Fish Ecologist Mike Carey studies the impacts beavers have on warming Alaskan permafrost landscapes.
Climate Impacts on Plants and Animals
Climate Adaptation Insights Newsletter
Stay up to date on current research and opportunities through the USGS Climate Adaptation Science Centers.
Stay up to date on current research and opportunities through the USGS Climate Adaptation Science Centers.
Earth Science Matters Newsletter
See what's new from the USGS Climate Research and Development Program.
See what's new from the USGS Climate Research and Development Program.
Climate Change in the Pacific
Pacific Islands face unique challenges from climate change. Learn how USGS programs partner with island communities to address climate change challenges.
Pacific Islands face unique challenges from climate change. Learn how USGS programs partner with island communities to address climate change challenges.
USGS Helps Develop New Conservation Strategy
The USGS-led "Resist-Accept-Direct" (RAD) Framework is helping managers at national parks and other lands develop strategies for dealing with climate-induced ecosystem changes.
The USGS-led "Resist-Accept-Direct" (RAD) Framework is helping managers at national parks and other lands develop strategies for dealing with climate-induced ecosystem changes.
Global climate change has rippling effects on our environment, impacting where plants, animals, and humans can live. The USGS studies how climate change affects natural places and provides solutions to help protect fish, wildlife, and habitats.
How does climate change affect plants and animals?
Everything in the natural world is connected. Animals eat plants, insects pollinate flowers, microbes break down dead things. Living things are also connected to the “non-living” parts of their environments – they use rocks for shelter, they depend on rain to bloom, they hibernate when it gets cold. Together, these living and non-living components make up an ecosystem.
Climate helps shape ecosystems. Things like average temperatures, humidity, and rainfall determine where plants and animals live. If a region’s climate changes, the ecosystems change as well.
Climate change has diverse impacts on plants, animals, and ecosystems. Explore some of these impacts below.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
USGS Helps Preserve Ecosystems
Media
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Scientists at the USGS study how climate change affects the Nation’s wildlife, fish, plants, and ecosystems. We also help resource managers develop and implement strategies to allow plants and animals to survive and thrive in new conditions. We generate our science side-by-side with partners to ensure results and tools are directly applicable to on-the-ground conservation, restoration, and management decisions. USGS climate science is used to protect natural areas across the country, from local-scale conservation decisions to national park climate scenario planning.
USGS science particularly focuses on helping resource managers, conservation agencies, and Indigenous peoples implement climate adaptation practices that intentionally help preserve species and landscapes under new climate conditions. For example, this could involve building sea walls to keep out rising sea levels, or planting drought-tolerant grasses in dry areas. Adapted landscapes may not look exactly the way they used to, but ideally the modifications allow them to continue to support the natural and human communities that rely on them. USGS scientists also use monitoring, field work, and modeling to understand how species naturally adapt to climate change, called adaptive capacity.
USGS science helps to:
-
Understand climate change effects on fish, wildlife, plants, and ecosystems
-
Model species range shifts under potential future conditions
-
Identify species particularly vulnerable to climate change
-
Identify areas relatively buffered from climate change (“climate refugia”) that may help vulnerable species survive
-
Develop climate adaptation strategies and inform implementation for species and ecosystems
-
Support DOI partners in incorporating climate information into conservation and management decisions, such as Species Status Assessments (SSAs) or State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs)
-
Understand climate-induced shifts in phenology and identify potential management solutions
-
Protect ecosystem services important to communities
-
Measure species’ natural abilities to adapt to climate change (adaptive capacity)
-
Support climate adaptation efforts of Tribal Nations and other Indigenous peoples
Science
The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) Framework
The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework is a tool that helps resource managers make informed strategies for responding to socio-ecological changes, including climate change.
CASC Fish Research
The CASC Fish Research Program is a dynamic group of federal researchers and early-career scientists working together to explore the impacts of climate and other stressors on fish and aquatic systems to inform conservation and climate adaptation.
Climate-Informed State Wildlife Action Plans
State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs) serve as blueprints to conservation, helping states conserve wildlife before they become too rare or costly to restore. One of the required elements of a SWAP is to describe the threats facing species and habitats. Many states have identified climate variability and change as having the potential to influence species and habitats now and into the future.
Understanding long-term drivers of vegetation change and stability in the Southern Rocky Mountains with paleoecological data and ecological models
Drought and fire are powerful disturbance agents that can trigger rapid and lasting changes in the forests of western North America. Over the last decade, increases in fire size and severity coincided with warming, drought, and earlier snowmelt, factors that projected climatic changes are likely to exacerbate. However, recent observations are brief relative to the lifespans of trees and include...
Impacts of coastal and watershed changes on upper estuaries: causes and implications of wetland ecosystem transitions along the US Atlantic and Gulf Coasts
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...
