Publications
Listed here are publications, reports and articles by the Land Change Science Program in the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area.
Filter Total Items: 1265
Causal interpretations can be based on mechanistic knowledge Causal interpretations can be based on mechanistic knowledge
There exists a long-standing disconnect between statistical and mechanistic approaches to the development of causal understanding. Statistical approaches, which have dominated the literature, have focused on the need to obtain perfectly unbiased estimates of causal effects often using either experimental, quasi-experimental or other methods. Mechanistic approaches have instead focused on
Authors
James Grace, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Kevin J. Buffington, Justine Annaliese Neville, Karen M. Thorne, Michael J. Osland, Melinda Martinez, Joel A. Carr, Debra A. Willard
Sulfide stress tolerance as a controller of methane production in temperate wetlands Sulfide stress tolerance as a controller of methane production in temperate wetlands
Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions and contribute to the observed increase in atmospheric methane over the last 20 years. Methane production in wetlands is the final step of carbon decomposition performed by anaerobic archaea. Although hydrogen/carbon dioxide and acetate are the substrates most often attributed to methanogenesis, other substrates—such as methylated...
Authors
Emily Bechtold, Jared B. Ellenbogen, Danhui Xin, Marcia Pacheco, Brandy M. Toner, Yu-Ping Chin, William A. Arnold, Sheel Bansal, Michael J. Wilkins
Contribution of traffic emissions to PM2.5 concentrations at bus stops in Denver, Colorado Contribution of traffic emissions to PM2.5 concentrations at bus stops in Denver, Colorado
Individuals are routinely exposed to traffic-related air pollution on their commutes, which has significant health impacts. Mitigating exposure to traffic-related pollution is a key urban sustainability concern. In Denver, Colorado, low-income Americans are more likely to rely on buses and spend time waiting at bus stops. Evaluating the contribution of traffic emissions at bus stops can...
Authors
Priyanka deSouza, Phillip Hopke, Christian L'Orange, Peter Christian Ibsen, Carl Green, Brady Graeber, Brendan Cicione, Ruth Mekonnen, Saadhana Purushothama, Patrick Kinney, John Volckens
High-resolution multi-pollutant mapping in Denver, Colorado High-resolution multi-pollutant mapping in Denver, Colorado
Characterizing traffic-related air pollutants (TRAPs), which significantly impact health, and greenhouse gases (GHGs) can be challenging in urban environments. Mobile monitoring has the potential to capture the spatial distribution of these pollutants. We present results from a campaign using the Denver Mobile Monitoring Laboratory (DMML) in the summer of 2023 when we measured ultrafine...
Authors
Priyanka deSouza, Benjamin Crawford, John L. Durant, Neelakshi Hudda, Peter Christian Ibsen, Christian L'Orange, Jose Jimenez, Brady Graeber, Brendan Cicione, Ruth Mekonnen, Saadhana Purushothama, Ralph Kahn, Patrick L. Kinney, John Volckens
Mapping ecological states in the upper Colorado River basin: Implications for fire management Mapping ecological states in the upper Colorado River basin: Implications for fire management
Spatially explicit information on ecosystem dynamics that offers a mechanistic understanding of ecological processes can benefit environmental management. Broad-scale maps based on state-and-transition models provide valuable insight into transitions among ecological states resulting from specific drivers within areas sharing similar climatic and edaphic characteristics ecological sites...
Authors
John P. Severson, Tara B. Bishop, Anna C. Knight, Travis W. Nauman, Brandon E. McNellis, Miguel L. Villarreal, Sasha C. Reed, Kristina E. Young, Mark Brunson, Michael C. Duniway
Representing 3-dimensional fuels for physics-based fire behavior models: A general framework and case study in a type-converted post-fire shrubfield Representing 3-dimensional fuels for physics-based fire behavior models: A general framework and case study in a type-converted post-fire shrubfield
Background Physics-based three-dimensional (3D) fire behavior models improve planning for prescribed fire application and wildfire mitigation, but require high spatial resolution 3D fuel models as inputs. While multiple methods and data sources for realistically representing 3D, heterogeneous fuels are available, no unifying framework exists to guide the use of these tools to create 3D...
