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: 5350
Ring-necked Pheasant brood habitat selection and movements in an intensive agricultural landscape Ring-necked Pheasant brood habitat selection and movements in an intensive agricultural landscape
Management of row crops can greatly influence wildlife populations in an agriculturally intensive landscape. Many upland gamebird populations, including Phasianus colchicus L. (Ringnecked Pheasant; hereafter pheasant) are experiencing contemporary population declines in such landscapes throughout the Midwest United States. Reduced availability of quality brood habitat may be a factor in...
Authors
Alixandra Godar, Adela Piernicky, David A. Haukos, Jeff Prendergast
LakeLevel tracker: A Google Earth engine-based web application for characterizing lake water levels LakeLevel tracker: A Google Earth engine-based web application for characterizing lake water levels
No abstract available.
Authors
Abhishek Kumar, Allison H. Roy, Konstantinos Andreadis, Xinchen He, Caitlyn Butler
Leveraging angler effort to inform fisheries management: Using harvest and harvest rate to estimate abundance of White Sturgeon Leveraging angler effort to inform fisheries management: Using harvest and harvest rate to estimate abundance of White Sturgeon
Traditional methods for estimating abundance of fish populations are not feasible in some systems due to complex population structure and constraints on sampling effort. Lincoln’s estimator provides a technique that uses harvest and harvest rate to estimate abundance. Using angler catch data allows assumptions of the estimator to be addressed without relying on methods that could be...
Authors
Marta Ulaski, Joshua McCormick, Michael C. Quist, Zachary Jackson
Evidence of a load-lightening helper effect in Florida Scrub-Jays: Implications for translocation Evidence of a load-lightening helper effect in Florida Scrub-Jays: Implications for translocation
The Florida Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) is an imperiled cooperatively breeding species endemic to Florida scrub habitats. Translocation of non-reproductive helpers has been proposed as a conservation tool to increase population size and connectivity. However, the potential consequences of helper removal on the source population remain unclear because the benefits provided by...
Authors
Alexis Cardas, Erin Hewett Ragheb, Karl E. Miller, Abby Powell
Simulation modeling to assess line transect distance sampling under a range of translocation scenarios Simulation modeling to assess line transect distance sampling under a range of translocation scenarios
The accuracy of posttranslocation population monitoring methods is critical to assessing long-term success in translocation programs. Translocation can produce unique challenges to monitoring efforts; therefore, it is important to understand the flexibility and robustness of commonly used monitoring methods. In Florida, USA, thousands of gopher tortoises Gopherus polyphemus have been...
Authors
Max D. Jones, Lora L. Smith, Katherine Gentry Richardson, J. Nicole DeSha, Traci Castellón, Dan Hipes, Alex Kalfin, Neal T. Halstead, Elizabeth Ann Hunter
A continuous classification of the 476,697 lakes of the conterminous US based on geographic archetypes A continuous classification of the 476,697 lakes of the conterminous US based on geographic archetypes
A variety of classification approaches are used to facilitate understanding, prediction, monitoring, and the management of lakes. However, broad-scale applicability of current approaches is limited by either the need for in situ lake data, incompatibilities among approaches, or a lack of empirical testing of approaches based on ex situ data. We developed a new geographic classification...
Authors
Jean-Francois Lapierre, Katherine E. Webster, Ephraim Hanks, Tyler Wagner, Patricia A. Soranno, Ian M. McCullough, Kaitlin L. Reinl, Marcella Domka, Noah R. Lotting
Aging, climate, and invasions threaten reservoirs in the Mississippi basin Aging, climate, and invasions threaten reservoirs in the Mississippi basin
Reservoirs in the Mississippi River basin are facing three momentous threats. The first two, aging and climate change, are relatively slow moving and their signal can be hard to discern given their stretched temporal scales. The third, species invasions, is faster paced and discernable within shorter temporal scales and restricted spatial scales. Aging and climate directly affect...
Authors
Leandro E. Miranda
Book review of America’s public lands: From Yellowstone to Smokey Bear and beyond (2nd edition) Book review of America’s public lands: From Yellowstone to Smokey Bear and beyond (2nd edition)
Since the creation of the first public lands in the United States, they have been a source of turmoil, admiration, and prolonged political debate Nevertheless, our public lands have become an intrinsic part of our national identity and economic progress, exemplifying our divergent attitudes towards nature preservation and resource development. With this in mind, Randall K. Wilson makes a...
Authors
Ambar A. Melendez Perez, Denisse Camarena, Johanna M. H. Ford, Lindsey A. W. Gapinski, Anne M. Hatch, Brier E. Klossing, Aaron A. Yappert, Robert W. Klaver
Accounting for spatiotemporal sampling variation in joint species distribution models Accounting for spatiotemporal sampling variation in joint species distribution models
Estimating relative abundance is critical for informing conservation and management efforts and for making inferences about the effects of environmental change on populations. Freshwater fisheries span large geographic regions, occupy diverse habitats and consist of varying species assemblages. Monitoring schemes used to sample these diverse populations often result in populations being...
Authors
Joshua S. North, Erin M. Schliep, Gretchen J.A. Hansen, Holly Kundel, Christopher A. Custer, Paul McLaughlin, Tyler Wagner
The smaller, the better? First evaluation of growth and mortality in crayfish internally tagged with p-Chips The smaller, the better? First evaluation of growth and mortality in crayfish internally tagged with p-Chips
Small-bodied aquatic animals present a challenge to researchers seeking to uniquely mark individuals for scientific study. Microtransponder tags, such as p-Chips, represent the smallest electronic animal tags available to meet this need. The use of p-Chips to tag freshwater crayfishes, however, has not been explored. The goal of this study, therefore, was to determine the effects of p...
Authors
Augusto F. Huber, Wesley A. Fitzsimmons, Jacob Thomas Westhoff
Imperfect detection and misidentification affect inferences from data informing water operation decisions Imperfect detection and misidentification affect inferences from data informing water operation decisions
Objective Managers can modify river flow regimes using fish monitoring data to minimize impacts from water management infrastructure. For example, operation of the gate-controlled Delta Cross Channel (DCC) in California can negatively affect the endangered Sacramento River winter-run Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha. Although guidelines have been developed for DCC operations by...
Authors
Joseph E. Kirsch, James T. Peterson, Adam Duarte, Denise Goodman, Andrew Goodman, Sara Hugentobler, Mariah Meek, Russell W. Perry, Lori Smith, Jeffrey Stuart
Response of Tiger Salamanders (Ambystoma t. tigrinum) to wetland restoration in a midwestern agricultural landscape, U.S.A. Response of Tiger Salamanders (Ambystoma t. tigrinum) to wetland restoration in a midwestern agricultural landscape, U.S.A.
Since the early 1990s, > 3,000 ha of wetlands (and adjacent prairie) have been restored on the row-crop agricultural landscape of Winnebago County, Iowa, U.S.A. From 2014–2016, we surveyed 45 wetlands among 19 easements for occupancy by Eastern Tiger Salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum tigrinum) and used radio-telemetry to measure their patterns of movement and habitat use. Rates of...
Authors
Paul E. Bartelt, Alyse T. Devries, Robert W. Klaver