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Publications

Browse more than 150,000 publications authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS.  Publications available are: USGS-authored journal articles, series reports, book chapters, other government publications, and more.

Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center Publications

Filter Total Items: 3294

Implanted satellite transmitters affect sea duck movement patterns at short- and long-term time scales Implanted satellite transmitters affect sea duck movement patterns at short- and long-term time scales

Studies of the effects of transmitters on wildlife often focus on survival. However, non-lethal behavioral changes resulting from radiomarking have the potential to affect inferences from telemetry data and may vary based on individual and environmental characteristics. We used a long-term, multi-species tracking study of sea ducks to assess behavioral patterns at multiple temporal...
Authors
Juliet S. Lamb, Peter WC Paton, Jason E. Osenkowski, Shannon S. Badzinski, Alicia Berlin, Timothy D. Bowman, Chris Dwyer, Luke J. Fara, Scott G. Gilliland, Kevin P. Kenow, Christine Lepage, Mark L. Mallory, Glenn H. Olsen, Matthew Perry, Scott A. Petrie, Jean-Pierre L. Savard, Lucas Savoy, Michael L. Schummer, Caleb S. Spiegel, Scott R. McWilliams

Integrating perspectives to understand lake ice dynamics in a changing world Integrating perspectives to understand lake ice dynamics in a changing world

Ice cover plays a critical role in physical, biogeochemical, and ecological processes in lakes. Despite its importance, winter limnology remains relatively understudied. Here, we provide a primer on the predominant drivers of freshwater lake ice cover and the current methodologies used to study lake ice, including in situ and remote sensing observations, physical based models, and...
Authors
Sapna Sharma, Michael F. Meyer, Joshua Culpepper, Xiao Yang, Stephanie Hampton, Stella A. Berger, Matthew R. Brousil, Steven C. Fradkin, Scott N. Higgins, Kathi Jo Jankowski, Georgiy Kirillin, Adrianne P Smits, Emily C. Whitaker, Foad Yousef, Shuai Zhang

Tests in a semi-natural environment suggest that bait and switch strategy could be used to control invasive Common Carp Tests in a semi-natural environment suggest that bait and switch strategy could be used to control invasive Common Carp

Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, 1758), is a highly invasive species that has had profound effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Many Carp management methods have been applied including physical removal, pesticide treatments of whole lakes, and water drawdowns. Herein, we tested key elements of a potential “bait and switch” approach in which corn could be used to induce...
Authors
Peter J Hundt, Jon Amberg, Blake W. Sauey, Kristen Vacura, Przemyslaw G. Bajer

Shallow lake management enhanced habitat and attracted waterbirds during fall migration Shallow lake management enhanced habitat and attracted waterbirds during fall migration

Lake water levels are often managed in shallow lakes in order to improve water quality and promote aquatic vegetation that presumably benefits water birds. We aimed to understand whether waterbird abundance and species richness during fall migrations were positively influenced by managed lake water levels at 32 shallow lakes over 10 years. We conducted annual waterbird surveys that...
Authors
Danelle M. Larson, Steven D. Cordts, Nicole Hansel-Welch

Leachable phosphorus from senesced green ash and Norway mapleleaves in urban watersheds Leachable phosphorus from senesced green ash and Norway mapleleaves in urban watersheds

In urban watersheds, street tree leaf litter is a critical biogenic source of phosphorus (P) in stormwater runoff. Stormwater extracts P from leaf litter and transports it, through the storm sewer network, to a receiving waterbody potentially causing downstream eutrophication. The goal of this study is to understand P leaching dynamics of two prevalent tree species (Norway maple (Acer...
Authors
Yi Wang, Anita Thompson, William R. Selbig

Estimation of vital population rates to assess the relative health of mussel assemblages in the Upper Mississippi River Estimation of vital population rates to assess the relative health of mussel assemblages in the Upper Mississippi River

Native freshwater mussels are a guild of benthic, filter feeding invertebrates that perform important ecological functions in rivers. Because of their long lifespans (30–50 years or longer), mussels are slow to respond to human‐induced alterations. Thus, development of sensitive indicators of mussel population responses to river conditions and management would be beneficial. Compared to...
Authors
Teresa Newton, Steven J. Zigler, Patricia R. Ries, Mike Davis, David R. Smith