Multimedia
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Mike Carey, Research Fish Ecologist
Fish Ecologist Mike Carey studies the impacts beavers have on warming Alaskan permafrost landscapes.
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Steve Matsuoka, Research Wildlife Biologist
Research Wildlife Biologist Steve Matsuoka explores how climate change affects the reproductive success of Alaska’s diverse bird communities, which include more than 100 species that migrate to Alaska each year world to breed.
Research Wildlife Biologist Steve Matsuoka explores how climate change affects the reproductive success of Alaska’s diverse bird communities, which include more than 100 species that migrate to Alaska each year world to breed.
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Vanessa von Biela, Research Fish Biologist
Research Fish Biologist Vanessa von Biela investigates how heatwaves and other climate-driven stressors may affect Alaska’s spawning Pacific salmon in the future.
Research Fish Biologist Vanessa von Biela investigates how heatwaves and other climate-driven stressors may affect Alaska’s spawning Pacific salmon in the future.
Climate Science Champions, Season 2: Ferdinand Oberle, Research Geologist
Along reef-lined shores of the Pacific Islands, USGS Research Geologist and Oceanographer Ferdinand Oberle studies how warming surface waters, nutrient runoff, and increasingly powerful storms impact coral reefs.
Along reef-lined shores of the Pacific Islands, USGS Research Geologist and Oceanographer Ferdinand Oberle studies how warming surface waters, nutrient runoff, and increasingly powerful storms impact coral reefs.
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Vijay Patil, Wildlife Biologist
Wildlife Biologist Vijay Patil explores the effects of climate change and shifting seasons on Arctic-nesting waterfowl.
Wildlife Biologist Vijay Patil explores the effects of climate change and shifting seasons on Arctic-nesting waterfowl.
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Heather Johnson, Research Wildlife Biologist
USGS Wildlife Research Biologist Heather Johnson uses collar-mounted video cameras to peer into the lives of climate-threatened caribou.
USGS Wildlife Research Biologist Heather Johnson uses collar-mounted video cameras to peer into the lives of climate-threatened caribou.
North Pacific Marine Heatwave
In the winter of 2015, the public noticed thousands of dead seabirds washing ashore across the western coast of the United States and Canada. The USGS linked this massive seabird die-off to the North Pacific Marine Heatwave. A marine heatwave occurs when sea surface temperatures are above normal for an extended period of time.
In the winter of 2015, the public noticed thousands of dead seabirds washing ashore across the western coast of the United States and Canada. The USGS linked this massive seabird die-off to the North Pacific Marine Heatwave. A marine heatwave occurs when sea surface temperatures are above normal for an extended period of time.
USGS Outstanding in the Field, Episode 8, Braving thin ice
This is the first in a special edition of Outstanding in the Field, the U.S. Geological Survey’s podcast series produced by the Ecosystems Mission Area. In this series we will be highlighting stories from the Alaska Voices podcast, a partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
This is the first in a special edition of Outstanding in the Field, the U.S. Geological Survey’s podcast series produced by the Ecosystems Mission Area. In this series we will be highlighting stories from the Alaska Voices podcast, a partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
RAD Framework for Ecosystem Management amid Climate Breakdown
The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework is a decision-making tool that helps resource managers make informed strategies for responding to ecological changes resulting from climate change.
The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework is a decision-making tool that helps resource managers make informed strategies for responding to ecological changes resulting from climate change.
Explore some of the many USGS science projects on climate change effects on plants, animals, and ecosystems.
The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) Framework
The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework is a tool that helps resource managers make informed strategies for responding to socio-ecological changes, including climate change.
CASC Fish Research
The CASC Fish Research Program is a dynamic group of federal researchers and early-career scientists working together to explore the impacts of climate and other stressors on fish and aquatic systems to inform conservation and climate adaptation.
Climate-Informed State Wildlife Action Plans
State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs) serve as blueprints to conservation, helping states conserve wildlife before they become too rare or costly to restore. One of the required elements of a SWAP is to describe the threats facing species and habitats. Many states have identified climate variability and change as having the potential to influence species and habitats now and into the future.
Understanding long-term drivers of vegetation change and stability in the Southern Rocky Mountains with paleoecological data and ecological models
Drought and fire are powerful disturbance agents that can trigger rapid and lasting changes in the forests of western North America. Over the last decade, increases in fire size and severity coincided with warming, drought, and earlier snowmelt, factors that projected climatic changes are likely to exacerbate. However, recent observations are brief relative to the lifespans of trees and include...
Impacts of coastal and watershed changes on upper estuaries: causes and implications of wetland ecosystem transitions along the US Atlantic and Gulf Coasts
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 Impact of Future Climate Variability on Shorebirds and Their Wetland Habitats in the South Central U.S.
