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
Conservation under uncertainty: Innovations in participatory climate change scenario planning from U.S. national parks Conservation under uncertainty: Innovations in participatory climate change scenario planning from U.S. national parks
The impacts of climate change (CC) on natural and cultural resources are far-reaching and complex. A major challenge facing resource managers is not knowing the exact timing and nature of those impacts. To confront this problem, scientists, adaptation specialists, and resource managers have begun to use scenario planning (SP). This structured process identifies a small set of scenarios
Authors
Brian W. Miller, Gregor W. Schuurman, Amy Symstad, Amber C Runyon, Brecken C. Robb
The role of monitoring and research in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in framing our understanding of the effects of disease on amphibians The role of monitoring and research in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in framing our understanding of the effects of disease on amphibians
Emerging infectious disease threatens amphibian biodiversity worldwide, including in landscapes that are protected from many anthropogenic stressors. We summarized data from studies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), one of the largest and most complete temperate-zone ecosystems on Earth, to assess the current state of knowledge about ranaviruses and the novel amphibian chytrid...
Authors
Erin L. Muths, Blake R. Hossack
Activity patterns of Hawaiian forest birds in a fragmented and continuous landscape Activity patterns of Hawaiian forest birds in a fragmented and continuous landscape
Activity patterns are a key component of avian life history and behavior, and decisions about how activity periods are structured can have important fitness implications. Despite the importance of activity patterns, individual variability in activity is poorly studied in small birds. We used automated radio telemetry to track Hawaiian forest birds from three dietary guilds in a...
Authors
Jennifer R Smetzer, Kristina L. Paxton, Patrick J. Hart, Eben H. Paxton
Context-dependent variation in persistence of host populations in the face of disease Context-dependent variation in persistence of host populations in the face of disease
Research Highlight: Valenzuela-Sánchez, A., Azat, C., Cunningham, A. A., Delgado, S., Bacigalupe, L. D., Beltrand, J., Serrano, J. M., Sentenac, H., Haddow, N., Toledo, V., Schmidt, B. R., & Cayuela, H. (2022). Interpopulation differences in male reproductive effort drive the population dynamics of a host exposed to an emerging fungal pathogen. Journal of Animal Ecology, 00, 1– 12. https...
Authors
Bennett Hardy, Erin L. Muths, David N. Koons
Health surveillance of a potential bridge host: Pathogen exposure risks posed to avian populations augmented with captive-bred pheasants Health surveillance of a potential bridge host: Pathogen exposure risks posed to avian populations augmented with captive-bred pheasants
Augmentation of wild populations with captive-bred individuals presents an inherent risk of co-introducing novel pathogens to naïve species, but it can be an important tool for supplementing small or declining populations. Game species used for human enterprise and recreation such as the ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) are commonly raised in captivity and released onto public...
Authors
Ian Dwight, Peter S. Coates, Simone T. Stoute, Maurice E. Pitesky
Management foundations for navigating ecological transformation by resisting, accepting, or directing social-ecological change Management foundations for navigating ecological transformation by resisting, accepting, or directing social-ecological change
Despite striking global change, management to ensure healthy landscapes and sustained natural resources has tended to set objectives on the basis of the historical range of variability in stationary ecosystems. Many social–ecological systems are moving into novel conditions that can result in ecological transformation. We present four foundations to enable a transition to future-oriented
Authors
Dawn Magness, Linh Hoang, Travis Belote, Jean Brennan, Wylie Carr, F. Stuart Chapin, Katherine R. Clifford, Wendy Morrison, John Morton, Helen Sofaer
Guiding principles for using satellite-derived maps in rangeland management Guiding principles for using satellite-derived maps in rangeland management
On the GroundRangeland management has entered a new era with the accessibility and advancement of satellite-derived maps.Maps provide a comprehensive view of rangelands in space and time, and challenge us to think critically about natural variability.Here, we advance the practice of using satellite-derived maps with four guiding principles designed to increase end user confidence and...
