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Locating meadow study sitesMeadow centers as recorded in the ‘Copy of sitecords_areaelev from Caruthers thesis.xls’ file delivered by Debinski in November 2012 were matched to polygons as recorded in files ‘teton97map_area.shp’ and ‘gallatin97map_area.shp’ both also delivered by Debinski in November 2012.In cases where the meadow center did not fall within a meadow polygon, if there was a meadow polygon of the same meadow TYPE nearby (judgment was used here), the meadow center was matched with the meadow polygon of same meadow TYPE. In total, 29 of 30 Gallatin meadow sites and 21 of 25 Teton meadow sites were positively located.Identifying meadow pixels for analysisThe native MODIS 250-meter grid was reprojected...
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This landcover raster was generated through a Random Forest predictive model developed in R using a combination of image-derived and ancillary variables, and field-derived training points grouped into 18 classes. Overall accuracy, generated internally through bootstrapping, was 75.5%. A series of post-modeling steps brought the final number of land cover classes to 28.
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Training points collected in the field between 2012 and 2013 were grouped into 18 classes: Forested Burn (66), Foothill Woodland Steppe Transition (73), Greasewood Flat (73), Greasewood Steppe (239), Greasewood Sage Steppe (277), Great Plains Badlands (166), Great Plains Riparian (255), Low Density Sage Steppe (776), Medium Density Sage Steppe (783), Mixed Grass Prairie (555), Mixed Grass Prairie Burned (278), Ponderosa Pine Woodland and Shrubland (512), Riparian Floodplain (223), Semi-Desert Grassland (103), Sparsely Vegetated Mixed Shrub (252), Silver Sage Flat (70) , Silver Sage Steppe (64), and Water (246). When insufficient field data were available for a class, we augmented it through photointerpretation of...
Abstract: A significant number of historically existing wetlands that naturally stored rainwater and attenuated flood peaks have now been drained and employed as new farming areas. Beyond the water quality and flow problem, this has resulted in loss of natural habitats of diverse ecological species. Restoring wetlands have hence been proposed as a potential conservation strategy to help attenuate many of these problems. In this study a spatial, multi-objective optimization study of new potential wetlands was carried out to achieve biodiversity improvements in addition to flood reduction benefits and water quality improvements. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to simulate flow and water quality,...
Abstract (from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00028487.2016.1150879): Long-term sampling of fisheries data is an important source of information for making inferences about the temporal dynamics of populations that support ecologically and economically important fisheries. For example, time series of catch-per-effort data are often examined for the presence of long-term trends. However, it is also of interest to know whether certain sampled locations are exhibiting temporal patterns that deviate from the overall pattern exhibited across all sampled locations. Patterns at these “unusual” sites may be the result of site-specific abiotic (e.g., habitat) or biotic (e.g., the presence of an invasive species)...
Abstract (from ESA): Estimating population size and resource selection functions (RSFs) are common approaches in applied ecology for addressing wildlife conservation and management objectives. Traditionally such approaches have been undertaken separately with different sources of data. Spatial capture–recapture (SCR) provides a hierarchical framework for jointly estimating density and multi‐scale resource selection, and data integration techniques provide opportunities for improving inferences from SCR models. Despite the added benefits, there have been few applications of SCR‐RSF integration, potentially due to complexities of specifying and fitting such models. Here, we extend a previous integrated SCR‐RSF model...
In 1969, researchers developed the first global circulation model (Ruttiman 2006); however, it was not until 2014 that modelers first attempted a global ecosystem and biodiversity model that included human pressures (i.e., the Madingley Model) (Harfoot et al. 2014). Other large-scale models of biodiversity exist, such as GLOBIO (Alkemade et al. 2009), but to date there are no well accepted global biodiversity models similar to global circulation models that can help guide global biodiversity policy development and targets. The lack of global biodiversity models compared to the extensive array of general circulation models provides a unique opportunity for climate, ecosystem, and biodiversity modeling experts to...
