Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU

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The USGS is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner to support a collaborative research effort with USGS scientists to study forest die-offs related to climate change using remote sensing. Tree mortality is thought to be accelerating globally because of a warming climate, and the topic of climate-induced forest die-offs is receiving increasing levels of scientific attention. Impacts of such mortality include reduced ability for forests to deliver ecosystem services (e.g., timber, recreation, aesthetics, carbon sequestration), impacts to wildlife habitat, and interactions with other disturbances such as wildfire. Furthermore, the high visibility of widespread forest die-offs, such as has occurred in the western United States, is a signature of probable ongoing climate change effects visible to many people, and as such is of increasing societal concern.

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