Healthy wetlands provide buffers against drought, flooding, pollution, and other threats to humans and nature. Climate change imperils wetland health, including impacting the connections among wetlands that facilitate movements and prevent extinctions of wetland-dependent wildlife. One wildlife group of considerable conservation concern and vulnerability to climate induced wetland...
Drivers and Impacts of North Pacific Climate Variability
Climate model forecasts indicate an increase in extreme hydrologic events, including floods and droughts, for California and the western U.S. in the future. To better understand what the consequences of this future change in climate may be, USGS scientists are studying the frequency, magnitude, and impacts of past hydroclimate variability and extremes in the region. This project produces well...
Wetlands in the Quaternary
Wetlands accumulate organic-rich sediment or peat stratigraphically, making them great archives of past environmental change. Wetlands also act as hydrologic buffers on the landscape and are important to global biogeochemical cycling. This project uses wetland archives from a range of environments to better understand how vegetation, hydrology, and hydroclimate has changed on decadal to multi...
Sea Level Rise and Climate: Impacts on the Greater Everglades Ecosystem and Restoration
The Greater Everglades Ecosystem covers much of south Florida, and the highest areas are only a few meters above sea level. Predictions of sea level rise and changes in storm intensity for the 21st century are particularly concerning to the urban population of Miami and the east coast, but also represent a challenge to Everglades National Park and Biscayne National Park resource managers. The...
The U.S. Inland Creel and Angler Survey Catalog (CreelCat): A Database and Interactive Tool for Inland Fisheries Management and Research
Inland recreational fishing, defined as primarily leisure-driven fishing in freshwaters, is a popular past-time in the USA. State natural resource agencies endeavor to provide high-quality and sustainable fishing opportunities for anglers. Managers often use creel and other angler-survey data to inform state- and waterbody-level management efforts. Despite the broad implementation of...
Evaluating Future Effects of Climate and Land Use on Fisheries Production in Inland Lakes
Inland fisheries are critical for global food security and human well-being. However, fish production may be threatened by changes in climate and land use. Understanding this threat is crucial to effectively manage inland fisheries in the future. To address this need, this project will identify which types of lakes across the globe are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate and land...
Developing an Agroforestry Dashboard for the Marshall Islands
Agriculture and agroforestry (tree cultivation) are important activities for the Marshall Islands and other small islands to ensure food security and human health. The Marshallese have a long tradition of interplanting food-producing trees such as coconuts, breadfruit, and pandanus with bananas and root and vegetable crops. Locally grown food crops support community self-sufficiency...
Check out some of the amazing USGS photos, videos, podcasts, and webinars on plants, animals, ecosystems, and climate change.
Filter Total Items: 31
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Heather Johnson, Research Wildlife Biologist
USGS Wildlife Research Biologist Heather Johnson uses collar-mounted video cameras to peer into the lives of climate-threatened caribou.
USGS Wildlife Research Biologist Heather Johnson uses collar-mounted video cameras to peer into the lives of climate-threatened caribou.
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Mike Carey, Research Fish Ecologist
Fish Ecologist Mike Carey studies the impacts beavers have on warming Alaskan permafrost landscapes.
Fish Ecologist Mike Carey studies the impacts beavers have on warming Alaskan permafrost landscapes.
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Steve Matsuoka, Research Wildlife Biologist
Research Wildlife Biologist Steve Matsuoka explores how climate change affects the reproductive success of Alaska’s diverse bird communities, which include more than 100 species that migrate to Alaska each year world to breed.
Research Wildlife Biologist Steve Matsuoka explores how climate change affects the reproductive success of Alaska’s diverse bird communities, which include more than 100 species that migrate to Alaska each year world to breed.
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Vanessa von Biela, Research Fish Biologist
Research Fish Biologist Vanessa von Biela investigates how heatwaves and other climate-driven stressors may affect Alaska’s spawning Pacific salmon in the future.
Research Fish Biologist Vanessa von Biela investigates how heatwaves and other climate-driven stressors may affect Alaska’s spawning Pacific salmon in the future.
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Vijay Patil, Wildlife Biologist
Wildlife Biologist Vijay Patil explores the effects of climate change and shifting seasons on Arctic-nesting waterfowl.
Wildlife Biologist Vijay Patil explores the effects of climate change and shifting seasons on Arctic-nesting waterfowl.
Climate Science Champions, Season 2: Ferdinand Oberle, Research Geologist
Along reef-lined shores of the Pacific Islands, USGS Research Geologist and Oceanographer Ferdinand Oberle studies how warming surface waters, nutrient runoff, and increasingly powerful storms impact coral reefs.
Along reef-lined shores of the Pacific Islands, USGS Research Geologist and Oceanographer Ferdinand Oberle studies how warming surface waters, nutrient runoff, and increasingly powerful storms impact coral reefs.
