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The USGS National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC) is currently engaged in an Ecological Drought initiative, focused on understanding the impacts of drought on natural ecosystems across the country. This project was designed to support the Ecological Drought initiative by creating a USGS EcoDrought Actionable Science Working Group. The goal of this working group was to identify science needs for drought-related decisions and to provide natural resource managers with practical strategies for adapting to and planning for drought. The working group engaged social scientists to garner advice on relevant social science research questions and data needs, as well as to identify any regulatory, institutional,...
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Drought events have cost the U.S. nearly $245 billion since 1980, with costs ranging from $2 to $44 billion in any given year. However, these socio-economic losses are not the only impacts of drought. Ecosystems, fish, wildlife, and plants also suffer, and these types of drought impacts are becoming more commonplace. Further, ecosystems that recover from drought are now doing so under different climate conditions than they have experienced in the past few centuries. As temperature and precipitation patterns change, “transformational drought”, or drought events that can permanently and irreversibly alter ecosystems – such as forests converting to grasslands – are a growing threat. This type of drought has cascading...
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Drought is a complex environmental hazard that impacts both ecological and social systems. Accounting for the role of human attitudes, institutions, and societal values in drought planning is important to help identify how various drought durations and severity may differentially affect social resilience to adequately respond to and manage drought impacts. While there have been successful past efforts to understand how individuals, communities, institutions, and agencies plan for and respond to drought, these studies have relied on extensive multi-year case studies in specific locations. In contrast, this project seeks to determine how social science insights and methods can best contribute to ecological drought...
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As temperature and precipitation patterns change, different species in different areas will be affected in different ways. Some places may serve as refuges for wildlife—places where animals can remain or to which they can easily move to escape the worst impacts of climate change. This project will establish a Refugia Research Coalition to leverage recently funded Northwest CASC research projects on the topic of ecological refugia. The goal of this collaborative effort will be to synthesize our understanding of ecological refugia in the Pacific Northwest and how best to use refugia-related research products as tools for adaptive management planning in the region. Ecological refugia will be an important means of protecting...
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As droughts become more frequent, there is a growing need to understand how drought impacts streamflow permanence. Intermittent streams, or streams that go dry at some point during the year, are found in all ecoregions and represent over half of the global stream network length. As stream intermittence increases, there will be implications for both aquatic and terrestrial wildlife communities, land management, and water rights holders. A core challenge to understanding how drought will impact streams is the fact that hydrologic models are often better at representing periods of high flow rather than low flow. Gaining a better understanding of the processes that lead to stream drying, and how these processes are...
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Climate change is already affecting ecosystems, and will likely trigger significant and permanent changes in both ecological and human communities. Such transformations are already occurring in the Arctic region of Alaska, where temperatures are warming at twice the global average and causing some ecosystems to transition to new states. Arctic warming has led to coastal erosion that has forced human communities to relocate and a loss of sea ice that has forced marine mammals, such as polar bears and walrus, to adapt to a more terrestrial mode of living. Meanwhile, in the Great Plains of the U.S., past interactions between land and water use during the Dust Bowl and recent high rates of depletion of the Ogallala...
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Understanding the paths by which water flows through the landscape is critical for providing fresh water for human use, maintaining ecosystem function, and better predicting how disturbances such as fire or drought may impact water quantity and water quality. Yet projected changes in climate, disturbances, and land use , are likely to alter hydrologic flow paths, and .natural resource managers increasingly require information about projected changes in water flow paths to plan for the future. To meet this need, researchers will conduct a synthesis of changing hydrologic processes in the North Central region, and communicate the identified management options and opportunities to natural resource managers in federal...
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Freshwater is a critical driver for island ecosystems and essential part of the water cycle in tropical islands, which is threaten by climate change. Changes in streamflow patterns may impact streams, estuarine, and coastal habitats. In Hawai‘i, these habitats support five native stream fish species. To examine how changes in streamflow have impacted habitat quality for these native aquatic species, an ongoing project has been examining statewide long-term stream records. This study will examine historical extreme weather patterns, including flood and drought, to describe the characteristics and flow patterns of stream habitats in HawaiĘ»i. This information will then be associated with observed fish populations...
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Abundant scientific research has characterized the relationships between climate and fire in ecosystems of the United States, and there is substantial evidence that the role of fire in ecosystems is likely to change with a changing climate. Changing fire patterns pose numerous natural resource management challenges and decision makers in natural-resource management increasingly require information about potential future changes in fire regimes to effectively prepare for and adapt to climate change impacts. An effective forward-looking fire science synthesis is urgently required to reflect the changing dimensions of human fire management, recognizing that fire causes, effects, impacts, and management are all interrelated...
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Prairies were once widespread across North America, but are now one of the most endangered and least protected ecosystems in the world. Agriculture and residential development have reduced once extensive prairies into a patchwork of remnant prairies and “surrogate” grasslands (e.g., hayfields, planted pastures). Grassland ecosystems and many grassland-dependent birds are also particularly vulnerable to rapid shifts in climate and associated changes in drought and extreme weather. The Central Flyway is a vast bird migration route that comprises more than half of the continental U.S., and extends from Central America to Canada, and harbors the greatest diversity of grassland birds in North America. Throughout this...
    map background search result map search result map Eco-drought Actionable Science Working Group Developing and Testing a Rapid Assessment Method for Understanding Key Social Factors of Ecological Drought Preparedness Establishing a Refugia Research Coalition (RRC) for Collaborative Refugia-Related Research and Management in the Pacific Northwest Adaptation Strategies in the Face of Climate-Driven Ecological Transformation: Case Studies from Arctic Alaska and the U.S. Great Plains State of the Science Synthesis on Transformational Drought: Understanding Drought’s Potential to Transform Ecosystems Across the Country Strategies for Reducing the Vulnerability of Grassland Birds to Climate Change within the Central Flyway Future of Fire: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate Future of Aquatic Flows: Towards a Synthesis of Changing Hydrology Under Increasing Climate Change and Disturbance Pressures Filling the Knowledge Gaps: Extreme Weather Driven Changes in Streamflow Patterns and their Impacts on Fish in Hawaiian Streams A Guide to Modeling Low Flows and Intermittent Streams in the Pacific Northwest Establishing a Refugia Research Coalition (RRC) for Collaborative Refugia-Related Research and Management in the Pacific Northwest A Guide to Modeling Low Flows and Intermittent Streams in the Pacific Northwest Future of Aquatic Flows: Towards a Synthesis of Changing Hydrology Under Increasing Climate Change and Disturbance Pressures Strategies for Reducing the Vulnerability of Grassland Birds to Climate Change within the Central Flyway Adaptation Strategies in the Face of Climate-Driven Ecological Transformation: Case Studies from Arctic Alaska and the U.S. Great Plains Filling the Knowledge Gaps: Extreme Weather Driven Changes in Streamflow Patterns and their Impacts on Fish in Hawaiian Streams Eco-drought Actionable Science Working Group Developing and Testing a Rapid Assessment Method for Understanding Key Social Factors of Ecological Drought Preparedness State of the Science Synthesis on Transformational Drought: Understanding Drought’s Potential to Transform Ecosystems Across the Country Future of Fire: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate