Evaluation of Drought Indices and Indicators for Ecological Drought in the Mid-Atlantic United States

Drought is a climatic hazard that occurs everywhere; it can have significant impacts on both human and environmental systems. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s list of billion-dollar disasters drought events cost the United States $10.9 billion on average every year. As climate change continues to influence extremes in precipitation, temperature, and other variables, it is expected that the intensity and frequency of droughts will be exacerbated. Previous research has focused on increasing our understanding of meteorological, agricultural, hydrological, and socio-economic drought. However, these are not the only systems impacted by drought conditions. Ecosystems are greatly impacted by drought conditions and understanding ecological impacts is vital to increasing our understanding of drought. This, work aims to expand our understanding of how pollinators are impacted by drought conditions. Pollinators play a crutal role in maintaining biodiversity as well s the health of ecosystems. This work will conduct an impacts-based analysis of indices for ecological drought at both the climate division and ecoregion level for the Mid-Atlantic. This will evaluate 11 indices and 6 indicators to determine the best representation of the impact’s pollinators face during drought periods.