Research

Snow melts earlier in burned forests, new Science Advances study finds (Mines Newsroom)

David J Lubinski — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 17:49:53 +0000

Snow melts earlier in burned forests, new Science Advances study finds (Mines Newsroom) David J Lubinski Thu, 09/25/2025 - 11:49

Wildfires are causing earlier snowmelt across the western U.S., and this effect would only be exacerbated by projected warmer winters. For the new research, INSTAAR Fellow Karl Rittger teamed with Arielle Koshkin and Adrienne Marshall of the Colorado School of Mines.

Traditional

White

A walk across Alaska’s Arctic sea ice brings to life the losses that appear in climate data (The Conversation)

Gabe Allen — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 19:41:36 +0000

A walk across Alaska’s Arctic sea ice brings to life the losses that appear in climate data (The Conversation) Gabe Allen Tue, 09/23/2025 - 13:41

INSTAAR fellow Alexandra Jahn has spent more than a decade studying how sea ice is changing in the 21st century. In an op-ed for the Conversation, she recounts a trip arctic communities that are feeling those changes firsthand.

Traditional

White

200 dead fish in Colorado reservoir have local groups concerned over climate change’s impact on mountain waters (CO Sun)

Gabe Allen — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 20:15:50 +0000

200 dead fish in Colorado reservoir have local groups concerned over climate change’s impact on mountain waters (CO Sun) Gabe Allen Mon, 09/15/2025 - 14:15

Dead fish piled up on the shore of Grizzly Reservoir last month, prompting officials to look for a cause. Research from INSTAAR fellow Diane McKnight's lab indicates that high metal concentrations from the reservoir's inflows could have poisoned the water.

Traditional

White

Students study metal contamination in Colorado waterways (Environmental Engineering Program)

David J Lubinski — Sat, 13 Sep 2025 01:55:37 +0000

Students study metal contamination in Colorado waterways (Environmental Engineering Program) David J Lubinski Fri, 09/12/2025 - 19:55

Adam Odorisio, Athena Bolin, and Diane McKnight are studying heavy metal pollution near Aspen to aid cleanup and explore recovering valuable metals, including rare earths, from polluted streams.

Traditional

White

As salmon disappear in warming rivers, Indigenous communities face an uncertain future (��ɫ��Ƶ Today)

Gabe Allen — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 16:34:54 +0000

As salmon disappear in warming rivers, Indigenous communities face an uncertain future (��ɫ��Ƶ Today) Gabe Allen Thu, 09/11/2025 - 10:34

A new investigation, led by INSTAAR fellow Peyton Thomas, predicts the future health of fish species that Alaskan indigenous communities rely on. Thomas spent years gathering input from communities, modeling temperature changes and correlating changes to ecological outcomes.

Traditional

White

Combining local knowledge and western sciences to analyze glacier retreat and water security in South-Central Chile (CUAHSI)

Gabe Allen — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 19:26:02 +0000

Combining local knowledge and western sciences to analyze glacier retreat and water security in South-Central Chile (CUAHSI) Gabe Allen Thu, 08/21/2025 - 13:26

INSTAAR PhD student Millie Spencer recounts her experience documenting glacial retreat and downstream impacts in Chile. Her work was supported by the CUAHSI Pathfinder Award, which allowed her to gather stakeholder interviews and glaciological data in tandem.

Traditional

White

Beyond Arrakis: Dune researchers confront real-life perils of shifting sand formations (��ɫ��Ƶ Today)

Gabe Allen — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 15:14:41 +0000

Beyond Arrakis: Dune researchers confront real-life perils of shifting sand formations (��ɫ��Ƶ Today) Gabe Allen Tue, 08/19/2025 - 09:14

Sand dunes occupy 5% of Earth's land, and that number is growing. INSTAAR fellow Nathalie Vriend investigates how dunes form, move and stall through a mixture of field observations and laboratory experiments.

