Science Explorer
Exploring: Ecosystems
Natural ecosystems
Natural Ecosystems analyzes the association of observed changes in climate with changes in the geographic distributions and phenology (the timing of blossoms or migrations of birds) for Southwestern ecosystems and their species, portraying ecosystem disturbances—such as wildfires and outbreaks of forest pathogens—and carbon storage and release, in...
Ecosystems Mission Area bookmark
Scientists with the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area can be found at Science Centers and Cooperative Research Units across the Nation. We provide scientific research for the Department of the Interior that supports the management and conservation of our Nation’s biological resources.
Bioenergetics in ecosystems
A bioenergetics model for a fish can be defined as a quantitative description of the fish’s energy budget. Bioenergetics modeling can be applied to a fish population in a lake, river, or ocean to estimate the annual consumption of food by the fish population; such applications have proved to be useful in managing fisheries. In addition,...
Biocomplexity in mangrove ecosystems
Mangroves are an ecological assemblage of trees and shrubs adapted to grow in intertidal environments along tropical coasts. Despite repeated demonstration of their economic and societal value, more than 50% of the world's mangroves have been destroyed, 35% in the past two decades to aquaculture and coastal development, altered hydrology, sea-...
Fire in eastern ecosystems
Prior to Euro-American settlement, fire was a ubiquitous force across most of the Eastern United States. Fire regimes spanned a time-scale from chronic to centuries. Fire severity varied from benign to extreme (fig. 1-2). Today, fire is still a major force on the landscape. In some ecosystems fire stabilizes succession at a...