Concern over global environmental change and associated uncertainty has given rise to greater emphasis on fostering resilience through forest management. We examined the impact of standard silvicultural systems (including clearcutting, shelterwood, and selection) compared with unharvested controls on tree functional identity and functional diversity in three forest types distributed across the northeastern United States. Sites included the Argonne, Bartlett, and Penobscot Experimental Forests located in Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Maine, respectively. We quantified functional trait means for leaf mass per area, specific gravity, maximum height, height achieved at 20 years, seed mass, drought tolerance, shade tolerance,...
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Historical and projected suitable habitat of 14 tree and shrub species a under CCSM4 GCMs from 2000 to 2099 was predicted to assess projected climate change impacts in forest communities of North Central U.S. We obtained presence/absence record of each species from Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data. required ata. Historical tme period ranges from 1971 to 2000, and projected time period ranges from 2071 to 2100. Random Forest was used to project historical and future suitable habitat of all species across West U.S. using the Biomod2 software programmed in R environment. We adopted a climate change scenarios generated from the experiments conducted under fifth assessment of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project...
(1) This written report summarizes and synthesizes results of literature review, interviews, and workshops, providing the scientific basis for and extension strategies for the management recommendations provided in the "green website" [Data Input New Collection]. The report includes an addendum regarding reference bibliographies and a references list with citations. (2) Selected, unusual references that are not readily available online or through standard academic sources were collected by the project. (3) Selected photographs are retained by the project in electronic form.
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Landscape-scale conservation of threatened and endangered species is often challenged by multiple, sometimes conflicting, land uses. In Hawaiʻi, efforts to conserve native forests have come into conflict with objectives to sustain non-native game mammals, such as feral pigs, goats, and deer, for subsistence and sport hunting. Maintaining stable or increasing game populations represents one of the greatest obstacles to the recovery of Hawaii’s 425 threatened and endangered plant species. Many endemic Hawaiian species have declined and become endangered as a result of herbivorous non-native game mammals. Meanwhile, other environmental changes, including the spread of invasive grasses and changing precipitation patterns...
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Hawaiʻi is considered a worldwide biodiversity hotspot, with nearly 90 percent of its native plants found nowhere else in the world. However, about half of these native plants are imperiled by threats including human development, non-native species, and climate change. Through this project, scientists modeled the relative vulnerability of over 1,000 native plant species to the effects of climate change. A panel of experts in Hawaiian plant species assisted with the development of the model and verified its results. From the model, researchers were able to develop a vulnerability score for each plant species and identify categories of species with high, medium, and low vulnerability to climate change. This information...
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For the past few years, “king tides,” or the highest tides of the year, have been occurring more frequently and significantly affecting coastal environments across Hawaiʻi. Now, disappearing beaches and waves crashing over roadways are seemingly the “new normal.” In response, the state of Hawaiʻi is implementing adaptation strategies to combat tidal flooding in coastal areas. While flood management strategies are being implemented in urban areas, less is known about how tidal flooding, and associated inundation into surface and groundwater, might influence watershed dynamics and the native animals that depend on estuarine environments where freshwater meets the sea. Efforts for biocultural restoration of ecosystem...
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Elodea spp. (Elodea) is Alaska’s first known invasive aquatic plant, first discovered in urban lakes in 2010. The combination of human pathways and climate change related shifts in seasonality and temperature have resulted in Elodea’s range expansion into Alaska’s freshwater resources. Elodea transmission often occurs when plant fragments get entangled in seaplane rudders and are carried to remote waterbodies where they quickly establish dense plant growth. This growth inhibits seaplane access and drastically alters aquatic ecosystems. Recent research showed that Elodea can have significant negative impacts on parks, subsistence, aviation‐related recreation, and Alaska’s salmon fisheries. For example, the economic...
