Publications
This list of publications includes peer-review journal articles, official USGS publications series, reports and more authored by scientists in the Ecosystems Mission Area. A database of all USGS publications, with advanced search features, can be accessed at the USGS Publications Warehouse.
Filter Total Items: 41763
Vegetation map for the Seboeis Unit of Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument
The Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, located in the forests of central Maine, is a newly (2016) established unit for the National Park Service. To better understand the condition of lands within the monument and inform management planning, Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument resource managers wanted better information of the vegetation present within the monument. To meet this
Authors
Andrew C. Strassman, Kevin D. Hop, Stephanie R. Sattler, Justin Schlawin, Don Cameron
Geologic, geomorphic, and edaphic underpinnings of dryland ecosystems: Colorado Plateau landscapes in a changing world
Drylands represent more than 41% of the global land surface and are at degradation risk due to land use and climate change. Developing strategies to mitigate degradation and restore drylands in the face of these threats requires an understanding of how drylands are shaped by not only soils and climate, but also geology and geomorphology. However, few studies have completed such a comprehensive ana
Authors
Michael C. Duniway, Christopher Benson, Travis W. Nauman, Anna C Knight, John B. Bradford, Seth M. Munson, Dana L. Witwicki, Carolyn Livensperger, Matthew W. Van Scoyoc, Terry T Fisk, David Thoma, Mark E. Miller
Drought related changes in water quality surpass effects of experimental flows on trout growth downstream of Lake Powell reservoir
Flows released from reservoirs are often modified to mitigate the negative ecosystem effects of dams. We estimated the effects of two experimental flows, fall-timed floods and elimination of sub-daily variation in flows on weekends, on growth rates of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in the Colorado River downstream from Glen Canyon Dam. Experimental flow effects were compared to effects of wat
Authors
Josh Korman, Bridget Deemer, Charles Yackulic, Theodore Kennedy, Mariah Aurelia Giardina
Integrated assessment of chemical and biological recovery after diversion and treatment of acid mine drainage in a Rocky Mountain stream
Responses of stream ecosystems to gradual reductions in metal loading following remediation or restoration activities have been well documented in the literature. However, much less is known about how these systems respond to the immediate or more rapid elimination of metal inputs. Construction of a water treatment plant on the North Fork of Clear Creek (NFCC; CO, USA), a US Environmental Protecti
Authors
Christopher James Kotalik, Joseph S. Meyer, Pete Cadmus, James F. Ranville, William H. Clements
Mapping 2-D bedload rates throughout a sand-bed river reach from high-resolution acoustical surveys of migrating bedforms
This paper introduces a method for determining spatially-distributed, 2-D bedload rates using repeat, high-resolution surveys of the bed topography. As opposed to existing methods, bedform parameters and bedload rates are computed from bed elevation profiles interpolated along the local bedform velocities. The bedform velocity fields are computed applying Large-Scale Particle Image Velocimetry, in
Authors
Jérôme Le Coz, Emeline Perret, Benoît Camenen, David Topping, Daniel D. Buscombe, Kate C.P. Leary, Guillaume Dramais, Paul Grams
Rapidly assessing social characteristics of drought preparedness and decision making: A guide for practitioners
Executive SummaryThis guide is intended to provide managers, decision makers, and other practitioners with advice on conducting a rapid assessment of the social dimensions of drought. Findings from a rapid assessment can provide key social context that may aid in decision making, such as when preparing a drought plan, allocating local drought resilience funding, or gathering the support of local a
Authors
Katherine R. Clifford, Julia B. Goolsby, Amanda E. Cravens, Ashley E. Cooper
A size-based stock assessment model for invasive blue catfish in a Chesapeake Bay sub-estuary during 2001–2016
Stock assessment modeling provides a means to estimate the population dynamics of invasive fishes and may do so despite data limitations. Blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) were introduced to the Chesapeake Bay watershed to support recreational fisheries but also consume species of conservation need and economic importance. To assess management tradeoffs, managers need to understand the current sta
Authors
Corbin David Hilling, Yan Jiao, Mary C. Fabrizio, Paul L. Angermeier, Aaron J. Bunch, Donald J. Orth
Effects of mass capture on survival of greater white-fronted geese in Alaska
Mass capture of flightless geese during the summer is a common trapping technique to obtain large numbers of individuals for research and marking, but few studies have assessed the impacts of this method on the survival of after-hatch-year geese. We evaluated the effects of holding time and captured flock size on the survival of >26,000 subadult (second yr) and adult (≥third yr) greater white-fron
Authors
Josh Dooley, Joel Schmutz, Julian B. Fischer, Dennis Marks
Longman's Beaked Whale (Indopacetus pacificus) in Fiji
Beaked whales (Ziphidae) are the second largest family of cetaceans with 23 currently recognized species, and the Longman's beaked whale (Indopacetus pacificus) is one of the least known globally (Reeves et al., 2003; Yamada et al., 2019). Longman's beaked whales occur in tropical waters from the western Indian Ocean to the eastern Pacific (Jefferson et al., 2015), with strandings in the Pacific r
Authors
Sam R Fisher, Steve Anstey, Isikeli Nasaunivalu, Robert N. Fisher
Passage of adult coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) over Lake Creek Falls, Oregon, 2019
Across the Pacific Northwest, there are many examples of artificial structures created to allow passage of upstream-migrating salmon over natural barriers. We studied upstream passage across three structures installed in 1989 to allow passage of salmon over Lake Creek Falls, a series of three natural waterfalls at the outlet of Triangle Lake on Lake Creek, in the central Oregon Coast Range (lat 12
Authors
Reed B. Fischer, Jason B. Dunham, Nicholas Scheidt, Amy C. Hansen, Emily D. Heaston
Spatial extent of seagrasses (Zostera marina and Ruppia maritima) along the central Pacific coast of Baja California, Mexico, 1999–2000
The seagrasses eelgrass (Zostera marina) and widgeongrass (Ruppia maritima) are prominent features of coastal lagoons along the Pacific coast of Baja California, Mexico, supporting a rich diversity of marine life. Yet little is known about their spatial distribution in this region. This is a concern because of declining trends in the abundance and distribution of seagrass in parts of northern Baja
Authors
David H. Ward, Alexandra Morton, Carl J. Markon, Kyle R. Hogrefe
Plant community trajectories following livestock exclusion for conservation vary and hinge on initial invasion and soil-biocrust conditions in shrub steppe
Adjustments or complete withdrawal of livestock grazing are among the most common conservation actions in semiarid uplands, but outcomes can vary considerably with ecological context. Invasion by exotic annual grasses and the excessive wildfire they promote are increasing threats to semiarid shrub-steppe, and plant-community response to livestock exclusion in these areas may be complicated by the
Authors
Matthew J. Germino, Chad Raymond Kluender, Christopher R. Anthony