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1. Water-table response to extreme precipitation events

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.129140  

   Corona, Claudia R.; Ge, Shemin; Anderson, Suzanne P. (March 2023, Journal of Hydrology)
2. Wildfire and Environmental Feedbacks in the Western Sahel: Responses to Cenozoic Boundary Shifts

   Blattmann, Franziska; Lupien, Rachel; Uno, Kevin T; deMenocal, Peter B (December 2024, AGU Abstracts)

   Wildfires are essential to terrestrial ecosystems, playing a crucial role in nutrient and carbon cycles, particularly in highly seasonal environments like the Western Sahel. Their occurrence is linked to complex feedback mechanisms between climate, landscape structure, vegetation and the carbon cycle. It is therefore central to understand wildfire dynamics in the context of paleoclimatic and environmental change. Here we present a record of 3 to 7 ringed polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), from five targeted study windows throughout the last 25 million years from ODP Site 959 in the Gulf of Guinea. The time windows target the effects of orbital forcings of the West African Monsoon on wildfire and vegetation responses in different boundary conditions in the Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene, including shifts in global temperatures, greenhouse gas concentrations, and regional land surface. Orbitally resolved PAH biomarkers can provide insight into fire activity and be coupled with changing precipitation patterns and biomes. We discuss PAH sources and how wildfire frequency is linked to the observed drying trend, climate variability, and vegetation expansion throughout the Cenozoic in the Western Sahel. These findings are central for understanding future wildfire dynamics in the vulnerable Western Sahel region in the light of global warming. 

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3. Behavioral Responses to Wildfire Smoke: A Case Study in Western Montana

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-024-01390-1  

   Stewart, Taylor; Monroe, Alison; Mullan, Katrina; Jones, Dave; McIver, Abby; Walker, Ethan S (August 2024, Journal of Community Health)
4. Photosynthetic responses of switchgrass to light and CO₂ under different precipitation treatments

   Kieffer, Christina; Kaur, Navneet; Li, Jianwei; Matamala, Roser; Fay, Philip; Hui, Dafeng. (May 2024, GCB bioenergy)

   Long, Steve. (Ed.)

   Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a prominent bioenergy crop with robust resilience to environmental stresses. However, our knowledge regarding how precipitation changes affect switchgrass photosynthesis and its responses to light and CO2 remains limited. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a field precipitation experiment with five different treatments, including -50%, -33%, 0%, +33%, and +50% of ambient precipitation. To determine the responses of leaf photosynthesis to CO2 concentration and light, we measured leaf net photosynthesis of switchgrass under different CO2 concentrations and light levels in 2020 and 2021 for each of the five precipitation treatments. We first evaluated four light and CO2 response models (i.e., rectangular hyperbola model, nonrectangular hyperbola model, exponential model, and the modified rectangular hyperbola model) using the measurements in the ambient precipitation treatment. Based on the fitting criteria, we selected the nonrectangular hyperbola model as the optimal model and applied it to all precipitation treatments, and estimated model parameters. Overall, the model fit field measurements well for the light and CO2 response curves. Precipitation change did not influence the maximum net photosynthetic rate (Pmax) but influenced other model parameters including quantum yield (α), convexity (θ), dark respiration (Rd), light compensation point (LCP), and saturated light point (LSP). Specifically, the mean Pmax of five precipitation treatments was 17.6 μmol CO2 m-2s-1, and the ambient treatment tended to have a higher Pmax. The +33% treatment had the highest α, and the ambient treatment had lower θ and LCP, higher Rd, and relatively lower LSP. Furthermore, precipitation significantly influenced all model parameters of CO2 response. The ambient treatment had the highest Pmax, largest α, and lowest θ, Rd, and CO2 compensation point LCP. Overall, this study improved our understanding of how switchgrass leaf photosynthesis responds to diverse environmental factors, providing valuable insights for accurately modeling switchgrass ecophysiology and productivity. 

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5. Fire Characteristics and Hydrologic Connectivity Influence Short‐Term Responses of North Temperate Lakes to Wildfire

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL103953  

   McCullough, Ian M.; Brentrup, Jennifer A.; Wagner, Tyler; Lapierre, Jean‐Francois; Henneck, Jerald; Paul, Andrea M.; Belair, Mathilde; Moritz, Max. A.; Filstrup, Christopher T. (August 2023, Geophysical Research Letters)

   Key Points We observed post‐wildfire increases in nutrients, dissolved organic carbon, sediments, and acidity and reduced water clarity in lakes Water quality responses were often persistent or cumulative throughout the summer, especially for lakes with tributaries from burned areas High‐severity and shoreline burns resulted in a nearly two‐fold increase in total phosphorus concentration compared to control lakes 

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