1. How Does Climate Change Affect Biomass Accumulation in Boreal Ecosystems? Earth Science B Period 2012

2. CO 2 concentrations in the atmosphere are rising due to human activity (IPCC 2007) Introduction Temperature Anomaly animation from http://studentclimatedata.unh.edu (www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/) Climate models predict a large increase in temperature in the boreal regions of Canada by 2099

3. Research Question: How does climate change affect biomass accumulation in boreal ecosystems? Hypothesis As temperature and precipitation increase in boreal ecosystems (due to climate change), the biomass accumulation will also increase.

4. MODEL INPUTS: Temperature Current: -6.85°C Future: -0.716°C Precipitation Current: 851.92 mm Future: 1066.53 mm Biome (turnover rate) Boreal Forest/Taiga (0.01) Methods Used the Biomass Accumulation Model to determine biomass accumulation and carbon storage Model uses temperature, precipitation, and turnover rate to determine biomass and productivity Latitude: 55.08 Longitude: -71.37 Biomass Accumulation Model Map

5. Results Under current conditions, final biomass was 20609 g/m 2 and carbon storage was 10304.5 g C/m 2 Under future conditions, final biomass was 31403 g/m 2 and carbon storage was 15701.5 g C/m 2 Future conditions Current conditions

6. Discussion Hypothesis was supported by the modeling investigation Model results showed an increase in biomass and carbon storage under elevated temperature and precipitation in boreal regions Changes in temperature and precipitation may alter the species composition of boreal ecosystems, influencing the carbon storage of this region Including more factors (e.g., species type, soil, human impacts) in the model would likely improve our predictions of biomass and carbon storage

7. Questions?

8. Works Cited: IPCC. 2007. Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report. Martin, ME et al. 2012. Student Climate Data. Available from: http://studentclimatedata.unh.edu. Accessed April 12, 2012.