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
Post-release survival of translocated fishers: Implications for translocation success
As a vital tool for the conservation of species at risk, translocations are also opportunities to identify factors that influence translocation success. We evaluated factors associated with post-release survival of 90 radio-tracked fishers (Pekania pennanti) translocated from central British Columbia, Canada, to the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, USA, from 2008 to 2011. We hypothesized that the
Authors
Jeffrey C. Lewis, Kurt Jenkins, Patricia J. Happe, David J. Manson, Paul C. Griffin
Landsat data ecosystem case study: Actor perceptions of the use and value of landsat
It is well-known that Earth observation (EO) data plays a critical role in scientific understanding about the global environment. There is also growing support for the use of EO data to provide context-specific insights, with significant implications for their use in decision support systems. Technological development over recent years, including cloud computing infrastructure, machine learning te
Authors
Edmund B. Molder, Sarah Ferer Schenkein, Abby Elizabeth McConnell, Karl K Benedict, Crista L. Straub
Are wild wolves southpaws? Including potential conservation implications
Lateralization, or a left-right bias in behavior (e.g., handedness), was originally thought to exclusively exist in humans, but is now known to be widespread. Lateralization can exist at the individual or group level. In dogs (Canis lupus familiaris), tests of paw preference have produced inconsistent results. Because wolves (C. l.) differ genetically, morphologically, and behaviorally from dogs,
Authors
Shannon Barber-Meyer
Use of riparian spiders as sentinels of persistent and bioavailable chemical contaminants in aquatic ecosystems: A review
Aquatic ecosystems around the world are contaminated with a wide range of anthropogenic chemicals, including metals and organic pollutants, that originate from point and nonpoint sources. Many of these chemical contaminants have complex environmental cycles, are persistent and bioavailable, can be incorporated into aquatic food webs, and pose a threat to the health of wildlife and humans. Identify
Authors
Matthew M. Chumchal, Gale B. Beaubien, Ray W. Drenner, Madeline P. Hannappel, Marc A. Mills, Connor I. Olson, Ryan R. Otter, Andrew C. Todd, David Walters
Human-in-the-Loop segmentation of earth surface imagery
Segmentation, or the classification of pixels (grid cells) in imagery, is ubiquitously applied in the natural sciences. Manual methods are often prohibitively time-consuming, especially those images consisting of small objects and/or significant spatial heterogeneity of colors or textures. Labeling complicated regions of transition that in Earth surface imagery are represented by collections of mi
Authors
Daniel D. Buscombe, Evan B. Goldstein, Christopher R. Sherwood, Cameron S Bodine, Jenna A. Brown, Jaycee Favela, Sharon Fitzpatrick, Christine J. Kranenburg, Jin-Si R. Over, Andrew C. Ritchie, Jonathan Warrick, Phillipe Alan Wernette
Conservation under uncertainty: Innovations in participatory climate change scenario planning from U.S. national parks
The impacts of climate change (CC) on natural and cultural resources are far-reaching and complex. A major challenge facing resource managers is not knowing the exact timing and nature of those impacts. To confront this problem, scientists, adaptation specialists, and resource managers have begun to use scenario planning (SP). This structured process identifies a small set of scenarios—description
Authors
Brian W. Miller, Gregor W. Schuurman, Amy Symstad, Amber C Runyon, Brecken C. Robb
The role of monitoring and research in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in framing our understanding of the effects of disease on amphibians
Emerging infectious disease threatens amphibian biodiversity worldwide, including in landscapes that are protected from many anthropogenic stressors. We summarized data from studies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), one of the largest and most complete temperate-zone ecosystems on Earth, to assess the current state of knowledge about ranaviruses and the novel amphibian chytrid fungus (Bd
Authors
Erin L. Muths, Blake R. Hossack
Activity patterns of Hawaiian forest birds in a fragmented and continuous landscape
Activity patterns are a key component of avian life history and behavior, and decisions about how activity periods are structured can have important fitness implications. Despite the importance of activity patterns, individual variability in activity is poorly studied in small birds. We used automated radio telemetry to track Hawaiian forest birds from three dietary guilds in a continuous forest,
Authors
Jennifer R Smetzer, Kristina L. Paxton, Patrick J. Hart, Eben H. Paxton
Context-dependent variation in persistence of host populations in the face of disease
Research Highlight: Valenzuela-Sánchez, A., Azat, C., Cunningham, A. A., Delgado, S., Bacigalupe, L. D., Beltrand, J., Serrano, J. M., Sentenac, H., Haddow, N., Toledo, V., Schmidt, B. R., & Cayuela, H. (2022). Interpopulation differences in male reproductive effort drive the population dynamics of a host exposed to an emerging fungal pathogen. Journal of Animal Ecology, 00, 1– 12. https://doi.org
Authors
Bennett Hardy, Erin L. Muths, David N. Koons
Health surveillance of a potential bridge host: Pathogen exposure risks posed to avian populations augmented with captive-bred pheasants
Augmentation of wild populations with captive-bred individuals presents an inherent risk of co-introducing novel pathogens to naïve species, but it can be an important tool for supplementing small or declining populations. Game species used for human enterprise and recreation such as the ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) are commonly raised in captivity and released onto public and privat
Authors
Ian Dwight, Peter S. Coates, Simone T. Stoute, Maurice E. Pitesky
Management foundations for navigating ecological transformation by resisting, accepting, or directing social-ecological change
Despite striking global change, management to ensure healthy landscapes and sustained natural resources has tended to set objectives on the basis of the historical range of variability in stationary ecosystems. Many social–ecological systems are moving into novel conditions that can result in ecological transformation. We present four foundations to enable a transition to future-oriented conservat
Authors
Dawn Magness, Linh Hoang, Travis Belote, Jean Brennan, Wylie Carr, F. Stuart Chapin, Katherine R. Clifford, Wendy Morrison, John Morton, Helen Sofaer
Guiding principles for using satellite-derived maps in rangeland management
On the GroundRangeland management has entered a new era with the accessibility and advancement of satellite-derived maps.Maps provide a comprehensive view of rangelands in space and time, and challenge us to think critically about natural variability.Here, we advance the practice of using satellite-derived maps with four guiding principles designed to increase end user confidence and thereby acces
Authors
Brady W Allred, Megan K Creutzburg, John C Carlson, Christopher C Cole, Colin M. Dovichin, Michael C. Duniway, Matthew O. Jones, Jeremy D Maestas, David E. Naugle, Travis W. Nauman, Gregory S Okin, Matthew C Reeves, Matthew B. Rigge, Shannon L Savage, Dirac Twidwell, Daniel R. Uden, Bo Zhou