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Brian W Miller, Ph.D.

Dr. Brian Miller is a Research Ecologist with the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center, one of the nine regional centers that form the National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Center (CASC) network.

The USGS CASC program teams scientists with natural and cultural resource managers and local communities to help fish, wildlife, water, land, and people adapt to a changing climate. Brian focuses on developing and applying scenario planning, ecological simulation modeling, and related tools to help partners navigate climate change impacts and adaptation options. Brian has an interdisciplinary background studying human-environment interactions. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he also worked at the Carolina Population Center.  

Education and Certifications

  • Ph.D. in Ecology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  • B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder

Science and Products

Filter Total Items: 21
Overhead view of a series of lakes surrounded by green crops.

Webinar: Developing divergent, plausible, and relevant climate futures for near- and long-term resource planning

View this webinar to learn how scientists use scenario planning as a tool to prepare for a changing climate.
By
Climate Adaptation Science Centers
Webinar: Developing divergent, plausible, and relevant climate futures for near- and long-term resource planning

Webinar: Developing divergent, plausible, and relevant climate futures for near- and long-term resource planning

View this webinar to learn how scientists use scenario planning as a tool to prepare for a changing climate.
Learn More
Two mountains in the background with a rocky lake in the foreground.

Developing Resources for Tribal Partnership Science

Tribal Partnership Science (TPS) is a rapidly growing field that brings together biophysical and social scientists, federally recognized tribes, and federal land management agencies. TPS is essential for addressing complex environmental challenges facing tribes and their homelands. In recent years, a proliferation of methods, frameworks, and guidance for TPS has emerged from diverse...
By
Climate Adaptation Science Centers
Developing Resources for Tribal Partnership Science

Developing Resources for Tribal Partnership Science

Tribal Partnership Science (TPS) is a rapidly growing field that brings together biophysical and social scientists, federally recognized tribes, and federal land management agencies. TPS is essential for addressing complex environmental challenges facing tribes and their homelands. In recent years, a proliferation of methods, frameworks, and guidance for TPS has emerged from diverse scientific
Learn More
a view of Gothic Mountain in Colorado

Crafting Ecological Scenarios to Implement the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) Framework

As climate change progresses, profound environmental changes are becoming a widespread concern. A new management paradigm is developing to address this concern with a framework that encourages strategic decisions to resist, accept, or direct ecological trajectories. Effective use of the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework requires the scientific community to describe the range of...
By
Climate Adaptation Science Centers
Crafting Ecological Scenarios to Implement the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) Framework

Crafting Ecological Scenarios to Implement the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) Framework

As climate change progresses, profound environmental changes are becoming a widespread concern. A new management paradigm is developing to address this concern with a framework that encourages strategic decisions to resist, accept, or direct ecological trajectories. Effective use of the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework requires the scientific community to describe the range of plausible
Learn More
A grassland

Developing A New Software Package to Enhance Species Distribution Model Functionality

Even when faced with uncertainty about future climate conditions, resource managers are tasked with making planning and adaptation decisions that impact important natural and cultural resources. Species distribution models are widely used by both researchers and managers to estimate species responses to climate change. These models combine data on environmental variables (e.g...
By
Climate Adaptation Science Centers
Developing A New Software Package to Enhance Species Distribution Model Functionality

Developing A New Software Package to Enhance Species Distribution Model Functionality

Even when faced with uncertainty about future climate conditions, resource managers are tasked with making planning and adaptation decisions that impact important natural and cultural resources. Species distribution models are widely used by both researchers and managers to estimate species responses to climate change. These models combine data on environmental variables (e.g., temperature
Learn More
Image: North Dakota Sky, Water, and Prairie

Modeling to Support Grazing Management Planning in U.S. National Parks: A Case Study from Dinosaur National Monument

The National Park Service is responsible for managing livestock grazing on 94 locations across the country and several grazing management planning efforts for this work are underway. However, there is a recognized need to update grazing management plans to address potential future effects of climate change on related resources and practices. This is the second phase of a project that is...
By
Climate Adaptation Science Centers
Modeling to Support Grazing Management Planning in U.S. National Parks: A Case Study from Dinosaur National Monument

Modeling to Support Grazing Management Planning in U.S. National Parks: A Case Study from Dinosaur National Monument

