Publications

This chapter discusses the effects of wildfire on the growth of cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake. Trends in year-to-year variation in growth for individual age groups and 25 mm length groups of cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake were examined in an attempt to detect shifts in growth patterns associated with the fires. Approximately 100,000 ha of the Yellowstone Lake watershed burned...

Spawning cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki (Richardson, 1836)) are a potentially important food resource for grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis Ord, 1815) in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. We developed a method to estimate the amount of cutthroat trout ingested by grizzly bears living in the Yellowstone Lake area. The method utilized (i) the relatively high, naturally...

Most large native carnivores have experienced range contractions due to conflicts with humans, although neither rates of spatial collapse nor expansion have been well characterised. In North America, the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) once ranged from Mexico northward to Alaska, however its range in the continental USA has been reduced by 95-98%. Under the U. S. Endangered Species Act, the

Little Ice Age (14th-19th centuries A.D.) glacial maxima and 20th century retreat have been well documented in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. However, the influence of regional and Pacific Basin driven climate variability on these events is poorly understood. We use tree-ring reconstructions of North Pacific surface temperature anomalies and summer drought as proxies for winter...

We investigated species- and community-level responses of squamate reptiles and granivorous small mammals to feral-horse grazing in two elevational strata across nine mountain ranges of the western Great Basin, USA. Although mammal species richness did not differ between horse-occupied and horse-removed sites, occupied sites possessed less community completeness (biotic integrity) and 1...

Patterns of debris-flow occurrence were investigated in 125 headwater basins in the Oregon Coast Range. Time since the previous debris-flows was established using dendrochronology, and recurrence interval estimates ranged from 98 to 357 years. Tributary basins with larger drainage areas had a greater abundance of potential landslide source areas and a greater frequency of scouring events...

Corn and Muths (2002) describe how seasonal and annual variation in estimated flux of ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation, combined with year-to-year variation in amphibian breeding, phenology, introduces considerable variability in the UV-B exposures to amphibians. The response to our paper by Blaustein et al. (2004) misstates the objective and conclusions of our study, contains other errors...

Logistic regression is an important tool for wildlife habitat-selection studies, but the method frequently has been misapplied due to an inadequate understanding of the logistic model, its interpretation, and the influence of sampling design. To promote better use of this method, we review its application and interpretation under 3 sampling designs: random, case-control, and use...

For many years, the primary strategy for managing grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) that came into conflict with humans in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) was to capture and translocate the offending bears away from conflict sites. Translocation usually only temporarily alleviated the problems and most often did not result in long-term solutions. Wildlife managers needed to be able to...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), with its multidisciplinary structure and role as a federal science organization, is well suited to provide integrated science in the Great Basin of the western United States. A research strategy developed by the USGS and collaborating partners addresses critical management issues in the basin, including invasive species, status and trends of wildlife...

Changes in age-specific reproductive rates can have important implications for managing populations, but the number of female brown (grizzly) bears (Ursus arctos) observed in any one study is usually inadequate to quantify such patterns, especially for older females and in hunted areas. We examined patterns of reproductive maturation and senescence in female brown bears by combining data...

Paleoclimatic data and climate models play a complimentary role in understanding climate change. This chapter provides an overview of the process of climate-system modeling, presents the taxonomy of the models recently applied in the study of Quaternary climate change and variation, and discusses the development of climate modeling since the 1965 International Union for Quaternary...