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: 43283
Community synchrony in seed production is associated with trait similarity and climate across North America Community synchrony in seed production is associated with trait similarity and climate across North America
Mast seeding, the synchronous and highly variable production of seed crops in perennial plants, is a population level phenomenon and has cascading effects in ecosystems. Mast seeding studies are typically conducted at the population/species level. Much less is known about synchrony in mast seeding between species because the necessary long-term data are rarely available. To investigate...
Authors
Jalene M. LaMontagne, David F. Greene, E. Penelope Holland, Jill F. Johnstone, Mark Schulze, Jess K. Zimmerman, Nicholas J. Lyon, Angel Chen, Tom E.X. Miller, Katherine M. Nigro, Snell Rebecca S., Jessica H. Barton, V. Bala Chaudhary, Natalie L. Cleavitt, Elizabeth E. Crone, Walter D. Koenig, Diana Macias, Ian S. Pearse, Miranda D. Redmond
Don’t move a mussel: The role of key environmental drivers and management scale in assessing spatial variation in dreissenid spread risk in the Missouri River Basin Don’t move a mussel: The role of key environmental drivers and management scale in assessing spatial variation in dreissenid spread risk in the Missouri River Basin
The spread of non-native freshwater mussels in North America is a growing threat that has already resulted in substantial ecological and economic damage to infested areas. A primary vector by which invasive mussels spread is watercraft that are transported over land from an infested waterbody to an uninfested waterbody. Management efforts such as watercraft inspection and detection...
Authors
Joseph Raymond, Lucas Bair, Timothy D. Counihan, Wesley M. Daniel, Sofie Duntugan, Matthew Neilson, Michael R. Springborn
Dynamic treeline and cryosphere response to pronounced mid-Holocene climatic variability in the US Rocky Mountains Dynamic treeline and cryosphere response to pronounced mid-Holocene climatic variability in the US Rocky Mountains
Climate-driven changes in high-elevation forest distribution and reductions in snow and ice cover have major implications for ecosystems and global water security. In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of the Rocky Mountains (United States), recent melting of a high-elevation (3,091 m asl) ice patch exposed a mature stand of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) trees, located ~180 m in...
Authors
Gregory T. Pederson, Daniel K. Stahle, David B McWethy, Matthew Toohey, Johann Jungclaus, Craig Lee, Justin T. Martin, Mio Alt, Nickolas E. Kichas, Nathan J. Chellman, Joseph R. McConnell, Cathy Whitlock
The MIEM guidelines: Minimum information for reporting of environmental metabarcoding data The MIEM guidelines: Minimum information for reporting of environmental metabarcoding data
Environmental DNA (eDNA) and RNA (eRNA) metabarcoding has become a popular tool for assessing biodiversity from environmental samples, but inconsistent documentation of methods, data and metadata makes results difficult to reproduce and synthesise. A working group of scientists have collaborated to produce a set of minimum reporting guidelines for the constituent steps of metabarcoding...
Authors
Katy E. Klymus, Jacoby D. Baker, Cathryn L. Abbott, Rachel J. Brown, Joseph M. Craine, Zachary Gold, Margaret Hunter, Mark D. Johnson, Devin Nicole Jones-Slobodian, Michelle J. Jungbluth, Sean P. Jungbluth, Yer Lor, Aaron P. Maloy, Christopher M. Merkes, Rachel T. Noble, Nastassia V. Patin, Adam Sepulveda, Stephen Frank Spear, Joshua A. Steele, Miwa Takahashi, Alison W. Watts, Susanna Theroux
Unburned habitat essential for amphibian breeding persistence following wildfire Unburned habitat essential for amphibian breeding persistence following wildfire
Wildfire regimes are changing rapidly with widespread increase in the intensity, frequency, and duration of fire activity, especially in the western United States. Limited studies explore the impacts of wildfires on aquatic taxa and few focus on lentic habitats that are essential for amphibians, many of which are of conservation concern. We capitalized on existing pre-fire surveys for...
Authors
Larissa L. Bailey, Rick Henderson, Wendy A. Estes-Zumpf, Charles C. Rhoades, Ellie Miller, Dominique R. Lujan, Erin L. Muths
Investigation of land cover within wetland complexes at Dixie Meadows, Churchill County, Nevada, from October 2015 to January 2022 Investigation of land cover within wetland complexes at Dixie Meadows, Churchill County, Nevada, from October 2015 to January 2022
The U.S. Geological Survey investigated land cover at subannual time steps within six wetland areas in Dixie Valley, Churchill County, Nevada, from October 2015 to January 2022. As requested by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, we used aerial photography and satellite remote sensing data to map surface water and other land cover types within the wetland complexes. We identified five...
Authors
Joel B. Sankey, Nathaniel D. Bransky, Joshua Caster
Counting the chorus: A bioacoustic indicator of population density Counting the chorus: A bioacoustic indicator of population density
Passive acoustic monitoring has grown in utility for tracking wildlife populations, although challenges remain when using acoustic detections to monitor population size and density. Distance sampling is considered the ‘gold standard’ for estimating animal densities but has several important limitations, especially for rare, cryptic, and high-density species. Here, we test the performance...
