Skip to main content
Advanced Search

Filters: Tags: Other Landscapes (X) > Types: OGC WFS Layer (X)

171 results (30ms)   

Filters
Date Range
Extensions
Types
Contacts
Categories
Tag Types
Tag Schemes
View Results as: JSON ATOM CSV
thumbnail
Changes in temperature and precipitation due to climate change (and associated droughts, wildfires, extreme storms etc.) threaten important water sources, forests, wildlife habitat, and ecosystems across the Southwest and throughout the entire U.S. These threats cross political and man-made boundaries and therefore need to be addressed at larger landscape-level and regional scales. “Landscape conservation design” is one method that can be used by land and resource managers to support large scale conservation and ensure that small scale and local actions contribute to a landscape level vision. The Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) is working to develop a shared vision for conservation action in the...
thumbnail
Pacific Island societies value, depend on, and actively manage terrestrial and marine ecosystems for the multiple benefits they provide, including those associated with plant and animal abundance, resilience to natural disasters, and the flow of water, soil, and nutrients. New ecosystem service models developed for Pacific Island landscapes now integrate land-to-sea connections, allowing us to assess how land-based management actions and threats (e.g. changes to climate and land cover) affect ecosystem benefits, from ridge to reef. Affecting actual change on the ground, however, depends on how scientific information is accessed and used by managers and other decision makers who have the capacity to influence ecosystem...
thumbnail
On August 21, 2017, Honolulu Harbor observed the highest hourly water level since tide gauge record collection began in 1905. Throughout the course of 2017, the gauge registered an unprecedented number of high-water events. These record high sea levels were the result of a series of compounding factors: ongoing sea-level rise, seasonally-elevated high tides, and a region of warm water combining with ocean eddies. The threat of rising sea levels to the essential infrastructure and cultural assets of island communities is well known. However, inadequate information limits the ability of resource managers to predict and prepare for the impacts of sea-level rise and associated inundation. Researchers will address...
thumbnail
Freshwater is a critical driver for island ecosystems. Climate change has fundamentally altered the water cycle in tropical islands. The changes in dynamic patterns of streamflow could result in the temporal and spatial difference in the riverine, estuarine, and coastal habitats that support native species. In particular, these habitats support the nine native aquatic species in Hawaiʻi at different stages of their migratory life cycle. To examine how changes in streamflow regimes have impacted habitat quality for these native aquatic species, an ongoing project has examined statewide long-term stream records. Researchers are in the process of building hydrological models and connecting the stream dynamics with...
thumbnail
There is a growing movement in the Pacific to decarbonize sea transportation. The transition to sustainable sea transport is projected to reduce socioeconomic vulnerability to external rises in oil prices while lowering carbon emissions in a period of intensifying climate change. With potential periodic global breakdowns in transport of fuel due to potential hazards such as global pandemics or political instability, the development of sustainable shipping is increasingly relevant. Canoe organizations in the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia are working with the Micronesian Center for Sustainable Transport to restore traditional systems of voyaging as indigenous means of climate...
thumbnail
The Hawaiian Islands are both biologically and ecologically diverse. To better manage and understand this diverse landscape, detailed, reliable projections of future changes in climate are needed by Hawaiʻi resource managers, such as land managers, conservation organizations, and decision makers. Global climate models (or “general circulation models”) produce projections at regional or global scales, however, they are of limited value for managers of small island resources. Currently, large scale projections are commonly “downscaled” to project future climate variations and conditions at the local scale. However, dynamical downscaling models produce huge output datasets that are often difficult to access and use...
thumbnail
The U.S. Northern Rocky Mountains support a large number of native wildlife species, and survival of these populations depends on connected landscapes to support current migration and dispersal, as well as future shifts in species’ ranges. However, habitat fragmentation and loss threaten these connections. Land and wildlife managers across the U.S. are faced with decisions focused on reducing risks, like those from habitat fragmentation, to wildlife, ecosystems, and landscapes. Establishing connections between natural landscapes is a frequently recommended strategy for these managers to help wildlife adapt to changing conditions. Working in partnership with state and federal resource managers and private land...
thumbnail
In 2017, California was experiencing its most severe drought in over a millennia. Low rainfall and record high temperatures resulted in increased tree mortality and complete forest diebacks across the West. Though land managers scrambled to respond, they lacked information needed to make informed decisions. Focusing on California’s central and southern Sierra Nevada Mountains, this project seeks to determine whether a key forest management practice – forest thinning via prescribed fire – can help forests better survive drought. Prescribed fire is commonly used in the western U.S. to remove potential wildfire fuel, such as small trees and shrubs. It is also thought that this act of selectively removing trees helps...
