Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center
Publications
Below is a list of available NOROCK peer reviewed and published science. If you are in search of a specific publication and cannot find it below or through a search, please contact twojtowicz@usgs.gov.
Climate drivers of large magnitude snow avalanche years in the U.S. northern Rocky Mountains
Large magnitude snow avalanches pose a hazard to humans and infrastructure worldwide. Analyzing the spatiotemporal behavior of avalanches and the contributory climate factors is important for understanding historical variability in climate-avalanche relationships as well as improving avalanche forecasting. We used established dendrochronological...
Peitzsch, Erich; Pederson, Gregory T.; Birkeland, Karl W.; Hendrikx, Jordy; Fagre, Daniel B. Enigmatic near‐extirpation in a boreal toad metapopulation in northwestern Montana
North America's protected lands harbor biodiversity and provide habitats where species threatened by a variety of stressors in other environments can thrive. Yet disease, climate change, and other threats are not limited by land management boundaries and can interact with conditions within protected landscapes to affect sensitive populations. We...
McCaffery, Rebecca; Russell, Robin E.; Hossack, Blake R. Anthropogenic edge effects in habitat selection by sun bears in a protected area
Wildlife populations in southeast Asia are increasingly experiencing a broad array of anthropogenic threats, and mammalian carnivores are particularly vulnerable. Populations of the Malayan sun bear Helarctos malayanus are estimated to have declined by 30% over the last 30 years from forest conversion to industrial plantations and...
Tee, T. L; van Manen, Frank T.; Kretzschmar, P.; Sharp, S. P.; Wong, S. T.; Gadas, S.; Ratnayeke, S. Integrating ecological impacts: Perspectives on drought in the Upper Missouri Headwaters, Montana, United States
Drought is a complex challenge experienced in specific locations through diverse impacts, including ecological impacts. Different professionals involved in drought preparedness and response approach the problem from different points of view, which means they may or may not recognize ecological impacts. This study examines the extent to which...
Cravens, Amanda E.; McEvoy, Jamie; Zoanni, Dionne; Crausbay, Shelley; Ramirez, Aaron R.; Cooper, Ashley Elizabeth Effects of supplemental feeding on the fecal bacterial communities of Rocky Mountain elk in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Supplemental feeding of wildlife is a common practice often undertaken for recreational or management purposes, but it may have unintended consequences for animal health. Understanding cryptic effects of diet supplementation on the gut microbiomes of wild mammals is important to inform conservation and management strategies. Multiple laboratory...
Couch, Claire E; Wise, Benjamin; Scurlock, Brandon M.; Rogerson, Jared D.; Fuda, Rebecca K.; Cole, Eric K; Szcodronski, Kimberly E; Sepulveda, Adam J.; Hutchins, Patrick R.; Cross, Paul A reassessment of Chao2 estimates for population monitoring of grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
The Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee (YES) asked the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST) to re-assess a technique used in annual population estimation and trend monitoring of grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). This technique is referred to as the Chao2 approach and estimates the number of females with cubs-of-the-...
van Manen, Frank T.; Ebinger, Michael R.; Haroldson, Mark A.; Bjornlie, Daniel D.; Clapp, Justin; Thompson, Daniel J.; Frey, Kevin L.; Costello, Cecily M.; Hendricks, Curtis; Nicholson, Jeremy M.; Gunther, Kerry A.; Wilmot, Katharine R.; Cooley, Hilary; Fortin-Noreus, Jennifer; Hnilicka, Pat; Tyers, Daniel B. Water reliability in the west -- SECURE Water Act Section 9503(C)
No abstract available.
McGuire, Marketa; Gangopadhyay, Subhrendu; Martin, Justin; Pederson, Gregory T.; Woodhouse, Connie A.; Littell, Jeremy S. Quantifying energetic costs and defining energy landscapes experienced by grizzly bears
Animal movements are major determinants of energy expenditure and ultimately the cost–benefit of landscape use. Thus, we sought to understand those costs and how grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) move in mountainous landscapes. We trained captive grizzly bears to walk on a horizontal treadmill and up and down 10% and 20% slopes. The cost of moving...
Carnahan, Anthony M.; van Manen, Frank T.; Haroldson, Mark A.; Stenhouse, Gordon; Robbins, Charles T. Mammal species composition and habitat associations in a commercial forest and mixed-plantation landscape
Commercial forest plantations of fast-growing species have been established globally to meet increasing demands for timber, pulpwood, and other wood products. Industrial plantations may contribute to tropical forest conservation by reducing exploitation of primary and secondary natural forests. Whether such plantations can support critical...
Ng, Wai Pak; van Manen, Frank T.; Sharp, Stuart P.; Wong, Siew Te; Ratnayeke, Shyamala Exploration of the 2016 Yellowstone River fish kill and proliferative kidney disease in wild fish populations
Proliferative kidney disease (PKD) is an emerging disease that recently resulted in a large mortality event of salmonids in the Yellowstone River (Montana, USA). Total PKD fish mortalities in the Yellowstone River were estimated in the tens of thousands, which resulted in a multi‐week river closure and an estimated economic loss of US$500,000....
Hutchins, Patrick Ross; Sepulveda, Adam J.; Hartikainen, Hanna; Staigmiller, Ken D.; Opitz, Scott T.; Yamamoto, Renee M.; Huttinger, Amberly; Cordes, Rick J.; Weiss, Tammy; Hopper, Lacey R.; Purcell, Maureen K.; Okamura, Beth Enumerating white-tailed deer using unmanned aerial vehicles
The white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is an ecologically important species in forests of North America. Effective management of forests requires accurate, precise estimates of deer population abundance to plan and justify management actions. Spotlight surveys in combination with distance sampling are a common method of estimating deer...
Preston, Todd M.; Wildhaber, Mark L.; Green, Nicholas S.; Albers, Janice L.; Debenedetto, Geoffrey P. Integrating environmental DNA results with diverse data sets to improve biosurveillance of river health
Autonomous, robotic environmental (e)DNA samplers now make it possible for biological observations to match the scale and quality of abiotic measurements collected by automated sensor networks. Merging these automated data streams may allow for improved insight into biotic responses to environmental change and stressors. Here, we merged eDNA data...
Sepulveda, Adam J.; Hoegh, Andrew B.; Gage, Joshua A.; Caldwell Eldridge, Sara L.; Birch, James M.; Stratton, Christian; Hutchins, Patrick R.; Barnhart, Elliott