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Our project focuses on understanding patterns and causes of recent population declines in the Haleakala silversword that are associated with decreasing precipitation, increasing temperature, and related climate changes in Hawaii’s high-elevation ecosystems. The Haleakala silversword is an ideal taxon with which to assess impacts from climate change. It forms the foundation of a diverse alpine community and likely reflects wider ecological changes; it is already exhibiting patterns of mortality consistent with an upslope shifting distribution; and its high visibility and symbolic status make it unmatched in educational potential. Building on extensive research infrastructure, we propose to collect the demographic...
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Invasive annual grasses are a primary, severe, and challenging threat to habitat conservation and restoration for sage-dependent wildlife across federal, state and private lands. Successful management solutions for sagebrush rangelands are likely to be multiphasic, involving some sequence of interventions such as herbicides, seeding of competitive natives that also create habitat, and temporarily altering land use, in an adaptive-management approach. The proposed work tests different herbicides and options for applying them with different seeding and land uses, across a gradient of climate and soils in Interior Regions 5 and 7.This research will examine the efficacy of management options for controlling cheatgrass...
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The US Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) has experienced some of the highest rates of grassland loss in North America over a time that coincides with dramatic declines in grassland songbird populations yet increasing abundance of most grassland-nesting duck species except for northern pintail. To provide more insight into this contradiction, we propose to capitalize on long-term databases to evaluate how a key population driver nest survival for North American ducks has responded to system changes in the region including landscape and climatic factors. Outcomes of these analyses will contribute to testing primary conservation planning assumptions for the PPJV a vital component of the PPJV Strategic Habitat Conservation...
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Using a solutions-oriented, multi-agency collaboration, we propose to pilot a large-scale assessment of an alternative (herding, electric- and virtual-fence) grazing strategy designed to mimic pre-colonial grazing patterns by bison, to ascertain their value for local- and regional-scale assemblages ofsagebrush- and grassland-associated birds in Montana. A fundamental goal of most wildlife-based grazing programs is to foster a mosaic of patches that represent the broadest possible spectrum of habitat types that benefits different sagebrush- and grassland-associated birds in different parts of the landscape (for example, western meadowlarks, vesper sparrows, and thick-billed longspur in open, heavily grazed areas;...
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Grassland loss to woody encroachment is widespread and ongoing. Mechanical removal of Eastern Red Cedar (ERC) is the most cost-shared practice to address this threat. Cost-share is provided based on acres with different levels of infestation. Delineation of the different levels of infestation is time consuming butrequired to ensure the appropriate amount of cost-share is provided and contractors are not over/under compensated. The Rangeland Brush Estimation Toolbox(RaBET) is geospatial tool that can accurately automate this process. Unfortunately,wet-meadows and other wetland features cause the tool to overestimate woody cover. This project will provide funds to finish the National Wetlands Inventory (NWI). This...
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We created an enduring features (EF, ecological site type, geophysical setting) dataset for Oklahoma that is similar to the EF dataset we created for Texas (see Diamond et al. 2016, Diamond and Elliott 2015, Elliott et al. 2014), . Digital soil map unit polygons (MUs), variables derived from digital elevation models (e.g. percent slope), and landform models (e.g. low, gentle slopes and flats in the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains) were combined to form this dataset. Among these, the low flats of the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains were most complicated to model because the sites had a low slope but were occupied by dry-mesic forest (in contrast to the low slope of uplands, which tended to be drier). A combination of slope...
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Population fragmentation compromises population viability, reduces a species ability to respond toclimate change, and ultimately may reduce biodiversi ty. We studied the current state and potential causes offragmentation in grizzly bears over approximat ely 1,000,000 km of western Canada, the northern United States(US), and southeast Alaska. We compiled much of our data from projects undertaken with a variety of researchobjectives including population estimation and trend, landscape fragmentation, habitat selection, vital rates, andresponse to human development. Our prim ary analytical techniques stemmed from genetic analysis of 3,134 bears,supplemented with radiotelemetry data from 792 bears. We used 15 locus microsatellite...
