Publications
Listed here are publications, reports and articles by the Land Change Science Program in the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area.
Filter Total Items: 1145
Applying the Community Ice Sheet Model to evaluate PMIP3 LGM climatologies over the North American ice sheets Applying the Community Ice Sheet Model to evaluate PMIP3 LGM climatologies over the North American ice sheets
We apply the Community Ice Sheet Model (CISM2) to determine the extent to which the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) temperature and precipitation climatologies from the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project 3 (PMIP3) simulations support the large North American ice sheets that were prescribed as a boundary condition. We force CISM2 with eight PMIP3 general circulation models (GCMs)...
Authors
Jay Alder, Steven Hostetler
Historical background and current developments for mapping burned area from satellite Earth observation Historical background and current developments for mapping burned area from satellite Earth observation
Fire has a diverse range of impacts on Earth's physical and social systems. Accurate and up to date information on areas affected by fire is critical to better understand drivers of fire activity, as well as its relevance for biogeochemical cycles, climate, air quality, and to aid fire management. Mapping burned areas was traditionally done from field sketches. With the launch of the...
Authors
Emilio Chuvieco, Flourent Mouillot, Guido van der Werf, Jesus San Miguel, Mihai Tanasse, Nikos Koutsias, Mariano Garcia, Marta Yebra, Marc Padilla, Angelika Heil, Todd Hawbaker, Louis Giglio
An assessment of plant species differences on cellulose oxygen isotopes from two Kenai Peninsula, Alaska peatlands: Implications for hydroclimatic reconstructions An assessment of plant species differences on cellulose oxygen isotopes from two Kenai Peninsula, Alaska peatlands: Implications for hydroclimatic reconstructions
Peat cores are valuable archives of past environmental change because they accumulate plant organic matter over millennia. While studies have primarily focused on physical, ecological, and some biogeochemical proxies, cores from peatlands have increasingly been used to interpret hydroclimatic change using stable isotope analyses of cellulose preserved in plant remains. Previous studies...
Authors
Miriam Jones, Lesleigh Anderson, Katherine Keller, Bailey Nash, Virginia Littell, Matthew Wooller, Chelsea Jolley
The plant diversity sampling design for The National Ecological Observatory Network The plant diversity sampling design for The National Ecological Observatory Network
The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is designed to facilitate an understanding of the impact of environmental change on ecological systems. Observations of plant diversity—responsive to changes in climate, disturbance, and land use, and ecologically linked to soil, biogeochemistry, and organisms—result in NEON data products that cross a range of organizational levels...
Authors
David Barnett, Peter Adler, Benjamin Chemel, Paul Duffy, Brian Enquist, James Grace, Susan Harrison, Robert Peet, David Schimel, Thomas Stohlgren, Mark Vellend
Microclimate influences mangrove freeze damage: Implications for range expansion in response to changing macroclimate Microclimate influences mangrove freeze damage: Implications for range expansion in response to changing macroclimate
In response to warming winter air temperatures, freeze-sensitive mangrove forests are expected to expand at the expense of freeze-tolerant salt marshes. To better anticipate and prepare for mangrove range expansion, there is a need to advance understanding of the modulating role of microclimate. Here, we synthesized hypotheses regarding the effects of microclimatic variation on...
Authors
Michael Osland, Arik Hartmann, Richard Day, Michael Ross, Courtney T. Hall, Laura Feher, William Vervaeke
Long-term nitrogen addition shifts the soil nematode community to bacterivore-dominated and reduces its ecological maturity in a subalpine forest Long-term nitrogen addition shifts the soil nematode community to bacterivore-dominated and reduces its ecological maturity in a subalpine forest
Nitrogen deposition from anthropogenic sources is a global problem that reaches even the most remote ecosystems. Responses belowground vary by ecosystem, and have feedbacks to geochemical processes, including carbon storage. A long-term nitrogen addition study in a subalpine forest has shown carbon loss over time, atypical for a forest ecosystem. Loss of microbial biomass is likely...
