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At least 1,135 records · Page 63Linked to original sources

USGS2010

Changes in the status of harvested rice fields in the Sacramento Valley, California: Implications for wintering waterfowl.

Harvested rice fields provide critical foraging habitat for wintering waterfowl in North America, but their value depends upon post-harvest treatments. We visited harvested ricefields in the Sacramento Valley, California, during the winters of 2007 and 2008 (recent period) and recorded their observed status as harvested (standing or mechanically modified stubble), burned, plowed, or flooded. We compared these data with those from identical studies conducted during the 1980s (early period). We documented substantial changes in field status between periods. First, the area of flooded rice increased 4-5-fold, from about 15% to >40% of fields, because of a 3-4-fold increase in the percentage of fields flooded coupled with a 37-41% increase in the area of rice produced. Concurrently, the area of plowed fields increased from <22% to >35% of fields, burned fields declined from about 40% to 1%, and fields categorized as harvested declined from 22-54% to <15%. The increased flooding has likely increased access to food resources for wintering waterfowl, but this benefit may not be available to some goose species, and may be at least partially countered by the increase of plowed fields, especially those left dry, and the decrease of fields left as harvested.We encourage waterfowl managers to implement a rice field status survey in the Sacramento Valley and other North American rice growing regions as appropriate to support long-term monitoring programs and wetland habitat conservation planning for wintering waterfowl.

California↗

USGS2016

A trans-national monarch butterfly population model and implications for regional conservation priorities

1. The monarch has undergone considerable population declines over the past decade, and the governments of Mexico, Canada, and the United States have agreed to work together to conserve the species. 2. Given limited resources, understanding where to focus conservation action is key for widespread species like monarchs. To support planning for continental-scale monarch habitat restoration, we address the question of where restoration efforts are likely to have the largest impacts on monarch butterfly ( Danaus plexippus Linn.) population growth rates. 3. We present a spatially explicit demographic model simulating the multi-generational annual cycle of the eastern monarch population, and use the model to examine management scenarios, some of which focus on particular regions of North America. 4. Improving the monarch habitat in the north central or southern parts of the monarch range yields a slightly greater increase in the population growth rate than restoration in other regions. However, combining restoration efforts across multiple regions yields population growth rates above 1 with smaller simulated improvements in habitat per region than single-region strategies. 5. S ynthesis and applications: These findings suggest that conservation investment in projects across the full monarch range will be more effective than focusing on one or a few regions, and will require international cooperation across many land use categories.

Ecological Entomology↗

USGS2019

Top-down effect of repatriating bald eagles hinder jointly recovering competitors

1. The recovery of piscivorous birds around the world is touted as one of the great conservation successes of the 21st century, but for some species, this success was short-lived. Bald eagles, ospreys, and great blue herons began repatriating Voyageurs National Park, USA, in the mid-20th century. However, after 1990, only eagles continued their recovery, while osprey and heron recovery failed for unknown reasons. 2. We aimed to evaluate whether top-down effects of bald eagles, and bottom-up effects of inclement weather, habitat quality, and fish resources contributed to the failed recovery of ospreys and herons in a protected area. 3. We quantified the relative influence of top-down and bottom-up factors on nest colonization, persistence (i.e., nest reuse) and success for ospreys, and occurrence and size of heronries using 26 years (1986-2012) of spatially-explicit monitoring data coupled with multi-response hierarchical models and Bayesian variable selection approaches. 4. Bald eagles were previously shown to recover faster due to intensive nest protection and management. Increased numbers of eagles were associated with a reduction in the numbers of osprey nests, their nesting success, and heronry size; while higher local densities of nesting eagles deterred heronries nearby. We found little evidence of bottom-up limitations on the failed recovery of herons and ospreys. 5. We present a conservation conundrum: bald eagles are top predators and a flagship species of conservation that have benefited from intensive protection, but this likely hindered the recovery of ospreys and herons. Returning top predators, or rewilding, is widely promoted as a conservation strategy for top-down ecosystem recovery, but managing top predators in isolation of jointly recovering species can halt or reverse ecosystem recovery. Previous studies warn of the potential consequences of ignoring biotic interactions amongst recovering species, but we go further by quantifying how these interactions contributed to failed recoveries via impacts on the nesting demography of jointly recovering species. Multi-species management is paramount to realizing the ecosystem benefits of top predator recovery.

Minnesota↗

USGS2003

Science support for managing migratory waterfowl.

Migratory birds in North America are an international resource shared by Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Ultimate population management authority in the U.S. lies with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), but states participate in development of management decisions through the Flyway system. The FWS, state wildlife agencies, and nongovernmental organizations participate through independent actions and cooperative Joint Ventures under the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) to acquire, protect, restore, and enhance wetlands and other habitats critical to the long-term conservation of breeding, migrating, and wintering waterfowl. A thorough base of scientific information is required to support and evaluate waterfowl populations and habitat management in North America.

