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: 42702
Carbon dioxide emissions and methane flux from forested wetland soils of the Great Dismal Swamp, USA Carbon dioxide emissions and methane flux from forested wetland soils of the Great Dismal Swamp, USA
The Great Dismal Swamp, a freshwater forested peatland, has accumulated massive amounts of soil carbon since the postglacial period. Logging and draining have severely altered the hydrology and forest composition, leading to drier soils, accelerated oxidation, and vulnerability to disturbance. The once dominant Atlantic white cedar, cypress, and pocosin forest types are now fragmented...
Authors
Laurel Gutenberg, K. W. Krauss, John Qu, Changwoo Ahn, Dianna M. Hogan, Zhiliang Zhu, Chenyang Xu
Shorebird subsistence harvest and indigenous knowledge in Alaska: Informing harvest assessment and management, and engaging users in shorebird conservation Shorebird subsistence harvest and indigenous knowledge in Alaska: Informing harvest assessment and management, and engaging users in shorebird conservation
Limited data on harvest and population parameters are major impediments to assess shorebird harvest sustainability. Because of sharp declines in shorebird populations, timely conservation efforts require approaches that account for uncertainty in harvest sustainability. We combined harvest assessment and ethnographic research to better understand shorebird conservation concerns related...
Authors
Naves. Liliana, Jacqueline Keating, T. Lee Tibbitts, Daniel R. Ruthrauff
Improved detection of rare, endangered and invasive trout using a new large-volume sampling method for eDNA capture Improved detection of rare, endangered and invasive trout using a new large-volume sampling method for eDNA capture
Environmental DNA (eDNA) detection probability increases with volume of water sampled. Common approaches for collecting eDNA samples often require many samples since these approaches usually use fine filters, which restrict the volume of water that can be sampled. An alternative to collecting many, small volume water samples using fine filters may be to collect fewer, large volume water...
Authors
Adam J. Sepulveda, Jenna Schabacker, Seth Smith, Robert Al-Chokhachy, Gordon Luikart, Stephen J. Amish
Densities, diets, and growth rates of larval Alewife and Bloater in a changing Lake Michigan ecosystem. Densities, diets, and growth rates of larval Alewife and Bloater in a changing Lake Michigan ecosystem.
Variability in abiotic and biotic factors during larval stages has profound impacts on fish recruitment. In Lake Michigan, where the composition of lower trophic levels has undergone considerable changes in the past decade, managers are concerned that fish recruitment could be negatively affected. We hypothesized that spatial variation in Lake Michigan larval fish density and growth can...
Authors
Drew E Eppehimer, David Bunnell, Patricia Dieter, David Warner, Lauren A. Eaton, David J Wells, Edward S. Rutherford
The evolving threat of rapid Ohia death (ROD) to Hawaii’s native ecosystems and rare plant species The evolving threat of rapid Ohia death (ROD) to Hawaii’s native ecosystems and rare plant species
Hawai‘i’s most widespread native tree, ‘ōhi‘a lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha), has been dying across large areas of Hawai‘i Island mainly due to two fungal pathogens (Ceratocystis lukuohia and Ceratocystis huliohia) that cause a disease collectively known as Rapid ‘Ōhi‘a Death (ROD). Here we examine patterns of positive detections of C. lukuohia as it has been linked to the larger...
Authors
Lucas B. Fortini, Lauren R. Kaiser, Lisa Keith, Jonathan Price, R. Flint Hughes, James D. Jacobi, J. B. Friday
Review: Endophytic microbes and their potential applications in crop management Review: Endophytic microbes and their potential applications in crop management
Endophytes are microbes (mostly bacteria and fungi) present in plants. Endophytic microbes are often functional in that they may carry nutrients from the soil into plants, modulate plant development, increase stress tolerance of plants, suppress virulence in pathogens, increase disease resistance in plants, and suppress development of competitor plant species. Endophytic microbes have...
Authors
James F. White, Kathryn L. Kingsley, Matthew T. Elmore, Satish Kumar Verma, Surendra K Gond, Kurt P. Kowalski
Subsurface water piping prevents meromixis in a deep volcanic crater lake (Dominica, West Indies) Subsurface water piping prevents meromixis in a deep volcanic crater lake (Dominica, West Indies)
Boeri Lake—a small (3.6 ha) but deep (39.6 m) crater lake on Morne Micotrin in Dominica, West Indies—presents a limnological enigma; it exhibits strong morphometric and circumstantial evidence for meromixis, yet it is not stratified. We tested the hypothesis that water seepage from Boeri Lake overcomes morphometric drivers of stratification and prevents the onset of meromixis. We...
