Geology topics

Jessica Burnett

Publications and source records attributed to Jessica Burnett.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2026

How to accelerate advances in ecological forecasting

Ecological forecasting offers critical insights for managing natural resources and safeguarding public well-being. Despite growing demand for these forecasts, progress is hindered by fragmented systems, redundant workflows, and limited interoperability. Drawing lessons from weather forecasting and recent successes like the NEON Ecological Forecasting Challenge, shared cyberinfrastructure is important for advancing ecological prediction. By adopting common standards, open-source tools, and scalable architectures, and fostering transdisciplinary collaboration, the ecological forecasting community can overcome technical and institutional barriers. Such investments could accelerate scientific understanding, improve forecast reliability, and empower decisionmakers to anticipate environmental change and respond effectively.

Eos, American Geophysical Union↗

USGS2018

Thermal tolerance limits of the Chinese mystery snail (Bellamya chinensis): Implications for management

The Chinese mystery snail, Bellamya chinensis (Gray, 1834) is a gastropod native to East Asia and is considered an invasive species in North America where its impacts on native species and ecosystems are not well understood. Scientific literature describing its biology and life history are sparse. Thermal tolerance limits, or the maximum and minimum temperature under which a species can survive, are key to identifying the potential geographical range of a species. The ability of managers to control invasive species is directly impacted by the thermal tolerance limits of a species. We attempted to identify the thermal tolerance limits of B. chinensis in a laboratory setting. Using a random sampling design, we exposed groups of wild-caught B. chinensis to either extreme high or low temperature treatments. We identified the upper temperature tolerance limit as between 40 and 45 °C. This result indicates some hot water management techniques may successfully prevent spread of B. chinensis among waterways. Despite exposing B. chinensis to freezing temperatures for extended periods of time we did not identify a lower temperature limit. Identifying the thermal tolerance limits of this and other invasive species informs predictions of range expansion and identification of potential prevention efforts.

American Malacological Bulletin↗

USGS2016

Avoiding decline: Fostering resilience and sustainability in midsize cities

Eighty-five percent of United States citizens live in urban areas. However, research surrounding the resilience and sustainability of complex urban systems focuses largely on coastal megacities (>1 million people). Midsize cities differ from their larger counterparts due to tight urban-rural feedbacks with their immediate natural environments that result from heavy reliance and close management of local ecosystem services. They also may be less path-dependent than larger cities due to shorter average connection length among system components, contributing to higher responsiveness among social, infrastructural, and ecological feedbacks. These distinct midsize city features call for a framework that organizes information and concepts concerning the sustainability of midsize cities specifically. We argue that an integrative approach is necessary to capture properties emergent from the complex interactions of the social, infrastructural, and ecological subsystems that comprise a city system. We suggest approaches to estimate the relative resilience of midsize cities, and include an example assessment to illustrate one such estimation approach. Resilience assessments of a midsize city can be used to examine why some cities end up on sustainable paths while others diverge to unsustainable paths, and which feedbacks may be partially responsible. They also provide insight into how city planners and decision makers can use information about the resilience of midsize cities undergoing growth or shrinkage relative to their larger and smaller counterparts, to transform them into long-term, sustainable social-ecological systems.

Sustainability↗