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All Conservation Design Elements identified through a multi-year conservation planning effort undertaken by the Appalachian Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC). These elements were identified by the program Marxan as meeting collective conservation targets. Datasets include a merged design of all five elements, individual element shapefiles, and a prioritization shapefile (Conservation Design elements outlined by the NatureScape Design that were then placed into a prioritization framework based on Margulis and Pressy 2000).
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Contemporary observations suggest that water may disappear entirely from portions of some North Slope stream-beds during periods of drought or low flow. Climate models project even drier summers in the future. This could pose a problem for migrating fish that must be able to move back and forth from breeding and summer feeding areas to scarce overwintering sites. This work uses the best available long-term hydrologic data set for the North Slope (in the upper Kuparuk River watershed) to develop a model to assess the vulnerability of stream systems to periodic drought, and the vulnerability of migrating fish to a loss of stream connectivity.
TheNorthSlopeofAlaskaliesonthenorthsideofBrooksRangeandincludesextensivecoastlinesalongtheChukchiSeaandBeaufortSea.TheseshorelinesarefundamentallydifferentfrommostofthecoastlineintheUSastheyareconsolidatedbypermafrostandsubjecttoperiglacialprocesses,includingcryogenicprocessesonshoreandnearshoreseasonalpackiceformation.ThesecoastsarehighlydynamicandundergoingsomeofthefastestretreatratesinNorthAmerica(GibbsandRichmondn.d.).Proposedoffshoreoildevelopmentactivitiesinthe ChukchiSeacoastandexistingoffshoredrillingislandsalongtheBeaufortSeacoastposeenvironmentalrisksforthesecoasts.Environmentalconcernsincludeincreasedairandseatraffic,accidentaloilspills,andpotentialportdevelopments.BOEMrequiresup-­‐to-­‐date,digitalmappingthatcanbeusedtosystematicallyassesstheseenvironmentalrisks.TheSh...
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The Anaktuvuk River Fire was the largest, highest-severity wildfire recorded on Alaska’s North Slope since records began in 1956. The 2007 Anaktuvuk River Fire was an order of magnitude larger than the average fire size in the historic record for northern Alaska and indices of severity were substantially higher than for other recorded tundra burns. An interdisciplinary team assessed fire effects including burn severity, potential plant community shifts, and effects on permafrost and active layers. Observers monumented, photographed, and measured 24 burned and 17 unburned reference transects, starting the year after the fire, and spanning the range of vegetation types and burn severities.
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Provisional Tennessee State Wildlife Action Plan (TN-SWAP) terrestrial habitat priorities versus results of the population growth model developed by the Tennessee Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, 2008, converted to percent projected developed landcover in the year 2040. Spatial growth model was developed using population growth projections from the University of Tennessee Center for Business and Economic Research (UT-CBER), county urban growth boundaries, 2000 census blocks, and various ancillary datasets.
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The Wildlife Conservation Society will assess the climate change vulnerability of bird species that regularly breed in substantial populations in Alaska using the NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) tool. Initial work will focus on breeding birds in Arctic Alaska including shorebirds, waterfowl and waterbird species (loons, gulls, terns, jaegers), and land bird species (passerines, raptors, ptarmigan).
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Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) have a life-history strategy specifically adapted to the extreme climate of the North. These fish migrate to spawning grounds just after breakup in the spring, then migrate to feeding sites in early summer, and finally in the fall migrate back to their overwintering sites. The Kuparuk River is a perennial stream originating in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range on the North Slope of Alaska. Sections of the Kuparuk are periodically intermittent in that, during low flows in the system, these channel reaches appear dry. The flow varies between surface and subsurface in this permafrost-dominated environment, with subsurface flow being limited to the unfrozen thaw bulb around...
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The Arctic Tern completes annual epic migrations from pole to pole covering at least 40,000 kmon their round-trip journeys. They breed throughout Arctic Alaska from boreal to tundra habitatsand have their highest nesting densities inland (Lensink 1984). Arctic Terns typically choose nestsites on open ground near water and often on small islands in ponds and lakes (Hatch 2002).Arctic terns consume a wide variety of fish and invertebrate prey, fish are particularly importantduring the breeding season for feeding young (Hatch 2002). This species spends their winters(austral summers) in offshore waters near Antarctica (Hatch 2002). Alaskan Arctic Coastal Plainpopulation estimates from 2011 range from 7-12,000 (Larned...