WERC Fact Sheet↗

USGS2022

Action plan for restoration of coral reef coastal protection services: Case study example and workbook

This report was prepared by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Office of Research and Development, as part of the Air, Climate and Energy (ACE) research program, with support from Tetra Tech, Inc., and in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey, and The Nature Conservancy. The ACE research program provides scientific information and tools to support USEPA’s commitment to clean air, clean water and sustainable natural resources, even as environmental conditions change. A key component of this is the development of sound science to support adaptation. Adaptation involves preparing for and adjusting to the effects of climate change and its interactions with other global and local stressors. Because these effects are diverse, interactive, and difficult to predict, adapting management of natural resources in this context can be very challenging. Coral reefs—which provide valued ecosystem services such as fisheries, coastal protection, and tourism—are threatened by the effects of increased sea surface temperatures, sea level rise, and intensifying storms. These large-scale stressors are interacting with local stressors such as pollution, overfishing, and recreational misuse to drive ongoing and accelerating declines in coral reef ecosystems. Thus, there is a rising urgency to design and implement climate change adaptation measures that will enable reef resilience in the face of these changes. This includes accounting for, and adjusting to, the combined effects of climate change and local stressors in coral reef protection and restoration efforts. The action plan, example case study, and workbook found in this report demonstrate a structured process for integrating climate-smart design considerations into restoration planning using A Manager’s Guide to Coral Reef Restoration Planning and Design. The focus is a hypothetical coral reef restoration project that has a goal of recovering nature-based coastal protection services using restoration interventions. The intent is to provide readers with a completed example of how to use the Guide workbook to inform a draft action plan, centering on the topic of coastal protection as a burgeoning area of interest in coral reef science and management communities. The information in this hypothetical case study is not intended for direct use; rather, it provides a starting point for more detailed planning that would occur in specific places. And while a full review of the current literature on reef restoration methods is outside the scope of this report, readers are encouraged to use the examples herein as well as in the Guide as a jumping-off point for exploring the rapidly growing body of information on methods, techniques, successes, failures, monitoring challenges and future directions of coral reef restoration in a changing world. The workbook, together with the action plan, can serve as a valuable record of the planning thought process as well as a living document for adaptive management, to be updated through time as improved information becomes available.

EPA Report↗

USGS2002

Arctic Refuge coastal plain terrestrial wildlife research summaries

In 1980, when the U.S. Congress enacted the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), it also mandated a study of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Section 1002 of ANILCA stated that a comprehensive inventory of fish and wildlife resources would be conducted on 1.5 million acres of the Arctic Refuge coastal plain (1002 Area). Potential petroleum reserves in the 1002 Area were also to be evaluated from surface geological studies and seismic exploration surveys. Results of these studies and recommendations for future management of the Arctic Refuge coastal plain were to be prepared in a report to Congress. In 1987, the Department of the Interior published the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, Coastal Plain Resource Assessment - Report and Recommendations to the Congress of the United States and Final Environmental Impact Statement. This report to Congress identified the potential for oil and gas production (updated* most recently by the U.S. Geological Survey in 2001), described the biological resources, and evaluated the potential adverse effects to fish and wildlife resources. The 1987 report analyzed the potential environmental consequences of five management alternatives for the coastal plain, ranging from wilderness designation to opening the entire area to lease for oil and gas developement. The report's summary recommended opening the 1002 Area to an orderly oil and gas leasing program, but cautioned that adverse effects to some wildlife populations were possible. Congress did not act on this recommendation nor any other alternative for the 1002 Area, and scientists continued studies of key wildlife species and habitats on the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge and surrounding areas. This report contains updated summaries of those scientific investigations of caribou, muskoxen, predators (grizzly bears, wolves, golden eagles), polar bears, snow geese, and their wildlife habitats. Contributions to this report were made by scientists affiliated with the U.S. Geological Survey; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Alaska Department of Fish and Game; University of Alaska-Fairbanks; Canadian Wildlife Service; Yukon Department of Renewable Resources; and the Northwest Territories Department of Resources, Wildlife, and Economic Development. Sections of the report presenting new information on caribou and forage plants were peer-reviewed by three independent, non-affiliated scientists. The remaining sections summarize previously published peer-reviewed scientific papers and were reviewed by a single independent scientist. The U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service collaborated in the publication of this report.

Alaska, Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory↗

USGS2026

High-resolution transboundary vegetation community maps of the Sonoran and Mojave Desert ecoregion to support critical landscape conservation planning and habitat management needs

