Zach Ancona is a Physical Scientist with the Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center
Science and Products
In Support of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 3-Bat Species Status Assessment: Predicted Wind Take Allocated To Hibernacula Each Year Under Current and Future Scenarios
Through the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat), United States Geological Survey (USGS) provided technical and science support to assist in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services’ (USFWS) Species Status Assessment (“SSA”) for the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis), little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), and tri-colored bat (Perimyotis subflavus). USGS facilitated t
Data release for Accounting for Land in the United States: Integrating Physical Land Cover, Land Use, and Monetary Valuation
Land plays a critical role in both economic and environmental accounting. As an asset, it occupies a unique position at the intersection of the System of National Accounts (SNA), the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Central Framework (SEEA-CF), and (as a spatial unit) SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EEA), making land a natural starting point for developing natural capital a
Data release for Integrating physical and economic data into experimental water accounts for the United States: lessons and opportunities
Water provides society with economic benefits that increasingly involve tradeoffs, making accounting for water quality, quantity, and their corresponding economic productivity more relevant in our interconnected world. In the past, physical and economic data about water have been fragmented, but integration is becoming more widely adopted internationally through application of the System of Enviro
Data Release for Testing ecosystem accounting in the United States: A case study for the Southeast
Ecosystems benefit people in many ways, but these contributions do not appear in traditional national or corporate accounts so are often left out of policy- and decision-making. Ecosystem accounts, as formalized by the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Experimental Ecosystem Accounts (SEEA EEA), track the extent and condition of ecosystem assets and the flows of ecosystem services they p
Data release for Using social-context matching to improve transfer performance for cultural ecosystem service models
Spatial planning is becoming an increasingly important component of managing natural resources in the face of growing demands upon and threats to our public lands. Efforts to model and map the goods and services derived from ecosystems provide important information to planning efforts, permitting the analysis of tradeoffs or costs and benefits associated with management alternatives. Much progress
Filter Total Items: 15
The sensitivity of ecosystem service models to choices of input data and spatial resolution
Although ecosystem service (ES) modeling has progressed rapidly in the last 10–15 years, comparative studies on data and model selection effects have become more common only recently. Such studies have drawn mixed conclusions about whether different data and model choices yield divergent results. In this study, we compared the results of different models to address these questions at national, pro
Analyzing land-use change scenarios for trade-offs among culturalecosystem services in the Southern Rocky Mountains
Significant increases in outdoor recreation participants are projected over the next 50 years for national forests
across the United States, with even larger increases possible for forests located in the Southern Rocky
Mountains. Forest managers will be challenged to balance increasing demand for outdoor recreation with other
ecosystem services. Future management needs could be better anticipated
Evaluating alternative methods for biophysical and cultural ecosystem services hotspot mapping in natural resource planning
Context
Data for biophysically modeled and Public Participatory GIS (PPGIS)-derived cultural ecosystem services have potential to identify natural resource management synergies and conflicts, but have rarely been combined. Ecosystem service hot/coldspots generated using different methods vary in their spatial extent and connectivity, with important implications.
