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Book Chapters

Browse more than 5,500 book chapters authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS and refine search by topic, location, year, and advanced search.

Filter Total Items: 6158

General constraints on sampling wildlife on FIA plots General constraints on sampling wildlife on FIA plots

This paper reviews the constraints to sampling wildlife populations at FIA points. Wildlife sampling programs must have well-defined goals and provide information adequate to meet those goals. Investigators should choose a State variable based on information needs and the spatial sampling scale. We discuss estimation-based methods for three State variables: species richness, abundance...
Authors
L.L. Bailey, J.R. Sauer, J.D. Nichols, P.H. Geissler

Geomorphic change and vegetation development on the Muddy River Mudflow Deposit Geomorphic change and vegetation development on the Muddy River Mudflow Deposit

Geomorphic disturbances are widely recognized as important processes that influence plant-community development and landscape-scale vegetation patterns [e.g., Veblen and Ashton (1978), Garwood et al. (1979), Swanson et al. (1988), and Malanson (1993)]. In volcanically active areas such as the Pacific Northwest, mudflows are locally important geomorphic disturbance events governing short-...
Authors
Peter M. Frenzen, Keith S. Hadley, Jon J. Major, Marc H. Weber, Jerry F. Franklin, J. H. Hardison, Sharon Stanton

Habitats used by black and surf scoters in eastern North America as determined by satellite radio telemetry Habitats used by black and surf scoters in eastern North America as determined by satellite radio telemetry

Satellite radio telemetry was used to determine the movements and habitats of black scoters (Melanitta nigra) and surf scoters (Melanitta perspicillata) in eastern North America. A total of 21 surf scoters were instrumented during five years (2001-05) and 32 black scoters were instrumented during three years (2002-04) with implanted PTT 100 satellite transmitters (39 g) with external...
Authors
Matthew C. Perry, D.M. Kidwell, A. M. Wells-Berlin, E.J.R. Lohnes, Glenn H. Olsen, P.C. Osenton

Head stabilization in whooping cranes Head stabilization in whooping cranes

The whooping crane (Grus americana) is the tallest bird in North America, yet not much is known about its visual ecology. How these birds overcome their unusual height to identify, locate, track, and capture prey items is not well understood. There have been many studies on head and eye stabilization in large wading birds (herons and egrets), but the pattern of head movement and...
Authors
M.R. Kinloch, T.W. Cronin, Glenn H. Olsen

Hierarchical models and Bayesian analysis of bird survey information Hierarchical models and Bayesian analysis of bird survey information

Summary of bird survey information is a critical component of conservation activities, but often our summaries rely on statistical methods that do not accommodate the limitations of the information. Prioritization of species requires ranking and analysis of species by magnitude of population trend, but often magnitude of trend is a misleading measure of actual decline when trend is...
Authors
J.R. Sauer, W.A. Link, J. Andrew Royle

Inducible defenses in food webs: Chapter 3.4 Inducible defenses in food webs: Chapter 3.4

This chapter reviews the predicted effects of induced defenses on trophic structure and two aspects of stability, “local” stability and persistence, as well as presenting novel results on a third, resilience. Food webs are structures of populations in a given location organized according to their predator–prey interactions. Interaction strengths and, therefore, prey defenses are...
Authors
Matthijs Vos, Bob W. Kooi, Donald L. DeAngelis, Wolf M. Mooij

Initial training of cranes for an airship migration Initial training of cranes for an airship migration

We describe the first year of our efforts to train cranes to accept the unnatural stimuli associated with being transported south in cages suspended beneath an airship. All 4 experimental cranes readily acclimated to entering a suspended cage and were trained to accept being jostled while in the cage, even when the cage was transported in the back of a pickup truck. With minor changes...
Authors
D. H. Ellis, Glenn H. Olsen, J. Kwitowski

Introduction to the handbook Introduction to the handbook

In September of 1802, Pierre Simon Laplace (1749–1827) used a capture– recapture type of approach to estimate the size of the human population of France (Cochran 1978; Stigler 1986). At that time, live births were recorded for all of France on an annual basis. In the year prior to September 1802, Laplace estimated the number of such births to be approximately X = 1,000,000. These newly...
Authors
Bryan F.J. Manly, Trent L. McDonald, Steven C. Amstrup
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