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
Grassification and fast-evolving fire connectivity and risk in the Sonoran Desert, United States
In the southwestern United States, non-native grass invasions have increased wildfire occurrence in deserts and the likelihood of fire spread to and from other biomes with disparate fire regimes. The elevational transition between desertscrub and montane grasslands, woodlands, and forests generally occurs at ∼1,200 masl and has experienced fast suburbanization and an expanding wildland-urban inter
Authors
Benjamin T. Wilder, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Elizabeth Baldwin, Joseph S. Black, Kim A. Franklin, Perry Grissom, Katherine Hovanes, Aaryn Olsson, Jim Malusa, Abu S.M.G. Kibria, Yue M. Li, Aaron M. Lien, Alejandro Ponce, Julia A. Rowe, Jose Soto, Maya Stahl, Nicholas Young, Julio L. Betancourt
Next-generation lampricides: A three-stage process to develop improved control tools for invasive sea lamprey
Successful integrated management of the invasive predatory sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) in the Laurentian Great Lakes of North America is owed largely to the long history of beneficial use of two lampricides: 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) and 2′,5-dichloro-4′-nitrosalicylanilide (niclosamide). Ensuring continued successful sea lamprey control necessitates consideration of possible next
Authors
Steve Lantz, Bob Adair, Jon Amberg, Roger A. Bergstedt, Michael A. Boogaard, Ugo Bussy, Margaret F. Docker, Erin S. Dunlop, Alex Gonzalez, Terrance Hubert, Michael J. Siefkes, Paul Sullivan, Steve Whyard, Michael P. Wilkie, Bradley Young, Andrew M. Muir
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum)
The key to Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum) management is providing large areas of contiguous grassland of intermediate height with moderately deep litter and low shrub density. Grasshopper Sparrows have been reported to use habitats with 8–166 centimeters (cm) average vegetation height, 4–80 cm visual obstruction reading, 12–95 percent grass cover, 4–40 percent forb cover, less than 35
Authors
Jill A. Shaffer, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. Johnson, Marriah L. Sondreal, Christopher M. Goldade, Melvin P. Nenneman, Travis L. Wooten, Betty R. Euliss
Temperature-based modeling of incubation period to protect loggerhead hatchlings on an urban beach in Northwest Florida
Sea turtle hatchlings face many natural and anthropogenic threats during their short journey to the water after emerging from nests. Reducing hatchling mortality is critical to population recovery of imperiled sea turtle species; however, protecting hatchlings is particularly challenging on beaches degraded by human development and disturbances, including artificial lighting. Managers need practic
Authors
Kennard P. Watson, Margaret Lamont
Evaluation of a “trace” plant density score in LTRM vegetation monitoring
The Long Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) element of the Upper Mississippi River Restoration program employs a harvest method for sampling submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) whereby a rake is dragged ~1.5 m over the substrate and plant materials are retrieved. “Plant density” (PD) scores indicate SAV abundance and are based on the amount of plant material collected on the teeth of the rake. Stand
Authors
Deanne C. Drake, Eric Lund, Kyle Bales
Antimicrobial resistance: Wildlife as indicators of anthropogenic environmental contamination across space and through time
Prior assessments support wildlife as indicators of anthropogenically influenced antimicrobial resistance across the landscape. A ground-breaking new study suggests that wildlife may also provide information on antimicrobial resistance in the environment through time.
Authors
Andrew M. Ramey
Increased growth rates of stream salamanders following forest harvesting
Timber harvesting can influence headwater streams by altering stream productivity, with cascading effects on the food web and predators within, including stream salamanders. Although studies have examined shifts in salamander occupancy or abundance following timber harvest, few examine sublethal effects such as changes in growth and demography. To examine the effect of upland harvesting on growth
Authors
Jacquelyn C. Guzy, Brian J. Halstead, Kelly M. Halloran, Jessica A. Homyack, John D. Willson
Ontogeny of eDNA shedding during early development in Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)
Knowledge of the timing of major life history events in aquatic species is important for informing conservation and resource management planning. Accordingly, surveys of environmental DNA (eDNA) have been performed to determine the efficacy of eDNA for providing information on life history events, primarily focusing on the timing of events associated with spawning, and these studies have proved su
Authors
Carl Ostberg, Dorothy M. Chase
Evaluation of satellite imagery for monitoring Pacific walruses at a large coastal haulout
Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) are using coastal haulouts in the Chukchi Sea more often and in larger numbers to rest between foraging bouts in late summer and autumn in recent years, because climate warming has reduced availability of sea ice that historically had provided resting platforms near their preferred benthic feeding grounds. With greater numbers of walruses hauling out
Authors
Anthony S. Fischbach, David C. Douglas
Fatty acid profiles of feeding and fasting bears: Estimating calibration coefficients, the timeframe of diet estimates, and selective mobilization during hibernation
Accurate information on diet composition is central to understanding and conserving carnivore populations. Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) has emerged as a powerful tool for estimating the diets of predators, but ambiguities remain about the timeframe of QFASA estimates and the need to account for species-specific patterns of metabolism. We conducted a series of feeding experime
Authors
Gregory W. Thiemann, Karyn D. Rode, Joy A Erlenbach, Suzanne Budge, Charles T. Robbins
Protocol for route restoration in California’s desert renewable energy conservation plan area
In the deserts of the Southwestern United States, increased off-highway vehicle use can lead to widespread vehicular damage to desert ecosystems. As the popularity and intensity of vehicle use on public lands continues, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is challenged to manage the routes used by recreationists while minimizing activity beyond designated routes and mitigating environmental impact
Authors
Todd C. Esque, Ka-Voka R. Jackson, Alexandrea M. Rice, Jeffery K. Childers, Caroline S. Woods, Amy Fesnock-Parker, Andrew C. Johnson, Lauren J. Price, Kristin E. Forgrave, Sara J. Scoles-Sciulla, Lesley A. DeFalco
Offspring of translocated individuals drive the successful reintroduction of Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse in Nevada, USA
Translocations of North American prairie-grouse (genus Tympanuchus) present a conservation paradox wherein they are performed to augment, restore, or reintroduce populations, but translocated individuals exhibit a diminished ability to contribute to population restoration. For reintroduced populations without immigration, persistence can only be achieved through reproductive contributions by trans
Authors
Steven R. Mathews, Peter S. Coates, Brian G. Prochazka, Shawn P. Espinosa, David J. Delehanty