thumbnail
Nature-based solutions provide benefits to both nature and people, simultaneously addressing the issues of climate change and biodiversity loss. The Department of the Interior (DOI) manages more than 480 million acres of natural and working lands in the United States, presenting a significant opportunity to leverage nature-based solutions to contribute to greenhouse gas reduction targets, equitably build ecosystem and community resilience, and deliver additional co-benefits for ecosystems and people. This project created a DOI Nature-based Solutions Roadmap document to provide consistent and accessible information about the broad range of nature-based strategies. The DOI Nature-based Solutions Roadmap includes...
thumbnail
Recent changes in climate are having profound effects on many fish and wildlife species, and projections suggest that those trends are likely to continue. Changing climate conditions have the potential to transform ecosystems, which impacts not only fish and wildlife but also human communities, which rely on ecosystems for important goods and services such as food and water filtration. Strategies that are implemented by natural resource managers now have the potential to help minimize the impacts of changing climate conditions on species and ecosystems going forward. However, substantial knowledge gaps remain regarding how species might respond to changes in climate, such as whether these changes will lead to ecosystem...
thumbnail
The Southeastern United States has vast underground ecosystems where temperatures vary little throughout the year and humidity is always near 100%. These cave and karst ecosystems provide many services to people, such as recreational opportunities, revenue from tourism, and groundwater storage. Caves also provide habitats for important and endangered species, like bats that eat mosquitoes and crop pests. Cave-dwelling species have evolved to live in relatively stable climates, so they may be especially sensitive to climate change. However, it is unclear how surface climate change will affect cave climates and the species that rely on them, because caves are remote environments that have long been difficult to...
thumbnail
Barrier islands protect mainland areas from storm surge, but can erode over time and require restoration. Ship Island, a barrier island off the coast of Mississippi, provides an example of this: the island was battered by Hurricane Camille in 1969 and split into two separate islands. As part of the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to use approximately 22 million cubic yards of sand to close the gap between East and West Ship Islands. This will restore both the island’s physical integrity and habitat for important species such as sea turtles, shorebirds, and Gulf sturgeon. This project served as a case study to test the usefulness of structured decision-making – a...
thumbnail
Recent advancements in climate modeling, remote sensing, and ecological science have produced a variety of digital geospatial datasets representing many aspects of climate-change ecology that can be applied to conservation and natural-resource management in the face of climate change. The ever increasing body of climate-ecology spatial datasets provides opportunities for natural-resource managers to anticipate climate-driven changes to ecosystems, habitats, and the larger landscape, however, natural-resource managers face many challenges when trying to incorporate these diverse sources of information into on-the-ground decision-making. The Northwest CASC recently supported the development of A guidebook to spatial...
thumbnail
Coral reefs are sometimes called “rainforests of the sea” because of their immense biological diversity and economic value. While coral reefs are sensitive to changes in their environment such as altered temperature or pollution, some reefs are more resilient, or able to recover from disturbance more quickly, than others. The overarching objective of this project was to gather information on coral reef resilience and vulnerability to climate change that could inform coastal management decision-making in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Scientists collaborated with local managers to survey reefs at 78 locations throughout the CMNI and evaluate indicators of resilience, such as numbers of juvenile...
thumbnail
Mountain ecosystems are at risk from climate change and may be experiencing accelerated warming relative to lower environments. Understanding climatic and ecosystem processes at meso-, topo-, and micro-scales is limited, and constrains our ability to accurately evaluate vulnerability, and assess responses under future climates. Of special interest for climate studies are upper subalpine forests, the alpine treeline ecotone, and the alpine zones. We will use case-study ecosystems to address climatic processes and ecological responses at topo- and micro-scales, including: 1) treeline ecotone and role of phenotypic plasticity in Pinus albicaulis, 2) rocky ecosystems and Ochotona princeps, 3) demography of subalpine...
thumbnail
In the North Central U.S., temperatures are rising and precipitation patterns are changing, with consequences ranging from more frequent and severe wildfires to prolonged drought to widespread forest pest outbreaks. As a result, land managers are becoming increasingly concerned about how climate change is affecting natural resources and the essential services they provide communities. The rates and ecological impacts of changing conditions vary across this diverse region, which stretches from the Great Plains to the High Rockies. The goal of this project was to understand how native grasslands, shrublands, and forests will respond to changing conditions. Researchers first modeled how these vegetation types have...
thumbnail
Sagebrush steppe is one of the most widely distributed ecosystems in North America. Found in eleven western states, this important yet fragile ecosystem is dominated by sagebrush, but also contains a diversity of native shrubs, grasses, and flowering plants. It provides critical habitat for wildlife like pronghorn and threatened species such as the greater sage-grouse, and is grazed by livestock on public and private lands. However, this landscape is increasingly threatened by shifts in wildfire patterns, the spread of invasive grasses, and changing climate conditions. While sagebrush is slow to recover after fires, non-native grasses such as cheatgrass thrive in post-fire conditions and the spread of these species...
