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The Rigden Group uses multi-scale data and models to understand how changes to our water cycle affect ecosystems and society.

Anthropogenic climate change is anticipated to alter Earth’s hydrologic cycle through changes in rainfall, evapotranspiration, and runoff processes. These shifts in hydrology will have serious implications for plants and society by affecting food production and plant-mediated processes, such as wildfires. Our research aims to alleviate damages from our changing hydrologic cycle by facilitating effective adaptation and coping strategies.

How will the water cycle change with anthropogenic climate change? For plants, this is the million-dollar question.

Projected changes in near-surface air temperature are robust. Models agree that temperature will increase across the Earth.
Projected changes in total precipitation are regional in sign, with models disagreeing on the sign of the change over much of the land.

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