Over the next century, rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns could dramatically alter Indiana’s forests and urban greenspaces, according to two new reports from the Indiana Climate Change Impacts Assessment based at Purdue University.

The reports - Indiana’s Future Forests and Maintaining Indiana’s Green Spaces - will be released during a community briefing May 15, 11 a.m. to noon, at St. Thomas Lutheran Church Heritage Hall, 3800 E. 3rd St., Bloomington.

The reports include contributions from partners at Purdue, Indiana University, Indiana State University and the U.S Forest Service - Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NAICS). Lead authors are Songlin Fei, associate professor of forestry and natural resources at Purdue; Leslie Brandt, NIACS climate change specialist; and Richard Phillips and Heather Reynolds, associate professors of biology at Indiana University.

NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: Dukes, Fei, Phillips and Reynolds will be available for one-on-one media interviews from 10-10:45 a.m., immediately preceding the community briefing.

The Indiana Climate Change Impacts Assessment (IN CCIA), based at Purdue University, has compiled the latest scientific research into a series of easily understandable reports about climate change impacts in nine topic areas: climate, water resources, health, energy, forest and urban ecosystems, aquatic ecosystems, tourism and recreation, agriculture and infrastructure. The assessment team consists of more than 100 experts from Purdue and other Indiana institutions.

The IN CCIA has released two reports so far. Both are available on the IN CCIA website at http://indianaclimate.org. For more information about the IN CCIA, go to the website or follow on social media at @PurdueCCRC, #ClimateChange, #INCCIA.