CIRES Education and Outreach

These resources are made available to provide educators with background information on the fast-evolving research around the local impacts of climate change.

Colorado Climate Change
Local Impacts Workshop Resources

In the fall of 2008, a group of science educators in Colorado and researchers from the University of Colorado gathered at the Mountain Research Station, which is located at the base of the Niwot Ridge Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) facility to explore evidence that climate change in occurring in our backyards.

The workshop included field trips to examine experiments in the subalpine forest and look at the effects of mountain pine beetles on pine trees in the area.

Videos in this page:

Climate and Carbon Cycling in the Colorado Subalpine Forest
Making Climate Hot: Communicating Climate Change
Infering the Role of Climate in the Decline of the American Pika
Why has the Mountain Pine Beetle Population Erupted in the Last Decade?

Nicole Trahan- Climate and Carbon Cycling in the Colorado Subalpine Forest (49:08)

Nicole Trahan
B.A., Biology (1999)
The Colorado College
M.S., Biological Sciences (2005)
University of Northern Colorado
Ph.D.: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Research Area: The Response of a Subalpine Forest Ecosystem to Earlier Spring Warm-up

Sarah Wise- Making Climate Hot: Communicating Climate Change (30:30)

Sarah Wise
B.A. with Distinction Biology, Swarthmore College (1996)
M.A. School of Education, San Francisco State University (2002) Teaching Certified, Swarthmore College (1997)
Ph.D., Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado (2007)
Research Area: Teaching about Publically Controversial Science

Chris Ray- Infering the Role of Climate in the Decline of the American Pika (48:57)

Chris Ray
B.A. in Ecology, Behavior and Evolution, University of California, San Diego (1990)
M.S. in Biology, University of California, San Diego (1991)
Ph.D. in Population Biology, University of California, Davis (1997)

Jeremy Smith- Why has the Mountain Pine Beetle Population Erupted in the Last Decade? (35:10)

Jeremy Smith
B.S. in Geography, University of Nevada at Reno (1996)
Master of Science in Geography, University of Nevada at Reno (2003)
PhD Student, Department of Geography, University of Colorado at Boulder (current)
Excellence in Teaching Award (2007)

Additional Pine Beetle Resources in Colorado
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdK-B8N4SLc
Also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kzEVCMnHVI&feature=player_embedded