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.
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 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 The smell of success: Reproductive success related to rub behavior in brown bears
Several species of bears are known to rub deliberately against trees and other objects, but little is known about why bears rub. Patterns in rubbing behavior of male and female brown bears (Ursus arctos) suggest that scent marking via rubbing functions to communicate among potential mates or competitors. Using DNA from bear hairs collected from...
Morehouse, Andrea T.; Loosen, Anne E.; Graves, Tabitha; Boyce, Mark S. Genomic association with pathogen carriage in bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis)
Genetic composition can influence host susceptibility to, and transmission of, pathogens, with potential population‐level consequences. In bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), pneumonia epidemics caused by Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae have been associated with severe population declines and limited recovery across North America. Adult survivors...
Martin, Alynn Marie; Cassirer, E. Frances; Waits, Lisette P.; Plowright, Raina K.; Cross, Paul C.; Andrews, Kimberly R. Elk migration influences the risk of disease spillover in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Wildlife migrations provide important ecosystem services, but they are declining. Within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) some elk (Cervus canadensis) herds are losing migratory tendencies, which may increase spatiotemporal overlap between elk and livestock (domestic bison [Bison bison] and cattle [Bos taurus]), potentially exacerbating...
Rayl, Nathaniel D.; Merkle, J. A.; Proffitt, Kelly M.; Almberg, E S; Jones, Jennifer D.; Gude, Justin; Cross, Paul Towards an urgent yet deliberate conservation strategy: Sustaining social-ecological systems in rangelands of the Northern Great Plains, Montana
Urgency and deliberateness are often at odds when executing conservation projects, especially as the scale and complexity of objectives increases. The pace of environmental degradation supports immediate and measurable action. However, best practices for adaptive governance and building resilient social-ecological systems call for more deliberate...
Epstein, Katie; Wood, David J. A.; Roemer, Kelli; Currey, Bryce; Duff, Hannah; Gay, Justin D; Goemann, Hannah; Loewen, Sasha; Milligan, Megan C; Wendt, John A F; Brookshire, E N Jack; Maxwell, Bruce D.; McNew, Lance B.; McWethy, Dave B; Stoy, Paul C.; Haggerty, Julia Hobson Patterns and processes of pathogen exposure in gray wolves across North America
The presence of many pathogens varies in a predictable manner with latitude, with infections decreasing from the equator towards the poles. We investigated the geographic trends of pathogens infecting a widely distributed carnivore: the gray wolf (Canis lupus). Specifically, we investigated which variables best explain and predict geographic...
Brandell, E. E.; Cross, Paul; Craft, Meggan E.; Smith, Douglas W.; Dubovi, E. J.; Gilbertson, Marie L. J.; Wheeldon, Tyler; Stephenson, John A.; Barber-Meyer, Shannon; Borg, B. L.; Sorum, Mathew; Stahler, Daniel R.; Kelly, Allicia P; Anderson, Morgan; Cluff, H. D.; MacNulty, Daniel R.; Watts, David L.; Roffler, G.; Schwantje, Helen M.; Hebblewhite, Mark; Beckman, K.; Hudson, P. J.