Publications
Listed here are publications, reports and articles by the Land Change Science Program in the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area.
Filter Total Items: 1284
Thermal and hydrological limitations on modeling carbon dynamics at wetland sites of discontinuous and continuous permafrost extent Thermal and hydrological limitations on modeling carbon dynamics at wetland sites of discontinuous and continuous permafrost extent
Accurate representation of cryohydrological processes is fundamental for biosphere models, particularly at high-latitudes, given their influence on carbon and permafrost dynamics in carbon-rich peatlands and wetlands. This study analyzes site-level simulations in moist and wet drainage conditions in continuous or discontinuous permafrost regions, using a terrestrial ecosystem model DVM...
Authors
Benjamin C. Maglio, Ruth Rutter, Tobey Carman, Colin W. Edgar, Eugénie S. Euskirchen, Hélène Genet, Andrew Mullen, Valeria Briones, Elchin Jafarov, Kristen L. Manies
Projected sea-level rise and high tide flooding at De Soto National Memorial, Florida Projected sea-level rise and high tide flooding at De Soto National Memorial, Florida
Introduction National parks and preserves in the South Atlantic-Gulf Region contain valuable coastal habitats such as tidal wetlands and mangrove forests, as well as irreplaceable historic buildings and archeological sites located in low-lying areas. These natural and cultural resources are vulnerable to accelerated sea-level rise and escalating high tide flooding events. Through a...
Authors
Hana R. Thurman, Nicholas M. Enwright, Michael J. Osland, Davina L. Passeri, Richard H. Day, Bethanie M. Simons
Climate driven trends in historical extreme low streamflows on four continents Climate driven trends in historical extreme low streamflows on four continents
Understanding temporal trends in low streamflows is important for water management and ecosystems. This work focuses on trends in the occurrence rate of extreme low-flow events (5- to 100-year return periods) for pooled groups of stations. We use data from 1,184 minimally altered catchments in Europe, North and South America, and Australia to discern historical climate-driven trends in...
Authors
Glenn A. Hodgkins, Benjamin Renard, Paul H. Whitfield, Gregor Laaha, Kerstin Stahl, Jamie Hannaford, Donald H. Burn, Seth Westra, Anne K. Fleig, Walsczon Terllizzie Araujo Lopes, Conor Murphy, Luis Mediero, Martin Hanel
Decomposition of physical processes controlling EASM precipitation changes during the mid-Piacenzian: New insights into data–model integration Decomposition of physical processes controlling EASM precipitation changes during the mid-Piacenzian: New insights into data–model integration
The mid-Piacenzian warm period (MPWP, ~3.264–3.025 Ma) has gained widespread interest due to its partial analogy with future climate. However, quantitative data–model comparison of East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) precipitation during the MPWP is relatively rare, especially due to problems in decoding the imprint of physical processes to climate signals in the records. In this study...
Authors
Yong Sun, Haibin Wu, Lixin Chen, Christian Stepanek, Yan Zhao, Ning Tan, Baohuang Su, Xiayu Yuan, Wenchao Zhang, Bo Liu, Stephen Hunter, Alan M Haywood, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Bette Otto-Bliesner, Camille Contoux, Daniel J. Lunt, Aisling M Dolan, Deepak Chandan, Gerrit Lohmann, Harry J. Dowsett, Julia C. Tindall, Michiel Baatsen, W. Richard Peltier, Qiang Li, Ran Feng, Ulrich Salzmann, Wing-Le Chan, Zhongshi Zhang, Charles J. R. Williams, Gilles Ramstein
Projected sea-level rise and high tide flooding at Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, Florida Projected sea-level rise and high tide flooding at Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, Florida
Introduction National parks and preserves in the South Atlantic-Gulf Region contain valuable coastal habitats such as tidal wetlands and mangrove forests, as well as irreplaceable historic buildings and archeological sites located in low-lying areas. These natural and cultural resources are vulnerable to accelerated sea-level rise and escalating high tide flooding events. Through a...
Authors
Hana R. Thurman, Nicholas M. Enwright, Michael J. Osland, Davina L. Passeri, Richard H. Day, Bethanie M. Simons
Microtopographic variation as a potential early indicator of ecosystem state change and vulnerability in salt marshes Microtopographic variation as a potential early indicator of ecosystem state change and vulnerability in salt marshes
As global climate change alters the magnitude and rates of environmental stressors, predicting the extent of ecosystem degradation driven by these rapidly changing conditions becomes increasingly urgent. At the landscape scale, disturbances and stressors can increase spatial variability and heterogeneity — indicators that can serve as potential early warnings of declining ecosystem...
