November 2017 Newsletter
November 2017 Newsletter
Welcome to the Southeast Climate Science Center’s November 2017 Newsletter.
In this newsletter you will find:
SE CSC News
Resources
Notable Publications
Tribal News
Partner News
Webinars
Upcoming Events
Opportunities
For news and upcoming events related to the Southeast Climate Science Center subscribe to our monthly newsletter.
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Southeast Climate Science Center News
SE CSC Research Scientist Adam Terando authored a paper in Ecology and Evolution that evaluates temperature instrumentation methods in ecological studies and calls for greater standardization in how temperature data are recorded in the field, handled in analyses, and reported in publications. Read the paper.
SE CSC USGS Director Jerry McMahon will transition from SE CSC Director to a part-time SE CSC Scientist position as he enters a phased retirement phase in early January.
SE CSC related presentations are being made by Global Change Fellows and Faculty Affiliates at the upcoming American Geophysical Union meeting. See a list of these and presentations by other CSCs here.
Other SE CSC publications:
Fatorić, S, E Seekamp (2017), A measurement framework to increase transparency in historic preservation decision-making under changing climate conditions, Journal of Cultural Heritage. Read the paper.
Aksit, O., McNeal, K. S., Gold, A. U., Libarkin, J. C. and Harris, S. (2017), The influence of instruction, prior knowledge, and values on climate change risk perception among undergraduates. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. Read the paper.
Catalyzing Climate Solutions in a Time of Public Gridlock. SE CSC Global Change Fellows have planned the final seminar of this semester’s Global Change Seminar series, Panel Discussion on Novel Solutions to Climate Change, Dec 7, 3:30 pm. Learn more.
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Resources
FEATURED RESOURCE
Highlights of the Findings of the U.S. Global Change Research Program Climate Science Special Report
The Climate Science Special Report (CSSR) is designed to be an authoritative assessment of the science of climate change, with a focus on the United States, to serve as the foundation for efforts to assess climate-related risks and inform decision-making about responses.
Much of this report is written at a level more appropriate for a scientific audience, though the Executive Summary is intended to be accessible to a broader audience. Learn more.
Other Resources
Condition Monitoring Web Map: Citizen science supporting a Drought Early Warning System. The web map is a tool intended to depict local, community-level conditions and how recent weather and climate events have affected those communities. Volunteer observers provide weekly reports through the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) network website. The web map spatially displays the reports and provides the current US Drought Monitor Map that can be used in the monitoring of drought onset, intensification, and recovery. Learn more.
Updated SGCN Database. In order to better support conservation decision making, USGS’s Species Conservation Analysis Tool was recently updated with information from the 2015 State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs). The tool compiles the Species of Greatest Conservation Need from all states’ SWAPs, allowing this information to be viewed on a nationwide basis and by taxonomic group. Learn more.
Climate Attribution Map. An online interactive map shows 144 extreme weather events across the globe for which scientists have carried out attribution studies. Different types of extreme weather; such as heatwaves, floods, or drought are coded to indicate whether or not an attribution study found climate change had played a role in that event. Learn more.
ADCIRC, Advanced Circulation and Storm Surge model is a system of computer programs for solving time dependent, free surface circulation and transport problems in two and three dimensions. The Coastal Emergency Risks Assessment (CERA) web mapping application visualizes storm surge and wave predictions for impending or active tropical cyclones in the United States. Storm surge predictions are available for NC Coast/East Coast and Gulf of Mexico and storm surge hindcasts for Hurricanes Irma, Harvey, and Matthew. Learn more.
Hurricane Irma Photo Map. This is a Crowdsource Story Map used for posting photos of Hurricane Irma impacts and providing situational awareness for decision makers. National Alliance for Public Safety GIS Foundation. Learn more.
Atmospheric Rivers: Weather, Climate, & Societal Interactions. NOAA Climate Program Office created a story map to describe research to better understand atmospheric rivers, their impacts on communities, and tp forecast them. A case study is used to illustrate the complexities of extreme event impacts (floods from ARs, droughts, and frosts) for water resource management in Sonoma County, California. Learn more.
Recovery Plan Review for Downlisting/Delisting. A new report is available that focuses on recovery actions for species listed as Endangered or Threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The document presents 80 multi-species conservation actions to downlist or delist 27 species along the Gulf of Mexico. The purpose of the project, conducted with the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Wildlife and Fisheries Team through a 2016 Gulf Star award, was to identify restoration actions that could impact multiple species in multiple states. Learn more.
