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
Identifying major avalanche years from a regional tree-ring based avalanche chronology for the U.S. Northern Rocky Mountains Identifying major avalanche years from a regional tree-ring based avalanche chronology for the U.S. Northern Rocky Mountains
Avalanches not only pose a major hazard to people and infrastructure, but also act as an important ecological disturbance. In many mountainous regions in North America, including areas with existing transportation corridors, reliable and consistent avalanche records are sparse or non-existent. Thus, inferring long-term avalanche patterns and associated contributory climate and weather...
Authors
Erich H. Peitzsch, Daniel B. Fagre, Gregory T. Pederson, Jordy Hendrikx, Karl W. Birkeland, Daniel K. Stahle
Impacts of temporal revisit designs on the power to detect trend with a linear mixed model: An application to long-term monitoring of Sierra Nevada lakes Impacts of temporal revisit designs on the power to detect trend with a linear mixed model: An application to long-term monitoring of Sierra Nevada lakes
Long-term ecological monitoring programs often use linear mixed models to estimate trend in an ecological indicator sampled across large landscapes. A linear mixed model is versatile for estimating a linear trend in time as well as components of spatial and temporal variationin the case of unbalanced data structures, which are common in complex monitoring designs where limited sampling...
Authors
Leigh Ann H. Starcevich, Kathryn M. Irvine, Andrea M. Heard
Genetic diversity, effective population size, and structure among black bear populations in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, USA Genetic diversity, effective population size, and structure among black bear populations in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, USA
Multiple small populations of American black bears Ursus americanus, including the recently delisted Louisiana black bear subspecies U. a. luteolus, occupy a fragmented landscape in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, USA (LMAV). Populations include bears native to the LMAV, bears translocated from Minnesota during the 1960s, and recently reintroduced and colonizing populations...
Authors
Sean M. Murphy, Jared S. Laufenberg, Joseph D. Clark, Maria M. Davidson, Jerrold L. Belant, David L. Garshelis
Occupancy modeling species–environment relationships with non‐ignorable survey designs Occupancy modeling species–environment relationships with non‐ignorable survey designs
Statistical models supporting inferences about species occurrence patterns in relation to environmental gradients are fundamental to ecology and conservation biology. A common implicit assumption is that the sampling design is ignorable and does not need to be formally accounted for in analyses. The analyst assumes data are representative of the desired population and statistical...
Authors
Kathryn M. Irvine, Thomas J. Rodhouse, Wilson J. Wright, Anthony R. Olsen
Quantifying climate sensitivity and climate-driven change in North American amphibian communities Quantifying climate sensitivity and climate-driven change in North American amphibian communities
Changing climate will impact species’ ranges only when environmental variability directly impacts the demography of local populations. However, measurement of demographic responses to climate change has largely been limited to single species and locations. Here we show that amphibian communities are responsive to climatic variability, using >500,000 time-series observations for 81...
Authors
David A.W. Miller, Evan H. Campbell Grant, Erin L. Muths, Staci M. Amburgey, M. J. Adams, Maxwell B. Joseph, J. Hardin Waddle, Pieter T.J. Johnson, Maureen E. Ryan, Benedikt R. Schmidt, Daniel L. Calhoun, Courtney L. Davis, Robert N. Fisher, David M. Green, Blake R. Hossack, Tracy A.G. Rittenhouse, Susan C. Walls, Larissa L. Bailey, Sam S. Cruickshank, Gary M. Fellers, Thomas A. Gorman, Carola A. Haas, Ward Hughson, David S. Pilliod, Steven J. Price, Andrew M. Ray, Walter Sadinski, Daniel Saenz, William J. Barichivich, Adrianne B. Brand, Cheryl S. Brehme, Rosi Dagit, Katy S. Delaney, Brad M. Glorioso, Lee B. Kats, Patrick M. Kleeman, Christopher Pearl, Carlton J. Rochester, Seth P. D. Riley, Mark F. Roth, Brent Sigafus
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Species Management Research Program, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Fort Collins Science Center, John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC), Southwest Biological Science Center, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC), Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
The ecology of movement and behaviour: a saturated tripartite network for describing animal contacts The ecology of movement and behaviour: a saturated tripartite network for describing animal contacts
Ecologists regularly use animal contact networks to describe interactions underlying pathogen transmission, gene flow, and information transfer. However, empirical descriptions of contact often overlook some features of individual movement, and decisions about what kind of network to use in a particular setting are commonly ad hoc. Here, we relate individual movement trajectories to...
