Project Spotlight: Understanding the Water Supply in Fragile Ecosystems
People, Food, and Culture in the Great Plains
Click the image cards below to learn more about the effects of projected climate trends on humans, fish and wildlife populations, and habitats. Our researchers work with cooperators to better understand potential implications and to reduce uncertainty so that managers can better evaluate future scenarios and management options.
Public Preferences about Climate
Floating Solar
Fish and Drought
Striped Bass in South Carolina
Invasive Species in Florida
Grasslands Birds in the Central Flyway
Fish and Drought
Monitoring Programs in the Northeast U.S.
Adaptive Management in Vermont
Wyoming Migration Initiative, Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Wyoming
Climate Research at the University of Wyoming
The Wyoming Migration Initiative was created with the broad goals of understanding and conserving ungulate migration routes through migration research, developing conservation tools, and sharing information through public outreach and education. Current research is focused on mapping undocumented corridors and studying the benefits and challenges of long-distance migration.
Partners: Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Wyoming, other State and Federal agency partners, conservation groups.
Issue: Migratory species and the corridors they travel face new and ongoing threats, and their conservation is constrained by an incomplete understanding of migration ecology and by misconceptions among public stakeholders. Understanding the ability of different species to accommodate changing conditions is a critical component of identifying which species are most vulnerable to climate change and can ultimately inform the prioritization of conservation efforts.
Societal Impact: Wyoming’s ungulate migrations, like the vast landscapes on which they take place, are a vital part of the State’s cultural heritage. However, migration corridors are facing new and ongoing threats, and their conservation is constrained by a still-incomplete understanding of migration ecology and by misconceptions among public stakeholders.
Informing Decisions/Benefits to States: Creating a powerful archive of corridor data and tools to analyze those data can inform on-the-ground conservation and policy. Outreach and education programs continue to tell the story of migration to a broad audience, focusing on “live” tracking of migrations, compelling new videos, storytelling, and resources for K–12 instructors.
Managing Coastal Wetlands for Wildlife and Sustainability in the Face of Sea-Level Rise, Louisiana Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Louisiana State University
Climate Research at Louisiana State University
Coastal marshes are critical habitat for a wide variety of wildlife and fisheries species. To keep up with sea-level rise, marsh growth rates must exceed decomposition rates. Common marsh management practices, such as fire, flooding, and drawdowns, affect decomposition and accretion and have led to elevation declines of several feet in many waterfowl management units. The purpose of this project is to study the effects of selected management practices on marsh growth rates and decomposition processes in waterfowl management units at the J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area near Port Arthur, Texas.
Partners: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Louisiana Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Louisiana State University. Issue: Marsh loss in ecosystems is common along the Gulf coast and may increase with sea-level rise. Coastal marshes are critical habitat for a wide variety of wildlife and fisheries species.
Benefits to Society: Wetlands are valuable to humans for flood protection, shoreline erosion control, recreation, and water quality improvement, and they provide important habitat for fish and wildlife.
Benefits to States/Informing Decisions: This research could be used to develop waterfowl management practices that benefit waterfowl and allow marshes to adjust to increasing sea levels.
Conservation Planning for Amphibians in a Changing Landscape, Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Maine
Climate Research at the University of Maine
Amphibians are a indicators of environmental change. Maintaining year-long habitat connectivity can be critical to their persistence in both undeveloped and developed landscapes. Understanding relationships between their distributions, habitat conditions, wetland landscape context, and how amphibians adapt to changing environments can reveal how human-caused alterations in landscape composition and arrangement may affect amphibian populations. This information can be used to develop conservation planning guidance that contributes to long-term persistence of amphibian populations.
Issue: Worldwide declines in amphibians are attributed to disease, collection, and loss of habitat. Landscape change potentially affects population connectivity by disrupting movements across the landscape and reducing access to quality habitat.
Benefits to Society: Amphibians provide important linkages between terrestrial and aquatic systems, providing food for numerous wildlife species in diverse ecosystems, while also contributing to control of insect agricultural pests and pests that transmit diseases to humans.
Benefits to States/Informing Management Decisions: Consideration of the vulnerability of quality amphibian habitat to mid-21st century land use and climate change can increase effectiveness of conservation planning for amphibian populations. This research characterizes how threats to amphibians, including disease, climate change, exposure to contaminants, invasive species, and habitat loss, are impacting populations and are working with other agencies to avert further losses.
