While the iconic Haleakal silversword plant made a strong recovery from early 20th century threats, it has now entered a period of substantial climate-related decline. New research published this week warns that global warming may have severe consequences for the silversword in its native habitat.
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Plant and animal species are shifting their geographic ranges and the timing of their life events such as flowering, laying eggs or migrating at faster rates than researchers documented just a few years ago, according to a technical report on biodiversity and ecosystems used as scientific input for the 2013 Third National Climate Assessment.
In front of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) national headquarters building in Reston, Va., two genetically identical lilac bushes are rooted in the earth. To casual observers, they are fragrant adornments to the landscaped property. But to ecologist Jake Weltzin and geographer John Jones—USGS scientists who study plant and animal life-cycle events—they are “Li” and “Lac,” two small but important pieces of a developing climate change indicator system.
Multiple USGS field crews from several states are recording high-water marks, collecting discharge measurements and obtaining water quality data in coastal and inland Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
Rates of sea level rise are increasing three-to-four times faster along portions of the U.S. Atlantic Coast than globally, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey report published in Nature Climate Change.
The low streamflows seen throughout much of New England this April do not foreshadow a summer drought, as researchers have determined summer rainfall plays a bigger role than snowmelt runoff in determining streamflows in the summer.
Recent warming of terrestrial climates combined with decreased stream flows has raised concerns about possible increases in stream temperatures in the Pacific continental United States.
Data collected from long distance swims by polar bears suggest that they do not stop to rest during their journey.
Cross-posted from USGS , a member of the U.S. Global Change Research Program Spring rains in the eastern Horn of Africa are projected to begin late this year and be substantially lower than normal. From March - May, the rains are expected to total only 60 to 85 percentage of the average rainfall in this region. This is a significant deterioration...
A new study by USGS scientists and university researchers reveals that a substantial amount of organic carbon on Alaskan glaciers comes from atmospheric deposition of fossil fuel emissions.