Benjamin Sleeter
My research activities focus on characterizing changes in land use and disturbance – past, present and future - and how they impact ecosystem carbon dynamics.
I lead two large projects which have shared goals of further developing USGS capabilities in land change science and ecosystem carbon cycling. I lead the development of the LUCAS modeling framework (Land Use and Carbon Scenario Simulator).
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 18
Filter Total Items: 52
Methods used to parameterize the spatially-explicit components of a state-and-transition simulation model
Spatially-explicit state-and-transition simulation models of land use and land cover (LULC) increase our ability to assess regional landscape characteristics and associated carbon dynamics across multiple scenarios. By characterizing appropriate spatial attributes such as forest age and land-use distribution, a state-and-transition model can more effectively simulate the pattern and spread of LULC
Authors
Rachel Sleeter, William Acevedo, Christopher E. Soulard, Benjamin M. Sleeter
Land-use impacts on water resources and protected areas: applications of state-and-transition simulation modeling of future scenarios
Human land use will increasingly contribute to habitat loss and water shortages in California, given future population projections and associated land-use demand. Understanding how land-use change may impact future water use and where existing protected areas may be threatened by land-use conversion will be important if effective, sustainable management approaches are to be implemented. We used a
Authors
Tamara Wilson, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Jason T. Sherba, Dick Cameron
Integrated climate and land use change scenarios for California rangeland ecosystem services: wildlife habitat, soil carbon, and water supply
Context
In addition to biodiversity conservation, California rangelands generate multiple ecosystem services including livestock production, drinking and irrigation water, and carbon sequestration. California rangeland ecosystems have experienced substantial conversion to residential land use and more intensive agriculture.
Objectives
To understand the potential impacts to rangeland ecosystem serv
Authors
Kristin B. Byrd, Lorraine E. Flint, Pelayo Alvarez, Frank Casey, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Christopher E. Soulard, Alan L. Flint, Terry L. Sohl
Projected carbon stocks in the conterminous USA with land use and variable fire regimes
The dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM) MC2 was run over the conterminous USA at 30 arc sec (~800 m) to simulate the impacts of nine climate futures generated by 3GCMs (CSIRO, MIROC and CGCM3) using 3 emission scenarios (A2, A1B and B1) in the context of the LandCarbon national carbon sequestration assessment. It first simulated potential vegetation dynamics from coast to coast assuming no huma
Authors
Dominique Bachelet, Ken Ferschweiler, Timothy J. Sheehan, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Zhiliang Zhu
Quantifying climate change mitigation potential in Great Plains wetlands for three greenhouse gas emission scenarios
We examined opportunities for avoided loss of wetland carbon stocks in the Great Plains of the United States in the context of future agricultural expansion through analysis of land-use land-cover (LULC) change scenarios, baseline carbon datasets and biogeochemical model outputs. A wetland map that classifies wetlands according to carbon pools was created to describe future patterns of carbon loss
Authors
Kristin B. Byrd, Jamie L. Ratliff, Anne Wein, Norman B. Bliss, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Terry L. Sohl, Zhengpeng Li
Projecting the spatiotemporal carbon dynamics of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem from 2006 to 2050
BackgroundClimate change and the concurrent change in wildfire events and land use comprehensively affect carbon dynamics in both spatial and temporal dimensions. The purpose of this study was to project the spatial and temporal aspects of carbon storage in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) under these changes from 2006 to 2050. We selected three emission scenarios and produced simulations w
Authors
Shengli Huang, Shuguang Liu, Jinxun Liu, Devendra Dahal, Claudia Young, Brian Davis, Terry L. Sohl, Todd Hawbaker, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Zhiliang Zhu
An integrated approach to modeling changes in land use, land cover, and disturbance and their impact on ecosystem carbon dynamics: a case study in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California
Increased land-use intensity (e.g. clearing of forests for cultivation, urbanization), often results in the loss of ecosystem carbon storage, while changes in productivity resulting from climate change may either help offset or exacerbate losses. However, there are large uncertainties in how land and climate systems will evolve and interact to shape future ecosystem carbon dynamics. To address thi
Authors
