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: 42878
Environmental DNA assays for invasive populations of the Black Carp, Mylopharyngodon piceus, in North America Environmental DNA assays for invasive populations of the Black Carp, Mylopharyngodon piceus, in North America
The Black Carp, Mylopharyngodon piceus, is an increasingly widespread invasive species in North America that threatens freshwater mussel populations. We developed four qPCR assays for detecting environmental DNA (eDNA) from these Black Carp populations. Assays were designed to target four mitochondrial DNA loci and were based on 34 complete mitochondrial genome sequences, including 29...
Authors
Xin Guan, E.M. Monroe, K.D. Bockrath, Erica L. Mize, C.B. Rees, Denise L. Lindsay, Kelly L. Baerwaldt, Leo Nico, Richard F. Lance
Diel feeding behavior in a partially migrant Mysis population: A benthic-pelagic comparison Diel feeding behavior in a partially migrant Mysis population: A benthic-pelagic comparison
Populations that exhibit partial migration include migrants and non-migrants. For benthic-pelagic organisms that exhibit partial diel vertical migration (PDVM), migrants and non-migrants spend different amounts of time in benthic and pelagic foraging arenas over a diel cycle. For example, mysids exhibit PDVM and can feed on benthic and pelagic resources. Migratory individuals are assumed...
Authors
Brian O’Malley, Jason D. Stockwell
Cohesive framework for modeling plant cover class data Cohesive framework for modeling plant cover class data
The study of plant distribution and abundance is a fundamental pursuit in ecology and conservation biology. Measuring plant abundance by visually assessing percent cover and recording a cover class is a common field method that yields ordinal data. Statistical models for ordinal data exist but entail cumbersome interpretations and sometimes restrictive assumptions.We propose a Bayesian
Authors
Kathryn Irvine, Wilson J. Wright, Erin K. Shanahan, Thomas J. Rodhouse
Spatiotemporal variability in energetic condition of alewife and round goby in Lake Michigan Spatiotemporal variability in energetic condition of alewife and round goby in Lake Michigan
Pelagic-oriented alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) and benthic-oriented round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) are two important prey fishes in the Laurentian Great Lakes. In 2015, we evaluated their seasonal total energy (TE) across nine Lake Michigan transects. Round goby contained at least 48% more kilojoules of TE than alewife of equal length during spring and summer. TE varied spatially...
Authors
David Bunnell, Steven A. Pothoven, Patricia Dieter, Lauren A. Eaton, David Warner, Ashley K. Elgin, Lyuba E. Burlakova, Alexander Y. Karatayev
Estimating visitor use and economic contributions of National Park visitor spending Estimating visitor use and economic contributions of National Park visitor spending
This chapter provides an overview of the National Park Service (NPS) methods for estimating visitor spending and calculating economic contributions of visitor spending in terms of jobs supported, wage and labor income, and total economic activity. The Visitor Spending Effects model combines visitor spending patterns and trip characteristic data with visitor use data to estimate total...
Authors
Lynne Koontz, Catherine Cullinane Thomas
Filling knowledge gaps in a threatened shorebird flyway through satellite tracking Filling knowledge gaps in a threatened shorebird flyway through satellite tracking
Satellite‐based technologies that track individual animal movements enable the mapping of their spatial and temporal patterns of occurrence. This is particularly useful in poorly studied or remote regions where there is a need for the rapid gathering of relevant ecological knowledge to inform management actions. One such region is East Asia, where many intertidal habitats are being...
Authors
Yin-Chi Chan, T. Lee Tibbitts, Tamar Lok, Chris Hassell, He-Bo Peng, Zhijun Ma, Zhengwang Zhang, Theunis Piersma
Improving population estimates of threatened spectacled eiders: Correcting aerial counts for visibility bias Improving population estimates of threatened spectacled eiders: Correcting aerial counts for visibility bias
Listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1993, the Spectacled Eider (Somateria fischeri) population in western Alaska has since rebounded, prompting an assessment of their suitability for delisting. This assessment, however, is limited by aerial-based population estimates that are incompletely corrected for unobserved eiders. Notably, aerial counts of eiders are corrected...
