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Forest Retention Index classes for the southeastern United States at 2040 were processed using the Forest Retention Decision Tree and rendered on a 30-meter by 30-meter grid. The Forest Retention Index is used only for current forestland, identified using National Land Cover Database 2011. Many datasets were used as inputs for the Forest Retention Decision Tree, and they can be grouped into five broad categories: Protected, Tier 1 Priority, Tier 2 Priority, Threats to Forest Retention, and Socio-Economic Value of Forests. Protected datasets include Protected Areas Database-United States, National Conservation Easement Database, state-maintained databases, and private datasets volunteered by conservation partners....
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Frequent, low-intensity wildfires were once widespread across the Southeast US, which led to a reduction in unchecked vegetation growth that provided fuel for high-intensity fires. Both intentional and unintentional fire suppression and land-use changes have reduced many of these wildfires and the fire-adapted habitats in the region over time. This loss of frequent low-intensity wildfires on the landscape also increases the severity of wildfires due to fuel buildup and the encroachment of woody species. The remaining habitats and their native species (many of which are of conservation concern) are now almost completely dependent on prescribed burns for their persistence and survival. Successful application of fire...
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The data contained in child items of this page were developed to support the Species Status Assessments conducted by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and conservation planning for State, Federal, and non-government researchers, managers, landowners, and other partners for five focal herpetofauna species: gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus), southern hognose snake (Heterodon simus), Florida pine snake (Pituophis melanoleucus mugitus), gopher frog (Lithobates capito), and striped newt (Notophthalmus perstriatus). These data were developed by the USGS Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Georgia in collaboration with other partners. The three child items contain the following data: (1)...
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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...
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Policy-relevant flood risk modeling must capture interactions between physical and social processes to accurately project impacts from scenarios of sea level rise and inland flooding due to climate change. Here we simultaneously model urban growth, flood hazard change, and adaptive response using the FUTure Urban-Regional Environment Simulation (FUTURES) version 3 framework (Sanchez et al., 2023). FUTURES is an open source urban growth model designed to address the regional-scale ecological and environmental impacts of urbanization; it is one of the few land change models that explicitly captures the spatial structure of development in response to user-specified scenarios. We present probabilistic land change projections...
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Assessing the impact of flow alteration on aquatic ecosystems has been identified as a critical area of research nationally and in the Southeast U.S. This project aimed to address the Ecohydrology Priority Science Need of the SE CSC FY2012 Annual Science Work Plan by developing an inventory and evaluation of current efforts and knowledge gaps in hydrological modeling for flow-­‐ecology science in global change impact studies across the Southeast. To accomplish this goal, we completed a thorough synthesis and evaluation of hydrologic modeling efforts in the Southeast region (including all states of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA) including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,...
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National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) along the East Coast of the United States protect habitat for a host of wildlife species, while also offering storm surge protection, improving water quality, supporting nurseries for commercially important fish and shellfish, and providing recreation opportunities for coastal communities. Yet in the last century, coastal ecosystems in the eastern U.S. have been severely altered by human development activities as well as sea-level rise and more frequent extreme events related to climate change. These influences threaten the ability of NWRs to protect our nation’s natural resources and to sustain their many beneficial services. Through this project, researchers are collaborating with...
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In the northern Gulf of Mexico, mangrove forests have been expanding their northern range limits in parts of Texas, Louisiana, and north Florida since 1989. In response to warming winter temperatures, mangroves, which are dominant in warmer climates, are expected to continue migrating northward at the expense of salt marshes, which fare better in cooler climates. The ecological implications and timing of mangrove expansion is not well understood, and coastal wetland managers need information and tools that will enable them to identify and forecast the ecological impacts of this shift from salt marsh to mangrove-dominated coastal ecosystems. To address this need, researchers will host workshops and leverage existing...
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Climate change is expected to worsen the harmful effects of invasive species on native wildlife. This presents a growing conservation challenge for invasive species managers in the southeastern United States where thousands of invasive species exist. While many of these invasive species currently have relatively small ranges in the southeastern U.S., climate change may allow them to expand into new regions. To effectively plan and respond to the redistribution of invasive species, it is crucial to coordinate existing information and identify future information needs across regional boundaries. The ultimate goal of this project is to improve invasive species management in the face of climate change by establishing...