Beach and Tidal Inlet Habitat Inventories. This series of reports, databases, and data layers produced by North Atlantic LCC provides an inventory of sandy beach and tidal inlet habitats from Maine to North Carolina, as well as an inventory of modifications to sandy beaches and tidal inlets prior to, immediately after, and three years after Hurricane Sandy. Learn more.
Military-trained combat divers are restoring coral reefs. Story in Yale Climate Connections highlights Force Blue, an organization that trains former military combat divers to restore dying reefs by transplanting live coral. Read more.
The Weather Channel series: United States of Climate Change. 50 States 50 Stories. SC story, A Vanishing Culture, A Vanishing Land describes the risk climate changes poses to the Gullah and Geechee people who have lived along the coast of the southern United States for centuries. Read more.
Survival Stories. Columbia Journalism Review invited contributions from journalists around the country whose coverage of climate change is rooted in state and local concerns. Each journalist was asked to revisit their work and to detail lessons they learned while reporting. Stories are reported from SE CSC states FL, NC, and TX (featuring SE CSC researcher Katharine Hayhoe). Read more.
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Notable Publications
Dead land walking: the value of continued conservation efforts in South Florida’s imperiled pine rocklands. Pine rocklands, imperiled habitats found only in South Florida and the Caribbean, are characterized by an open canopy of Florida slash pine, a patchy subcanopy of palms and shrubs, and an extremely diverse herb layer; the habitat supports several threatened animal species. Authors reviewed the successes and failures of conservation in South Florida’s pine rocklands by synthesizing results of ecological studies and evaluated projected threats from habitat fragmentation, sea-level rise, disrupted fire regimes, and invasive species. Link to article.
Reef height drives threshold dynamics of restored oyster reefs. Oyster reef restoration efforts have generally identified a dichotomy of restoration outcomes characterized by persistent reefs with high oyster density or degraded reefs with low oyster density and habitat loss. Researchers demonstrated nonlinear threshold responses in oyster demographics dependent on initial reef height. After 2 yr, reefs >0.3 m support large oyster populations and experience little sedimentation; at ≤0.3 m, reefs support few oysters and experience heavy sedimentation and were buried. The study provides support for alternative states in oyster reef ecosystems and demonstrates an avenue by which restoration is achievable. Link to article.
Predictor weighting and geographical background delimitation: two synergetic sources of uncertainty when assessing species sensitivity to climate change. Several interrelated sources of uncertainty may affect the likelihood of species distribution models to determine the relative importance of climate. The authors modeled the distribution of 40 mammals using all of Western Europe as the geographical background (GB) and also with a geographical criterion delimitation, and separately used climatic predictors in addition to other non-climatic variables to extract the pure effect of climate. The models were used to quantify species’ sensitivity to new climate scenarios. Changes in distribution obtained by climate weighting and GB delimitation had large influences on the projections of models when transferred to new scenarios, emphasizing the need for explicit consideration of these factors in scientific studies from which adaptation policies are derived. Link to article.
Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (Vis-Nir-Swir) as a Promising Tool for Blue Carbon Quantification in Mangrove Soils: A Case of Study in Tropical Semiarid Climatic Conditions. Implementing effective management of mangrove ecosystems to limit CO2 emissions requires evaluation of the soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. This work focused on an alternative method to wet chemical analysis methods conventionally used to quantify SOC, which may overestimate SOC content due to oxidation of reduced compounds. They concluded that use of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) for predicting SOC in mangrove forest areas may be a more accurate and more efficient method for the determination of SOC in mangrove soils when used properly. Link to article.
Genomic models predict successful coral adaptation if future ocean warming rates are reduced. Researchers tested whether rapid adaptation in reef-building corals can keep pace with future ocean warming, by measuring genetic variation at predicted warm-adapted loci and simulated future evolution and persistence in a high-latitude population of corals that had low frequencies of alleles associated with thermal tolerance. When predicted ocean warming was simulated, populations showed rapid evolution of heat tolerance and persistence under mild warming scenarios consistent with low CO2 emission plans, while under more severe scenarios, adaptation was not rapid enough to prevent extinction. Transplanting thermally tolerant individuals (1 to 5%/year) sped adaptation. Incorporation of genomic data into models of species response to climate change offers a promising method for estimating future adaptive processes. Link to article.