North Pacific Marine Heatwave
In the winter of 2015, the public noticed thousands of dead seabirds washing ashore across the western coast of the United States and Canada. The USGS linked this massive seabird die-off to the North Pacific Marine Heatwave. A marine heatwave occurs when sea surface temperatures are above normal for an extended period of time.
In the winter of 2015, the public noticed thousands of dead seabirds washing ashore across the western coast of the United States and Canada. The USGS linked this massive seabird die-off to the North Pacific Marine Heatwave. A marine heatwave occurs when sea surface temperatures are above normal for an extended period of time.
USGS Outstanding in the Field, Episode 8, Braving thin ice
This is the first in a special edition of Outstanding in the Field, the U.S. Geological Survey’s podcast series produced by the Ecosystems Mission Area. In this series we will be highlighting stories from the Alaska Voices podcast, a partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
This is the first in a special edition of Outstanding in the Field, the U.S. Geological Survey’s podcast series produced by the Ecosystems Mission Area. In this series we will be highlighting stories from the Alaska Voices podcast, a partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
RAD Framework for Ecosystem Management amid Climate Breakdown
The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework is a decision-making tool that helps resource managers make informed strategies for responding to ecological changes resulting from climate change.
The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework is a decision-making tool that helps resource managers make informed strategies for responding to ecological changes resulting from climate change.
USGS Ecosystem Research
The U.S. Geological Survey is the science research agency for the U.S. Department of the Interior. We conduct research on the natural hazards that threaten lives and livelihoods around the country.
By
The U.S. Geological Survey is the science research agency for the U.S. Department of the Interior. We conduct research on the natural hazards that threaten lives and livelihoods around the country.
By
Abby Lynch Scientist Spotlight
Inland fish are found in diverse habitats like remote areas of Alaska, such as in the shadow of Denali.
Inland fish are found in diverse habitats like remote areas of Alaska, such as in the shadow of Denali.
Climate Adaptation to Support Amphibian Conservation in U.S. Caribbean
Climate change will strongly affect tropical island ecosystems.
Climate change will strongly affect tropical island ecosystems.
Transboundary Connectivity Conservation for a Changing Climate
Enhancing ecological connectivity - the degree to which landscapes facilitate the movement of the organisms within them - is a frequently recommended strategy for conserving wildlife populations into the future.
Enhancing ecological connectivity - the degree to which landscapes facilitate the movement of the organisms within them - is a frequently recommended strategy for conserving wildlife populations into the future.
Puerto Rico’s Sierra de Luquillo mountains, El Yunque National Forest
: A site visit to Puerto Rico’s Sierra de Luquillo mountains and El Yunque National Forest, 2020. (credit – M. Eaton)
: A site visit to Puerto Rico’s Sierra de Luquillo mountains and El Yunque National Forest, 2020. (credit – M. Eaton)
The whistling coqui (E. cochranae)
The whistling coqui (E. cochranae), one of 17 iconic Puerto Rican amphibians in the genus Eleutherodactylus, observed in a lowland delta marsh of the Arecibo River on Puerto Rico’s north coast. (credit – M. Eaton)
The whistling coqui (E. cochranae), one of 17 iconic Puerto Rican amphibians in the genus Eleutherodactylus, observed in a lowland delta marsh of the Arecibo River on Puerto Rico’s north coast. (credit – M. Eaton)
Taking Active Layer Network measurements, Alaska
Malinda Chase (AK CASC Tribal Liaison), Jeremy Littell (AK CASC Lead Scientist), Victor Tonuchuk, Jr., Philomena Keyes, and Bernard TKTKTK taking Active Layer Network measurements in Kotlik, Alaska.
Malinda Chase (AK CASC Tribal Liaison), Jeremy Littell (AK CASC Lead Scientist), Victor Tonuchuk, Jr., Philomena Keyes, and Bernard TKTKTK taking Active Layer Network measurements in Kotlik, Alaska.
Mountain Hemlock in Alaska
Mountain Hemlock in Alaska
Mountain Hemlock in Alaska
Staudinger tagging alewife
Staudinger with Abigail Archer (Woods Hole Sea Grant and Cape Cod Cooperative Extension) and Jonathan Franklin (Harvard University) tagging adult alewife for a passage study looking at pre- and post movements after a dam removal at Town Brook in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Staudinger with Abigail Archer (Woods Hole Sea Grant and Cape Cod Cooperative Extension) and Jonathan Franklin (Harvard University) tagging adult alewife for a passage study looking at pre- and post movements after a dam removal at Town Brook in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Longleaf Pine forest in Florida
Longleaf pine stand near Tall Timbers Research Station, Florida. Longleaf forests such as these are dependent on frequent, low-intensity fires to maintain habitat structure and function.
Longleaf pine stand near Tall Timbers Research Station, Florida. Longleaf forests such as these are dependent on frequent, low-intensity fires to maintain habitat structure and function.