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Coastal wetlands and the many beneficial services they provide (e.g., purifying water, buffering storm surge, providing habitat) are changing and disappearing as a result of sea-level rise brought about by climate change. Scientists have developed a wealth of information and resources to predict and aid decision-making related to sea-level rise. However, while some of these resources are easily accessible by coastal managers, many others require more expert knowledge to understand or utilize. The goal of this project was to collate science and models pertaining to the effects of sea-level on coastal wetlands into a format that would be accessible and useful to resource managers. Researchers conducted training sessions...
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The Southeastern U.S. spans broad ranges of physiographic settings and contains a wide variety of aquatic systems that provide habitat for hundreds of endemic aquatic species that pose interesting challenges and opportunities for managers of aquatic resources, particularly in the face of climate change. For example, the Southeast contains the southernmost populations of the eastern brook trout and other cold-water dependent species. Climate change is predicted to increase temperatures in the South and is likely to have a substantial effect on extant populations of cold-water biota. Thus, aquatic managers are tasked with developing strategies for preserving cold-water dependent biota, such as eastern brook trout,...
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Recreational angling in the U.S. represents a large group of people that catch and harvest fish for a variety of reasons, including for relaxation, adventure, social motivations, and consumption. Collectively, recreational anglers can exert pressures on both economies and fishery resources. Fish removals by anglers represent an important source of mortality data when trying to understand fish populations, and this information is even more important when the fishery is dominated by recreational and subsistence fishing. Currently, the magnitude of recreational angling is measured at local scales (for example, at a specific lake or stream) and the process to collect information from anglers varies widely by state...
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Southeast Blueprint v3.0 This is an older version of the Southeast Blueprint. The Southeast Conservation Blueprint is a map of important areas for conservation and restoration across the Southeast and Caribbean. The Blueprint is the primary product of the Southeast Conservation Adaptation Strategy (SECAS). Through SECAS, diverse partners are working together to design and achieve a connected network of lands and waters that supports thriving fish and wildlife populations and improved quality of life for people across the southeastern United States and the Caribbean. Extent of Southeast Blueprint v3.0 The Southeast Blueprint covers the entire SECAS geography with the exception of the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the...
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The fast pace of change in coastal zones, the trillions of dollars of investment in human communities in coastal areas, and the myriad of ecosystem services natural coastal environments provide makes managing climate-related risks along coasts a massive challenge for all of the U.S. coastal states and territories. Answering questions about both the costs and the benefits of alternative adaptation strategies in the near term is critical to taxpayers, decision-makers, and to the biodiversity of the planet. There is significant public and private interest in using ecosystem based adaptation approaches to conserve critical significant ecosystems in coastal watersheds, estuaries and intertidal zones and to protect man-made...
Urban forests provide well-documented environmental and societal benefits valued at more than four billion dollars per year in the United States. As cities expand onto land once occupied by rural forests, urban trees take on an even more vital role in mitigating global climate change, conserving biodiversity, and protecting human health. Maintaining the health of trees is challenging in cities and in forests under climate change because of tree stress and pests. Unhealthy trees do not provide adequate ecosystem services or conservation value compared to healthy trees. In this work we found that exotic trees can remain healthy and maintain biodiversity of arthropods (e.g. spiders and insects) that is similar to native...
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The three datasets were used in a model estimating the current and future persistence of 222 populations of southern hognose snakes, as estimated as part of the USFWS Species Status Assessment. Because these datasets contain information about sensitive species at risk of overcollection and harassment, they do not contain any spatial identifying information. The "HESIM_locs" dataset contains a list of southern hognose snake occurrence records with associated year of observation and population ID. The "SEsnakes_locs" dataset contains a list of non-target snake species occurrence records with associated year of observation and population ID. The "HESIM_pops_all" dataset contains a list of southern hognose snake populations...
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States in the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA) region have faced challenges when trying to develop regional plans or actions for many conservation issues. Leadership in many SEAFWA states is hesitant to approach the topic of climate change at all, let alone engage in multi-state efforts to mitigate climate impacts. Recent Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (SE CASC) supported research surveyed agency directors and supervisory boards, and discovered their primary concerns revolved around agency budgets, “R3” efforts (i.e., to recruit, retain, and reactivate hunters and anglers), and public outreach to maintain social relevance. Another project supported by the SE CASC and the...
