Ecosystem Change and Disturbance

Episodic droughts have long been known to trigger accelerated tree mortality in forests worldwide, including in the Southwest U.S. Scientific understanding of the process drivers and spatial patterns of tree mortality is surprisingly limited, constraining our ability to model forest responses to projected increases in drought. The onset of regional drought since the late 1990s has resulted in...

High-severity crown fires in Southwestern dry-conifer forests — resulting from fire suppression, fuel buildups, and drought — are creating large treeless areas that are historically unprecedented in size. These recent stand-replacing fires have reset extensive portions of Southwest forest landscapes, fostering post-fire successional vegetation that can alter ecological recovery trajectories away...

The Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI) addresses effects of land-use and habitat changes on Southwest Wyoming’s natural resources. In partnership with twelve Federal, State, and local natural resource agencies, and non-governmental organizations– FORT and ten other USGS centers are conducting dozens of integrated science projects to assess the status of Southwest Wyoming’s natural...

This research examines how water flows affect populations, communities, ecosystems, and hydroscapes. Studies elucidate the interactions among hydrologic, geomorphologic, biogeochemical, biological, and anthropogenic processes. Scientists identify and quantify the spatial and temporal attributes of water flow for ecological needs. Flow alternations by humans are a primary contributor to the...

Mountain ecosystems of the western U.S. provide irreplaceable goods and services such as water, wood, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities, but their potential responses to projected climatic patterns are poorly understood. The overarching objective of the Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is to understand and predict the responses—emphasizing sensitivities, thresholds, resistance, and...

Mountain ecosystems of the western U.S. provide irreplaceable goods and services such as water, wood, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities, but their responses to global changes are poorly understood. The overarching objective of the Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is to understand and predict the responses, emphasizing sensitivities, thresholds, resistance, and resilience, of Western...

The use of uranium is an alternative energy source to petroleum products and some of the United States’ highest quality ore is located on the Colorado Plateau. However, some regions where suitable mining efforts are conducted include areas that are near important environmental resources such as National Parks that provide viewscapes and habitat for wildlife.

As the Nation strives to lessen its dependence on foreign oil, domestic energy production has increased dramatically. This is especially true for renewable energy sources such as wind: from 2007 to 2009, for example, wind energy development increased 341 percent in Wyoming, and it continues on that trajectory today. However, the effects of renewable energy development on wildlife and habitats...

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have partnered to create the Surface Disturbance Analysis and Reclamation Tracking Tool (SDARTT). SDARTT is to be the national repository for and analysis tool of disturbance data pertaining to public land operations for the BLM. Users will upload disturbance and reclamation data to SDARTT to map, analyze, and...

Increased wildfire-induced loss of sagebrush in North American shrublands are outpacing natural recovery and leading to substantial habitat loss for sagebrush-obligate species like sage-grouse. The products and information developed for this project will help restoration practitioners, biologists, and land managers evaluate the efficacy of sagebrush restoration approaches as well as their ability...

Mountain ecosystems of the western U.S. provide irreplaceable goods and services such as water, wood, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities, but their potential responses to anticipated climatic changes are poorly understood. The overarching objective of the Western Mountain Initiative (WMI) is to understand and predict the responses, emphasizing sensitivities, thresholds, resistance, and...

USGS and university researchers analyzed changes in male sage-grouse lek counts in Wyoming from 1984 through 2008, measuring disturbance owing to oil and gas development.