All photos in this newsletter produced by the WDNR research projects "
Biodiversity in Selected Natural Communities Related to Global Climate Change," Craig Anderson, Principal Investigator, and "
Applying the Natural Heritage Inventory Classification System to Characterize the Natural Communities in the Ongoing Peatlands Study," Christina Isenring and Eric Epstein, Principal Investigators.
THE PROGRAM'S NEW NAME
Starting in July, 2007 the Environmental Research Program became the Environmental and Economic Research and Development Program. We’ve expanded our research scope in recognition of the many factors involved in the ways that the use of electricity and natural gas impact the State of Wisconsin. We can now fund research projects that look at such issues as how development of new renewable energy sources will lower carbon emissions as well as create new jobs and investment opportunities for Wisconsin residents, or the economic and environmental impacts of using Wisconsin’s vast biomass resources to generate electricity or produce heat.
NEW GRANT AWARDS FOR 2008
In response to its February 2008 RFP, The program is pleased that the new research areas brought in a broad variety of interesting proposals that reflect these new interests. Of the twenty research proposals received, thirteen were approved for funding. The process was highly competitive this year for the $1,300,000 in program funding. The following projects were chosen:
- Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, Inc., Development of a Research Proposal to Evaluate Impacts to Birds of Wind Development in Offshore Areas of Lake Michigan. Principal Investigator: Noel Cutright. Grant: $18,480
- U.S. Forest Service, Institute for Applied Ecosystem Studies, Northern Research Station, Impacts of Harvesting Forest Residues for Bioenergy on Nutrient Cycling and Community Assemblages in Northern Hardwood Forests. Principal Investigator: Deahn Donner-Wright. Grant: $144,155
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment, Coordinated Energy Strategies for Climate and Air Quality. Principal Investigator: Tracey Holloway. Grant: $91,803
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Solar Energy Laboratory, Assessment of Photovoltaics at High Penetration on Peak Demand and Annual Energy Use. Principal Investigator: S. A. Klein. Grant: $50,788
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Quantifying the Economic and Ecological Aspects of Forest Biomass Harvesting in Wisconsin, Principal Investigator: Karl Martin. Grant: $123,480
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Science Services, Potential Effects of Climate Change on Inland Glacial Lakes and Implications for Lake Dependent Biota in Wisconsin. Principal Investigator: Michael Meyer. Grant: $99,911
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, Impacts of Biomass Removal on Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling in Wisconsin Northern Hardwood Forests. Principal Investigator: David J. Mladenoff. Grant: $110,934
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Energy Intensity and Environmental Impact of Integrated Dairy/Bioenergy Systems in Wisconsin. Principal Investigator: Douglas Reinemann. Grant: $175,181
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Agronomy Department, Assessing Sustainability of Switchgrass Production in Southwestern Wisconsin. Principal Investigator: Mark Renz. Grant: $245,741
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Electrical Engineering, Consumer Adoption & Grid Impact Models for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles in Wisconsin. Principal Investigator: Giri Venkataramanan. Grant: $66,077
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, The Nelson Institute, Center for Climatic Research, Climate Change in Wisconsin. Principal Investigator: Daniel J. Vimont. Grant: $87,633
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Endangered Resources, Monitoring the Impact of Climate Change on Water Resources in Northern Highland American Legion State Forest in Wisconsin (NHAL): Phase II. Principal Investigator: Carl Watras. Grant: $56,729
- Michigan Technological University, School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, Identifying Trade-offs Between Biomass Production and Biological Diversity in Wisconsin's Forests and Grasslands to Meet Tomorrow's Bioenergy and Biofuel Needs. Principal Investigator: Christopher Webster. Grant: $130,678
The program anticipates that its next RFP will be issued in the autumn of 2008. For information about the proposal process, go to:
Grant Process FAQ's
NEW RESEARCH REPORTS PUBLISHED
The final reports for four new research projects have been published on the Focus on Energy web site so far during the 2007-2008 program year. All four are available at
Completed
Projects. This web page also includes all Environmental Research Program reports published so far.
RECENTLY PUBLISHED REPORTS:
Mercury in Selected Fish Species over Time (October 2007)
Candy S. Schrank, Environmental Toxicologist, Paul W. Rasmussen, Research Scientist, and Patrick A. Campfield, Fisheries Biologist, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Fisheries Management
This two-year project assessed changes in mercury concentrations in selected fish species over time. The initial design was to monitor mercury concentrations in walleye and young yellow perch from two sets of lakes for a total of 50 lakes every 5 years. The resulting data plus historical data were analyzed to describe the relationship between mercury and length of fish, changes in mercury concentration over time, and investigate other factors known to affect mercury accumulation. Characteristics known to affect mercury accumulation include water chemistry, lake characteristics, fish growth rates, airborne mercury deposition, and other factors.
