Adam Terando, Ph.D.
Adam Terando is a USGS Research Ecologist (Climate Impacts) with the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center. His work focuses on the impacts of global change on ecosystems in the Southeast and U.S. Caribbean, and the complex human-environment relationships that drive these processes.
A geographer and climatologist by training, Dr. Terando received his Ph.D. in Geography from Pennsylvania State University where he examined the relationship between climate extremes and future crop yields in the U.S. At the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center, the overarching goal of his research is to gain insights that will benefit the public and natural resource managers in their efforts to understand and adapt to rapid global climate and land use changes. Currently, his work focuses on four research themes:
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Uncertainty characterization and quantification for global change predictions
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Global Climate Model Downscaling
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Future urbanization and land use change
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Wildfires, prescribed fire, and climate change
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. in Geography, Pennsylvania State University
Science and Products
Occupancy and abundance of Eleutherodactylus wightmanae and E. brittoni along elevational gradients in west-central Puerto Rico
Balancing research and service to decision makers
Ad hoc instrumentation methods in ecological studies produce highly biased temperature measurements
Foundations of translational ecology
Developing a translational ecology workforce
Characterizing sources of uncertainty from global climate models and downscaling techniques
Grand challenges for integrated USGS science — A workshop report
Occupancy and abundance of Eleutherodactylus frogs in coffee plantations in Puerto Rico
Developing multi-model ensemble projections of ecologically relevant climate variables for Puerto Rico and the US Caribbean
Uncertainty quantification and propagation for projections of extremes in monthly area burned under climate change: A case study in the coastal plain of Georgia, USA
The sensitivity of WRF downscaled precipitation in Puerto Rico to cumulus parameterization and interior grid nudging
Assessing climate-sensitive ecosystems in the southeastern United States
Science and Products
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Occupancy and abundance of Eleutherodactylus wightmanae and E. brittoni along elevational gradients in west-central Puerto Rico
Populations of Eleutherodactylus species in Puerto Rico have declined in recent decades due to habitat loss and long-term climatic changes. The conservation of these habitat specialists requires an understanding of factors influencing their abundance and distribution, which at present is scant. We estimated occupancy probability and the probability of encountering ≥2 individuals of E. wightmanae (AuthorsKelen D. Monroe, Jaime A. Collazo, Krishna Pacifici, Brian J. Reich, Alberto R. Puente-Rolón, Adam J. TerandoBalancing research and service to decision makers
No abstract available.AuthorsJeremy S. Littell, Adam J. Terando, Toni Lyn MorelliAd hoc instrumentation methods in ecological studies produce highly biased temperature measurements
In light of global climate change, ecological studies increasingly address effects of temperature on organisms and ecosystems. To measure air temperature at biologically relevant scales in the field, ecologists often use small, portable temperature sensors. Sensors must be shielded from solar radiation to provide accurate temperature measurements, but our review of 18 years of ecological literaturAuthorsAdam J. Terando, Elsa Youngsteadt, Emily K. Meineke, Sara G. PradoFoundations of translational ecology
Ecologists who specialize in translational ecology (TE) seek to link ecological knowledge to decision making by integrating ecological science with the full complement of social dimensions that underlie today's complex environmental issues. TE is motivated by a search for outcomes that directly serve the needs of natural resource managers and decision makers. This objective distinguishes it from bAuthorsCarolyn A. F. Enquist, Stephen T. Jackson, Gregg M. Garfin, Frank W. Davis, Leah R. Gerber, Jeremy Littell, Jennifer L. Tank, Adam Terando, Tamara U. Wall, Benjamin S. Halpern, J. Kevin Hiers, Toni L. Morelli, Elizabeth McNie, Nathan L. Stephenson, Matthew A. Williamson, Connie A. Woodhouse, Laurie Yung, Mark W. Brunson, Kimberly R. Hall, Lauren M. Hallett, Dawn M. Lawson, Max A. Moritz, Koren R. Nydick, Amber Pairis, Andrea J. Ray, Claudia M. Regan, Hugh D. Safford, Mark W. Schwartz, M. Rebecca ShawDeveloping a translational ecology workforce
