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: 42710
Fungal impacts on Earth’s ecosystems Fungal impacts on Earth’s ecosystems
Over the past billion years, the fungal kingdom has diversified to more than two million species, with over 95% still undescribed. Beyond the well-known macroscopic mushrooms and microscopic yeast, fungi are heterotrophs that feed on almost any organic carbon, recycling nutrients through the decay of dead plants and animals and sequestering carbon into Earth’s ecosystems. Human-directed
Authors
Nicola T. Case, Sarah J. Gurr, Matthew C. Fisher, David S. Blehert, Charles Boone, Arturo Casadevall, Anuradha Chowdhary, Christina A. Cuomo, Cameron R. Currie, David W. Denning, Iuliana V. Ene, Lillian K. Fritz-Laylin, Aleeza C. Gerstein, Neil A. R. Gow, Asiya Gusa, Iliyan D. Iliev, Timothy Y. James, Hailing Jin, Regine Kahmann, Bruce S. Klein, James W. Kronstad, Kyla S. Ost, Kabir G. Peay, Rebecca S. Shapiro, Donald C. Sheppard, Neta Shlezinger, Jason E. Stajich, Eva H. Stukenbrock, John W. Taylor, Gerard D. Wright, Leah E. Cowen, Joseph Heitman, Julia A. Segre
Cell penetrating peptide-mediated delivery of gene-silencing nucleic acids to the invasive common reed Phragmites australis via foliar application Cell penetrating peptide-mediated delivery of gene-silencing nucleic acids to the invasive common reed Phragmites australis via foliar application
As a popular tool for gene function characterization and gene therapy, RNA interference (RNAi)-based gene silencing has been increasingly explored for potential applications to control invasive species. At least two major hurdles exist when applying this approach to invasive plants: (1) the design and screening of species- and gene-specific biomacromolecules (i.e., gene-silencing agents...
Authors
Qing Ji, Kurt P. Kowalski, Edward M. Golenberg, Seung Ho Chung, Natalie D. Barker, Wesley A. Bickford, Ping Gong
Systematic shifts in the variation among host individuals must be considered in climate-disease theory Systematic shifts in the variation among host individuals must be considered in climate-disease theory
To make more informed predictions of host–pathogen interactions under climate change, studies have incorporated the thermal performance of host, vector and pathogen traits into disease models to quantify effects on average transmission rates. However, this body of work has omitted the fact that variation in susceptibility among individual hosts affects disease spread and long-term...
Authors
Joseph R. Mihaljevic, David James Paez
Preprint: Simulated seasonal loads of total nitrogen and total phosphorus by major source from watersheds draining to Washington waters of the Salish Sea, 2005 through 2020 Preprint: Simulated seasonal loads of total nitrogen and total phosphorus by major source from watersheds draining to Washington waters of the Salish Sea, 2005 through 2020
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) have developed watershed models of seasonal load estimates of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) discharging into the Washington waters of the Salish Sea from 2005 through 2020. The modeling approach used was dynamic SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes), a...
Authors
Noah Schmadel, Cristiana Figueroa-Kaminsky, Daniel Wise, Jamie K. Wasielewski, Zachary Johnson, Robert W. Black
Video evidence of a Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) preying upon a live Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) duckling in Louisiana Video evidence of a Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) preying upon a live Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) duckling in Louisiana
Most animal matter in the diet of the omnivorous Trachemys scripta (Pond Slider) consists of invertebrate prey items such as insects, crustaceans, and mollusks, but often also includes fish and amphibians. Reptiles, birds, and mammals are less commonly reported, and even when found, it is usually unknown if they were captured alive, as Pond Sliders will certainly scavenge dead animals...
Authors
Brad Glorioso, Alex Landry, Gabrielle Mandill
Spawning and larval development of the mesophotic octocoral Swiftia exserta in aquaria Spawning and larval development of the mesophotic octocoral Swiftia exserta in aquaria
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill injured mesophotic and deep-sea environments over a vast area. In order to restore mesophotic and deep-sea coral species impacted by the spill, information on fundamental ecosystem processes such as reproduction is needed. During expeditions in 2021 and 2022, fragments of the mesophotic octocoral Swiftia exserta were collected from the northern Gulf...
