Jill S Baron, PhD (Former Employee)

Mountain ecosystems of the western United States provide irreplaceable goods and services such as water, timber, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities, but their responses to climatic changes are complex and not well understood. The Western Mountain Initiative (WMI), a collaboration between USGS and U.S. Forest Service scientists, catalyzes assessment and synthesis of the effects...

Climate variables are key determinants of geographic distributions and biophysical characteristics of ecosystems, communities, and species. Climate change is therefore affecting many species attributes, ecological interactions, and ecosystem processes. Because changes in the climate system will continue into the future regardless of emissions mitigation, strategies for protecting climate...

Covering about 4% of the United States, the 338,000 km² of protected areas in the National Park System contain representative landscapes of all of the nation’s biomes and ecosystems. The U.S. National Park Service Organic Act established the National Park System in 1916 “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the...

The changes occurring in mountain regions are an epitome of climate change. The dramatic shrinkage of major glaciers over the past century – and especially in the last 30 years – is one of several iconic images that have come to symbolize climate change. Climate creates the context for ecosystems, and climate variables strongly influence the structure, composition, and processes that...

Transpiration is an important component of soil water storage and stream-flow and is linked with ecosystem productivity, species distribution, and ecosystem health. In mountain environments, complex topography creates heterogeneity in key controls on transpiration as well as logistical challenges for collecting representative measurements. In these settings, ecosystem models can be used...

Compound-specific nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen isotope records from sediments of Sky Pond, an alpine lake in Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado, United States of America), were used to evaluate factors contributing to changes in diatom assemblages and bulk organic nitrogen isotope records identified in lake sediments across Colorado, Wyoming, and southern Montana. Nitrogen isotopic...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) proposes six strategic directions for managing ecosystems along with modernization of observation networks of land, water, and biological resources.

As attributes of the Earth's ecosystems shift in the face of human impact and sustainability of ecosystem services becomes less certain, one important tool at the disposal of the scientific community and other groups is a blueprint for understanding, evaluating, and communicating the value of ecological services. The blueprint presented here is based on (1) an examination of the...

Elevated levels of atmospheric N deposition are affecting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems at high elevations in Rocky Mountain National Park and adjacent areas of the Front Range of Colorado. Federal and state agencies are now working together to develop cost-effective means for reducing atmospheric N deposition. A discussion on N saturation covers the need for better understanding of...

Mountain ecosystems within our national parks and other protected areas provide valuable goods and services such as clean water, biodiversity conservation, and recreational opportunities, but their potential responses to expected climatic changes are inadequately understood. The Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is a collaboration of scientists whose research focuses on understanding and

Atmospheric deposition of sulfur and nitrogen species have the potential to acidify terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, but nitrate and ammonium are also critical nutrients for plant and microbial productivity. Both the ecological response and the hydrochemical response to atmospheric deposition are of interest to regulatory and land management agencies. We developed a non-spatial...

Mountain ecosystems within our national parks and other protected areas provide valuable goods and services such as clean water, biodiversity conservation, and recreational opportunities, but their potential responses to expected climatic changes are inadequately understood. The Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is a collaboration of scientists whose research focuses on understanding and