Publications

Much of the remaining suitable habitat for monarchs (Danaus plexippus) in Minnesota is found in tallgrass prairies. We studied the association of adult monarch abundance with use of fire or grazing to manage prairies. Sites (n=20) ranged in size from 1 to 145 hectares and included land owned and managed by the Minnesota DNR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy, and...

Unraveling the effects of climate and land-use on historical fire regimes provides important insights into broader human-fire-climate dynamics, which are necessary for ecologically-based forest management. We developed a spatial human land-use model for Navajo Nation forests across which we sampled a network of tree-ring fire history sites to reflect contrasting historical land-use...

The Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019 (H.R. 2157) was signed by the President on June 6, 2019. The U.S. Geological Survey received $98.5 million for repair and replacement of facilities and equipment, collection of high-resolution elevation data in affected areas, and scientific assessments to support recovery and rebuilding decisions for declared...

In the Madrean Sky Islands of western North America, a mixture of public and private land ownership and tenure creates a complex situation for collaborative efforts in conservation. In this case study, we describe the current ownership and management structures in the US-Mexico borderlands where social, political, and economic conditions create extreme pressures on the environment and...

E. Pennisi (“Forest giants are the trees most at risk,” News, 6 September, p. 962) interprets presentations of three studies as suggesting that “for trees, size is not strength, and forest giants are disproportionately vulnerable.” However, this conclusion is not well supported. The observation that lightning is a major cause of large-tree mortality on Barro Colorado Island (BCI) is best

Periodicity of fire disturbance is a known driver of ecosystem function and is reported as important in both promoting and maintaining viable breeding habitat for the endangered Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow (Ammospiza maritima mirabilis; CSSS). In south Florida, the CSSS serves as a fine-scale indicator of the marl and mixed-marl prairie communities of the Florida Everglades. The CSSS...

Decisionmakers need better methods for identifying critical ecosystem vulnerabilities to changing climate and fire regimes. Climate-wildfire-vegetation interactions are complex and hinder classification and projection necessary for development of management strategies. One such vulnerability assessment (VA) is FireCLIME VA, which allows users to compare management strategies under...

The recovery of natural ecological processes after disturbance is poorly understood. Some disturbances may be so severe as to set ecosystems onto a new trajectory. The Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge in West Virginia protects a unique high-altitude wetland that was heavily disturbed by logging 100 years BP and has since transitioned to a new ecological state (shrub wetland)...

Shrublands in Mediterranean‐type ecosystems worldwide support important ecosystem services including high levels of biodiversity and are threatened by multiple factors in heavily used landscapes. Use, conservation, and management of these landscapes involve diverse stakeholders, making decision processes complex. To be effective, management and land use decisions should be informed by...

This research investigates the impact of wildfires on watershed flow regimes, specifically focusing on evaluation of fire events within specified hydroclimatic regions in the western United States, and evaluating the impact of climate and geophysical variables on response. Eighty-two watersheds were identified with at least 10 years of continuous pre-fire daily streamflow records and 5...

Wildfires commonly increase nutrient, carbon, sediment, and metal inputs to streams yet the factors responsible for the type, magnitude and duration of water quality effects are poorly understood. Prior work by the current authors found increased nitrogen, phosphorus and cation exports were common the first five post-fire years from a synthesis of 159 wildfires across the western United...

Tens of thousands of structures and hundreds of human lives have been lost in recent fire events throughout California. Given the potential for these types of wildfires to continue, the need to understand why and how structures are being destroyed has taken on a new level of urgency. We compiled and analyzed an extensive dataset of building inspectors’ reports documenting homeowner...