We produced a 30-m resolution binational land cover map of Bird Conservation Region 33 (BCR 33) for the U.S. North American Bird Conservation Initiative. The region covers large portions of the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts. The map can support the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Migratory Bird Program’s recovery planning efforts and constitutes the first known binational land cover dataset spanning sections of the United States–Mexico border and using a consistent classification system for both countries. The mapped region includes 152 distinct land cover classes, covering a total area of 38,421,453 ha (148,345 mi 2 ), of which 13,148,345 ha (52,706 mi 2 ) are located in Mexico and 24,770,640 ha (95,639 mi 2 ) in the United States. We primarily used Landsat 8 (OLI) imagery, supplemented by limited ground surveys from two field campaigns, drone-based aerial data, and existing vegetation classification frameworks from both countries. The classification applied a data-fusion approach integrating 30-m Landsat 8 imagery, decadal phenology metrics from vegetation indices, and a random forest model trained mainly with datasets from a comprehensive national mapping project from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) GAP Analysis Project (GAP) and federal wildland fire agencies’ Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools (LANDFIRE) (GAP/LANDFIRE) [United States side] and the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) [Mexico side] as well as land cover maps and opportunistic open-access and field observations. Mapping of the full BCR 33 region was carried out in two phases: 1) Phase I, the prototype map, covered a smaller portion of the transboundary area and identified 31 land cover classes, and 2) Phase II, the full BCR 33 map (refer to Figure 1), which resulted in 152 land cover classes. Using a Random Forest classifier, we achieved an overall prediction accuracy of 92% for the Phase I map and 87% for the Phase II full region map. This slight decrease can be attributed to working on a larger, more complex area with a greater number of land cover classes. No formal validation was conducted, aside from using a subset of the collected field observations and training data to assess model performance during and after training. The training sites were further verified using Google Earth (Google, 2026) imagery. Two undergraduate students who worked for over a year visually inspected imagery and open access public images to confirm each training site during model training using in-house developed, online, visual tools. A portion of this field training data was reserved for model validation, and the corresponding results are to be presented in later sections. The project developed an end-to-end, medium- and fine-resolution remote sensing–based data fusion mapping approach. This effort produced a map (Nagler et al., 2025) and the online tools to support a dynamic, live, online map for visualizing the transboundary vegetation communities in BCR 33. The toolset is currently hosted by the University of Arizona (UofA) Vegetation Index and Phenology (VIP) Lab to support FWS partners (https://vip.arizona.edu/viplab_data_explorer?LCM_BCR33). The online map is designed to allow rapid updates using new training, validation, or correction data, making it dynamic and maintainable. The approach we took established a framework for rapid updating and correction of land cover maps, as the model can be quickly retrained with new field observations, updated training data, or other sources. This enables dynamic mapping and change detection of the region’s vegetation. This framework is an advance in data fusion and crowdsourced mapping of complex, vulnerable regions, providing support to regional stakeholders and the wider user community. This transboundary map can inform the protection, conservation, and restoration of vegetation, habitat, and ecosystems, particularly for threatened and endangered species across the two nations using consistent and harmonized binational mapping systems. Beyond supporting land management decisions and stakeholders in the transboundary desert ecoregions, this BCR 33 mapping effort establishes a foundation for future rapid, low-cost, cross-border land cover mapping that can benefit and advance ecosystem management.

Arizona, Baja California, California, Nevada, Sina↗

USGS2009

Factors influencing tropical island freshwater fishes:Species, status, and management implications in puerto rico [Factores que influencian a los peces tropicales de agua dulce: Especies, estado actual e implicaciones para el manejo en Puerto Rico]

Anthropogenic effects including river regulation, watershed development, contamination, and fish introductions have substantially affected the majority of freshwater habitats in Europe and North America. This pattern of resource development and degradation is widespread in the tropics, and often little is known about the resources before they are lost. This article describes the freshwater resources of Puerto Rico and identifies factors that threaten conservation of native fishes. The fishes found in freshwater habitats of Puerto Rico represent a moderately diverse assemblage composed of 14 orders, 29 families, and 82 species. There are fewer than 10 species of native peripherally-freshwater fish that require a link to marine systems. Introductions of nonindigenous species have greatly expanded fish diversity in freshwater systems, and native estuarine and marine species (18 families) also commonly enter lowland rivers and brackish lagoons. Environmental alterations, including land use and development, stream channelization, pollution, and the impoundment of rivers, combined with nonnative species introductions threaten the health and sustainability of aquatic resources in Puerto Rico. Six principal areas for attention that are important influences on the current and future status of the freshwater fish resources of Puerto Rico are identified and discussed.

Fisheries↗

USGS2006

Fulfilling a paradoxical mandate: can the Environmental Water Account ensure the reliability of freshwater exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and simultaneously protect delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) from excessive entrainment?

The San Francisco Estuary (SFE) is often defined by its extremes. It is considered one of the most urbanized estuaries in the world (Conomos 1979, Nichols et al. 1986), and one of the most invaded estuaries in the United States, with hundreds of aquatic nonindigenous species established throughout the system (Cohen and Carlton 1995, Dill and Cordone 1997, Kimmerer and Orsi 1996). It is also one of the most managed estuaries, particularly in relation to freshwater inflow, water circulation, and water quality (Jassby and Powell 1994, CSWRCB 1995, Arthur et al. 1996, Kimmerer 2002). Despite this high level of disturbance, the SFE is one of the most valuable natural resources in the western United States (CALFED 2000). The SFE provides important habitat for numerous native plant and animal species, many of special concern, as well as several species with sport and commercial value (CALFED 2000). Conserving and restoring estuarine habitat and natural resources is a pressing and complex challenge for the responsible government agencies because human water needs continue to increase in concert with continuing urbanization of the watershed.

