Publications
Listed here are publications, reports and articles by the Land Change Science Program in the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area.
Filter Total Items: 1145
Increased hurricane frequency near Florida during Younger Dryas Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation slowdown Increased hurricane frequency near Florida during Younger Dryas Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation slowdown
The risk posed by intensification of North Atlantic hurricane activity remains controversial, in part due to a lack of available storm proxy records that extend beyond the relatively stable climates of the late Holocene. Here we present a record of storm-triggered turbidite deposition offshore the Dry Tortugas, south Florida, USA, that spans abrupt transitions in North Atlantic sea...
Authors
Michael Toomey, Robert Korty, Jeffrey Donnelly, Peter van Hengstum, William Curry
Taphonomic problems in reconstructing sea-level history from the late Quaternary marine terraces of Barbados Taphonomic problems in reconstructing sea-level history from the late Quaternary marine terraces of Barbados
Although uranium series (U-series) ages of growth-position fossil corals are important to Quaternary sea-level history, coral clast reworking from storms can yield ages on a terrace dating to more than one high-sea stand, confounding interpretations of sea-level history. On northern Barbados, U-series ages corals from a thick storm deposit are not always younger with successively higher
Authors
Daniel R. Muhs, Kathleen Simmons
Mediterranean California’s water use future under multiple scenarios of developed and agricultural land use change Mediterranean California’s water use future under multiple scenarios of developed and agricultural land use change
With growing demand and highly variable inter-annual water supplies, California’s water use future is fraught with uncertainty. Climate change projections, anticipated population growth, and continued agricultural intensification, will likely stress existing water supplies in coming decades. Using a state-and-transition simulation modeling approach, we examine a broad suite of spatially...
Authors
Tamara Wilson, Benjamin Sleeter, D. Cameron
Perspectives on chemical oceanography in the 21st century: Participants of the COME ABOARD Meeting examine aspects of the field in the context of 40 years of DISCO Perspectives on chemical oceanography in the 21st century: Participants of the COME ABOARD Meeting examine aspects of the field in the context of 40 years of DISCO
The questions that chemical oceanographers prioritize over the coming decades, and the methods we use to address these questions, will define our field's contribution to 21st century science. In recognition of this, the U.S. National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration galvanized a community effort (the Chemical Oceanography MEeting: A BOttom-up...
Authors
Andrea Fassbender, Hilary Palevsky, Todd Martz, Anitra Ingalls, Martha Gledhill, Sarah Fawcett, Jay Brandes, Lihini Aluwihare, Robert M. Anderson, Sara Bender, Ed Boyle, Debbie Bronk, Ken Buesseler, David Burdige, Karen Casciotti, Hilary Close, Maureen Conte, Greg Cutter, Meg Estapa, Katja Fennel, Sara Ferron, Brian Glazer, Miguel Goni, Max Grand, Chris Guay, Mariko Hatta, Chris Hayes, Tristan Horner, Ellery Ingall, Kenneth Johnson, Laurie Juranek, Angela Knapp, Phoebe Lam, George Luther, Paty Matrai, David Nicholson, Adina Paytan, Robert Pellenbarg, Kim Popendorf, Christopher Reddy, Kathleen Ruttenberg, Chris Sabine, Frank Sansone, Nayrah Shaltout, Liz Sikes, Eric Sundquist, David Valentine, Zhao Wang, Sam Wilson, Pamela Barrett, Melanie Behrens, Anna Belcher, Lauren Biermann, Rene Boiteau, Jennifer Clarke, Jamie Collins, Alysha Coppola, Alina Ebling, Fenix Garcia-Tigreros, Johanna Goldman, Elisa Guallart, William Haskell, Sarah Hurley, David Janssen, Winn Johnson, Sinikka Lennhartz, Shuting Liu, Shaily Rahman, Daisy Ray, Amit Sarkar, Zvika Steiner, Brittany Widner, Bo Yang
Deglacial sea level history of the East Siberian Sea and Chukchi Sea margins Deglacial sea level history of the East Siberian Sea and Chukchi Sea margins
Deglacial (12.8–10.7 ka) sea level history on the East Siberian continental shelf and upper continental slope was reconstructed using new geophysical records and sediment cores taken during Leg 2 of the 2014 SWERUS-C3 expedition. The focus of this study is two cores from Herald Canyon, piston core SWERUS-L2-4-PC1 (4-PC1) and multicore SWERUS-L2-4-MC1 (4-MC1), and a gravity core from an...
