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
Status and trends of North American bats: Summer occupancy analysis 2010-2019 Status and trends of North American bats: Summer occupancy analysis 2010-2019
• We developed an analytical pipeline supported by web-based infrastructure for integrating continental scale bat monitoring data (stationary acoustic, mobile acoustic, and capture records) to estimate summer (May 1–Aug 31) occupancy probabilities and changes in occupancy over time for 12 North American bat species. This serves as one of multiple lines of evidence that inform the status...
Authors
Bradley James Udell, Bethany Straw, Tina L. Cheng, Kyle Enns, Winifred F. Frick, Benjamin Gotthold, Kathryn Irvine, Cori Lausen, Susan Loeb, Jonathan D. Reichard, Thomas Rodhouse, Dane Smith, Christian Stratton, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Brian Reichert
A framework to integrate innovations in invasion science for proactive management A framework to integrate innovations in invasion science for proactive management
Invasive alien species (IAS) are a rising threat to biodiversity, national security, and regional economies, with impacts in the hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars annually. Proactive or predictive approaches guided by scientific knowledge are essential to keeping pace with growing impacts of invasions under climate change. Although the rapid development of diverse technologies and...
Authors
Charles B. van Rees, Brian K. Hand, Sean C. Carter, Charles Bargeron, Timothy Joseph Cline, Wesley M. Daniel, Jason A. Ferrante, Keith Gaddis, Margaret E. Hunter, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Melodie A. McGeoch, Jeffrey T. Morisette, Matthew E. Neilson, Helen E. Roy, Mary Ann Rozance, Adam Sepulveda, Rebekah D. Wallace, Diane Whited, Taylor Wilcox, John S. Kimball, Gordon Luikart
Climate and landscape controls on old-growth western juniper demography in the northern Great Basin, USA Climate and landscape controls on old-growth western juniper demography in the northern Great Basin, USA
Western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis Hook.) woodlands have persisted for millennia in semiarid parts of the northern Great Basin, USA, providing critical habitat for plant and animal species. Historical records suggest that the establishment of western juniper is strongly associated with regional climatic variability. For example, the abundance of western juniper pollen and...
Authors
Rachel A. Loehman, Emily K. Heyerdahl, Gregory T. Pederson, David B. McWethy
Water availability drives instream conditions and life-history of an imperiled desert fish: A case study to inform water management Water availability drives instream conditions and life-history of an imperiled desert fish: A case study to inform water management
In arid ecosystems, available water is a critical, yet limited resource for human consumption, agricultural use, and ecosystem processes—highlighting the importance of developing management strategies to meet the needs of multiple users. Here, we evaluated how water availability influences stream thermal regimes and life-history expressions of Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus...
Authors
Robert K. Al-Chokhachy, Roger Peka, Erik Horgen, Daniel J. Kaus, Tim Loux, Lisa Heki
Using physiological conditions to assess current and future habitat use of a Subarctic frog Using physiological conditions to assess current and future habitat use of a Subarctic frog
Species with especially close dependence on the environment to meet physiological requirements, such as ectotherms, are highly susceptible to the impacts of climate change. Climate change is occurring rapidly in the Subarctic and Arctic, but there is limited knowledge on ectotherm physiology in these landscapes. We investigated how environmental conditions and habitat characteristics...
Authors
T. Hastings, Blake R. Hossack, L. Fishback, J. M. Davenport
Importance of local weather and environmental gradients on demography of a broadly distributed temperate frog Importance of local weather and environmental gradients on demography of a broadly distributed temperate frog
Amphibian populations are sensitive to environmental temperatures and moisture, which vary with local weather conditions and may reach new norms and extremes as contemporary climate change progresses. Using long-term (11–16 years) mark-recapture data from 10 populations of the Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris) from across its U.S. range, we addressed hypotheses about how...
Authors
David S. Pilliod, Rebecca M. McCaffery, Robert Arkle, Rick D. Scherer, Jacqueline B. Cupples, Lisa A. Eby, Blake R. Hossack, Hallie Lingo, Kristin N. Lohr, Bryce A. Maxell, Megan J. McGuire, Chad Mellison, Marisa K. Meyer, James C. Munger, Teri Slatauski, Rachel Van Horne
Precision and bias of spatial capture–recapture estimates: A multi-site, multi-year Utah black bear case study Precision and bias of spatial capture–recapture estimates: A multi-site, multi-year Utah black bear case study
Spatial capture–recapture (SCR) models are powerful analytical tools that have become the standard for estimating abundance and density of wild animal populations. When sampling populations to implement SCR, the number of unique individuals detected, total recaptures, and unique spatial relocations can be highly variable. These sample sizes influence the precision and accuracy of model...
Authors
Greta M Schmidt, Tabitha A. Graves, Jordan C Pederson, Sarah L Carroll
Eyes on the herd: Quantifying ungulate density from satellite, unmanned aerial systems, and GPScollar data Eyes on the herd: Quantifying ungulate density from satellite, unmanned aerial systems, and GPScollar data
Novel approaches to quantifying density and distributions could help biologists adaptively manage wildlife populations, particularly if methods are accurate, consistent, cost-effective, rapid, and sensitive to change. Such approaches may also improve research on interactions between density and processes of interest, such as disease transmission across multiple populations. We assess how...
Authors
Tabitha A. Graves, Michael Yarnall, Aaron N. Johnston, Todd M. Preston, Geneva W. Chong, Eric K Cole, William Michael Janousek, Paul C. Cross
Average kinship within bighorn sheep populations is associated with connectivity, augmentation, and bottlenecks Average kinship within bighorn sheep populations is associated with connectivity, augmentation, and bottlenecks
Understanding the influence of population attributes on genetic diversity is important to advancement of biological conservation. Because bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) populations vary in size and management history, the species provides a unique opportunity to observe the response of average pairwise kinship, inversely related to genetic diversity, to a spectrum of natural and...
Authors
Elizabeth P Flesch, Tabitha A. Graves, Jennifer Thomson, Kelly M. Proffitt, Robert A. Garrott
Coupling validation effort with in situ bioacoustic data improves estimating relative activity and occupancy for multiple species with cross-species misclassifications Coupling validation effort with in situ bioacoustic data improves estimating relative activity and occupancy for multiple species with cross-species misclassifications
The increasing complexity and pace of ecological change requires natural resource managers to consider entire species assemblages. Acoustic recording units (ARUs) require minimal cost and effort to deploy and inform relative activity, or encounter rates, for multiple species simultaneously. ARU-based surveys require post-processing of the recordings via software algorithms that assign a...
Authors
Christian Stratton, Kathryn M. Irvine, Katharine M. Banner, Wilson J. Wright, Cori Lausen, Jason Rae
Precision of headwater stream permanence estimates from a monthly water balance model in the Pacific Northwest, USA Precision of headwater stream permanence estimates from a monthly water balance model in the Pacific Northwest, USA
Stream permanence classifications (i.e., perennial, intermittent, ephemeral) are a primary consideration to determine stream regulatory status in the United States (U.S.) and are an important indicator of environmental conditions and biodiversity. However, at present, no models or products adequately describe surface water presence for regulatory determinations. We modified the...
Authors
Konrad Hafen, Kyle W. Blasch, Paul E. Gessler, Roy Sando, Alan H. Rea