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: 42765
Advancing climate adaptation for inland fish and fisheries Advancing climate adaptation for inland fish and fisheries
Climate change was barely a blip on the radar for inland fisheries management 20 years ago. Today, it's a central focus. A 2016 paper helped shift conversations, sparked adaptation efforts across fisheries management. The future is still uncertain, but adaptation is key to sustaining these important resources.
Authors
Abigail J. Lynch, T. Douglas Beard, Craig P. Paukert
Do bighorn sheep use desert tortoise burrow spoil piles as mineral licks in southern California? Do bighorn sheep use desert tortoise burrow spoil piles as mineral licks in southern California?
In a previous study, bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) were periodically photographed by trail cameras when they visited desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) burrows in the San Bernardino Mountains near Palm Springs, California, USA. The authors suggested that bighorn sheep may utilize the excavated spoil material from burrows as a mineral lick. To test that supposition, we collected soil...
Authors
Jeffrey E. Lovich, Danielle M. Cleveland, Charles Yackulic, Kristy L. Cummings, Michele R. Puffer, Molly J. Bechtel, Christopher R. Tracy, William J. Hoese, Gerardo Avila, Megan Peukert, Samantha Hubbard
Tracing invasion routes of Cuban treefrogs into Louisiana using mitochondrial DNA Tracing invasion routes of Cuban treefrogs into Louisiana using mitochondrial DNA
Understanding the origin and spread of invasive species is critical for predicting when and where new introductions will establish, and impact native species. However, due to the complexity of contributing factors such as multiple introductions, dispersal method, genetic admixture in founding populations, and variable propagule pressure, genetic patterns observed in invasive species may...
Authors
Erin B. Brosnan, Karen A. Paniagua Torres, Katerine R. Martin, Matthew S. Atkinson, Brad Glorioso, Hardin Waddle, Robert W. Mendyk, Anna E. Savage
Quantifying benthic flux of Mysis biomass through diel vertical migration at the ecosystem scale Quantifying benthic flux of Mysis biomass through diel vertical migration at the ecosystem scale
Mysis diluviana is a macroinvertebrate that couples benthic and pelagic habitats on a daily timescale through diel vertical migration (DVM). However, quantifying how much Mysis biomass is exchanged between benthic and pelagic habitats at an ecosystem scale is difficult because of sampling limitations and variability in Mysis DVM behavior related to light and depth. Although Mysis are...
Authors
Brian O’Malley, Georgia Wende Hoffman, Rosaura J. Chapina, Jason D. Stockwell, Collin J. Farrell
The Southwestern Pond Turtle (Actinemys pallida) in Baja California, Mexico: New localities and persistent threats The Southwestern Pond Turtle (Actinemys pallida) in Baja California, Mexico: New localities and persistent threats
The Southwestern Pond Turtle (Actinemys pallida), the only native freshwater turtle in Baja California, is experiencing alarming population declines, echoing global patterns observed in freshwater turtles. We conducted comprehensive field surveys across the major drainages of northwestern Baja California to delineate the species' current distribution, identify critical threats to its...
Authors
Jorge H. Valdez-Villavicencio, Anny Peralta-García, Bradford D. Hollingsworth, Patricia Galina-Tessaro, Robert D. Fisher, Jeff A. Alvarez, R. A. Lara-Resendiz
Drought intensity and duration interact to magnify losses in primary productivity Drought intensity and duration interact to magnify losses in primary productivity
As droughts become longer and more intense, impacts on terrestrial primary productivity are expected to increase progressively. Yet, some ecosystems appear to acclimate to multiyear drought, with constant or diminishing reductions in productivity as drought duration increases. We quantified the combined effects of drought duration and intensity on aboveground productivity in 74...