Authors
Thomas Cronin, Matt O’Regan, Christof Pearce, Laura Gemery, Michael Toomey, Igor Semiletov
Evidence for a climate-induced ecohydrological state shift in wetland ecosystems of the southern Prairie Pothole Region Evidence for a climate-induced ecohydrological state shift in wetland ecosystems of the southern Prairie Pothole Region
Changing magnitude, frequency, and timing of precipitation can influence aquatic-system hydrological, geochemical, and biological processes, in some cases resulting in system-wide shifts to an alternate state. Since the early 1990s, the southern Prairie Pothole Region has been subjected to an extended period of increased wetness resulting in marked changes to aquatic systems defining...
Authors
Owen McKenna, David Mushet, Donald Rosenberry, James LaBaugh
Long-term persistence and fire resilience of oak shrubfields in dry conifer forests of northern New Mexico Long-term persistence and fire resilience of oak shrubfields in dry conifer forests of northern New Mexico
Extensive high-severity fires are creating large shrubfields in many dry conifer forests of the interior western USA, raising concerns about forest-to-shrub conversion. This study evaluates the role of disturbance in shrubfield formation, maintenance and succession in the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico. We compared the environmental conditions of extant Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii)...
Authors
Christopher Guiterman, Ellis Margolis, Craig Allen, Donald Falk, Thomas Swetnam
Oxygen stable isotopic disparities among sympatric small land snail species from northwest Minnesota, USA Oxygen stable isotopic disparities among sympatric small land snail species from northwest Minnesota, USA
The oxygen isotopic composition (δ18O) of land snail shells can be a valuable paleoenvironmental archive if the climatic parameters that influence the isotopic system are fully understood. Previous calibration studies have examined a limited number of species or individuals, and most have focused on larger (> 10 mm) taxa, which do not represent the dominant shell material in the...
Authors
Yurena Yanes, Jeffrey Nekola, Jason Rech, Jeffery S. Pigati
Characterizing interactions between fire and other disturbances and their impacts on tree mortality in western U.S. Forests Characterizing interactions between fire and other disturbances and their impacts on tree mortality in western U.S. Forests
Increasing evidence that pervasive warming trends are altering disturbance regimes and their interactions with fire has generated substantial interest and debate over the implications of these changes. Previous work has primarily focused on conditions that promote non-additive interactions of linked and compounded disturbances, but the spectrum of potential interaction patterns has not...
Authors
Jeffrey Kane, J. Varner, Margaret Metz, Phillip van Mantgem
Increasing floodplain connectivity through urban stream restoration increases nutrient and sediment retention Increasing floodplain connectivity through urban stream restoration increases nutrient and sediment retention
Stream restoration practices frequently aim to increase connectivity between the stream channel and its floodplain to improve channel stability and enhance water quality through sediment trapping and nutrient retention. To measure the effectiveness of restoration and to understand the drivers of these functional responses, we monitored five restored urban streams that represent a range...
Authors
Sara K. McMillan, Gregory Noe
A method for quantifying cloud immersion in a tropical mountain forest using time-lapse photography A method for quantifying cloud immersion in a tropical mountain forest using time-lapse photography
Quantifying the frequency, duration, and elevation range of fog or cloud immersion is essential to estimate cloud water deposition in water budgets and to understand the ecohydrology of cloud forests. The goal of this study was to develop a low-cost and high spatial-coverage method to detect occurrence of cloud immersion within a mountain cloud forest by using time-lapse photography...
Authors
Maoya Bassiouni, Martha Scholl, Angel Torres-Sanchez, Sheila Murphy
Continuously amplified warming in the Alaskan Arctic: Implications for estimating global warming hiatus Continuously amplified warming in the Alaskan Arctic: Implications for estimating global warming hiatus
Historically, in situ measurements have been notoriously sparse over the Arctic. As a consequence, the existing gridded data of surface air temperature (SAT) may have large biases in estimating the warming trend in this region. Using data from an expanded monitoring network with 31 stations in the Alaskan Arctic, we demonstrate that the SAT has increased by 2.19°C in this region, or at a...
Authors
Kang Wang, Tingjun Zhang, Xiangdong Zhang, Gary Clow, Elchin Jafarov, Irina Overeem, Vladimir Romanovsky, Xiaoqing Peng, Bin Cao