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: 1930
Wetland conservation in the United States: A swinging pendulum Wetland conservation in the United States: A swinging pendulum
No abstract available.
Authors
David M. Mushet, Aram Calhoun
Quantifying and addressing the prevalence and bias of study designs in the environmental and social sciences Quantifying and addressing the prevalence and bias of study designs in the environmental and social sciences
Building trust in science and evidence-based decision-making depends heavily on the credibility of studies and their findings. Researchers employ many different study designs that vary in their risk of bias to evaluate the true effect of interventions or impacts. Here, we empirically quantify, on a large scale, the prevalence of different study designs and the magnitude of bias in their...
Authors
Alec P. Christie, David Abecasis, Mehdi Adjeroud, Juan C. Alonso, Tatsuya Amano, Alvaro Anton, Barry P. Baldigo, Rafael Barrientos, Jake E. Bicknell, Deborah A. Buhl, Just Cebrian, Ricardo S. Ceia, Luciana Cibils-Martina, Sarah Clarke, Joachim Claudet, Michael D. Craig, Dominique Davoult, Annelies De Backer, Mary K. Donovan, Tyler D. Eddy, Filipe M. Franca, Jonathan P.A. Gardner, Bradley P. Harris, Ari Huusko, Ian L. Jones, Brendan P. Kelaher, Janne S. Kotiaho, Adrià López-Baucells, Heather L. Major, Aki Maki-Petays, Beatriz Martinez-Lopez, Carlos A. Martin, Philip A. Martin, Daniel Mateos-Molina, Robert A. McConnaughey, Michele Meroni, Christoph F. J. Meyer, Kade Mills, Monica Montefalcone, Norbertas Noreika, Carlos Palacin, Anjali Pande, C. Roland Pitcher, Carlos Ponce, Matthew J. Rinella, Ricardo Rocha, Maria C. Ruiz-Delgado, Juan J. Schmitter-Soto, Jill A. Shaffer, Shailesh Sharma, Anna A. Sher, Doriane Stagnol, Thomas Stanley, Kevin D.E. Stokesbury, Aurora Torres, Oliver Tully, Teppo Vehanen, Corinne Watts, Qingyuan Zhao, William J. Sutherland
Development of a novel framework for modeling field-scale conservation effects of depressional wetlands in agricultural landscapes Development of a novel framework for modeling field-scale conservation effects of depressional wetlands in agricultural landscapes
The intermixed cropland, grassland, and wetland ecosystems of the upper mid-western United States combine to provide a suite of valuable ecological services. Grassland and wetland losses in the upper midwestern United States have been extensive, but government-funded conservation programs have protected and restored hundreds of thousands of acres of wetland and grassland habitat in the...
Authors
Owen P. McKenna, Javier M. Osorio, Katherine D. Behrman, Luca Doro, David M. Mushet
Improving the ability to include freshwater wetland plants in process-based models Improving the ability to include freshwater wetland plants in process-based models
Considerable effort and resources have been placed into conservation programs designed to reduce or alleviate negative environmental effects of crop production and into evaluation of the benefits of these programs. Wetlands are an important source of ecosystem services, but modeling wetland plants is an emerging science. To date, wetland plant growth has not been explicitly accounted for...
Authors
Amber S. Williams, David M. Mushet, Megan Lang, Gregory W. McCarty, Jill A. Shaffer, Sharon N. Kahara, Mari-Vaughn V. Johnson, James R. Kiniry
A century of pollen foraging by the endangered rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis): Inferences from molecular sequencing of museum specimens A century of pollen foraging by the endangered rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis): Inferences from molecular sequencing of museum specimens
In 2017 the rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) became the first bee listed under the Endangered Species Act in the continental United States due to population declines and an 87% reduction in the species’ distribution. Bombus affinis decline began in the 1990s, predating modern bee surveying initiatives, and obfuscating drivers of decline. While understood to be a highly...
Authors
Michael P. Simanonok, Clint Otto, Robert S. Cornman, Deborah D. Iwanowicz, James P. Strange, Tamara A. Smith
Towards a U.S. national program for monitoring native bees Towards a U.S. national program for monitoring native bees
North America has more than 4000 bee species, yet we have little information on the health, distribution, and population trends of most of these species. In the United States, what information is available is distributed across multiple institutions, and efforts to track bee populations are largely uncoordinated on a national scale. An overarching framework for monitoring U.S. native...
