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Data associated with the publication: Conrad-Rooney E, AB Reinmann, PH Templer. Declining Winter Snowpack Offsets Carbon Storage Enhancement from Growing Season Warming in Northern Temperate Forest Ecosystems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2025. This dataset includes cumulative stem biomass carbon data (from pre-treatment in 2012 until 2022) and annual stem biomass growth rates (not cumulative) for 2015-2022 for the red maple trees at the Climate Change Across Seasons Experiment. These data were gathered as part of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study (HBES). The HBES is a collaborative effort at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, which is operated and maintained by the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 

Data associated with the publication: Conrad-Rooney E, AB Reinmann, PH Templer. Declining Winter Snowpack Offsets Carbon Storage Enhancement from Growing Season Warming in Northern Temperate Forest Ecosystems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2025. This dataset includes soil temperature (winter 2021-2022) and snow depth and frost depth (winter 2022-2023) at the Climate Change Across Seasons Experiment. These data were gathered as part of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study (HBES). The HBES is a collaborative effort at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, which is operated and maintained by the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 

Northeastern US temperate forests are currently net carbon (C) sinks and play an important role offsetting anthropogenic C emissions, but projected climatic changes, including increased temperatures and decreased winter snowpack, may influence this C sink over the next century. Past studies show that growing season warming increases forest C storage through greater soil nutrient availability that contributes to greater rates of net photosynthesis, while reduced winter snowpack induces soil freeze/thaw cycles that reduce tree root vitality, nutrient uptake, and forest C storage. The year-round effects of climate change on this C sink are not well understood. We report here decade-long results from the Climate Change Across Seasons Experiment (CCASE) at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, which determines the combined effects of growing season warming and a smaller winter snowpack on C storage in northern temperate forests. We found after a decade of treatments that growing season warming increases cumulative tree stem biomass C by 63%. However, winter soil freeze/thaw cycles offset half of this growing season warming effect. The amount of C stored in stem biomass of trees experiencing both growing season warming plus smaller winter snowpack is only 31% higher than the reference plots, but this difference is not significant. Our results suggest that current Earth system models are likely to overestimate the C sink capacity of northern temperate forests because they do not incorporate the negative impacts of a shrinking snowpack and increased frequency of soil freeze/thaw cycles on C uptake and storage by trees. 

Abstract Graduate students across disciplines are eager for experiential training that enables them to address real-world environmental challenges. Simultaneously, communities across the world face numerous environmental challenges, including increased frequency of extreme heat in summer and poor air quality, and could benefit from the expertise and engagement of graduate students with the requisite skills and interests to address these challenges. In this paper we bring together lessons learned from three interdisciplinary graduate training programs focused on preparing graduate students to contribute to urban environmental solutions by working in partnerships with non-academic organizations. We discuss the multiple elements required for partnerships to be mutually beneficial, including using a T-shaped approach to training that incorporates bothdepthandbreadthwhile making strong efforts to broaden participation. We share lessons with the goal of enhancing graduate programs to improve training of students to address urban environmental challenges globally. This training aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 17, “Partnership for the Goals,” which aims to achieve sustainable development goals through partnerships among entities.