Authors
Timothy Ohlert, Melinda D. Smith, Scott L. Collins, Alan K. Knapp, Jeffrey S. Dukes, Osvaldo E. Sala, Kate D Wilkins, Seth M. Munson, Maggie I. Anderson, Meghan L. Avolio, Anping Chen, Meghan T. Hayden, Martin C. Holdrege, Ingrid J. Slette, Peter A. Wilfahrt, Claus Beier, Lauchlan H. Fraser, Anke Jentsch, Michael E. Loik, Yiqi Luo, Fernando T. Maestre, Richard P. Phillips, Sally A. Power, Laura Yahdjian, Qiang Yu, Angel Chen, Andrew J. Felton, Laureano A. Gherardi, Nicholas J. Lyon, Hamed Abdoli, Mehdi Abedi, Juan Alberti, Antonio I. Arroyo, Heidi Asbjornsen, Harald Auge, Seton Bachle, Michael Bahn, David C. Bartholomew, Amgaa Batbaatar, Taryn L. Bauerle, Karen H. Beard, Kai Behn, Ilka Beil, Lucio Biancari, Irmgard Blindow, Viviana Florencia Bondaruk, Elizabeth T. Borer, Edward W. Bork, Carlos Martin Bruschetti, Kerry M. Byrne, James F. Cahill, Dianela A. Calvo, Michele Carbognani, Cameron N. Carlyle, Karen Castillioni, Miguel Castillo-Garcia, Manjunatha H. Chandregowda, Scott X. Chang, Jeff Chieppa, Amber C. Churchill, Marcus Vinicius Cianciaruso, Amanda L. Cordeiro, Sara Cousins, Daniela F. Cusack, Sven Dahlke, Pedro Daleo, Lee H. Dietterich, Maren Dubbert, Nico Eisenhauer, T'ai G. Forte, Flavia A. Funk, Darcy Galiano, Aaron C. Greenville, Liebao Han, Siri Vatsø Haugum, Yann Hautier, Andy Hector, Hugh A. Henry, Daniela Hoss, Forest Isbell, Samuel E. Jordan, Yuguang Ke, Eugene F. Kelly, Sally E. Koerner, Juergen Kreyling, Gyorgy Kroel-Dulay, Alicia I. Kröpfl, Angelika Kübert, Andrew Kulmatiski, Eric G. Lamb, Klaus Steenberg Larsen, Steven R. Lee, Smriti Pehim Limbu, Anja Linstädter, Shirong Liu, Grisel Longo, Alejandro Loydi, Junwei Luan, F. Curtis Lubbe, Andrey V. Malyshev, Cameron D. McIntire, Daniel B. Metcalfe, Malesela Vincent Mokoka, Akira S. Mori, Edwin Mudongo, Gregory S. Newman, Uffe N. Nielsen, Raúl Ochoa-Hueso, Rory C. O'Connor, Romà Ogaya, Gastón R. Oñatibia, Ildiko Orban, Brooke B. Osborne, Rafael Otfinowski, Meelis Pärtel, Jesús Pascual, Josep Peñuelas, Pablo L. Peri, David S. Pescador, Guadalupe Peter, Alessandro Petraglia, Catherine Picon-Cochard, Valério D. Pillar, Juan M. Piñeiro-Guerra, Laura Weber Ploughe, Robert M. Plowes, Cristy Portales-Reyes, Suzanne M. Prober, Yolanda Pueyo, Golsa Rahmati, Sasha C. Reed, Dana Aylén Rodríguez, William E. Rogers, Christiane Roscher, David W. Rowley, Ana M. Sánchez, Bráulio A. Santos, Michael P. Schellenberg, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Eric W. Seabloom, Ruonan Shen, Baoku Shi, Lara Souza, Andreas Stampfli, Rachel J. Standish, Marcelo Sternberg, Wei Sun, Marie Sünnemann, Michelle Tedder, Tyson J. Terry, Pål Thorvaldsen, Katja Tielbörger, Maud Tissink, Matthew A. Vadeboncoeur, Alejandro Valdecantos, Liesbeth van den Brink, Vigdis Vandvik, Liv Guri Velle, Svenja Wanke, Glenda M. Wardle, Cunzheng Wei, Christiane Werner, Georg Wiehl, Jennifer L. Williams, Amelia A. Wolf, Honghui Wu, Chong Xu, Xuechen Yang, Jenifer L. Yost, Alyssa L. Young, Ping Yue, Juan M. Zeberio, Michaela Zeiter, Haiyang Zhang, Juntao Zhu, Xiaoan Zuo
Re-oligotrophy in the Upper Mississippi River, USA, occurred in just a few years Re-oligotrophy in the Upper Mississippi River, USA, occurred in just a few years
Ecological systems can undergo large changes and regime shifts that are either catastrophic, neutral, or desirable. Rivers worldwide have recently undergone desirable regime shifts related to re-oligotrophy, which is a notable and ongoing reduction in concentrations of total suspended solids (TSS), total N, total P, or phytoplankton. For example, the Upper Mississippi River, USA, has...
