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Folders: ROOT > ScienceBase Catalog > National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers > South Central CASC > FY 2022 Projects ( Show all descendants )

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Extreme weather events (such as floods, ice storms, tropical cyclones, and tornadoes) are increasing in frequency and causing severe consequences throughout the U.S. and particularly in Louisiana. These natural disasters are especially devastating for farmers, whose livelihoods depend on the environment. Most climate research and extension outreach focus on large-scale farmers and tend to reach White farmers who outnumber other farming communities, often failing to connect with smallholding and African American farmers. While these farmers make up less of the total agricultural population and economy, they are a critical part of the agricultural and ecological systems and a crucial component in building sustainable...
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The South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (CASC) has worked diligently to build new partnerships between scientists and resource managers to help address stakeholders’ science needs and questions through actionable science. However, the growth of the stakeholder base has led to an unmet demand for climate adaptation services. These services focus on sharing data, tools, research knowledge, and scientific guidance with communities and stakeholders. To meet this need, the South Central CASC will establish a new scientist position focused on climate adaptation services and research coordination to identify critically needed science solutions and to bridge the researcher and practitioner communities in the...
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The greater Mississippi River Basin (MRB) is the largest river basin in North America and the fourth largest basin in the world. The MRB encompasses 24 terrestrial ecosystems, providing habitat for 100 species of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians Its floodplain supports 40% of the waterfowl and wading birds in North America, and the MRB’s rivers transport 40% of the nation’s total exports. Dozens of different cultures are scattered across the MRB with different policy structures, worldviews, and economic strengths. The heterogeneity in the environmental and socio-cultural settings across the MRB poses a challenge to climate adaptation and actionable resource management recommendations. Yet climate change has disrupted...
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Ensuring the long-term sustainability of water resources requires careful stewardship of water for societal uses (i.e. municipal, agricultural, and industrial sectors) and also for the many other benefits that aquatic ecosystems provide to humans. In particular, reservoir fisheries and river ecosystems provide a range of economic, cultural, and recreational benefits. Maximizing the benefits that we receive from water will entail balancing societal uses, reservoir storage, and river flows. Climate change is expected to complicate the challenge of finding a balance among these three dimensions of water sustainability. To navigate these challenges, stakeholders need frameworks for simultaneously predicting the...
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In ecosystems characterized by flowing water, such as rivers and streams, the dynamics of how the water moves - how deep it is, how fast it flows, how often it floods - have direct effects on the health, diversity, and sustainability of underlying communities. Yet increasingly, climate extremes like droughts and floods are disrupting fragile stream ecosystems by specifically changing their internal aquatic flows. Human infrastructure, such as irrigation and dams, further disrupt these dynamics. These changes in climate and land use are leading to teh fragmentation of aquatic habtiat, degraded water quality, altered sediment transport processes, variation in the timing and duration of floodplain inundation, shifts...
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Since the 1930s, Louisiana has lost approximately 1,900 mi2 of land due to coastal erosion, land subsidence, and sea-level rise exacerbated by climate change, putting Native American archaeological sites along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast in danger of being destroyed. These cultural resources are crucial sources of information and represent the unique heritage of coastal Louisiana. Federal and State agency resource managers, coastal communities, and regional stakeholders would benefit from up-to-date science-based information on these endangered cultural resources and on climate-informed management options. In partnership with the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, a team of University archaeologists, climate scientists,...
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Drought is a common result of climate variability in the south-central United States. With increasing temperatures and more variable precipitation patterns expected in the future, drought will continue to stress water quantity and quality in this region. University of Oklahoma researchers have demonstrated that the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), a measure of long-term drought conditions, can help predict drought patterns at multi-county scales in south-central Oklahoma. The model forecasts future PDSI using larger-scale climate drivers, commonly referred to as “teleconnections,” such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. These teleconnections...
