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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: 42994

Global conservation status of turtles and tortoises (order Testudines) Global conservation status of turtles and tortoises (order Testudines)

We present a review and analysis of the conservation status and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) threat categories of all 360 currently recognized species of extant and recently extinct turtles and tortoises (Order Testudines). Our analysis is based on the 2018 IUCN Red List status of 251 listed species, augmented by provisional Red List assessments by the IUCN...
Authors
Anders G.J. Rhodin, Craig B. Stanford, Peter Paul van Dijk, Carla Eisemberg, Luca Luiselli, Russell A. Mittermeier, Rick Hudson, Brian D. Horne, Eric Goode, Gerald Kuchling, Andrew Walde, Ernst H. W. Baard, Kristin H. Berry, Albert Bertolero, Torsten E. G. Blanck, Roger Bour, Kurt A. Buhlmann, Linda J. Cayot, Sydney Collett, Andrea Currylow, Indraneil Das, Tomas Diagne, Joshua R. Ennen, German Forero-Medina, Matthew G. Frankel, Uwe Fritz, Gerardo Garcia, J. Whitfield Gibbons, Paul M. Gibbons, Gong Shiping, Joko Guntoro, Margaretha D. Hofmeyr, John B. Iverson, A. Ross Kiester, Michael Lau, Dwight P. Lawson, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Edward O. Moll, Vivian P. Paez, Rosalinda Palomo-Ramos, Kalyar Platt, Steven G. Platt, Peter C. H. Pritchard, Hugh R. Quinn, Shahriar Caesar Rahman, Soary Tahafe Randrianjafizanaka, Jason Schaffer, Will Selman, H. Bradley Shaffer, Dionysius S. K. Sharma, Shi Haitao, Shailendra Singh, Ricky Spencer, Kahleana Stannard, Sarah Sutcliffe, Scott Thomson, Richard C. Vogt

Southeast Southeast

The Southeast includes vast expanses of coastal and inland low-lying areas, the southern portion of the Appalachian Mountains, numerous high-growth metropolitan areas, and large rural expanses. These beaches and bayous, fields and forests, and cities and small towns are all at risk from a changing climate. While some climate change impacts, such as sea level rise and extreme downpours...
Authors
Lynne Carter, Adam J. Terando, Kirstin Dow, Kevin Hiers, Kenneth E. Kunkel, Aranzazu R. Lascurain, Doug Marcy, Michael J. Osland, Paul Schramm

Using colony monitoring devices to evaluate the impacts of land use and nutritional value of forage on honey bee health Using colony monitoring devices to evaluate the impacts of land use and nutritional value of forage on honey bee health

Colony monitoring devices used to track and assess the health status of honey bees are becoming more widely available and used by both beekeepers and researchers. These devices monitor parameters relevant to colony health at frequent intervals, often approximating real time. The fine-scale record of hive condition can be further related to static or dynamic features of the landscape...
Authors
Matthew Smart, Clint Otto, Robert S. Cornman, Deborah D. Iwanowicz

Lake Sturgeon, Lake Whitefish, and Walleye egg deposition patterns with response to fish spawning substrate restoration in the St. Clair–Detroit River system Lake Sturgeon, Lake Whitefish, and Walleye egg deposition patterns with response to fish spawning substrate restoration in the St. Clair–Detroit River system

Egg deposition and use of restored spawning substrates by lithophilic fishes (e.g., Lake Sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens, Lake Whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis, and Walleye Sander vitreus) were assessed throughout the St. Clair–Detroit River system from 2005 to 2016. Bayesian models were used to quantify egg abundance and presence/absence relative to site-specific variables (e.g., depth...
Authors
Jason L. Fischer, Jeremy J. Pritt, Edward F. Roseman, Carson G. Prichard, Jaquelyn M. Craig, Gregory W. Kennedy, Bruce A. Manny

Ecotypic variation in population dynamics of reintroduced bighorn sheep Ecotypic variation in population dynamics of reintroduced bighorn sheep