Interagency Ecological Program Newsletter↗

USGS2012

Groundwater quality in the Columbia Plateau, Snake River Plain, and Oahu basaltic-rock and basin-fill aquifers in the Northwestern United States and Hawaii, 1992-2010

This assessment of groundwater-quality conditions of the Columbia Plateau, Snake River Plain, and Oahu for the period 1992–2010 is part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program. It shows where, when, why, and how specific water-quality conditions occur in groundwater of the three study areas and yields science-based implications for assessing and managing the quality of these water resources. The primary aquifers in the Columbia Plateau, Snake River Plain, and Oahu are mostly composed of fractured basalt, which makes their hydrology and geochemistry similar. In spite of the hydrogeologic similarities, there are climatic differences that affect the agricultural practices overlying the aquifers, which in turn affect the groundwater quality. Understanding groundwater-quality conditions and the natural and human factors that control groundwater quality is important because of the implications to human health, the sustainability of rural agricultural economies, and the substantial costs associated with land and water management, conservation, and regulation. The principal regional aquifers of the Columbia Plateau, Snake River Plain, and Oahu are highly vulnerable to contamination by chemicals applied at the land surface; essentially, they are as vulnerable as many shallow surficial aquifers elsewhere. The permeable and largely unconfined character of principal aquifers in the Columbia Plateau, Snake River Plain, and Oahu allow water and chemicals to infiltrate to the water table despite depths to water commonly in the hundreds of feet. The aquifers are essentially unconfined over large areas, having few extensive clay layers to impede infiltration through permeable volcanic rock and alluvial sediments. Agriculture is intensive in all three study areas, and heavy irrigation has imposed large artificial flows of irrigation recharge that rival or exceed natural recharge rates. Fertilizers and pesticides applied at land surface are leached from soil and transported to deep water tables with the infiltrating irrigation recharge, resulting in a layer of degraded water quality overlying better quality regional groundwater beneath. This “irrigation-recharge layer” is best known on Oahu, where it has been studied since the 1960s; however, the extent of nitrate and pesticide contamination in the Columbia Plateau and Snake River Plain indicate that the same situation exists in those areas. Contamination from agricultural and urban activities is present not only at shallow depths in surficial materials of the three areas, but extends regionally in the deep, principal bedrock aquifers that are tapped for drinking water by domestic and public-supply wells. Naturally occurring constituents and nitrate concentrations above human-health benchmarks—Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs), and Health-Based Screening Levels (HBSLs)—were more common in the Columbia Plateau and the Snake River Plain than in Oahu. Concentrations of anthropogenic constituents (constituents related to human activities) above human-health benchmarks were more common in Oahu. Naturally occurring contaminants, such as arsenic and radon, may be present in groundwater at concentrations of potential concern for human health in relatively undeveloped settings that otherwise may not be perceived as susceptible to contamination. Even though the median depth to groundwater in Oahu is more than 300 feet, the common occurrence of anthropogenic compounds in groundwater indicates that Oahu has a high susceptibility to contamination. Nitrate concentrations in groundwater were above the national background concentrations of 1 milligram per liter (mg/L) in all three study areas. In the Columbia Plateau, nitrate exceeded the human-health benchmark of 10 mg/L in 20 percent of the wells sampled. In the Snake River Plain, nitrate exceeded the human-health benchmark of 10 mg/L in 3 percent of the wells sampled. Nitrate can persist in groundwater for years and even decades in the oxygen-rich groundwater of the Columbia Plateau and the Snake River Plain, so prudent groundwater protection measures are critical to protect drinking water resources by reducing nitrate leaching from the land surface. Nitrate logistic regression models indicated that areas with a high percentage of land in crops (such as potatoes or sugarcane) and soils with low amounts of organic matter are most likely to have elevated nitrate concentrations in the groundwater. Areas where agricultural activities were absent had much lower probabilities of detecting elevated nitrate concentrations. The Columbia Plateau had a much higher probability of having elevated nitrate concentrations, with most of the land area having greater than a 50 percent probability of elevated nitrate concentrations. Oahu and the Snake River Plain had a much lower probability of having elevated nitrate concentrations because of their lower percentage of agricultural land. Pesticides were detected at many sites in groundwater of the Columbia Plateau, Snake River Plain, and Oahu but generally at low concentrations below human-health benchmarks. Atrazine and its degradate (a compound produced from the breakdown of a parent pesticide), deethylatrazine, were the most commonly detected pesticides in groundwater sampled in the Columbia Plateau and Snake River Plain. Bromacil was the most commonly detected pesticide on Oahu. The other pesticides most commonly detected in the study areas include simazine, hexazinone, metribuzin, diuron, prometon, metolachlor, p,p’ -DDE, dieldrin, 2-4-D, and alachlor. DDE (a degradate of DDT) and dieldrin are still being detected in groundwater despite having been banned for more than 30 years. Codetection of multiple pesticides in water from a single well was common. The widespread occurrence of pesticides in groundwater in the study areas indicates that the groundwater is highly susceptible to pesticide contamination. Some pesticides were detected in groundwater samples from all three study areas, but other pesticides were detected only in samples from Oahu, or only in samples from the Columbia Plateau and Snake River Plain. This is because some pesticides (such as atrazine) are broad-spectrum pesticides that are used on many crops in many different areas of the United States. Other pesticides (such as simazine, metribuzin, and metolachlor) are used on row crops (such as potatoes, barley, and alfalfa) grown in the Columbia Plateau and Snake River Plain, but not on pineapple or sugarcane grown in Oahu. Atrazine logistic-regression models indicate that areas with a high percentage of land in crops (such as potatoes or sugarcane), a low percentage of fallow land, and highly permeable soils with low amounts of organic matter are most likely to have atrazine detected in the groundwater. Areas where agricultural activities were absent had much lower probabilities of atrazine being detected. The Snake River Plain had a much higher probability of atrazine detections, with more than 50 percent of the land area having greater than a 50 percent probability of atrazine contamination. Oahu had a much lower probability of atrazine contamination, with only 24 percent of the land area having greater than a 50 percent probability of atrazine contamination. Oahu and the Columbia Plateau had some of the highest percentages of soil fumigant detections in groundwater in the United States. Soil fumigants are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) used as pesticides, which are applied to soils to reduce populations of plant parasitic nematodes (harmful rootworms), weeds, fungal pathogens, and other soil-borne microorganisms. They are used in Oahu and the Columbia Plateau on crops such as pineapple and potatoes. All three areas (Columbia Plateau, Snake River Plain, and Oahu) had fumigant concentrations exceeding human-health benchmarks for drinking water.

