Publications
Listed here are publications, reports and articles by the Land Change Science Program in the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area.
Filter Total Items: 1145
Assessing environmental change associated with early Eocene hyperthermals in the Atlantic Coastal Plain, USA Assessing environmental change associated with early Eocene hyperthermals in the Atlantic Coastal Plain, USA
Eocene transient global warming events (hyperthermals) can provide insight into a future warmer world. While much research has focused on the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), hyperthermals of a smaller magnitude can be used to characterize climatic responses over different magnitudes of forcing. This study identifies two events, namely the Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2 and H2)...
Authors
William Rush, Jean Self-Trail, Yan Zhan, Appy Sluijs, Henk Brinkhuis, James Zachos, James Ogg, Marci M. Robinson
Integrating remote sensing with ground-based observations to quantify the effects of an extreme freeze event on black mangroves (Avicennia germinans) at the landscape scale Integrating remote sensing with ground-based observations to quantify the effects of an extreme freeze event on black mangroves (Avicennia germinans) at the landscape scale
Climate change is altering the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Quantifying ecosystem responses to extreme events at the landscape scale is critical for understanding and responding to climate-driven change but is constrained by limited data availability. Here, we integrated remote sensing with ground-based observations to quantify landscape-scale vegetation damage from...
Authors
Melinda Martinez, Michael Osland, James Grace, Nicholas Enwright, Camille Stagg, Simen Kaalstad, Gordon Anderson, Anna Armitage, Just Cebrian, Karen Cummins, Richard Day, Donna Devlin, Kenneth H. Dunton, Laura Feher, Alejandro Fierro-Cabo, Elena Flores, Andrew From, A. Hughes, David Kaplan, Amy Langston, Christopher J. Miller, Charles Proffitt, Nathan Reaver, Colt Sanspree, Caitlin Snyder, Andrew Stetter, Kathleen M. Swanson, Jamie E. Thompson, Carlos Zamora-Tovar
Biophysical factors control invasive annual grass hot spots in the Mojave Desert Biophysical factors control invasive annual grass hot spots in the Mojave Desert
Invasive annual grasses can promote ecosystem state changes and habitat loss in the American Southwest. Non-native annual grasses such as Bromus spp. and Schismus spp. have invaded the Mojave Desert and degraded habitat through increased fire occurrence, severity, and shifting plant community composition. Thus, it is important to identify and characterize the areas where persistent...
Authors
Tanner Smith, Tara B.B. Bishop, Michael Duniway, Miguel Villarreal, Anna Knight, Seth Munson, Eric Waller, Ryan Jensen, Richard A. Gill
Twenty-year record of salt marsh elevation dynamics in response to sea-level rise and storm-driven barrier island geomorphic processes: Fire Island, New York, USA Twenty-year record of salt marsh elevation dynamics in response to sea-level rise and storm-driven barrier island geomorphic processes: Fire Island, New York, USA
Twenty years of surface elevation table and marker horizon monitoring at three sites along the Fire Island (New York, USA) barrier island indicates that rates of marsh surface elevation change (Watch Hill, 4.4 mm year−1; Hospital Point, 3.5 mm year−1; Great Gun, − 0.3 mm year−1) were lower than the rate of monthly mean sea-level rise during the 2002–2022 monitoring period (5.1 mm year−1...
Authors
Charles Roman, James Lynch, Donald Cahoon
Tidal restriction likely has greater impact on the carbon sink of coastal wetland than climate warming and invasive plant Tidal restriction likely has greater impact on the carbon sink of coastal wetland than climate warming and invasive plant
Aims Coastal salt marshes are productive ecosystems that are highly efficient carbon sinks, but there is uncertainty regarding the interactions among climate warming, plant species, and tidal restriction on C cycling.Methods Open-top chambers (OTCs) were deployed at two coastal wetlands in Yancheng, China, where native Phragmites australis (Phragmites) and invasive Spartina alterniflora...
Authors
Pan Zhou, Siyuan Ye, Liujuan Xie, Ken Krauss, Lixin Pei, Samantha Chapman, Hans Brix, Edward Laws, Hongming Yuan, Shixiong Yang, Xigui Ding, Shucheng Xie
Estuarine salinity extremes: Using the Coastal Salinity Index to quantify the role of droughts, floods, hurricanes, and freshwater flow alteration Estuarine salinity extremes: Using the Coastal Salinity Index to quantify the role of droughts, floods, hurricanes, and freshwater flow alteration
In the face of accelerating climate change, advancing understanding of how extreme climatic events influence estuarine salinities can help to inform resource management. Extreme salinities driven by droughts, hurricanes, floods, and freshwater flow alterations can lead to ecological transformations in estuarine ecosystems. Here, we applied the Coastal Salinity Index (CSI; Conrads and...
