Priority Landscapes
Priority Landscapes
Much of the work done by USGS WARC scientists occurs in areas of management concern, such as the Mississippi River Delta and the Florida Everglades. This place-based research focuses on understanding the biological and physical processes that influence change to inform management strategies across these large geographic areas.
Filter Total Items: 101
Decision Support Tool to Assess the Carbon Sequestration Potential of Restoring Wetlands within National Park Service Lands
USGS is developing a modeling tool that will let National Park Service assess the carbon sequestration potential of future wetland restoration projects.
Adding an Aquatic Prey Fish Module within the Everglades Vulnerability Analysis Modeling Framework
The USGS Joint Ecosystem Modeling team will use Bayesian networks to build a spatially explicit Everglades Vulnerability Analysis module based on current knowledge and existing data on fish density and biomass trends on the landscape.
Nekton References and Targets: Assessing the Abundance and Density of Fish and Invertebrates Associated with Louisiana’s Marsh Habitat
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is leading a Monitoring and Adaptive Management (MAM) activity with USGS collaborators to establish reference ranges and restoration targets, assess data gaps for focal nekton species and/or guilds associated with Louisiana’s estuarine and coastal habitats, implement the fixed-area sampling strategy to quantify fishes and invertebrates...
Quantifying Changes in Wetland Area and Habitat Types in the Deepwater Horizon Louisiana Restoration Area 1985-Present with Remote Sensing
USGS researchers will quantify wetland change and wetland vegetation community type change through the analyses of aerial vegetation survey data and investigate potential relationships between Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and marsh elevation change.
Mangrove Forest Responses to Sea-Level Rise in the Greater Everglades
USGS researchers will utilize long-term soil elevation change data to help advance understanding of soil elevation dynamics and ecological transformations within coastal wetlands of the Greater Everglades.
Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) Program-Louisiana Outer Coast Restoration: North Breton Island Component-Monitoring and Adaptive Management
In order to enhance habitat for nesting Brown Pelicans, terns, Black Skimmers, and gulls, the USFWS has contracted with USGS to conduct project monitoring on North Breton Island from FY23 to FY31. Monitoring conducted by USGS will facilitate evaluation of habitat characteristics and determine restoration success or need for adaptive management.
Demographic Analysis of the Endangered Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow
USGS researchers will examine how hydrology and landscape vegetation changes impact Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow survival and population growth.
Comparing EverForecast to the South Florida Water Management District’s Position Analysis
USGS will compare the EverForecast hydrologic forecast, the South Florida Water Management District's Position Analysis, and observed water level recordings from gages located across the Everglades landscape to examine which forecast performs better during the wet and dry seasons; wet, dry, or average years; or in different areas of the Everglades.
Southwest Florida Fish Slam – Spring 2022
Forty-two fish biologists from seven organizations participated in a two-day Spring Fish Slam event in southwest Florida. Fourteen species of non-native fishes were collected or observed.
Ecological Modeling in Support of the Lake Okeechobee Water Management
The Joint Ecosystem Modeling team will be running a suite of ecological models to evaluate scenarios and provide insight into how alternative restorations plans compare, indicate whether alternatives could lead to unintended consequences, and determine effects of alternatives that could conflict with other goals.
Delivery of Strategically Placed Sediment through Tidal Creeks to Adjacent Coastal Wetlands
In the summer of 2021, instrumented platforms were deployed at Seven Mile Island Living Laboratory, New Jersey to conduct time series measurements of tidal velocity, turbidity, surface elevation, sediment concentration, and suspended sediment characteristics. The collected data will be used to provide decision support to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as they plan dredging activities in the Gulf...
USGS Coordinated Burmese Python Research Strategy for South Florida (FY21 – FY27)
Wetland and Aquatic Research Center and Fort Collins Science Center are coordinating a long-term, landscape-scale Burmese python research strategy for South Florida.