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Title: Processes for identifying regional influences of and responses to increasing atmospheric CO sub 2 and climate change---The MINK Project

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5361901

This is the third of a series of reports of research contributing to the study Processes for Identifying Regional Influences of an Responses to Increasing Atmospheric CO{sub 2} and Climate Change --The MINK Project. This report is an analysis of the possible impacts of climatic change on forest resources in the Missouri-Iowa-Nebraska-Kansas (MINK) region. It follows a uniform methodological strategy that is applied to the four resource sectors most likely to be impacted by climate change, i.e. agriculture, forestry, water resources and energy. What makes the forests of this region interesting is their great vulnerability to climate warming. With their position on the fringe of the eastern hardwood forest, bordering the grasslands of the midwest, it might be expected that these forests would be among the first to be affected by a changing climate. The state of the current forest resource are examined as well as, using simulation models, the likely sensitivity of the Missouri forests to a climate warming. The future development of forestry and forest technology in the region is considered. It is concluded that the low productivity of these forests rules out active adaptation to climate change, such as might expected in the region's agricultural sector or in the more productive forest regions of the US southeast or northwest. The forest sector is most likely to begin gradual and passive decline under a climate warming. 47 refs., 27 figs., 7 tabs.

Research Organization:
Resources for the Future, Inc., Washington, DC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
5361901
Report Number(s):
DOE/RL-01830T-H9; ON: DE91018604
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English