Publications
Listed here are publications, reports and articles by the Land Change Science Program in the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area.
Filter Total Items: 1145
Biota: Providing often-overlooked connections among freshwater systems Biota: Providing often-overlooked connections among freshwater systems
When we think about connections in and among aquatic systems, we typically envision clear headwater streams flowing into downstream rivers, river floodwaters spilling out onto adjacent floodplains, or groundwater connecting wetlands to lakes and streams. However, there is another layer of connectivity moving materials among freshwater systems, one with connections that are not always...
Authors
David M. Mushet, Jay R. Christensen, Michah Bennett, Laurie C. Alexander
Rapid carbon loss and slow recovery following permafrost thaw in boreal peatlands Rapid carbon loss and slow recovery following permafrost thaw in boreal peatlands
Permafrost peatlands store one-third of the total carbon (C) in the atmosphere and are increasingly vulnerable to thaw as high-latitude temperatures warm. Large uncertainties remain about C dynamics following permafrost thaw in boreal peatlands. We used a chronosequence approach to measure C stocks in forested permafrost plateaus (forest) and thawed permafrost bogs, ranging in thaw age...
Authors
Miriam C. Jones, Jennifer W. Harden, Jonathan A. O’Donnell, Kristen L. Manies, M. Torre Jorgenson, Claire C. Treat, Stephanie Ewing
Reply to: Terry, J. and Goff, J. comment on “Late Cenozoic sea level and the rise of modern rimmed atolls” by Toomey et al. (2016), Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 4 51: 73–83. Reply to: Terry, J. and Goff, J. comment on “Late Cenozoic sea level and the rise of modern rimmed atolls” by Toomey et al. (2016), Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 4 51: 73–83.
We appreciate Terry and Goff's thoughtful comment in response to our proposed atoll development model. Flank collapse of reef-built slopes likely does affect plan-form atoll morphology in some locations and potentially poses a tsunami hazard to low-lying Pacific islands (Terry and Goff, 2013). However, given the often rapid rates of lagoon infill (> 1 mm/yr; Montaggioni, 2005), such...
Authors
Michael Toomey, Andrew Ashton, Maureen E. Raymo, J. Taylor Perron
Extended late Holocene relative sea-level histories for North Carolina, USA Extended late Holocene relative sea-level histories for North Carolina, USA
We produced ∼3000-year long relative sea-level (RSL) histories for two sites in North Carolina (USA) using foraminifera preserved in new and existing cores of dated salt-marsh sediment. At Cedar Island, RSL rose by ∼2.4 m during the past ∼3000 years compared to ∼3.3 m at Roanoke Island. This spatial difference arises primarily from differential GIA that caused late Holocene RSL rise to...
Authors
Andrew C. Kemp, Jessica J. Kegel, Stephen J. Culver, Donald C. Barber, David J. Mallinson, Eduardo Leorri, Christopher E. Bernhardt, Niamh Cahill, Stanley R. Riggs, Anna L. Woodson, Ryan P. Mulligan, Benjamin P. Horton
Relations of alpine plant communities across environmental gradients: Multilevel versus multiscale analyses Relations of alpine plant communities across environmental gradients: Multilevel versus multiscale analyses
Alpine plant communities vary, and their environmental covariates could influence their response to climate change. A single multilevel model of how alpine plant community composition is determined by hierarchical relations is compared to a separate examination of those relations at different scales. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling of species cover for plots in four regions across the...
Authors
George P. Malanson, Dale L. Zimmerman, Mitch Kinney, Daniel B. Fagre
Hydrology and water quality in 13 watersheds in Gwinnett County, Georgia, 2001–15 Hydrology and water quality in 13 watersheds in Gwinnett County, Georgia, 2001–15
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources, established a Long-Term Trend Monitoring (LTTM) program in 1996. The LTTM program is a comprehensive, long-term, water-quantity and water-quality monitoring program designed to document and analyze the hydrologic and water-quality conditions of selected watersheds in Gwinnett County...
