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The Colorado River and its major tributaries provide a crucial water supply for more than 40 million people in the American Southwest and in California. This water supply is primarily used in irrigated agriculture but also provides essential drinking water to many large metropolitan areas. Hydropower is also produced at many of the large dams on the river. River flows have declined during the past 15 years due to decreasing watershed runoff associated with a warming climate and ongoing drought. Climate projections indicate a continued decrease in future water availability as runoff continues to decline and temperatures warm. Water-users in the Colorado River basin are concerned about this declining water availability...
Yellowcheek Darter (Etheostoma moorei) is a fish endemic to the Little Red River watershed in Arkansas (Fig. 1). As a result of threats, geographic isolation and declining abundance, the species was listed as endangered in 2011. Populations have declined, in part, due to intense seasonal stream drying and inundation of lower stream reaches (Fig. 1). It is hypothesized that in headwater streams where periodic drying is common, habitat selection influences Yellowcheek Darter distribution and abundance. Seasonal drought is typical in this region, and as drying occurs, individuals must move from riffles into neighboring pools, move into the hyporheic zone, migrate large distances to a persistent riffle, or perish. It...
Much of the focus of Red Knot research and conservation over the past twenty years has largely focused on just a few sites along the Atlantic flyway, primarily in the mid-Atlantic region. The major cause of the Red Knot population decline in the 1990’s through 2003 was mostly attributed to declining horseshoe crab numbers in Delaware Bay due to their overharvest for the commercial bait industry. Substantial focus has been placed on improving horseshoe crab populations through better horseshoe crab management in the Delaware Bay region and on improving horseshoe crab and shorebird habitat in Delaware Bay. This work has likely halted the decline in the numbers of Red Knots passing through Delaware Bay: populations...
Categories: Project; Tags: 2019, LCC, SSP-QR FWSR4
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Forests in the western U.S. are increasingly impacted by climate change. Warmer and drier conditions both increase fire activity in western forests and make it more difficult for forests to recover after wildfires. If forests fail to recover, they may shift to non-forest ecosystems like grasslands or shrublands. It is important to understand where fires may result in the loss of forests because forests provide a variety of ecosystem services that human communities rely on, including carbon storage, water regulation and supply, and biodiversity. Western forests are also integral for the timber industry and valued for their recreation opportunities. Anticipating future changes to forest ecosystems, particularly at...
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Hundreds of millions of dollars of public funding are invested annually in projects that aim to deliver research that can improve people’s lives and safeguard the environment. To invest that money wisely, we need to know how to design projects so that they will successfully address the information needs of natural resource managers. By using a process of systematic evaluation to assess the effectiveness of past projects, we can start to identify shared characteristics that make funded research more likely to provide accessible and usable information to resource managers both within and beyond the Department of the Interior. Applied science projects pose a particular evaluation challenge. These projects have two...
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This project will be conducted in 6 phases:Phase 1: Formulation - Compile a list of all interested stakeholders; work with Foundations of Success facilitators to provide background information, project goals, expectations and deliverables in preparation for Phase 2.Phase 2: Convening - facilitated webinars and face-to-face meetings among stakeholders; establishment of a core team of experts to guide the LCD process; draft conceptual model, conservation strategies,Phase 3: Draft blueprint for Focus Area - conduct spatial analysis to develop a draft ecological-social/political/economic blueprint for the Focus AreaPhase 4: Re-convening for review of Draft Blueprint and Decision Support Tool - The draft conservation...
Nile monitors (Varanus niloticus), a large carnivorous lizard, are established in the C-51 Basin in Palm Beach County in close proximity to the Artur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (Lox NWR, Figure 1). They were first sighted in 2007 and breeding was confirmed in 2011 (Ketterlin-Eckles et al. 2017). They have been confirmed as far east as I-95 along the C-51 and west to within 2 kilometers of Stormwater Treatment Area (STA) 1E. Nile Monitors are semi-aquatic habitat generalists and in their native range of sub-Saharan Africa are found in both freshwater and estuaries. In Florida, they are most often found along networks of vegetated canal banks. They are diet generalists consuming invertebrates,...
Categories: Project; Tags: 2019, LCC, SSP-QR FWSR4
This project will evaluate the resiliency of an aquatic community to a catastrophic event and the reestablishment of that community in Flat Creek above and below a potential movement barrier. Sampling methods will target life history stages of each species and the collection of habitat and geomorphic data (e.g., slope, water velocity, pool-to-pool spacing, pool depth, and channel substrate). These data will assist FWS and GDNR to evaluate (1) how quickly different aquatic guilds establish following species kills resulting from toxic pollutant spills, droughts or similar impacts; (2) which species/guilds’ re-colonization is inhibited by movement barriers; and (3) how re-colonization of this reach, where known habitat...
