Cyndy Loftin

Distribution Models Predicting Groundwater Influenced Ecosystems in the Northeastern United States

Globally, groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs) are increasingly vulnerable to groundwater extraction and land use practices. Groundwater supports these ecosystems by providing inflow, which can maintain water levels, water temperature, and chemistry necessary to sustain the biodiversity that they support. Many aquatic systems receive groundwater as a portion of base flow, and in some systems (e.g., springs, seeps, fens) the connection with groundwater is significant and important to the system’s integrity and persistence. Groundwater management decisions for human use may not consider ecological effects of those actions on GDEs, which rely on groundwater to maintain ecological function. This disconnect between...

Categories: Data; Types: Downloadable, GeoTIFF, Map Service, Raster; Tags: Ecology, Hydrology, Land Use Change, New England, Remote Sensing, All tags... USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Water Resources, Wildlife Biology, groundwater, groundwater influenced ecosystems, imageryBaseMapsEarthCover, modeling, northeastern United States, northeastern states, prediction, Fewer tags

Point locations and species and behavioral identifications of colonial nesting seabirds on Maine's coastal islands interpreted from 2019 plane-based imagery

This dataset includes XY coordinates and species and behavioral observations of birds detected in aerial imagery captured over coastal islands along Maine's coast during 30 May. - 3 June 2019. The Partenavia P.68 Observer plane flew over 268 islands within the Gulf of Maine (GOM). The plane flew at an altitude of 310 m above ground level and was equipped with a PhaseOne iXU-RS1000 (100 megapixel) multispectral camera and 70 mm lens to capture 4-band (red, green, blue, (RGB) and near-infrared (NIR) light) imagery with a ground sampling distance of 2 cm/px. Timing for the aerial image collection was selected to reflect peak nesting periods for the focal species (Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Double-crested...

Categories: Data; Tags: Ecology, Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy, Maine Coastal, North Atlantic, Remote Sensing, All tags... USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Wildlife Biology, aerial photography, biota, birds, wildlife population management, Fewer tags

Landscape Capability Models as a Tool to Predict Fine-Scale Forest Bird Occupancy and Abundance

Abstract (from Springer Link): Species-specific models of landscape capability (LC) can inform landscape conservation design. Landscape capability is “the ability of the landscape to provide the environment […] and the local resources […] needed for survival and reproduction […] in sufficient quantity, quality and accessibility to meet the life history requirements of individuals and local populations.” Landscape capability incorporates species’ life histories, ecologies, and distributions to model habitat for current and future landscapes and climates as a proactive strategy for conservation planning. We tested the ability of a set of LC models to explain variation in point occupancy and abundance for seven bird...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation; Tags: Birds, Drought, Fire and Extreme Weather, Extreme Weather, Mammals, Northeast CASC, All tags... Other Wildlife, Wildlife and Plants, Fewer tags

Problem statement: Groundwater is an important source of freshwater for human populations worldwide, and management of this resource typically is focused on ensuring quality and quantity for human use. Many aquatic systems receive groundwater as a portion of base water flow, and in some systems (e.g., springs, seepages, subterranean streams, fens) the connection with groundwater is significant and important to the system’s integrity and persistence. Groundwater management decisions for human use often do not consider ecological effects of those actions on groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs), which rely on groundwater to maintain ecological function (Brown et al. 2010, USDA 2012). This disconnect between management...

The University of Massachusetts Designing Sustainable Landscapes (DSL) project (http://www.umass.edu/landeco/research/dsl/dsl.html) is evaluating the capability of the landscape in the North Atlantic-Landscape Conservation Cooperative region to sustain wildlife populations under alternative climate change and urban growth scenarios. The project has developed Landscape Capability models (LC) for representative species, integrating climate niche models, habitat capability models, and prevalence models to assess the sustainability of the representative species in the 13 northeastern states under future landscape conditions. Modeled species were selected to be representative of habitat needs and ecosystem functions...