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: 42701
Grand Canyon River Alert System—Implementing an emergency alert system for wilderness recreation Grand Canyon River Alert System—Implementing an emergency alert system for wilderness recreation
The Grand Canyon River Alert System (GCRAS) provides government-issued emergency alerts to wilderness recreationalists in the Grand Canyon, who are often outside the bounds of cellular signal reception. GCRAS is a collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey (Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center), National Weather Service, Coconino County Emergency Management, and National...
Authors
Joseph E Thomas, Thomas M. Gushue, Erica Byerley, Paul Grams
Metabarcoding analysis of arthropod pollinator diversity: A methodological comparison of eDNA derived from flowers and DNA derived from bulk samples of insects Metabarcoding analysis of arthropod pollinator diversity: A methodological comparison of eDNA derived from flowers and DNA derived from bulk samples of insects
Limitations of traditional insect sampling methods have motivated the development and optimisation of new non-lethal methods capable of quantifying diverse arthropod communities. Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding using arthropod-specific primers has recently been investigated as a novel way to characterise arthropod communities from the DNA they deposit on the surface of plants...
Authors
Kara Suzanne Jones, David S. Pilliod, Aaron Aunins
Anthropogenic activities have greatly altered mangroves over the last hundred years Anthropogenic activities have greatly altered mangroves over the last hundred years
Mangroves not only provide ecosystem and cultural services but also contribute to the mitigation of global warming. Mangrove dynamics and their environmental responses as re-constructed from the past can inform current mangrove conservation and restoration. However, our understanding of mangrove dynamics over the past century and the impact of human activities on these ecosystems remains...
Authors
Yao Zhang, Guangming Zhao, Ken Krauss, Lianghao Pan, Yuanqin Xu, Xianwei Meng
Glaciers in Western Canada-conterminous US and Switzerland experience unprecedented mass loss over the last four years (2021–2024) Glaciers in Western Canada-conterminous US and Switzerland experience unprecedented mass loss over the last four years (2021–2024)
Over the period 2021–2024, glaciers in Western Canada and the conterminous US (WCAN-US), and Switzerland respectively lost mass at rates of 22.2 ± 9.0 and 1.5 ± 0.3 Gt yr−1 representing a twofold increase in mass loss compared to the period 2010–2020. Since 2020, total ice volume was depleted by 12% (WCAN-US) and 13% (Switzerland). Meteorological conditions that favored high rates of...
Authors
Brian Menounos, Matthias Huss, Shawn Marshall, Mark Ednie, Caitlyn Florentine, Lea Hartl
Why are non-native plants successful? Consistently fast economic traits and novel origin jointly explain abundance across US ecoregions Why are non-native plants successful? Consistently fast economic traits and novel origin jointly explain abundance across US ecoregions
Are non-native plants abundant because they are non-native, and have advantages over native plants, or because they possess ‘fast’ resource strategies, and have advantages in disturbed environments? This question is central to invasion biology but remains unanswered.We quantified the relative importance of resource strategy and biogeographic origin in 69 441 plots across the conterminous...
Authors
Dana M. Blumenthal, Jeffrey M. Diez, Ian S. Pearse, Helen Sofaer, Cascade J.B. Sorte, Dave Barnett, Evelyn M. Beaury, Bethany Bradley, Jeff Corbin, Jeffrey Dukes, Regan Early, Ines Ibanez, Daniel C. Laughlin, Lais Petri, Montserrat Vila
Network of networks: Time series clustering of AmeriFlux sites Network of networks: Time series clustering of AmeriFlux sites
Environmental observation networks, such as AmeriFlux, are foundational for monitoring ecosystem response to climate change, management practices, and natural disturbances; however, their effectiveness depends on their representativeness for the regions or continents. We proposed an empirical, time series approach to quantify the similarity of ecosystem fluxes across AmeriFlux sites. We...
Authors
David E. Reed, Housen Chu, Brad G. Peter, Jiquan Chen, Michael Abraha, Brian Amiro, Ray G. Anderson, M. Altaf Arain, Paulo Arruda, Greg A. Barron-Gafford, Carl Bernacchi, Daniel P. Beverly, Sebastien C. Biraud, T. Andrew Black, Peter D. Blanken, Gil Bohrer, Rebecca Bowler, David R. Bowling, M. Syndonia Bret-Harte, Mario Bretfeld, Nathaniel A. Brunsell, Stephen H. Bullock, Gerardo Celis, Xingyuan Chen, Aimee T. Classen, David R. Cook, Alejandro Cueva, Higo J. Dalmagro, Kenneth J. Davis, Ankur Desai, Alison J. Duff, Allison L. Dunn, David Durden, Colin W. Edgar, Eugenie Euskirchen, Rosvel Bracho, Brent E. Ewers, Lawrence B. Flanagan, Christopher R. Florian, Vanessa Foord, Inke Forbrich, Brandon R. Forsythe, John Frank, Jaime Garatuza-Payan, Sarah Goslee, Christopher M. Gough, Mark B. Green, Timothy Griffis, Manuel Helbig, Andrew C. Hill, Ross Hinkle, Jason Horne, Elyn Humphreys, Hiroki Ikawa, Go Iwahana, Rachhpal Jassal, Bruce K. Johnson, Mark Johnson, Steven A. Kannenberg, Eric Kelsey, John King, John F. Knowles, Sara Knox, Hideki Kobayashi, Thomas Kolb, Randy Kolka, Ken Krauss, Lars Kutzbach, Brian T. Lamb, Beverly E. Law, Sung-Ching Lee, Xuhui Lee, Heping Liu, Henry W. Loescher, Sparkle L. Malone, Roser Matamala, Marguerite Mauritz, Stefan Metzger, Gesa Meyer, Bhaskar Mitra, J. William Munger, Zoran Nesic, Asko Noormets, Thomas L. O'Halloran, Patrick T. O'Keeffe, Steven F. Oberbauer, Walter Oechel, Patty Oikawa, Paulo C. Olivas, Andrew Ouimette, Gilberto Pastorello, Jorge F. Perez-Quezada, Claire Phillips, Gabriela Posse, Bo Qu, William L. Quinton, Michele L. Reba, Andrew D. Richardson, Valentin Picasso, Adrian V. Rocha, Julio C. Rodriguez, Roel Ruzol, Scott Saleska, Russell L. Scott, Adam P. Schreiner-McGraw, Edward A.G. Schuur, Maria Silveira, Oliver Sonnentag, David L. Spittlehouse, Ralf Staebler, Gregory Starr, Christina Staudhammer, Chris Still, Cove Sturtevant, Ryan C. Sullivan, Andy Suyker, David Trejo, Masahito Ueyama, Rodrigo Vargas, Brian Viner, Enrique R. Vivoni, Dong Wang, Eric J. Ward, Susanne Wiesner, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, David Yannick, Enrico A. Yepez, Terenzio Zenone, Junbin Zhao, Donatella Zona
Widespread thiamine deficiency in California salmon linked to an anchovy-dominated marine prey base Widespread thiamine deficiency in California salmon linked to an anchovy-dominated marine prey base
Thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency in marine systems is a globally significant threat to marine life. In 2020, newly hatched Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) fry in California’s Central Valley (CCV) hatcheries swam in corkscrew patterns and died at unusually high rates due to a lack of this essential vitamin. We subsequently investigated the impacts and causes of thiamine...