Authors
Hollis Woodward, Sarah Federman, Rosalind R. James, Bryan Danforth, Terry Griswold, David W. Inouye, Quinn McFrederick, Lora Morandin, Deborah Paul, Elizabeth Sellers, James P. Strange, Mace Vaughan, Neal M. Williams, Michael Branstetter, Casey T. Burns, James Cane, Alison B Cariveau, Daniel Cariveau, Anna Childers, Christopher Childers, Diana L. Cox-Foster, Elaine Evan, Kelsey K. Graham, Kevin Hackett, Kimberly Huntzinger, Rebecca Irwin, Shalene Jha, Sarah Lawson, Christina Liang, Margarita M. Lopez-Uribe, Andony Melathopoulos, Heather Moylett, Clint Otto, Lauren Ponisio, Leif L Richardson, Robyn Rose, Rajwinder Singh, Wayne Wehling
Wetlands in agricultural landscapes—Significant findings and recent advances from CEAP-Wetlands Wetlands in agricultural landscapes—Significant findings and recent advances from CEAP-Wetlands
The Wetlands Component of the USDA's Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP-Wetlands) is a multi-agency effort advancing science related to quantifying and interpreting effects and effectiveness of conservation practices and programs on ecosystem services provided by wetlands in agricultural landscapes. This special section originated from a symposium held at the 73rd Soil and...
Authors
David M. Mushet, William R. Effland
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Brewer’s Sparrow (Spizella breweri breweri) The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Brewer’s Sparrow (Spizella breweri breweri)
Keys to Brewer’s Sparrow (Spizella breweri breweri) management include maintaining extensive, unfragmented patches of suitable breeding habitat; reducing conifer cover and height; preventing the invasion of conifers and nonnative plants, especially cheatgrass (downy brome [Bromus tectorum]); minimizing disturbance to soil; and restricting the use of pesticides and herbicides during the...
Authors
Brett L. Walker, Lawrence D. Igl, Jill A. Shaffer
Toward improving pollinator habitat: Reconstructing prairies with high forb diversity Toward improving pollinator habitat: Reconstructing prairies with high forb diversity
Reconstructed prairies can provide habitat for pollinating insects, an important ecosystem service. To optimize reconstructions for pollinators, goals may include enhancing flowering plant cover and richness and increasing bloom availability early and late in the growing season. Resistance to invasive exotic species must also be a goal in any reconstruction, but it is unclear how...
Authors
Pauline Drobney, Diane L. Larson, Jennifer L Larson, Karen Viste-Sparkman
Climate- versus geographic-dependent patterns in the spatial distribution ofmacroinvertebrate assemblages in New World depressional wetlands Climate- versus geographic-dependent patterns in the spatial distribution ofmacroinvertebrate assemblages in New World depressional wetlands
Analyses of biota at lower latitudes may presage impacts of climate change on biota at higher latitudes. Macroinvertebrate assemblages in depressional wetlands may be especially sensitive to climate change because weather‐related precipitation and evapotranspiration are dominant ecological controls on habitats, and organisms of depressional wetlands are temperature‐sensitive ectotherms...
Authors
C. Stenert, M.M. Pires, L.B. Epele, M.G. Grech, L. Maltchik, Kyle McLean, David M. Mushet, D.P. Batzer
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Nelson’s Sparrow (Ammospiza nelsoni nelsoni) The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Nelson’s Sparrow (Ammospiza nelsoni nelsoni)
The key to Nelson’s Sparrow (Ammospiza nelsoni nelsoni) management is providing dense grasses or emergent vegetation near damp areas or freshwater wetlands. Nelson’s Sparrows have been reported to use habitats with 20–122 centimeters (cm) average vegetation height, 41 cm visual obstruction reading, 40–58 percent grass cover, 24 percent forb cover, 5 percent shrub cover, 13 percent bare...
Authors
Jill A. Shaffer, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. Johnson, Marriah L. Sondreal, Christopher M. Goldade, Paul A. Rabie, Betty R. Euliss
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus) The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus)
Keys to Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus) management include maintaining cliffs with suitable recesses for use as nest sites (that is, the substrate that supports the nest or the specific location of the nest on the landscape), protecting nest sites from human disturbance by designating buffer zones, and maintaining open landscapes and habitats that support populations of ground squirrels
Authors
John P. DeLong, Karen Steenhof