Publications
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center staff publish results of their research in USGS series reports and in peer-reviewed journals. Publication links are below. Information on all USGS publications can be found at the USGS Publications Warehouse.
Filter Total Items: 1952
End-user needs for remote sensing wetlands of the Prairie Pothole Region of North America End-user needs for remote sensing wetlands of the Prairie Pothole Region of North America
The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America comprises globally important grassland and wetland ecosystems critical for numerous populations of migratory birds. Due to the importance of this region for migratory birds, and particularly waterfowl, and the threats of habitat loss due to intensifying agriculture, there is a mature and diverse system of conservation organizations...
Authors
Michael J. Anteau, Kaylan M Kemink, Josh L. Vest, Owen P. McKenna, Audrey Claire Lothspeich, Vanessa B Harriman, Lauren E Bortolotti, Macayla Greider
Decision analysis of long-term research and monitoring investments for the Upper Mississippi River Restoration program Decision analysis of long-term research and monitoring investments for the Upper Mississippi River Restoration program
Congressional authorization of the Water Resource Development Act of 2020 increased funding for the Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) program and its Long Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) element. With adequate resources there is an opportunity for LTRM to expand its understanding of the Upper Mississippi River System, address unmet partner information needs, and better inform...
Authors
Max Post van der Burg, Jeffrey N. Houser, David R. Smith
Conservation enhances resilience of the United States Duck Factory as environmental shifts may diminish landscape-scale waterfowl breeding capacity Conservation enhances resilience of the United States Duck Factory as environmental shifts may diminish landscape-scale waterfowl breeding capacity
Wetlands in the U.S. Prairie Pothole Region (USPPR) provide habitat for an estimated 5 million breeding ducks and remain a focal point for North American waterfowl conservation. After decades of investment, almost 20% of the USPPR is protected by some form of wetland or grassland conservation. We synthesized four decades of modeling studies aimed at understanding how environmental change...
Authors
Owen P. McKenna, Aaron T. Pearse, Imtiaz Rangwala, Jason D. Tack, Ned Wright, Audrey Claire Lothspeich
A cross-site comparison of ecosystem- and plot-scale methane fluxes across multiple sites A cross-site comparison of ecosystem- and plot-scale methane fluxes across multiple sites
Wetland and upland ecosystems play significant but opposing roles in the global methane (CH4) budget, acting as natural sources and sinks, respectively. Two of the most common approaches for measuring CH4 fluxes (FCH4) are chambers, which measure fluxes at fine spatial scales (ca. 1 m2), and eddy covariance (EC) towers, which integrate fluxes across larger footprints (ca. 100–10 000 m2)...
Authors
Tiia Määttä, Ankur R. Desai, Masahito Ueyama, Rodrigo Vargas, Eric J. Ward, Zhen Zhang, Gil Bohrer, Kyle Delwiche, Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, Järvi Järveoja, Sara H. Knox, Lulie Melling, Mat B. Nilsson, Matthias Peichl, Angela Che Tang, Eeva-Stiina Tuittila, Jinsong Wang, Sheel Bansal, Sarah Feron, Manuel Helbig, Aino Korrensalo, Karen W. Krauss, Gavin McNicol, Shuli Niu, Zutao Ouyang, Kathleen Savage, Oliver Sonnentag, Robert Jackson, Avni Malhotra
Dormant-season prescribed fires can enhance forage quality for two growing seasons in the northwestern Great Plains Dormant-season prescribed fires can enhance forage quality for two growing seasons in the northwestern Great Plains
Fire is an ecological disturbance that can accelerate nutrient cycling and alter herbivore distribution in grasslands and shrublands. Historically and today, humans have used prescribed fire to enhance forage quality for wild and domestic herbivores, and to achieve other management objectives. Contextual factors such as ecosystem type, seasonality, and fuel characteristics can determine...
Authors
Lauren M. Porensky, J. Derek Scasta, Troy W. Ocheltree, Amy Symstad, Catherine E. Estep, Jacqueline P. Ott
Temperate wetlands lose climate-cooling capacity under warming Temperate wetlands lose climate-cooling capacity under warming
Temperate inland wetlands have long been viewed as climate regulators, with sustained CO₂ sequestration offsetting continuous CH₄ emissions over centennial–millennial timescales. However, the net climatic effect of these opposing fluxes remains uncertain under anthropogenic warming as they differ in both magnitude and atmospheric lifetime. We combine 19,000 CH₄ chamber measurements from...