Hawai'i, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, ↗

USGS2021

Cape Romain partnership for coastal protection

This final report summarizes activities, outcomes, and lessons learned from a 3-year project titled “Climate Change Adaptation for Coastal National Wildlife Refuges” with the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and local partners in the surrounding South Carolina Lowcountry. The Lowcountry is classified as the 10-county area encompassing the coastal plain of South Carolina (this report specifically focuses on Berkeley, Charleston, and Georgetown Counties). The goals of this work, sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (SECASC), were to foster active engagement with stakeholders; to develop a comprehensive definition of adaptation problems faced by agencies, organizations, and individuals near the Cape Romain NWR that accounts for global change, local values, knowledge and perceptions; and to encourage social learning and building of effective networks and trust across South Carolina Lowcountry organizations and individuals. Although project scoping began at the scale of the Atlantic seaboard, by engaging with NWRs from Massachusetts to Florida, participating refuge personnel eventually selected the Cape Romain NWR to serve as a case study for testing our goals. The Cape Romain Partnership for Coastal Conservation was established to address global change impacts at a regional level and includes representation from Federal and State resource agencies, local conservation nongovernmental organizations, and organizations representing underserved community interests. Research topics, originating from discussions with Cape Romain Partnership for Coastal Conservation members, focused on quantifying key drivers of change including localized sea-level rise (SLR) predictions, estimates of coastal hurricane inundation as amplified by SLR, and urban growth trends and forecasts. These key drivers provided a foundation to engage stakeholders in planning exercises to begin a process of collective understanding and collaborative decision making. The goal of this process was to develop collective strategies of adaptation to enhance community and ecosystem resilience in the South Carolina Lowcountry. South Carolina’s Lowcountry is experiencing rapid environmental and social transformation because of SLR rates approaching twice the global average, chronic tidal flooding and catastrophic storm surges, erosion and loss of habitats that provide essential services to wildlife and humans, and increasing social polarization fueled by aggressive low-density urban growth and other forms of land conversion. To support characterizations of plausible future scenarios, we used available or, in some cases, developed new models to project future conditions of key environmental and social-economic drivers. Because of the imprecision of mean global SLR projections, the SECASC commissioned a climatological study to account for local conditions and multiple representative concentration pathways to project a tailored distribution of future sea levels. These projections were matched to SLR scenarios provided by existing models to anticipate the range of future coastal habitat changes in the South Carolina Lowcountry. SLR scenarios were also incorporated into existing storm-surge models, which do not account for alternate baseline sea levels, to project the local effects of future hurricanes. To evaluate the extent and effects of population growth and urban expansion, we relied on an existing urban-growth model to map the spatial distribution of land-conversion probabilities, the total area of which is predicted to increase twofold to threefold over the next 60 years. In addition to this simplified model, an econometric model is in development to account for nonlinear feedback dynamics in land value, land use, and ecosystem service production. Although not yet completed, the goals of this model are to produce more-detailed projections of growth dynamics and to allow predictions of development patterns resulting from alternate land-use planning policies and incentives. Collaborative planning for an uncertain future requires more than providing decision makers with information on future physical and ecological conditions; developing effective and consensual strategies must also integrate sociological values, multiple cultural perspectives, and an understanding of human behavior. To support broad stakeholder engagement in integrative approaches to adaptation planning, emphasis was placed on the importance of considering differences in how individuals perceive their environment and create meaning. Because cultural frameworks form the basis for perceptions and, ultimately, the behaviors of individuals and institutions, we describe a model of human behavior and how it can be used to understand the effect of cultural complexity and variation in perception on choices, behavioral change, and long-term maintenance of behaviors. We consider a model commonly used in the field of behavioral health that accommodates variation in human perception when describing stages of behavior and the dynamics of behavioral change. Tailoring communication and engagement activities to targeted stakeholders is likely to benefit from increased understanding of behavioral change processes. The complex nature of this problem limited the usefulness of a traditional decision-analytic approach, we explored alternative methods for engagement, collaborative learning and decision making. Recognizing that project partners and Lowcountry stakeholders may be at different stages of preparedness and interest level for modifying behavior as a function of global change, we facilitated a scenario-planning exercise to familiarize partners with this well-established approach for communicating the opportunities and threats arising under alternative, plausible futures. We developed narratives for four alternative South Carolina Lowcountry scenarios to be used in later strategic planning that focus on quantitative trends for three primary drivers with high impact and high uncertainty: manifestations of climate change, social-political shifts at a global level, and forces of local value and power structures. This scenario-planning exercise underscored the complex relation between the temporospatial scale of the production of ecological goods and services and the institutional scale at which they are managed. We then guided the partners