Traditional

White

Glacial lake flood hits Juneau, Alaska, reflecting a growing risk as mountain glaciers melt around the world (The Conversation)

Gabe Allen — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 17:57:35 +0000

Glacial lake flood hits Juneau, Alaska, reflecting a growing risk as mountain glaciers melt around the world (The Conversation) Gabe Allen Fri, 08/15/2025 - 11:57

This week, a surge of water burst forth from a glacial lake near Juneau Alaska. INSTAAR fellow Alton Byers and his collaborator Suzanne OConnell explain why glacial outburst floods, like this one, are a growing trend around the world.

Traditional

White

Which tree species are best at cooling down the city?

Gabe Allen — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 17:28:53 +0000

Which tree species are best at cooling down the city? Gabe Allen Tue, 08/12/2025 - 11:28

Gabe Allen

Summers in Boulder are hot and getting hotter. But the large trees that occupy the city’s parks, yards and green spaces can provide a welcome patch of shade for pedestrians, critters and understory plants.

One INSTAAR researcher is hyper-focused on this phenomenon. PhD student Advyth Ramachandran is investigating the cooling power of various species of urban trees. Each week, his field crew downloads data from carefully-placed temperature sensors and gathers samples of leaves and wood. The goal is to create guidance for urban planners and foresters looking to cool down cities with natural solutions.

Today, Ramachandran will present his methodology and preliminary findings at the Ecological Society of America’s Annual Meeting in Baltimore. He is one of several ��ɫ��Ƶ researchers who will attend, speak and present at the conference.

Earlier this week, INSTAAR sat down with Ramachandran to learn more about his project and how it came to be.

What is the origin story of your interest in urban trees?

Advyth Ramachandran clips a twig of an American linden tree in Boulder in August, 2025. Back at the lab, Ramachandran and his team will use the sample to assess wood density and leaf area for the tree. (Photo courtesy of Advyth Ramachandran)

I didn't have a very outdoorsy childhood, but my family would walk around a lot in urban parks, so I was always really interested in vegetation and biodiversity in urban areas. Then, when I was in college, three of my friends, who are computer engineers, recruited me as the science team member for a hackathon project using remote sensors to better manage urban forests. We were interested in soil moisture and how it impacts urban tree survival. Through that project, I got fascinated with urban forests, and I decided that it would be cool to study urban ecosystems more in graduate school.

When I started my PhD in Katharine Suding’s lab, I pitched the urban tree traits project to Katie and she gave me the green light. The idea is to study urban trees using some of the same methods that we use in natural ecosystems and also to think about urban vegetation dynamics through the frameworks we use in restoration ecology. One of my committee members, Laura Dee, connected me with the City of Boulder Climate Initiatives team, which led to a collaboration with them that is ongoing.

This is such a unique research question. How did it come about?

We know trees are good. We know they're good for a lot of reasons, but importantly they reduce urban temperatures. At this point, the evidence of that is overwhelming.

But, a lot of the evidence that we have for the role of trees in reducing temperatures actually comes from satellites, which are sensing land surface temperature — not actually sensors on the ground that are measuring the air temperature that people experience. The year before I came to CU, students in Laura Dee’s lab put out temperature sensors around Boulder and found that vegetation does actually cool down air temperatures in Boulder.

My research question ultimately arose from this finding, the existing literature and my interest in plant functional traits — basically characteristics that influence how plants interact with the environment. We converged on this idea of how tree traits might predict which species are the best at cooling.

Today in Boulder, we really don't know which tree species are the best to plant for cooling. When foresters decide which trees to plant they base that on a lot of things, such as disease resistance, drought tolerance, and fire risk. We’re trying to add an understanding of which species might work best for reducing temperatures to that selection process.

This is really an example of one of the main thrusts of my dissertation research, which broadly focuses on how plant functional traits can be used to design nature-based solutions. We wrote a paper about this last year, and one of the things that we learned is that this area is really understudied.

So, I did a pilot study in 2024 and then this year was the real deal. We got useful data last year, but we didn't have enough to really see clear differences among species. This year, I was finally able to see some clear differences arise after refining the methodology and expanding the size of the study.

