Publications
Listed here are publications, reports and articles by the Land Change Science Program in the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area.
Filter Total Items: 1145
The dependence of hydroclimate projections in snow‐dominated regions of the western United States on the choice of statistically downscaled climate data The dependence of hydroclimate projections in snow‐dominated regions of the western United States on the choice of statistically downscaled climate data
We assess monthly temperature and precipitation data produced by four statistically based techniques that were used to downscale general circulation models (GCMs) in the Climate Model Intercomparison Program Phase 5 (CMIP5) (Taylor et al., 2012). We drive a simple water-balance model with the downscaled data to demonstrate the effect of the methods on the cold season hydrology of three...
Authors
Jay Alder, Steven Hostetler
Modeling barrier island habitats using landscape position information Modeling barrier island habitats using landscape position information
Barrier islands are dynamic environments because of their position along the marine–estuarine interface. Geomorphology influences habitat distribution on barrier islands by regulating exposure to harsh abiotic conditions. Researchers have identified linkages between habitat and landscape position, such as elevation and distance from shore, yet these linkages have not been fully leveraged...
Authors
Nicholas Enwright, Lei Wang, Hongqing Wang, Michael Osland, Laura Feher, Sinéad M. Borchert, Richard Day
Arctic vegetation, temperature, and hydrology during Early Eocene transient global warming events Arctic vegetation, temperature, and hydrology during Early Eocene transient global warming events
Early Eocene global climate was warmer than much of the Cenozoic and was punctuated by a series of transient warming events or ‘hyperthermals’ associated with carbon isotope excursions when temperature increased by 4–8° C. The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, ~55 Ma) and Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2, 53.5 Ma) hyperthermals were of short duration ( 200 kyr) and dramatically...
Authors
Debra Willard, Timme Donders, Tammo Reichgelt, David Greenwood, Francien Peterse, Francesca Sangiorgi, Appy Sluijs, Stefan Schouten
It’s about time: A synthesis of changing phenology in the Gulf of Maine ecosystem It’s about time: A synthesis of changing phenology in the Gulf of Maine ecosystem
The timing of recurring biological and seasonal environmental events is changing on a global scale relative to temperature and other climate drivers. This study considers the Gulf of Maine ecosystem, a region of high social and ecological importance in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean and synthesizes current knowledge of 1) key seasonal processes, patterns, and events; 2) direct evidence for...
Authors
Michelle Staudinger, Katherine Mills, Karen Stamieszkin, Nicholas Record, Christine Hudak, Andrew Allyn, Antony Diamond, Kevin Friedland, Walt Golet, Elisabeth Henderson, Christina Hernandez, Thomas Huntington, Rubao Ji, Catherine Johnson, David Johnson, Adrian Jordaan, John Kocik, Yun Li, Matthew Liebman, Owen Nichols, Daniel Pendleton, R. Richards, Thomas Robben, Andrew Thomas, Harvey Walsh, Keenan Yakola
Modelling development of riparian ranchlands using ecosystem services at the Aravaipa Watershed, SE Arizona Modelling development of riparian ranchlands using ecosystem services at the Aravaipa Watershed, SE Arizona
This paper describes how subdivision and development of rangelands within a remote and celebrated semiarid watershed near the US-Mexico border might affect multiple ecohydrological services provided, such as recharge of the aquifer, water and sediment yield, water quality, flow rates and downstream cultural and natural resources. Specifically, we apply an uncalibrated watershed model and...
Authors
Laura Norman, Miguel Villarreal, Rewati Niraula, Mark Haberstich, Natalie Wilson
Spatiotemporal patterns of cheatgrass invasion in Colorado Plateau National Parks Spatiotemporal patterns of cheatgrass invasion in Colorado Plateau National Parks
Exotic annual grasses are transforming native arid and semi-arid ecosystems globally by accelerating fire cycles that drive vegetation state changes. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), a particularly widespread and aggressive exotic annual grass, is a key management target in national parks of the western United States due to its impacts on wildfire and biodiversity loss. Cheatgrass is known...
