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Publications

This list of publications includes peer-review journal articles, official USGS publications series, reports and more authored by scientists in the Ecosystems Mission Area. A database of all USGS publications, with advanced search features, can be accessed at the USGS Publications Warehouse.  

Filter Total Items: 42707

Great Lakes lake trout thiamine monitoring program annual report Great Lakes lake trout thiamine monitoring program annual report

The U.S. Geological Survey’s Great Lakes Science Center (GLSC), Eastern Ecological Science Center, and Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC), and the State University of New York (SUNY) Brockport have conducted in collaboration with partner agencies a cooperative program to monitor thiamine concentrations in lake trout eggs since the late 1990s. In 2021, egg thiamine...
Authors
Jacques Rinchard, Thomas Blowers, Brian F. Lantry

Limited land base and competing land uses force societal tradeoffs when siting energy development Limited land base and competing land uses force societal tradeoffs when siting energy development

As human populations grow, decisions regarding use of the world's finite land base become increasingly complex. We adopted a land use–conflict scenario involving renewable energy to illustrate one potential cause of these conflicts and resulting tradeoff decisions. Renewable energy industries wishing to expand operations in the United States are limited by multijurisdictional regulations...
Authors
Jill A. Shaffer, Neal D. Niemuth, Charles R. Loesch, Clayton E. Derby, Aaron T. Pearse, Kevin W. Barnes, Terry L. Shaffer, Adam J. Ryba

Drivers of flight performance of California Condors (Gymnogyps californianus) Drivers of flight performance of California Condors (Gymnogyps californianus)

Flight behavior of soaring birds depends on a complex array of physiological, social, demographic, and environmental factors. California Condors (Gymnogyps californianus) rely on thermal and orographic updrafts to subsidize extended bouts of soaring flight, and their soaring flight performance is expected to vary in response to environmental variation and, potentially, with experience...
Authors
Sophie R. Bonner, Sharon A. Poessel, Joseph C. Brandt, Molly T. Astell, James R. Belthoff, Todd E. Katzner

Rotenone use and subsequent prey loss lowers Osprey fledging rates via brood reduction Rotenone use and subsequent prey loss lowers Osprey fledging rates via brood reduction

Fisheries managers used the fish toxicant rotenone to eradicate an undesirable brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) population and all other fish species at Hyatt Reservoir, Oregon, on 12 October 1989. This 4-yr study (1988–1990, 1992) compared effects of that rotenone project on Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) nesting at Hyatt Reservoir and nearby Howard Prairie Reservoir (untreated...
Authors
Charles J. Henny, James L Kaiser

Summary and synthesis of 15 years of the Amphibian Vital Sign monitoring in the National Capital Region Inventory and Monitoring Network Summary and synthesis of 15 years of the Amphibian Vital Sign monitoring in the National Capital Region Inventory and Monitoring Network

The amphibian monitoring program, designed and conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative program, is designed to estimate the status and trends of amphibian populations to assist management decisions in individual parks and across the National Capital Region Network. Detection/non-detection data for stream and wetland habitats has been...
Authors
Evan H. Campbell Grant, Adrianne Brand, AD Wright

Biomass allocation of tidal freshwater marsh species in response to natural and manipulated hydroperiod in coastal deltaic floodplains Biomass allocation of tidal freshwater marsh species in response to natural and manipulated hydroperiod in coastal deltaic floodplains

Deltaic floodplains are highly vulnerable to relative sea level rise (RSLR) depending on the sediment supply from river channels that provides elevation capital as adaptation mechanism. In river channels where levees have restricted sediment supply to coastal deltaic floodplains, river sediment diversions have been proposed as a restoration strategy to increase elevation allowing for...
Authors
Andre S. Rovai, Robert R. Twilley, Alexandra Christiensen, Annabeth McCall, Daniel J. Jensen, Gregg Snedden, James T. Morris, John A. Cavell

Bright spots for inland fish and fisheries to guide future hydropower development Bright spots for inland fish and fisheries to guide future hydropower development

Hydropower production is one of the greatest threats to fluvial ecosystems and freshwater biodiversity. Now that we have entered the Anthropocene, there is an opportunity to reflect on what might constitute a ‘sustainable’ Anthropocene in the context of hydropower and riverine fish populations. Considering elements of existing practices that promote favorable social-ecological outcomes...
Authors
William M. Twardek, Ian G. Cowx, Nicolas W.R. Lapointe, Craig P. Paukert, T. Douglas Beard, Elena M. Bennett, David Browne, Andrew K. Carlson, Keith D. Clarke, Zeb Hogan, Kai Lorenzen, Abigail Lynch, Peter B. McIntyre, Paulo S. Pompeu, Mark W. Rogers, Alexis Sakas, William W. Taylor, Taylor D. Ward, Zeenatul Basher, Steven J. Cooke

Three decades of stranding data reveal insights into endangered hawksbill sea turtles in Hawai‘i Three decades of stranding data reveal insights into endangered hawksbill sea turtles in Hawai‘i

Hawksbill sea turtles Eretmochelys imbricata inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands are extremely rare and listed as endangered under the US Endangered Species Act. The paucity of data on basic hawksbill ecology continues to hinder effective management of the species. We analyzed stranding data collected between 1984 and 2018 to gain insights into the distribution, demography, and conservation...
Authors
Shandell Brunson, Alexander Gaos, Irene Kelly, Kyle van Houtan, Yonat Swimmer, Stacy Hargrove, George H. Balazs, Thierry M. Work, T. Todd Jones

Behavioural adjustments in the social associations of a precocial shorebird mediate the costs and benefits of grouping decisions Behavioural adjustments in the social associations of a precocial shorebird mediate the costs and benefits of grouping decisions

Animals weigh multiple costs and benefits when making grouping decisions. The cost-avoidance grouping framework proposes that group density, information quality and risk affect an individual’s preference for con or heterospecific groups. However, this assumes the cost–benefit balance of a particular grouping is constant spatiotemporally, which may not always be true. Investigating how
Authors
Luke R. Wilde, Rose J. Swift, Nathan R. Senner

Comparative toxicity of aquatic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance exposure in three species of amphibians Comparative toxicity of aquatic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance exposure in three species of amphibians

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are contaminants of concern due to their widespread occurrence in the environment, persistence, and potential to elicit a range of negative health effects. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are regularly detected in surface waters, but their effects on many aquatic organisms are still poorly understood. Species with thyroid-dependent...
Authors
Robert Wesley Flynn, Gary M. Hoover, Michael G. Iacchetta, Samuel C. Guffey, Youn J. Choi, Chloe De Perre, Belinda Huerta, Weiming Li, Jason T. Hoverman, Linda S. Lee, Maria S. Speulveda

Toward scoping reviews of individual bird species Toward scoping reviews of individual bird species

Scoping reviews, in which the literature on a given topic is systematically collated and summarized, aid literature searches and highlight knowledge gaps on a given topic, thus hastening scientific progress and informing conservation efforts. Because much research and conservation is targeted at the species level, ornithology and bird conservation would benefit from scoping reviews of...
Authors
Christopher J W McClure, Zackery Szymczycha, David L Anderson, Francisca Helena Aguiar-Silva, Sarah Schulwitz, Leah Dunn, MIchael T Henderson, Leticia Camacho, Jose de Jesus Vargas Gonzalez, Chris N. Parish, Evan R. Buechley, Jesse D’Elia, Sanford Wilbur, Kenneth Johansen, Devin L Johnson, Soren Moller, Ivan Pokrovsky, Todd E. Katzner
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