Publications

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management researchers often require detailed information regarding emergent marsh vegetation types (such as fresh, intermediate, brackish, and saline) for modeling habitat capacities and mitigation. In response, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management produced a detailed change classification of emergent marsh...

More than 5957 km2 in southwestern Wyoming is currently covered by operational gas fields, and further development is projected through 2030. Gas fields fragment landscapes through conversion of native vegetation to roads, well pads, pipeline corridors, and other infrastructure elements. The sagebrush steppe landscape where most of this development is occurring harbors 24 sagebrush...

A standard flow cytometric protocol was developed for estimating triploid induction in batches of larval fish. Polyploid induction treatments are not guaranteed to be 100% efficient, thus the ability to quantify the proportion of triploid larvae generated by a particular treatment helps managers to stock high-percentage spawns and researchers to select treatments for efficient triploid...

Species distribution shifts in response to climate change require that recruitment increase beyond current range boundaries. For trees with long life spans, the importance of climate-sensitive seedling establishment to the pace of range shifts has not been demonstrated quantitatively.Using spatially explicit, stochastic population models combined with data from long-term forest surveys...

Drift studies are central to stream and river ecological research. However, a fundamental aspect of quantifying drift — how net clogging affects the accuracy of results — has been widely ignored. Utilizing approaches from plankton and suspended sediment studies in oceanography and hydrology, we examined the rate and dynamics of net clogging across a range of conditions. We found that...

Two sounds associated with spawning lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in lakes Huron and Champlain were characterized by comparing sound recordings to behavioral data collected using acoustic telemetry and video. These sounds were named growls and snaps, and were heard on lake trout spawning reefs, but not on a non-spawning reef, and were more common at night than during the day. Growls...

Data from a large-scale mark-recapture study was used in an open population model to determine the cause for long-term trends in growth and abundance of a Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss population in the tailwater of Glen Canyon Dam, AZ. Reduced growth affected multiple life stages and processes causing negative feedbacks that regulated the abundance of the population, including...

American Eel Anguilla rostrata abundance has declined in recent decades, in part because sexually maturing, silver-stage adults, outmigrating from freshwater to oceanic spawning grounds, encounter migratory blockades or perish when passing through active hydroelectric turbines. To help improve downstream passage effectiveness and increase survival rates, the role of silver-stage American...

Recent studies have shown the potential of acoustic deterrents against invasive silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix). This study examined the phonotaxic response of the bighead carp (H. nobilis) to pure tones (500–2000 Hz) and playbacks of broadband sound from an underwater recording of a 100 hp outboard motor (0.06–10 kHz) in an outdoor concrete pond (10 × 5 × 1.2 m) at the U.S...

California Red-legged Frogs (Rana draytonii) are typically regarded as inhabitants of permanent ponds, marshes, and slow-moving streams, but their ecology in other habitats, such as drainages among coastal dunes, remains obscure. Because coastal dune ecosystems have been degraded by development, off-highway vehicle use, stabilization, and invasive species, these unique ecosystems are the...

Glen Canyon Dam is a large dam on the Colorado River in Arizona. In September 2013, it released turbid water following intense thunderstorms in the surrounding area. Turbidity was >15 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) for multiple days and >30 NTU at its peak. These unprecedented turbid releases impaired downstream fishing activity and motivated a rapid-response field excursion. At 5...

Understanding and estimating inbreeding is essential for managing threatened and endangered wildlife populations. However, determination of inbreeding rates in natural populations is confounded by incomplete parentage information. We present an approach for quantifying inbreeding rates for populations with incomplete parentage information. The approach exploits knowledge of pedigree...