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Land Management Research Program

The Land Management Research Program conducts research to improve the effectiveness of land management and inform restoration of priority ecosystems on millions of acres including public lands such as National Parks, refuges, and other critical landscapes that support the biodiversity of fish, wildlife, and plant species, as well as thriving economies.

Read the Landscape Science Strategy

Ecosystem Research

Looking towards mountain peaks from shore of Knox Lake

The Nation’s ecosystems are complex, dynamic, and exposed to a rapidly changing climate among other threats.  USGS scientists study how ecosystems function, the impacts of stressors, and make predictions about their future to improve restoration and management outcomes.

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Firelight

Wildfire in Mason Valley, Nevada

Firelight provides updates on the latest USGS fire science for a changing world. Each issue features a variety of our wildland fire science, providing information, data and tools for use by managers before, during, and after fires.

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Publications

Demography with drones: Detecting growth and survival of shrubs with unoccupied aerial systems

Large-scale disturbances, such as megafires, motivate restoration at equally large extents. Measuring the survival and growth of individual plants plays a key role in current efforts to monitor restoration success. However, the scale of modern restoration (e.g., >10,000 ha) challenges measurements of demographic rates with field data. In this study, we demonstrate how unoccupied aerial system (UAS

Authors
Peter J. Olsoy, Andrii Zaiats, Donna M. Delparte, Matthew Germino, Bryce Richardson, Anna V. Roser, Jennifer S. Forbey, Megan E Cattau, Trevor Caughlin
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Land Management Research Program, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center

Functional gene composition and metabolic potential of deep-sea coral-associated microbial communities

Over the past decade, an abundance of 16S rRNA gene surveys have provided microbiologists with data regarding the prokaryotes present in a coral-associated microbial community. Functional gene studies that provide information regarding what those microbes might do are fewer, particularly for non-tropical corals. Using the GeoChip 5.0S microarray, we present a functional gene study of microbiomes f

Authors
Zoe A. Pratte, Frank J. Stewart, Christina A. Kellogg
By
Land Management Research Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Ecological effects of pinyon-juniper removal in the Western United States—A synthesis of scientific research, January 2014–March 2021

Executive SummaryIncreasing density of pinyon (Pinus spp.) and juniper (Juniperus spp.) woodlands (hereinafter “pinyon-juniper”), as well as expansion of these woodlands into adjacent shrublands and grasslands, has altered ecosystem function and wildlife habitat across large areas of the interior western United States. Although there are many natural and human-caused drivers of woodland infilling
Authors
Douglas J. Shinneman, Susan K. McIlroy, Sharon A Poessel, Rosemary L. Downing, Tracey N. Johnson, Aaron C. Young, Todd E. Katzner
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Land Management Research Program, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center
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Science

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Spherical aerial view of Town Neck Beach, Sandwich, Massachusetts

Ecosystems We Study: Coastal

Coastal ecosystems provide critical local and national societal benefits such as coastal protection and fish nurseries but are some of the most heavily used and threatened systems on the planet. The Mangrove Science Network is a collaboration of USGS scientists focused on working with natural resource managers to develop and conduct mangrove research.
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Land Management Research Program
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Ecosystems We Study: Coastal

Coastal ecosystems provide critical local and national societal benefits such as coastal protection and fish nurseries but are some of the most heavily used and threatened systems on the planet. The Mangrove Science Network is a collaboration of USGS scientists focused on working with natural resource managers to develop and conduct mangrove research.
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Biological soil crusts with lichens, mosses, and cyanobacteria

Can ruderal components of biocrust (mosses and cyanobacteria) be maintained under increasing threats of drought, grazing and feral horses?

Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are a community of living organisms, like moss, lichen, and algae, covering soils in arid and semi-arid ecosystems, providing important ecological functions like carbon cycling and soil stabilization. Analyses show that biocrusts are negatively associated with the abundance of invasive annual grasses that are responsible for increasing fire across the Great Basin...
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Biological Threats and Invasive Species Research Program, Land Management Research Program, Fort Collins Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC), Wildland Fire Science
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Can ruderal components of biocrust (mosses and cyanobacteria) be maintained under increasing threats of drought, grazing and feral horses?

Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are a community of living organisms, like moss, lichen, and algae, covering soils in arid and semi-arid ecosystems, providing important ecological functions like carbon cycling and soil stabilization. Analyses show that biocrusts are negatively associated with the abundance of invasive annual grasses that are responsible for increasing fire across the Great Basin...
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Walruses resting on an ice floe

Walrus Research

The USGS Alaska Science Center conducts long-term research on the Pacific walrus to provide scientific information to Department of Interior management agencies and Alaska Native co-management partners. In addition, the USGS Pacific walrus research program collaborates with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the State of Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game and Alaska Native co...
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Land Management Research Program, Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center
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Walrus Research

The USGS Alaska Science Center conducts long-term research on the Pacific walrus to provide scientific information to Department of Interior management agencies and Alaska Native co-management partners. In addition, the USGS Pacific walrus research program collaborates with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the State of Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game and Alaska Native co...
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