We define a translational ecologist as a professional ecologist with diverse disciplinary expertise and skill sets, as well as a suitable personal disposition, who engages across social, professional, and disciplinary boundaries to partner with decision makers to achieve practical environmental solutions. Becoming a translational ecologist requires specific attention to obtaining critical non‐scieAuthorsMark W. Schwartz, J. Kevin Hiers, Frank W. Davis, Gregg Garfin, Stephen T. Jackson, Adam J. Terando, Connie A. Woodhouse, Toni Lyn Morelli, Matthew A. Williamson, Mark W. BrunsonCharacterizing sources of uncertainty from global climate models and downscaling techniques
In recent years climate model experiments have been increasingly oriented towards providing information that can support local and regional adaptation to the expected impacts of anthropogenic climate change. This shift has magnified the importance of downscaling as a means to translate coarse-scale global climate model (GCM) output to a finer scale that more closely matches the scale of interest.AuthorsAdrienne Wootten, Adam Terando, Brian J. Reich, Ryan Boyles, Fred SemazziGrand challenges for integrated USGS science — A workshop report
Executive SummaryThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has a long history of advancing the traditional Earth science disciplines and identifying opportunities to integrate USGS science across disciplines to address complex societal problems. The USGS science strategy for 2007–2017 laid out key challenges in disciplinary and interdisciplinary arenas, culminating in a call for increased focus on a numbeAuthorsKaren E. Jenni, Martin B. Goldhaber, Julio L. Betancourt, Jill S. Baron, Sky Bristol, Mary Cantrill, Paul E. Exter, Michael J. Focazio, John W. Haines, Lauren E. Hay, Leslie Hsu, Victor F. Labson, Kevin D. Lafferty, K. A. Ludwig, Paul C. D. Milly, Toni L. Morelli, Suzette A. Morman, Nedal T. Nassar, Timothy R. Newman, Andrea C. Ostroff, Jordan S. Read, Sasha C. Reed, Carl D. Shapiro, Richard A. Smith, Ward E. Sanford, Terry L. Sohl, Edward G. Stets, Adam J. Terando, Donald E. Tillitt, Michael A. Tischler, Patricia L. Toccalino, David J. Wald, Mark P. Waldrop, Anne Wein, Jake F. Weltzin, Christian E. ZimmermanOccupancy and abundance of Eleutherodactylus frogs in coffee plantations in Puerto Rico
Shaded coffee plantations are of conservation value for many taxa, particularly for resident avifauna in the face of extensive landscape changes. Yet, little is known about the value of coffee plantations for amphibians because there are scant demographic data to index their value among species with different habitat preferences. We estimated the probability of occupancy of three frog species: EleAuthorsKelen D. Monroe, Jaime A. Collazo, Krishna Pacifici, Brian J. Reich, Alberto R. Puente-Rolón, Adam J. TerandoDeveloping multi-model ensemble projections of ecologically relevant climate variables for Puerto Rico and the US Caribbean
The global increases in surface air temperature are the most widespread and direct consequence of anthropogenic climate change. However, while 21st century temperatures are projected to increase in the Caribbean, the low variability and high average temperatures suggest that impacts on ecosystems and water resources are more likely through changes to the availability, timing, and pattern of moistuAuthorsAdam TerandoUncertainty quantification and propagation for projections of extremes in monthly area burned under climate change: A case study in the coastal plain of Georgia, USA
Human‐caused climate change is predicted to affect the frequency of hazard‐linked extremes. Unusually large wildfires are a type of extreme event that is constrained by climate and can be a hazard to society but also an important ecological disturbance. This chapter focuses on changes in the frequency of extreme monthly area burned by wildfires for the end of the 21st century for a wildfire‐proneAuthorsAdam J. Terando, Brian J. Reich, Krishna Pacifici, Jennifer Costanza, Alexa McKerrow, Jaime A. CollazoThe sensitivity of WRF downscaled precipitation in Puerto Rico to cumulus parameterization and interior grid nudging
The sensitivity of the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) simulated precipitation over Puerto Rico is evaluated using multiple combinations of cumulus parameterization (CP) schemes and interior grid nudging. NCEP-DOE AMIP-II reanalysis (R-2) is downscaled to 2- km horizontal grid spacing with both convective permitting simulations (CP active only in the 49 middle and outer domains) andAuthorsA. Wootten, J.H. Bowden, R. Boyles, Adam J. TerandoAssessing climate-sensitive ecosystems in the southeastern United States
Climate change impacts ecosystems in many ways, from effects on species to phenology to wildfire dynamics. Assessing the potential vulnerability of ecosystems to future changes in climate is an important first step in prioritizing and planning for conservation. Although assessments of climate change vulnerability commonly are done for species, fewer have been done for ecosystems. To aid regional cAuthorsJennifer Costanza, Scott Beck, Milo Pyne, Adam Terando, Matthew J. Rubino, Rickie White, Jaime Collazo - News