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
Ecological and social strategies for managing fisheries using the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework
Fisheries management is a complex task made even more challenging by rapid and unprecedented socioecological transformations associated with climate change. The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework can be a useful tool to support fisheries management in facing the high uncertainty and variability associated with aquatic ecosystem transformations. Here, RAD strategies are presented to address ecolo
Authors
Abigail Lynch, Frank J. Rahel, Douglas Limpinsel, Suresh Sethi, Agustin C. Engman, David J. Lawrence, Katherine E. Mills, Wendy Morrison, Jay O. Peterson, Mark T. Porath
Biogeochemical and ecosystem properties in three adjacent semiarid grasslands are resistant to nitrogen deposition but sensitive to edaphic variability
Drylands have low nitrogen stocks and are predicted to be sensitive to modest increases in reactive nitrogen availability, but direct evidence that atmospheric nitrogen deposition will have sustained effects on dryland ecosystems is sparse and conflicting.We used three long-running in situ nitrogen deposition simulation experiments and a complementary laboratory incubation experiment to address fu
Authors
Brooke Bossert Osborne, Carla M Roybal, Robin H. Reibold, Christopher D Collier, Erika L. Geiger, Michala Lee Phillips, Michael N Weintraub, Sasha C. Reed
Hematology and biochemistry reference intervals for American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) in South Florida, USA
We calculated reference intervals for 48 blood parameters from 120 wild American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) in South Florida, US. Although previously reported by others, this study includes additional parameters not yet reported in wild populations. Most previously reported blood parameter values were similar to ours and fell within our reference intervals.
Authors
Laura A. Brandt, Nicole D. Jennings, Michiko A. Squires, Caitlin E. Hackett, Christopher D. Smith, Frank J. Mazzotti
Evaluating the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission to bats in the context of wildlife research, rehabilitation, and control
Preventing wildlife disease outbreaks is a priority for natural resource agencies, and management decisions can be urgent, especially in epidemic circumstances. With the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, wildlife agencies were concerned whether the activities they authorize might increase the risk of viral transmission from humans to North American bats, but had a limited amount of time in which to make de
Authors
Jonathan D. Cook, Evan H. Campbell Grant, Jeremy T. H. Coleman, Jonathan M. Sleeman, Michael C. Runge
Climate and landscape controls on old-growth western juniper demography in the northern Great Basin, USA
Western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis Hook.) woodlands have persisted for millennia in semiarid parts of the northern Great Basin, USA, providing critical habitat for plant and animal species. Historical records suggest that the establishment of western juniper is strongly associated with regional climatic variability. For example, the abundance of western juniper pollen and macrofossils measure
Authors
Rachel A. Loehman, Emily K. Heyerdahl, Gregory T. Pederson, David B. McWethy
Restoration for resilience: The role of plant-microbial interactions and seed provenance in ecological restoration
With global efforts to restore grassland ecosystems, researchers and land management practitioners are working to reconstruct habitat that will persist and withstand stresses associated with climate change. Part of these efforts involve movement of plant material potentially adapted to future climate conditions from native habitat or seed production locations to a new restoration site. Restoration
Authors
Jennifer Larson, Robert Venette, Diane L. Larson
Identification of supraoptimal temperatures in juvenile blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis) using survival, growth rate and scaled energy reserves
For young fishes, growth of somatic tissues and energy reserves are critical steps for survival and progressing to subsequent life stages. When thermal regimes become supraoptimal, routine metabolic rates increase and leave less energy for young fish to maintain fitness-based activities and, in the case of anadromous fishes, less energy to prepare for emigration to coastal habitats. Thus, understa
Authors
Lian Guo, Adrian Jordaan, Eric T. Schultz, Stephen D. McCormick
Pre-breeding foraging ecology of three tern species nesting in the Gulf of Maine
A variety of seabird species migrate annually from wintering grounds in the Southern Hemisphere to the Gulf of Maine, USA to breed and raise their young. Post-migration, adult seabirds depend on the spatio-temporal match of reliable food resources to replenish energy reserves before breeding. However, the conditions during this critical window of time are becoming increasingly uncertain given the
Authors
Rachel M. Bratton, Henry Legett, Paula Shannon, Keenan Yakola, Alexander R. Gerson, Michelle Staudinger
Range-wide persistence of the endangered arroyo toad (Anaxyrus californicus) for 20+ years following a prolonged drought
Prolonged drought due to climate change has negatively impacted amphibians in southern California, U.S.A. Due to the severity and length of the current drought, agencies and researchers had growing concern for the persistence of the arroyo toad (Anaxyrus californicus), an endangered endemic amphibian in this region. Range-wide surveys for this species had not been conducted for at least 20 years.
Authors
Cynthia Joan Hitchcock, Elizabeth Gallegos, Adam R. Backlin, Russell Barabe, Peter H. Bloom, Kimberly Boss, Cheryl S. Brehme, Christopher W. Brown, Denise Clark, Elizabeth R. Clark, Kevin Cooper, Julie Donnell, Edward L Ervin, Peter Famolaro, Kim M. Guilliam, Jaquelyn Hancock, Nicholas Hess, Steven Howard, Valerie Hubbartt, Patrick Lieske, Robert E. Lovich, Tritia Matsuda, Katherin Meyer-Wilkins, Kamarul Muri, Barry Nerhus, Jeffrey A. Nordland, Brock Ortega, Robert Packard, Ruben Ramirez, Sam C. IV Stewart, Samuel Sweet, Manna L. Warburton, Jeffrey Wells, Ryan Winkleman, Kirsten Winter, Brian Zitt, Robert N. Fisher
Harmful algal blooms in the Alaskan Arctic: An emerging threat as oceans warm
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) present an emerging threat to human and ecosystem health in the Alaskan Arctic. Two HAB toxins are of concern in the region: saxitoxins (STXs), a family of compounds produced by the dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella, and domoic acid (DA), produced by multiple species in the diatom genus Pseudo-nitzschia. These potent neurotoxins cause paralytic and amnesic shellfish
Authors
Donald Anderson, Evangeline Fachon, Katherine Hubbard, Kathi Lefebvre, Peigen Lin, Robert Pickart, Mindy Richlen, Gay Sheffield, Caroline R. Van Hemert
Great diversity of KSα sequences from bat-associated microbiota suggests novel sources of uncharacterized natural products
Polyketide synthases (PKSs) are multidomain enzymes in microorganisms that synthesize complex, bioactive molecules. PKS II systems are iterative, containing only a single representative of each domain: ketosynthase alpha (KSα�), ketosynthase beta and the acyl carrier protein. Any gene encoding for one of these domains is representative of an entire PKS II biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC). Bat skin
Authors
Paris S. Hamm, Jennifer J.M. Hathaway, Ara S. Winter, Nicole A. Caimi, Debbie C. Buecher, Ernest W. Valdez, Diana E. Northup
Spatial effects in relation to reproductive performance of Common Murres (Uria aalge) at a re-established colony
A main goal of seabird colony restoration is for the colony to become self-sustaining. To do so, elevated rates must be attained in (1) reproductive success and (2) recruitment by immigrants and birds produced at the colony. Thus, an understanding of the factors affecting reproductive success and recruitment at restoration sites is vital. We examined how spatial features at the colony level affect
Authors
Gerard J. McChesney, Julie L. Yee, Michael W. Parker, William M. Perry, Harry R. Carter, Richard T. Golightly, Stephen W. Kress