Large-Scale Restoration Science

The Aquatic Ecology and Contaminants Team investigates critical ecological processes operating in aquatic and riparian ecosystems and how these processes are affected by human activities. We address questions through a combination of field studies, laboratory experiments, and modeling, while working at multiple levels of biological organization from cells through ecosystems. Topics include land...

The interdisciplinary team of hydroscape ecology develops and advances a broad, landscape-scale perspective of ecological flows for aquatic ecosystems. A hydrologic landscape, hydroscape, is an environmental theater, where hydrologic, geomorphologic, biogeochemical, biological, and anthropogenic processes play to provide ecological services to the society. The construction of water control...

Tropical storms and hurricanes wreak havoc with coastal forests where damage can vary with wind speed and approach from isolated treefalls to wide-area blowdowns of whole forests.

Turbid water conditions make the delineation and characterization of benthic habitats difficult by traditional in situ and remote sensing methods. Consequently, only a small fraction of this valuable resource has been mapped or characterized.

Environmental contaminants of natural and anthropogenic origin represent a major stressor to ecosystems, including human and wildlife populations. FORT scientists are studying these stressors in order to understand the contaminant cycling under natural environmental conditions. Stable isotope techniques are extremely useful in resolving trophic pathways by which contaminants become bioavailable...

Understanding species habitat requirements is incomplete without insight into nutrition, including various aspects of foraging ecology. Traditional diet studies can be challenging because of logistics, issues related to resource availability, and observations are often short-term in nature based on gut contents or scat. Additionally, perturbations such as species introductions, habitat degradation...

Most aquatic insects live in fresh water as larvae and move to land as flying adults to complete their life cycle. Although often ignored, the emergence of adults can transfer the effects of contamination from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems as the adults are eaten by predators such as spiders, birds, and bats.

Federal investments in ecosystem restoration projects protect Federal trusts, ensure public health and safety, and preserve and enhance essential ecosystem services. These investments also generate business activity and create jobs. However, limited information exists on the costs and associated economic impacts of ecosystem restoration projects due to the complexity of the “restoration economy”.

The use of uranium is an alternative energy source to petroleum products and some of the United States’ highest quality ore is located on the Colorado Plateau. However, some regions where suitable mining efforts are conducted include areas that are near important environmental resources such as National Parks that provide viewscapes and habitat for wildlife.

Increased wildfire-induced loss of sagebrush in North American shrublands are outpacing natural recovery and leading to substantial habitat loss for sagebrush-obligate species like sage-grouse. The products and information developed for this project will help restoration practitioners, biologists, and land managers evaluate the efficacy of sagebrush restoration approaches as well as their ability...

This project will create a Climate Change Adaptation Plan for the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana (Chitimacha), serving as an implementable plan for coastal community adaptation to climate change that can be used as a model in other small communities.

While the historic focus of vegetation condition is the bulk live and dead compositions, these variables provide no information on the structure of vegetation (density and orientation). Canopy structure information is critical for monitoring status and trends, and essential in climate, weather, and ecological studies.