Benjamin M. Sleeter, Jinxun Liu, Colin Daniel, Leonardo Frid, Zhiliang Zhu
Land cover trends dataset, 1973-2000
The U.S. Geological Survey Land Cover Trends Project is releasing a 1973–2000 time-series land-use/land-cover dataset for the conterminous United States. The dataset contains 5 dates of land-use/land-cover data for 2,688 sample blocks randomly selected within 84 ecological regions. The nominal dates of the land-use/land-cover maps are 1973, 1980, 1986, 1992, and 2000. The land-use/land-cover maps
Authors
Christopher E. Soulard, William Acevedo, Roger F. Auch, Terry L. Sohl, Mark A. Drummond, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Daniel G. Sorenson, Steven Kambly, Tamara S. Wilson, Janis L. Taylor, Kristi Sayler, Michael P. Stier, Christopher A. Barnes, Steven C. Methven, Thomas R. Loveland, Rachel Headley, Mark S. Brooks
Land-use threats and protected areas: a scenario-based, landscape level approach
Anthropogenic land use will likely present a greater challenge to biodiversity than climate change this century in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Even if species are equipped with the adaptive capacity to migrate in the face of a changing climate, they will likely encounter a human-dominated landscape as a major dispersal obstacle. Our goal was to identify, at the ecoregion-level, protected areas in
Authors
Tamara S. Wilson, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Rachel R. Sleeter, Christopher E. Soulard
Spatially explicit modeling of 1992-2100 land cover and forest stand age for the conterminous United States
Information on future land-use and land-cover (LULC) change is needed to analyze the impact of LULC change on ecological processes. The U.S. Geological Survey has produced spatially explicit, thematically detailed LULC projections for the conterminous United States. Four qualitative and quantitative scenarios of LULC change were developed, with characteristics consistent with the Intergovernmental
Authors
Terry L. Sohl, Kristi Sayler, Michelle Bouchard, Ryan R. Reker, Aaron M. Friesz, Stacie L. Bennett, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Rachel R. Sleeter, Tamara Wilson, Christopher E. Soulard, Michelle Knuppe, Travis Van Hofwegen
Land-cover change in the conterminous United States from 1973 to 2000
Land-cover change in the conterminous United States was quantified by interpreting change from satellite imagery for a sample stratified by 84 ecoregions. Gross and net changes between 11 land-cover classes were estimated for 5 dates of Landsat imagery (1973, 1980, 1986, 1992, and 2000). An estimated 673,000 km2(8.6%) of the United States’ land area experienced a change in land cover at least one
Authors
Benjamin M. Sleeter, Terry L. Sohl, Thomas R. Loveland, Roger F. Auch, William Acevedo, Mark A. Drummond, Kristi Sayler, Stephen V. Stehman
Status and trends of land change in the Western United States--1973 to 2000
Preface
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Professional Paper 1794–A is the first in a four-volume series on the status and trends of the Nation’s land use and land cover, providing an assessment of the rates and causes of land-use and land-cover change in the Western United States between 1973 and 2000. Volumes B, C, and D provide similar analyses for the Great Plains, the Midwest–South Central United
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 18
Filter Total Items: 52
Methods used to parameterize the spatially-explicit components of a state-and-transition simulation model
Spatially-explicit state-and-transition simulation models of land use and land cover (LULC) increase our ability to assess regional landscape characteristics and associated carbon dynamics across multiple scenarios. By characterizing appropriate spatial attributes such as forest age and land-use distribution, a state-and-transition model can more effectively simulate the pattern and spread of LULC
Authors
Rachel Sleeter, William Acevedo, Christopher E. Soulard, Benjamin M. Sleeter
Land-use impacts on water resources and protected areas: applications of state-and-transition simulation modeling of future scenarios
Human land use will increasingly contribute to habitat loss and water shortages in California, given future population projections and associated land-use demand. Understanding how land-use change may impact future water use and where existing protected areas may be threatened by land-use conversion will be important if effective, sustainable management approaches are to be implemented. We used a
Authors
Tamara Wilson, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Jason T. Sherba, Dick Cameron
Integrated climate and land use change scenarios for California rangeland ecosystem services: wildlife habitat, soil carbon, and water supply
Context
In addition to biodiversity conservation, California rangelands generate multiple ecosystem services including livestock production, drinking and irrigation water, and carbon sequestration. California rangeland ecosystems have experienced substantial conversion to residential land use and more intensive agriculture.
