Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

Browse publications authored by our scientists.  Publications available are: USGS-authored journal articles, series reports, book chapters, other government publications, and more. **Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

Filter Total Items: 3747

Science facilitation: Navigating the intersection of intellectual and interpersonal expertise in scientific collaboration

Today’s societal challenges, such as climate change and global pandemics, are increasingly complex and require collaboration across scientific disciplines to address. Scientific teams bring together individuals of varying backgrounds and expertise to work collaboratively on creating new knowledge to address these challenges. Within a scientific team, there is inherent diversity in disciplinary cul
Authors
Amanda E. Cravens, Megan Siobhan Jones, Courtney Ngai, Jill Zarestky, Hannah B. Love

The importance of phenology and thermal exposure to early life history success of nonnative Smallmouth Bass in the Yellowstone River

Knowledge of potential spread by introduced species is critical to effective management and conservation. The Smallmouth Bass Micropterus dolomieu is an example of a fish that has been introduced globally, often spreads after introduction, and has substantial predatory impacts on fish assemblages. Nonnative Smallmouth Bass in the free-flowing Yellowstone River, Montana, have expanded from warmer,
Authors
Nicholas S. Voss, Robert K. Al-Chokhachy, Adam J. Sepulveda, Christine E. Verhille, Michael P. Ruggles, Alexander V. Zale

Asking nicely: Best practices for requesting data

Compiling disparate datasets into publicly available composite databases helps natural resource communities explore ecological trends and effectively manage across spatiotemporal scales. Though some studies have reported on the database construction phase, fewer have evaluated the data acquisition and distribution process. To facilitate future data sharing collaborations, Louisiana State Universit
Authors
Steve R. Midway, Nicholas A. Sievert, Abigail Lynch, Joanna B. Whittier, Kevin L. Pope

Population genetics reveals bidirectional fish movement across the Continental Divide via an interbasin water transfer

Interbasin water transfers are becoming an increasingly common tool to satisfy municipal and agricultural water demand, but their impacts on movement and gene flow of aquatic organisms are poorly understood. The Grand Ditch is an interbasin water transfer that diverts water from tributaries of the upper Colorado River on the west side of the Continental Divide to the upper Cache la Poudre River on
Authors
Audrey Harris, Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Jennifer A. Fike, Matthew P Fairchild, Christopher M Kennedy, Harry J Crockett, Dana L. Winkelman, Yoichiro Kanno

Water storage decisions and consumptive use may constrain ecosystem management under severe sustained drought

Drought has impacted the Colorado River basin for the past 20 years and is predicted to continue. In response, decisions about how much water should be stored in large reservoirs and how much water can be consumptively used will be necessary. These decisions have the potential to limit riverine ecosystem management options through the effect water-supply decisions have on reservoir elevations. We
Authors
Lindsey Ann Bruckerhoff, Kevin Wheeler, Kimberly L. Dibble, B.A. Mihalevich, B.T. Nielson, J. Wang, Charles Yackulic, J.C. Schmidt

Experience preferences and place attachment of Minnesota wildlife management area hunters

Hunters in the United States are motivated to obtain and benefit from diverse experiences or experience preferences. Using a mail survey conducted during the 2015–2016 hunting season, we examined goal-oriented, introspective, and leadership experiences among hunters on Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Management Area (WMAs). We used k-means cluster analysis to identify six clust
Authors
Kelsie LaSharr, David C. Fulton, L. Cornicelli

The importance of lake emergent aquatic vegetation for estimating Arctic-boreal methane emissions