Authors
Killian Davis, Wako Bungula, Danelle M. Larson
Variation in detection distance of Eastern Black Rail (Laterallus jamaicensis jamaicensis) vocalizations by autonomous recording units Variation in detection distance of Eastern Black Rail (Laterallus jamaicensis jamaicensis) vocalizations by autonomous recording units
Autonomous recording units (ARUs) are an emerging technology that allows for passive monitoring of soniferous animals and soundscapes. Over the past decade, ARUs have become a popular tool for monitoring birds for their potential to reduce the labor and costs of traditional in-person sampling procedures. However, uncertainty surrounding factors affecting detection of avian taxa using...
Authors
Blake D. Lamb, Heather E. Levy, Elizabeth A. Beilke, Chelsea S. Kross, Peter J. Kappes, Matt J. Sukiennik, James A. Cox, Jennifer K. Wilson, Jarrett O. Woodrow, Matthew J. Butler, Theodore J. Zenzal, Auriel M.V. Fournier, Mark S. Woodrey
Lake depth and light conditions alter Mysis vertical distributions Lake depth and light conditions alter Mysis vertical distributions
Light regulates the vertical migration of many aquatic organisms. Mysis species couple pelagic and benthic habitats in lakes by diel vertical migrations (DVM), transporting energy and nutrients through the water column and food web. Although Mysis are generally assumed to remain on the bottom during the day, some have been observed in the pelagic zone during the day, indicating...
Authors
Rosaura J. Chapina, Brian O’Malley, Kelly L. Bowen, Martta L.M. Viljanen, Zachary A. Bess, Daniel L. Yule, Jens C. Nejstgaard, Stella A. Berger, Michael D. Rennie, Michael J. Paterson, Steven A. Pothoven, James M. Watkins, Lars G. Rudstam, Sudeep Chandra, Jason D. Stockwell
Exploring the exploitation of migratory moths by radio-marked grizzly bears in Wyoming Exploring the exploitation of migratory moths by radio-marked grizzly bears in Wyoming
Grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) feeding on migratory army cutworm moths (Euxoa auxiliaris) was first documented by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST) during the early 1980s in the southeastern portion of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). Since those initial observations, use of this seasonally available food resource by grizzly bears has grown substantially. As of 2023...
Authors
Justin Clapp, Mark Haroldson, Justin A. Dellinger, Daniel D. Bjornlie, Daniel J. Thomposon, Frank T. van Manen
Summer roost site suitability analyses for 4 special status bat species in the Eastern United States Summer roost site suitability analyses for 4 special status bat species in the Eastern United States
Data describing habitat suitability are crucial for implementing effective conservation planning but are often lacking at regional and continental scales. We address this gap for 4 bat species that are listed, proposed for listing, or under Endangered Species Act listing review by highlighting a framework for estimating summer roost suitability with a presence-background approach to aid
Authors
Richard D. Inman, Andrea Nichole Schuhmann, Sarah Sawyer, Sarah Mccrimmon Gaulke, Frank Charles Tousley, Helen Trice Davis, Bradley James Udell, Bethany Straw, Jonathan D. Reichard, Brian Reichert
Does tidal marsh restoration lead to the recovery of trophic pathways that support estuarine fishes? Does tidal marsh restoration lead to the recovery of trophic pathways that support estuarine fishes?
Evaluation of tidal marsh restoration success is typically based on the recovery of habitat size and target species. However, food-web structure may provide valuable insight into ecosystem functioning trajectories. Here, we studied restored tidal marshes of different ages (new, young, old; spanning 1–150 years) in comparison with nearby reference sites along the San Francisco Estuary. We...
Authors
Megan D. Pagliaro, Susan E.W. De La Cruz, Isa Woo, Jake Sousa, Natalie Rich, Lenny Grimaldo, Denise Colombano, Albert Ruhí