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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

Challenges in Columbia River fisheries conservation: Response to Duda et al. Challenges in Columbia River fisheries conservation: Response to Duda et al.

The salmonid fisheries of the Columbia River Basin (CRB) have enormous socioeconomic, cultural, and ecological importance to numerous diverse stakeholders (e.g., state, federal, tribal, nonprofit), and there are a wide array of opinions and perspectives on how these fisheries should be managed. Although we appreciate Duda et al.’s commentary, it offers only one perspective of many in...
Authors
Brian K. Hand, Courtney G. Flint, Chris A. Frissell, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Shawn P. Devlin, Brian P. Kennedy, Robert L. Crabtree, Arthur McKee, Gordon Luikart, Jack A. Stanford

Forecasting for dry and wet avalanches during mixed rain and snow storm events Forecasting for dry and wet avalanches during mixed rain and snow storm events

Professionals in coastal and some inland mountain ranges regularly face mixed rain-snow events. Professionals in inland ranges frequently deal with persistent slab avalanches failing on old faceted layers buried deep within the snowpack. What happens when you combine these snowpack and weather events? Widespread avalanching involving faceted layers during mixed rain-snow events is rarely...
Authors
Scott Savage, Erich H. Peitzsch, Simon Trautman, Benjamin VandenBos

Trophic plasticity and the invasion of a renowned piscivore: A diet synthesis of northern pike (Esox lucius) from the native and introduced ranges in Alaska, U.S.A. Trophic plasticity and the invasion of a renowned piscivore: A diet synthesis of northern pike (Esox lucius) from the native and introduced ranges in Alaska, U.S.A.

The invasion of non-native fishes is a leading cause of extinction and imperilment of native freshwater fishes. Evidence suggests that introduced species with generalist diets have the potential for greatest impacts through competition and predation even though populations are often comprised of specialist individuals. The northern pike (Esox lucius), a predatory fish, has been widely...
Authors
C. Nathan Cathcart, Kristine J. Dunker, Thomas P. Quinn, Adam J. Sepulveda, Frank A. von Hippel, Andrew Wizik, Daniel B. Young, Peter A.H. Westley

Yellowstone’s birds are vital Yellowstone’s birds are vital

Traveling through Yellowstone National Park (YNP), visitors frequently stop to enjoy the park’s birds: small songbirds flitting about the willows, sandhill cranes engaged in their ritual mating dances, or myriad species of waterfowl loafing in one of the park's many wetlands. Typically while driving the roads of YNP, a majority of visitors consider a stopped car and raised binoculars a...
Authors
Robert H. Diehl, Douglas W. Smith

Perspectives and challenges for the use of radar in biological conservation Perspectives and challenges for the use of radar in biological conservation

Radar is at the forefront for the study of broad‐scale aerial movements of birds, bats and insects and related issues in biological conservation. Radar techniques are especially useful for investigating species which fly at high altitudes, in darkness, or which are too small for applying electronic tags. Here, we present an overview of radar applications in biological conservation and...
Authors
Ommo Huppop, Michal Ciach, Robert H. Diehl, Don Reynolds, Phillip Stepanian, Myles Menz

Congruent population genetic structure but differing depths of divergence for three alpine stoneflies with similar ecology and geographic distributions Congruent population genetic structure but differing depths of divergence for three alpine stoneflies with similar ecology and geographic distributions

Comparative population genetic studies provide a powerful means for assessing the degree to which evolutionary histories may be congruent among taxa while also highlighting the potential for cryptic diversity within existing species.In the Rocky Mountains, three confamilial stoneflies (Zapada glacier , Lednia tumana , and Lednia tetonica ; Plecoptera, Nemouridae) occupy cold alpine...
Authors
Scott Hotaling, J. Joseph Giersch, Debra S. Finn, Lusha M. Tronstad, Steve Jordan, Larry Serpa, Ronald Call, Clint C. Muhlfeld, David W. Weisrock

Development of new information to inform fish passage decisions at the Yale and Merwin hydro projects on the Lewis River, Washington—Final report, 2018 Development of new information to inform fish passage decisions at the Yale and Merwin hydro projects on the Lewis River, Washington—Final report, 2018

The reintroduction of extirpated salmonids to historically occupied areas is becoming increasingly common as a conservation and recovery strategy. Often, reintroductions are implemented after the factors that originally led to species extirpation have been reduced, eliminated, or mitigated. For anadromous Oncorhynchus spp. (Pacific salmon) and O. mykiss (steelhead), addressing barriers...
Authors
Robert K. Al-Chokhachy, Christopher L. Clark, Mark H. Sorel, David A. Beauchamp

Impacts of nonnative Brown Trout on Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout in a tributary stream Impacts of nonnative Brown Trout on Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout in a tributary stream

Nonnative trout are a considerable threat to native salmonids, yet our understanding of the mechanisms behind interspecific interactions remains limited. We evaluated the impacts of nonnative Brown Trout Salmo salar on a population of Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri in Montana. We contrasted diets, growth, and survival of Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout occurring in...
Authors
Robert K. Al-Chokhachy, Adam J. Sepulveda

No flood effect on recruitment of a small Louisiana black bear population No flood effect on recruitment of a small Louisiana black bear population

A flood event in 2011 had minor impacts on apparent survival and movement probabilities of a small, isolated population of Louisiana black bears (Ursus americanus luteolus) in the Upper Atchafalaya River Basin, Louisiana, USA. However, the potential effects of the flood on recruitment of juveniles into the population, then listed as threatened under the United States Endangered Species...
Authors
Joseph D. Clark, Kaitlin C. O’Connell-Goode, Carrie L. Lowe, Sean M. Murphy, Sutton C. Maehr, Maria M. Davidson, Jared S. Laufenberg

Extreme value-based methods for modeling elk yearly movements Extreme value-based methods for modeling elk yearly movements

Species range shifts and the spread of diseases are both likely to be driven by extreme movements, but are difficult to statistically model due to their rarity. We propose a statistical approach for characterizing movement kernels that incorporate landscape covariates as well as the potential for heavy-tailed distributions. We used a spliced distribution for distance travelled paired...
Authors
Dhanushi A. Wijeyakulasuriya, Ephraim M. Hanks, Benjamin A. Shaby, Paul C. Cross

Keeping the crown of the continent connected: An interagency US2 connectivity workshop report Keeping the crown of the continent connected: An interagency US2 connectivity workshop report

At over 2.5 million acres, Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex form one of the largest protected areas in the continental United States. Straddling the Continental Divide, these two areas form a vital linkage between vast areas of public land to the south towards Yellowstone, and contiguous protected areas north of the US-Canada border. However, US Highway 2...
Authors
John S. Waller, Tabitha A. Graves
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