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Overview Fishes of the Adirondack Park face numerous challenges. Summer Suckers are the only endemic vertebrate yet have suffered major range reductions, so we are analyzing their genome, body shape, and spawning timing to verify their uniqueness and current range. Warming patterns are expected to shift their spawning earlier, potentially intersecting with their recent ancestor (White Suckers) to create hybridization and reduced reproductive success. Minnows are more diverse in the Adirondacks, and our analyses suggest that they show three major distributional patterns that reflect post-glacial colonization and temperature preferences. We are analyzing data from hundreds of lakes to discern the rules that structure...
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The objective of this project is to map the supply of ecosystem services (where natural ecosystems have the capacity to provide a certain product or service that could be of use to people), use of those services (where people or other entities that use the product or service exist), and the condition of ecosystems providing these services over time. The resulting datasets were used to generate metrics for pilot ecosystem accounts for the southeast – part of natural capital accounts that assess ecosystems’ contributions to the economy in order to help governments better understand their reliance on natural systems and manage natural resources to ensure their benefits are sustained into the future. These data were...
The global mean surface temperature increased 0.85°C during the period 1880 – 2012. Some climate models predict an additional warming of up 2 to 4 ◦ C over the next 100 years for the primary breeding grounds for North American ducks. Such an increase has been predicted to reduce mid - continent breeding duck populations by >70%. Managing continental duck populations in the face of climate change requires understanding how waterfowl have responded to historical spatio - temporal climatic variation. However, such responses to climate may be obscured by how ducks respond to variation in land cover. We estimated effects of climate on settlement patterns of breeding ducks in the Prairie - Parkland Region (PPR), boreal...
Berry Risk Mapping and Modeling of Native and exotic defoliators in Alaska is a jointly funded project between the Alaska Climate Science Center and the North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative.
This downloadable PDF research feature summarizes the Pacific Islands Climate Science Center-supported project "Modeling Climate-Driven Changes to Dominant Vegetation in the Hawaiian Islands".


map background search result map search result map Establishing Climate Change Vulnerability Rankings for Hawaiian Native Plants Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge Spot Landcover Classification in Relation to Greater Sage Grouse Training Points Water Balance and Habitat Suitability Data for Pinus Albicaulis in Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem An analysis of montane meadow drying in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem using remotely sensed NDVI from the MODIS period of record (lsp metrics) Managing Non-native Game Mammals to Reduce Future Conflicts with Native Plant Conservation in Hawai‘i Habitat Suitability of Dominant Tree and Shrub Species to Support Wolverine Management Across North West U.S. (1971-2100) Under Climate Change Detecting and Predicting Aquatic Invasive Species Transmission Via Seaplanes in Alaska Effect of Extreme Tidal Events on Future Sea-Level Rise Scenarios for He‘eia Fish Communities undergoing Ahupua‘a Restoration Mapping Ecosystem Services for Natural Capital Accounting Adirondack Fish Conservation: Safeguarding Summer Suckers, Understanding Minnow Diversity, Limiting Smallmouth Bass Invasions, Developing Climate-Adapted Stocking Managing Non-native Game Mammals to Reduce Future Conflicts with Native Plant Conservation in Hawai‘i Training Points Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge Spot Landcover Classification in Relation to Greater Sage Grouse Water Balance and Habitat Suitability Data for Pinus Albicaulis in Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Establishing Climate Change Vulnerability Rankings for Hawaiian Native Plants Effect of Extreme Tidal Events on Future Sea-Level Rise Scenarios for He‘eia Fish Communities undergoing Ahupua‘a Restoration Adirondack Fish Conservation: Safeguarding Summer Suckers, Understanding Minnow Diversity, Limiting Smallmouth Bass Invasions, Developing Climate-Adapted Stocking Mapping Ecosystem Services for Natural Capital Accounting Habitat Suitability of Dominant Tree and Shrub Species to Support Wolverine Management Across North West U.S. (1971-2100) Under Climate Change Detecting and Predicting Aquatic Invasive Species Transmission Via Seaplanes in Alaska