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
Modeling Least Bell’s Vireo habitat suitability in current and historic ranges in California
We developed a habitat suitability model for the federally endangered Least Bell’s Vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus) across its current and historic range in California. The vireo disappeared from most of its range by the 1980s, remaining only in southern California and northern Baja California, Mexico. This decline was due to habitat loss and introduction of brood parasitic brown-headed cowbirds (Mol
Authors
Kristine L. Preston, Barbara E. Kus, Emily Perkins
Native American fire management at an ancient wildland–urban interface in the Southwest United States
The intersection of expanding human development and wildland landscapes—the “wildland–urban interface” or WUI—is one of the most vexing contexts for fire management because it involves complex interacting systems of people and nature. Here, we document the dynamism and stability of an ancient WUI that was apparently sustainable for more than 500 y. We combine ethnography, archaeology, paleoecology
Authors
Christopher Roos, Thomas W. Swetnam, T. J. Ferguson, Matthew J. Liebmann, Rachel A. Loehman, John Welch, Ellis Margolis, Christopher H. Guiterman, William Hockaday, Michael Aiuvalasit, Jenna Battillo, Joshua Farella, Christopher Kiahtipes
Laboratory maintenance and culture of Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the fungus that causes bat white-nose syndrome
Pseudogymnoascus destructans is a fungal pathogen that causes white‐nose syndrome, an emerging and fatal disease of North American bats that has led to unprecedented population declines. As a psychrophile, P. destructans is adapted to infect bats during winter hibernation, when host metabolic activity and core body temperature are greatly reduced. The ability to maintain and cultivate isolates of
Authors
David S. Blehert, Jeffrey M. Lorch
Advancing the national fish, wildlife, and plants climate adaptation strategy into a new decade
No abstract available.
Authors
Joe Burns, Whisper Camel-Means, Nikki Cooley, Karen Cozzetto, Rob Croll, Aimee Delach, Maggie Ernest Johnson, Roger Griffis, Michael A Langston, Dara Marks-Marino, Tracy Melvin, Rachael Novak, Madeleine A. Rubenstein, Robert Newman, Ted Weber
Why disease ecology needs life-history theory: A host perspective
When facing an emerging infectious disease of conservation concern, we often have little information on the nature of the host‐parasite interaction to inform management decisions. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the life‐history strategies of host species can be predictive of individual‐ and population‐level responses to infectious disease, even without detailed knowledge on the sp
Authors
Andres Valenzuela-Sanchez, Mark Q. Wilber, Stefano Canessa, Leonardo Bacigalupe, Erin L. Muths, Benedikt R. Schmidt, Andrew A Cunningham, Arpat Ozgul, Pieter Johnson, Hugo Cayuela
Human activities and weather drive contact rates of wintering elk
Wildlife aggregation patterns can influence disease transmission. However, limited research evaluates the influence of anthropogenic and natural factors on aggregation. Many managers would like to reduce wildlife contact rates, driven by aggregation, to limit disease transmission. We develop a novel analytical framework to quantify how management activities such as supplemental feeding and hunting
Authors
William Michael Janousek, Tabitha Graves, Ethan Berman, Geneva W. Chong, Eric K Cole, Sarah Dewey, Aaron N. Johnston, Paul C. Cross
A reporting format for leaf-level gas exchange data and metadata
Leaf-level gas exchange data support the mechanistic understanding of plant fluxes of carbon and water. These fluxes inform our understanding of ecosystem function, are an important constraint on parameterization of terrestrial biosphere models, are necessary to understand the response of plants to global environmental change, and are integral to efforts to improve crop production. Collection of t
Authors