Authors
Bryan M. Maitland, Brian O’Malley, Donald J. Stewart
Limpkin, Aramus guarauna (L., 1766) (Gruiformes, Aramidae), extralimital breeding in Louisiana is associated with availability of the invasive Giant Apple Snail, Pomacea maculata Perry, 1810 (Caenogastropoda, Ampullariidae) Limpkin, Aramus guarauna (L., 1766) (Gruiformes, Aramidae), extralimital breeding in Louisiana is associated with availability of the invasive Giant Apple Snail, Pomacea maculata Perry, 1810 (Caenogastropoda, Ampullariidae)
We document the first breeding record of Limpkin, Aramus guarauna (Linnaeus, 1766) (Gruiformes, Aramidae), for Louisiana, describe an additional unpublished breeding record from Georgia, as well as a possible record from Alabama, and associate these patterns with the concurrent establishment of the invasive Giant Apple Snail, Pomacea maculata Perry, 1810 (Caenogastropoda, Ampullariidae)...
Authors
Robert C. Dobbs, Jacoby Carter, Jessica L. Schulz
Typha (cattail) invasion in North American wetlands: Biology, regional problems, impacts, ecosystem services, and management Typha (cattail) invasion in North American wetlands: Biology, regional problems, impacts, ecosystem services, and management
Typha is an iconic wetland plant found worldwide. Hybridization and anthropogenic disturbances have resulted in large increases in Typha abundance in wetland ecosystems throughout North America at a cost to native floral and faunal biodiversity. As demonstrated by three regional case studies, Typha is capable of rapidly colonizing habitats and forming monodominant vegetation stands due...
Authors
Sheel Bansal, Shane Lishawa, Sue Newman, Brian Tangen, Douglas Wilcox, Dennis Albert, Michael J. Anteau, Michael J Chimney, Ryann L. Cressey, Edward S. DeKeyser, Kenneth J Elgersam, Sarah A Finkelstein, Joanna Freeland, Richard Grosshans, Page E. Klug, Daniel J Larkin, Beth A. Lawrence, George Linz, Joy Marburger, Gregory E. Noe, Clint Otto, Nicholas Reo, Jennifer Richards, Curtis J. Richardson, LeRoy Rodgers, Amy J Shrank, Dan Svedarsky, Steven E. Travis, Nancy Tuchman, Arnold van der Valk, Lisamarie Windham-Myers
Toxicity of aluminum to Ceriodaphnia dubia in low-hardness waters as affected by natural dissolved organic matter Toxicity of aluminum to Ceriodaphnia dubia in low-hardness waters as affected by natural dissolved organic matter
We conducted a series of 7‐d toxicity tests with Ceriodaphnia dubia in dilutions of low‐hardness natural waters, which contained dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations up to 10 mg/L. Stream waters were mixed with well water to achieve 2 target hardness levels (20 and 35 mg/L) and 4 DOC concentrations. Tests with aluminum (Al)‐spiked waters were conducted in a controlled CO2...
Authors
John M. Besser, Danielle M. Cleveland, Chris D. Ivey, Laura Blake
Facilitating adaptation to climate change while restoring a montane plant community Facilitating adaptation to climate change while restoring a montane plant community
Montane plant communities throughout the world have responded to changes in temperature regimes by shifting ranges upward in elevation, and made downslope movements to track shifts in climatic water balance. Organisms that cannot disperse or adapt biologically to projected climate scenarios in situ may decrease in distributional range and abundance over time. Restoration strategies will...
Authors
Christina Leopold, Steve C. Hess
Digital mapping of ecological land units using a nationally scalable modeling framework Digital mapping of ecological land units using a nationally scalable modeling framework
Ecological site descriptions (ESDs) and associated state-and-transition models (STMs) provide a nationally consistent classification and information system for defining ecological land units for management applications in the United States. Current spatial representations of ESDs, however, occur via soil mapping and are therefore confined to the spatial resolution used to map soils...
Authors
Jonathan J. Maynard, Travis W. Nauman, Shawn W. Salley, Brandon T. Bestelmeyer, Michael C. Duniway, Curtis J. Talbot, Joel R. Brown