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
Seasonal impoundment management reduces nitrogen cycling but not resilience to surface fire in a tidal wetland
Hydrology and salinity regimes of many impounded wetlands are manipulated to provide seasonal habitats for migratory waterfowl, with little-known consequences for ecosystem structure and function. Managed hydrology can alter ecosystems by directly changing soil properties and processes and by influencing plant community dynamics. Additionally, management history may influence ecosystem response to
Authors
Scott Jones, Charles A Schutte, Brian J Roberts, Karen M. Thorne
Impact of molecular modifications on the Immunogenicity and efficacy of recombinant raccoon poxvirus-vectored rabies vaccine candidates in mice
Rabies is an ancient disease that is responsible for approximately 59,000 human deaths annually. Bats (Order Chiroptera) are thought to be the original hosts of rabies virus (RABV) and currently account for most rabies cases in wildlife in the Americas. Vaccination is being used to manage rabies in other wildlife reservoirs like fox and raccoon, but no rabies vaccine is available for bats. We prev
Authors
Carly Marie Malave, Jaime Lopera-Madrid, Lex Guillermo Medina-Magues, Tonie E. Rocke, Jorge E. Osorio
Reproductive health and endocrine disruption in smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) from the Lake Erie drainage, Pennsylvania, USA
Smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu were sampled from three sites within the Lake Erie drainage (Elk Creek, Twentymile Creek, and Misery Bay, an embayment in Presque Isle Bay). Plasma, tissues for histopathological analyses, and liver and testes preserved in RNALater® were sampled from 30 smallmouth bass (of both sexes) at each site. Liver and testes samples were analyzed for transcript abundance
Authors
Heather L. Walsh, Sean D. Rafferty, Stephanie Gordon, Vicki S. Blazer
Diet-driven mercury contamination is associated with polar bear gut microbiota
The gut microbiota may modulate the disposition and toxicity of environmental contaminants within a host but, conversely, contaminants may also impact gut bacteria. Such contaminant-gut microbial connections, which could lead to alteration of host health, remain poorly known and are rarely studied in free-ranging wildlife. The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a long-lived, wide-ranging apex predato
Authors
Sophie Watson, Melissa McKinney, Massimo Pindo, Matthew Bull, Todd C. Atwood, Heidi Hauffe, Sarah Perkins
A characterization of deep-sea coral and sponge communities along the California and Oregon coast using a remotely operated vehicle on the EXPRESS 2018 expedition
Deep-sea coral and sponge (DSCS) communities serve as essential fish habitats (EFH) by providing shelter and nursery habitat, increasing diversity, and increasing prey availability (Freese and Wing, 2003; Bright, 2007; Baillon et al., 2012; Henderson et al., 2020). Threats to these long-lived, fragile organisms from bottom contact fishing gear, potential offshore renewable energy development, and
Authors
Tom Laidig, Diana Watters, Nancy G. Prouty, Meredith Everett, Lizzie Duncan, Liz Clarke, Chris Caldow, Amanda Demopoulos
Invasive carp population modeling to support an adaptive management framework
No abstract available.
Authors
Richard A. Erickson
Quantification of metal loading using tracer dilution and instantaneous synoptic sampling and importance of diel cycling in Leavenworth Creek, Clear Creek County, Colorado, 2012
Leavenworth Creek, a tributary of South Clear Creek and Clear Creek near Georgetown, Colorado, contains copper, lead, and zinc at concentrations close to or in excess of aquatic-life standards. In the summer of 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety, conducted monitoring to
Authors
Katherine Walton-Day, Robert L. Runkel, Christin D. Smith, Briant A. Kimball
Diadophis punctatus (Ring-necked snake)
No abstract available.
Authors
Raymond P Kidder, Brad Glorioso, Katie D Gray
Supplemental vegetation monitoring plots at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument to accelerate learning of the Annual Brome Adaptive Management (ABAM) model
The Annual Brome Adaptive Management (ABAM) project is a consortium of seven parks in the Northern Great Plains (NGP) working together to better understand how to control invasive annual grasses (including Bromus species) through an adaptive management approach. This approach is supported by a quantitative model that uses current data from standardized vegetation monitoring plots in all seven park
Authors
Amy Symstad, Timm Richardson, Dan Swanson
Genomics reveals identity, phenology and population demographics of larval ciscoes (Coregonus artedi, C. hoyi, and C. kiyi) in the Apostle Islands, Lake Superior
We demonstrate, for the first time, the ability to reliably assign an assemblage of larval coregonines [Salmonidae Coregoninae] to shallow and multiple deepwater species. Larval coregonines from the Apostle Islands, Lake Superior, were genotyped using restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) and were assigned to species using reference genotypes from adult corgonines from the same regio
Authors
Hannah Lachance, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Wesley Larson, Mark Vinson, Jason D. Stockwell
Inter- and intra-annual effects of lethal removal on common raven abundance in Nevada and California, USA
Populations of common ravens (Corvus corax; ravens) have increased rapidly within sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems between 1960 and 2020. Although ravens are native to North America, their population densities have expanded to levels that negatively influence the population dynamics of other wildlife species of conservation concern, such as greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and
Authors
Shawn T. O'Neil, Peter S. Coates, Julia C. Brockman, Pat J. Jackson, Jack O. Spencer, Perry J. Williams
Metal accumulation in Lake Michigan prey fish: Influence of ontogeny, trophic position, and habitat
Developing an understanding of factors that influence the accumulation and magnification of heavy metals in fish of the Laurentian Great Lakes is central to managing ecosystem and human health. We measured muscle tissue concentrations of heavy metals in Lake Michigan prey fish that vary in habitat use, diet, and trophic position, including alewife, bloater, deepwater sculpin, round goby, rainbow s
Authors
Whitney M. Conard, Brandon S. Gerig, Lea M. Lovin, David Bunnell, Gary A. Lamberti