Research by the Impacts Group at the Joint Global Change Research Institute focuses on two major areas: the impact of climate change and variability on managed and natural ecosystems and the potential of soil carbon sequestration as a climate change mitigation tool. The primary tools in this research are ecosystem process models which are developed with research partners. The scope of research focuses primarily on regions of the United States, and a major effort has been undertaken to expand modeling capabilities to other parts of the world. In addition, the group works with two major research programs in the US which are assessing the potential of agricultural lands for soil carbon sequestration, and examining monitoring and verification options.