Ecological Stressors

WARC researchers are gathering amphibian data to better understand the impact of natural disasters on treefrog populations and examine post-event processes.

USGS scientists will be analyzing weather surveillance radar observations of birds departing stopover habitats to measure responses to climate change.

Connectivity among coral communities influences the probability of speciation and contributes to their ability to adapt to natural and anthropogenic stressors. Results from this study will enhance our understanding of Gulf ecosystems with regional conservation initiatives to inform the restoration of degraded deepwater coral communities and preserve long-term viability of coastal ecosystems.

This study will examine the potential effects of sea level rise, drought and water extraction by examining tree growth patterns across the Gulf Coast, specifically targeting long-term research plots available in the North American Baldcypress Swamp Network (NABCSN) and the Suwannee River.

This study will employ a space for time substitution to show long-term effects of rising sea-level and increasing salinity on vegetation community structure, primary production and decomposition. Productivity and decomposition rates will be estimated for four wetland plant community types defined by salinity zones and dominant plant species.

Sudden Marsh Dieback - SMD - has been documented for the past two decades throughout coastal areas of the United States. With these large-scale diebacks comes the loss of ecosystem functions and services. USGS scientsts use field work and greenhouse studies to investigate the factors that control the resilience and resistance of coastal salt marshes to SMD.

Researchers at WARC are determining if temporal mismatches between digital elevation models and land cover data can impact estimates of inundation of beach habitat for barrier islands and low-lying beaches off the Gulf Coast of Florida.

USGS researchers will collect geospatial data that will help decision makers monitor and mitigate the direct and indirect impacts of border barrier construction on threatened and endangered species.

USGS is studying the effects of land-use and land-cover changes, and the effects of ecosystem disturbance and changing environmental conditions on carbon dynamics on Department of Defense lands.

USGS scientists are working with partners at the Puget Sound Partnership and the State of Washington’s Department of Ecology to develop two new tools to help us understand how human disturbance affects life at the top of Puget Sound: a Marine Benthic Index and a graphical causal model.

A USGS multi-disciplinary team will use laboratory and modeling approaches to investigate the cause of stony coral tissue loss disease.

USGS Researchers at the Wetland and Aquatic Research Center and the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center will provide valuable information to natural resource managers on how important coastal ecosystems in the National Park Service South Atlantic-Gulf Region may change over time. This information could assist with future-focused land management and stewardship.