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: 3708
Time-to-detection occupancy methods: Performance and utility for improving efficiency of surveys Time-to-detection occupancy methods: Performance and utility for improving efficiency of surveys
Occupancy methods propelled the quantitative study of species distributions forward by separating the observation process, or the imperfect detectability of species, from the ecological processes of interest governing species distributions. Occupancy studies come at a cost, however: the collection of additional data to account for nondetections at sites where the species is present. The...
Authors
Brian J. Halstead, Jonathan P. Rose, Patrick M. Kleeman
Whitebark pine in the national parks of the Pacific states: An assessment of population vulnerability Whitebark pine in the national parks of the Pacific states: An assessment of population vulnerability
Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is a long-lived tree found in high-elevation forests of western North America that is declining due to the non-native white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola) and climate-driven outbreaks of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae; MPB). The National Park Service established a monitoring program for whitebark pine in seven parks, including...
Authors
Erik S Jules, Phillip J. van Mantgem, Benjamin G Iberle, Jonathan C B Nesmith, Regina Rochefort
Brood parasitism of greater sage-grouse by California Quail in Idaho Brood parasitism of greater sage-grouse by California Quail in Idaho
We describe a case of brood parasitism of a Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter, sage-grouse) nest by California Quail (Callipepla californica; hereafter, quail) in southwestern Idaho during 2019. We observed one quail egg in the parasitized nest; the egg partially hatched, but the chick was dead upon the final nest check. Of the 6 sage-grouse eggs in the nest, only...
Authors
Jordan C. Rabon, Sarah E McIntire, Peter S. Coates, Mark A. Ricca, Tracey N. Johnson
How to identify win–win interventions that benefit human health and conservation How to identify win–win interventions that benefit human health and conservation
To reach the Sustainable Development Goals, we may need to act on synergies between some targets while mediating trade-offs between other targets. But what, exactly, are synergies and trade-offs, and how are they related to other outcomes, such as ‘win–win’ solutions? Finding limited guidance in the existing literature, we developed an operational method for distinguishing win–wins from...
Authors
Skylar R. Hopkins, Susanne H. Sokolow, Julia C Buck, Giulio A. De Leo, Isabel J. Jones, Laura H Kwong, Christopher LeBoa, Andrea J Lund, Andrew J MacDonald, Nicole Nova, Sarah H Olson, Alison J. Peel, Chelsea L. Wood, Kevin D. Lafferty
Ecological insights from three decades of animal movement tracking across a changing Arctic Ecological insights from three decades of animal movement tracking across a changing Arctic
The Arctic is entering a new ecological state, with alarming consequences for humanity. Animal-borne sensors offer a window into these changes. Although substantial animal tracking data from the Arctic and subarctic exist, most are difficult to discover and access. Here, we present the new Arctic Animal Movement Archive (AAMA), a growing collection of more than 200 standardized...
Authors
Sarah C Davidson, Gil Bohrer, Eliezer Gurarie, Scott LaPoint, Peter J Mahoney, Natalie Boelman, Jan UH Eitel, Laura R. Prugh, Lee A. Vierling, Jyoti Jennewein, Emma Grier, Ophelie Couriot, Allicia P Kelly, Arjan JH Meddens, Ruth Y Oliver, Roland Kays, Martin Wikelski, Tomas Aarvak, Josh T. Ackerman, Monica Almeida e Silva, José A. Alves, Erin Bayne, Bryan Bedrosian, Jerrold L. Belant, Andrew M Berdahl, Alicia Berlin, Dominique Berteaux, Joel Bety, Dmitrij Boiko, Travis L. Booms, Bridget L Borg, Stan Boutin, W. Sean Boyd, Kane Brides, Stephen C. Brown, Victor N. Bulyuk, Kurt K Burnham, David Cabot, Michael L. Casazza, Katherine S. Christie, Erica H. Craig, Shanti E. Davis, Tracy Davison, Dominic Demma, Christopher R. DeSorbo, Andrew E. Dixon, Robert Domenech, Gotz Eichhorn, Kyle Elliott, Joseph R. Evenson, Klaus-Michael Exo, Steven Ferguson, Wolfgang Fiedler, Aaron T. Fisk, J. Fort, Alastair Franke, Mark R. Fuller, Stefan Garthe, Gilles Gauthier, Grant Gilchrist, Petr Glazov, Carrie E. Gray, David Gremillet, Larry Griffin, Mike Hallworth, Autumn-Lynn Harrison, Holly Hennin, J Mark Hipfner, James Hodson, James A. Johnson, Kyle Joly, Kimberly Jones, Todd E. Katzner, Jeff W Kidd, Elly Knight, Michael N. Kochert, Andrea Kolzsch, Helmut Kruckenberg, Benjamin J Lagassé, Sandra Lai, Jean-François Lamarre, Richard B. Lanctot, Nicholas C Larter, A David Latham, Christopher J. Latty, James P. Lawler, Don-Jean Leandri-Breton, Hansoo Lee, Stephen B. Lewis, Oliver P. Love, Jesper Madsen, Mark Maftei, Mark L. Mallory, Buck Mangipane, Mikhail Y. Markovets, Peter P. Marra, Rebecca L McGuire, Carol McIntyre, Emily A McKinnon, Tricia A. Miller, Sander Moonen, Tong Mu, Gerhard JDM Muskens, Janet Ng, Kerry L Nicholson, Ingar Jostein Oien, Cory T. Overton, Patricia A Owen, Allison G. L. Patterson, Aevar Petersen, Ivan Pokrovsky, Luke L. Powell, Rui Prieto, Petra Quillfeldt, Jennie Rausch, Kelsey Russell, Sarah T. Saalfeld, Hans Schekkerman, Joel A. Schmutz, Philipp Schwemmer, Dale R. Seip, Adam Shreading, Mónica A. Silva, Brian W. Smith, Fletcher Smith, Jeff P. Smith, Katherine RS Snell, Aleksandr Sokolov, Vasiliy Sokolov, Diana V Solovyeva, Mathew S Sorum, Grigori Tertitski, J. F. Therrien, Kasper Thorup, T. Lee Tibbitts, Ingrid Tulp, Brian D. Uher-Koch, Rob van Bemmelen, Steve Van Wilgenburg, Andrew L. Von Duyke, Jesse Watson, Bryan D Watts, Judy A Williams, Matthew Wilson, Jay Wright, Michael A Yates, David Yurkowski, Ramūnas Žydelis, Mark Hebblewhite
