Skip to main content

Joshua Lawler

Wetland ecosystems are ecologically important components of park landscapes. Montane wetlands may be particularly vulnerable to changing climates. Responsible and effective park protection of these areas relies on accurate inventories of sites, a detailed understanding of ecosystem functions and hydrologic cycles, and projections of changes based on future climates. Currently, parks have incomplete baseline inventories of montane wetlands and only qualitative information on hydroperiods of wetlands. The goals of this collaborative project are to collect hydrologic data to support the development of models, to collect GPS data to improve delineations of wetland maps, and to use these data to improve model projecting...
thumbnail
Applying Vulnerability Assessment Tools to Plan for Climate Adaptation: Case Studies in the Great Northern LCC
This project will apply the results of an on-going climate change vulnerability assessment to the management of two complex landscapes. The vulnerability assessment project team will work with mangers, land-owners, and conservation practitioners to explore 1) how downscaled climate datasets, modeled vegetation changes, and information on estimated species sensitivities can be used to develop climate change adaptation strategies, and 2) how model results and datasets can be made more useful for informing the management of species and landscapes. To accomplish these two goals, we will prepare datasets and model outputs for two landscapespotentially, the Pioneer Mountains-Craters of the Moon region in Idaho and the...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: Climate Change, Columbia Basin, Columbia Plateau, Connectivity, Conservation Plan/Design/Framework, All tags...
thumbnail
Understanding Climate Change Vulnerability in the Pacific Northwest: A Comparison of Three Approaches
Climate change is already affecting species in many ways. Because individual species respond to climate change differently, some will be adversely affected by climate change whereas others may benefit. Successfully managing species in a changing climate will require an understanding of which species will be most and least impacted by climate change. Although several approaches have been proposed for assessing the vulnerability of species to climate change, it is unclear whether these approaches are likely to produce similar results. In this study, we compared the relative vulnerabilities to climate change of 76 species of birds, mammals, amphibians, and trees based on three different approaches to assessing vulnerability....
thumbnail
Visualizing the Future Abundance and Distribution of Birds in the Northwest
Ecological systems are already responding to modern changes in climate. Many species are moving in directions and at rates that correspond with recent climatic change. Understanding how species distributions and abundances are likely to be altered can inform management and planning activities resulting in more robust management. We projected climate-driven changes in the abundances and distributions of 31 focal bird species in Oregon and Washington using the latest downscaled CMIP5 climate projections and corresponding vegetation model outputs. We mapped these future projections and integrated them into an existing web-based tool (http://data.pointblue.org/apps/nwcsc/) to allow managers and planners to access and...
View more...
ScienceBase brings together the best information it can find about USGS researchers and offices to show connections to publications, projects, and data. We are still working to improve this process and information is by no means complete. If you don't see everything you know is associated with you, a colleague, or your office, please be patient while we work to connect the dots. Feel free to contact sciencebase@usgs.gov.