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Publications

Below is a list of WERC's peer-reviewed publications. If you are searching for a specific publication and cannot find it in this list, please contact werc_web@usgs.gov

Filter Total Items: 3776

The display flight of The North American Ruddy Duck The display flight of The North American Ruddy Duck

Sexual behavior of the North American Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis), as summarized by Johnsgard (1965: 323-327), includes a display variously referred to as the ringing rush (Johnsgard 1965: 325; 1967), ring rush (Johnsgard 1966), and/or display flight (Johnsgard 1966, 1967), which males perform as a short rush across the water surface, generally toward females. Differences of opinion...
Authors
M. R. Miller, R.M. McLandress, B.J. Gray

Tool use in a social insect and its implications for competitive interactions Tool use in a social insect and its implications for competitive interactions

Four species of myrmicine ants, Aphaenogaster rudis, A. treatae, A. tennesseensis, and A. fulva, use pieces of leaf, mud, and sand grains as tools to carry soft foods from distant sources to the colony. Tools are tended on the food and removed by colony members without regard to which individual brought the tool. Food is gathered more efficiently by tool use than by internal transport...
Authors
Joan H. Fellers, Gary M. Fellers

The abundance and diversity of the herpetofaunas of tropical forest litters The abundance and diversity of the herpetofaunas of tropical forest litters

Quantitative and qualitative samples of amphibian and lizard faunas were taken from forest litter in Costa Rica and compared with similar samples collected in Borneo, the Philippines, and Panama. Animal abundance is about ten times greater in Costa Rican lowland wet forest than in Borneo. Radically different routes and rates of energy flow are postulated to account for the difference. In...
Authors
Norman J. Scott

Differential seed predation on two species of Arctostaphylos (Ericaceae) Differential seed predation on two species of Arctostaphylos (Ericaceae)

The fire-prone California chaparral contains two sympatric species of shrubs: Arctostaphylos glauca and A. glandulosa. A previous study showed that in a stand where both species had similar amounts of coverage, A. glauca had fewer seeds in the soil. We attempt to answer the questions: 1) Could ground-foraging seed predators produce the lower population of A. glauca seeds in the soil? 2)...
Authors
Jon E. Keeley, R.L. Hays
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