through an assessment of the relevant strengths and weaknesses of the Cape Romain Partnership for Coastal Protection, using the threats and opportunities characterized by each scenario to understand how the partnership might respond when attempting to meet conservation and societal objectives. The partnership identified key strengths including partnership experience, outreach and technical capacities, a substantial conservation land base, and high social cohesion in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Limited communication expertise, institutional inertia, and insufficient staffing and funding were recognized as important weaknesses across the partnership. By examining and scoring combinations of internal strengths and weaknesses and external threats and opportunities, the partnership developed sets of prioritized strategies to consider in the context of a given scenario. Although we had insufficient time to examine all scenarios in detail, the intent was to identify a portfolio of strategic actions to address threats and opportunities represented in multiple plausible futures. Top-ranking strategies encompassed a range of actions that focused on strengthening the conservation community and communicating the benefits of nature (that is, ecosystem services) to leveraging partnerships to expand land protection. This report also details the methods and preliminary results of several models developed or applied in support of this project. Two parcel-selection algorithms were used to evaluate anticipated habitat changes and patterns of urban growth to guide decisions on optimal conservation reserve design to protect habitat communities. One approach used a widely available planning software (MARXAN) to maximize conservation benefits near the Cape Romain NWR, whereas the other approach was a novel application of economic theory to account for uncertainty in future conditions and for the risks of unanticipated habitat loss. This latter model applies modern portfolio theory to estimate the risk of investing in any portfolio of land parcels (that is, candidate “reserves”) under climate-change uncertainty by quantifying the variation and spatial correlation of conservation benefits derived from each portfolio. We expanded the range of actions beyond simply whether or not to invest in a set of land parcels, an approach commonly used in spatial conservation planning, to also include consideration of divestment from currently protected lands. Such refinements allow for better accounting of system dynamics and can evaluate the benefits of flexible conservation tools such as rolling easements. Model results were conditional on a decision maker’s risk tolerance but highlighted general strategies of land conservation to increase future habitat representation beyond what is expected under the current protected land base. We built models that may help inform coastal planning by estimating salinity dynamics and the performance of oyster reef restoration efforts to predict the combined effects of global change and management of freshwater flows on coastal habitats and the processes that contribute to their resilience. These models can support restoration decisions by evaluating the expected benefits of site locations for shoreline protection and fisheries production. Lastly, we developed a spatially explicit economic model that predicts feedback dynamics among land value, land-use change, and effects on ecosystem service provision to explore zoning policies and incentives on urban growth and ecosystem services. We summarize these efforts with insights and considerations for the Cape Romain Partnership for Coastal Protection to continue to engage stakeholders in effective adaptation planning. First, notions of place attachment (referred to as sense of place), and the role of culture in social discourse are increasingly being used to understand the complex interactions between society and the environment and how societies respond and adapt to climate change. Sense of place was a unifying theme whenever the future of the South Carolina Lowcountry was discussed. The contribution of the South Carolina Lowcountry’s environmental wealth, rich cultural heritage, and quality of life to sense of place has important implications for how adaptation planning might best be pursued. More community-based governance of the commons (in other words, natural and cultural resources held in common), in which broad stakeholder participation and power sharing are key elements, is considered important. This devolution of governance is characterized by polycentric institutions and self-organizing social networks that promote a local culture of knowledge sharing, problem solving, and learning. These so-called bridging organizations (or individuals) often provide the leadership necessary to bring together potentially disparate Government agencies and institutions, private organizations, and individuals in a collective process of problem solving. Our observations also suggest that the conservation community in the South Carolina Lowcountry views its activities as integral to the broader governance of social-ecological systems, in which responses to the forces of global change are mediated through culture, economics, and politics. Rather than directly competing with other interests, the South Carolina Lowcountry conservation community seems to embrace an interpretation of conservation in which the fundamental objective is the quality of human life rather than environmental protection. Fundamental to the types of governance reforms described above is the notion of coproduction, in which experts and users collaborate to develop a shared body of knowledge. In this approach, scientists work with stakeholders to help frame questions, design research, and collect and analyze data. Such sustained collaborations are increasingly believed to be an effective way to produce useable (or actionable) science. The emphasis on social learning, leveraging strong social networks, coordinating and deliberating among diverse stakeholders, and applying principles of adaptive management is an essential contribution to adaptive capacity. The diverse and robust set of scientific approaches, methods to help stakeholders collaborate in effective and goal-driven planning processes, and decision tools resulting from this project hopefully will assist Cape Romain NWR and its partners prepare for climatic, ecological, and social changes over the coming decades.