Authors
Amanda K Navine, Richard J. Camp, Matthew J Weldy, Tom Denton, Patrick J. Hart
A universal method for the simultaneous determination of environmental pollutants in marine biological samples: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and antibiotics as a case study A universal method for the simultaneous determination of environmental pollutants in marine biological samples: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and antibiotics as a case study
Conventional detection technologies for environmental contaminants have primarily focused on providing accurate qualitative and quantitative evaluations for single pollutant types, leading to increased costs and an inability to satisfy the growing demand for detecting a broader spectrum of pollutants. Here, we introduced a novel analytical method to simultaneously measure the...
Authors
Di Fang, Ge Yang, Bentuo Xu, Jialin Li, Jiayi Lin, Chunmiao Zheng, Jason Tyler Magnuson, Wenhui Qiu
Nitrogen deposition weakens soil carbon control of nitrogen dynamics across the contiguous United States Nitrogen deposition weakens soil carbon control of nitrogen dynamics across the contiguous United States
Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition is unequally distributed across space and time, with inputs to terrestrial ecosystems impacted by industry regulations and variations in human activity. Soil carbon (C) content normally controls the fraction of mineralized N that is nitrified (ƒnitrified), affecting N bioavailability for plants and microbes. However, it is unknown whether N...
Authors
Matthew A. Nieland, Piper Lacy, Steven D. Allison, Jennifer M Bhatnagar, Danica A Doroski, Serita D. Frey, Kristen Greaney, Sarah E Hobbie, Kuebbing. Sara E, David Bruce Lewis, Marshall D McDaniel, Steven S. Perakis, Steve M Raciti, Alanna N Shaw, Christine D Sprunger, Michael S Strickland, Pamela H. Templer, Corrine Vietorisz, Elisabeth Ward, Ashley D Keiser
Vertebrates in trade that pose high invasion risk to the United States Vertebrates in trade that pose high invasion risk to the United States
The United States imports thousands of live vertebrate species annually as part of legal trade. Escapes and releases from captivity are major pathways of invasion, however, the risk posed by the thousands of imported vertebrate species has not been systematically assessed. We conducted a horizon scan that used a data-driven climate match to filter a list of nearly 15,000 taxa drawn from...
Authors
Wesley Daniel, Helen R. Sofaer, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Richard A. Erickson, Brett Alexander DeGregorio, Peder Scott Engelstad, Jonathan A. Freedman, Susan Canavan, Emily M. Dean, Michael J Adams, Charmayne L. Anderson, Mindy Barnett, Marybeth K. Brey, Kyle J. Brumm, Matthew S. Bunting, Emily Caffrey, Laura Cardador, Jacoby Carter, Phillip Cassey, Duane Chapman, Natalie M. Claunch, Timothy D. Counihan, Kristin P. Davis, Anant Deshwal, Andrew K. Douglas, Corey Garland Dunn, Chase Ehlo, Katie Everett, Jason M. Gleditsch, Andrew Grosse, Zoey Hendrickson, Steven C. Hess, Jeffrey E. Hill, Nick D. Holmes, Ana V. Longo, Julie L. Lockwood, Doran M. Mason, Ashley McDonald, Matthew Neilson, Kristen M. Reaver, Robert Reed, Caleb Powell Roberts, Jane S. Rogosch, Christina Romagosa, James C. Russell, Annie Simpson, Scott A. Smith, Jinelle Sperry, Quenton M. Tuckett, Kurt VerCauteren, J. Hardin Waddle, Christian Wanamaker, John D. Willson, Arden Williams, Deah Lieurance
A spatiotemporal optimization engine for prescribed burning in the Southeast US A spatiotemporal optimization engine for prescribed burning in the Southeast US
Many ecosystems in the Southeast US are dependent upon frequent low-intensity surface fires to sustain native biodiversity, ecosystem services, and endangered species populations. Today, landscape-scale prescribed fire is required to manage these systems for conservation objectives and to mitigate wildland fire risk. Successful application of prescribed fire in this region requires...
Authors
Reetam Majumder, Adam J. Terando, J. Kevin Hiers, Jaime A. Collazo, Brian J. Reich
A comparative framework to develop transferable species distribution models for animal telemetry data A comparative framework to develop transferable species distribution models for animal telemetry data
Species distribution models (SDMs) have become increasingly popular for making ecological inferences, as well as predictions to inform conservation and management. In predictive modeling, practitioners often use correlative SDMs that only evaluate a single spatial scale and do not account for differences in life stages. These modeling decisions may limit the performance of SDMs beyond...
Authors
Joshua A. Cullen, Camila A. Domit, Margaret Lamont, Christopher D. Marshall, Armando J.B. Santos, Christopher R. Sasso, Mehsin Al Ansi, Kristen Hart, Mariana M.P.B. Fuentes