Climate’s cascading effects on disease, predation, and hatching success in Anaxyrus canorus, the threatened Yosemite toad Climate’s cascading effects on disease, predation, and hatching success in Anaxyrus canorus, the threatened Yosemite toad

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed Anaxyrus canorus, the Yosemite toad, as federally threatened in 2014 based upon reported population declines and vulnerability to global-change factors. A. canorus lives only in California’s central Sierra Nevada at medium to sub-alpine elevations. Lands throughout its range are protected from development, but climate and other global-change...
Authors
Walter Sadinski, Alisa L. Gallant, James E. Cleaver

Conceptualizing alternate regimes in a large floodplain-river ecosystem Conceptualizing alternate regimes in a large floodplain-river ecosystem

Regime shifts –persistent changes in the structure and function of an ecosystem - are well-documented in many ecosystems but remain poorly understood in floodplain-river ecosystems. We apply a resilience perspective to large floodplain-river ecosystems by presenting three examples of plausible sets of alternate regimes that are relevant to natural resource management interests within the...
Authors
Kristen L. Bouska, Jeffrey N. Houser, Nathan R. De Jager, Deanne C. Drake, Scott F. Collins, Caniel K. Gibson-Reniemer, Meredith A. Thomsen

Moving beyond p<0.05 in ecotoxicology: A guide for practitioners Moving beyond p<0.05 in ecotoxicology: A guide for practitioners

Statistical inferences play a critical role in ecotoxicology. Historically, Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST) has been the dominant method for inference in ecotoxicology. As a brief and informal definition of the NHST approach, researchers compare (or test) an experimental treatment or observation against a hypothesis of no relationship or effect (the null hypothesis) using the...
Authors
Richard A. Erickson, Barnett A. Rattner

Annual adult survival drives trends in Arctic-breeding shorebirds but knowledge gaps in other vital rates remain Annual adult survival drives trends in Arctic-breeding shorebirds but knowledge gaps in other vital rates remain

Conservation status and management priorities are often informed by population trends. Trend estimates can be derived from population surveys or models, but both methods are associated with sources of uncertainty. Many Arctic-breeding shorebirds are thought to be declining based on migration and/or overwintering population surveys, but data are lacking to estimate the trends of some...
Authors
Emily L. Weiser, Richard B. Lanctot, Stephen C. Brown, H. River Gates, Joel Bety, Megan L. Boldenow, Rodney W. Brook, Glen S. Brown, Willow B. English, Scott A. Flemming, Samantha E. Franks, H. Grant Gilchrist, Marie-Andree Giroux, Andrew C. Johnson, Steve Kendall, Lisa V. Kennedy, Laura Koloski, Eunbi Kwon, Jean-Francois Lamarre, David B. Lank, Christopher J. Latty, Nicolas Lecomte, Joseph R. Liebezeit, Rebecca L McGuire, Laura McKinnon, Erica Nol, David C. Payer, Johanna Perz, Jennie Rausch, Martin D. Robards, Sarah T. Saalfeld, Nathan R. Senner, Paul A. Smith, Mikhail Soloviev, Diana V Solovyeva, David H. Ward, Paul F. Wood, Brett K. Sandercock

Quantifying the contribution of habitats and pathways to a spatially structured population facing environmental change Quantifying the contribution of habitats and pathways to a spatially structured population facing environmental change

The consequences of environmental disturbance and management are difficult to quantify for spatially structured populations because changes in one location carry through to other areas as a result of species movement. We develop a metric, G, for measuring the contribution of a habitat or pathway to network-wide population growth rate in the face of environmental change. This metric is...
Authors
Christine Sample, Joanna A. Bieri, Benjamin L. Allen, Yulia Dementieva, Alyssa Carson, Connor Higgins, Sadie Piatt, Shirley Qiu, Summer Stafford, Brady J. Mattsson, Darius J. Semmens, James E. Diffendorfer, Wayne E. Thogmartin

Land use effects on sediment nutrient processes in a heavily modified watershed using structural equation models Land use effects on sediment nutrient processes in a heavily modified watershed using structural equation models

Contemporary land use can affect sediment nutrient processes in rivers draining heavily modified watersheds; however, studies linking land use to sediment nutrient processes in large river networks are limited. In this study, we developed and evaluated structural equation models (SE models) for denitrification and phosphorus retention capacity to determine direct and indirect linkages...
Authors
Rebecca M. Kreiling, Martin C. Thoms, Lynn A. Bartsch, James H. Larson, Victoria Christensen
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