Authors
Tara B.B. Bishop, Seth Munson, Richard Gill, Jayne Belnap, Samuel St. Clair, Steven Petersen
Advancing barrier island habitat mapping using landscape position information Advancing barrier island habitat mapping using landscape position information
Barrier islands are dynamic ecosystems that change gradually from coastal processes, including currents and tides, and rapidly from episodic events, such as storms. These islands provide many important ecosystem services, including storm protection and erosion control to the mainland, habitat for fish and wildlife, and tourism. Habitat maps, developed by scientists, provide a critical...
Authors
Nicholas Enwright, Lei Wang, Sinéad M. Borchert, Richard Day, Laura Feher, Michael Osland
A landscape model of variable social-ecological fire regimes A landscape model of variable social-ecological fire regimes
Fire regimes are now recognized as the product of social processes whereby fire on any landscape is the product of human-generated drivers: climate change, historical patterns of vegetation manipulation, invasive species, active fire suppression, ongoing fuel management efforts, prescribed burning, and accidental ignitions. We developed a new fire model (Social-Climate Related Pyrogenic
Authors
Robert M Scheller, Alec Kretchun, Todd Hawbaker, Paul D. Henne
Hurricane Sandy impacts on coastal wetland resilience Hurricane Sandy impacts on coastal wetland resilience
The goal of this research was to evaluate the impacts of Hurricane Sandy on surface elevation trends in estuarine marshes located across the northeast region of the United States from Virginia to Maine using data from an opportunistic (in other words, not strategic) and collaborative network (from here on, an opportunistic network) of surface elevation table-marker horizon (SET-MH)...
Authors
Donald R. Cahoon, Jennifer Olker, Alice Yeates, Glenn Guntenspergen, James Grace, Susan Adamowicz, Shimon Anisfeld, Andrew Baldwin, Nels Barrett, Leah Beckett, Alice Benzecry, Linda Blum, David Burdick, William Crouch, Marci Ekberg, Sarah Fernald, Kristin Grimes, Joseph Grzyb, Ellen Hartig, Danielle Kreeger, Marit Larson, Scott Lerberg, James Lynch, Nicole Maher, Martha Maxwell-Doyle, Laura R. Mitchell, Jordan Mora, Victoria O’Neill, Angela Padeletti, Diann Prosser, Tracy Quirk, Kenneth Raposa, William Reay, Drexel Siok, Christopher Snow, Adam Starke, J. Stevenson, Lorie Staver, Vincent Turner
Which trees die during drought? The key role of insect host-tree selection Which trees die during drought? The key role of insect host-tree selection
1. During drought, the tree subpopulations (such as size or vigor classes) that suffer disproportionate mortality can be conceptually arrayed along a continuum defined by the actions of biotic agents, particularly insects. At one extreme, stress dominates: insects are absent or simply kill the most physiologically stressed trees. At the opposite extreme, host selection dominates...
Authors
Nathan Stephenson, Adrian J. Das, Nicholas Ampersee, Beverly Bulaon, Julie Yee
Holocene thermokarst lake dynamics in northern Interior Alaska: The interplay of climate, fire, and subsurface hydrology Holocene thermokarst lake dynamics in northern Interior Alaska: The interplay of climate, fire, and subsurface hydrology
The current state of permafrost in Alaska and meaningful expectations for its future evolution are informed by long-term perspectives of previous permafrost degradation. Thermokarst processes in permafrost landscapes often lead to widespread lake formation and the spatial and temporal evolution of thermokarst lake landscapes reflects the combined effects of climate, ground conditions...
Authors
Lesleigh Anderson, Mary Edwards, Mark D. Shapley, Bruce P. Finney, Catherine Langdon
Environmental and geomorphological changes on the eastern North American Continental Shelf across the Paleocene-Eocene Boundary Environmental and geomorphological changes on the eastern North American Continental Shelf across the Paleocene-Eocene Boundary
Foraminiferal evidence from two sites in southern Maryland, eastern United States, reveals a series of rapid ecological changes on the continental shelf during the onset of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Benthic and planktic foraminifer assemblages from the South Dover Bridge (SDB) and Mattawoman Creek-Billingsley Road (MCBR) cores in the central Salisbury Embayment record...
Authors
Marci Robinson, Whittney Spivey