Ungulates in a Warmer Climate
Researchers supported by NCCWSC are working to improve managers’ understanding of ungulates’ response to a warmer climate. For example, when surface water is unavailable, the water content within ungulates’ food provides them with their main source of water, and they must make resourceful foraging decisions to meet their water needs.
Researchers supported by NCCWSC are working to improve managers’ understanding of ungulates’ response to a warmer climate. For example, when surface water is unavailable, the water content within ungulates’ food provides them with their main source of water, and they must make resourceful foraging decisions to meet their water needs.
Global climate change has rippling effects on our environment, impacting where plants, animals, and humans can live. The USGS studies how climate change affects natural places and provides solutions to help protect fish, wildlife, and habitats.
How does climate change affect plants and animals?
Everything in the natural world is connected. Animals eat plants, insects pollinate flowers, microbes break down dead things. Living things are also connected to the “non-living” parts of their environments – they use rocks for shelter, they depend on rain to bloom, they hibernate when it gets cold. Together, these living and non-living components make up an ecosystem.
Climate helps shape ecosystems. Things like average temperatures, humidity, and rainfall determine where plants and animals live. If a region’s climate changes, the ecosystems change as well.
Climate change has diverse impacts on plants, animals, and ecosystems. Explore some of these impacts below.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
USGS Helps Preserve Ecosystems
Media
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Scientists at the USGS study how climate change affects the Nation’s wildlife, fish, plants, and ecosystems. We also help resource managers develop and implement strategies to allow plants and animals to survive and thrive in new conditions. We generate our science side-by-side with partners to ensure results and tools are directly applicable to on-the-ground conservation, restoration, and management decisions. USGS climate science is used to protect natural areas across the country, from local-scale conservation decisions to national park climate scenario planning.
USGS science particularly focuses on helping resource managers, conservation agencies, and Indigenous peoples implement climate adaptation practices that intentionally help preserve species and landscapes under new climate conditions. For example, this could involve building sea walls to keep out rising sea levels, or planting drought-tolerant grasses in dry areas. Adapted landscapes may not look exactly the way they used to, but ideally the modifications allow them to continue to support the natural and human communities that rely on them. USGS scientists also use monitoring, field work, and modeling to understand how species naturally adapt to climate change, called adaptive capacity.
USGS science helps to:
-
Understand climate change effects on fish, wildlife, plants, and ecosystems
-
Model species range shifts under potential future conditions
-
Identify species particularly vulnerable to climate change
-
Identify areas relatively buffered from climate change (“climate refugia”) that may help vulnerable species survive
-
Develop climate adaptation strategies and inform implementation for species and ecosystems
-
Support DOI partners in incorporating climate information into conservation and management decisions, such as Species Status Assessments (SSAs) or State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs)
-
Understand climate-induced shifts in phenology and identify potential management solutions
-
Protect ecosystem services important to communities
-
Measure species’ natural abilities to adapt to climate change (adaptive capacity)
-
Support climate adaptation efforts of Tribal Nations and other Indigenous peoples
Science
The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) Framework
The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework is a tool that helps resource managers make informed strategies for responding to socio-ecological changes, including climate change.
CASC Fish Research
The CASC Fish Research Program is a dynamic group of federal researchers and early-career scientists working together to explore the impacts of climate and other stressors on fish and aquatic systems to inform conservation and climate adaptation.
Climate-Informed State Wildlife Action Plans
State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs) serve as blueprints to conservation, helping states conserve wildlife before they become too rare or costly to restore. One of the required elements of a SWAP is to describe the threats facing species and habitats. Many states have identified climate variability and change as having the potential to influence species and habitats now and into the future.
Understanding long-term drivers of vegetation change and stability in the Southern Rocky Mountains with paleoecological data and ecological models
Drought and fire are powerful disturbance agents that can trigger rapid and lasting changes in the forests of western North America. Over the last decade, increases in fire size and severity coincided with warming, drought, and earlier snowmelt, factors that projected climatic changes are likely to exacerbate. However, recent observations are brief relative to the lifespans of trees and include...
Impacts of coastal and watershed changes on upper estuaries: causes and implications of wetland ecosystem transitions along the US Atlantic and Gulf Coasts
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...
Multimedia
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Mike Carey, Research Fish Ecologist
Fish Ecologist Mike Carey studies the impacts beavers have on warming Alaskan permafrost landscapes.
Fish Ecologist Mike Carey studies the impacts beavers have on warming Alaskan permafrost landscapes.
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Steve Matsuoka, Research Wildlife Biologist
Research Wildlife Biologist Steve Matsuoka explores how climate change affects the reproductive success of Alaska’s diverse bird communities, which include more than 100 species that migrate to Alaska each year world to breed.
Research Wildlife Biologist Steve Matsuoka explores how climate change affects the reproductive success of Alaska’s diverse bird communities, which include more than 100 species that migrate to Alaska each year world to breed.
