Land Use / Land Cover Change

While islands are some of the most biodiverse places on earth, they are also among the most threatened. Researchers from WARC and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are assessing the vulnerability of Florida’s coastal islands to inundation from sea-level rise and estimating potential loss of the terrestrial biodiversity on Florida’s islands.

The USGS is collaborating with the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) to develop post-restoration barrier island habitat maps for three of the four components associated with the Louisiana Outer Coast Restoration Project

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 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.

Researchers will use a multi-scale approach to determine how barrier construction and lighting may impact migratory birds in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands are coastal transition zones where freshwater rivers meet tidal seawater. As sea levels rise, tidal forces move saltier water farther upstream, extending into freshwater wetland areas. Human changes to the surrounding landscape may amplify the effects of this tidal extension, impacting the resiliency and function of the upper estuarine wetlands. One visible...

The State of Louisiana's Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring (BICM) program has partnered with USGS to developed two habitat classifications schemes for monitoring barrier island habitats and habitats in beach-dune systems along the mainland. These schemes builds upon previous BICM habitat mapping efforts.

South Florida's pine rockland ecosystem represents less than 3% of its original extent. This project will evaluate habitat conditions for two pine rockland snake species to develop future habitat condition scenarios for Species Status Assessments.

The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority’s Coastal Master Plan is a blueprint for responding to environmental changes. As part of the agency’s continued engagement, USGS supports model developments and improvements for the 2023 Coastal Master Plan.

Mottled ducks rely on the coastal marshes of the Texas Chenier Plain, which are considered among the most critically endangered habitats in the United States. USGS scientists are evaluating what might be contributing to the degradation of high-quality mottled duck habitat to better understand the causes of habitat loss and subsequently mitigate those losses.

National Wildlife Refuges provide habitat for important fish and wildlife species and services that benefit coastal communities, like storm-surge protection. USGS scientists are helping coastal refuges plan for and adapt to sea-level rise.

For many years, coastal marshes in Texas and Louisiana have served as critical habitat for the mottled duck ( Anas fulvigula), which is considered a priority species in the Texas/Louisiana Gulf Coast area.