Wiley, 2016) Chen, Han Y H; Luo, Yong; Reich, Peter B; Searle, Eric B; Biswas, Shekhar RThe impacts of climate change on forest net biomass change are poorly understood but critical for predicting forest's contribution to the global carbon cycle. Recent studies show climate change-associated net biomass declines in mature forest plots. The representativeness of these plots for regional forests, however, remains uncertain because we lack an assessment of whether climate change impacts differ with forest age. Using data from plots of varying ages from 17 to 210 years, monitored from 1958 to 2011 in western Canada, we found that climate change has little effect on net biomass change in forests ≤ 40 years of age due to increased growth offsetting increased mortality, but has led to large decreases in older forests due to increased mortality accompanying little growth gain. Our analysis highlights the need to incorporate forest age profiles in examining past and projecting future forest responses to climate change.Item Climate-informed restoration of white pine: Impacts of seed source, planting site, and earthworms(2016-11) Mead, JordanHabitat suitability for forest species is expected to shift with changes in climate, resulting in new and altered species assemblages. These alterations will be most notable near species boundaries, where feedbacks between disturbance, regeneration and recruitment are especially sensitive to temperature. How forest ecosystems respond will depend on the rate of climate change, dominant disturbance regime, the arrival of suitable propagules and the ability of those propagules to survive local climate, herbivory, invasive species and interspecific competition. Local adaptation of tree populations has been well documented in common garden experiments and may have a significant impact on the regeneration and recruitment in disturbed forests. In Northern Minnesota, USA, forest-climate models predict large-scale shifts in forest cover, and climate-driven changes in forest regeneration have already been documented at ecotone boundaries. Local populations of white pine (Pinus strobus) that are expected to increase may not be able to survive and reproduce successfully due to population bottlenecks, slow migration rates, habitat fragmentation, and intense herbivory. This is coupled with reduced reproduction of other temperate species, such as maples (Acer spp.), by herbivory and introduced detritivores. Given the rate of climate change, the migration and evolution of locally adapted populations and species are expected to lag behind optimal climate. My work documents restoration of white pine to assess the effects of seed source climate and site attributes, such as light environment and earthworm abundance, on survival, growth and phenology of planted seedlings. I also investigate the impacts and abundance of non-native earthworms in disturbed areas, as well as the surrounding intact forest to look for interactions between these invaders and disturbance. This data could be further used to improve models and inform management that will help sustain forest health and productivity.Item Climate-Smart Practice Adoption and Carbon Markets in Minnesota(2022-05) Hansen-Connell, Maddie; Murphey, Kathleen; Bui, Jacqueline Oakes; Schmaltz, Megan; Williams, IanClimate change is a major concern globally and locally, and agriculture can help mitigate emissions through climate-smart practices. To capitalize on this carbon sequestration opportunity, agricultural carbon markets are emerging in Minnesota and elsewhere as a way to compensate farmers for their role in reducing emissions and carbon sequestration. However, there are barriers and concerns with carbon markets and adopting climate-smart practices. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) was interested in investigating the gaps in current carbon market payment systems, policy mechanisms or other solutions, and the most appropriate role for MDA to play in increasing climate-smart practice adoption. To explore these questions, our research team conducted a background literature review with a stakeholder analysis and completed 26 key informant interviews with farmers and representatives from government, education, business, and others.Item "Climate-Smart" Seeds: Race, Science, and Security in the Global Green Revolution(2019-06) Eddens, AaronThis dissertation connects the racial logics and transnational ties of the Green Revolution—Cold War-era American-led agricultural development projects across the Global South—to a range of contemporary Western development projects seeking to cultivate a “Green Revolution for Africa.” Scholars have critiqued the Green Revolution’s links to U.S. foreign policy, exacerbation of rural inequalities, and environmental impacts. Yet, for the world’s most powerful development institutions, it remains a “success story” that guides policy and practice. Understanding this staying power, I argue, demands asking how the prevailing knowledge about the Green Revolution is inextricable from racial logics. Combining archival research from the records of the earliest Green Revolution projects with in-depth interviews with agricultural scientists working on development projects in East Africa, I show how Green Revolution projects are rooted in racialized thinking about poverty, security, and development. Drawing on history, geography, critical race studies, and indigenous studies, the dissertation’s chapters provide an intellectual genealogy of the key ideas that have shaped the global Green Revolution. Chapter one compares the Green Revolution’s central figure, Nobel Prize-winning plant breeder Norman Borlaug, to the Green Revolution for Africa’s most recognizable backer: Bill Gates. Both figures, I argue, share racialized framings of poverty as a security threat and Africa as a “frontier.” Chapter two shows how American scientists working in Mexico in the 1940s used ideas about the racial inferiority of indigenous people to justify their efforts to collect indigenous varieties of maize from throughout the country. Chapter three examines a contemporary effort to bring genetically modified maize to smallholder farmers in East Africa. I argue that the project’s mission to improve the plight of smallholder farmers with biotech crops reproduces racialized narratives that yoke improvement and the expansion of private property. Finally, chapter four traces parallel logics across U.S. Global Food security strategy, national security strategy, and new crop insurance schemes in East Africa, connecting this intersection to histories of racialized finance and U.S. Empire. Ultimately, the dissertation insists on the need to foreground discussions of race and racialization in debates about agricultural development in an era of climate change.Item Complete Data and Analysis for: Constraining invader dominance: Effects of repeated herbicidal management and environmental factors on curlyleaf pondweed dynamics in 50 Minnesota lakes(2020-01-08) Verhoeven, Michael R; Larkin, Daniel J; Newman, Raymond M; michael.verhoeven.mrv@gmail.com; Verhoeven, Michael R; Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research CenterCurlyleaf pondweed (Potamogeton crispus) is one of the most widespread and widely managed aquatic invasive plants in North America. Despite decades of management, the efficacy of long-term management strategies and the effects of environmental drivers on curlyleaf pondweed populations remain uncertain. To evaluate the effects of management and environmental factors on within-lake distribution and local density of curlyleaf pondweed, we collated monitoring data from aquatic plant point-intercept surveys collected by a variety of lake managers across Minnesota, USA. The goal of the study was to examine the influence of herbicide treatment, water clarity, snow depth, and ice cover duration on curlyleaf pondweed distribution and density between 2006 and 2015. The data included in this repository includes the complete dataset as a comma-separated-value file and all Program R code necessary to replicate the data processing, analysis, and visualizations used in the study.