Publications

Hurricanes Irma and Maria ravaged the mangroves of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, in 2017. Basal area losses were large (63–100%) and storm losses of carbon associated with aboveground biomass amounted to 11.9–43.5 Mg C/ha. Carbon biomass of dead standing trees increased 8.1–18.3 Mg C/ha among sites, and carbon in coarse woody debris on the forest floor increased 1.9–18.2 Mg C/ha, with effects var

Across the Upper Missouri River Basin, the recent drought of 2000 to 2010, known as the “turn-of-the-century drought,” was likely more severe than any in the instrumental record including the Dust Bowl drought. However, until now, adequate proxy records needed to better understand this event with regard to long-term variability have been lacking. Here we examine 1,200 y of streamflow from a networ

Seasonal streamflow forecast bias, changes in climate, snowpack, and land cover, and the effects of these changes on relations between basin‐wide snowpack, SNOw TELemetry (SNOTEL) station snowpack, and seasonal streamflow were evaluated in the headwaters of the Rio Grande, Colorado. Results indicate that shifts in the seasonality of precipitation and changing climatology are consistent with period

This report provides an overview of model-based climate science in a risk management context. In addition, it summarizes how the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will continue to follow best scientific practices and when and how the results of this research will be delivered to the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and other stakeholders to inform policymaking. Climate change is a risk management

Most wetlands have been subject to changes in flooding regimes by climate change and human activities, resulting in widespread alteration of wetland plants at different organizational levels. However, scaling the responses of wetland plants to changes in flooding regimes is still challenging, because flooding could indirectly affect wetland plants through affecting environment factors (e.g. soil p

The ecological effects of tropical cyclones on mangrove forests are diverse and highly location- and cyclone-dependent. Ecological resistance, resilience, and enhancement are terms that describe most mangrove forest responses to tropical cyclones. However, in the most extreme cases, tropical cyclones can trigger abrupt and irreversible ecological transformations (i.e., ecological regime shifts). H

Glaciers are important drivers of environmental heterogeneity and biological diversity across mountain landscapes. Worldwide, glaciers are receding rapidly due to climate change, with important consequences for biodiversity in mountain ecosystems. However, the effects of glacier loss on biodiversity have never been quantified across a mountainous region, primarily due to a lack of adequate data at

No abstract available.

Sustainability of dryland ecosystems depends on the functionality of soil-vegetation feedbacks that affect ecosystem processes, such as nutrient cycling, water capture and retention, soil erosion and deposition, and plant establishment and reproduction. Useful, common indicators can provide information on soil and site stability, hydrologic function, and biotic integrity. Evaluation of rangeland h

A high degree of uncertainty exists for understanding and predicting coastal estuarine response to changing climate, land-use, and sea-level conditions, leaving geologic records as a best-proxy for constraining potential outcomes. With the majority of the world's population focused in coastal regions, understanding how local systems respond to global, regional, and even local pressures is key in d

Common assumptions about how vegetation affects wetland methane (CH) flux include acting as conduits for CH release, providing carbon substrates for growth and activity of methanogenic organisms, and supplying oxygen to support CH oxidation. However, these effects may change through time, especially in seasonal wetlands that experience drying and re-wetting, or change across space, dependent on pr

Glaciers are a key indicator of changing climate in the high mountain landscape. Glacier variations across a mountain range are ultimately driven by regional climate forcing. However, changes also reflect local, topographically driven processes such as snow avalanching, snow wind-drifting, and radiation shading as well as the initial glacier conditions such as hypsometry and ice thickness. Here we