Lianne Ball, Ph.D.
Lianne brings her experience in monitoring, wildlife management and ecology to the development of novel research projects in USGS to provide the science needed by partners to tackle complex ecological problems.
Education and Certifications
M.S Wildlife Management; Humboldt State University; Arcata CA.
Ph.D. Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology; University of Nevada, Reno.
Science and Products
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.
Mangrove Science Network
The Mangrove Science Network is a collaboration of USGS scientists focused on working with natural resource managers to develop and conduct research whose findings will support and evaluate decisions made in mangrove management and restoration.
Ecosystems We Study: Forests
Forests are a key component of a healthy ecosystem. Management of these resources is vital to their protection as a recreational resource as well as an environmental resource.
Ecosystems We Study: Mountains
Mountain ecosystems are highly sensitive to climate change, and USGS is conducting montane research across the West to help resource managers plan now for the future. Coordination with scientists around the world has led to mountain research networks to expand our understanding of how these ecosystems respond to climate change.
Ecosystems We Study: Grasslands
America’s grasslands are in the middle of the country where there is insufficient rain to support forests but too much to be a desert.
Ecosystems We Study: Deserts
In the United States, three “hot deserts” receive precipitation in the summer months (Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahuan) and one “cold desert” receives precipitation in the winter (Great Basin).
Ecosystems We Study: Freshwater Systems
Managing the world’s freshwater ecosystems including lakes, rivers, and springs, and the water they supply to meet environmental and societal needs in a changing climate is one of the biggest challenges for the 21st century.
Ecosystems We Study: Alaska Bioregions and Arctic
Alaska is simultaneously a landscape of extremes requiring specialized adaptations by plants and animals to survive the winters and a landscape of abundance that supports breeding birds each summer from as far away as Africa. Terrestrial Alaska also supports iconic species such as caribou and muskoxen whose population dynamics, predator/prey relationships and habitat ecology are researched by USGS...
Priority Landscapes: San Francisco Bay-Delta
The San Francisco Bay-Delta PES is one way that USGS continues to provide science for the restoration and conservation of the SF Bay and its watershed. USGS research topics range from wetland restoration in the Bay to restoring habitat for anadromous fish (e.g., salmon) in the uplands. USGS has made several important discoveries critical to the fundamental understanding of this system and...
Priority Landscapes: RESTORE--Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act
USGS scientists in the Gulf of Mexico region conduct research that investigate the past, present and future trajectories of coastal ecosystems, the stressors that impact those ecosystems, and restoration and management alternatives that aim to recover and sustain ecosystem functions and services. Our researchers are engaged in restoration programs across the Gulf, including those spurred after the...
Priority Landscapes: Midcontinent Migration Connectivity Collaborative (Platte River)
The Platte PES focuses on restoration of the Central Platte river in Nebraska which has been designated as Critical Habitat for the survival and recovery of the Endangered whooping crane. USGS conducts research which informs the rehabilitation of the structure and function of habitat used by whooping cranes. The Platte PES is an element within the larger Midcontinent Migration Connectivity...
Priority Landscapes: Greater Everglades
The Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystem Sciences Program (GEPES) in USGS was established to conduct long-term research, monitoring, and modeling to provide science to inform Everglades restoration decisions and meet natural resource management goals. The program is one of several placed-based efforts in the USGS that focuses resources and science in “iconic” landscapes to support restoration and...
Overcoming challenges to the recovery of declining amphibian populations in the United States
The US Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) affords many potential benefits to species threatened with extinction. However, most at-risk amphibians—one of the most imperiled vertebrate groups—remain unlisted under the provisions of the ESA, and many impediments to recovery exist for those species that have been listed. Of the 35 US amphibian species and distinct population segments (“taxa”) listed
Authors
Susan C. Walls, Lianne C. Ball, William J. Barichivich, Kenneth Dodd, Kevin M Enge, Thomas A. Gorman, Katy O'Donnell, John G Palis, Raymond D. Semlitsch
Mangrove postcard
Mangrove ecosystems protect vulnerable coastlines from storm effects, recycle nutrients, stabilize shorelines, improve water quality, and provide habitat for commercial and recreational fish species as well as for threatened and endangered wildlife. U.S. Geological Survey scientists conduct research on mangrove ecosystems to provide reliable scientific information about their ecology, productivity
Authors
Lianne C. Ball
Wetlands postcard
Wetlands Postcard
Research conducted by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey provides reliable scientific information for the management of wetlands ranging from small freshwater alpine lakes in the Western United States to coastal wetlands of the Great Lakes and salt marshes along the Southeastern coast. Learn more about USGS wetlands research at: http://www.usgs.gov/ecosystems/environments/w
Authors
Lianne C. Ball
An adaptive decision framework for the conservation of a threatened plant
Mead's milkweed Asclepias meadii, a long-lived perennial herb of tallgrass prairie and glade communities of the central United States, is a species designated as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Challenges to its successful management include the facts that much about its life history is unknown, its age at reproductive maturity is very advanced, certain life stages are practicall
Authors
Clinton T. Moore, Christopher J. Fonnesbeck, Katriona Shea, Kristopher J. Lah, Paul M. McKenzie, Lianne C. Ball, Michael C. Runge, Helen M. Alexander
Science and Products
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.