What insights have you gleaned so far?

CU undergraduate researchers Jen Dugdale (left) and Rhiannon Danborn select and preserve leaf and wood samples In Boulder in August 2025. (Photo courtesy of Advyth Ramachandran)

The first insights came from last year's pilot study. We found was that the tree canopy has a significant effect on temperature, as you might expect. It can actually cool the air by around four degrees Fahrenheit. We also found that soil moisture and grass cover are really important determinants of temperature. One major takeaway was that temperature varies on really fine spatial scales. You could have sensors that are a stone’s throw away from each other and see a difference in average summer afternoon temperatures of five degrees Fahrenheit.

Coming into 2025, we decided to start zeroing in on the impacts of individual tree species by controlling for all of these factors that we identified last year. We only put sensors under isolated trees located in urban parks that are irrigated and green. Once we incorporated all these factors into our statistical model, we started to see differences between species. In the end, we were able to identify a gradient of tree species based on their cooling effects.

Can you get specific about which trees are the best at cooling?

I'm not ready to provide planting recommendations just yet, because we still need to refine our analyses and go through peer review. One thing we did find, though, is that dense foliage seems to be a useful trait for cooling. Interestingly, there are some trees, like blue spruce for example, that grow dense foliage and seem to be relatively drought-tolerant. More research is needed, but this is a promising indication that we might be able to find tree species that are both tolerant of a dry climate and good at cooling cities.

This week, INSTAAR PhD student Advyth Ramachandran is presenting preliminary findings at a conference in Baltimore. His work seeks to understand the cooling effects of various urban tree species in Boulder.

Traditional

CU undergraduate researchers Gavin Schoew (left) and Arin Oberley measure ground cover near a temperature sensor in Boulder in August, 2025. This data is used to disentangle the impact of trees from the effect of ground cover on urban temperatures. (Photo courtesy of Advyth Ramachandran)

White

CU undergraduate researchers Gavin Schoew (left) and Arin Oberley measure ground cover near a temperature sensor in Boulder in August, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Advyth Ramachandran)

Spruce Gulch land gift enhances future ecological and academic studies at ��ɫ��Ƶ (��ɫ��Ƶ Today)

Gabe Allen — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Spruce Gulch land gift enhances future ecological and academic studies at ��ɫ��Ƶ (��ɫ��Ƶ Today) Gabe Allen Tue, 08/12/2025 - 07:00

Linda Holubar Sanabria has donated a 476-acre wildlife and research reserve to ��ɫ��Ƶ. INSTAAR will manage research and education programs at the site, with Timothy Seastedt stepping up as director.

Traditional

White

Research

Snow melts earlier in burned forests, new Science Advances study finds (Mines Newsroom)

Related Articles

A walk across Alaska’s Arctic sea ice brings to life the losses that appear in climate data (The Conversation)

Related Articles

200 dead fish in Colorado reservoir have local groups concerned over climate change’s impact on mountain waters (CO Sun)

Related Articles

Students study metal contamination in Colorado waterways (Environmental Engineering Program)

Related Articles

As salmon disappear in warming rivers, Indigenous communities face an uncertain future (��ɫ��Ƶ Today)

Related Articles

Combining local knowledge and western sciences to analyze glacier retreat and water security in South-Central Chile (CUAHSI)

Related Articles

Beyond Arrakis: Dune researchers confront real-life perils of shifting sand formations (��ɫ��Ƶ Today)

Related Articles

Glacial lake flood hits Juneau, Alaska, reflecting a growing risk as mountain glaciers melt around the world (The Conversation)

Related Articles

Which tree species are best at cooling down the city?

What is the origin story of your interest in urban trees?

This is such a unique research question. How did it come about?

What insights have you gleaned so far?

Can you get specific about which trees are the best at cooling?

Related Articles

Spruce Gulch land gift enhances future ecological and academic studies at ��ɫ��Ƶ (��ɫ��Ƶ Today)

Related Articles