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: 1197
Resilience to fire and resistance to annual grass invasion in sagebrush ecosystems of US National Parks
Western North American sagebrush shrublands and steppe face accelerating risks from fire-driven feedback loops that transition these ecosystems into self-reinforcing states dominated by invasive annual grasses. In response, sagebrush conservation decision-making is increasingly done through the lens of resilience to fire and annual grass invasion resistance. Operationalizing resilience and resista
Authors
Thomas J. Rodhouse, Jeffrey Lonneker, Lisa Bowersock, Diana Popp, Jamela Thompson, Gordon Dicus, Kathryn M. Irvine
Spatial Gaussian processes improve multi-species occupancy models when range boundaries are uncertain and nonoverlapping
Species distribution models enable practitioners to analyze large datasets of encounter records and make predictions about species occurrence at unsurveyed locations. In omnibus surveys that record data on multiple species simultaneously, species ranges are often nonoverlapping and misaligned with the administrative unit defining the spatial domain of interest (e.g., a state or province). Conseque
Authors
Wilson Wright, Kathryn M. Irvine, Tom Rodhouse, Andrea R. Litt
Greater Yellowstone climate assessment: Past, present, and future climate change in the greater Yellowstone watersheds
The Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA) is one of the last remaining large and nearly intact temperate ecosystems on Earth. GYA was originally defined in the 1970s as the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which encompassed the minimum range of the grizzly bear. The boundary now includes about 22 million acres (8.9 million ha) in northwestern Wyoming, south central Montana, and eastern Idaho (Figure ES-1).
Authors
Steven W. Hostetler, Cathy Whitlock, Bryan Shuman, David Liefert, Charles Wolf Drimal, Scott Bischke
Integration of geophysical evidence suggests that anorthosite composes a significant portion of Grand Marais ridge, an inferred basement high in western Lake Superior
The Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) is expressed geophysically by a semi-linear, regional gravity high that trends across the Midcontinent and Great Lakes region of North America. The gravity high is interrupted by two prominent, semi-circular gravity lows, which have been interpreted from modeling and seismic-reflection sections as basement highs of Archean granite (Allen et al., 1997). One is cen
Authors
V. J. Grauch, Samuel J. Heller
Using tree-rings to unravel avalanche frequency and associated climate drivers in the northern Rocky Mountains
No abstract available.
Authors
Erich Peitzsch
A small proportion of breeders drive American bullfrog invasion of the Yellowstone River floodplain, Montana
The American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) is a non-native invader of aquatic habitats across the northwestern United States. It recently invaded the Yellowstone River, Montana, and has spread to over 140 km of floodplain habitat. We analyzed seven microsatellites in 528 tadpoles sampled across nearly the entire Yellowstone River invasion (about 140 river km) to characterize invasion genetics
Authors
Daniel M. Bingham, Adam J. Sepulveda, Sally Painter
Broad-scale surface and atmospheric conditions during large fires in south-central Chile
The unprecedented size of the 2017 wildfires that burned nearly 600,000 hectares of central Chile highlight a need to better understand the climatic conditions under which large fires develop. Here we evaluate synoptic atmospheric conditions at the surface and free troposphere associated with anomalously high (active) versus low (inactive) months of area burned in south-central Chile (ca. 32–41° S
Authors
David B. McWethy, René Garreaud, Andrés Holz, Gregory T. Pederson
Climate drivers of large magnitude snow avalanche years in the U.S. northern Rocky Mountains
Large magnitude snow avalanches pose a hazard to humans and infrastructure worldwide. Analyzing the spatiotemporal behavior of avalanches and the contributory climate factors is important for understanding historical variability in climate-avalanche relationships as well as improving avalanche forecasting. We used established dendrochronological methods to develop a long-term (1867–2019) regional
Authors
Erich Peitzsch, Gregory T. Pederson, Karl W. Birkeland, Jordy Hendrikx, Daniel B. Fagre
Growth and defense characteristics of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var latifolia) in a high-elevation, disturbance-prone mixed-conifer forest in northwestern Montana, USA
Recent, widespread tree mortality in the western U.S. resulting from changes in climate, pathogens, insect activity, and forest management practices has led to concerns for many ecologically and culturally important species. Within conifers, resin-based defenses have long been recognized as a primary defense mechanism against a variety of insects and pathogens. Oleoresin produced by trees contain
Authors
Nicholas E. Kichas, Amy M. Trowbridge, Kenneth F. Raffa, Shealyn C. Malone, Sharon M. Hood, Richard G. Everett, David B. McWethy, Gregory T. Pederson
Enigmatic near‐extirpation in a boreal toad metapopulation in northwestern Montana
North America's protected lands harbor biodiversity and provide habitats where species threatened by a variety of stressors in other environments can thrive. Yet disease, climate change, and other threats are not limited by land management boundaries and can interact with conditions within protected landscapes to affect sensitive populations. We examined the population dynamics of a boreal toad (A
Authors
Rebecca McCaffery, Robin E. Russell, Blake R. Hossack
Anthropogenic edge effects in habitat selection by sun bears in a protected area
Wildlife populations in southeast Asia are increasingly experiencing a broad array of anthropogenic threats, and mammalian carnivores are particularly vulnerable. Populations of the Malayan sun bear Helarctos malayanus are estimated to have declined by 30% over the last 30 years from forest conversion to industrial plantations and mortality associated with human–bear conflicts and illegal wildlife
Authors
T. L Tee, Frank T. van Manen, P. Kretzschmar, S. P. Sharp, S. T. Wong, S. Gadas, S. Ratnayeke
Cold tolerance of mountain stoneflies (Plecoptera: Nemouridae) from the high Rocky Mountains
How aquatic insects cope with cold temperatures is poorly understood. This is particularly true for high-elevation species, which often experience a seasonal risk of freezing. In the Rocky Mountains, nemourid stoneflies (Plecoptera: Nemouridae) are a major component of mountain stream biodiversity and are typically found in streams fed by glaciers and snowfields, which are rapidly receding due to
Authors
Scott Hotaling, Alisha A. Shah, Michael E. Dillon, J. Joseph Giersch, Lusha M. Tronstad, Debra S. Finn, H. Arthur Woods, Joanna L. Kelley