Freshwater and Coastal Ecology

Eelgrass provides essential functions to the ecology and economy of Maine’s coastal zone. When over half the eelgrass in Casco Bay, Maine, disappeared between 2012 and 2013, USGS experimental evidence identified disturbance from invasive European green crabs as the leading cause. Natural revegetation is occurring, but there is interest in learning whether restoration may hasten recover.

These systems are characterized as 4th order and larger nontidal riverine systems, which includes many of the intermediate and larger size rivers, such as the Penobscot, Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, and Susquehanna Rivers and their larger tributaries of the northeastern U.S. Fish passage, thermal stress, and ecological flows are likely important issues in these systems. Fish health issues and...

Stream and river biota around the world are imperiled by alterations to stream flow regimes that result from dams, land-use changes, water diversions and changing climate patterns. To manage and conserve stream-dependent species threatened by flow alterations, natural resource managers need quantitative information relating multiple aspects of ecological response to changes in a stream’s flow...

The Challenge: The DOI WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America’s Resources for Tomorrow) initiative is developing data and tools to help water managers identify current and future water shortages, for humans and for freshwater ecosystems. Fishes, for example, can decline in diversity and abundance when streamflow becomes too low, for too long. However, ecologists find that effects of declining...

The Challange: Forests and marshes provide critical habitat for numerous species of plants and animals. National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, and other protected areas are attempting to protect, manage, and in some cases, restore our forests and marshes, many of which provide critical habitat for declining, threatened, or endangered species, in addition to providing recreational opportunities across...

Our overall objective is to understand what controls the vulnerability of coastal marshes to risks associated with global change drivers and rising sea levels. Fundamental questions pertaining to coastal wetland vulnerability still need to be addressed. What factors explain spatial and geographic variation in tidal wetland vulnerability? How do short term climatic events (storms) influence the...

The Challenge: The high winds and storm surge associated with Hurricane Sandy impacted coastal wetlands from Virginia to Maine. Understanding the ecological and geological impacts of hurricanes on coastal wetlands and their interactive effects with local conditions is important for identifying resilience of these communities to predicted global sea-level rise. Given the projected increase in...