Authors
Nate Mantua, Heather M. Bell, Anne E. Todgham, Miles E. Daniels, Jacques Rinchard, Jarrod R. Ludwig, John Field, Steven T Lindley, Freya Elizabeth Rowland, Catherine A. Richter, David Walters, Bruce P. Finney, Anne R. Distajo Haskell, Donald Tillitt, Dale C. Honeyfield, Taylor N. Lipscomb, Kevin Kwak, Jason Kindopp, Dennis E. Cocherell, Abigail Ward, Thomas H. Williams, Jeff Harding, Nann A. Fangue, Carson Jeffres, Rocio Iliana Ruiz-Cooley, Steven Litvin, Scott Foott, Mark Adkison, Brett Kormos, Peggy Harte, Frederick S. Colwell, Christopher P. Suffridge, Kelly Shannon, Amanda Cranford, Charlotte Ambrose, Aimee N. Reed, Rachel C. Johnson
Automated methods for processing camera trap video data for distance sampling Automated methods for processing camera trap video data for distance sampling
Context Population monitoring is an essential need for tracking biodiversity and judging efficacy of conservation management actions, both globally and in the Pacific. However, population monitoring efforts are often temporally inconsistent and limited to small scales. Motion-activated cameras (‘camera traps’) offer a way to cost-effectively monitor populations, but they also generate...
Authors
Trevor Bak, Richard J. Camp, Matthew D. Burt, Scott Vogt
Dynamic environments generate geographic fluctuations in population structure of an inland shorebird Dynamic environments generate geographic fluctuations in population structure of an inland shorebird
Species distributions depend on fine-scale ecological processes and population growth trajectories and are influenced by climate and weather changes. However, the characterization of inter-population dynamics underlying the geographic distributions of migratory organisms remains challenging. We adopted a stable isotope approach to investigate the dynamic population geography of a...
Authors
Andrea Contina, Scott W. Yanco, Allison K. Pierce, Hanna B. Vander Zanden, Craig A. Stricker, Gabriel J. Bowen, Michael B. Wunder
Multiscale framework for assessing land cover change on barrier islands from extreme storms and restoration Multiscale framework for assessing land cover change on barrier islands from extreme storms and restoration
Often found along the estuarine-marine interface, barrier islands and mainland coastal zones are shaped by tides, currents, extreme storms, and relative sea-level rise. These systems provide ecosystem services such as storm surge and wave attenuation, erosion protection to inland areas, habitat for fish and wildlife, recreation, and tourism. Given the importance of these ecosystems...
Authors
Nicholas Enwright, P. Soupy Dalyander, Casey M. Stuht, Minoo Han, Margaret L. Palmsten, Theresa M. Davenport, Christopher J. Kingwill, Gregory Steyer, Megan La Peyre
Effects of nest exclosure on nest and adult survival of piping plover (Charadrius melodus) in the lower Platte River System, Nebraska Effects of nest exclosure on nest and adult survival of piping plover (Charadrius melodus) in the lower Platte River System, Nebraska
Conservation of imperiled species often includes management strategies intended to improve specific vital rates. However, some management practices can have unforeseen consequences that negate the intended benefit. For example, nest exclosures are often used for ground-nesting avian species to reduce nest predation but may increase depredation of adults. Tradeoffs between nest survival...
Authors
Elsa M. Forsberg, Joel G. Jorgensen, Rose J. Swift, Larkin A. Powell, Mark P. Vrtiska
Soil-microbial communities respond less than plant communities to synthetic- or bio-herbicides applied to address the exotic grass-fire cycle in rangelands Soil-microbial communities respond less than plant communities to synthetic- or bio-herbicides applied to address the exotic grass-fire cycle in rangelands
The exotic grass-fire cycle is degrading semiarid rangelands, such as the vast areas of shrub-steppe in North America now invaded by fire-promoting cheatgrass. Chemical- or bio-herbicides are sprayed onto soils to inhibit the invaders, but information on chemical- or bio-herbicide impacts to soil microbial communities is limited. We asked how the soil-microbiome responded to the...
Authors
Brynne E Lazarus, Rebecca Mueller, Matthew Germino