Hazard-based regional loss estimation considering hurricane intensity, size and sea surface temperature change. Authors developed a methodology to probabilistically estimate regional hurricane loss, taking in account both hurricane intensity and size, as well as projected sea surface temperature change as a function of climate change. Using a generated synthetic hurricane database, they extracted simulated events impacting the South Carolina coast from the database and established joint distribution of intensity and size to characterize hurricane hazard. Loss estimation module in FEMA’s HAZUS_MH was used to estimate regional loss for each simulated hurricane event and distributions of regional loss at different (event) hazard levels were generated. Link to article.
Applying network theory to prioritize multispecies habitat networks that are robust to climate and land-use change. Designing connected landscapes under uncertain climate and land-use change that simultaneously satisfy the connectivity needs of multiple species at multiple spatial scales is a challenging though important strategy for species conservation. Researchers developed a method to integrate uncertainty in climate and land-use change projections with the latest developments in network-connectivity research and spatial, multipurpose conservation prioritization. Applying the method to 14 vertebrate focal species of periurban Montreal, Canada, they concluded that accounting for connectivity in spatial prioritization under alternative development scenarios strongly modified conservation priorities and the modified priorities were robust to uncertain climate change. Applying connectivity criteria alongside habitat-quality criteria for protected-area design was efficient with respect to the amount of area that needs protection. Link to article.
Tribal News
Rising Sea Levels Creating First Native American Climate Refugees. Story of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians described in a presentation given at Geological Society of America meeting. Learn more.
Great Plains Tribal Water Alliance 2017 Fall Water Conference. December 14-15, 2017, Rapid City, SD. Learn more.
NIH Program Announcement. A trans-NIH program announcement invites research utilizing existing data from the NIMHD funded Tribal Epidemiology Centers. The purpose of this initiative is to support collaborative research between Tribal Epidemiology Centers and extramural investigators on topics related to minority health and health disparities in American Indian / Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations. Learn more. Learn more.
Host Sites Needed for Summer Internship Program. The Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals – Environmental Education Outreach Program at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona is seeking air quality focused offices and programs to host a college student for an 8-week summer internship. Tribal environmental offices, EPA offices, and other tribal environmental organizations are encouraged to apply. Projects MUST focus on addressing air quality issues in tribal communities. Applications due January 19, 2018. Learn more. For questions, contact the ITEP Intern Coordinator, EEOP-INTERN@nau.edu.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs – Midwest Region will be posting two biologists vacant positions on December 4, 2017 on www.usajobs.gov. One position is located at Bloomington, MN and and one is located at Ashland, WI. These positions will serve as program specialists for the BIA Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) program.
Lessons from the Land and Water Songs to Heal. Recent Union of Concerned Scientists blog post by Dr. Samantha Chisholm Hatfield of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.
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Partner News
LCC News
Appalachian LCC
Conservation and Inspiration in the Tennessee River Basin. Learn more.
Forest Adaptation Planning and Practices Online Training. Learn more.
Gulf Coast Prairie LCC
Monarch Meetings in Texas. Learn more.
New Gulf Environmental Benefit Funds for Texas Projects. Learn more.
Gulf Coastal Plains & Ozarks LCC
Gulf Coastal Plains & Ozarks LCC Legacy Report 2017. Learn more.
How Will We Conduct Landscape Conservation in the Future? Learn more.
Peninsular Florida LCC
USGS Releases “Species of Greatest Conservation Need” Lists. Learn more.
South Atlantic LCC
Blueprint 2.2 release. Learn more.
Blueprint implementation strategy complete. Learn more.
Partner News
Review and Comment on the Public Draft of 4th National Climate Assessment Vol. II
A critical component of NCA4 success is a robust, inclusive, and transparent public review process. NCA4 Vol. II is available for public review and comment until January 31, 2018.
Upcoming webinars will provide viewers with background on the NCA, as well as guidance and instructions on how to use the Review & Comment system at review.globalchange.gov. Webinars are on the following dates:
Wed., Dec. 6: 5:00pm EST
Tues., Jan. 16: 8:00pm EST
To access the webinar(s), use the following call-in information at appropriate date and time:
Webinar link: https://icf.globalmeet.com/NCAProjectWebinar
US callers: (605) 475-5606
Passcode: 9663019548#
Learn more.