Authors
Shizhou Ma, Irena F. Creed, Pascal Badiou, Sheel Bansal, Zhen Zhang
Bee-ing similar: Low diversity, no population structure, and signals of adaptation in two North Dakota bumble bees Bee-ing similar: Low diversity, no population structure, and signals of adaptation in two North Dakota bumble bees
Habitat fragmentation and destruction are driving widespread declines in ecosystem function, species abundance, and genetic diversity across the globe. Among the affected taxa are bumble bees (genus Bombus), which are essential pollinators. Bumble bee declines have been linked to anthropogenic pressures such as land-use change and climate change. To better understand how the environment...
Authors
Rhiannon Hall, Meggan A. Alston, Jason P. Harmon, Clint R.V. Otto, Travis Seaborn
Bridging remote sensing advances and management needs for small Prairie Pothole waterbodies using a multiscale accuracy assessment Bridging remote sensing advances and management needs for small Prairie Pothole waterbodies using a multiscale accuracy assessment
Remote sensing of surface water provides a powerful tool to inform the management of waterfowl habitat, but there is little information available to directly assess the relative accuracy of different remote sensing datasets. Our objective was to understand how the characteristics of remotely sensed inundation datasets inform dataset accuracy, the reliable detection of small waterbodies...
Authors
Audrey Claire Lothspeich, Owen P. McKenna, Melanie K. Vanderhoof
Climate-smart wetlands can mitigate the wetland-methane feedback loop Climate-smart wetlands can mitigate the wetland-methane feedback loop
Climate change is intensifying wetland methane emissions, reinforcing a feedback loop that accelerates warming and threatens wetlands’ role as natural climate solutions. We propose climate-smart interventions for wetland protection, restoration, and management that explicitly account for methane dynamics. Targeted interventions can weaken methane feedback while safeguarding ecological...
Authors
Irena F. Creed, Emily A. Ury, Kenneth J. Anderson, Sheel Bansal, Pascal Badiou, Victoria Dombrowik, Philip B. Duffy, Vincent Gauci, Adam Gold, Meredith A. Holgerson, Bunyod Holmatov, Lauren Kinsman-Costello, Tatiana Lobato-de Magalhães, Danielle R. Monteverde, Eric J. Ward, Zhen Zhang, Brian Buma
Nest site and habitat changes over 15 years in a predicted climate refugium in Beluga, AK, USA, have a positive impact on Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica) nest survival Nest site and habitat changes over 15 years in a predicted climate refugium in Beluga, AK, USA, have a positive impact on Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica) nest survival
Climate change is transforming the Arctic and sub-Arctic at a pace that threatens many taxa with population declines and extinction. However, some habitats–such as muskeg bogs–can serve as climatic refugia and lessen the effects of a changing climate on the species that rely on them. Hudsonian Godwits (Limosa haemastica) are a species of migratory shorebird that utilizes the muskeg bogs...
Authors
Eden Smith, Rose J. Swift, Anna Courtemanche, Feipeng Huang, Mary Margaret Pelton, Lauren Puleo, Josiah Simmonds, Matthew Waller, Hannah Walton, Casey Weissburg, Luke R. Wilde, Nathan R. Senner
A hierarchical approach for finding undiscovered populations of an endangered bumble bee A hierarchical approach for finding undiscovered populations of an endangered bumble bee
Understanding the distributions of rare species is necessary to guide monitoring and inform species recovery efforts. The rusty patched bumble bee (RPBB; Bombus affinis, Cresson) is an endangered species with an extant, known distribution centered around urban areas of the Midwestern United States. We tested a novel approach for finding undocumented RPBBs outside of urban centers and...
Authors
Clint R.V. Otto, Alma Christa Schrage, Audrey Claire Lothspeich, Larissa L. Bailey, Tamara Smith, Robert Planman, Judy Cardin, Kristen S. Ellis, Bethany Dennis, Ralph Grundel
Growth, movement, and survival of precocial shorebird chicks are constrained by their environment. Growth, movement, and survival of precocial shorebird chicks are constrained by their environment.
Young animals are often less mobile than adults, while also having high energetic demands. They may therefore be more vulnerable to local-scale changes in environmental conditions. In particular, when 1 sex must grow more rapidly than the other to achieve a larger adult size, that sex may experience especially dramatic reductions in growth and survival in the face of suboptimal...
Authors
Feipeng Huang, Chris Tyson, Brett R. Addis, Cory Elowe, Lauren Puleo, Stephan Saint-Juste, Maria Stager, Rose J. Swift, Luke Wilde, Nathan R. Senner