Objectives
To understand the potential impacts to rangeland ecosystem serv
Authors
Kristin B. Byrd, Lorraine E. Flint, Pelayo Alvarez, Frank Casey, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Christopher E. Soulard, Alan L. Flint, Terry L. Sohl
Projected carbon stocks in the conterminous USA with land use and variable fire regimes
The dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM) MC2 was run over the conterminous USA at 30 arc sec (~800 m) to simulate the impacts of nine climate futures generated by 3GCMs (CSIRO, MIROC and CGCM3) using 3 emission scenarios (A2, A1B and B1) in the context of the LandCarbon national carbon sequestration assessment. It first simulated potential vegetation dynamics from coast to coast assuming no huma
Authors
Dominique Bachelet, Ken Ferschweiler, Timothy J. Sheehan, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Zhiliang Zhu
Quantifying climate change mitigation potential in Great Plains wetlands for three greenhouse gas emission scenarios
We examined opportunities for avoided loss of wetland carbon stocks in the Great Plains of the United States in the context of future agricultural expansion through analysis of land-use land-cover (LULC) change scenarios, baseline carbon datasets and biogeochemical model outputs. A wetland map that classifies wetlands according to carbon pools was created to describe future patterns of carbon loss
Authors
Kristin B. Byrd, Jamie L. Ratliff, Anne Wein, Norman B. Bliss, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Terry L. Sohl, Zhengpeng Li
Projecting the spatiotemporal carbon dynamics of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem from 2006 to 2050
BackgroundClimate change and the concurrent change in wildfire events and land use comprehensively affect carbon dynamics in both spatial and temporal dimensions. The purpose of this study was to project the spatial and temporal aspects of carbon storage in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) under these changes from 2006 to 2050. We selected three emission scenarios and produced simulations w
Authors
Shengli Huang, Shuguang Liu, Jinxun Liu, Devendra Dahal, Claudia Young, Brian Davis, Terry L. Sohl, Todd Hawbaker, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Zhiliang Zhu
An integrated approach to modeling changes in land use, land cover, and disturbance and their impact on ecosystem carbon dynamics: a case study in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California
Increased land-use intensity (e.g. clearing of forests for cultivation, urbanization), often results in the loss of ecosystem carbon storage, while changes in productivity resulting from climate change may either help offset or exacerbate losses. However, there are large uncertainties in how land and climate systems will evolve and interact to shape future ecosystem carbon dynamics. To address thi
Authors
Benjamin M. Sleeter, Jinxun Liu, Colin Daniel, Leonardo Frid, Zhiliang Zhu
Land cover trends dataset, 1973-2000
The U.S. Geological Survey Land Cover Trends Project is releasing a 1973–2000 time-series land-use/land-cover dataset for the conterminous United States. The dataset contains 5 dates of land-use/land-cover data for 2,688 sample blocks randomly selected within 84 ecological regions. The nominal dates of the land-use/land-cover maps are 1973, 1980, 1986, 1992, and 2000. The land-use/land-cover maps
Authors
Christopher E. Soulard, William Acevedo, Roger F. Auch, Terry L. Sohl, Mark A. Drummond, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Daniel G. Sorenson, Steven Kambly, Tamara S. Wilson, Janis L. Taylor, Kristi Sayler, Michael P. Stier, Christopher A. Barnes, Steven C. Methven, Thomas R. Loveland, Rachel Headley, Mark S. Brooks
Land-use threats and protected areas: a scenario-based, landscape level approach
Anthropogenic land use will likely present a greater challenge to biodiversity than climate change this century in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Even if species are equipped with the adaptive capacity to migrate in the face of a changing climate, they will likely encounter a human-dominated landscape as a major dispersal obstacle. Our goal was to identify, at the ecoregion-level, protected areas in
Authors
Tamara S. Wilson, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Rachel R. Sleeter, Christopher E. Soulard
Spatially explicit modeling of 1992-2100 land cover and forest stand age for the conterminous United States
Information on future land-use and land-cover (LULC) change is needed to analyze the impact of LULC change on ecological processes. The U.S. Geological Survey has produced spatially explicit, thematically detailed LULC projections for the conterminous United States. Four qualitative and quantitative scenarios of LULC change were developed, with characteristics consistent with the Intergovernmental
Authors
Terry L. Sohl, Kristi Sayler, Michelle Bouchard, Ryan R. Reker, Aaron M. Friesz, Stacie L. Bennett, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Rachel R. Sleeter, Tamara Wilson, Christopher E. Soulard, Michelle Knuppe, Travis Van Hofwegen
Land-cover change in the conterminous United States from 1973 to 2000
Land-cover change in the conterminous United States was quantified by interpreting change from satellite imagery for a sample stratified by 84 ecoregions. Gross and net changes between 11 land-cover classes were estimated for 5 dates of Landsat imagery (1973, 1980, 1986, 1992, and 2000). An estimated 673,000 km2(8.6%) of the United States’ land area experienced a change in land cover at least one
Authors
Benjamin M. Sleeter, Terry L. Sohl, Thomas R. Loveland, Roger F. Auch, William Acevedo, Mark A. Drummond, Kristi Sayler, Stephen V. Stehman
Status and trends of land change in the Western United States--1973 to 2000
Preface
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Professional Paper 1794–A is the first in a four-volume series on the status and trends of the Nation’s land use and land cover, providing an assessment of the rates and causes of land-use and land-cover change in the Western United States between 1973 and 2000. Volumes B, C, and D provide similar analyses for the Great Plains, the Midwest–South Central United