The National Park Service is responsible for managing livestock grazing on 94 locations across the country and several grazing management planning efforts for this work are underway. However, there is a recognized need to update grazing management plans to address potential future effects of climate change on related resources and practices. This is the second phase of a project that is using
Learn More
Rainbow after storm in Badlands National Park

Supporting the National Park Service in Climate Adaptation Planning

Natural and cultural resource managers across the country have begun to use a tool known as "scenario planning" to help prepare for climate change effects that may unfold in the future. In this process, scientific projections are used to identify different plausible, relevant, and divergent climate conditions for a particular area, and then through a participatory process, scientists and...
By
Climate Adaptation Science Centers
Supporting the National Park Service in Climate Adaptation Planning

Supporting the National Park Service in Climate Adaptation Planning

Natural and cultural resource managers across the country have begun to use a tool known as "scenario planning" to help prepare for climate change effects that may unfold in the future. In this process, scientific projections are used to identify different plausible, relevant, and divergent climate conditions for a particular area, and then through a participatory process, scientists and resource
Learn More
No Result Found
No results found.
Filter Total Items: 62

Clarifying the role of the resist–accept–direct framework in supporting resource management planning processes Clarifying the role of the resist–accept–direct framework in supporting resource management planning processes

No abstract available.
Authors
Gregor W. Schuurman, Wylie Carr, Cat Hawkins Hoffman, David J. Lawrence, Brian W. Miller, Erik A. Beever, Jean Brennan, Katherine R. Clifford, Scott Covington, Shelley D. Crausbay, Amanda E. Cravens, John E. Gross, Linh Hoang, Stephen Jackson, Abraham J. Miller-Rushing, Wendy Morrison, Elizabeth A. Nelson, Robin O'Malley, Jay O. Peterson, Mark T. Porath, Karen Prentice, Joel H. Reynolds, Suresh A. Sethi, Helen Sofaer, Jennifer L. Wilkening
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers

Climate change impacts and adaptation in U.S. Rocky Mountain high-elevation ecosystems Climate change impacts and adaptation in U.S. Rocky Mountain high-elevation ecosystems

From a resource management perspective, climate change is considered to be one of the main threats to high-elevation ecosystems. However, these valuable ecosystems present unique challenges to climate change adaptation (actions in response to environmental change and its effects in a way that seeks to reduce harm) due to their rugged and remote characteristics. Within this context, we...
Authors
Meagan Ford Oldfather, Alyson Ennis, Brian W. Miller, Kyra Clark-Wolf, Imtiaz Rangwala, Hailey Robe, Caitlin Littlefield
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers

Scope, setting, and purpose of the Colorado Front Range climate change vulnerability assessment for national forests Scope, setting, and purpose of the Colorado Front Range climate change vulnerability assessment for national forests

No abstract available.
Authors
Brice Hanberry, T Timberlake, N.A. Clark, Brian W. Miller, C. D. Peterson
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers

Indigenous knowledge in climate adaptation planning: Reflections from initial efforts Indigenous knowledge in climate adaptation planning: Reflections from initial efforts

There are increasing calls to incorporate indigenous knowledge (IK) into climate adaptation planning (CAP) and related projects. However, given unique attributes of IK and the positionality of tribal communities to scientific research, several considerations are important to ensure CAP efforts with IK are ethical and effective. While such topics have been thoroughly explored conceptually
Authors
Tony W. Ciocco, Brian W. Miller, Stefan Gabriel Tangen, Shelley D. Crausbay, Meagan Ford Oldfather, Aparna Bamzai-Dodson
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers

Drought as an emergent driver of ecological transformation in the twenty-first century Drought as an emergent driver of ecological transformation in the twenty-first century

Under climate change, ecosystems are experiencing novel drought regimes, often in combination with stressors that reduce resilience and amplify drought’s impacts. Consequently, drought appears increasingly likely to push systems beyond important physiological and ecological thresholds, resulting in substantial changes in ecosystem characteristics persisting long after drought ends (i.e
Authors
Wynne Emily Moss, Shelley Crausbay, Imtiaz Rangwala, Jay Wason, Clay Trauernicht, Camille S. Stevens-Rumann, Anna Sala, Caitlin M. Rottler, Gregory T. Pederson, Brian W. Miller, Dawn Magness, Jeremy Littell, Lee Frelich, Abby G. Frazier, Kimberly R. Davis, Jonathan Coop, Jennifer M. Cartwright, Robert K Booth
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers, Ecosystems Land Change Science Program, Drought

