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
Proactive management of amphibians: Challenges and opportunities Proactive management of amphibians: Challenges and opportunities
Delaying species management reduces the chance of successful recovery, increases the risk of extinction, and can be expensive. Acting before major declines are realized affords access to a greater suite of cost-effective management actions to sustain populations, reducing the likelihood of declines warranting protected status. It is clear that reactive management approaches are not...
Authors
SC Sterrett, Evan H. Campbell Grant, Katz R, Adrianne Brand, William R. Fields, A Dietrich, Hocking D, Foreman T, A Wiewel
Mapping research on hydropower and sustainability in the Brazilian Amazon: Advances, gaps in knowledge and future directions Mapping research on hydropower and sustainability in the Brazilian Amazon: Advances, gaps in knowledge and future directions
In the last twenty years, multiple large and small hydroelectric dams have begun to transform the Amazonian region, spawning a growing volume of academic research across diverse disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields. In this article, we offer a critical review of recent research related to hydropower and sustainability with a focus on the Brazilian Amazon. We revisit the...
Authors
Simone Athayde, Mason Matthews, Stephanie Bohlman, Walterlina Brasil, Carolina RC Doria, Jynessa Dutka-Gianelli, Philip M. Fearnside, Bette Loiselle, Elineide E Marques, Theodore Melis, Brent Millikan, Evandro M. Moretto, Anthony Oliver-Smith, Amintas Rossete, Raffaele Vacca, David Kaplan
Insect herbivores on urban native oak trees Insect herbivores on urban native oak trees
Oak trees host an amazing diversity of insects, many of which specialize on Quercus species. Oak species and genotypes are commonly planted far from where an acorn was produced. Urban plantings, restoration sites, and plantings anticipating climate change each cause this to happen. What evidence exists that provenance of oak plantings affects herbivores such as galls and leaf miners? And...
Authors
Ian Pearse
Responding to risky neighbors: Testing for spatial spillover effects for defensible space in a fire-prone WUI community Responding to risky neighbors: Testing for spatial spillover effects for defensible space in a fire-prone WUI community
Often, factors that determine the risk of an environmental hazard occur at landscape scales, and risk mitigation requires action by multiple private property owners. How property owners respond to risk mitigation on neighboring lands depends on whether mitigation actions are strategic complements or strategic substitutes. We test for these neighbor interactions with a case study on...
Authors
Travis Warziniack, Patricia A. Champ, James Meldrum, Hannah Brenkert-Smith, Christopher M. Barth, Lilia C. Falk
Informing planning and management through visitor experiences in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Informing planning and management through visitor experiences in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Policies mandate that managers at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument must balance recreational opportunities with a variety of resource management and utilization activities across a vast and diverse landscape containing numerous Wilderness Study Areas and other lands containing spectacular resources. This balancing act is stressed by increasing levels of use and recent changes...
Authors
Derrick Taff, Jeremy Wimpey, Jeffrey L. Marion, Johanna Arredondo, Fletcher Meadema, Forrest Schwartz, Ben Lawhon, Cody Dems
Intra- and interspecific variation in production of bile acids that act as sex pheromones in lampreys Intra- and interspecific variation in production of bile acids that act as sex pheromones in lampreys
Pheromones are important sexual signals in most animals, but research into their evolution is largely biased toward insects. Lampreys are a jawless fish with a relatively well-understood pheromone communication system and offer a useful opportunity to study pheromone evolution in a vertebrate. Once sexually mature, male sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), and likely other lampreys, produce...
Authors
Tyler John Buchinger, Ugo Bussy, Ke Li, Liang Jia, Cindy F. Baker, Ethan G. Buchinger, Zhang Zhen, Nicholas S. Johnson, Weiming Li
Phylogeny and foraging mode correspond with thiaminase activity in freshwater fishes: Potential links to environmental factors Phylogeny and foraging mode correspond with thiaminase activity in freshwater fishes: Potential links to environmental factors
Knowledge of the dietary components of fish species is important for understanding their growth, survival, and recruitment. Deficiency in thiamine (vitamin B1) leading to reproductive failure and physiological illness among freshwater fishes has been attributed to thiaminase activity in fish in the Great Lakes and the New York Finger Lakes, but the causes of variation in thiaminase...
Authors
Daniel E Spooner, Kristin Boggs, Dustin R. Shull, Dale C. Honeyfield, Timothy Wertz, Stephanie Sweet
Quarterly wildlife mortality report July 2019 Quarterly wildlife mortality report July 2019
No abstract available.
Authors
Bryan J. Richards, Robert J. Dusek
Drought in the U.S. Caribbean:Impacts to Coastal Estuary Ecosystems Drought in the U.S. Caribbean:Impacts to Coastal Estuary Ecosystems
The topography of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) is characterized by steep terrain and short distances to the sea. This means that freshwater runs off the islands quickly, coming into contact with seawater in coastal estuaries. The physical characteristics of estuaries change as the tides rise and fall, creating a wide range of habitats that support diverse plants and...
Authors
Brent Murry, Miguel Garcia-Bermudez, Shelley Crausbay, Kate Malpeli
Using carbon isotope ratios to verify predictions of a model simulating the interaction between coastal plant communities and their effect on ground water salinity Using carbon isotope ratios to verify predictions of a model simulating the interaction between coastal plant communities and their effect on ground water salinity
As sea level rises in low-lying coastal islands, salt-tolerant (halophytic) coastal vegetation communities may be able to migrate inland, replacing the freshwater vegetation that is unable to tolerate salt stress. The pace of such shifts may be accelerated by a self-reinforcing feedback between the halophytic vegetation and salinity, as well as by frequent and intensified salinity pulses
Authors
Suresh C. Subedi, Leonel Sternberg, Donald L. DeAngelis, Michael S. Ross, Danielle Ogarcak
Evidence of limited recruitment of Pallid Sturgeon in the Lower Missouri River Evidence of limited recruitment of Pallid Sturgeon in the Lower Missouri River
Pallid Sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus are endemic to the Missouri and Mississippi river basins and are rare throughout their range. The species was listed as federally endangered with little to no evidence of natural recruitment. Since population augmentation was initiated as a recovery objective in the early 1990s, thousands of hatchery-origin Pallid Sturgeon have been stocked in the...
Authors
Kirk D. Steffensen, Kimberly Chojnacki, Jeffery A. Kalie, Meredith L. Bartron, Edward J. Heist, Kyle R. Winders, Nathan C. Loecker, Wyatt J. Doyle, Timothy L. Welker
Species profile: Quercus parvula Species profile: Quercus parvula
No abstract available.
Authors
Emily Beckman, Ian Pearse, Abby Meyer, Murphy Westwood