Coastal blue carbon ecosystems offer a variety of important ecosystem services, including exceptional rates of carbon sequestration and long-term carbon storage. Because these ecosystems disproportionately influence global carbon cycling, understanding their soil characteristics may help guide long-term climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Recently, Kauffman et al. (2020) observed the...
Interest is expanding for the potential role of estuaries, particularly seagrass and salt marsh habitats, to sequester carbon, mitigate ocean acidification, and support abundant fisheries. The important functions of estuaries are part of a broader set of ecosystem services, or benefits to humans, which are regulated by ocean and watershed...
Native populations of forest trees are specifically adapted to the climates they inhabit. The farther trees are moved from their local climates (i.e., as the climatic transfer distance increases), the more growth and survival tend to decrease. The transfer limit is the climatic transfer distance beyond which plantation performance is...
Relative to other systems in the PNW, the rain-dominated, coastal watersheds of western Oregon have shallow aquifers. Given the seasonality of streamflow and storage limitations in coastal, rain-dominated watersheds, changes in the temporal patterns of precipitation have the potential to magnify the risk of extreme streamflow conditions during both high-...
Forest Vegetation Management (VM) is an important tool used in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) for reforestation. It has been well documented that VM increases seedling survival and crop tree volume growth. What is less understood, is how altering the plant community and successional trajectory affects the way the ecosystem uses...
The intensity and scale of wildfires has increased throughout the Pacific Northwest in recent decades, especially within the last decade, destroying vast amounts of valuable resources and assets. This trend is predicted to remain or even magnify due climate change, growing population, increased housing density. Furthermore, the associated stress of...
A substantial fraction of estuarine tidal wetlands have been lost to development or other human uses in the Pacific Northwest since the 1800s. Wetland restoration, typically through tidal re-connection, can restore normal tidal hydrology to these areas and improve estuarine capacity to support ecosystem functions and services. Restoration may initiate...
Streams and rivers play a critical role in global carbon (C) cycling by processing, storing, and transporting C. Headwater streams which make up more than 95% of the length of streams and rivers worldwide have disproportionate influence on fluvial C dynamics. The hyporheic zone (HZ) of headwater streams is a...
Hemlock dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium tsugense subsp. tsugense) is an arboreal, hemiparasitic plant that principally parasitizes western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla). Hemlock dwarf mistletoe exerts a profound influence on infected trees that can drastically change the structure of the tree crown due to reduced growth, top dieback, branch deformation and death, resulting...
Wave runup is an important physical process that affects nearshore sediment transport, coastal erosion, and flooding. Large and unexpected runup events can also be dangerous to beach goers. Extreme runup statistics are essential parameters used in engineering design of marine structures and in coastal management. Although the study of runup...