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Publications

Below is a list of WERC's peer-reviewed publications. If you are searching for a specific publication and cannot find it in this list, please contact werc_web@usgs.gov

Filter Total Items: 3723

Reexamining fire suppression impacts on brushland fire regimes Reexamining fire suppression impacts on brushland fire regimes

California shrubland wildfires are increasingly destructive, and it is widely held that the problem has been intensified by fire suppression, leading to larger, more intense wildfires. However, analysis of the California Statewide Fire History Database shows that, since 1910, fire frequency and area burned have not declined, and fire size has not increased. Fire rotation intervals have...
Authors
Jon E. Keeley, C. J. Fotheringham, Marco Morais

Extirpation and recolonization in a metapopulation of an endangered fish, the tidewater goby Extirpation and recolonization in a metapopulation of an endangered fish, the tidewater goby

The tidewater goby ( Eucyclogobius newberryi ), an endangered species in the United States, occurs in a series of isolated coastal wetlands in California. Using historical presence-absence data and our own surveys, we estimated annual rates of extirpation and recolonization for several populations of the goby in southern California. As predicted, large wetlands had lower rates of...
Authors
K. D. Lafferty, C. C. Swift, R.F. Ambrose

Studies of reproductive output of the desert tortoise at Joshua Tree National Park, the Mojave National Preserve, and comparative sites Studies of reproductive output of the desert tortoise at Joshua Tree National Park, the Mojave National Preserve, and comparative sites

The stability of any population is a function of how many young are produced and how many survive to reproduce. Populations with low reproductive output and high mortality will decline until such time as deaths and births are at least balanced. Monitoring populations of sensitive species is particularly important to ensure that conditions do not favor decline or extinction. Turtles...
Authors
J.E. Lovich, P. Medica, H. Avery, K. Meyer, G. Bowser, A. Brown

Reference intervals and physiologic alterations in hematologic and biochemical values of free-ranging desert tortoises in the Mojave Desert Reference intervals and physiologic alterations in hematologic and biochemical values of free-ranging desert tortoises in the Mojave Desert

Desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) populations have experienced precipitous declines resulting from the cumulative impact of habitat loss, and human and disease-related mortality. Evaluation of hematologic and biochemical responses of desert tortoises to physiologic and environmental factors can facilitate the assessment of stress and disease in tortoises and contribute to management...
Authors
Mary M. Christopher, Kristin H. Berry, I.R. Wallis, K.A. Nagy, B.T. Henen, C.C. Peterson

Stem demography and postfire recruitment of a resprouting serotinous conifer Stem demography and postfire recruitment of a resprouting serotinous conifer

The contribution of resprouts and seedling recruitment to post-fire regeneration of the South African fynbos conifer Widdringtonia nodiflora was compared eight months after wildfires in 1990. Stems on all trees were killed by fire but resprouting success was > 90 % at all but one site. A demographic study of burned skeletons revealed that prior to these fires, nearly all plants were...
Authors
Jon E. Keeley, Melanie B. Keeley, William J. Bond
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