Authors
Laura Feher, Michael Osland, Christopher Swarzenski
Tree-ring derived avalanche frequency and climate associations in a high-latitude, maritime climate Tree-ring derived avalanche frequency and climate associations in a high-latitude, maritime climate
Snow avalanches are a natural hazard in mountainous areas worldwide with severe impacts that include fatalities, damage to infrastructure, disruption to commerce, and landscape disturbance. Understanding long-term avalanche frequency patterns, and associated climate and weather influences, improves our understanding of how climate change may affect avalanche activity. We used...
Authors
Erich Peitzsch, Eran Hood, John Harley, Daniel Stahle, Nicholas E. Kichas, Gabriel Wolken
Soil salinity and water level interact to generate tipping points in low salinity tidal wetlands responding to climate change Soil salinity and water level interact to generate tipping points in low salinity tidal wetlands responding to climate change
Low salinity tidal wetlands (LSTW) are vulnerable to sea level rise and saltwater intrusion, thus their carbon sequestration capacity is threatened. However, the thresholds of rapid changes in carbon dynamics and biogeochemical processes in LSTW due to changes in hydroperiod and salinity regime remain unclear. In this study, we examined the effects of soil porewater salinity and water...
Authors
Hongqing Wang, Ken Krauss, Gregory Noe, Zhaohua Dai, Carl Trettin
The relation between decadal droughts and eruptions of Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, USA The relation between decadal droughts and eruptions of Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, USA
In the past century, most eruptions of Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park's Norris Geyser Basin were mainly clustered in three episodes: 1961–1969, 1982–1984, and ongoing since 2018. These eruptive episodes resulted in extensive disturbance to surrounding trees. To characterize tree response over time as an indicator of geyser activity adjustments to climate variability...
Authors
Shaul Hurwitz, John C. King, Gregory Pederson, Mara Reed, Lauren Harrison, Jefferson Hungerford, R. Vaughan, Michael Manga
Ecosystem resilience to invasion and drought: Insights after 24 years in a rare never-grazed grassland Ecosystem resilience to invasion and drought: Insights after 24 years in a rare never-grazed grassland
Understanding the resilience of ecosystems globally is hampered by the complex and interacting drivers of change characteristic of the Anthropocene. This is true for drylands of the western US, where widespread alteration of disturbance regimes and spread of invasive non-native species occurred with westward expansion during the 1800s, including the introduction of domestic livestock and...
Authors
Michael Duniway, Rebecca Finger-Higgens, Erika Geiger, David Hoover, Alix Pfennigwerth, Anna Knight, M. Van Scoyoc, Mark Miller, Jayne Belnap
Current and future sinkhole susceptibility in karst and pseudokarst areas of the conterminous United States Current and future sinkhole susceptibility in karst and pseudokarst areas of the conterminous United States
Sinkholes in karst and pseudokarst regions threaten infrastructure, property, and lives. We mapped closed depressions in karst and pseudokarst regions of the conterminous United States (U.S.) from 10-m-resolution elevation data using high-performance computing, and then created a heuristic additive model of sinkhole susceptibility that also included nationally consistent data for factors...
Authors
Nathan Wood, Daniel Doctor, Jay Alder, Jeanne Jones
Ibex Hollow Tuff from ca. 12 Ma supereruption, southern Idaho, identified across North America, eastern Pacific Ocean, and Gulf of Mexico Ibex Hollow Tuff from ca. 12 Ma supereruption, southern Idaho, identified across North America, eastern Pacific Ocean, and Gulf of Mexico
The Ibex Hollow Tuff, 12.08 ± 0.03 Ma (40Ar/39Ar), is a widespread tephra layer erupted from the Bruneau-Jarbidge volcanic field of southern Idaho. Tephra from this eruption was deposited across much of western and central North America and adjacent ocean areas. We identified the Ibex Hollow Tuff at Trapper Creek, Idaho, near its eruption site, and at 15 distal sites, from the Pacific...
Authors
Andrei M. Sarna-Wojcicki, Jeffrey Knott, John Westgate, James Budahn, John Barron, Colin Bray, Greg Ludvigson, Charles Meyer, David M. Miller, Rick Otto, Nicholas Pearce, Charles Smith, Laura Walkup, Elmira Wan, James Yount