Authors
Kezia R. Manlove, Christina M. Aiello, Pratha Sah, Bree Cummins, Peter J. Hudson, Paul C. Cross
Tradeoffs of a portable, field-based environmental DNA platform for detecting invasive northern pike (Esox lucius) in Alaska Tradeoffs of a portable, field-based environmental DNA platform for detecting invasive northern pike (Esox lucius) in Alaska
Environmental DNA (eDNA) has improved detection probabilities of aquatic invasive species but lab-based analytical platforms for eDNA analyses slow opportunities for rapid response. Effective approaches that address this analytical bottleneck and improve capacity for rapid response are urgently needed. We tested the sensitivity of a portable, field-based eDNA platform relative to widely...
Authors
Adam J. Sepulveda, Patrick R. Hutchins, Robert L. Massengill, Kristine J. Dunker
Estimating distemper virus dynamics among wolves and grizzly bears using serology and Bayesian state‐space models Estimating distemper virus dynamics among wolves and grizzly bears using serology and Bayesian state‐space models
Many parasites infect multiple hosts, but estimating the transmission across host species remains a key challenge in disease ecology. We investigated the within and across host species dynamics of canine distemper virus (CDV) in grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) and wolves (Canis lupus) of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). We hypothesized that grizzly bears may be more likely to be...
Authors
Paul C. Cross, Frank T. van Manen, Mafalda Viana, Emily S. Almberg, Daniel Bachen, Ellen E. Brandell, Mark A. Haroldson, Peter J. Hudson, Daniel R. Stahler, Douglas W. Smith
Using automated radio telemetry to quantify activity patterns of songbirds during stopover Using automated radio telemetry to quantify activity patterns of songbirds during stopover
During migration, birds require stopover habitat to rest and refuel before resuming flight. While long-distance migratory flights represent a large energy investment, stopover accounts for roughly two-thirds of a bird's total energy expenditure during migration. Therefore, birds should minimize energy expenditure while also minimizing time and predation risk during stopover. To...
Authors
Lynn N. Schofield, Jill L. Deppe, Theodore J. Zenzal, Michael P. Ward, Robert H. Diehl, Rachel T. Bolus, Frank R. Moore
International meeting on sarcoptic mange in wildlife, June 2018, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA International meeting on sarcoptic mange in wildlife, June 2018, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
Sarcoptic mange is a globally distributed disease caused by the burrowing mite Sarcoptes scabiei, which also causes scabies in humans. A wide and increasing number of wild mammal species are reported to be susceptible to mange; however, the impacts of the disease in wildlife populations, mechanisms involved in its eco-epidemiological dynamics, and risks to public and ecosystem health are...
Authors
Francisca Astorga, Scott Carver, Emily S. Almberg, Giovane R. Sousa, Kimberly Wingfield, Kevin D. Niedringhaus, Peach Van Wick, Luca Rossi, Yue Xie, Paul C. Cross, Samer Angelone, Christian Gortazar, Luis E. Escobar
Post-breeding movement and habitat use by wood frogs along an Arctic–Subarctic ecotone Post-breeding movement and habitat use by wood frogs along an Arctic–Subarctic ecotone
By altering essential micro- and macrohabitat conditions for many organisms, climate change is already causing disproportionately greater impacts on Arctic and Subarctic ecosystems. Yet there is a lack of basic information about many species in northern latitudes, including amphibians. We used radio telemetry to study the post-breeding movements and habitat use of wood frogs (Rana [...
Authors
Stephanie Bishir, Blake R. Hossack, LeeAnn Fishback, J. M. Davenport
Effects of land use on summer thermal regimes in critical salmonid habitats of the Pacific Northwest Effects of land use on summer thermal regimes in critical salmonid habitats of the Pacific Northwest
The effect of climate change on stream temperature regimes is of significant concern to natural resource managers focused on protecting cold-water-dependent species. Nevertheless, understanding of how human land-use activities may act to exacerbate the effects of climate change on stream temperature regimes is limited. Using extensive stream temperature data with high-resolution climate...
Authors
Ryan Kovach, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Robert Al-Chokhachy, Jeffrey V. Ojala, Eric Archer