Authors
Alexander J. Smith, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Joel A. Carr, David Walters, Matt L. Kirwan
Enhancing assessments of coastal wetland migration potential with sea-level rise: Accounting for uncertainty in elevation data, tidal data, and future water levels Enhancing assessments of coastal wetland migration potential with sea-level rise: Accounting for uncertainty in elevation data, tidal data, and future water levels
Sea-level rise rates are predicted to surpass rates of wetland vertical adjustment in the coming decades in many areas, increasing the potential for wetland submergence. Information on where wetland migration is possible can help natural resource managers for planning land acquisition or enhancing habitat connectivity to bolster adaptation of coastal wetlands to rising seas. Elevation...
Authors
Nicholas Enwright, Michael Osland, Hana R. Thurman, Claire E. McHenry, William C. Vervaeke, Brett Patton, Davina L. Passeri, Jason M. Stoker, Richard Day, Bethanie M. Simons
U.S. Geological Survey Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center science highlights for fiscal year 2023 U.S. Geological Survey Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center science highlights for fiscal year 2023
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center is based in Bozeman, Montana, and has field offices in Glacier National Park, Mont.; Missoula, Mont.; and Knoxville, Tennessee. Our scientists respond to the natural resource management needs of Federal, Tribal, and State partners—directly engaging in the coproduction and application of integrated, interdisciplinary...
Authors
Todd G. Wojtowicz
Examining inequality in aquatic ecosystem services: Evidence from large-scale monitoring programs Examining inequality in aquatic ecosystem services: Evidence from large-scale monitoring programs
We hypothesize that aquatic ecosystem services are likely to be inequitably accessible and addressing this hypothesis requires systematic assessment at regional and national scales. We used existing data from large-scale aquatic monitoring programs (National Coastal Condition Assessment, National Lakes Assessment) to examine relationships between ecosystem condition, approximating a...
Authors
Katya E. Kovalenko, Sergey Ilyushkin, Holly Wellar-Kelly, Justine Annaliese Neville, Glenn R. Guntenspergen
Ecological dissimilarity matters more than geographical distance when predicting land surface indicators using machine learning Ecological dissimilarity matters more than geographical distance when predicting land surface indicators using machine learning
Supervised training techniques, such as those used in machine learning, use generally large sets of in situ data to train models that can, in turn, be used to make predictions (or prediction maps) about the Earth’s surface in times or places where no in situ data exist. The purpose of the present study is to investigate, using a very large set of in situ data from across the western...
Authors
Bo Zhou, Gregory S. Okin, Junzhe Zhang, Shannon L. Savage, Christopher J. Cole, Michael C. Duniway
Pockmarks offshore Big Sur, California provide evidence for recurrent, regional, and unconfined sediment gravity flows Pockmarks offshore Big Sur, California provide evidence for recurrent, regional, and unconfined sediment gravity flows
Recent surface ship multibeam surveys of the Sur Pockmark Field, offshore Central California, reveal >5,000 pockmarks in an area that is slated to host a wind farm, between 500- and 1,500-m water depth. Extensive fieldwork was conducted to characterize the seafloor environment and its recent geologic history, including visual observations with remotely operated vehicles, sediment core...
Authors
E. Lundsten, Charles K. Paull, R. Gwiazda, S. Dobbs, D.W. Caress, Linda A. Kuhnz, M. Walton, N. Nieminski, Mary McGann, Thomas Lorenson, Guy R. Cochrane, Jason A. Addison
Sight and blindness: The relationship between ostracod eyes, water depth, and light availability in the Arctic Ocean Sight and blindness: The relationship between ostracod eyes, water depth, and light availability in the Arctic Ocean
Eye loss has been a long-standing interest in evolutionary biology. Many organisms that inhabit environments without light penetration, for example the deep sea, exhibit eye loss and thus become blind. However, water-depth distribution of eyes in marine organisms is poorly understood. Ostracods are widely distributed crustaceans, and many sighted marine ostracods have eye tubercles...
Authors
Jingwen Zhang, Moriaki Yasuhara, Chih-Lin Wei, Skye Yunshu Tian, Kyawt K. T. Aye, Laura Gemery, Thomas M. Cronin, Peter Frenzel, David J. Horne