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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: 42987

Post-fledging movements and habitat associations of White-tailed Sea Eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) in Central Asia Post-fledging movements and habitat associations of White-tailed Sea Eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) in Central Asia

Behavior of young birds can have important consequences for population dynamics. We investigated the autumnal post-fledging movements of 3 White-tailed Sea Eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) hatched in Kazakhstan. All 3 eagles traveled south, flying on average 25–108 km/d. Movement was nonrandom, with eagles generally traveling near mosaics of forest, open areas, and water, and rarely using...
Authors
Evgeny A. Bragin, Sharon A. Poessel, Michael J. Lanzone, Todd E. Katzner

Conservation threats and priorities for raptors across Asia Conservation threats and priorities for raptors across Asia

With long coastlines and some of the world’s most important rivers, mountain ranges, high-altitude plateaus, and islands, Asia is the largest and most populous continent in the world (Lyde 1904; Spencer 1954; Population Reference Bureau 2016). Asia supports all major terrestrial ecosystems and all major climatic types (Galloway et al. 1998; Braimoh and Huang 2015). These include barren...
Authors
Camille B. Conception, Keith L. Bildstein, Nigel J. Collar, Todd E. Katzner

Do economic values and expenditures for viewing waterfowl in the U.S. differ among species? Do economic values and expenditures for viewing waterfowl in the U.S. differ among species?

Many economic studies value birdwatching in general and often do not account for potential differences in viewers’ benefits from observing different species. But, how different are economic values of viewing various bird species? To answer that question, we surveyed Ducks Unlimited (DU) members using an online questionnaire to estimate trip expenditures and consumer surplus per trip for...
Authors
John Loomis, Michelle Haefele, James Dubovsky, Aaron M. Lien, Wayne E. Thogmartin, James E. Diffendorfer, Dale D. Humburg, Brady J. Mattsson, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Darius J. Semmens, Laura Lopez-Hoffman, Robert Merideth

Past role and future outlook of the Conservation Reserve Program for supporting honey bees in the Great Plains Past role and future outlook of the Conservation Reserve Program for supporting honey bees in the Great Plains

Human dependence on insect pollinators continues to grow even as pollinators face global declines. The Northern Great Plains (NGP), a region often referred to as America’s last honey bee (Apis mellifera) refuge, has undergone rapid land-cover change due to cropland expansion and weakened land conservation programs. We conducted a trend analysis and estimated conversion rates of...
Authors
Clint Otto, Haochi Zheng, Alisa L. Gallant, Rich Iovanna, Benjamin L. Carlson, Matthew Smart, Skip Hyberg

Final report for climate effects on the culture and ecology of sugar maple Final report for climate effects on the culture and ecology of sugar maple

Maple syrup is produced from the sap of sugar maple trees collected in the late winter and early spring. Native American tribes have collected and boiled down sap for centuries, and the tapping of maple trees is a cultural touchstone for many people in the northeast and Midwest. Because the tapping season is dependent on weather conditions, there is concern about the sustainability of...
Authors
Toni Lyn Morelli, Kristina A. Stinson

Assessing the effectiveness of riparian restoration projects using Landsat and precipitation data from the cloud-computing application ClimateEngine.org Assessing the effectiveness of riparian restoration projects using Landsat and precipitation data from the cloud-computing application ClimateEngine.org

Riparian vegetation along streams provides a suite of ecosystem services in rangelands and thus is the target of restoration when degraded by over-grazing, erosion, incision, or other disturbances. Assessments of restoration effectiveness depend on defensible monitoring data, which can be both expensive and difficult to collect. We present a method and case study to evaluate the...
Authors
Mark B. Hausner, Justin L. Huntington, Caroline Nash, Charles Morton, Daniel J. McEvoy, David S. Pilliod, Katherine C. Hegewisch, Britta Daudert, John T. Abatzoglou, Gordon E. Grant

Soil water dynamics at 15 locations distributed across a desert landscape: insights from a 27‐yr dataset Soil water dynamics at 15 locations distributed across a desert landscape: insights from a 27‐yr dataset

Desert ecosystems are primarily limited by water availability. Within a climatic regime, topography, soil characteristics, and vegetation are expected to determine how the combined effects of precipitation, temperature, and evaporative demand of the atmosphere shape the spatial and temporal patterns of water within the soil profile and across a landscape. To forecast how desert...
Authors
Michael C. Duniway, Matthew D. Petrie, Debra P. C. Peters, John P. Anderson, Keith Crossland, Jeffrey E. Herrick

Landscape-scale wildlife species richness metrics to inform wind and solar energy facility siting: An Arizona case study Landscape-scale wildlife species richness metrics to inform wind and solar energy facility siting: An Arizona case study

The juxtaposition of wildlife and wind or solar energy facility infrastructure can present problems for developers, planners, policy makers, and management agencies. Guidance on siting of these renewable energy facilities may help identify potential wildlife-facility conflicts with species of regulatory or economic concern. However, existing spatial guidance usually does not consider all...
Authors
Kathryn A. Thomas, Christopher Jarchow, Terence R. Arundel, Pankaj Jamwal, Amanda Borens, Charles A. Drost

Applying a Bayesian weighted surveillance approach to detect chronic wasting disease in white‐tailed deer Applying a Bayesian weighted surveillance approach to detect chronic wasting disease in white‐tailed deer

Surveillance is critical for early detection of emerging and re‐emerging infectious diseases. Weighted surveillance leverages heterogeneity in infection risk to increase sampling efficiency.Here, we apply a Bayesian approach to estimate weights for 16 surveillance classes of white‐tailed deer in Wisconsin, USA, relative to hunter‐harvested yearling males. We used these weights to conduct...
Authors
Christopher S. Jennelle, Daniel P. Walsh, Michael D. Samuel, Erik E. Osnas, Robert E. Rolley, Julia A. Langenberg, Jenny G. Powers, Ryan J. Monello, E. David Demarest, Rolf Gubler, Dennis M. Heisey

Effects of land use on summer thermal regimes in critical salmonid habitats of the Pacific Northwest Effects of land use on summer thermal regimes in critical salmonid habitats of the Pacific Northwest

The effect of climate change on stream temperature regimes is of significant concern to natural resource managers focused on protecting cold-water-dependent species. Nevertheless, understanding of how human land-use activities may act to exacerbate the effects of climate change on stream temperature regimes is limited. Using extensive stream temperature data with high-resolution climate...
Authors
Ryan Kovach, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Robert Al-Chokhachy, Jeffrey V. Ojala, Eric Archer

Value of sample information in dynamic, structurally uncertain resource systems Value of sample information in dynamic, structurally uncertain resource systems

Few if any natural resource systems are completely understood and fully observed. Instead, there almost always is uncertainty about the way a system works and its status at any given time, which can limit effective management. A natural approach to uncertainty is to allocate time and effort to the collection of additional data, on the reasonable assumption that more information will...
Authors
Byron K. Williams, Fred A. Johnson

Post-spring migration colony-site prospecting by Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) Post-spring migration colony-site prospecting by Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii)

We recorded banded Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) and unbanded individuals mated to banded individuals in May and the first third of June in 2001 and 2002 to quantify post spring migration prospecting by this species at Falkner Island, Connecticut, USA. In 2001, more than one quarter: 34/125 (27.2%) of those observed by 19 May and 38/150 (25.3%) of those observed by 25 May did not...
Authors
Jeffrey A. Spendelow, Adam J. Eichenwald
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