Integrated Terrestrial Assessment

The USGS is integrating models of urbanization and vegetation dynamics with the regional climate models to assess how landscape change could impact priority species. Models for North American land birds, for example, can predict locations where responses to climate change are most likely to occur, expressing results in terms of species persistence to help resource managers understand the long­term sustainability of bird populations. The basic modeling techniques can be applied later to other taxonomic groups. This project is a part of the Southeast Regional Assessment Project (SERAP).