Mangrove Science Network
The Mangrove Science Network is a collaboration of USGS scientists focused on working with natural resource managers to develop and conduct research whose findings will support and evaluate decisions made in mangrove management and restoration.
Ecosystems We Study: Forests
Forests are a key component of a healthy ecosystem. Management of these resources is vital to their protection as a recreational resource as well as an environmental resource.
Ecosystems We Study: Mountains
Mountain ecosystems are highly sensitive to climate change, and USGS is conducting montane research across the West to help resource managers plan now for the future. Coordination with scientists around the world has led to mountain research networks to expand our understanding of how these ecosystems respond to climate change.
Ecosystems We Study: Grasslands
America’s grasslands are in the middle of the country where there is insufficient rain to support forests but too much to be a desert.
Ecosystems We Study: Deserts
In the United States, three “hot deserts” receive precipitation in the summer months (Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahuan) and one “cold desert” receives precipitation in the winter (Great Basin).
Ecosystems We Study: Freshwater Systems
Managing the world’s freshwater ecosystems including lakes, rivers, and springs, and the water they supply to meet environmental and societal needs in a changing climate is one of the biggest challenges for the 21st century.
Ecosystems We Study: Alaska Bioregions and Arctic
Alaska is simultaneously a landscape of extremes requiring specialized adaptations by plants and animals to survive the winters and a landscape of abundance that supports breeding birds each summer from as far away as Africa. Terrestrial Alaska also supports iconic species such as caribou and muskoxen whose population dynamics, predator/prey relationships and habitat ecology are researched by USGS...
Priority Landscapes: San Francisco Bay-Delta
The San Francisco Bay-Delta PES is one way that USGS continues to provide science for the restoration and conservation of the SF Bay and its watershed. USGS research topics range from wetland restoration in the Bay to restoring habitat for anadromous fish (e.g., salmon) in the uplands. USGS has made several important discoveries critical to the fundamental understanding of this system and...
Priority Landscapes: RESTORE--Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act
USGS scientists in the Gulf of Mexico region conduct research that investigate the past, present and future trajectories of coastal ecosystems, the stressors that impact those ecosystems, and restoration and management alternatives that aim to recover and sustain ecosystem functions and services. Our researchers are engaged in restoration programs across the Gulf, including those spurred after the...
Priority Landscapes: Midcontinent Migration Connectivity Collaborative (Platte River)
The Platte PES focuses on restoration of the Central Platte river in Nebraska which has been designated as Critical Habitat for the survival and recovery of the Endangered whooping crane. USGS conducts research which informs the rehabilitation of the structure and function of habitat used by whooping cranes. The Platte PES is an element within the larger Midcontinent Migration Connectivity...
Priority Landscapes: Greater Everglades
The Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystem Sciences Program (GEPES) in USGS was established to conduct long-term research, monitoring, and modeling to provide science to inform Everglades restoration decisions and meet natural resource management goals. The program is one of several placed-based efforts in the USGS that focuses resources and science in “iconic” landscapes to support restoration and...
Overcoming challenges to the recovery of declining amphibian populations in the United States
The US Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) affords many potential benefits to species threatened with extinction. However, most at-risk amphibians—one of the most imperiled vertebrate groups—remain unlisted under the provisions of the ESA, and many impediments to recovery exist for those species that have been listed. Of the 35 US amphibian species and distinct population segments (“taxa”) listed
Authors
Susan C. Walls, Lianne C. Ball, William J. Barichivich, Kenneth Dodd, Kevin M Enge, Thomas A. Gorman, Katy O'Donnell, John G Palis, Raymond D. Semlitsch
Mangrove postcard
Mangrove ecosystems protect vulnerable coastlines from storm effects, recycle nutrients, stabilize shorelines, improve water quality, and provide habitat for commercial and recreational fish species as well as for threatened and endangered wildlife. U.S. Geological Survey scientists conduct research on mangrove ecosystems to provide reliable scientific information about their ecology, productivity
Authors
Lianne C. Ball
Wetlands postcard
Wetlands Postcard
Research conducted by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey provides reliable scientific information for the management of wetlands ranging from small freshwater alpine lakes in the Western United States to coastal wetlands of the Great Lakes and salt marshes along the Southeastern coast. Learn more about USGS wetlands research at: http://www.usgs.gov/ecosystems/environments/w
Authors
Lianne C. Ball
An adaptive decision framework for the conservation of a threatened plant
Mead's milkweed Asclepias meadii, a long-lived perennial herb of tallgrass prairie and glade communities of the central United States, is a species designated as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Challenges to its successful management include the facts that much about its life history is unknown, its age at reproductive maturity is very advanced, certain life stages are practicall
Authors
Clinton T. Moore, Christopher J. Fonnesbeck, Katriona Shea, Kristopher J. Lah, Paul M. McKenzie, Lianne C. Ball, Michael C. Runge, Helen M. Alexander