Authors
Brent T. Aulenbach, John K. Joiner, Jaime A. Painter
Lithological influences on contemporary and long-term regolith weathering at the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory Lithological influences on contemporary and long-term regolith weathering at the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory
Lithologic differences give rise to the differential weatherability of the Earth’s surface and globally variable silicate weathering fluxes, which provide an important negative feedback on climate over geologic timescales. To isolate the influence of lithology on weathering rates and mechanisms, we compare two nearby catchments in the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory in Puerto Rico...
Authors
Heather L. Buss, Maria Chapela Lara, Oliver Moore, Andrew C. Kurtz, Marjorie S. Schulz, Arthur F. White
DOI/GTN-P Climate and active-layer data acquired in the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 1998–2015 DOI/GTN-P Climate and active-layer data acquired in the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 1998–2015
This report provides data collected by the climate monitoring array of the U.S. Department of the Interior on Federal lands in Arctic Alaska over the period August 1998 to July 2015; this array is part of the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (DOI/GTN-P). In addition to presenting data, this report also describes monitoring, data collection, and quality-control methods. The array...
Authors
Frank E. Urban, Gary D. Clow
Expanding the role of reactive transport models in critical zone processes Expanding the role of reactive transport models in critical zone processes
Models test our understanding of processes and can reach beyond the spatial and temporal scales of measurements. Multi-component Reactive Transport Models (RTMs), initially developed more than three decades ago, have been used extensively to explore the interactions of geothermal, hydrologic, geochemical, and geobiological processes in subsurface systems. Driven by extensive data sets...
Authors
Li Li, Kate Maher, Alexis Navarre-Sitchler, Jennifer Druhan, Christof Meile, Corey Lawrence, Joel Moore, Julia Perdrial, Pamela Sullivan, Aaron Thompson, Lixin Jin, Edward W. Bolton, Susan L. Brantley, William E. Dietrich, K. Ulrich Mayer, Carl Steefel, Albert J. Valocchi, John M. Zachara, Benjamin D. Kocar, Jennifer McIntosh, Benjamin M. Tutolo, Mukesh Kumar, Eric Sonnenthal, Chen Bao, Joe Beisman
Modeled ecohydrological responses to climate change at seven small watersheds in the northeastern United States Modeled ecohydrological responses to climate change at seven small watersheds in the northeastern United States
A cross-site analysis was conducted on seven diverse, forested watersheds in the northeastern United States to evaluate hydrological responses (evapotranspiration, soil moisture, seasonal and annual streamflow, and water stress) to projections of future climate. We used output from four atmosphere–ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs; CCSM4, HadGEM2-CC, MIROC5, and MRI-CGCM3)...
Authors
Afshin Pourmokhtarian, Charles T. Driscoll, John L. Campbell, Katharine Hayhoe, Anne M. K. Stoner, Mary Beth Adams, Douglas A. Burns, Ivan Fernandez, Myron J. Mitchell, James B. Shanley
High-resolution climate of the past ∼7300 years of coastal northernmost California: Results from diatoms, silicoflagellates, and pollen High-resolution climate of the past ∼7300 years of coastal northernmost California: Results from diatoms, silicoflagellates, and pollen
Piston core TN062-O550, collected about 33 km offshore of Eureka, California, contains a high-resolution record of the climate and oceanography of coastal northernmost California during the past ∼7.34 kyr. Chronology established by nine AMS ages on a combination of planktic foraminifers, bivalve shell fragments, and wood yields a mean sedimentation rate of 103 cm kyr−1. Marine proxies...
Authors
John A. Barron, David Bukry, Linda E. Heusser, Jason A. Addison, Clark R. Alexander
Signals of impending change Signals of impending change
Society has an increasing awareness that there are finite limits to what we can expect the planet to absorb and still provide goods and services at current rates1. Both historical reconstructions and contemporary events continue to remind us that ecological regime changes are often abrupt rather than gradual. This reality motivates researchers who seek to discover leading indicators for...
Authors
James B. Grace