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: 42712
Salinification of coastal wetlands and freshwater management to support resilience Salinification of coastal wetlands and freshwater management to support resilience
Climates are rapidly changing in wetland ecosystems around the world and historical land-use change is not always given enough consideration in climate adaptation discussions. Historical changes to hydrology and other key environments can exacerbate vegetation stress; e.g., recent drought and flood episodes are likely more extreme because of climate change. The contributions of global...
Authors
Beth Middleton, Jere Boudell
Supplemental vegetation monitoring plots at Wind Cave National Park to accelerate learning of the Annual Brome Adaptive Management (ABAM) model: 2021 annual report Supplemental vegetation monitoring plots at Wind Cave National Park to accelerate learning of the Annual Brome Adaptive Management (ABAM) model: 2021 annual report
This study provides data on management actions aiming to reduce invasive annual grass abundance in National Park Service units of the northern Great Plains. This report provides an annual status update on the study at Wind Cave National Park.
Authors
Amy Symstad, Steven Bekedam
VIMTS: Variational-based Imputation for Multi-modal Time Series VIMTS: Variational-based Imputation for Multi-modal Time Series
Multi-modal time series data in real applications often contain data of different dimensionalities, e.g., high-dimensional modality such as image data series, and low-dimensional univariate time series. Multi-modal time series data with missing high-dimensional modal values are ubiquitous in real-world classification and regression applications. To accurately predict the target labels...
Authors
Xiaowei Jia, Jennifer H. Fair, Benjamin Letcher
Water and endangered fish in the Klamath River Basin: Do Upper Klamath Lake surface elevation and water quality affect adult Lost River and Shortnose Sucker survival? Water and endangered fish in the Klamath River Basin: Do Upper Klamath Lake surface elevation and water quality affect adult Lost River and Shortnose Sucker survival?
In the western United States, water allocation decisions often incorporate the needs of endangered fish. In the Klamath River basin, an understanding of temporal variation in annual survival rates of Shortnose Suckers Chasmistes brevirostris and Lost River Suckers Deltistes luxatus and their relation to environmental drivers is critical to water management and sucker recovery. Extinction...
Authors
Jacob Richard Krause, Eric C. Janney, Summer M. Burdick, Alta C. Harris, Brian S. Hayes
Bottom trawl assessment of Lake Ontario's benthic preyfish community, 2021 Bottom trawl assessment of Lake Ontario's benthic preyfish community, 2021
Since 1978, the Lake Ontario preyfish community survey has provided information on the status and trends of the benthic preyfish community related to Fish Community Objectives that includes understanding preyfish population dynamics and community diversity. Beginning in 2015, the benthic preyfish survey expanded from US-only to incorporate lake-wide sampling sites which increased the...
Authors
Brian O’Malley, Scott P. Minihkeim, Thomas Andrew Sanfilippo, Jessica A Goretzke, Jeremy P. Holden
Efficacy of manipulating reproduction of common ravens to conserve sensitive prey species: Three case studies Efficacy of manipulating reproduction of common ravens to conserve sensitive prey species: Three case studies
Expansion of human enterprise across western North America has resulted in an increase in availability of anthropogenic resource subsidies for generalist species. This has led to increases in generalists’ population numbers across landscapes that were previously less suitable for their current demographic rates. Of particular concern are growing populations of common ravens (Corvus corax...
Authors
Corina A. Sanchez, Brianne E. Brussee, Peter S. Coates, Kerry L. Holcomb, Seth M. Harju, Timothy A. Shields, Mercy Vaughn, Brian G. Prochazka, Steven R. Mathews, Steffen Cornell, Chad V. Olson, David J. Delehanty
Synthesis of nest predation impacts of common ravens on sensitive avian species Synthesis of nest predation impacts of common ravens on sensitive avian species
Decades of mounting scientific evidence have revealed that common raven (Corvus corax; raven) population numbers have been increasing across nearly all regions of their geographic range in North America. Concomitantly, numerous native wildlife species have experienced elevated predation rates from ravens as populations have increased and expanded their range. Managers are concerned that...
Authors
Peter S. Coates, William C. Webb, Seth J. Dettenmaier, Seth M. Harju, David J. Delehanty
A desert tortoise-common raven viable conflict threshold A desert tortoise-common raven viable conflict threshold
Since 1966, common raven (Corvus corax; raven) abundance has increased throughout much of this species’ Holarctic distribution, fueled by an ever-expanding supply of anthropogenic resource subsidies (e.g., water, food, shelter, and nesting substrate) to ecoregion specific raven population carrying capacities. Consequently, ravens are implicated in declines of both avian and reptilian...
Authors
Kerry L. Holcomb, Peter S. Coates, Brian G. Prochazka, Timothy Shields, William I. Boarman
A rapid assessment function to estimate common raven population densities: Implications for targeted management A rapid assessment function to estimate common raven population densities: Implications for targeted management
Common raven (Corvus corax; raven) populations have increased over the past 5 decades within the western United States. Raven population increases have been largely attributed to growing resource subsidies from expansion of human enterprise. Concomitantly, managers are becoming increasingly concerned about elevated adverse effects on multiple sensitive prey species, damage to livestock...
Authors
Brianne E. Brussee, Peter S. Coates, Shawn T. O’Neil, Seth J. Dettenmaier, Pat J. Jackson, Kristy B. Howe, David J. Delehanty
The use of boundary-spanning organizations to bridge the knowledge-action gap in North America The use of boundary-spanning organizations to bridge the knowledge-action gap in North America
The goals of boundary-spanning organizations include communicating among researchers, stakeholders, and resource managers to improve decision-making. These efforts span public agencies, environmental non-governmental organizations, and private stakeholders and occur throughout Canada, the USA, and Mexico. We describe how the core philosophy of boundary-spanning organizations may help...
Authors
Mark W. Schwartz, Erica Fleishman, Matthew A. Williamson, John N. Williams, Toni Lyn Morelli
Satellite solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence and near-infrared reflectance capture complementary aspects of dryland vegetation productivity dynamics Satellite solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence and near-infrared reflectance capture complementary aspects of dryland vegetation productivity dynamics
Mounting evidence indicates dryland ecosystems play an important role in driving the interannual variability and trend of the terrestrial carbon sink. Nevertheless, our understanding of the seasonal dynamics of dryland ecosystem carbon uptake through photosynthesis [gross primary productivity (GPP)] remains relatively limited due in part to the limited availability of long-term data and...
Authors
Xian Wang, Joel A. Biederman, John F. Knowles, Russell L. Scott, Alexander J Turner, Matthew P. Dannenberg, Philipp Kohler, Christian Frankenberg, Marcy E Litvak, Gerald N. Flerchinger, Beverly E. Law, Hyojung Kwon, Sasha C. Reed, William J Parton, Greg A. Barron-Gafford, William K. Smith
SMaRT: A science-based tiered framework for common ravens SMaRT: A science-based tiered framework for common ravens
Large-scale increases and expansion of common raven (Corvus corax; raven) populations are occurring across much of North America, leading to increased negative consequences for livestock and agriculture, human health and safety, and sensitive species conservation. We describe a science-based adaptive management framework that incorporates recent quantitative analyses and mapping products...
Authors
Seth J. Dettenmaier, Peter S. Coates, Cali L. Roth, Sarah C. Webster, Shawn T. O’Neil, Kerry L. Holcomb, John C. Tull, Pat J. Jackson