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WIDESPREAD DROUGHT-INDUCED TREE MORTALITY IS AN EMERGING WORLDWIDE PHENOMENON THREATENING FOREST ECOSYSTEMS WITH DIEBACK FUEL LOADING AND LOSS OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES SUCH AS CARBON STORAGE. IN CALIFORNIA THE ONGOING TREE MORTALITY EVENT KILLED ~129 MILLION TREES MANY BEING OLD GROWTH TREES IN FIRE ADAPTED FORESTS. THIS EVENT IS EMBLEMATIC OF SWIFT LARGE SCALE ECOLOGICAL CHANGES OCCURRING GLOBALLY THAT ARE TESTING SOCIETYS EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND FISCAL CAPACITY. TO ADDRESS THIS CRISIS SCIENTISTS AND MANAGERS ARE CALLING FOR MORE ACCURATE MODELING APPLICATIONS THAT PREDICT AND ASSIST IN PLANNING THE RESPONSE TO WIDESPREAD TREE MORTALITY. I WILL RESPOND TO THIS CALL BY STUDYING TREE MORTALITY PATTERNS USING A HIERARCHY OF FIELD AIRBORNE AND SPACE-BORNE DATA TO MEASURE INDIVIDUAL TREE VIGOR AND ABOVEGROUND CARBON STORAGE IN A FORESTED ECOREGION ADAPTED TO FREQUENT FIRE. I WILL DO SO BY LEVERAGING LIDAR AND SPECTRAL MAPPING AS WELL AS FIELD VERIFIED TREE MORTALITY AND MODEL AGENTS OF MORTALITY DATA TO DEVELOP PROBABILISTIC MORTALITY AND ABOVEGROUND CARBON STORAGE POOL MODELS WITH SPATIALLY EXPLICIT ERROR ESTIMATION. I WILL APPLY THE AIRBORNE AND FIELD DERIVED MORTALITY MODELS TO CONSTRUCT REGIONAL MODELS BY RELATING METRICS FROM NASAS SPACEBORNE LIDAR AND SPECTRAL INSTRUMENTS. THE METHODS AND APPROACH FROM MY EXAMINATION OF THE SIERRA NEVADA ECOREGION IN CALIFORNIA WILL BE GLOBALLY APPLICABLE TO FORESTS VULNERABLE TO DROUGHT. I WILL DO SO BY ACHIEVING THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES WHICH MEET NASAS OVERALL EARTH SCIENCE PROGRAM GOALS TO EXPAND ECOLOGICAL THEORY AND UNDERSTANDING THROUGH THE APPLICATION AND ANALYSIS OF NASAS DATA AND RESOURCES TO ACHIEVE CRITICALLY IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC AND MANAGEMENT GOALS: 1) THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF FIELD AND AIRBORNE MEASUREMENTS I WILL BUILD A PROBALISTIC MODEL OF OVERSTORY TREE MORTALITY WHICH WILL IMPROVE THE ECOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF WIDESPREAD DROUGHT-INDUCED MORTALITY WHICH IS THREATENING FORESTS WORLDWIDE. 2) USE THE IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING FROM THE PREVIOUS GOAL TO DEVELOP ECOREGION-WIDE MODELS USING NASAS SPACE-BORNE ASSETS TO DEVELOP A MODEL FOR FOREST RESILIENCE TO DROUGHT MORTALITY. 3) PROVIDE FOREST MANAGERS WITH MAPS AND AN ANALYSIS APPROACH TO MONITOR RESILIENT FORESTS AND PRIORITIZE MANAGEMENT INTERVENTIONS TO SECURE FOREST RESILIENCE TO FUTURE PERTURBATIONS

$135,000FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

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WIDESPREAD DROUGHT-INDUCED TREE MORTALITY IS AN EMERGING WORLDWIDE PHENOMENON THREATENING FOREST ECOSYSTEMS WITH DIEBACK FUEL LOADING AND LOSS OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES SUCH AS CARBON STORAGE. IN CALIFORNIA THE ONGOING TREE MORTALITY EVENT KILLED ~129 MILLION TREES MANY BEING OLD GROWTH TREES IN FIRE ADAPTED FORESTS. THIS EVENT IS EMBLEMATIC OF SWIFT LARGE SCALE ECOLOGICAL CHANGES OCCURRING GLOBALLY THAT ARE TESTING SOCIETYS EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND FISCAL CAPACITY. TO ADDRESS THIS CRISIS SCIENTISTS AND MANAGERS ARE CALLING FOR MORE ACCURATE MODELING APPLICATIONS THAT PREDICT AND ASSIST IN PLANNING THE RESPONSE TO WIDESPREAD TREE MORTALITY. I WILL RESPOND TO THIS CALL BY STUDYING TREE MORTALITY PATTERNS USING A HIERARCHY OF FIELD AIRBORNE AND SPACE-BORNE DATA TO MEASURE INDIVIDUAL TREE VIGOR AND ABOVEGROUND CARBON STORAGE IN A FORESTED ECOREGION ADAPTED TO FREQUENT FIRE. I WILL DO SO BY LEVERAGING LIDAR AND SPECTRAL MAPPING AS WELL AS FIELD VERIFIED TREE MORTALITY AND MODEL AGENTS OF MORTALITY DATA TO DEVELOP PROBABILISTIC MORTALITY AND ABOVEGROUND CARBON STORAGE POOL MODELS WITH SPATIALLY EXPLICIT ERROR ESTIMATION. I WILL APPLY THE AIRBORNE AND FIELD DERIVED MORTALITY MODELS TO CONSTRUCT REGIONAL MODELS BY RELATING METRICS FROM NASAS SPACEBORNE LIDAR AND SPECTRAL INSTRUMENTS. THE METHODS AND APPROACH FROM MY EXAMINATION OF THE SIERRA NEVADA ECOREGION IN CALIFORNIA WILL BE GLOBALLY APPLICABLE TO FORESTS VULNERABLE TO DROUGHT. I WILL DO SO BY ACHIEVING THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES WHICH MEET NASAS OVERALL EARTH SCIENCE PROGRAM GOALS TO EXPAND ECOLOGICAL THEORY AND UNDERSTANDING THROUGH THE APPLICATION AND ANALYSIS OF NASAS DATA AND RESOURCES TO ACHIEVE CRITICALLY IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC AND MANAGEMENT GOALS: 1) THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF FIELD AND AIRBORNE MEASUREMENTS I WILL BUILD A PROBALISTIC MODEL OF OVERSTORY TREE MORTALITY WHICH WILL IMPROVE THE ECOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF WIDESPREAD DROUGHT-INDUCED MORTALITY WHICH IS THREATENING FORESTS WORLDWIDE. 2) USE THE IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING FROM THE PREVIOUS GOAL TO DEVELOP ECOREGION-WIDE MODELS USING NASAS SPACE-BORNE ASSETS TO DEVELOP A MODEL FOR FOREST RESILIENCE TO DROUGHT MORTALITY. 3) PROVIDE FOREST MANAGERS WITH MAPS AND AN ANALYSIS APPROACH TO MONITOR RESILIENT FORESTS AND PRIORITIZE MANAGEMENT INTERVENTIONS TO SECURE FOREST RESILIENCE TO FUTURE PERTURBATIONS · GrantIndex