Ecosystem Services

The scientific literature is abundant on drought-related topics in the western United States, including areas of the Colorado River Basin and the sagebrush biome. Scientists, resource managers, and decision makers use this science to assess, predict, and respond to the effects of drought on people and the environment. However, it can be difficult to quickly synthesize large amounts of research. To...

Climate-driven forest disturbances, particularly drought-induced tree mortality and large high-severity fires from increasingly warm and dry conditions, are altering forest ecosystems and the ecosystem services society depends on (e.g., water supplies) in the Southern Rockies and across the Western U.S. We will combine unique, long-term place-based ecological data, diverse methods (e.g., paleo...

Drylands are arid and semi-arid zones around the world where water resources are scarce. In the U.S., 40 percent of the land is considered dryland. USGS scientists are researching how predicted climate changes in dryland ecosystems--increases in temperature and declines in precipitation--will affect vegetation and wildlife in these areas as well as the ecosystem services they provide.

Droughts can be defined as meteorological, hydrological, agricultural, and/or ecological. Ecological drought is when below-normal water supplies create multiple stressors across ecosystems. USGS scientists are researching the ecological impacts of drought across the country.