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: 41764
Integrating tracking and resight data enables unbiased inferences about migratory connectivity and winter range survival from archival tags
Archival geolocators have transformed the study of small, migratory organisms but analysis of data from these devices requires bias correction because tags are only recovered from individuals that survive and are re-captured at their tagging location. We show that integrating geolocator recovery data and mark–resight data enables unbiased estimates of both migratory connectivity between breeding a
Authors
Clark S Rushing, Aimee M Van Tatenhove, Andrew Sharp, Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez, Mary Freeman, Paul W. Jr Sykes, Aaron M. Given, T. Scott Sillett
Landscape characterization of floral resources for pollinators in the Prairie Pothole Region of the United States
Across agricultural areas of the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR), floral resources are primarily found on public grasslands, roadsides, and private grasslands used as pasture or enrolled in federal conservation programs. Little research has characterized the availability of flowers across the region or identified the primary stakeholders managing lands supporting pollinators. We explored spatial and
Authors
Autumn H. Smart, Clint R.V. Otto, Alisa L. Gallant, Michael P. Simanonok
Connectivity of Mojave Desert tortoise populations—Management implications for maintaining a viable recovery network
Executive SummaryThe historic distribution of Mojave desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) was relatively continuous across the range, and the importance of tortoise habitat outside of designated tortoise conservation areas (TCAs) to recovery has long been recognized for its contributions to supporting gene flow between TCAs and to minimizing impacts and edge effects within TCAs. However, connecti
Authors
Roy C. Averill-Murray, Todd C. Esque, Linda J. Allison, Scott Bassett, Sarah K. Carter, Kirsten E. Dutcher, Steven J. Hromada, Kevin T. Shoemaker, Kenneth E. Nussear
Long-term multidecadal data from a prairie-pothole wetland complex reveal controls on aquatic-macroinvertebrate communities
Interactions between climate and hydrogeologic settings contribute to the hydrologic and chemical variability among depressional wetlands, which influences their aquatic communities. These interactions and resulting variability have led to inconsistent results in terms of identifying reliable predictors of aquatic-macroinvertebrate community composition for depressional wetlands. This is especiall
Authors
Kyle McLean, David M. Mushet, Wesley E. Newton, Jon N. Sweetman
Surface material and snout-vent length predict vertical scaling ability in brown treesnakes:an evaluation of multispecies barriers for invasive species control on Guam
The combination of snake-proof barriers and an aerial toxicant delivery system for snake suppression may allow large-scale control of invasive brown treesnakes (Boiga irregularis) on Guam. However, suppression or local eradication of several other species (e.g., introduced ungulates, cats, rodents) may be required for successful restoration and recovery of forest habitat and reintroduction of nati
Authors
Eric T. Hileman, DR Bradke, Melia G. Nafus, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Robert Reed
Emerging investigator series: Municipal wastewater as a year-round point source of neonicotinoid insecticides that persist in an effluent-dominated stream
Neonicotinoids in aquatic systems have been predominantly associated with agriculture, but some are increasingly being linked to municipal wastewater. Thus, the aim of this work was to understand the municipal wastewater contribution to neonicotinoids in a representative, characterized effluent-dominated temperate-region stream. Our approach was to quantify the spatiotemporal concentrations of imi
Authors
Danielle T. Webb, Hui Zhi, Dana W. Kolpin, Rebecca D. Klaper, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Gregory H. LeFevre
A review of spatially resolved techniques and applications of organic petrography in shale petroleum systems