Authors
Brady W Allred, Megan K Creutzburg, John C Carlson, Christopher C Cole, Colin M. Dovichin, Michael C. Duniway, Matthew O. Jones, Jeremy D Maestas, David E. Naugle, Travis W. Nauman, Gregory S Okin, Matthew C Reeves, Matthew B. Rigge, Shannon L Savage, Dirac Twidwell, Daniel R. Uden, Bo Zhou
Predicting flood damage probability across the conterminous United States Predicting flood damage probability across the conterminous United States
Floods are the leading cause of natural disaster damages in the United States, with billions of dollars incurred every year in the form of government payouts, property damages, and agricultural losses. The Federal Emergency Management Agency oversees the delineation of floodplains to mitigate damages, but disparities exist between locations designated as high risk and where flood damages...
Authors
Elyssa Collins, Georgina M. Sanchez, Adam Terando, Charles C. Stillwell, Helena Mitasova, Antonia Sebastian, Ross K. Meentemeyer
General guidance for custom-built structural equation models General guidance for custom-built structural equation models
Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) represents a quantitative methodology for specifying and evaluating causal network hypotheses. The application of SEM typically involves the use of specialized software packages that implement estimation procedures and automate model checking and the output of summary results. There are times when the specification details an investigator wishes to...
Authors
James B. Grace
Pathways of productivity and influences on top consumers in forested streams Pathways of productivity and influences on top consumers in forested streams
Forested stream ecosystems involve complex physical and biotic pathways that can influence fish in numerous ways. Consequently, the responses of fish communities to disturbance can be difficult to understand. In this study, we employed a food web model that links biotic (e.g., physiology, predator–prey interactions) and abiotic (e.g., temperature, sunlight) attributes to address fish...
Authors
Joseph R. Benjamin, Jason B. Dunham, Sherri L Johnson, Linda Ashkenas, Brooke E Penaluna, Robert E Bilby, Douglas S. Bateman, David W. Leer, James R Bellmore
Sex‐related differences in aging rate are associated with sex chromosome system in amphibians Sex‐related differences in aging rate are associated with sex chromosome system in amphibians
Sex‐related differences in mortality are widespread in the animal kingdom. Although studies have shown that sex determination systems might drive lifespan evolution, sex chromosome influence on aging rates have not been investigated so far, likely due to an apparent lack of demographic data from clades including both XY (with heterogametic males) and ZW (heterogametic females) systems...
Authors
Hugo Cayuela, Jean-François Lemaître, Jean-Paul Léna, Victor Ronget, Inigo Martinez-Solano, Erin L. Muths, David Pilliod, Benedikt Schmidt, Gregorio Sanchez-Montes, Jorge Gutierrez-Rodriguez, Graham Pyke, Kurt Grossenbacher, Omar Lenzi, Jaime Bosch, Karen H. Beard, Lawrence L. Woolbright, Brad A. Lambert, David M. Green, Justin M Garwood, Robert N. Fisher, Kathleen Matthews, David Dudgeon, Anthony Lau, Jeroen Speybroeck, Rebecca Homan, Robert Jehle, Eyup Baskale, Emiliano Mori, Jan W. Arntzen, Pierre Joly, Rochelle Stiles, Michael J Lannoo, John C. Maerz, Winsor H. Lowe, Andres Valenzuela-Sanchez, Ditte Christianson, Claudio Angelini, Jean-Marc Thirion, Juha Merila, Guarino R. Colli, Mariana M. Vasconcellos, Taissa C. Boas, Isis da C. Arantes, Pauline Levionnois, Beth A. Reinke, Cristina Vieira, Gabriel A. B. Marais, Jean-Michael Gaillard, David A.W. Miller
Climate change adaptation thinking for managed wetlands Climate change adaptation thinking for managed wetlands
Climate change presents new and ongoing challenges to natural resource management. To confront these challenges effectively, managers need to develop proactive adaptation strategies to prepare for and deal with the effects of climate change. We engaged managers and biologists from several midwestern U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service field stations to understand recent and future climate...
Authors
John Delaney, Kristen L. Bouska, Josh D. Eash