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Person

Simeon Yurek

Research Ecologist
Email: syurek@usgs.gov
Office Phone: 352-264-3476
ORCID: 0000-0002-6209-7915

Location
7920 NW 71st Street
Gainesville , FL 32653
US
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Coastal management decisions are complex and include challenging tradeoffs. Decision science offers a useful framework to address such complex problems. We illustrate the process with several coastal restoration studies. Our capstone example is based on a recent barrier island restoration assessment project at Dauphin Island, Alabama, which included the development of geomorphological and ecological models that forecast environmental changes over a 10 year time period from 2015 to 2025. The proposed framework aims to serve as a tool to assist coastal managers with the process of restoration. Specifically, we discuss the importance of considering concepts and techniques from ecology, coastal geology, geomorphology,...
1) Raw parcel-level habitat data for the South Carolina Lowcountry surrounding Cape Romain NWR and Francis Marion NF, from current current conditions and for three projected sea-level rise futures based on SLAMM model outputs, NLCD land cover and the projected distribution of sea levels for 2050. 2) a table of parcel identification numbers (without georeference) with parcel size (Ha) and sub-group identity. 3) Optimization-model derived reserve design portfolios that define the Pareto-optimal frontier for each sub-group and for four budget scenarios along axes of reserve design benefits and risk.
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Future of Aquatic Flows: Exploring Changes in the Freshwater/Saltwater Interface and Related Impacts to Aquatic Species
Coastal ecosystems are uniquely vulnerable to changes in the quantity and quality of freshwater discharge. With a warming climate, changes in freshwater discharge into estuaries will interact with rising sea levels. Natural resource managers in coastal areas are looking for guidance on the potential impacts and vulnerabilities to better manage the risks to aquatic species and habitats, and to mitigate species decline or collapse resulting from changes in freshwater availability. In particular, managers and researchers are concerned with producing appropriate ecological flows, which describe the conditions of river and stream flow into estuaries that are needed to ensure the proper structure and function of coastal...
Abstract (from Ecological Society of America (ESA): Climate change and urban growth impact habitats, species, and ecosystem services. To buffer against global change, an established adaptation strategy is designing protected areas to increase representation and complementarity of biodiversity features. Uncertainty regarding the scale and magnitude of landscape change complicates reserve planning and exposes decision makers to risk of failing to meet conservation goals. Conservation planning tends to treat risk as an absolute measure, ignoring the context of the management problem and risk preferences of stakeholders. Application to conservation of risk management theory emphasizes diversification of portfolio of...
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Water, Water Everywhere: Adapting Water Control Operations and Floodplain Conservation Planning to Global Change
Global change processes are producing shifts in temperature, precipitation, and seasonal streamflow regimes across North America. Much of the floodplain hydrology in the U.S. is managed through water control operations, often implemented on short time scales (e.g., weekly decisions), in response to short-term changes in precipitation. This operational model does not account for potential long-term trends, such as increased recurrence or shifts in seasonal timing of high flow events within a year. Therefore, polices that only focus on short-time scales and recent historic conditions may not perform as well under altered climate regimes. This uncertainty in future floodplain conditions is concerning for a variety...
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