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Future climate conditions may dramatically impact many of the natural resources, cultural resources, and ecosystem services on which society depends. To ensure the long-term sustainability of these resources, decision-makers across many domains (e.g. federal, state, NGO, Tribal) commonly consider climate forecasts in their strategic planning efforts. In the South Central United States, future climate conditions are routinely considered in plans for water sustainability, agricultural production, the design of new infrastructure, urban heat impacts, and decisions to federally list a species as threatened or endangered. Scientists have developed sophisticated projections of future climate conditions and their impacts...
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The warming climate combined with a century of fuel build up (i.e. burnable plant materials found in the forest) due to fire suppression are driving megafires that threaten life and property and are severely altering ecosystems. Many of these fires are converting large areas of forest to shrub fields or grasslands, termed “ecological transformations.” Although uncharacteristically severe fires are contributing to these changes, lower intensity fire is a key ecological process that sustains native ecosystems, increases ecological resilience, and guides climate change adaptation. Planned fires (e.g., prescribed fire) are the most efficient management activity that can be performed at scales large enough to address...
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In 2020, Governor Edwards of Louisiana issued two executive orders: establishing the Climate Initiatives Task Force to develop the state’s first ever Climate Action Plan to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to enhance coastal resilience in the state. Louisiana’s coastal wetlands and natural lands are of vital importance not just for hurricane protection, health and wellbeing, and natural resources, but also for carbon sequestration (i.e. capturing and storage of carbon from the atmosphere). Enhancing natural carbon sinks (i.e. ecosystem that stores more carbon than it releases) to offset greenhouse gas emissions is a critical step for Louisiana to achieve its net zero goals. Coastal wetlands have...
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Raptor populations are already seeing the effects of climate change through impacts on migration biology and vital rates (i.e. changes in the size and composition of a population). However, the decision framework used by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) to estimate population trends and set allowable take limits from commercial and recreational activities does not take into account how birds of prey are affected by climate variability. Given that climate change is already impacting raptors, assumptions of unchanging population rates are increasingly unrealistic and cast doubt on predictions of flyway-scale allowable take derived from existing frameworks. Flyway-scale allowable take refers to take limits set...
    map background search result map search result map Developing and Testing a Drought Early Warning Product in the South-Central United States Next Generation Fire Modeling to Inform the Management of Climate and Fire Driven Ecological Transformations in the Rio Grande Basin Assessing the Needs and Adaptation Practices of Smallholding and African American Farmers Facing Extreme Weather Events in Louisiana Enhancing a Spatial Planning Tool to Inform Management of Reservoir Fisheries, Stream Flows, and Societal Water Needs in the Red River Understanding and Managing the Impacts of Climate Change and Land Loss on Native American Archaeological Sites in Coastal Louisiana Developing a Decision Support Tool to Inform Louisiana’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy Climate Adaptation Services for New Mexico Exploring How Stakeholders Use, Understand, and Feel about Climate Science Products Creating a Decision Support Tool for Setting Sustainable Raptor Take Limits in a Changing Climate Future of Aquatic Flows: Towards a National Synthesis of Streamflow Regimes Under a Changing Climate Future of Aquatic Flows in the South Central U.S.: Toward Sustainable Water Management in the Mississippi River Basin Next Generation Fire Modeling to Inform the Management of Climate and Fire Driven Ecological Transformations in the Rio Grande Basin Assessing the Needs and Adaptation Practices of Smallholding and African American Farmers Facing Extreme Weather Events in Louisiana Understanding and Managing the Impacts of Climate Change and Land Loss on Native American Archaeological Sites in Coastal Louisiana Developing a Decision Support Tool to Inform Louisiana’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy Climate Adaptation Services for New Mexico Enhancing a Spatial Planning Tool to Inform Management of Reservoir Fisheries, Stream Flows, and Societal Water Needs in the Red River Developing and Testing a Drought Early Warning Product in the South-Central United States Exploring How Stakeholders Use, Understand, and Feel about Climate Science Products Future of Aquatic Flows in the South Central U.S.: Toward Sustainable Water Management in the Mississippi River Basin Creating a Decision Support Tool for Setting Sustainable Raptor Take Limits in a Changing Climate Future of Aquatic Flows: Towards a National Synthesis of Streamflow Regimes Under a Changing Climate