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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

Improving evaluation of nonlethal tools for carnivore management and conservation: Evaluating fladry to protect an endangered species from a generalist mesocarnivore

Carnivore conservation and management are global research priorities focused on reversing population declines of imperiled species and identifying more effective and humane management of generalist carnivores with thriving populations. Nonlethal methods to mitigate conflict are increasingly used to advance conservation objectives; however, there is limited knowledge about the effectiveness of many
Authors
Rebecca Windell, Larissa L. Bailey, Julie K. Young, Travis M. Livieri, David A. Eads, Stewart Breck

Evaluating the migration mortality hypothesis using monarch tagging data

The decline in the eastern North American population of the monarch butterfly population since the late 1990s has been attributed to the loss of milkweed during the summer breeding season and the consequent reduction in the size of the summer population that migrates to central Mexico to overwinter (milkweed limitation hypothesis). However, in some studies the size of the summer population was not
Authors
Orley R. Taylor, John M. Pleasants, Ralph Grundel, Samuel Pecoraro, James P. Lovett, Ann Ryan

Diet composition of Fishers (Pekania pennanti) reintroduced on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington

Knowledge of diet composition can inform management strategies and efforts to recover endangered carnivore populations in vacant portions of their historic ranges. One such species, the Fisher (Pekania pennanti), was extirpated in Washington State prior to any formal documentation of its food habits in the coastal coniferous forests of western Washington. Fisher recovery efforts in Washington, bas
Authors
Patricia J. Happe, Shelby H. Pace, Laura R. Prugh, Kurt Jenkins, Jeffrey C. Lewis, Joan Hagar

Climate change and other factors influencing the saguaro cactus

The saguaro cacti (Carnegiea gigantea [Engelm.] Britton & Rose) is one of the world’s most iconic plants and a symbol of the desert Southwest. It is the namesake of Saguaro National Park, which was created (initially as a national monument) in 1933 to study, interpret, and protect the “giant cactus” and other unique Sonoran Desert species. Research on saguaros over the past century has revealed mu
Authors
Don E. Swann, Daniel E. Winkler, Joshua L. Conver, Theresa Foley

Brown treesnake mortality after aerial application of toxic baits

Quantitative evaluation of control tools for managing invasive species is necessary to assess overall effectiveness and individual variation in treatment susceptibility. Invasive brown treesnakes (Boiga irregularis) on Guam have caused severe ecological and economic effects, pose a risk of accidental introduction to other islands, and are the greatest impediment to the reestablishment of extirpate
Authors
Scott Michael Goetz, Eric T. Hileman, Melia G. Nafus, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Amanda R Bryant, Robert Reed, Shane R. Siers

Distributions of native and invasive Typha (cattail) throughout the Prairie Pothole Region of North America

The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America has experienced extreme changes in wetland habitat due to proliferation of invasive plants. Typha × glauca is a highly competitive hybrid between native T. latifolia and non-native T. angustifolia, and it is likely the predominant taxon in PPR wetlands. Genetics-based studies are limited, and distributions are poorly known for the first-generation
Authors
Brian Tangen, Sheel Bansal, Joanna R. Freeland, Steven E. Travis, Jen D. Wasko, Terence P. McGonigle, L. Gordon Goldsborough, Keira Gow, Joy E. Marburger, Jacob Meier

Evaluation of ELISA for the analysis of imidacloprid in biological matrices: Cross-reactivities, matrix interferences, and comparison to LC-MS/MS

Imidacloprid is among the most used pesticides worldwide and there are toxicity concerns for nontarget organisms. Accurate and sensitive methods are necessary to quantitate imidacloprid concentrations in biological matrices to better understand their fate and effects. Here we evaluated an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit for the analysis of imidacloprid in biological samples. Followin
Authors
Michael S. Gross, Emily Woodward, Michelle Hladik

Agent-based models for collective animal movement: Proximity-induced state switching

Animal movement is a complex phenomenon where individual movement patterns can be influenced by a variety of factors including the animal’s current activity, available terrain and habitat, and locations of other animals. Motivated by modeling grizzly bear movement in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, this article presents an agent-based model represented in a state-space framework for collective
Authors
Andrew B. Hoegh, Frank T. van Manen, Mark A. Haroldson

Concentration addition and independent action assessments of the binary mixtures of four toxicants on zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) mortality

Researchers most often focus on individual toxicants when identifying effective chemical control agents for aquatic invasive species; however, toxicant mixtures may elicit synergistic effects. Synergistic effects may decrease required concentrations and shorten exposure durations for treatments. We investigated four toxicants (EarthTec QZ, Clam-Trol CT-2, niclosamide, and potassium chloride) that
Authors
Matthew Barbour, Justin Schueller, Todd J. Severson, Jeremy K. Wise, Matthew J Meulemans, James A. Luoma, Diane L. Waller

Climate impacts on the Gulf of Maine ecosystem: A review of observed and expected changes in 2050 from rising temperatures

The Gulf of Maine has recently experienced its warmest 5-year period (2015–2020) in the instrumental record. This warming was associated with a decline in the signature subarctic zooplankton species, Calanus finmarchicus. The temperature changes have also led to impacts on commercial species such as Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and American lobster (Homarus americanus) and protected species includi
Authors
Andrew J. Pershing, Michael A. Alexander, Damian C. Brady, David Brickman, Enrique N. Curchitser, Anthony W. Diamond, Loren McClenachan, Kathy Mills, Owen Nichols, Daniel Pendleton, Nicholas Record, James Scott, Michelle Staudinger, Yanjun Wang

Dynamic selection for forage quality and quantity in response to phenology and insects in an Arctic ungulate

Spatiotemporal variation in forage is a primary driver of ungulate behavior, yet little is known about the nutritional components they select, and how selection varies across the growing season with changes in forage quality and quantity. We addressed these uncertainties in barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus), which experience their most important foraging opportunities during the short Arct
Authors
Heather E. Johnson, Trevor Golden, Layne G. Adams, David Gustine, Elizabeth A. Lenart, Perry Barboza

Spatiotemporal methane emission from global reservoirs

Inland aquatic systems, such as reservoirs, contribute substantially to global methane (CH4) emissions; yet are among the most uncertain components of the total CH4 budget. Reservoirs have received recent attention as they may generate high CH4 fluxes. Improved quantification of these CH4 fluxes, particularly their spatiotemporal distribution, is key to realistically incorporating them in CH4 mode
Authors
Matthew S Johnson, E Matthews, D Bastviken, Bridget Deemer, Jinyang Du, V Genovese