{"id":17504,"date":"2009-08-05T11:01:11","date_gmt":"2009-08-05T18:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=17504"},"modified":"2015-08-17T14:55:47","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T21:55:47","slug":"eco-meeting-to-promote-sustainable-society-nau-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/eco-meeting-to-promote-sustainable-society-nau-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Eco meeting to promote sustainable society, NAU research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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Forests as carbon keepers<\/strong>During the upcoming Ecological Society of America annual meeting,\u00a0Tom Kolb<\/strong>, an NAU forestry professor, will present his research on carbon and water fluctuations in ponderosa pine forests that have been through wildfires or thinning.<\/p>\n

Kolb noted it\u2019s an important topic since carbon compounds, notably carbon dioxide, are the primary cause of recent global warming and climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is much current interest in the amount of carbon that is stored in forests because such storage prevents release of CO2 into the atmosphere where it causes warming,\u201d he explained. \u201cThere is interest in how common disturbances to forests, such as intense fire, and thinning that is done to reduce fuel loads and the risk of intense fire, affect the capacity of forests to store carbon and to deliver water to aquifers and streams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kolb\u2019s research found that high intensity burning reduced forest capacity for carbon uptake and storage more than thinning, and reductions caused by burning can persist for decades, increasing the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere.\u00a0\u201cWe also found forest water balance was affected less by both intense burning and thinning than the carbon balance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said the results reveal that efforts to increase aquifer recharge and stream flows by vegetation management in southwestern ponderosa pine forests will have small effects.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur results show that thinned forests of ponderosa pine in the southwestern United States are a desirable alternative to intensively burned forests to maintain carbon stocks and primary production,\u201d he said.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\"plant\"This year\u2019s meeting of the nation\u2019s largest group of professional ecological scientists will focus on the theme,Ecological Knowledge and a Global Sustainable Society<\/a>, and offer ways to provide effective sustainable solutions to meet worldwide needs.To help clear a greener path for society, more than 30 NAU scientists will present their recent sustainability research during the Ecological Society of America annual meeting in Albuquerque Aug. 3 through 7.<\/p>\n

Laura Huenneke<\/strong>, NAU\u2019s vice president for Research and a member of the society\u2019s public affairs committee, will present, \u201cThe Importance of Communicating Uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur topics connect ecological science to urgent policy decisions and actions taking place now,\u201d Huenneke said. \u201cWhile the economic recession causes some people to set aside environmental concerns as somehow less urgent, the Obama administration is clearly joining the governments of Europe and other regions in keeping environmental sustainability in the forefront of our response to current challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 200 sessions during the week will include speakers from the university, institutions and agencies to discuss the rapid loss of habitats, biological diversity, threats to freshwater resources, concerns over climate impacts and the increasing recognition that healthy human societies rely on healthy ecosystems.<\/p>\n

\u201cEcology and environmental science are the university\u2019s strongest and broadest areas of research excellence,\u201d said Huenneke, a member of the ecological society since 1977.<\/p>\n

She said the meeting is a great way to connect with other ecologists, those working in government, non-profit groups or in academia, and that \u201cfaculty, staff and students routinely publish their work in the selective and high-visibility journals published by the society.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a complete list of NAU-led sessions and titles, click\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Forests as carbon keepersDuring the upcoming Ecological Society of America annual meeting,\u00a0Tom Kolb, an NAU forestry professor, will present his research on carbon and water fluctuations in ponderosa pine forests that have been through wildfires or thinning. Kolb noted it\u2019s an important topic since carbon compounds, notably carbon dioxide, are the primary cause of recent…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}