Biodiversity loss reduces global terrestrial carbon storage Biodiversity loss reduces global terrestrial carbon storage

Natural ecosystems store large amounts of carbon globally, as organisms absorb carbon from the atmosphere to build large, long-lasting, or slow-decaying structures such as tree bark or root systems. An ecosystem’s carbon sequestration potential is tightly linked to its biological diversity. Yet when considering future projections, many carbon sequestration models fail to account for the...
Authors
Sarah R. Weiskopf, Forest Isbell, Maria Isabel Arce-Plata, Moreno Di Marco, Mike Harfoot, Justin A. Johnson, Susannah B. Lerman, Brian W. Miller, Toni Lyn Morelli, Akira S. Mori, Ensheng Weng, Simon Ferrier
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers

Non-USGS Publications**

Miller, B. W. 2015. Using geospatial analysis to assess the influence of land-use change and conservation on pastoralist access to drought resources. Nomadic Peoples 19(1): 120-145.
Miller, B. W., Leslie, P. W., McCabe, J. T. 2014. Coping with natural hazards in a conservation context: resource-use decisions of Maasai households during recent and historical drought. Human Ecology 42(5): 753-768.
Miller, B. W., & Doyle, M. W. 2014. Rangeland management and fluvial geomorphology in northern Tanzania. Geomorphology 214: 366-377.
Miller, B. W., Caplow, S. C., Leslie, P. W. 2012. Feedbacks between conservation and social-ecological systems. Conservation Biology 26(2): 218-227.
Miller, B. W., Breckheimer I., McCleary, A. L., Guzmán-Ramirez, L., Caplow, S. C., Jones-Smith, J. C., Walsh, S. J. 2010. Using stylized agent-based models for population-environment research: a case study from the Galápagos Islands. Population and Environment 31(6): 401-426.
Walsh, S. J., Miller, B. W., Breckheimer, I., McCleary, A. L., Guzman-Ramirez, L., Caplow, S. C., Jones-Smith, J. C. 2009. Complexity Theory and Spatial Simulation Models to Assess Population-Environment Interactions in the Galápagos Islands. In: M. Wolff and M. Gardener (eds.), Proceedings of the Galápagos Science Symposium, Charles Darwin Foundation, Puerto Ayora, Galapagos, Ecuador. Pp 145-148.

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

Science and Products

Filter Total Items: 21
Overhead view of a series of lakes surrounded by green crops.

Webinar: Developing divergent, plausible, and relevant climate futures for near- and long-term resource planning

View this webinar to learn how scientists use scenario planning as a tool to prepare for a changing climate.
By
Climate Adaptation Science Centers
Webinar: Developing divergent, plausible, and relevant climate futures for near- and long-term resource planning

Webinar: Developing divergent, plausible, and relevant climate futures for near- and long-term resource planning

View this webinar to learn how scientists use scenario planning as a tool to prepare for a changing climate.
Learn More
Two mountains in the background with a rocky lake in the foreground.

Developing Resources for Tribal Partnership Science

Tribal Partnership Science (TPS) is a rapidly growing field that brings together biophysical and social scientists, federally recognized tribes, and federal land management agencies. TPS is essential for addressing complex environmental challenges facing tribes and their homelands. In recent years, a proliferation of methods, frameworks, and guidance for TPS has emerged from diverse...
By
Climate Adaptation Science Centers
Developing Resources for Tribal Partnership Science

Developing Resources for Tribal Partnership Science

Tribal Partnership Science (TPS) is a rapidly growing field that brings together biophysical and social scientists, federally recognized tribes, and federal land management agencies. TPS is essential for addressing complex environmental challenges facing tribes and their homelands. In recent years, a proliferation of methods, frameworks, and guidance for TPS has emerged from diverse scientific
Learn More
a view of Gothic Mountain in Colorado

Crafting Ecological Scenarios to Implement the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) Framework

As climate change progresses, profound environmental changes are becoming a widespread concern. A new management paradigm is developing to address this concern with a framework that encourages strategic decisions to resist, accept, or direct ecological trajectories. Effective use of the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework requires the scientific community to describe the range of...
By
Climate Adaptation Science Centers
Crafting Ecological Scenarios to Implement the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) Framework