Authors
E. Shaw, Claudia Boot, John Moore, Diana Wall, Jill Baron
Sediment trapping and carbon sequestration in floodplains of the lower Atchafalaya Basin, LA: Allochthonous vs. autochthonous carbon sources Sediment trapping and carbon sequestration in floodplains of the lower Atchafalaya Basin, LA: Allochthonous vs. autochthonous carbon sources
Recent studies suggest that about 2 Pg of organic C is stored on floodplains worldwide. The present study indicates the Atchafalaya River, fifth largest river in the United States in terms of discharge, traps 30 mm/y of sediment on average within its floodplain, which is the highest average non‐episodic rate of fluvial deposition on the U.S. Coastal Plain. We installed sediment sampling...
Authors
Cliff Hupp, Daniel Kroes, Gregory Noe, Edward Schenk, Richard Day
The mighty Susquehanna—extreme floods in Eastern North America during the past two millennia The mighty Susquehanna—extreme floods in Eastern North America during the past two millennia
The hazards posed by infrequent major floods to communities along the Susquehanna River and the ecological health of Chesapeake Bay remain largely unconstrained due to the short length of streamgage records. Here we develop a history of high‐flow events on the Susquehanna River during the late Holocene from flood deposits contained in MD99‐2209, a sediment core recovered in 26 m of water...
Authors
Michael Toomey, Meagan Cantwell, Steven Colman, Thomas Cronin, Jeffrey Donnelly, Liviu Giosan, Clifford Heil, Robert Korty, Marci Marot, Debra Willard
The potential role of very high-resolution imagery to characterise lake, wetland and stream systems across the Prairie Pothole Region, United States The potential role of very high-resolution imagery to characterise lake, wetland and stream systems across the Prairie Pothole Region, United States
Aquatic features critical to watershed hydrology range widely in size from narrow, shallow streams to large, deep lakes. In this study we evaluated wetland, lake, and river systems across the Prairie Pothole Region to explore where pan-sharpened high-resolution (PSHR) imagery, relative to Landsat imagery, could provide additional data on surface water distribution and movement, missed by...
Authors
Melanie Vanderhoof, Charles R. Lane
A bibliometric profile of the Remote Sensing Open Access Journal published by MDPI between 2009 and 2018 A bibliometric profile of the Remote Sensing Open Access Journal published by MDPI between 2009 and 2018
Remote Sensing Open Access Journal (RS OAJ) is an international leading journal in the field of remote sensing science and technology. It was first published in the year 2009 and is currently celebrating tenth year of publications. In this research, a bibliometric analysis of RS OAJ was conducted based on 5588 articles published during the 10-year (2009–2018) time-period. The...
Authors
YuYing Zhang, Prasad Thenkabail, Peng Wang
Adaptive management assists reintroduction as higher tides threaten an endangered salt marsh plant Adaptive management assists reintroduction as higher tides threaten an endangered salt marsh plant
In theory, extirpated plant species can be reintroduced and managed to restore sustainable populations. However, few reintroduced plants are known to persist for more than a few years. Our adaptive‐management case study illustrates how we restored the endangered hemiparasitic annual plant, Chloropyron maritimum subsp. maritimum (salt marsh bird's beak), to Sweetwater Marsh, San Diego Bay...
Authors
Gregory Noe, Meghan Fellows, Lorraine Parsons, Janelle West, John Callaway, Sally Trnka, Mark Wegener, Joy Zedler
Linking landscapes and people—Projecting the future of the Great Plains Linking landscapes and people—Projecting the future of the Great Plains
We developed a unique set of landscape projections for the Great Plains that use real land-management parcels to represent landscape patterns at high spatial and thematic resolution.Both anthropogenic land use and natural vegetation respond in the model to projected changes in groundwater availability and climate change.Thirty-three scenario combinations were modeled, facilitating...
Authors
Terry Sohl, Jordan Dornbierer, Steve Wika