Authors
Tyler Lewis, Michael Swaim, Joel A. Schmutz, Julian Fischer
Freezing resistance, safety margins, and survival vary among big sagebrush populations across the western United States Freezing resistance, safety margins, and survival vary among big sagebrush populations across the western United States
Premise Physiological responses to temperature extremes are considered strong drivers of species’ demographic responses to climate variability. Plants are typically classified as either avoiders or tolerators in their freezing‐resistance mechanism, but a gradient of physiological‐threshold freezing responses may exist among individuals of a species. Moreover, adaptive significance of...
Authors
Brynne Lazarus, Matthew J. Germino, Bryce A. Richardson
A phylogenomic supertree of birds A phylogenomic supertree of birds
It has long been appreciated that analyses of genomic data (e.g., whole genome sequencing or sequence capture) have the potential to reveal the tree of life, but it remains challenging to move from sequence data to a clear understanding of evolutionary history, in part due to the computational challenges of phylogenetic estimation using genome-scale data. Supertree methods solve that...
Authors
Rebecca T Kimball, Carl H Oliveros, Ning Wang, Noor D White, F. Keith Barker, Daniel J Field, Daniel T Ksepka, Terry Chesser, Robert G Moyle, Michael J Braun, Robb T Brumfield, Brant C Faircloth, Brian Tilston-Smith, Edward L Braun
First examination of diet items consumed by wild-caught black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus) in the U.S. First examination of diet items consumed by wild-caught black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus) in the U.S.
Black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus) were imported to the U.S. in the 1970s to control snails in aquaculture ponds and have since escaped from captivity. The increase in captures of wild fish has raised concerns of risk to native and imperiled unionid mussels given previous literature classified this species a molluscivore. We acquired black carp from commercial fishers and biologists...
Authors
Barry C. Poulton, Patrick Kroboth, George Aiken, Duane Chapman, J. Bailey, Stephen E. McMurray, John S. Faiman
Climate, environment, and disturbance history govern resilience of western North American Forests Climate, environment, and disturbance history govern resilience of western North American Forests
Before the advent of intensive forest management and fire suppression, western North American forests exhibited a naturally occurring resistance and resilience to wildfires and other disturbances. Resilience, which encompasses resistance, reflects the amount of disruption an ecosystem can withstand before its structure or organization qualitatively shift to a different basin of...
Authors
Paul F. Hessburg, Carol Miller, Sean A. Parks, Nicholas A. Povak, Alan H. Taylor, Philip E. Higuera, Susan Prichard, Malcolm P. North, Brandon M. Collins, Matthew D. Hurteau, Andrew J. Larson, Craig D. Allen, Scott L. Stephens, Hiram Rivera-Huerta, Camile S Stevens-Rumann, Lori D. Daniels, Ze’ev Gedalof, Robert W. Gray, Van R. Kane, Derek J. Churchill, R. Keala Hagmann, Thomas A. Spies, C. Alina Cansler, R. Travis Belote, Thomas T. Veblen, Mike A. Battaglia, Chad Hoffman, Carl N. Skinner, Hugh D. Safford, R. Brion Salter
Connectivity dynamics in dryland litter cycles: Moving decomposition beyond spatial stasis Connectivity dynamics in dryland litter cycles: Moving decomposition beyond spatial stasis
Drylands (arid and semiarid ecosystems) cover nearly half of Earth's terrestrial surface, but biogeochemical pools and processes in these systems remain poorly understood. Litter can account for a substantial portion of carbon and nutrient pools in these systems, with litter decomposition exerting important controls over biogeochemical cycling. Dryland decomposition is typically treated...
Authors
Heather L. Throop, Jayne Belnap