Categories: Project; Tags: 2019, LCC, SSP-QR FWSR4
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Drought events have cost the U.S. nearly $245 billion since 1980, with costs ranging from $2 to $44 billion in any given year. However, these socio-economic losses are not the only impacts of drought. Ecosystems, fish, wildlife, and plants also suffer, and these types of drought impacts are becoming more commonplace. Further, ecosystems that recover from drought are now doing so under different climate conditions than they have experienced in the past few centuries. As temperature and precipitation patterns change, “transformational drought”, or drought events that can permanently and irreversibly alter ecosystems – such as forests converting to grasslands – are a growing threat. This type of drought has cascading...
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2018 was a record-breaking year for wildfires in Hawai‘i with over 30,000 acres burned statewide, including the habitat of the OÊ»ahu chewstick, a critically endangered flowering plant with less than 50 individuals remaining. The frequency and severity of wildfire in Hawai‘i has been increasing, and this trend is predicted to worsen with climate change. Wildfires are promoted by highly flammable invasive plants, which can spread across the landscape, providing a widespread fuel source to feed large fires that are hard to control. However, different plant species vary in their flammability, so wildfire risk depends not only on climate, but also on which plants are present. A major concern is that new non-native plants...
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The northwestern United States (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and western Montana) are experiencing increasing air temperatures, declines in snowpack, altered hydrology, and more frequent and severe wildfire, drought, and insect and disease outbreaks as a result of climate change. These factors, alone and in combination with existing non-climate stressors, present a significant challenge to the natural and cultural resources of the region as well as to the managers tasked with their protection. While adaptation strategies and actions offer a path forward in the face of climate change, resource management decision-making is complicated by the multitude of adaptation options that have already been identified for the...
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The goal of this project is to identify statistical trends in observed and simulated maximum, minimum and base (mostly groundwater contribution during low flow months) flows in the Northeast Climate Science Center domain during the 20th and 21st century, assess the temporal (annual and seasonal) and spatial distribution of the trends, and evaluate the impact of warmer climates on the statistical properties of streamflows (mean and variance). A secondary goal is to determine what GCMs best represent the observed climatology of the region using statistical metrics. Base and minimum flows are vital for fish ecosystem functioning and for riparian vegetation. Climate projections indicate summers will get warmer and drier...
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Led by universities of the South Central CASC, this project builds on the successes of three prior workshops to mentor a cohort of early-career environmental professionals in the South Central U.S. to serve as part of the next generation of USGS leaders and partners. The workshop objectives are to: (1) develop the participants’ knowledge, leadership skills, and interdisciplinary collaboration with an eye toward filling future USGS (or partner organization) positions; (2) introduce participants to the goals, structure, and unique research-related challenges of the South Central CASC and the larger CASC network; (3) guide participants to discuss their research beyond their disciplinary niche and with managers across...
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The South Central CASC has made it a priority to focus on working with the many Tribes and Pueblos located within their region. Many of these Tribes and Pueblos have already experienced the effects of climate change and have found ways to adapt over time. With Tribes and Pueblos representing a major landowner group in the region having a significant role in water management due to tribal treaty water rights, it is crucial that they be involved in CASC work. The Chickasaw Nation and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma became consortium members at the South Central CASC conception. Under this arrangement, the South Central CASC employs a full-time Tribal Liaison through the Chickasaw Nation and a New Mexico Tribal Liaison...
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The 2019 Tribal Climate Camp, hosted by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, took place June 16-21, 2019 at the Flathead Lake Biological Station in Polson, Montana. The Tribal Climate Camp was designed to support teams of tribal leaders, climate change coordinators, planners and program managers to build skills, gather information and develop tribal policy needed to address climate change impacts. This week-long program helped build individual and team capacity to lead and manage for climate change and adaptation across departments within a tribe, and between tribes and partner agencies and organizations. Participants included tribal climate change staff, policy leaders, Tribal Council, natural resource...
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Identifying the leading edge of a biological invasion can be difficult. Many management and research entities have biological samples or surveys that may unknowingly contain data on nonindigenous species. The new Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) Database automated online tool “SEINeD” (Screen and Evaluate Invasive and Non-native Data) will allow a user to search for these nonindigenous occurrences at a push of a button. This new tool will enable stakeholders to upload a biological dataset of fishes, invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, or aquatic plants collected anywhere in a U.S. State or Territory and screen that data for non-native aquatic species occurrences. In addition to checking for the nativity of species...
