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Climate Adaptation Science Centers

From wildfires to sea-level rise, climate change creates evolving challenges for ecosystems across the nation. The USGS National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASCs) is a partnership-driven program that teams scientists with natural resource managers and communities to help fish, wildlife, water, land, and people adapt to a changing climate.

News

America’s Butterfly Populations Down 22% over Past Two Decades

America’s Butterfly Populations Down 22% over Past Two Decades

Dropping the Bass: USGS science helps partners stop spread of invasive smallmouth bass in the Colorado River

Dropping the Bass: USGS science helps partners stop spread of invasive smallmouth bass in the Colorado River

CASC Scientists’ Research Among Most Highly Cited in Multiple Environmental Science Journals

CASC Scientists’ Research Among Most Highly Cited in Multiple Environmental Science Journals

Publications

Limited directional change in mountaintop plant communities over 19 years in western North America

Plant communities on mountain summits are commonly long-lived, cold-adapted perennials with low dispersal ability. These characteristics in tandem with limited area to track suitable conditions make these mountain communities potentially highly vulnerable to climate change, and indicators of climate change impacts. We investigated temporal changes in plant communities on 29 arid mountain...
Authors
Kaleb Goff, Meagan Ford Oldfather, Jan Nachlinger, Brian Smithers, Michael Koontz, Catie Bishop, Jim Bishop, Mary Burke, Seema Sheth

Climate change effects on ecosystem services: Disentangling drivers of mixed responses

Climate change is a pervasive hazard that impacts the supply and demand of ecosystem goods and services (EGS) that maintain human well-being. A recent review found that the impacts of climate change on EGS are sometimes mixed, posing challenges for managers who need to adapt to these changes. We expand on earlier work by exploring drivers of varying responses of EGS to climate within...
Authors
Marcy C. Delos, Ciara G. Johnson, Sarah R. Weiskopf, Janet Alice Cushing

Climate change impacts and adaptation in U.S. Rocky Mountain high-elevation ecosystems

From a resource management perspective, climate change is considered to be one of the main threats to high-elevation ecosystems. However, these valuable ecosystems present unique challenges to climate change adaptation (actions in response to environmental change and its effects in a way that seeks to reduce harm) due to their rugged and remote characteristics. Within this context, we...
Authors
Meagan Ford Oldfather, Alyson Ennis, Brian W. Miller, Kyra Clark-Wolf, Imtiaz Rangwala, Hailey Robe, Caitlin Littlefield
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