South Carolina↗

USGS2026

Northern bobwhites select for native grasses on working grazing land

Northern bobwhite ( Colinus virginianus ; bobwhite) populations have experienced an 85% decline across most of its range since the 1960s. The most drastic decreases have been in the southeastern United States where biologists attribute the decline to widespread habitat loss, including conversion of native grasslands to tall fescue ( Lolium arundinaceum ) and other exotic cool-season grass (CSG) pasture and hayfields. Including agricultural lands in conservation programs could improve habitat conditions on a regional scale. One working-lands conservation strategy involves the use of native warm-season grasses (NWSGs) rather than cool-season exotic grasses as economically viable cattle forage. To evaluate this management practice for creating bobwhite habitat, we conducted a field study on a bobwhite population in eastern Kentucky, USA, where grazed NWSG and burned NWSG fields were adjacent to exotic grazed and exotic hayed CSG fields. Between April 2019 and October 2022, we used radio telemetry to track bobwhites to evaluate resource selection at second- and third-order scales. Bobwhites used traditionally managed CSGs less than would be expected by chance at the second-order scale in both breeding and non-breeding seasons. Bobwhite use of grazed NWSG and burned NWSG was greater than would be expected by chance at the second-order scale in both breeding and non-breeding seasons. Similarly, at the third-order scale, bobwhites used CSGs less than would be expected by chance, whereas NWSGs and woody stems were used more than by chance alone. Our study suggests that bobwhites select NWSGs at multiple spatial scales despite broad-scale availability of managed exotic CSGs. Under a working-lands framework, the integration of NWSGs into working lands could create bobwhite habitat in the southeastern United States, especially if woody stems are present.

Kentucky↗

USGS2015

Nest-site selection and reproductive success of greater sage-grouse in a fire-affected habitat of northwestern Nevada

Identifying links between micro-habitat selection and wildlife reproduction is imperative to population persistence and recovery. This information is particularly important for landscape species such as greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus ; sage-grouse). Although this species has been widely studied, because environmental factors can affect sage-grouse populations, local and regional studies are crucial for developing viable conservation strategies. We studied the habitat-use patterns of 71 radio-marked sage-grouse inhabiting an area affected by wildfire in the Virginia Mountains of northwestern Nevada during 2009–2011 to determine the effect of micro-habitat attributes on reproductive success. We measured standard vegetation parameters at nest and random sites using a multi-scale approach (range = 0.01–15,527 ha). We used an information-theoretic modeling approach to identify environmental factors influencing nest-site selection and survival, and determine whether nest survival was a function of resource selection. Sage-grouse selected micro-sites with greater shrub canopy cover and less cheatgrass ( Bromus tectorum ) cover than random sites. Total shrub canopy, including sagebrush ( Artemisia spp.) and other shrub species, at small spatial scales (0.8 ha and 3.1 ha) was the single contributing selection factor to higher nest survival. These results indicate that reducing the risk of wildfire to maintain important sagebrush habitats could be emphasized in sage-grouse conservation strategies in Nevada. Managers may seek to mitigate the influx of annual grass invasion by preserving large intact sagebrush-dominated stands with a mixture of other shrub species. For this area of Nevada, the results suggest that ≥40% total shrub canopy cover in sage-grouse nesting areas could yield improved reproductive success.

Nevada↗

USGS2021

Conservation status of the world’s skinks (Scincidae): Taxonomic and geographic patterns in extinction risk

Our knowledge of the conservation status of reptiles, the most diverse group of terrestrial vertebrates, has improved dramatically over the past decade, but still lags behind that of the other tetrapod groups. Here, we conduct the first comprehensive assessment (~92% of the world’s ~1,714 described species) of the conservation status of skinks (Scincidae), the most speciose reptile family worldwide. Using IUCN criteria, we found that ~20% of species are threatened with extinction, and nine species are Extinct or Extinct in the Wild. The highest levels of threat are evident in Madagascar, and the Neotropics, and in the subfamilies Mabuyinae, Eugongylinae and Scincinae. The vast majority of threatened skink species were listed based primarily on their small geographic ranges (Criterion B, 83%; Criterion D2, 13%). Although the population trend of 42% of species were stable, 14% were found to have declining populations. The key threats to skinks are habitat loss due to agriculture, invasive species, and biological resource use. Distributions of 61% of species did not overlap with protected areas. Despite our improved knowledge of the conservation status of the world’s skinks, 8% of species remain to be assessed and 221 species (14%) are listed as Data Deficient. The conservation status of almost a quarter of the world’s skink species thus remains unknown. We use our updated knowledge of the conservation status of the group to develop and outline the priorities for the conservation assessment and management of the world’s skink species.

Biological Conservation↗

USGS2017

Ecosystem services from transborder migratory species: Implications for conservation governance

This article discusses the conservation challenges of volant migratory transborder species and conservation governance primarily in North America. Many migratory species provide ecosystem service benefits to society. For example, insectivorous bats prey on crop pests and reduce the need for pesticides; birds and insects pollinate food plants; and birds afford recreational opportunities to hunters and birdwatchers. Migration is driven by the seasonal availability of resources; as resources in one area become seasonally scarce, individuals move to locations where resources have become seasonally abundant. The separation of the annual lifecycle means that species management and governance is often fractured across international borders. Because migratory species depend on habitat in different locations, their ability to provide ecosystem services in one area depends on the spatial subsidies, or support, provided by habitat and ecological processes in other areas. This creates telecouplings, or interconnections across geographic space, of areas such that impacts to the habitat of a migratory species in one location will affect the benefits enjoyed by people in other locations. Information about telecoupling and spatial subsidies can be used to craft new governance arrangements such as Payment for Ecosystem Services programs that target specific stakeholder groups and locations. We illustrate these challenges and opportunities with three North American case studies: the Duck Stamp Program, Mexican free-tailed bats ( Tadarida brasiliensis mexicana ), and monarch butterflies ( Danaus plexippus ).