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To better understand the impacts of climate change, ecological studies are increasingly addressing the different effects of temperature on organisms and ecosystems. To measure air temperature at biologically relevant scales in the field, ecologists often use small, portable temperature sensors. These sensors must be shielded from solar radiation to provide accurate temperature measurements, but a review of 18 years of ecological literature indicated that shielding practices vary across studies (when the shielding is reported at all), and that ecologists often invent and construct ad-hoc radiation shields without testing their efficacy. The project researchers performed two field experiments to examine the accuracy...
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The populations of many forest birds have declined in recent decades due to loss of habitat area and degradation of habitat quality. Past land management has left the landscape of the heavily forested Appalachian Mountains with too little old growth as well as too few young, regenerating forests. This change in habitat structure has led to the listing of several forest birds as Species of Greatest Conservation Need. Active management is needed to maintain habitat for these species, but climate change may alter the kinds of management that are effective. Climate change is likely to affect forest structure – and bird habitat suitability – because of shifts in temperature, precipitation, and disturbance. While current...
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The purpose of this grant was to provide research opportunities to students and staff working with the Southeast Climate Science Center (SE CSC) with a focus on decision analysis and science communication. Research activities occured primarily within the framework of existing SE CSC-funded projects. Student research supported project activities associated with the development and use of science-based information to make climate adaptation management decisions. Student abilities to participate in these research activities were enhanced by participation in a course entitled “Introduction to Structured Decision Making” taught at the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) in Shepherdstown, WV. In addition to participation...


map background search result map search result map USGS-USFS Partnership to Help Managers Evaluate Conservation Strategies for Aquatic Ecosystems Based on Future Climate Projections Evaluating the Use of Models for Projecting Future Water Flow in the Southeast A Handbook for Resource Managers to Understand and Utilize Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Wetland Models Supporting Students and Early Career Researchers in the Development of Science to Inform Adaptation Management Decisions Climate Change Adaptation for Coastal National Wildlife Refuges Testing the Impacts of Sun Exposure and Impervious Surfaces on the Accuracy of Temperature Sensors Forest Retention Index for the South at year 2040 Southeast Blueprint v3.0 Identifying the Ecological and Management Implications of Mangrove Migration in the Northern Gulf of Mexico Range-wide habitat suitability maps for at-risk species in the longleaf system Southern hognose snake Species Status Assessment data products One from Many: Combining State Creel Data to Estimate Regional Harvest Evaluating Ecosystem-Based Adaptation Options for Coastal Resilience Development of an Early Warning System to Identify Changing Prescribed Burn Opportunities Across Southeast US Fire-Adapted Habitats Informing Climate-Adaptive Forest Management for Breeding Bird Habitat in the Southern Appalachians Improving Support for Regional Conservation Efforts in the Region Managed by the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Mapping Ecosystem Services for Natural Capital Accounting FUTURES v3: Scenarios of Future Patterns of Urbanization in Response to Sea Level Rise and Frequent Flooding Across the Southeast United States from 2020 to 2100 Southeast Regional Invasive Species and Climate Change Management Network (SE RISCC) Testing the Impacts of Sun Exposure and Impervious Surfaces on the Accuracy of Temperature Sensors Climate Change Adaptation for Coastal National Wildlife Refuges Informing Climate-Adaptive Forest Management for Breeding Bird Habitat in the Southern Appalachians Southern hognose snake Species Status Assessment data products Range-wide habitat suitability maps for at-risk species in the longleaf system One from Many: Combining State Creel Data to Estimate Regional Harvest Southeast Regional Invasive Species and Climate Change Management Network (SE RISCC) USGS-USFS Partnership to Help Managers Evaluate Conservation Strategies for Aquatic Ecosystems Based on Future Climate Projections Identifying the Ecological and Management Implications of Mangrove Migration in the Northern Gulf of Mexico Mapping Ecosystem Services for Natural Capital Accounting A Handbook for Resource Managers to Understand and Utilize Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Wetland Models Forest Retention Index for the South at year 2040 FUTURES v3: Scenarios of Future Patterns of Urbanization in Response to Sea Level Rise and Frequent Flooding Across the Southeast United States from 2020 to 2100 Evaluating the Use of Models for Projecting Future Water Flow in the Southeast Supporting Students and Early Career Researchers in the Development of Science to Inform Adaptation Management Decisions Development of an Early Warning System to Identify Changing Prescribed Burn Opportunities Across Southeast US Fire-Adapted Habitats Improving Support for Regional Conservation Efforts in the Region Managed by the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Southeast Blueprint v3.0 Evaluating Ecosystem-Based Adaptation Options for Coastal Resilience