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: 1901
Supplemental vegetation monitoring plots at Badlands National Park to accelerate learning of the Annual Brome Adaptive Management (ABAM) model
The annual Brome Adaptive Management (ABAM) project is a consortium of seven parks in the Northern Great Plains working together to better understand how to control invasive annual grasses (including Bromus species) through an adaptive management approach. This approach is supported by a quantitative model that uses current data from standardized vegetation monitoring plots in all seven parks to a
Authors
Amy Symstad
Development of an online reporting format to facilitate the inclusion of ecosystem services into Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program reports
The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program is a program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency. The Secretary of Agriculture is required to submit an annual report to Congress on Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program agreements that, among other things, reports on the progress made towards fulfilling commitments outlined in the agreements. The U.S. Geological
Authors
David M. Mushet, Owen P. McKenna
Addressing detection uncertainty in Bombus affinis (Hymenoptera: Apidae) surveys can improve inferences made from monitoring
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service developed national guidelines to track species recovery of the endangered rusty patched bumble bee [Bombus affinis Cresson (Hymenoptera: Apidae)] and to investigate changes in species occupancy across space and time. As with other native bee monitoring efforts, managers have specifically acknowledged the need to address species detection uncertainty and determine
Authors
Clint R.V. Otto, Alma Schrage, Larissa L. Bailey, John Michael Mola, Tamara A. Smith, Ian Pearse, Stacy C. Simanonok, Ralph Grundel
Automatic recorders monitor wolves at rendezvous sites: do wolves adjust howling to live near humans?
We used automatic sound recorders to study spontaneous vocalizations of wild wolves during the pup-rearing season around rendezvous sites from 24 wolf packs in six study areas across North America, Asia, and Europe. Between 2018 and 2021, for a total of 1225 pack-days, we recorded 605 spontaneous wolf chorus howls and 224 solo-howl series. Howling occurrence varied across areas, from 12.50 to 94.1
Authors
Vicente Palacios, Bárbara Martí-Domken, Shannon Barber-Meyer, Bilal Habib, José Vicente López-Bao, Douglas W. Smith, Daniel R. Stahler, Emilio José García, Víctor Sazatornil, L. David Mech
Conclusion to the special issue on Pollinators of the Great Plains
No abstract available.
Authors
Clint R.V. Otto
Introduction to the special issue on pollinators of the Great Plains
No abstract available.
Authors
Clint R.V. Otto
Towards critical white ice conditions in lakes under global warming
The quality of lake ice is of uppermost importance for ice safety and under-ice ecology, but its temporal and spatial variability is largely unknown. Here we conducted a coordinated lake ice quality sampling campaign across the Northern Hemisphere during one of the warmest winters since 1880 and show that lake ice during 2020/2021 commonly consisted of unstable white ice, at times contributing up
Authors
Gesa A. Weyhenmeyer, Ulrike Obertegger, Hugo Rudebeck, Ellinor Jakobsson, Joachim Jansen, Galina Zdorovennova, Sheel Bansal, Benjamin Block, Cayelan C. Carey, Jonathan P. Doubek, Hilary Dugan, Oxana Erina, Irina Fedorova, Janet Fischer, Laura Grinberga, Hans-Peter Grossart, Külli Kangur, Lesley B. Knoll, Alo Laas, Fabio Lepori, Jacob Meier, Nikolai Palshin, Mark Peternell, Merja Pulkkanen, James A. Rusak, Sapna Sharma, Danielle Wain, Roman Zdorovennov
Lessons learned from wetlands research at the Cottonwood Lake Study Area, Stutsman County, North Dakota, 1967–2021
Depressional wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America have a long history of investigation owing to their importance in maintaining migratory-bird populations, especially waterfowl. One area of particularly intensive study is the Cottonwood Lake study area in Stutsman County, North Dakota. Studies at the Cottonwood Lake study area began in 1967 and continue through the present (2022
Authors
David M. Mushet, Ned H. Euliss, Donald O. Rosenberry, James W. LaBaugh, Sheel Bansal, Zeno F. Levy, Owen P. McKenna, Kyle McLean, Christopher T. Mills, Brian P. Neff, Richard D. Nelson, Matthew J. Solensky, Brian Tangen
Multiproxy paleolimnological records provide evidence for a shift to a new ecosystem state in the Northern Great Plains, USA
Wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region of the North American Northern Great Plains perform multiple ecosystem services and are biodiversity hotspots. However, climatological changes can result in sudden shifts in these important ecosystems. For example, marked increases in precipitation in the last few decades have resulted in a widespread shift in wetlands across the Prairie Pothole Region to a n
Authors
Kui Hu, David M. Mushet, Jon N. Sweetman
Climate and land use driven ecosystem homogenization in the Prairie Pothole Region
The homogenization of freshwater ecosystems and their biological communities has emerged as a prevalent and concerning phenomenon because of the loss of ecosystem multifunctionality. The millions of prairie-pothole wetlands scattered across the Prairie Pothole Region (hereafter PPR) provide critical ecosystem functions at local, regional, and continental scales. However, an estimated loss of 50% o
Authors
Kyle McLean, David M. Mushet, Jon Sweetman
Understanding the Avian-Impact Offset Method—A tutorial
Biodiversity offsetting, or compensatory mitigation, is increasingly being used in temperate grassland and wetland ecosystems to compensate for unavoidable environmental damage from anthropogenic disturbances such as energy development and road construction. Energy-extraction and -generation facilities continue to proliferate across the natural landscapes of the United States, yet mitigation tools
Authors
Jill A. Shaffer, Charles R. Loesch, Deborah A. Buhl
Nest remains are insufficient to identify predators of waterfowl nests
Context: Nest predation is a leading cause of nest failure for most ground-nesting birds. Methods that allow for accurate classification of fate and identification of predators are important for understanding productivity and conservation strategies. Past studies have used a visual inspection of nest remains to determine nest fate and predict predator identity. Most formal assessments of these met
Authors
Kaylan M. Kemink, Kyle J. Kuechle, Mason L. Sieges, Sam Krohn, Cailey Isaacson, John Palarski, Nick Conrad, Allicyn Nelson, Boyang Liu, Thomas K. Buhl, Susan N. Ellis-Felege