Publications
Publications, scientific literature, and information products from the Land Change Science Program.
Filter Total Items: 565
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
Measuring the role of seagrasses in regulating sediment surface elevation Measuring the role of seagrasses in regulating sediment surface elevation
Seagrass meadows provide numerous ecosystem services and their rapid global loss may reduce human welfare as well as ecological integrity. In common with the other ‘blue carbon’ habitats (mangroves and tidal marshes) seagrasses are thought to provide coastal defence and encourage sediment stabilisation and surface elevation. A sophisticated understanding of sediment elevation dynamics in...
Authors
Maria Potouroglou, James C. Bull, Ken Krauss, Hilary Kennedy, Marco Fusi, Daniele Daffonchio, Mwita Mangora, Michael Githaiga, Karen Diele, Mark Huxham
A record of change - Science and elder observations on the Navajo Nation A record of change - Science and elder observations on the Navajo Nation
A Record of Change - Science and Elder Observations on the Navajo Nation is a 25-minute documentary about combining observations from Navajo elders with conventional science to determine how tribal lands and culture are affected by climate change. On the Navajo Nation, there is a shortage of historical climate data, making it difficult to assess changing environmental conditions.This...
Authors
Margaret M. Hiza-Redsteer, Stephen M. Wessells
The Great Acceleration and the disappearing surficial geologic record The Great Acceleration and the disappearing surficial geologic record
The surficial geologic record is the relatively thin veneer of young (
Authors
Jason Rech, Kathleen Springer, Jeffrey S. Pigati
What mediates tree mortality during drought in the southern Sierra Nevada? What mediates tree mortality during drought in the southern Sierra Nevada?
Severe drought has the potential to cause selective mortality within a forest, thereby inducing shifts in forest species composition. The southern Sierra Nevada foothills and mountains of California have experienced extensive forest dieback due to drought stress and insect outbreak. We used high-fidelity imaging spectroscopy (HiFIS) and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) from the...
Authors
Tarin Paz-Kagan, Philip Brodrick, Nicholas Vaughn, Adrian Das, Nathan Stephenson, Koren Nydick, Gregory Asner
Fatal attraction? Intraguild facilitation and suppression among predators Fatal attraction? Intraguild facilitation and suppression among predators
Competition and suppression are recognized as dominant forces that structure predator communities. Facilitation via carrion provisioning, however, is a ubiquitous interaction among predators that could offset the strength of suppression. Understanding the relative importance of these positive and negative interactions is necessary to anticipate community-wide responses to apex predator...
Authors
Kelly Sivy, Casey Pozzanghera, James Grace, Laura Prugh
Assessing coastal wetland vulnerability to sea-level rise along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast: Gaps and opportunities for developing a coordinated regional sampling network Assessing coastal wetland vulnerability to sea-level rise along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast: Gaps and opportunities for developing a coordinated regional sampling network
Coastal wetland responses to sea-level rise are greatly influenced by biogeomorphic processes that affect wetland surface elevation. Small changes in elevation relative to sea level can lead to comparatively large changes in ecosystem structure, function, and stability. The surface elevation table-marker horizon (SET-MH) approach is being used globally to quantify the relative...
Authors
Michael Osland, Kereen Griffith, Jack C. Larriviere, Laura Feher, Donald Cahoon, Nicholas Enwright, David Oster, John Tirpak, Mark Woodrey, Renee Collini, Joseph Baustian, Joshua Breithaupt, Julia A Cherry, Jeremy Conrad, Nicole Cormier, Carlos Coronado-Molina, Joseph Donoghue, Sean Graham, Jennifer Harper, Mark Hester, Rebecca Howard, Ken Krauss, Daniel Kroes, Robert Lane, Karen McKee, Irving Mendelssohn, Beth Middleton, Jena Moon, Sarai Piazza, Nicole Rankin, Fred Sklar, Gregory Steyer, Kathleen Swanson, Christopher Swarzenski, William Vervaeke, Jonathan Willis, K. Van Wilson
Fine-resolution repeat topographic surveying of dryland landscapes using UAS-based structure-from-motion photogrammetry: Assessing accuracy and precision against traditional ground-based erosion measurements Fine-resolution repeat topographic surveying of dryland landscapes using UAS-based structure-from-motion photogrammetry: Assessing accuracy and precision against traditional ground-based erosion measurements
Structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry from unmanned aerial system (UAS) imagery is an emerging tool for repeat topographic surveying of dryland erosion. These methods are particularly appealing due to the ability to cover large landscapes compared to field methods and at reduced costs and finer spatial resolution compared to airborne laser scanning. Accuracy and precision of high...
Authors
Jeffrey Gillian, Jason Karl, Ahmed Elaksher, Michael Duniway
Improving predictions of tropical forest response to climate change through integration of field studies and ecosystem modeling Improving predictions of tropical forest response to climate change through integration of field studies and ecosystem modeling
Tropical forests play a critical role in carbon and water cycles at a global scale. Rapid climate change is anticipated in tropical regions over the coming decades and, under a warmer and drier climate, tropical forests are likely to be net sources of carbon rather than sinks. However, our understanding of tropical forest response and feedback to climate change is very limited. Efforts...
Authors
Xiaohui Feng, Maria Uriarte, Grizelle Gonzalez, Sasha Reed, Jill Thompson, Jess Zimmerman, Lora Murphy
Climate-driven variability in the occurrence of major floods across North America and Europe Climate-driven variability in the occurrence of major floods across North America and Europe
Concern over the potential impact of anthropogenic climate change on flooding has led to a proliferation of studies examining past flood trends. Many studies have analysed annual-maximum flow trends but few have quantified changes in major (25–100 year return period) floods, i.e. those that have the greatest societal impacts. Existing major-flood studies used a limited number of very...
Authors
Glenn Hodgkins, Paul Whitfield, Donald Burn, Jamie Hannaford, Benjamin Renard, Kerstin Stahl, Anne Fleig, Henrik Madsen, Luis Mediero, Johanna Korhonen, Conor Murphy, Donna Wilson
Structural overshoot of tree growth with climate variability and the global spectrum of drought-induced forest dieback Structural overshoot of tree growth with climate variability and the global spectrum of drought-induced forest dieback
Ongoing climate change poses significant threats to plant function and distribution. Increased temperatures and altered precipitation regimes amplify drought frequency and intensity, elevating plant stress and mortality. Large-scale forest mortality events will have far-reaching impacts on carbon and hydrological cycling, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. However, biogeographical...
Authors
Alistair Jump, Paloma Ruiz-Benito, Sarah Greenwood, Craig Allen, Thomas Kitzberger, Rod Fensham, Jordi Martinez-Vilalta, Francisco Lloret