Partners: University of Maine, Clark University, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Tennessee State University, Clemson University, Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Maine.
Click the image cards below to learn more about the effects of projected climate trends on humans, fish and wildlife populations, and habitats. Our researchers work with cooperators to better understand potential implications and to reduce uncertainty so that managers can better evaluate future scenarios and management options.
Public Preferences about Climate
Floating Solar
Fish and Drought
Striped Bass in South Carolina
Invasive Species in Florida
Grasslands Birds in the Central Flyway
Fish and Drought
Monitoring Programs in the Northeast U.S.
Adaptive Management in Vermont
Wyoming Migration Initiative, Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Wyoming
Climate Research at the University of Wyoming
The Wyoming Migration Initiative was created with the broad goals of understanding and conserving ungulate migration routes through migration research, developing conservation tools, and sharing information through public outreach and education. Current research is focused on mapping undocumented corridors and studying the benefits and challenges of long-distance migration.
Partners: Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Wyoming, other State and Federal agency partners, conservation groups.
Issue: Migratory species and the corridors they travel face new and ongoing threats, and their conservation is constrained by an incomplete understanding of migration ecology and by misconceptions among public stakeholders. Understanding the ability of different species to accommodate changing conditions is a critical component of identifying which species are most vulnerable to climate change and can ultimately inform the prioritization of conservation efforts.
Societal Impact: Wyoming’s ungulate migrations, like the vast landscapes on which they take place, are a vital part of the State’s cultural heritage. However, migration corridors are facing new and ongoing threats, and their conservation is constrained by a still-incomplete understanding of migration ecology and by misconceptions among public stakeholders.
Informing Decisions/Benefits to States: Creating a powerful archive of corridor data and tools to analyze those data can inform on-the-ground conservation and policy. Outreach and education programs continue to tell the story of migration to a broad audience, focusing on “live” tracking of migrations, compelling new videos, storytelling, and resources for K–12 instructors.
Managing Coastal Wetlands for Wildlife and Sustainability in the Face of Sea-Level Rise, Louisiana Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Louisiana State University
Climate Research at Louisiana State University
Coastal marshes are critical habitat for a wide variety of wildlife and fisheries species. To keep up with sea-level rise, marsh growth rates must exceed decomposition rates. Common marsh management practices, such as fire, flooding, and drawdowns, affect decomposition and accretion and have led to elevation declines of several feet in many waterfowl management units. The purpose of this project is to study the effects of selected management practices on marsh growth rates and decomposition processes in waterfowl management units at the J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area near Port Arthur, Texas.
Partners: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Louisiana Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Louisiana State University. Issue: Marsh loss in ecosystems is common along the Gulf coast and may increase with sea-level rise. Coastal marshes are critical habitat for a wide variety of wildlife and fisheries species.
Benefits to Society: Wetlands are valuable to humans for flood protection, shoreline erosion control, recreation, and water quality improvement, and they provide important habitat for fish and wildlife.
Benefits to States/Informing Decisions: This research could be used to develop waterfowl management practices that benefit waterfowl and allow marshes to adjust to increasing sea levels.
Conservation Planning for Amphibians in a Changing Landscape, Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Maine
Climate Research at the University of Maine
Amphibians are a indicators of environmental change. Maintaining year-long habitat connectivity can be critical to their persistence in both undeveloped and developed landscapes. Understanding relationships between their distributions, habitat conditions, wetland landscape context, and how amphibians adapt to changing environments can reveal how human-caused alterations in landscape composition and arrangement may affect amphibian populations. This information can be used to develop conservation planning guidance that contributes to long-term persistence of amphibian populations.
Issue: Worldwide declines in amphibians are attributed to disease, collection, and loss of habitat. Landscape change potentially affects population connectivity by disrupting movements across the landscape and reducing access to quality habitat.
Benefits to Society: Amphibians provide important linkages between terrestrial and aquatic systems, providing food for numerous wildlife species in diverse ecosystems, while also contributing to control of insect agricultural pests and pests that transmit diseases to humans.
Benefits to States/Informing Management Decisions: Consideration of the vulnerability of quality amphibian habitat to mid-21st century land use and climate change can increase effectiveness of conservation planning for amphibian populations. This research characterizes how threats to amphibians, including disease, climate change, exposure to contaminants, invasive species, and habitat loss, are impacting populations and are working with other agencies to avert further losses.
Partners: University of Maine, Clark University, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Tennessee State University, Clemson University, Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Maine.