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Geochronological data provide essential information necessary for understanding the timing of geologic processes and events, as well as quantifying rates and timescales key to geologic mapping, mineral and energy resource and hazard assessments. The USGS’s National Geochronological Database (NGDB) contains over 30,000 radiometric ages, but no formal update has occurred in over 20 years. This project is developing a database with a web-based user interface and sustainable workflow to host all USGS-generated geochronological data. This new geochronological database consists of (1) data from the existing NGDB; (2) published literature data generated by the USGS; and (3) more recent data extracted from ScienceBase...
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Natural resources managers are regularly required to make decisions regarding upcoming restoration treatments, often based on little more than business as usual practices. To assist in the decision-making process, we created a tool that predicts site-specific soil moisture and climate for the upcoming year, and provides guidance on whether common restoration activities (i.e. seeding, planting) will be successful based on these conditions. This tool is hosted within the Land Treatment Exploration Tool (LTET), an application already used by land managers that delivers a report of site condition and treatment history. Incorporated within the short-term drought forecaster (STDF) is a rigorous statistical process,...
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Forests west of the Cascade Crest in Oregon and Washington have been shaped by infrequent but severe wildfires that historically occurred at intervals spanning several centuries. Since the mid-1900s, relatively few fires have occurred in the region, resulting in a general lack of understanding of the drivers of these fires, the impacts on ecosystems, and possible management responses. Most of the current regional understanding of fire regimes and impacts instead comes from the drier, interior forests. However, recent fire events between 2014 and 2018 (e.g., the Norse Peak Fire in Washington) have raised concern among land managers in the Pacific Northwest about fire risk in a warming climate. This project will...
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The impacts of climate change are widespread and accelerating. It is daunting for resource managers to determine how to use increasingly limited staff time and funding to conserve species and ecosystems. The Refugia Research Coalition is a national framework that brings together researchers and managers to identify and develop conservation strategies for “climate change refugia”, areas that remain relatively buffered from contemporary climate change over time and enable persistence of valued physical, ecological, and socio-cultural resources. Expanding on previous work carried out in the Northwest and Northeast regions, this project will produce a list of priority species and habitats, generated by local and regional...
map background search result map search result map Developing a process and conservation application for Landscape Conservation Design for the Gulf Coast Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative Support for the 2019 Tribal Climate Camp Anticipating Forest Vulnerability to Fire-Catalyzed Ecosystem Change in the Northern Rocky Mountains State of the Science Synthesis on Transformational Drought: Understanding Drought’s Potential to Transform Ecosystems Across the Country Regional Graduate Student, Post-Doc, and Early Career Researcher Training IV The Impacts of Climate Change and Water Supply Management on Fish in the Colorado River A Synthesis of Climate Change Refugia Science and Management Actions to Inform Climate Adaptation in the Southwest Best Practices for Project Design: Effectively Addressing Natural Resource Management Needs Forest Fires in Western Cascadia: Evaluating Drivers and Impacts to Inform Climate-Adaptive Management Responses Predicting the Effects of Climate Change on the Spread of Fire-Promoting Plants in Hawai‘i: Assessing Emerging Threats to Rare Native Plants and Ecosystems "Adaptation Snapshots" to Inform Managers and Help Prioritize Adaptation Actions Tribal Engagement Program Evaluating Trends in Streamflow Extremes in the Northeast USA Developing a process and conservation application for Landscape Conservation Design for the Gulf Coast Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative Predicting the Effects of Climate Change on the Spread of Fire-Promoting Plants in Hawai‘i: Assessing Emerging Threats to Rare Native Plants and Ecosystems Support for the 2019 Tribal Climate Camp Forest Fires in Western Cascadia: Evaluating Drivers and Impacts to Inform Climate-Adaptive Management Responses "Adaptation Snapshots" to Inform Managers and Help Prioritize Adaptation Actions Evaluating Trends in Streamflow Extremes in the Northeast USA The Impacts of Climate Change and Water Supply Management on Fish in the Colorado River A Synthesis of Climate Change Refugia Science and Management Actions to Inform Climate Adaptation in the Southwest Anticipating Forest Vulnerability to Fire-Catalyzed Ecosystem Change in the Northern Rocky Mountains Regional Graduate Student, Post-Doc, and Early Career Researcher Training IV Tribal Engagement Program Best Practices for Project Design: Effectively Addressing Natural Resource Management Needs State of the Science Synthesis on Transformational Drought: Understanding Drought’s Potential to Transform Ecosystems Across the Country