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: 42853
Relative performance of three stream bed stability indices as indicators of stream health Relative performance of three stream bed stability indices as indicators of stream health
Bed stability is an important stream habitat attribute because it affects geomorphology and biotic communities. Natural resource managers desire indices of bed stability that can be used under a wide range of geomorphic conditions, are biologically meaningful, and are easily incorporated into sampling protocols. To eliminate potential bias due to presence of instream wood and increase...
Authors
Paul C Kusnierz, Christopher M. Holbrook
Movements and habitat use of White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons frontalis) during the remigial molt in arctic Alaska, USA Movements and habitat use of White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons frontalis) during the remigial molt in arctic Alaska, USA
Proposed oil and gas leasing in the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska has raised questions about possible impacts of development on molting Greater White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons frontalis) and their habitats. We used GPS transmitters to record fine-scale location data of molting and post-molt White-fronted Geese to assess patterns of movement and resource selection relative to...
Authors
Paul L. Flint, Brandt W. Meixell
Landscape-scale processes influence riparian plant composition along a regulated river Landscape-scale processes influence riparian plant composition along a regulated river
Hierarchical frameworks are useful constructs when exploring landscape- and local-scale factors affecting patterns of vegetation in riparian areas. In drylands, which have steep environmental gradients and high habitat heterogeneity, landscape-scale variables, such as climate, can change rapidly along a river's course, affecting the relative influence of environmental variables at...
Authors
Emily C. Palmquist, Barbara Ralston, David M. Merritt, Patrick B. Shafroth
Best practices for assessing forage fish fisheries-seabird resource competition Best practices for assessing forage fish fisheries-seabird resource competition
Worldwide, in recent years capture fisheries targeting lower-trophic level forage fish and euphausiid crustaceans have been substantial (∼20 million metric tons [MT] annually). Landings of forage species are projected to increase in the future, and this harvest may affect marine ecosystems and predator-prey interactions by removal or redistribution of biomass central to pelagic food webs...
Authors
William J. Sydeman, Sarah Ann Thompson, Tycho Anker-Nilssen, Mayumi L. Arimitsu, Ashley Bennison, Sophie Bertrand, Philipp Boersch-Supan, Charlotte Boyd, Nicole C. Bransome, Robert J.M. Crawford, Francis Daunt, Robert W. Furness, Dimas Gianuca, Amanda Gladics, Laura Koehn, Jennifer W. Lang, Elizabeth Loggerwell, Taryn L. Morris, Elizabeth M. Phillips, Jennifer Provencher, Andre E. Punt, Claire Saraux, Lynne Shannon, Richard B. Sherley, Alejandro Simeone, Ross M. Wanless, Sarah Wanless, Stephani Zador
A new framework for analysing automated acoustic species detection data: Occupancy estimation and optimization of recordings post-processing A new framework for analysing automated acoustic species detection data: Occupancy estimation and optimization of recordings post-processing
The development and use of automated species-detection technologies, such as acoustic recorders, for monitoring wildlife are rapidly expanding. Automated classification algorithms provide a cost- and time-effective means to process information-rich data, but often at the cost of additional detection errors. Appropriate methods are necessary to analyse such data while dealing with the...
Authors
Thierry A. Chambert, J. Hardin Waddle, David A.W. Miller, Susan C. Walls, James D. Nichols
Where can wolves live and how can we live with them? Where can wolves live and how can we live with them?
In the contiguous 48 United States, southern Canada, and in Europe, wolves (Canis lupus) have greatly increased and expanded their range during the past few decades.They are prolific, disperse long distances, readily recolonize new areas where humans allow them, and are difficult to control when populations become established.Because wolves originally lived nearly everywhere throughout...
Authors
L. David Mech
Extinguishing a learned response in a free-ranging gray wolf (Canis lupus) Extinguishing a learned response in a free-ranging gray wolf (Canis lupus)
A free-ranging Gray Wolf (Canis lupus), habituated to human presence (the author) on Ellesmere Island, Canada, learned to anticipate experimental feeding by a human, became impatient, persistent, and bold and exhibited stalking behaviour toward the food source. Only after the author offered the wolf about 90 clumps of dry soil over a period of 45 minutes in three bouts, did the wolf give...
Authors
L. David Mech
At the end of the line: independent overwater colonizations of the Solomon Islands by a hyperdiverse trans-Wallacean lizard lineage (Cyrtodactylus: Gekkota: Squamata) At the end of the line: independent overwater colonizations of the Solomon Islands by a hyperdiverse trans-Wallacean lizard lineage (Cyrtodactylus: Gekkota: Squamata)
The islands of East Melanesia have generated key insights into speciation processes and community assembly. However, when and how these islands began to form, emerge and accumulate endemic taxa remains poorly understood. Here, we show that two divergent lineages within the world’s most diverse genus of geckos (Cyrtodactylus) occur in the Solomon Islands. One large-bodied species is...
Authors
Paul M. Oliver, Scott L Travers, Jonathan Q. Richmond, Patrick Pikacha, Robert N. Fisher
Plastic ingestion by Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes from Kure Atoll, Hawai'i: Linking chick diet remains and parental at-sea foraging distributions Plastic ingestion by Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes from Kure Atoll, Hawai'i: Linking chick diet remains and parental at-sea foraging distributions
We quantified the incidence (percentage of samples with plastic) and loads (mass, volume) of four plastic types (fragments, line, sheet, foam) ingested by Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes chicks raised on Kure Atoll, the westernmost Hawaiian colony. All 25 samples contained plastic, mostly in the form of foam and line. On average (± SD), boluses and stomachs contained 28.2 ±...
Authors
K. David Hyrenbach, Michelle M. Hester, Josh Adams, Andrew J. Titmus, Pam Michael, Travis Wahl, Chih-Wei Chang, Amarisa Marie, Cynthia Vanderlip
Quantile regression applications in ecology and the environmental sciences Quantile regression applications in ecology and the environmental sciences
No abstract available.
Authors
Brian S. Cade
A probe-based quantitative PCR assay for detecting Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae in fish tissue and environmental DNA water samples A probe-based quantitative PCR assay for detecting Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae in fish tissue and environmental DNA water samples
A probe-based quantitative real-time PCR assay was developed to detect Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae, which causes proliferative kidney disease in salmonid fish, in kidney tissue and environmental DNA (eDNA) water samples. The limits of detection and quantification were 7 and 100 DNA copies for calibration standards and T. bryosalmonae was reliably detected down to 100 copies in tissue...
Authors
Patrick R. Hutchins, Adam J. Sepulveda, Renee Martin, Lacey Hopper
Pneumonia in bighorn sheep: Risk and resilience Pneumonia in bighorn sheep: Risk and resilience
Infectious disease was an important driver of historic declines and extirpations of bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) in North America and continues to impede population restoration and management. Domestic sheep have long been linked to pneumonia outbreaks in bighorn sheep and this association has now been confirmed in 13 captive commingling experiments. However, ecological and...
Authors
E. Frances Cassirer, Kezia R. Manlove, Emily S. Almberg, Pauline Kamath, Mike Cox, Peregrine L. Wolff, Annette Roug, Justin M. Shannon, Rusty Robinson, Richard B. Harris, Ben J. Gonzales, Raina K. Plowright, Peter J. Hudson, Paul C. Cross, Andrew Dobson, Thomas E. Besser