Objectives
We map biophysically mod
Social-value maps for Arapaho, Roosevelt, Medicine Bow, Routt, and White River National Forests, Colorado and Wyoming
Executive SummaryThe continued pressures of population growth on the life-sustaining, economic, and cultural ecosystem services provided by our national forests, particularly those located near rapidly growing urban areas, present ongoing challenges to forest managers. Achieving an effective assessment of these ecosystem services includes a proper accounting of the ecological, economic, and social
Onshore industrial wind turbine locations for the United States up to March 2014
Wind energy is a rapidly growing form of renewable energy in the United States. While summary information on the total amounts of installed capacity are available by state, a free, centralized, national, turbine-level, geospatial dataset useful for scientific research, land and resource management, and other uses did not exist. Available in multiple formats and in a web application, these public d
Using social-context matching to improve spatial function-transfer performance for cultural ecosystem service models
Recreational and aesthetic enjoyment of public lands is increasing across a wide range of activities, highlighting the need to assess and adapt management to accommodate these uses. Despite a growing number of studies on mapping cultural ecosystem services, most are local-scale assessments that rely on costly and time-consuming primary data collection. As a result, the availability of spatial info
Monarch habitat as a component of multifunctional landscape restoration using continuous riparian buffers
Stabilizing the eastern, migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) is expected to require substantial habitat restoration on agricultural land in the core breeding area of the Upper Midwestern U.S. Previous research has considered the potential to utilize marginal land for this purpose because of its low productivity, erodible soils, and high nutrient input requirements. This
Sustaining Environmental Capital Initiative summary report
Federal agencies need credible scientific information to determine the production and value of ecosystem services in an efficient and timely manner. The U.S. Geological Survey addresses this scientific information need through the Sustaining Environmental Capital Initiative project. The project has relied on U.S. Geological Survey expertise related to water, fisheries, advanced modeling, and econo
Toward ecosystem accounts for Rwanda: Tracking 25 years of change in potential supply and flows of ecosystem services
1. Rwanda, a small but rapidly developing central African nation, has undertaken development of natural capital accounts to better inform its economic development through the World Bank’s Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) Partnership. In this paper, we develop ecosystem service (ES) models to quantify the physical supply components of ecosystem accounts in Rwanda from 1
A rasterized building footprint dataset for the United States
Microsoft released a U.S.-wide vector building dataset in 2018. Although the vector building layers provide relatively accurate geometries, their use in large-extent geospatial analysis comes at a high computational cost. We used High-Performance Computing (HPC) to develop an algorithm that calculates six summary values for each cell in a raster representation of each U.S. state, excluding Alaska
Reducing water scarcity by improving water productivity in the United States
Nearly one-sixth of U.S. river basins are unable to consistently meet societal water demands while also providing sufficient water for the environment. Water scarcity is expected to intensify and spread as populations increase, new water demands emerge, and climate changes. Improving water productivity by meeting realistic benchmarks for all water users could allow U.S. communities to expand econo
Integrating physical and economic data into experimental water accounts for the United States: Lessons and opportunities
Water management increasingly involves tradeoffs, making its accounting highly relevant in our interconnected world. Physical and economic data about water in many nations are becoming more widely integrated through application of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounts for Water (SEEA-Water), which enables the tracking of linkages between water and the economy. We present the first national
Science and Products
- Data
In Support of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 3-Bat Species Status Assessment: Predicted Wind Take Allocated To Hibernacula Each Year Under Current and Future Scenarios
Through the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat), United States Geological Survey (USGS) provided technical and science support to assist in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services’ (USFWS) Species Status Assessment (“SSA”) for the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis), little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), and tri-colored bat (Perimyotis subflavus). USGS facilitated tData release for Accounting for Land in the United States: Integrating Physical Land Cover, Land Use, and Monetary Valuation
Land plays a critical role in both economic and environmental accounting. As an asset, it occupies a unique position at the intersection of the System of National Accounts (SNA), the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Central Framework (SEEA-CF), and (as a spatial unit) SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EEA), making land a natural starting point for developing natural capital aData release for Integrating physical and economic data into experimental water accounts for the United States: lessons and opportunities
Water provides society with economic benefits that increasingly involve tradeoffs, making accounting for water quality, quantity, and their corresponding economic productivity more relevant in our interconnected world. In the past, physical and economic data about water have been fragmented, but integration is becoming more widely adopted internationally through application of the System of EnviroData Release for Testing ecosystem accounting in the United States: A case study for the Southeast
Ecosystems benefit people in many ways, but these contributions do not appear in traditional national or corporate accounts so are often left out of policy- and decision-making. Ecosystem accounts, as formalized by the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Experimental Ecosystem Accounts (SEEA EEA), track the extent and condition of ecosystem assets and the flows of ecosystem services they pData release for Using social-context matching to improve transfer performance for cultural ecosystem service models