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Webinars
Find more webinar information in our calendar.
Nov 30 | 1:15 PM-2:45 PM | The Fourth National Climate Assessment and Outcomes from the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn – COP 23
Dec 6 | 2:00 PM-3:00 PM | Adaptive Capacity, the Linchpin for Understanding and Addressing Species’ Vulnerability to Climate Change
Dec 6 | 4:00 PM-5:00 PM | Using narrative stories to understand Traditional Ecological Knowledge in the Great Basin
Dec 6 | 5:00 PM-6:00 PM | NCA4 Vol. II Public Review and Comment webinar
Dec 6 | 6:00 PM-7:00 PM | What is Coral Bleaching?
Dec 7 | 2:00 PM-3:00 PM | Arkansas River Instream Habitat Restoration Project: How Can Monitoring be Used to Inform Adaptive Management?
Dec 13 | 12:00 PM-1:00 PM | Current & Future Water Availability and Streamflow Characteristics in the Gulf Coastal Plains & Ozarks Region
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Upcoming Events
Find more upcoming events in our calendar.
Nov 30 | Northern Gulf of Mexico Sentinel Site Cooperative’s Annual Partnership Workshop | Dauphin Island, AL
Participants will be updated on past and current projects and learn about additional sea level rise resources and materials available in the Gulf. Additionally, partners will work together to update our current list of sea level gaps and needs, prioritize gaps and needs to address in 2018, and identify opportunities to tackle the newly prioritized gaps and needs. Information and registration.
Dec 12 | Climate Connections Workshops | Greenville, SC and other locations
The SC State Climatology Office, in collaboration with the Carolinas Integrated Sciences & Assessments (CISA) and SC Water Resources Center, is conducting a series of three Climate Connections workshops in Greenville, Columbia (February 2018), and Charleston (March 2018), SC. The workshops are titled, “Weathering the Storm: Impacts of Extremes on South Carolina’s Natural and Built Environment” and will provide information relevant to stakeholders in each of these regions about responses to recent extreme events. Registration is open for the Greenville workshop until December 8th. Registration.
Jan 2018 | Climate Academy | Online
This 8-week online course is designed to cover the fundamentals of climate science, provide an overview of tools and resources for climate adaptation, and increase climate literacy and communication skills. The course is designed to encourage networking among conservation professionals engaged in the management of fish, wildlife, habitat and cultural resources and provides participants an opportunity to interact with experts as they address case studies across multiple habitat types. More information.
Jan 23 – Feb 13 | Climate Change Science, Communication, and Action | Online
This course covers the basics of climate change, from science to action, and will assist you in developing a consistent climate message. Registration deadline January 22. More information.
Feb 5 – 9 | ALC3171 Introduction to Structured Decision Making | National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, WV
This course provides participants with a foundation in structured decision making in the context of natural resource management problems. A solid foundation in structured decision making begins with knowledge of current practices, theory, and noteworthy case studies from FWS and USGS. This course gives you the skills to develop structured approaches in order to make a recommendation or decision that is explicit, transparent, and clear. More information.
At NC State
Dec 1 | CEnREP Colloquium | 121 Kilgore Hall
Conservation in Agriculture: How Economics Can Generate Greater Investment by Maggie Monast, Manager, Sustainable Sourcing, Environmental Defense Fund.
Dec 7 | Global Change Seminar Series: Catalyzing Climate Solutions in a Time of Public Gridlock | 101 David Clark Labs
Panel Discussion hosted by the SE CSC Global Change Fellows. Addressing climate change is often framed as a conflict between environmental conservation and economic growth. In recent months this partisan stalemate has become even more entrenched as the United States plans to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord while simultaneously producing a comprehensive climate report claiming humans are to blame and the consequences severe. In this seminar, we invite researchers from a broad spectrum of perspectives to discuss novel climate solutions that can shed this history of gridlock in favor of more effective action. Learn more.