Short-term impact of sediment addition on plants and invertebrates in a southern California salt marsh Short-term impact of sediment addition on plants and invertebrates in a southern California salt marsh
The implementation and monitoring of management strategies is integral to protect coastal marshes from increased inundation and submergence under sea-level rise. Sediment addition is one such strategy in which sediment is added to marshes to raise relative elevations, decrease tidal inundation, and enhance ecosystem processes. This study looked at the plant and invertebrate community...
Authors
Kaelin J McAtee, Karen M. Thorne, Christine R Whitcraft
Southern (California) sea otter population status and trends at San Nicolas Island, 2017–2020 Southern (California) sea otter population status and trends at San Nicolas Island, 2017–2020
The southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) population at San Nicolas Island, California, has been monitored annually since the translocation of 140 sea otters to the island was completed in 1990. Monitoring efforts have varied in frequency and type across years. In 2017, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initiated a sea otter monitoring and research plan to...
Authors
Julie L. Yee, Joseph A. Tomoleoni, Michael C. Kenner, Jessica Fujii, Gena B. Bentall, M. Tim Tinker, Brian B. Hatfield
Riparian plant communities remain stable in response to a second cycle of Tamarix biocontrol defoliation Riparian plant communities remain stable in response to a second cycle of Tamarix biocontrol defoliation
Reduced abundance of non-native Tamarix shrubs in western U.S. riparian systems following biological control by a defoliating beetle has led to concerns that replacement plant communities could be dominated by other invasive species and/or not provide some of the ecosystem services that Tamarix was providing. In previous studies, Tamarix decline following biocontrol was accompanied by...
Authors
Eduardo Gonzalez, Patrick B. Shafroth, Steven R. Lee, Sasha C. Reed, Jayne Belnap
Salinity and inundation effects on productivity of brackish tidal marsh plants in the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary Salinity and inundation effects on productivity of brackish tidal marsh plants in the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary
Plant productivity is central to numerous ecosystem functions in tidal wetlands. We examined how productivity of brackish marsh plants in northern California responded to abiotic stress gradients of inundation and salinity using two experimental approaches. In a greenhouse study with varying salinity, shoot production and biomass of Juncus balticus, Schoenoplectus acutus and S...
Authors
Christopher N. Janousek, Bruce D. Dugger, Brandon M Drucker, Karen M. Thorne
Virome of bat guano from nine northern California roosts Virome of bat guano from nine northern California roosts
Bats are hosts to a large variety of viruses, including many capable of cross species transmissions to other mammals or humans. We characterized the virome in guano from five common bat species in 9 Northern California roosts and a pool of 5 individual bats. Genomes belonging to 14 viral families known to infect mammals and 17 viral families infecting insects or of unknown tropism were...
Authors
Yanpeng Li, Eda Altan, Gabriel Reyes, Brian J. Halstead, Xutao Deng, Eric Delwart
Distribution of giant gartersnakes (Thamnophis gigas) in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, California, 2018–2019 Distribution of giant gartersnakes (Thamnophis gigas) in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, California, 2018–2019
SummaryWe examined the occurrence of giant gartersnakes in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, California, in 2018 and 2019. We made eight captures of seven giant gartersnakes (three females, four males) in 2018, and six captures of six giant gartersnakes (four females, two males) in 2019. Detection probabilities were exceedingly low despite using methods that achieve much higher detection
Authors
Kristen J. Fouts, Richard Kim, Anna C. Jordan, Alexandria M. Fulton, Jonathan P. Rose, Julia S. M. Ersan, Brian J. Halstead
A large database supports the use of simple models of post-fire tree mortality for thick-barked conifers, with less support for other species A large database supports the use of simple models of post-fire tree mortality for thick-barked conifers, with less support for other species
Background Predictive models of post-fire tree and stem mortality are vital for management planning and understanding fire effects. Post-fire tree and stem mortality have been traditionally modeled as a simple empirical function of tree defenses (e.g., bark thickness) and fire injury (e.g., crown scorch). We used the Fire and Tree Mortality database (FTM)—which includes observations of...
Authors
C. Alina Cansler, Sharon M. Hood, Phillip J. van Mantgem, J. Morgan Varner