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Vanessa von Biela, Research Fish Biologist
Research Fish Biologist Vanessa von Biela investigates how heatwaves and other climate-driven stressors may affect Alaska’s spawning Pacific salmon in the future.
Research Fish Biologist Vanessa von Biela investigates how heatwaves and other climate-driven stressors may affect Alaska’s spawning Pacific salmon in the future.
Climate Science Champions, Season 2: Ferdinand Oberle, Research Geologist
Along reef-lined shores of the Pacific Islands, USGS Research Geologist and Oceanographer Ferdinand Oberle studies how warming surface waters, nutrient runoff, and increasingly powerful storms impact coral reefs.
Along reef-lined shores of the Pacific Islands, USGS Research Geologist and Oceanographer Ferdinand Oberle studies how warming surface waters, nutrient runoff, and increasingly powerful storms impact coral reefs.
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Vijay Patil, Wildlife Biologist
Wildlife Biologist Vijay Patil explores the effects of climate change and shifting seasons on Arctic-nesting waterfowl.
Wildlife Biologist Vijay Patil explores the effects of climate change and shifting seasons on Arctic-nesting waterfowl.
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Heather Johnson, Research Wildlife Biologist
USGS Wildlife Research Biologist Heather Johnson uses collar-mounted video cameras to peer into the lives of climate-threatened caribou.
USGS Wildlife Research Biologist Heather Johnson uses collar-mounted video cameras to peer into the lives of climate-threatened caribou.
North Pacific Marine Heatwave
In the winter of 2015, the public noticed thousands of dead seabirds washing ashore across the western coast of the United States and Canada. The USGS linked this massive seabird die-off to the North Pacific Marine Heatwave. A marine heatwave occurs when sea surface temperatures are above normal for an extended period of time.
In the winter of 2015, the public noticed thousands of dead seabirds washing ashore across the western coast of the United States and Canada. The USGS linked this massive seabird die-off to the North Pacific Marine Heatwave. A marine heatwave occurs when sea surface temperatures are above normal for an extended period of time.
USGS Outstanding in the Field, Episode 8, Braving thin ice
This is the first in a special edition of Outstanding in the Field, the U.S. Geological Survey’s podcast series produced by the Ecosystems Mission Area. In this series we will be highlighting stories from the Alaska Voices podcast, a partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
This is the first in a special edition of Outstanding in the Field, the U.S. Geological Survey’s podcast series produced by the Ecosystems Mission Area. In this series we will be highlighting stories from the Alaska Voices podcast, a partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
RAD Framework for Ecosystem Management amid Climate Breakdown
The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework is a decision-making tool that helps resource managers make informed strategies for responding to ecological changes resulting from climate change.
The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework is a decision-making tool that helps resource managers make informed strategies for responding to ecological changes resulting from climate change.
Explore some of the many USGS science projects on climate change effects on plants, animals, and ecosystems.
The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) Framework
The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework is a tool that helps resource managers make informed strategies for responding to socio-ecological changes, including climate change.
CASC Fish Research
The CASC Fish Research Program is a dynamic group of federal researchers and early-career scientists working together to explore the impacts of climate and other stressors on fish and aquatic systems to inform conservation and climate adaptation.
Climate-Informed State Wildlife Action Plans
State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs) serve as blueprints to conservation, helping states conserve wildlife before they become too rare or costly to restore. One of the required elements of a SWAP is to describe the threats facing species and habitats. Many states have identified climate variability and change as having the potential to influence species and habitats now and into the future.
Understanding long-term drivers of vegetation change and stability in the Southern Rocky Mountains with paleoecological data and ecological models
Drought and fire are powerful disturbance agents that can trigger rapid and lasting changes in the forests of western North America. Over the last decade, increases in fire size and severity coincided with warming, drought, and earlier snowmelt, factors that projected climatic changes are likely to exacerbate. However, recent observations are brief relative to the lifespans of trees and include...
Impacts of coastal and watershed changes on upper estuaries: causes and implications of wetland ecosystem transitions along the US Atlantic and Gulf Coasts
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 Impact of Future Climate Variability on Shorebirds and Their Wetland Habitats in the South Central U.S.
Healthy wetlands provide buffers against drought, flooding, pollution, and other threats to humans and nature. Climate change imperils wetland health, including impacting the connections among wetlands that facilitate movements and prevent extinctions of wetland-dependent wildlife. One wildlife group of considerable conservation concern and vulnerability to climate induced wetland...
Drivers and Impacts of North Pacific Climate Variability
Climate model forecasts indicate an increase in extreme hydrologic events, including floods and droughts, for California and the western U.S. in the future. To better understand what the consequences of this future change in climate may be, USGS scientists are studying the frequency, magnitude, and impacts of past hydroclimate variability and extremes in the region. This project produces well...