Selection of bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) for translocation historically has been motivated by preservation of subspecific purity rather than by adaptation of source stocks to similar environments. Our objective was to estimate cause‐specific, annual, and age‐specific mortality of introduced bighorn sheep that originated at low elevations in southern British Columbia, Canada (BC...
Authors
Vernon C. Bleich, Glen A. Sargeant, Brett P. Wiedmann

The nitrogen window for arctic herbivores: plant phenology and protein gain of migratory caribou (Rangifer tarandus) The nitrogen window for arctic herbivores: plant phenology and protein gain of migratory caribou (Rangifer tarandus)

Terrestrial plants are often limited by nitrogen (N) in arctic systems, but constraints of N supply on herbivores are typically considered secondary to those of energy. We tested the hypothesis that forage N is more limiting than energy for arctic caribou by collecting key forages (three species of graminoids, three species of woody browse, and one genus of forb) over three summers in...
Authors
Perry S. Barboza, Lindsay L. Van Someren, David D. Gustine, M. Syndonia Bret-Harte

Morphodynamic evolution following sediment release from the world’s largest dam removal Morphodynamic evolution following sediment release from the world’s largest dam removal

Sediment pulses can cause widespread, complex changes to rivers and coastal regions. Quantifying landscape response to sediment-supply changes is a long-standing problem in geomorphology, but the unanticipated nature of most sediment pulses rarely allows for detailed measurement of associated landscape processes and evolution. The intentional removal of two large dams on the Elwha River
Authors
Andrew C. Ritchie, Jonathan A. Warrick, Amy E. East, Christopher S. Magirl, Andrew W. Stevens, Jennifer A. Bountry, Timothy J. Randle, Christopher A. Curran, Robert C. Hilldale, Jeffrey J. Duda, Ian M. Miller, George R. Pess, Emily Eidam, Melissa M. Foley, Randall McCoy, Andrea S. Ogston

Informing our successors: What botanical information for Santa Cruz Island will researchers and conservation managers in the century ahead need the most? Informing our successors: What botanical information for Santa Cruz Island will researchers and conservation managers in the century ahead need the most?

Climate changes are predicted to drive changes in plant species composition and vegetation cover around the world. Preserved specimens and other botanical information that we gather today—a period future practitioners may look back on as an early stage of modern anthropogenic climate change—will be of value to conservation managers and conservation biologists in the decades and centuries...
Authors
John M. Randall, Kathryn McEachern, John Knapp, Paula Power, Steve Junak, Kristina Gill, Denise Knapp, Matt Guilliams

Assessment of carbon dioxide piscicide treatments Assessment of carbon dioxide piscicide treatments

Few chemicals are approved to control or eradicate nuisance fish populations in the United States. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is currently being developed and studied as a new piscicide option for nonselective population control. This study evaluated dry ice (solid state CO2) as a simple CO2 delivery method during winter piscicide applications. Nonnative Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix...
Authors
Aaron R. Cupp, Justin R. Smerud, John Tix, Jose Rivera, Stacie A. Kageyama, Christopher M. Merkes, Richard A. Erickson, Jon Amberg, Mark P. Gaikowski

Fatality estimator user’s guide Fatality estimator user’s guide

This publication is the User's Guide for software developed to estimate wildlife fatalities at wind-power facilities, although the software is applicable to a variety of circumstances in which the objective is to estimate the size of a superpopulation and the probability of detection of the individuals is less than one. Simple counts of carcasses do not accurately reflect fatality and do...
Authors
Manuela M. Huso, Nicholas Som, Lew Ladd

Introduction to the Wetland Book 1: Wetland structure and function, management, and nethods Introduction to the Wetland Book 1: Wetland structure and function, management, and nethods

The Wetland Book 1 is designed as a ‘first port-of-call’ reference work for information on the structure and functions of wetlands, current approaches to wetland management, and methods for researching and understanding wetlands. Contributions by experts summarize key concepts, orient the reader to the major issues, and support further research on such issues by individuals and...
Authors
Nick C. Davidson, Beth A. Middleton, Robert J. McInnes, Mark Everard, Kenneth Irvine, Anne A. Van Dam, C. Max Finlayson
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