Annual Review of Environment and Resources↗

USGS2017

Combined analysis of roadside and off-road breeding bird survey data to assess population change in Alaska

Management interest in North American birds has increasingly focused on species that breed in Alaska, USA, and Canada, where habitats are changing rapidly in response to climatic and anthropogenic factors. We used a series of hierarchical models to estimate rates of population change in 2 forested Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs) in Alaska based on data from the roadside North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and the Alaska Landbird Monitoring Survey, which samples off-road areas on public resource lands. We estimated long-term (1993–2015) population trends for 84 bird species from the BBS and short-term (2003–2015) trends for 31 species from both surveys. Among the 84 species with long-term estimates, 11 had positive trends and 17 had negative trends in 1 or both BCRs; negative trends were primarily found among aerial insectivores and wetland-associated species, confirming range-wide negative continental trends for many of these birds. Three species with negative trends in the contiguous United States and southern Canada had positive trends in Alaska, suggesting different population dynamics at the northern edges of their ranges. Regional population trends within Alaska differed for several species, particularly those represented by different subspecies in the 2 BCRs, which are separated by rugged, glaciated mountain ranges. Analysis of the roadside and off-road data in a joint hierarchical model with shared parameters resulted in improved precision of trend estimates and suggested a roadside-related difference in underlying population trends for several species, particularly within the Northwestern Interior Forest BCR. The combined analysis highlights the importance of considering population structure, physiographic barriers, and spatial heterogeneity in habitat change when assessing patterns of population change across a landscape as broad as Alaska. Combined analysis of roadside and off-road survey data in a hierarchical framework may be particularly useful for evaluating patterns of population change in relatively undeveloped regions with sparse roadside BBS coverage.

Condor↗

USGS2008

Examining differences between recovered and declining endangered species

Between 1973 and 1999, 43 species in the United States were reclassified from endangered to threatened or removed entirely from the Endangered Species List. Of these, 23 were identified as recovered. In 1999 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ( USFWS) published a list of 33 additional species for possible reclassification and/or delisting. We initiated this study to examine why some endangered species recover but others continue to decline and to identify differences in management activities between these two groups. We defined recovered/recovering species as previously recovered species and the additional recovered/recovering species listed by the USFWS. We defined declining species as those identified as declining in the most recent USFWS Report to Congress. Information on recovered/recovering and declining species was gathered from relevant literature, recovery plans, U.S. Federal Register documents, and individuals responsible for the recovery management of each species. We used this information to examine (1) the percentage of current and historic range covered by management activities; (2) threats affecting the species; (3) population sizes at the time of listing; (4) current versus historic range size; and (5) percentage of recovery management objectives completed. Although few statistical analyses provided significant results, those that did suggest the following differences between recovered/recovering and declining species: (1) recovered/recovering species face threats that are easier to address; (2) recovered/recovering species occupy a greater percentage of their historic range; and (3) recovered/recovering species have a greater percentage of their recovery management objectives completed. Those species with threats easier to address and that occupy a greater percentage of their historic range are recovered/recovering. In contrast, declining species face threats more difficult to address and occupy significantly less of their historic range. If this remains true, future species recovery may require more time and resources.

Conservation Biology↗

USGS2004

Contribution of natural history collection data to biodiversity assessment in national parks

There has been mounting interest in the use of museum and herbaria collections to assess biodiversity; information is often difficult to locate and access, however, and few recommendations are available for effectively using natural history collections. As part of an effort to inventory vertebrates and vascular plants in U.S. national parks, we searched manually and by computer for specimens originating within or adjacent to 14 parks throughout the northeastern United States. We compared the number of specimens located to collection size to determine whether there was any effect on detection rate of specimens. We evaluated the importance of park characteristics (e.g., age since establishment, size, theme [natural vs. cultural]) for influencing the number of specimens found in a collection. We located >31,000 specimens and compiled associated records (hereafter referred to as specimens) from 78 collections; >9000 specimens were park-significant, originating either within park boundaries or in the local township where the park was located. We found >2000 specimens by means of manual searches, which cost $0.001–0.15 per specimen searched and $0.81–151.95 per specimen found. Collection effort appeared relatively uniform between 1890 and 1980, with low periods corresponding to significant sociopolitical events. Detection rates for specimens were inversely related to collection size. Although specimens were most often located in collections within the region of interest, specimens can be found anywhere, particularly in large collections international in scope, suggesting that global searches will be necessary to evaluate historical biodiversity. Park characteristics indicated that more collecting effort occurred within or adjacent to larger parks established for natural resources than in smaller historical sites. Because many institutions have not yet established electronic databases for collections, manual searches can be useful for retrieving specimens. Our results show that thorough, systematic searching of natural history collections for park-significant specimens can provide a historical perspective on biodiversity for park managers.

Conservation Biology↗