Wetlands in the Quaternary
Wetlands accumulate organic-rich sediment or peat stratigraphically, making them great archives of past environmental change. Wetlands also act as hydrologic buffers on the landscape and are important to global biogeochemical cycling. This project uses wetland archives from a range of environments to better understand how vegetation, hydrology, and hydroclimate has changed on decadal to multi...
Sea Level Rise and Climate: Impacts on the Greater Everglades Ecosystem and Restoration
The Greater Everglades Ecosystem covers much of south Florida, and the highest areas are only a few meters above sea level. Predictions of sea level rise and changes in storm intensity for the 21st century are particularly concerning to the urban population of Miami and the east coast, but also represent a challenge to Everglades National Park and Biscayne National Park resource managers. The...
The U.S. Inland Creel and Angler Survey Catalog (CreelCat): A Database and Interactive Tool for Inland Fisheries Management and Research
Inland recreational fishing, defined as primarily leisure-driven fishing in freshwaters, is a popular past-time in the USA. State natural resource agencies endeavor to provide high-quality and sustainable fishing opportunities for anglers. Managers often use creel and other angler-survey data to inform state- and waterbody-level management efforts. Despite the broad implementation of...
Evaluating Future Effects of Climate and Land Use on Fisheries Production in Inland Lakes
Inland fisheries are critical for global food security and human well-being. However, fish production may be threatened by changes in climate and land use. Understanding this threat is crucial to effectively manage inland fisheries in the future. To address this need, this project will identify which types of lakes across the globe are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate and land...
Developing an Agroforestry Dashboard for the Marshall Islands
Agriculture and agroforestry (tree cultivation) are important activities for the Marshall Islands and other small islands to ensure food security and human health. The Marshallese have a long tradition of interplanting food-producing trees such as coconuts, breadfruit, and pandanus with bananas and root and vegetable crops. Locally grown food crops support community self-sufficiency...
Check out some of the amazing USGS photos, videos, podcasts, and webinars on plants, animals, ecosystems, and climate change.
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Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Heather Johnson, Research Wildlife Biologist
USGS Wildlife Research Biologist Heather Johnson uses collar-mounted video cameras to peer into the lives of climate-threatened caribou.
USGS Wildlife Research Biologist Heather Johnson uses collar-mounted video cameras to peer into the lives of climate-threatened caribou.
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Mike Carey, Research Fish Ecologist
Fish Ecologist Mike Carey studies the impacts beavers have on warming Alaskan permafrost landscapes.
Fish Ecologist Mike Carey studies the impacts beavers have on warming Alaskan permafrost landscapes.
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Steve Matsuoka, Research Wildlife Biologist
Research Wildlife Biologist Steve Matsuoka explores how climate change affects the reproductive success of Alaska’s diverse bird communities, which include more than 100 species that migrate to Alaska each year world to breed.
Research Wildlife Biologist Steve Matsuoka explores how climate change affects the reproductive success of Alaska’s diverse bird communities, which include more than 100 species that migrate to Alaska each year world to breed.
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Vanessa von Biela, Research Fish Biologist
Research Fish Biologist Vanessa von Biela investigates how heatwaves and other climate-driven stressors may affect Alaska’s spawning Pacific salmon in the future.
Research Fish Biologist Vanessa von Biela investigates how heatwaves and other climate-driven stressors may affect Alaska’s spawning Pacific salmon in the future.
Climate Science Champions, Season 1: Vijay Patil, Wildlife Biologist
Wildlife Biologist Vijay Patil explores the effects of climate change and shifting seasons on Arctic-nesting waterfowl.
Wildlife Biologist Vijay Patil explores the effects of climate change and shifting seasons on Arctic-nesting waterfowl.
Climate Science Champions, Season 2: Ferdinand Oberle, Research Geologist
Along reef-lined shores of the Pacific Islands, USGS Research Geologist and Oceanographer Ferdinand Oberle studies how warming surface waters, nutrient runoff, and increasingly powerful storms impact coral reefs.
Along reef-lined shores of the Pacific Islands, USGS Research Geologist and Oceanographer Ferdinand Oberle studies how warming surface waters, nutrient runoff, and increasingly powerful storms impact coral reefs.
North Pacific Marine Heatwave
In the winter of 2015, the public noticed thousands of dead seabirds washing ashore across the western coast of the United States and Canada. The USGS linked this massive seabird die-off to the North Pacific Marine Heatwave. A marine heatwave occurs when sea surface temperatures are above normal for an extended period of time.
In the winter of 2015, the public noticed thousands of dead seabirds washing ashore across the western coast of the United States and Canada. The USGS linked this massive seabird die-off to the North Pacific Marine Heatwave. A marine heatwave occurs when sea surface temperatures are above normal for an extended period of time.
USGS Outstanding in the Field, Episode 8, Braving thin ice
This is the first in a special edition of Outstanding in the Field, the U.S. Geological Survey’s podcast series produced by the Ecosystems Mission Area. In this series we will be highlighting stories from the Alaska Voices podcast, a partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
This is the first in a special edition of Outstanding in the Field, the U.S. Geological Survey’s podcast series produced by the Ecosystems Mission Area. In this series we will be highlighting stories from the Alaska Voices podcast, a partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
RAD Framework for Ecosystem Management amid Climate Breakdown
The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework is a decision-making tool that helps resource managers make informed strategies for responding to ecological changes resulting from climate change.
The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework is a decision-making tool that helps resource managers make informed strategies for responding to ecological changes resulting from climate change.
USGS Ecosystem Research
The U.S. Geological Survey is the science research agency for the U.S. Department of the Interior. We conduct research on the natural hazards that threaten lives and livelihoods around the country.
By
The U.S. Geological Survey is the science research agency for the U.S. Department of the Interior. We conduct research on the natural hazards that threaten lives and livelihoods around the country.
By
Abby Lynch Scientist Spotlight
Inland fish are found in diverse habitats like remote areas of Alaska, such as in the shadow of Denali.
Inland fish are found in diverse habitats like remote areas of Alaska, such as in the shadow of Denali.
Climate Adaptation to Support Amphibian Conservation in U.S. Caribbean
Climate change will strongly affect tropical island ecosystems.
Climate change will strongly affect tropical island ecosystems.
Transboundary Connectivity Conservation for a Changing Climate
Enhancing ecological connectivity - the degree to which landscapes facilitate the movement of the organisms within them - is a frequently recommended strategy for conserving wildlife populations into the future.
Enhancing ecological connectivity - the degree to which landscapes facilitate the movement of the organisms within them - is a frequently recommended strategy for conserving wildlife populations into the future.
Puerto Rico’s Sierra de Luquillo mountains, El Yunque National Forest
: A site visit to Puerto Rico’s Sierra de Luquillo mountains and El Yunque National Forest, 2020. (credit – M. Eaton)
: A site visit to Puerto Rico’s Sierra de Luquillo mountains and El Yunque National Forest, 2020. (credit – M. Eaton)
The whistling coqui (E. cochranae)
The whistling coqui (E. cochranae), one of 17 iconic Puerto Rican amphibians in the genus Eleutherodactylus, observed in a lowland delta marsh of the Arecibo River on Puerto Rico’s north coast. (credit – M. Eaton)
The whistling coqui (E. cochranae), one of 17 iconic Puerto Rican amphibians in the genus Eleutherodactylus, observed in a lowland delta marsh of the Arecibo River on Puerto Rico’s north coast. (credit – M. Eaton)
Taking Active Layer Network measurements, Alaska
Malinda Chase (AK CASC Tribal Liaison), Jeremy Littell (AK CASC Lead Scientist), Victor Tonuchuk, Jr., Philomena Keyes, and Bernard TKTKTK taking Active Layer Network measurements in Kotlik, Alaska.
Malinda Chase (AK CASC Tribal Liaison), Jeremy Littell (AK CASC Lead Scientist), Victor Tonuchuk, Jr., Philomena Keyes, and Bernard TKTKTK taking Active Layer Network measurements in Kotlik, Alaska.
Mountain Hemlock in Alaska
Mountain Hemlock in Alaska
Mountain Hemlock in Alaska
Staudinger tagging alewife
Staudinger with Abigail Archer (Woods Hole Sea Grant and Cape Cod Cooperative Extension) and Jonathan Franklin (Harvard University) tagging adult alewife for a passage study looking at pre- and post movements after a dam removal at Town Brook in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Staudinger with Abigail Archer (Woods Hole Sea Grant and Cape Cod Cooperative Extension) and Jonathan Franklin (Harvard University) tagging adult alewife for a passage study looking at pre- and post movements after a dam removal at Town Brook in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Longleaf Pine forest in Florida
Longleaf pine stand near Tall Timbers Research Station, Florida. Longleaf forests such as these are dependent on frequent, low-intensity fires to maintain habitat structure and function.
Longleaf pine stand near Tall Timbers Research Station, Florida. Longleaf forests such as these are dependent on frequent, low-intensity fires to maintain habitat structure and function.
Ungulates in a Warmer Climate
Researchers supported by NCCWSC are working to improve managers’ understanding of ungulates’ response to a warmer climate. For example, when surface water is unavailable, the water content within ungulates’ food provides them with their main source of water, and they must make resourceful foraging decisions to meet their water needs.
Researchers supported by NCCWSC are working to improve managers’ understanding of ungulates’ response to a warmer climate. For example, when surface water is unavailable, the water content within ungulates’ food provides them with their main source of water, and they must make resourceful foraging decisions to meet their water needs.