Crafting Ecological Scenarios to Implement the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) Framework

As climate change progresses, profound environmental changes are becoming a widespread concern. A new management paradigm is developing to address this concern with a framework that encourages strategic decisions to resist, accept, or direct ecological trajectories. Effective use of the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework requires the scientific community to describe the range of plausible
Learn More
A grassland

Developing A New Software Package to Enhance Species Distribution Model Functionality

Even when faced with uncertainty about future climate conditions, resource managers are tasked with making planning and adaptation decisions that impact important natural and cultural resources. Species distribution models are widely used by both researchers and managers to estimate species responses to climate change. These models combine data on environmental variables (e.g...
By
Climate Adaptation Science Centers
Developing A New Software Package to Enhance Species Distribution Model Functionality

Developing A New Software Package to Enhance Species Distribution Model Functionality

Even when faced with uncertainty about future climate conditions, resource managers are tasked with making planning and adaptation decisions that impact important natural and cultural resources. Species distribution models are widely used by both researchers and managers to estimate species responses to climate change. These models combine data on environmental variables (e.g., temperature
Learn More
Image: North Dakota Sky, Water, and Prairie

Modeling to Support Grazing Management Planning in U.S. National Parks: A Case Study from Dinosaur National Monument

The National Park Service is responsible for managing livestock grazing on 94 locations across the country and several grazing management planning efforts for this work are underway. However, there is a recognized need to update grazing management plans to address potential future effects of climate change on related resources and practices. This is the second phase of a project that is...
By
Climate Adaptation Science Centers
Modeling to Support Grazing Management Planning in U.S. National Parks: A Case Study from Dinosaur National Monument

Modeling to Support Grazing Management Planning in U.S. National Parks: A Case Study from Dinosaur National Monument

The National Park Service is responsible for managing livestock grazing on 94 locations across the country and several grazing management planning efforts for this work are underway. However, there is a recognized need to update grazing management plans to address potential future effects of climate change on related resources and practices. This is the second phase of a project that is using
Learn More
Rainbow after storm in Badlands National Park

Supporting the National Park Service in Climate Adaptation Planning

Natural and cultural resource managers across the country have begun to use a tool known as "scenario planning" to help prepare for climate change effects that may unfold in the future. In this process, scientific projections are used to identify different plausible, relevant, and divergent climate conditions for a particular area, and then through a participatory process, scientists and...
By
Climate Adaptation Science Centers
Supporting the National Park Service in Climate Adaptation Planning

Supporting the National Park Service in Climate Adaptation Planning

Natural and cultural resource managers across the country have begun to use a tool known as "scenario planning" to help prepare for climate change effects that may unfold in the future. In this process, scientific projections are used to identify different plausible, relevant, and divergent climate conditions for a particular area, and then through a participatory process, scientists and resource
Learn More
No Result Found
No results found.
Filter Total Items: 62

Clarifying the role of the resist–accept–direct framework in supporting resource management planning processes Clarifying the role of the resist–accept–direct framework in supporting resource management planning processes

No abstract available.
Authors
Gregor W. Schuurman, Wylie Carr, Cat Hawkins Hoffman, David J. Lawrence, Brian W. Miller, Erik A. Beever, Jean Brennan, Katherine R. Clifford, Scott Covington, Shelley D. Crausbay, Amanda E. Cravens, John E. Gross, Linh Hoang, Stephen Jackson, Abraham J. Miller-Rushing, Wendy Morrison, Elizabeth A. Nelson, Robin O'Malley, Jay O. Peterson, Mark T. Porath, Karen Prentice, Joel H. Reynolds, Suresh A. Sethi, Helen Sofaer, Jennifer L. Wilkening
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers

Climate change impacts and adaptation in U.S. Rocky Mountain high-elevation ecosystems Climate change impacts and adaptation in U.S. Rocky Mountain high-elevation ecosystems

From a resource management perspective, climate change is considered to be one of the main threats to high-elevation ecosystems. However, these valuable ecosystems present unique challenges to climate change adaptation (actions in response to environmental change and its effects in a way that seeks to reduce harm) due to their rugged and remote characteristics. Within this context, we...
Authors
Meagan Ford Oldfather, Alyson Ennis, Brian W. Miller, Kyra Clark-Wolf, Imtiaz Rangwala, Hailey Robe, Caitlin Littlefield
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers

Scope, setting, and purpose of the Colorado Front Range climate change vulnerability assessment for national forests Scope, setting, and purpose of the Colorado Front Range climate change vulnerability assessment for national forests

No abstract available.
Authors
Brice Hanberry, T Timberlake, N.A. Clark, Brian W. Miller, C. D. Peterson
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers

Indigenous knowledge in climate adaptation planning: Reflections from initial efforts Indigenous knowledge in climate adaptation planning: Reflections from initial efforts

There are increasing calls to incorporate indigenous knowledge (IK) into climate adaptation planning (CAP) and related projects. However, given unique attributes of IK and the positionality of tribal communities to scientific research, several considerations are important to ensure CAP efforts with IK are ethical and effective. While such topics have been thoroughly explored conceptually
Authors
Tony W. Ciocco, Brian W. Miller, Stefan Gabriel Tangen, Shelley D. Crausbay, Meagan Ford Oldfather, Aparna Bamzai-Dodson
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers

Drought as an emergent driver of ecological transformation in the twenty-first century Drought as an emergent driver of ecological transformation in the twenty-first century

Under climate change, ecosystems are experiencing novel drought regimes, often in combination with stressors that reduce resilience and amplify drought’s impacts. Consequently, drought appears increasingly likely to push systems beyond important physiological and ecological thresholds, resulting in substantial changes in ecosystem characteristics persisting long after drought ends (i.e
Authors
Wynne Emily Moss, Shelley Crausbay, Imtiaz Rangwala, Jay Wason, Clay Trauernicht, Camille S. Stevens-Rumann, Anna Sala, Caitlin M. Rottler, Gregory T. Pederson, Brian W. Miller, Dawn Magness, Jeremy Littell, Lee Frelich, Abby G. Frazier, Kimberly R. Davis, Jonathan Coop, Jennifer M. Cartwright, Robert K Booth
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers, Ecosystems Land Change Science Program, Drought

Biodiversity loss reduces global terrestrial carbon storage Biodiversity loss reduces global terrestrial carbon storage

Natural ecosystems store large amounts of carbon globally, as organisms absorb carbon from the atmosphere to build large, long-lasting, or slow-decaying structures such as tree bark or root systems. An ecosystem’s carbon sequestration potential is tightly linked to its biological diversity. Yet when considering future projections, many carbon sequestration models fail to account for the...
Authors
Sarah R. Weiskopf, Forest Isbell, Maria Isabel Arce-Plata, Moreno Di Marco, Mike Harfoot, Justin A. Johnson, Susannah B. Lerman, Brian W. Miller, Toni Lyn Morelli, Akira S. Mori, Ensheng Weng, Simon Ferrier
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers

Non-USGS Publications**

Miller, B. W. 2015. Using geospatial analysis to assess the influence of land-use change and conservation on pastoralist access to drought resources. Nomadic Peoples 19(1): 120-145.
Miller, B. W., Leslie, P. W., McCabe, J. T. 2014. Coping with natural hazards in a conservation context: resource-use decisions of Maasai households during recent and historical drought. Human Ecology 42(5): 753-768.
Miller, B. W., & Doyle, M. W. 2014. Rangeland management and fluvial geomorphology in northern Tanzania. Geomorphology 214: 366-377.
Miller, B. W., Caplow, S. C., Leslie, P. W. 2012. Feedbacks between conservation and social-ecological systems. Conservation Biology 26(2): 218-227.
Miller, B. W., Breckheimer I., McCleary, A. L., Guzmán-Ramirez, L., Caplow, S. C., Jones-Smith, J. C., Walsh, S. J. 2010. Using stylized agent-based models for population-environment research: a case study from the Galápagos Islands. Population and Environment 31(6): 401-426.
Walsh, S. J., Miller, B. W., Breckheimer, I., McCleary, A. L., Guzman-Ramirez, L., Caplow, S. C., Jones-Smith, J. C. 2009. Complexity Theory and Spatial Simulation Models to Assess Population-Environment Interactions in the Galápagos Islands. In: M. Wolff and M. Gardener (eds.), Proceedings of the Galápagos Science Symposium, Charles Darwin Foundation, Puerto Ayora, Galapagos, Ecuador. Pp 145-148.

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

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