Dec 8 | Why is the numerical modeling of tropical cyclones so challenging? | Multimedia Seminar Center at the D. H. Hill Library
Gary Lackmann, Professor, Marine, Earth And Atmospheric Sciences will review some of the scientific and computational challenges to accurately representing tropical cyclones in numerical models, and describe some of the techniques being used to overcome them. Tropical cyclones can influence large areas with high winds, heavy rainfall, and sometimes storm surge.
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Opportunities
Hiring Announcements
Assistant Professor, Coupled Natural-Human Systems
The College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University invites applications for a
tenure-track faculty position in Coupled Natural-Human Systems at the rank of Assistant
Professor. To apply, please go to jobs.ncsu.edu and search for position number 00106225. Applications should include a cover letter, CV, statements of research and teaching interests, and names and contact information for three references. Review of applications will begin on December 15, 2017. For questions about this position, please contact Rebecca Irwin at reirwin@ncsu.edu.
AGU Congressional Science Fellowship
The Congressional Science Fellowship program places highly qualified, accomplished scientists, engineers, and other professionals in the offices of either an individual member of Congress or on a committee for a one-year assignment. Past Fellows have been directly involved in water policy, climate research, energy conservation, and a range of other issues that are of high priority to society. Application closes 15 January for the 2018-2019 fellowship year. Learn more.
SESYNC – World Resources Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship: Natural Infrastructure for Water
The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center and World Resources Institute invite applications for a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship opportunity focused on landscape management for water security. Required Preliminary Screening Application due: December 11, 2017. Invited Full Applications due: February 1, 2018. Learn more.
Forest Stewards Guild Internships. Supervised work and learning experience based at the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge, McBee, South Carolina. Additional work occurs at the Pee Dee NWR near Wadesboro, NC. Guild interns perform forestry tasks alongside US Fish and Wildlife Service staff, and learn how forestry and wildlife management work together on our public lands. Application Deadline: December 1, 2017. Learn more.
Research Grants
EDA | Planning Program and Local Technical Assistance Program
Under the Planning program EDA assists eligible recipients in creating regional economic development plans designed to build capacity and guide the economic prosperity and resiliency of an area or region. As part of this program, EDA supports Partnership Planning investments to facilitate the development, implementation, revision, or replacement of Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS), which articulate and prioritize the strategic economic goals of recipients’ respective regions. Funding Opportunity #: EDA-HDQ-TA-HDQ-2016-2004759. Deadline: Rolling Applications.
FWS | Recovery Implementation Grants
The FWS Ecological Services Program provides Federal financial assistance on a competitive basis to secure information about endangered, threatened or candidate species, to aid in the recovery of these species, to avert listing of species pursuant to the Endangered Species Act, and to help conserve the ecosystems upon which these species depend. Funding Opportunity Number: F17AS00005. Deadline: Rolling Applications.
Institute for Sustainable Communities | Partnership for Resilient Communities
ISC is specifically seeking proposals from community-based organizations with strong histories of leading positive transformations in their neighborhoods to join the Partnership for Resilient Communities. The partnership is centered on the belief that community organizations play a powerful leadership role in ensuring local resilience solutions respond to resident needs, are rooted in equity and justice, and resonate with a community’s vision for an equitable future. The partnership seeks proposals to implement green infrastructure or clean energy projects with and within historically underserved neighborhoods. Organizations based in, and committed to serving, low-income communities within 30 target cities are eligible. Deadline: December 1, 2017.
NSF | Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems (CNH)
The CNH Program supports interdisciplinary research that examines human and natural system processes and the complex interactions among human and natural systems at diverse scales. Research projects to be supported by CNH must include analyses of four different components: (1) the dynamics of a natural system; (2) the dynamics of a human system; (3) the processes through which the natural system affects the human system; and (4) the processes through which the human system affects the natural system. CNH also supports research coordination networks designed to facilitate activities that promote future research by broad research communities that will include all four components. Deadline: January 23, 2018.
Miscellaneous
Travel Grants Available
Travel grant support is available to enable leaders to participate in the Local Solutions: Eastern Regional Climate Preparedness Conference, April 30-May 2, 2018, Manchester, NH. Travel grants are available for municipal employees, elected or appointed municipal decision-makers, county government employees, regional planning council personnel, and other local decision-makers. Awardees may use travel grant funds for expenses related to the Local Solutions conference – registration, lodging at the conference hotel, and travel expenses. Deadline: reviewed and awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, until all travel grants funds have been awarded.
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