This review examines new techniques and applications of organic petrography in source-rock reservoir petroleum systems that have occurred along with development of the global ‘shale revolution’ in energy resources. The review is limited to techniques and instrumentation that provide spatially resolved information, typically at or below microscales, for dispersed organic matter occurring in situ in
Authors
Paul C. Hackley, Aaron M. Jubb, Ryan J. McAleer, Brett J. Valentine, Justin E. Birdwell
Red-throated loon (Gavia stellata) use of nearshore marine habitats—Results from a 2019 pilot study in northern Alaska
Red-throated loons (Gavia stellata) are a species of conservation concern in Alaska due to recent evidence of a population decline on the Arctic Coastal Plain (ACP) in northern Alaska. In 2019, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a pilot study to evaluate diet and use of nearshore foraging areas as possible drivers of the population decline. We collected fat
Authors
Brian D. Uher-Koch, Christopher J. Latty, Joel A. Schmutz
Implications of tagging effects for interpreting the performance of sea lamprey traps in a large river
Abundance estimates can be crucial for managing species of economic concern. The accuracy of these estimates can depend on the methods used to track animals and to estimate abundance from tracking data. We tested experimentally if disparate estimates of trapping efficiency calculated for sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) in the St. Marys River near Sault Ste. Marie, Canada could be explained by eff
Authors
Jessica Nelson, Andrew M. Rous, Adrienne R. McLean, Jessica Barber, Gale A Bravener, Christopher Holbrook, Robert L. McLaughlin
Investigating vegetation responses to underground nuclear explosions through integrated analyses
Vegetation has the potential to respond to underground nuclear explosions, yet these links have not been fully explored. Given the lack of previously described signatures, the changes in vegetation are possibly subtle. The integration of multiple different data streams is potentially a useful approach to improve signal detection. Here, we investigate whether semi-arid vegetation growth patterns re
Authors
Kurt Solander, Adam D. Collins, Erika Swanson, Ellis Margolis, Brandon Crawford, Elizabeth Miller, Min Chen, Anita Lavadie-Bulnes, Max Ryan, Isaac Borrego, Sanna Sevanto, Emily Schultz-Fellenz
Substantial hysteresis in emergent temperature sensitivity of global wetland CH4 emissions
Wetland methane (CH4) emissions (FCH4) are important in global carbon budgets and climate change assessments. Currently, FCH4 projections rely on prescribed static temperature sensitivity that varies among biogeochemical models. Meta-analyses have proposed a consistent FCH4 temperature dependence across spatial scales for use in models; however, site-level studies demonstrate that FCH4 are often c
Authors
Kuang-Yu Chang, William J. Riley, Sara H. Knox, Robert B. Jackson, Gavin McNicol, Benjamin Poulter, Mika Aurela, Dennis Baldocchi, Sheel Bansal, Gil Bohrer, David I. Campbell, Alessandro Cescatti, Housen Chu, Kyle B. Delwiche, Ankur R. Desai, Eugenie S. Euskirchen, Matthias Goeckede, Thomas Friborg, Kyle S. Hemes, Takashi Hirano, Hiroki Iwata, Manuel Helbig, Trevor F. Keenan, Minseok Kang, Ken Krauss, Annalea Lohila, Bhaskar Mitra, Ivan Mammarella, Akira Miyata, Mats B. Nilsson, Walter C. Oechel, Akso Noormets, Matthias Peichl, Michele L. Reba, Janne Rinne, Dario Papale, Benjamin R. K. Runkle, Youngryel Ryu, Torsten Sachs, Karina VR Schäfer, Hans Peter Schmid, Narasinha Shurpali, Oliver Sonnentag, Angela C.I. Tang, Margaret S. Torn, Eeva-Stiina Tuittila, Carlo Trotta, Masahito Ueyama, Rodrigo Vargas, Timo Vesala, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Zhen Zhang, Donatella Zona
Slow recovery of headwater-stream fishes following a catastrophic poisoning event
Accidental spills of chemicals and other pollutants can decimate populations of stream-dwelling species. Recovery from such accidents can be relatively fast and complete when the affected stream reaches can be recolonized from upstream and downstream sources. However, faunal recoveries from accidental spills that extirpate populations from entire headwater streams have not been extensively documen
Authors
Mary Freeman, Duncan Elkins, Peter Maholland, Zachary Butler, Maxwell Kleinhans, Jonathan Skaggs, Edward Stowe, Carrie A. Straight, Seth J. Wenger