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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.

Filter Total Items: 1308

Millennial-scale climate and human drivers of environmental change and fire activity in a dry, mixed-conifer forest of northwestern Montana Millennial-scale climate and human drivers of environmental change and fire activity in a dry, mixed-conifer forest of northwestern Montana

Warm summer temperatures and longer fire seasons are promoting larger, and in some cases, more fires that are severe in low- and mid-elevation, dry mixed-conifer forests of the Northern Rocky Mountains (NRM). Long-term historical fire conditions and human influence on past fire activity are not well understood for these topographically and biophysically heterogeneous forests. We...
Authors
David B. McWethy, Mio Alt, Elana Argiriadis, Dario Battistel, Richard G. Everett, Gregory T. Pederson

Black bear movement and food conditioning in an exurban landscape Black bear movement and food conditioning in an exurban landscape

Conflicts between humans and wildlife have become increasingly important challenges for resource managers along the urban‐wildland interface. Food conditioning (i.e., reliance by an animal on anthropogenic foods) of American black bears (Ursus americanus ) is related to conflict behavior (i.e., being bold or aggressive toward humans, consuming human food or garbage, causing property...
Authors
Jessica Braunstein, Joseph D. Clark, Ryan H Williamson, William H Stiver

Climate-induced expansions of invasive species in the Pacific Northwest, North America: A synthesis of observations and projections Climate-induced expansions of invasive species in the Pacific Northwest, North America: A synthesis of observations and projections

Climate change may facilitate the expansion of non-native invasive species (NIS) in aquatic and terrestrial systems. However, empirical evidence remains scarce and poorly synthesized at scales necessary for effective management. We conducted a literature synthesis to assess the state of research on the observed and predicted effects of climate change on a suite of 398 aquatic and...
Authors
Jennifer Gervais, Ryan P. Kovach, Adam J. Sepulveda, Robert K. Al-Chokhachy, J. Joseph Giersch, Clint C. Muhlfeld

Dynamics, variability, and change in seasonal precipitation reconstructions for North America Dynamics, variability, and change in seasonal precipitation reconstructions for North America

Cool and warm season precipitation totals have been reconstructed on a gridded basis for North America using 439 tree-ring chronologies correlated with December-April totals and 547 different chronologies correlated with May-July totals. These discrete seasonal predictor chronologies are not significantly correlated with the alternate season and the reconstructions calibrate at least 40%...
Authors
David W. Stahle, Edward R Cook, Dorian J Burnette, Max C.A. Torbenson, Ian M Howard, Daniel Griffin, Jose Villanueva Diaz, Benjamin I. Cook, Park A. Williams, Emma Watson, David J. Sauchyn, Neil Pederson, Connie A. Woodhouse, Gregory T. Pederson, David M. Meko, Bethany Coulthard, Christopher J. Crawford

A call for global action to conserve native trout in the 21st century and beyond A call for global action to conserve native trout in the 21st century and beyond

Trout and char (hereafter, trout ) represent some of the more culturally, economically and ecologically important taxa of freshwater fishes worldwide (Kershner, Williams, Gresswell, & Lobón‐Cerviá, 2019a). Native to all continents in the Northern Hemisphere (as well as western Mediterranean Africa), trout belong to seven genera (Oncorhynchus , Salvelinus, Salmo , Hucho, Parahucho...
Authors
Daniel C. Dauwalter, Antonino Duchi, John Epifanio, A.J. Gandolfi, Robert E. Gresswell, Francis Juanes, Jeffrey L. Kershner, Javier Lobon-Cervia, Philip McGinnity, Andreas Meraner, Pavel Mikheev, Kentaro Morita, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Kurt Pinter, John Post, Gunther Unfer, Leif Asbjørn Vøllestad, Jack E. Williams

Discrimination of biological scatterers in polarimetric weather radar data: Opportunities and challenges Discrimination of biological scatterers in polarimetric weather radar data: Opportunities and challenges

For radar aeroecology studies, the identification of the type of scatterer is critically important. Here, we used a random forest (RF) algorithm to develop a variety of scatterer classification models based on the backscatter values in radar resolution volumes of six radar variables (reflectivity, radial velocity, spectrum width, differential reflectivity, correlation coefficient, and...
Authors
Sidney Gauthreaux, Robert H. Diehl

Revealing migration and reproductive habitat of invasive fish under an active population suppression program Revealing migration and reproductive habitat of invasive fish under an active population suppression program

Endemic species face a variety of threats including predation from non‐native invaders. In some cases, however, invasive species can be managed by directly suppressing populations, and tracking technologies that allow researchers to identify movement patterns and aggregations representative of the population can facilitate suppression activities. In Yellowstone Lake (Yellowstone National...
Authors
Lee F. G. Gutowsky, Jason G. Romine, Nicholas A. Heredia, Patricia E. Bigelow, Michael J. Parsley, Philip T. Sandstrom, Cory D. Suski, Andy J. Danylchuk, Steven J. Cooke, Robert E. Gresswell

Alpine plant community diversity in species-area relations at fine scale Alpine plant community diversity in species-area relations at fine scale

Observations of diversity in alpine vegetation appear to be scale dependent. The relations of plant species richness with surface processes and geomorphology have been studied, but patterns of beta diversity are less known. In Glacier National Park, Montana, diversity has been examined within 1 m2 plots and for 16 m2 plots across two ranges, with within-plot and across-range explanatory...
Authors
George P. Malanson, Emma L Nelson, Dale L. Zimmerman, Daniel B. Fagre

Amphibian chytrid prevalence on boreal toads in SE Alaska and NW British Columbia: Tests of habitat, life stages, and temporal trends Amphibian chytrid prevalence on boreal toads in SE Alaska and NW British Columbia: Tests of habitat, life stages, and temporal trends

Tracking and understanding variation in pathogens such as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ([Bd]), which causes amphibian chytridiomycosis and has caused population declines globally, is a priority for many land managers. However, there has been relatively little sampling of amphibian communities at high latitudes. We used skin swabs collected during 2005–2017 from boreal toads (Anaxyrus...
Authors
Blake R. Hossack, Michael J. Adams, R Ken Honeycutt, Jami J Belt, S Pyare

A round-robin evaluation of the repeatability and reproducibility of environmental DNA assays for dreissenid mussels A round-robin evaluation of the repeatability and reproducibility of environmental DNA assays for dreissenid mussels

Resource managers may be hesitant to make decisions based on environmental (e)DNA results alone since eDNA is an indirect method of species detection. One way to reduce the uncertainty of eDNA is to identify laboratory‐based protocols that ensure repeatable and reproducible results. We conducted a double‐blind round‐robin analysis of probe‐based assays for DNA of dreissenid (Dreissena...
Authors
Adam J. Sepulveda, Patrick R. Hutchins, Craig Jackson, Carl O. Ostberg, Matthew Laramie, Jon Amberg, Timothy D. Counihan, Andrew B. Hoegh, David S. Pilliod

Co-occurence of Chiricahua leopard frogs (Lithobates chiricahuensis) with sunfish (Lepomis) Co-occurence of Chiricahua leopard frogs (Lithobates chiricahuensis) with sunfish (Lepomis)

Invasive species are a major threat to the persistence of native species, particularly in systems where ephemeral aquatic habitats have been replaced by permanent water and predators, such as fish, have been introduced. Within the Altar Valley, Arizona, the invasive American bullfrog, Lithobates catesbeianus (formerly Rana catesbeianus), has been successfully eradicated to help recover...
Authors
Paige E. Howell, Brent H. Sigafus, Blake R. Hossack, Erin L. Muths
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