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The Pectoral Sandpiper is one of the most abundant breeding birds on the Arctic Coastal Plain ofAlaska. They typically have low nest site fidelity which is likely related to their promiscuousmating strategy, thus nest densities are highly variable from year to year at a given site (Holmesand Pitelka 1998). In Arctic Alaska, primary breeding habitat includes low-lying ponds in a mixof marshy to hummocky tundra and nests are typically placed in slightly raised or better drainedsites (Holmes and Pitelka 1998). Pectoral Sandpipers spend their winters primarily in southernSouth America (Holmes and Pitelka 1998). The current North American population estimate is500,000 and they are believed to be declining (Morrison et...
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Water availability, distribution, quality and quantity are critical habitat elements for fish and other water-dependent species. Furthermore, the availability of water is also a pre-requisite for a number of human activities. The density of weather and hydrology observation sites on the North Slope is orders of magnitude less than in other parts of the U.S., making it difficult to document hydrologic trends and develop accurate predictive models where water is a key input. The information that does exist is scattered among many entities, and varies in format. This multi-year data rescue effort project brings together these scarce and scattered hydrology data sets, including high-priority datasets held by the Bureau...
map background search result map search result map Understanding how climate change is affecting Hawaii's high-elevation ecosystems: an assessment of the long-term viability of Haleakala silverswords and associated biological communities Amount of inflow stored in upstream dams-rivers Linking North Slope Climate, Hydrology, and Fish Migration Linking North Slope of Alaska climate, hydrology, and fish migration North Slope Coastal Imagery Initiative NatureScape, Design HydroClimate Data Rescue Factsheet Pectoral Sandpiper Climate Change Vulnerability of Migrating Bird Species Breeding in Arctic Alaska Arctic Tern Anaktuvuk River Fire Monitoring Provisional Tennessee State Wildlife Action Plan Potential Urban Growth Oklahoma Enduring Features Slideshow Presentation File: Grizzly bears, fragmentation, connectivity, and management in the Canada - US trans-border region Population Fragmentation and Inter-EcosystemMovem ents of Grizzly Bears in Western Canada andthe Northern United States Assessing annual grass management effectiveness in the sagebrush biome Evaluating patterns of long-term system change and demographic response for grassland nesting ducks in the US Prairie Pothole Region Wetland Mask to Improve Woody Cover Mapping Assessing Traditional and Emerging Grazing Strategies for Creating a Mosaic of Diverse Habitat Patches for Grassland- and Sagebrush Associated Birds Understanding how climate change is affecting Hawaii's high-elevation ecosystems: an assessment of the long-term viability of Haleakala silverswords and associated biological communities Anaktuvuk River Fire Monitoring Linking North Slope Climate, Hydrology, and Fish Migration Linking North Slope of Alaska climate, hydrology, and fish migration Slideshow Presentation File: Grizzly bears, fragmentation, connectivity, and management in the Canada - US trans-border region Population Fragmentation and Inter-EcosystemMovem ents of Grizzly Bears in Western Canada andthe Northern United States Wetland Mask to Improve Woody Cover Mapping Provisional Tennessee State Wildlife Action Plan Potential Urban Growth Oklahoma Enduring Features Assessing Traditional and Emerging Grazing Strategies for Creating a Mosaic of Diverse Habitat Patches for Grassland- and Sagebrush Associated Birds Pectoral Sandpiper Climate Change Vulnerability of Migrating Bird Species Breeding in Arctic Alaska Arctic Tern Evaluating patterns of long-term system change and demographic response for grassland nesting ducks in the US Prairie Pothole Region North Slope Coastal Imagery Initiative NatureScape, Design Amount of inflow stored in upstream dams-rivers HydroClimate Data Rescue Factsheet Assessing annual grass management effectiveness in the sagebrush biome