Researchers found that the current sampling strategy is adequate for detecting changes in mercury concentrations over time using walleye. They found that the temporal trends of mercury concentrations in walleye varied from north to south within Wisconsin. Northern lakes showed slight average decreases, central lakes showed no change, and southern lakes showed modest average increases in mercury concentration over the period from 1982 to 2005. Estimates of temporal trends in individual lakes were not quantified due to data limitations for individual lakes but deviate from the regional average trends quantified.
Among other findings, they established that walleye mercury concentrations and the mercury-fish length relationship vary greatly among lakes. They also found that concentrations vary by gender and season of collection. Mercury was lower in walleye females than in males of equal size. Mercury concentrations were highest in walleye captured in the spring and lowest in the fall.
This project also supported the collection, processing, and analysis of young yellow perch. Researchers were unable to draw a strong conclusion about their utility for detecting mercury trends in Wisconsin's lakes. However, based on these initial efforts they recommend additional study of this species.
Projecting Consequences of Altered Atmospheric Chemistry for Carbon Sequestration by Wisconsin’s Aspen Forests (January 2008)
Investigator’s: Eric Kruger, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison; John Erickson, Department of Agronomy, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL; Ed Jepsen, Bureau of Air Management, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Madison, WI; David Karnosky, School of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI
Wisconsin’s forests harbor the potential to sequester considerable amounts of the carbon emitted (as carbon dioxide) through fossil fuel combustion, thereby helping to mitigate the effects of these emissions on atmospheric chemistry and global climate. However, Wisconsin’s forests are also quite sensitive to levels of other polluting gases, such as ozone (O3), which are increasing rapidly due transportation, industrial use of fossil fuels, and coal-fired generation, and which tend to inhibit tree growth. This project uses the well-studied quaking aspen to investigate the balance between the potential for Wisconsin forests to sequester substantially more carbon, and the possibility that increased ozone production will seriously limit tree growth rates in the state.
Investigators used data from the Aspen Free-Air CO2 and O3 Enrichment Study (Aspen FACE) located on a USDA experimental farm near Rhinelander, WI, and air quality data from the WDNR Air Management Program, to model and project impacts of elevated levels of CO2 and O3 on carbon sequestration by Wisconsin aspen forests during the next century. They used a state-of-the-art canopy process model to generate estimates of carbon sequestration in Wisconsin aspen forests under an array of plausible air pollution scenarios. Among project findings, results showed that Wisconsin’s aspens could potentially increase carbon sequestration capability by as much as 30 percent as CO2 emissions increase, but rising levels of O3 during the same period of time could inhibit tree growth and cancel out this additional sequestration capability.
Changes in Biodiversity in Selected Natural Communities Related to Global Climate Change (August 2008)
Principal Investigator: Craig Anderson, Program Botanist
Natural Heritage Inventory Bureau of Endangered Resources
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Madison, Wisconsin
Craig.Anderson@dnr.state.wi.us
We can assess the impacts of global climate change by conducting baseline inventories in a set of natural communities that are most likely to be affected as a result of such change. This set of communities can then be monitored over time to see if impacts related to climate change are occurring. The goal of this project was to collect baseline data on the distribution of rare vascular plants and invertebrates, small mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians in peatland natural communities in Wisconsin. In part, intensive surveys provide a volume of data and repetition over time. Extensive surveys help determine if observed relationships are consistent among ecological landscapes across the state. The results serve as a baseline to compare with future surveys and identify potential changes in species distributions, abundance, and phenology resulting from climate change.
Environmental alterations associated with climate change can have significant impacts on natural communities. Vertebrate and invertebrate animals are expected to respond to climate change through changes in, among other responses, range (compression, extension, and shifts), abundance, phenology, community composition, and behavior. Similarly, plants are expected to respond to climate change through responses like changes in range, abundance, phenology, physiology, community composition, and dispersal. Prior to European settlement, shifts in ranges for species resulting from periods of climate change were not constrained by artificial barriers such as roadways, cities, reservoirs, and significant regions of altered or discontinuous habitats. Thus, negative patterns in population dynamics and even species extinction rates could be more severe given the present-day landscape and trends in climate variables. At present, however, it is unknown how such changes might affect biotic diversity in Wisconsin.
