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We characterized coastal wetland responses to flooding stress by measuring vegetation cover, wetland elevation and water elevation in healthy and degrading wetlands dominated by Spartina patens. Wetland elevation was measured using real-time kinematic survey methods. Vegetation cover was determined by visual estimation methods, and water elevation was measured using in situ continuous recorders. In addition to these local-scale responses, we also measured landscape-scale patterns of land and water aggregation or fragmentation using remotely sensed data (Jones et al., 2018). Associated products: Jones, W.R., Hartley, S.B., Stagg, C.L., and Osland, M.J. 2018. Land-water classification for selected sites in McFaddin...
Categories: Data;
Tags: Grand Chenier,
Land Use Change,
Texas,
USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC),
aggregation, All tags...
ecological threshold,
flooding,
habitat fragmentation,
hydrologic characteristics of habitats,
wetlands, Fewer tags
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Global climate change is leading to large-scale shifts in species’ range limits. For example, rising winter temperatures are shifting the abundance and distributions of tropical, cold sensitive plant species towards higher latitudes. Coastal wetlands provide a prime example of such shifts, with tropical mangrove forests expanding into temperate salt marshes as winter warming alleviates past geographic limits set by cold intolerance. These rapid changes are dynamic and challenging to monitor, and uncertainty remains regarding the extent of mangrove expansion near poleward range limits. Here, we synthesized existing datasets and expert knowledge to assess the current (i.e., 2021) distribution of mangroves near dynamic...
Categories: Data;
Types: Downloadable,
Map Service,
OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
Shapefile;
Tags: Alabama,
Botany,
Ecology,
Florida,
Gulf of Mexico, All tags...
Land Use Change,
Louisiana,
Mississippi,
North America,
Texas,
USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC),
United States,
ecology,
ecosystem monitoring,
effects of climate change,
mangrove forests,
range limits, Fewer tags
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Climatic extremes are becoming more frequent with climate change and have the potential to cause major ecological shifts and ecosystem collapse. Along the northern Gulf of Mexico, a coastal wetland in the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge in Texas suffered significant and acute vegetation dieback following Hurricane Harvey in 2017. We identified plant zonal boundaries along an elevation gradient with drought-tolerant plant species, including succulents and graminoids, at higher elevations and flood-tolerant species, including Spartina alterniflora, at lower elevations. We measured mean canopy height for each species. Soil surface elevation was measured using Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) methods.
Categories: Data;
Tags: Brazos River,
Coastal wetlands,
Ecological thresholds,
Ecology,
Ecosystem collapse, All tags...
Extreme climatic events,
Extreme precipitation,
Gulf of Mexico,
Hurricane Harvey,
Precipitation (atmospheric),
Regime shift,
Salt marsh,
San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge,
San Bernard River,
Sudden Vegetation Dieback,
Texas,
Tropical cyclones,
USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC),
United States,
Wetlands,
biota, Fewer tags
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