Kim S. Ely, Alistair Rogers, Deborah A. Agarwal, Elizabeth A. Ainsworth, Loren Albert, Ashehad Ali, Jeremiah Anderson, Michael J. Aspinwall, Chandra Bellasio, Carl Bernacchi, Steve Bonnage, Thomas N. Buckley, James Bunce, Angela C. Burnett, Florian A. Busch, Amanda Cavanagh, Lucas A. Cernusak, Robert Crystal-Ornelas, Joan Damerow, Kenneth J. Davidson, Martin G. De Kauwe, Michael C. Dietze, Tomas F. Domingues, Mirindi Eric Dusenge, David S. Ellsworth, John R. Evans, Paul P.G. Gauthier, Bruno O. Gimenez, Elizabeth P. Gordon, Christopher M. Gough, Aud H. Halbritter, David T. Hanson, Mary A. Heskel, J. Aaron Hogan, Jason R. Hupp, Kolby Jardine, Jens Kattge, Trevor F. Keenan, Johannes Kromdijk, Dushan P. Kumarathunge, Julien Lamour, Andrew D.B. Leakey, David S. LeBauer, Qianyu Li, Marjorie R. Lundgren, Nate McDowell, Katherine Meacham-Hensold, Belinda E. Medlyn, David J.P. Moore, Robinson Negrón-Juárez, Ülo Niinemets, Colin P. Osborne, Alexandria L. Pivovaroff, Hendrik Poorter, Sasha C. Reed, Youngryel Ryu, Alvaro Sanz-Saez, Stephanie C. Schmiege, Shawn P. Serbin, Thomas D. Sharkey, Martijn Slot, Nicholas G. Smith, Balasaheb V. Sonawane, Paul F. South, Daisy S. Souza, Joseph Ronald Stinziano, Ellen Stuart-Haëntjens, Samuel H. Taylor, Mauricio D. Tejera, Johan Uddling, Vigdis Vandvik, Charuleka Varadharajan, Anthony P. Walker, Berkley J. Walker, Jeffrey M. Warren, Danielle A. Way, Brett T. Wolfe, Jin Wu, Stan D. Wullschleger, Chonggang Xu, Zhengbing Yan, Dedi Yang
In vitro effects-based method and water quality screening model for use in pre- and post-distribution treated waters
Recent urban public water supply contamination events emphasize the importance of screening treated drinking water quality after distribution. In vitro bioassays, when run concurrently with analytical chemistry methods, are effective tools to evaluating the efficacy of water treatment processes and water quality. We tested 49 water samples representing the Chicago Department of Water Management se
Authors
Elizabeth Medlock-Kakaley, Mary C. Cardon, Nicola Evans, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Joshua M. Allen, Elizabeth Wagner, Katherine Bokenkamp, Susan D Richardson, Michael J Plewa, Paul M. Bradley, Kristin M. Romanok, Dana W. Kolpin, Justin M. Conley, L. Earl Jr. Gray, Phillip C. Hartig, Vickie S. Wilson
Habitat use as indicator of adaptive capacity to climate change
AimPopulations of cold‐adapted species at the trailing edges of geographic ranges are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change from the combination of exposure to warm temperatures and high sensitivity to heat. Many of these species are predicted to decline under future climate scenarios, but they could persist if they can adapt to warming climates either physiologically o
Authors
Claire S. Teitelbaum, Alexej P. K. Siren, Ethan Coffel, Jane R. Foster, Jacqueline L. Frair, Joseph W. Hinton, Radley W. Horton, David W. Kramer, Corey Lesk, Colin Raymond, David Wattles, Katherine Zeller, Toni Lyn Morelli
The history of surface-elevation paradigms in mangrove biogeomorphology
Positioned in the intertidal zone, mangrove forests are a key model ecosystem with which to observe and test biogeomorphological concepts. Understanding how mangroves interact with their intertidal environment, particularly tidal inundation, is important if we are to assess their vulnerability or resilience to accelerated sea-level rise. While various biogeomorphological processes are now well stu
Authors
Daniel A. Friess, Karen L. McKee
Does geomorphology determine vulnerability of mangrove coasts to sea-level rise?
The greatest climate-based threat to coastlines worldwide is sea-level rise. We tested the hypothesis that tropical coasts fringed by mangroves and receiving high inputs of terrigenous sediment are less vulnerable to sea-level rise than biogenic systems dependent upon peat formation for vertical land development. An analysis of published data spanning a range of geomorphic settings showed that min
Authors
Karen L. McKee, Ken Krauss, Donald Cahoon
Predictors of invertebrate biomass and rate of advancement of invertebrate phenology across eight sites in the North American Arctic
Average annual temperatures in the Arctic increased by 2–3 °C during the second half of the twentieth century. Because shorebirds initiate northward migration to Arctic nesting sites based on cues at distant wintering grounds, climate-driven changes in the phenology of Arctic invertebrates may lead to a mismatch between the nutritional demands of shorebirds and the invertebrate prey essential for
Authors
Rebecca Shaftel, Daniel J. Rinella, Eunbi Kwon, Stephen C. Brown, H. River Gates, Steve Kendall, David B. Lank, Joseph R. Liebezeit, David C. Payer, Jennie Rausch, Sarah T. Saalfeld, Brett K. Sandercock, Paul A. Smith, David H. Ward, Richard B. Lanctot