Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NOROCK)
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 ssoileau@usgs.gov.
Climatic correlates of white pine blister rust infection in whitebark pine in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Whitebark pine, a foundation species at tree line in the Western U.S. and Canada, has declined due to native mountain pine beetle epidemics, wildfire, and white pine blister rust. These declines are concerning for the multitude of ecosystem and human benefits provided by this species. Understanding climatic correlates associated with spread is...
Thoma, David; Shanahan, Erin K.; Irvine, Kathryn Spatial capture-recapture reveals age- and sex-specific survival and movement in stream amphibians
Life history information sets the foundation for our understanding of ecology and conservation requirements. For many species, this information is lacking even for basic demographic rates such as survival and movement. When survival and movement estimates are available, they are often derived from mixed demographic groups and do not consider...
Honeycutt, R. Ken; Garwood, Justin M; Lowe, Winsor H.; Hossack, Blake R. Predicting attenuation of salinized surface- and groundwater-resources from legacy energy development in the Prairie Pothole Region
Oil and gas (energy) development in the Williston Basin, which partly underlies the Prairie Pothole Region in central North America, has helped meet U.S. energy demand for decades. Historical handling and disposal practices of saline wastewater co-produced during energy development resulted in salinization of surface and groundwater at numerous...
Preston, Todd M.; Anderson, Chauncey W.; Thamke, Joanna N.; Hossack, Blake R.; Skalak, Katherine; Cozzarelli, Isabelle M. Improved detection of rare, endangered and invasive trout using a new large-volume sampling method for eDNA capture
Environmental DNA (eDNA) detection probability increases with volume of water sampled. Common approaches for collecting eDNA samples often require many samples since these approaches usually use fine filters, which restricts the volume of water that can be sampled. An alternative to collecting many, small volume water samples using fine filters...
Sepulveda, Adam J.; Schabacker, Jenna; Smith, Seth; Al-Chokhachy, Robert; Luikart, Gordon; Amish, Stephen J. Statistical power of dynamic occupancy models to identify temporal change: Informing the North American Bat Monitoring Program
Dynamic occupancy models provide a flexible framework for estimating and mapping species occupancy patterns over space and time for large-scale monitoring programs (e.g., the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat), the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative). Challenges for designing surveys using the dynamic occupancy modeling...
Banner, Katherine; Irvine, Kathryn M.; Rodhouse, Tom J; Donner, Deahn M.; Litt, Andrea R. Effect of amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) on apparent survival of frogs and toads in the western USA
Despite increasing interest in determining the population-level effects of emerging infectious diseases on wildlife, estimating effects of disease on survival rates remains difficult. Even for a well-studied disease such as amphibian chytridiomycosis (caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis [Bd]), there are few estimates of...
Russell, Robin E.; Halstead, Brian J.; Mosher, Brittany; Muths, Erin L.; Adams, Michael J.; Campbell Grant, Evan H.; Fisher, Robert N.; Kleeman, Patrick M.; Backlin, Adam R.; Pearl, Christopher; Honeycutt, R. Ken; Hossack, Blake R. Monitoring five-needle pine on Bureau of Land Management lands in Wyoming summary report for 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017
Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) grows at high elevations and in subalpine communities in the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rocky Mountains. Limber pine (Pinus flexilis) occurs in western North America across a broad elevational gradient from the Canadian Rocky Mountains into parts of New Mexico and Arizona and from southern California eastward...
Erin Shanahan; Kristin Legg; Rob Daley; Irvine, Kathryn; Siri Wilmoth; Joshua Jackson Early genetic outcomes of American black bear reintroductions in the Central Appalachians, USA
Habitat loss and overexploitation extirpated American black bears (Ursus americanus) from most of the Central Appalachians, USA, by the early twentieth century. To attempt to restore bears to the southwestern portion of this region, 2 reintroductions that used small founder groups (n = 27 and 55 bears), but different release methods (hard versus...
Murphy, Sean M.; Hast, John T.; Augustine, Ben C.; Weisrock, David W.; Clark, Joseph D.; Kocka, David. M; Ryan, Christopher W.; Sajecki, Jaime L.; Cox, John J. Using the beta distribution to analyze plant cover data
Most plant species are spatially aggregated. Local demographic and ecological processes (e.g. vegetative growth and limited seed dispersal) result in a clustered spatial pattern within an environmentally homogenous area. Spatial aggregation should be considered when modelling plant abundance data.Commonly, plant abundance is quantified by...
Damgaard, Christian; Irvine, Kathryn M. Risk factors and productivity losses associated with Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae infection in United States domestic sheep operations
Association of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae with pneumonia in domestic small ruminants has been described in Europe, Asia, and New Zealand but has received less attention in the United States. In 2011, the US Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Health Monitoring Survey detected M. ovipneumoniae shedding in 88% of 453 domestic sheep operations...
Manlove, Kezia R.; Branan, M; Baker, K; Bradway, D; Cassirer, E. F.; Marshall, K.L; Miller, Ryan S.; Sweeney, Steven J.; Cross, Paul C.; Besser, T. E. To forage or flee: Lessons from an elk migration near a protected area
Alteration of wide-ranging wildlife migrations can drastically impact the structure and function of ecosystems, yet the causes and consequences of shifting migration patterns remain largely unknown. Management decisions made in one portion of a landscape may induce spatial and temporal shifts of wildlife use in another, creating tension among...
Mikle, Nathaniel; Graves, Tabitha A.; Olexa, Edward M. Lewis River Bull Trout synthesis of known information
This document comprises a synthesis of bull trout information collected in the Lewis River for over two decades, and is the first such compilation of information in the subbasin since Graves (1982). We have summarized the information on demographic characteristics, vital rates, spatial distribution, movement patterns and genetic diversity in an...
Hudson, J. Michael; Doyle, Jeremiah; Lamperth, Jamie; Al-Chokhachy, Robert; Robertson, Gregory J.; Wadsworth, Tom