This study focused on peatland natural communities, which provided a good structure to study the influence of global climate change on natural systems. Peat, or undecomposed vegetation, accumulates slowly in wet areas that are deprived of oxygen, and as such, peatland natural communities are closely linked to the long-term hydrologic stability of the site and region. The rate of natural vegetation growth and change in peatlands is very slow; black spruce, tamarack, and white cedar have minimal growth rates, adding perhaps only fractions of an inch in diameter and several feet in height over years, even decades. The harsh growing conditions also make peatlands relatively resistant to the invasive plant species which have been introduced to Wisconsin in the past 150 years. Finally, many of Wisconsin’s peatlands are in relatively undeveloped regions of the state and many do not contain merchantable timber. These characteristics become advantageous for the study of plant and animal distribution and abundance trends because a large subset of variables, namely vegetation structure and composition, are essentially held constant in comparison to other habitats which could be studied.
In Wisconsin, peatland natural communities include black spruce swamps, bog relicts, boreal rich fens, muskegs, open bogs, poor fens (including central poor fens), tamarack (poor) swamps, tamarack (rich) swamps, northern wet-mesic forests (white cedar swamps), southern sedge meadows, and northern sedge meadows. Baseline data were collected from 2004-2007 on breeding passerine birds, small mammals, amphibians (with extra survey efforts for certain rare species), rare vascular plants, selected groups of invertebrates, and natural communities in order to allow comparisons with future studies.
Applying the Natural Heritage Inventory Classification System to Characterize the Natural Communities in the Ongoing Peatlands Study (August 2008)
Principal Investigators: Christina Issenring and Eric Epstein
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Madison, WI
This project complements Craig Anderson’s Focus on Energy project, “Biodiversity in Selected Natural Communities Related to Global Climate Change,” also known as the Peatlands Project. Its purpose was to characterize the natural communities or habitats for each of the Peatlands Project study sites, using the Natural Heritage Inventory (NHI) classification system. The NHI system was originated by the Nature Conservancy in 1974 as a public/private partnership, and there are NHI programs in all fifty states as well as internationally. The NHI classification system tracks species-related data including such categories as taxonomy, distribution, habitat requirements, population trends and viability. The standardization in data collection allows for accurate exchange of information among NHI programs. Incorporating findings from the Peatlands Study into Wisconsin’s NHI program makes this valuable data available at the national and international levels to climate change researchers.
During the course of conducting site evaluations and rare plant surveys for the project, data pertaining to natural communities were collected for many of the sites. Analyzing and incorporating these data into the NHI Database provides a valuable baseline for the evaluation of change over time related to natural community composition, structure, and extent when these sites are re-visited in 10-20 years.
A total of 164 natural community element occurrences were mapped and incorporated into the NHI database following standard methodology. These data are now accessible to researchers, local communities, land use planners and policy-makers through data sharing agreements. They are also available for environmental review, assessing and identifying conservation project priorities, and other conservation-related purposes, including future research. Field investigations were completed on 13 Intensive Sites and 18 Extensive Sites. Data collected through the Peatlands Project and this grant will continue to be entered in the NHI database as time and funding allow.
SCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER PUBLICATION:
A Landscape Scale Decision Support Tool for Monitoring Bird and Bat Migration Across Wisconsin
Principal Investigators: Patricia Heglund, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Manuel Suarez and Robert Kratt, U.S. Geological Survey (working in partnership through the Upper Midwest Environmental Science Center, La Crosse, WI)
NEXRAD Weather Surveillance Radar (WSR-88D) is increasingly being viewed as a potentially valuable resource in the study of bird and bat migration. The NOAA National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) archives the data and makes it freely available through their website. This project explores multi-year data from the NEXRAD sites located in Wisconsin and in neighboring states by generating time-series mosaics of the radar products in order to identify and summarize timing, locations and, possibly the intensity of migration events. Only by understanding the behavior, timing and pathways of migrating birds can we hope to minimize the impact of wind power generation farms on those populations.
This study complements on-going work to draft a ground truthing protocol for using NEXRAD technology to aid in exploring bird and bat migration patterns and habitat use. This is a collaborative effort involving scientists from the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, USGS EROS, USGS Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, University of Southern Mississippi, and biologists from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regions 3 and 5. The ground truthing protocol would benefit greatly from the summaries proposed above; the timing, pathways and behavior of birds during migration. In addition, the time-series animations of migration will provide a huge resource for land and wildlife managers as well as Industry managers in demonstrating when, where, and how migrating birds are most vulnerable to development.
OTHER PROJECTS IN PROGRESS:
Modeling the Effects of Forest Management Decisions on Carbon Sequestration
Principal Investigator: Tom Gower, UW-Madison
Impacts of Past and Future Changes in Climate and Atmospheric CO2 in Wisconsin Agriculture
Principal Investigator: Christopher Kucharik, UW-Madison
Monitoring the Impacts of Climate Change on Water Resources in the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest in Wisconsin
Principal Investigator: Carl Watras, WDNR