thumbnail
State Wildlife Action Plans are intended to provide proactive planning and guidance for the management of rare or imperiled species, including Species of Greatest Conservation Need. States must update their State Wildlife Action Plans every 10 years, but planners often lack the capacity or resources to integrate climate change into their planning. Revised State Wildlife Action Plans for most states in the North Central region are due by 2025. Providing support and building capacity for climate-informed State Wildlife Action Plans will be most useful now, before revisions are underway in most states. To increase the capacity for state wildlife agencies, this project identified areas expected to be resilient against...
thumbnail
Mountain ecosystems are prioritized by the North Central CASC due to the provided water resources, recreation opportunities, and endemic biodiversity. Mountain ecosystems are vulnerable to climate change due to elevation-dependent warming, loss of snowpack, reduction in physical area at higher elevations, and general sensitivity of alpine species to climate. Current climate adaptation strategies for this ecosystem include preservation of potential species refugia, connection of migratory pathways between habitat, management of recreation impacts, and modification of snow inputs. Many of these landscapes also fall within wilderness designation, constraining the range of options available for climate adaptation strategies....
thumbnail
California is a world biodiversity hotspot, and also home to hundreds of sensitive, threatened, and endangered species. One of the most vulnerable ecosystems in California is the “sky island” montane forests of southern California, forests of conifers and hardwoods located only in high-elevation mountain regions. Montane forests serve many important ecosystem functions, including protecting the upper watersheds of all the major rivers in Southern California. Yet human use, invasive species, droughts, fires, and now climate change are increasingly threatening the sensitive ecosystem. A major obstacle to the sustainability of montane forests in southern California is the absence of a coordinated strategic conservation...
map background search result map search result map Coral Reef Resilience to Climate Change in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Structured Decision-Making as a Tool for Coastal Restoration: A Case Study on Ship Island, Mississippi Foundational Science Area: Assessing Climate Change Impacts to Wildlife and Habitats in the North Central U.S. Informing Adaptation Strategies for Maintaining Landscape Connectivity for Northern Rockies Wildlife Can Prescribed Fire Help Forests Survive Drought in the Sierra Nevada Mountains? Response of High Mountain Ecosystems in the Great Basin to Historic and Future Climate Change Assessing Southwest Resources, Future Climate Scenarios, and Possible Adaptation Actions to Support Conservation Planning Improving the Success of Post-Fire Adaptive Management Strategies in Sagebrush Steppe Supporting Sea-Level Rise Preparedness in Hawaiian National Parks State of the Science on Ecosystem Transformation A Climate-Informed Conservation Strategy for Southern California’s Montane Forests Online Access to Spatial Datasets for Conservation Planning in the Pacific Northwest Climate Science and Adaptation Planning Support for State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs) in the North Central Region Linking Models to Outcomes – How do Hawaiʻi Stakeholders Use and Contribute to Land-to-Sea Ecosystem Service Analyses Impacts of Extreme Events on the Native and Nonnative Aquatic Species of Hawaiʻi Stream Ecosystem Making Regional Climate Model Outputs for Hawaiʻi More Accessible to a Diverse User Community Using Oral Histories of Marshallese and Yapese Voyagers to Support the Development of Community Engagement for Sustainable Sea Transport Developing a Cave Conservation Management Toolbox by Exploring Cave Microclimates and Biodiversity Patterns Climate Adaptation in North Central Mountain Ecosystems Department of the Interior Nature-Based Solutions Roadmap Supporting Sea-Level Rise Preparedness in Hawaiian National Parks Can Prescribed Fire Help Forests Survive Drought in the Sierra Nevada Mountains? Response of High Mountain Ecosystems in the Great Basin to Historic and Future Climate Change Informing Adaptation Strategies for Maintaining Landscape Connectivity for Northern Rockies Wildlife Online Access to Spatial Datasets for Conservation Planning in the Pacific Northwest A Climate-Informed Conservation Strategy for Southern California’s Montane Forests Improving the Success of Post-Fire Adaptive Management Strategies in Sagebrush Steppe Using Oral Histories of Marshallese and Yapese Voyagers to Support the Development of Community Engagement for Sustainable Sea Transport Climate Adaptation in North Central Mountain Ecosystems Linking Models to Outcomes – How do Hawaiʻi Stakeholders Use and Contribute to Land-to-Sea Ecosystem Service Analyses Making Regional Climate Model Outputs for Hawaiʻi More Accessible to a Diverse User Community Climate Science and Adaptation Planning Support for State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs) in the North Central Region Developing a Cave Conservation Management Toolbox by Exploring Cave Microclimates and Biodiversity Patterns Foundational Science Area: Assessing Climate Change Impacts to Wildlife and Habitats in the North Central U.S. Assessing Southwest Resources, Future Climate Scenarios, and Possible Adaptation Actions to Support Conservation Planning Impacts of Extreme Events on the Native and Nonnative Aquatic Species of Hawaiʻi Stream Ecosystem State of the Science on Ecosystem Transformation Department of the Interior Nature-Based Solutions Roadmap