Areas of lakes that support emergent aquatic vegetation emit disproportionately more methane than open water but are under-represented in upscaled estimates of lake greenhouse gas emissions. These shallow areas are typically less than ∼1.5 m deep and can be detected with synthetic aperture radar (SAR). To assess the importance of lake emergent vegetation (LEV) zones to landscape-scale methane emis
Authors
Ethan D. Kyzivat, Laurence C. Smith, Fenix Garcia-Tigreros, Chang Huang, Chao Wang, Theodore Langhorst, Jessica V. Fayne, Merritt E. Harlan, Yuta Ishitsuka, Dongmei Feng, Wayana Dolan, Lincoln H. Pitcher, Kimberly Wickland, Mark Dornblaser, Robert G. Striegl, Tamlin M. Pavelsky, David E. Butman, Colin J. Gleason

Ignoring species availability biases occupancy estimates in single-scale occupancy models

Most applications of single-scale occupancy models do not differentiate between availability and detectability, even though species availability is rarely equal to one. Species availability can be estimated using multi-scale occupancy models; however, for the practical application of multi-scale occupancy models, it can be unclear what a robust sampling design looks like and what the statistical p
Authors
Graziella Vittoria Direnzo, David A. W. Miller, Evan H. Campbell Grant

Highly specialized recreationists contribute the most to the citizen science project eBird

Contributory citizen science projects (hereafter “contributory projects”) are a powerful tool for avian conservation science. Large-scale projects such as eBird have produced data that have advanced science and contributed to many conservation applications. These projects also provide a means to engage the public in scientific data collection. A common challenge across contributory projects like e
Authors
Connor J. Rosenblatt, Ashley A. Dayer, Jennifer N. Duberstein, Tina B. Phillips, H. W. Harshaw, David C. Fulton, Nicholas Cole, Andrew H. Raedeke, Jonathan D. Rutter, Christopher L. Wood

Identifying monitoring information needs that support the management of fish in large rivers

Management actions intended to benefit fish in large rivers can directly or indirectly affect multiple ecosystem components. Without consideration of the effects of management on non-target ecosystem components, unintended consequences may limit management efficacy. Monitoring can help clarify the effects of management actions, including on non-target ecosystem components, but only if data are col
Authors
Timothy Counihan, Kristen L. Bouska, Shannon K. Brewer, R. B. Jacobson, Andrew F. Casper, Colin G. Chapman, Ian R. Waite, Kenneth R. Sheehan, Mark Pyron, Elise R. Irwin, Karen Riva-Murray, Alexa McKerrow, Jennifer M. Bayer

Life and death in a dynamic environment: Invasive trout, floods, and intraspecific drivers of translocated populations

Understanding the relative strengths of intrinsic and extrinsic factors regulating populations is a long-standing focus of ecology and critical to advancing conservation programs for imperiled species. Conservation could benefit from an increased understanding of factors influencing vital rates (somatic growth, recruitment, survival) in small, translocated populations, which is lacking owing to di
Authors
Brian D Healy, Phaedra E. Budy, Mary M. Conner, Emily C. Omana Smith

Ungulate migrations of the western United States, volume 2

Migration is widespread across taxonomic groups and increasingly recognized as fundamental to maintaining abundant wildlife populations and communities. Many ungulate herds migrate across the western United States to access food and avoid harsh environmental conditions. With the advent of global positioning system (GPS) collars, researchers can describe and map the year-round movements of ungulate
Authors
Matthew Kauffman, Blake Lowrey, Jeffrey Beck, Jodi Berg, Scott Bergen, Joel Berger, James W. Cain III, Sarah Dewey, Jennifer Diamond, Orrin Duvuvuei, Fattebert, Jeff Gagnon, Julia Garcia, Evan Greenspan, Embere Hall, Glenn Harper, Stan Harter, Kent Hersey, Pat Hnilicka, Mark Hurley, Lee Knox, Art Lawson, Eric Maichak, James Meacham, Jerod Merkle, Arthur Middleton, Daniel Olson, Lucas Olson, Craig Reddell, Benjamin Robb, Gabe Rozman, Hall Sawyer, Cody Schroeder, Brandon Scurlock, Jeff Short, Scott Sprague, Alethea Steingisser, Nicole Tatman