Publications
This list of publications includes peer-review journal articles, official USGS publications series, reports and more authored by scientists in the Ecosystems Mission Area. A database of all USGS publications, with advanced search features, can be accessed at the USGS Publications Warehouse.
Filter Total Items: 41706
A new approach for representing agent-environment feedbacks: Coupled agent-based and state-and-transition simulation models
ContextAgent-based models (ABMs) and state-and-transition simulation models (STSMs) have proven useful for understanding processes underlying social-ecological systems and evaluating practical questions about how systems might respond to different scenarios. ABMs can simulate a variety of agents (autonomous units, such as wildlife or people); agent characteristics, decision-making, adaptive behavi
Authors
Brian W. Miller, Leonardo Frid
Can the impact of canopy trees on soil and understory be altered using litter additions?
Trees can have large effects on soil nutrients in ways that alter succession, particularly in the case of nitrogen-(N)-fixing trees. In Hawaiʻi, forest restoration relies heavily on use of a native N-fixing tree, Acacia koa (koa), but this species increases soil-available N and likely facilitates competitive dominance of exotic pasture grasses. In contrast, Metrosideros polymorpha (‘ōhi‘a), the do
Authors
Stephanie G. Yelenik, Evan M Rehm, Carla M. D'Antonio
Central-West Siberian-breeding Bar-tailed Godwits (Limosa lapponica) segregate in two morphologically distinct flyway populations
Long-distance migratory species often include multiple breeding populations, with distinct migration routes, wintering areas and annual-cycle timing. Detailed knowledge on population structure and migratory connectivity provides the basis for studies on the evolution of migration strategies and for species conservation. Currently, five subspecies of Bar-tailed Godwits Limosa lapponica have been de
Authors
Roeland A. Bom, Jesse R. Conklin, Yvonne I. Verkuil, José A. Alves, Jimmy De Fouw, Anne Dekinga, Chris J. Hassell, Raymond H. G. Klaassen, Eldar Rakhimberdiev, Andy Y. Kwarteng, Afonso Rocha, Job ten Horn, T. Lee Tibbitts, Pavel S. Tomkovich, Reginald Victor, Theunis Piersma
Preface to book: Wetland carbon and environmental management
The idea for this book, including its organization and contents, has its origin in the latest environmental and climate policy requirements in the United States, as well as science advances. In 2007, the U.S. Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), from which Section 712 required U.S. Federal agencies to provide a better understanding of carbon and greenhouse gas fluxes ac
Authors
Ken Krauss, Zhiliang Zhu, Camille Stagg
Potential for carbon and nitrogen sequestration by restoring tidal connectivity and enhancing soil surface elevations in denuded and degraded south Florida mangrove ecosystems
Mangroves are tidally dependent wetlands that are influenced often by alterations in hydrology associated with coastal developments that impact their distribution, health, and function. Alteration in frequency, depth, duration, and seasonality of tidal inundation can lead to changes in forest condition, although these stress-adapted ecosystems may persist for many years before succumbing to mortal
Authors
N. Cormier, Ken Krauss, Amanda Demopoulos, Brita J. Jessen, Jennifer McClain Counts, Andrew From, Laura L. Flynn
Carbon fluxes and potential soil accumulation within Greater Everglades cypress and pine forested wetlands
In forested wetlands, accumulation of organic matter in soil is partly governed by carbon fluxes where photosynthesis, respiration, lateral advection of waterborne carbon, fire-derived carbon emissions, and methanogenesis are balanced by changes in stored carbon. Stored carbon can eventually accumulate as soil over time if net primary productivity exceeds biomass decomposition. For this study, pot
Authors
W. Barclay Shoemaker, Frank E. Anderson, Andre Daniels, Matt Sirianni
Modeling the impacts of hydrology and management on carbon balance at the Great Dismal Swamp, Virginia and North Carolina, USA
The impact of drainage on the stability of peatland carbon sinks is well known; however, much less is understood regarding the way active management of the water-table affects carbon balance. In this study, we determined the carbon balance in the Great Dismal Swamp, a large, forested peatland in the southeastern USA, which has been drained for over two hundred years and is now being restored throu
Authors
Rachel Sleeter
Summary of wetland carbon and environmental management: Path forward
Wetlands around the world are under pressure from both anthropogenic sources such as land-use change and accelerating climate change (Erwin, 2009; Moomaw et al., 2018). Storage of carbon resources is a key ecosystem service of wetlands and offer natural solutions to climate change mitigation; policies and management actions could determine the fate of these resources and their contributions to cli
Authors
Zhiliang Zhu, Ken Krauss, Camille Stagg, Eric Ward, Victoria Woltz
Joint effects of climate, tree size, and year on annual tree growth derived using tree-ring records of ten globally distributed forests
Tree rings provide an invaluable long-term record for understanding how climate and other drivers shape tree growth and forest productivity. However, conventional tree-ring analysis methods were not designed to simultaneously account for the effects of climate, tree size, and other drivers on individual growth, which has limited the potential to use tree rings to understand forest productivity, it
Authors
Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira, Valentine Herrmann, Christy Rollinson, Bianca Gonzales, Erika B. Gonzalez-Akre, Neil Pederson, M. Ross Alexander, Craig D. Allen, Raquel Alfaro-Sánchez, Tala Awada, Jennifer L. Baltzer, Patrick J. Baker, Joseph D. Birch, Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin, Paolo Cherubini, Stewart J. Davies, Cameron Dow, Ryan Helcoski, Jakub Kašpar, James A. Lutz, Ellis Margolis, Justin Maxwell, Sean M. McMahon, Camille Piponiot, Sabrina E. Russo, Pavel Šamonil, Anastasia E. Sniderhan, Alan J. Tepley, Ivana Vašíčková, Mart Vlam, Pieter A. Zuidema
The importance of wetland carbon dynamics to society: Insight from the Second State of the Carbon Cycle Science Report
The Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR2) culminated in 19 chapters that spanned all North American sectors – from Energy Systems to Agriculture and Land Use – known to be important for understanding carbon (C) cycling and accounting. Wetlands, both inland and coastal, were found to be significant components of C fluxes along the terrestrial to aquatic hydrologic continuum. In this cha
Authors
Randall Kolka, Carl Trettin, Lisamarie Windham-Myers
Carbon flux, storage, and wildlife co-benefits in a restoring estuary
Tidal marsh restorations may result in transitional mudflat habitats depending on hydrological and geomorphological conditions. Compared to tidal marsh, mudflats are thought to have limited value for carbon sequestration, carbon storage, and foraging benefits for salmon. We evaluated greenhouse gas exchange, sediment carbon storage, and invertebrate production at restoration and reference tidal ma
Authors
Isa Woo, Melanie J. Davis, Susan E. W. De La Cruz, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Judith Z. Drexler, Kristin B. Byrd, Ellen Stuart-Haëntjens, Frank E Anderson, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Glynnis Nakai, Christopher S. Ellings, Sayre Hodgson
Ecosystem service co-benefits provided through wetland carbon management
What is the role of wetland carbon management in providing ecosystem services? Ecosystem services are the benefits that nature provides to people, and they are often categorized as: provisioning (e.g., food and water), regulating (e.g., climate mitigation and flood protection), cultural (e.g., cultural and recreational), and supporting (e.g., nutrient cycling) services ( www.millenniumassessment.o
Authors
Emily J. Pindilli