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How Marine Heatwaves are Changing Ocean Ecosystems

A GeoNarrative

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How does this ecosystem support the Nation’s fish and wildlife?

What are some management alternatives for ecosystem rehabilitation?

What is the impact of natural resource use on the environment?

The passion of our scientists.

Environments Program

USGS Environments Program scientists conduct research for the restoration and management of 500 million acres managed by DOI. Scientists work in estuaries, coastlines, deserts, grasslands, rivers and forests from Alaska to Florida to predict how systems respond to change, evaluate restoration, improve habitat for biodiversity and provide services including clean water, food, and storm protect

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Ecosystem Management

Photograph of a freeze sensitive mangrove-marsh transition zone in Cedar Key, FL.

Our ecological research improves the Nation’s understanding of how management decisions and environmental variation are impacting ecosystems now and in the future.

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Wildland Fire Research

Image: Burned Area Near Yarnell, Arizona

Wildfires are a natural process in most regions of the U.S. They serve a vital role in nature but can also be unusually intense, widespread, or frequent. As a result, response and recovery costs are increasing.

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Environments Science

USGS scientists conduct research to inform the management and conservation of ecosystems across the US. Explore our science using the links below.

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News

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New Report Highlights Declining Sagebrush Ecosystem, Provides Foundation for Next Generation of Conservation and Management

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Fort Collins Science Center Scientists Share Expertise at Society for Range Management Meeting

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Tips for Dryland Restoration - Winter 2020-2021

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Publications

Global virtual water trade and the hydrological cycle: Patterns, drivers, and socio-environmental impacts

The increasing global demand for farmland products is placing unprecedented pressure on the global agricultural system and its water resources. Many regions of the world, that are affected by a chronic water scarcity relative to their population, strongly depend on the import of agricultural commodities and associated embodied (or virtual) water. The globalization of water through virtual water tr
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Ecosystems, Environments Program, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Potential sea level rise for the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana

Situated in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain of the Gulf Coast Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GCP LCC), the Chitimacha Tribe is one of four federally recognized tribes in Louisiana. The Tribal seat, trust lands/ reservation, and adjacent Tribal owned lands are located near Charenton, Louisiana, totaling nearly 1,000 acres. The Chitimacha, with a population of approximately 1,400 people,
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Ecosystems, Environments Program, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Exploring the impacts of seagrass on coupled marsh-tidal flat morphodynamics

Intertidal coastal environments are prone to changes induced by sea level rise, increases in storminess, temperature, and anthropogenic disturbances. It is unclear how changes in external drivers may affect the dynamics of low energy coastal environments because their response is non-linear, and characterized by many thresholds and discontinuities. As such, process-based modeling of the ecogeomorp
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Ecosystems, Environments Program, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
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Science

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Salt marsh nekton monitoring

Use of Structured Decision Making to Optimize Salt Marsh Management Decisions at Northeastern National Wildlife Refuges

US Fish and Wildlife Service completed a regional assessment of salt marsh integrity (SMI) on 15 National Wildlife Refuges/Refuge Complexes in the northeastern US. Developed within a structured decision making (SDM) framework, the SMI assessment provides essential baseline data on salt marsh condition relative to regional management objectives. These data now provide the basis for applying the SDM...
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Ecosystems, Environments Program, Eastern Ecological Science Center
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Use of Structured Decision Making to Optimize Salt Marsh Management Decisions at Northeastern National Wildlife Refuges

US Fish and Wildlife Service completed a regional assessment of salt marsh integrity (SMI) on 15 National Wildlife Refuges/Refuge Complexes in the northeastern US. Developed within a structured decision making (SDM) framework, the SMI assessment provides essential baseline data on salt marsh condition relative to regional management objectives. These data now provide the basis for applying the SDM...
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Everglades National Park- in a salt marsh region

Large-Scale Restoration Science

USGS works collaboratively with partners to improve the stewardship and restoration of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems across the country. Many of these projects are large-scale, crossing multiple organizational and state boundaries and occasionally bridging scientific and engineering disciplines. The primary outcomes of these projects are restoring critical ecosystems and their biological...
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Ecosystems, Environments Program
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Large-Scale Restoration Science

USGS works collaboratively with partners to improve the stewardship and restoration of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems across the country. Many of these projects are large-scale, crossing multiple organizational and state boundaries and occasionally bridging scientific and engineering disciplines. The primary outcomes of these projects are restoring critical ecosystems and their biological...
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Citizen Scientists monitoring Avian populations in the Gulf Coast National Parks

Monitoring Birds in National Parks of the Gulf Coast Network

The Challenge: Avian monitoring within the Gulf Coast Network of the National Park Service is challenged to provide valid quantitative data on bird populations within park boundaries with limited financial input. Thus, citizen science (volunteer) bird monitoring has been proposed to achieve reliable estimates of bird populations and to assess the effects of habitat change and temporal dynamics of...
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Ecosystems, Environments Program, Wildlife Program, Eastern Ecological Science Center
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Monitoring Birds in National Parks of the Gulf Coast Network

The Challenge: Avian monitoring within the Gulf Coast Network of the National Park Service is challenged to provide valid quantitative data on bird populations within park boundaries with limited financial input. Thus, citizen science (volunteer) bird monitoring has been proposed to achieve reliable estimates of bird populations and to assess the effects of habitat change and temporal dynamics of...
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