Spatial planning is becoming an increasingly important component of managing natural resources in the face of growing demands upon and threats to our public lands. Efforts to model and map the goods and services derived from ecosystems provide important information to planning efforts, permitting the analysis of tradeoffs or costs and benefits associated with management alternatives. Much progress - Publications
Filter Total Items: 15
The sensitivity of ecosystem service models to choices of input data and spatial resolution
Although ecosystem service (ES) modeling has progressed rapidly in the last 10–15 years, comparative studies on data and model selection effects have become more common only recently. Such studies have drawn mixed conclusions about whether different data and model choices yield divergent results. In this study, we compared the results of different models to address these questions at national, proAnalyzing land-use change scenarios for trade-offs among culturalecosystem services in the Southern Rocky Mountains
Significant increases in outdoor recreation participants are projected over the next 50 years for national forests across the United States, with even larger increases possible for forests located in the Southern Rocky Mountains. Forest managers will be challenged to balance increasing demand for outdoor recreation with other ecosystem services. Future management needs could be better anticipatedEvaluating alternative methods for biophysical and cultural ecosystem services hotspot mapping in natural resource planning
Context Data for biophysically modeled and Public Participatory GIS (PPGIS)-derived cultural ecosystem services have potential to identify natural resource management synergies and conflicts, but have rarely been combined. Ecosystem service hot/coldspots generated using different methods vary in their spatial extent and connectivity, with important implications. Objectives We map biophysically modSocial-value maps for Arapaho, Roosevelt, Medicine Bow, Routt, and White River National Forests, Colorado and Wyoming
Executive SummaryThe continued pressures of population growth on the life-sustaining, economic, and cultural ecosystem services provided by our national forests, particularly those located near rapidly growing urban areas, present ongoing challenges to forest managers. Achieving an effective assessment of these ecosystem services includes a proper accounting of the ecological, economic, and socialOnshore industrial wind turbine locations for the United States up to March 2014
Wind energy is a rapidly growing form of renewable energy in the United States. While summary information on the total amounts of installed capacity are available by state, a free, centralized, national, turbine-level, geospatial dataset useful for scientific research, land and resource management, and other uses did not exist. Available in multiple formats and in a web application, these public dUsing social-context matching to improve spatial function-transfer performance for cultural ecosystem service models
Recreational and aesthetic enjoyment of public lands is increasing across a wide range of activities, highlighting the need to assess and adapt management to accommodate these uses. Despite a growing number of studies on mapping cultural ecosystem services, most are local-scale assessments that rely on costly and time-consuming primary data collection. As a result, the availability of spatial infoMonarch habitat as a component of multifunctional landscape restoration using continuous riparian buffers
Stabilizing the eastern, migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) is expected to require substantial habitat restoration on agricultural land in the core breeding area of the Upper Midwestern U.S. Previous research has considered the potential to utilize marginal land for this purpose because of its low productivity, erodible soils, and high nutrient input requirements. ThisSustaining Environmental Capital Initiative summary report
Federal agencies need credible scientific information to determine the production and value of ecosystem services in an efficient and timely manner. The U.S. Geological Survey addresses this scientific information need through the Sustaining Environmental Capital Initiative project. The project has relied on U.S. Geological Survey expertise related to water, fisheries, advanced modeling, and econoToward ecosystem accounts for Rwanda: Tracking 25 years of change in potential supply and flows of ecosystem services
1. Rwanda, a small but rapidly developing central African nation, has undertaken development of natural capital accounts to better inform its economic development through the World Bank’s Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) Partnership. In this paper, we develop ecosystem service (ES) models to quantify the physical supply components of ecosystem accounts in Rwanda from 1A rasterized building footprint dataset for the United States
Microsoft released a U.S.-wide vector building dataset in 2018. Although the vector building layers provide relatively accurate geometries, their use in large-extent geospatial analysis comes at a high computational cost. We used High-Performance Computing (HPC) to develop an algorithm that calculates six summary values for each cell in a raster representation of each U.S. state, excluding AlaskaReducing water scarcity by improving water productivity in the United States
Nearly one-sixth of U.S. river basins are unable to consistently meet societal water demands while also providing sufficient water for the environment. Water scarcity is expected to intensify and spread as populations increase, new water demands emerge, and climate changes. Improving water productivity by meeting realistic benchmarks for all water users could allow U.S. communities to expand econoIntegrating physical and economic data into experimental water accounts for the United States: Lessons and opportunities
Water management increasingly involves tradeoffs, making its accounting highly relevant in our interconnected world. Physical and economic data about water in many nations are becoming more widely integrated through application of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounts for Water (SEEA-Water), which enables the tracking of linkages between water and the economy. We present the first national