Authors
Julia W. Johnstone, William Jenkins, Mackenzy Jankiewicz, Jonathan M. Quigley, Janessy Frometa, Enrique Salgado, Ben Higgins, Amanda Demopoulos, Christopher L. Gardner, Peter J. Etnoyer, Kristopher G. Benson
Waterfront property owners' shoreline preferences amid salt marsh to mangrove transitions Waterfront property owners' shoreline preferences amid salt marsh to mangrove transitions
1. We examined the influence of mangrove encroachment into salt marsh areas along the northern Gulf of Mexico (USA) on waterfront property owners' perceptions of coastal health and preferences for shoreline management. 2. Using mail-in and online surveys, we targeted over 3000 waterfront property owners across four jurisdictions experiencing or anticipating mangrove encroachment. 3. Our...
Authors
Jahson B. Alemu I, A. Randall Hughes, Michael Osland, Savannah H. Swinea, Kalaina A. Thorne, Remi Bardou, Christine C. Shepard, Steven B. Scyphers
Assessing risk for enhanced cyanobacteria, phytoplankton, and pathogens with changes in water level regime with potential application to Lake Powell and Lake Mead: A mixed methods literature review Assessing risk for enhanced cyanobacteria, phytoplankton, and pathogens with changes in water level regime with potential application to Lake Powell and Lake Mead: A mixed methods literature review
Water levels in freshwater reservoirs worldwide are changing due to altered climate, management practices, and increasing human demand for water. In the desert southwestern USA, managers are considering significant changes to reservoir operation strategies and water management in response to consumptive use and ongoing drought. To inform reservoir management decision-making, we reviewed...
Authors
Kathryn K. Hoffman, Bridget Deemer, Mary E. Lofton, Nicole D. Gibney, Cayelan C. Carey
Is sexual size dimorphism in walleye, Sander vitreus, a driver of seasonal movements in Lake Erie? Is sexual size dimorphism in walleye, Sander vitreus, a driver of seasonal movements in Lake Erie?
Walleye (Sander vitreus) are a sexually dimorphic species in which females are larger than males in adulthood. Walleye can also exhibit sex- and population-based differences in migration behavior. In Lake Erie, we used acoustic telemetry to test the prediction that female walleye exhibit larger broad-scale movements than males during the summer and autumn. This prediction was based on...
Authors
Christian J. Bihun, Matthew Faust, Richard Kraus, Thomas MacDougall, Jason Robinson, Christopher Vandergoot, Graham D. Raby
Direct and legacy effects of varying cool-season precipitation totals on ecosystem carbon flux in a semi-arid mixed grassland Direct and legacy effects of varying cool-season precipitation totals on ecosystem carbon flux in a semi-arid mixed grassland
In the semi-arid grasslands of the southwest United States, annual precipitation is divided between warm-season (July–September) convective precipitation and cool-season (December–March) frontal storms. While evidence suggests shifts in precipitation seasonal distribution, there is a poor understanding of the ecosystem carbon flux responses to cool-season precipitation and the potential...
Authors
Fangyue Zhang, Joel A. Biederman, Nathan A. Pierce, Daniel L. Potts, Sasha C. Reed, William K. Smith
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla) The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla)
Keys to Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla) management include providing shrub-dominated edge habitat adjacent to grasslands or grasslands with a shrub component (both of which must include dense grass and moderately high litter cover) and avoiding disturbances that eliminate woody vegetation. Field Sparrows have been reported to use habitats with 16–134 centimeters (cm) vegetation height...
Authors
Jill A. Shaffer, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. Johnson, Marriah L. Sondreal, Christopher M. Goldade, Barry D. Parkin, Betty R. Euliss
Exosomal micro RNA isolation in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) for diagnostic biomarker discovery Exosomal micro RNA isolation in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) for diagnostic biomarker discovery
Molecular approaches are becoming more prevalent for the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases in human medicine and can be extended to diagnosis of wildlife diseases such as chronic wasting disease and other prion diseases. These diseases have been associated with exosome-bound molecular biomarkers of disease progression, such as proteins and micro RNA molecules (miRNA). We tested and...
Authors
Maite De Maria, Lillian G. Maxwell, Margaret Hunter, Jason Ferrante