Authors
Niko J. Tutland, Andreas Paul Wion, Carolina Jasmine May, Grant C. Hutchings, Hope Nowak, James R. Gattiker, J. Kevin Hiers, Rodman R. Linn, Scott M. Pokswinski, Ellis Q. Margolis
Rapid Holocene deposition in the Mackenzie Trough and Barrow Canyon areas in the western Arctic Ocean Rapid Holocene deposition in the Mackenzie Trough and Barrow Canyon areas in the western Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean and terrestrial environment have recently been reported to be changing drastically, but it is unclear whether these changes are similar to natural variations in the past or how sudden and large the changes are compared to natural variations. This premise served as motivation to collect sediment cores during the summer of 2022 at four sites on the Canadian continental...
Authors
Masanobu Yamamoto, Kenta Suzuki, Masafumi Murayama, Laura Gemery, Koji Seike, Leonid Polyak, Young Jin Joe, Shoma Uchida, Minoru Kobayashi, J. Onodera, Keiji Horikawa, Yuhji Yamamoto, Takayuki Omori, Michinobu Kuwae, Tomohisa Irino, Yutaka Watanabe, Motoyo Itoh, Eiji Watanabe
The conundrum of taxonomic uniformitarianism in planktic foraminifera The conundrum of taxonomic uniformitarianism in planktic foraminifera
Planktic foraminiferal species distributions in the modern ocean track environmental features like sea surface temperature (SST). Species shift their distributions as the marine environment changes, providing an analogue for past behaviour. Stationarity of species' ecological tolerances is therefore a first-order assumption of all palaeoenvironmental reconstructions based upon modern...
Authors
Harry J. Dowsett, Marci M. Robinson, Kevin M. Foley, Whittney Spivey
A review of abrupt permafrost thaw: Definitions, usage, and a proposed conceptual framework A review of abrupt permafrost thaw: Definitions, usage, and a proposed conceptual framework
Purpose of Review
Authors
Hailey Webb, Matthias Fuchs, Benjamin W. Abbott, Thomas A. Douglas, Clayton D. Elder, Jessica G. Ernakovich, Eugenie Euskirchen, Mathias Göckede, Guido Grosse, Gustaf Hugelius, Miriam C. Jones, Charles Koven, Heather Kropp, Emma Lathrop, Wenwen Li, Michael M. Loranty, Susan M Natali, David Olefeldt, Christina Schädel, Edward A.G. Schuur, Oliver Sonnentag, Jens Strauss, Anna-Maria Virkkala, Merritt R. Turetsky
Constraining snow water equivalent of wet snowpacks in southeast Alaska Constraining snow water equivalent of wet snowpacks in southeast Alaska
Quantifying snow water equivalent (SWE) with ground-penetrating radar (GPR) in a warming climate is complicated by the incidence and variability of liquid water in snow. Snow surveys conducted during the melt season serve as a valuable analog to conditions under future warming. Here, we determine the variability of wet snowpack properties (relative permittivity and density) to quantify...
Authors
Mikaila Mannello, Scott Braddock, Seth Campbell, Emma Erwin, Kristin Schild, Christopher McNeil
‘The fish that stop’: Drivers of historical decline for Pacific cod and implications for modern management in an era of rapidly changing climate ‘The fish that stop’: Drivers of historical decline for Pacific cod and implications for modern management in an era of rapidly changing climate
n the Gulf of Alaska, a series of marine heat waves depleted Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) biomass to the lowest abundance ever recorded and led to the fishery’s closure in 2020. Although the fishery has been productive for decades, this collapse may have historical precedents. Traditional knowledge holders refer to cod as ‘the fish that stop’, and there is a suggested period of...
Authors
Loren McClenachan, Bruce T. Anderson, Jason A. Addison, Steven J. Barbeaux, Karoline Moore, Kai Muir, Katherine L. Reedy, Ingrid B. Spies, Catherine F. West
Soil moisture partitioning between under canopy and interspace environments in shrublands of the northern Chihuahuan Desert Soil moisture partitioning between under canopy and interspace environments in shrublands of the northern Chihuahuan Desert
Soil moisture is a key link between hydrologic and ecologic processes in desert shrublands. Understanding how soil moisture is spatially distributed in desert shrublands provides valuable insights into how shrubs use and impact limiting water resources, and how shrublands may respond to future meteorological and climate change. Our goals were to determine how soil moisture is partitioned...
Authors
Juan Pinos, Keegan Hammond, Michael C. Duniway, John P. Anderson, Niall P. Hanan, Matthew D. Petrie