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: 41771
Modeling false positives
Many of the models we are concerned with included explicit descriptions of false negative errors. However, false positive errors can also be commin in practice, especially in citizen science applications where observer skill is highly variable. In addition, new methods which determine detection based on statistical classification or machine learning methods are also prone to false positive errors
Authors
Marc Kery, Andy Royle
Diurnal timing of nonmigratory movement by birds: The importance of foraging spatial scales
Timing of activity can reveal an organism's efforts to optimize foraging either by minimizing energy loss through passive movement or by maximizing energetic gain through foraging. Here, we assess whether signals of either of these strategies are detectable in the timing of activity of daily, local movements by birds. We compare the similarities of timing of movement activity among species using s
Authors
Julie M. Mallon, Marlee A. Tucker, Annalea Beard, Richard O Bierregaard Jr., Keith L. Bildstein, Katrin Böhning-Gaese, John N. Brzorad, Evan R. Buechley, Javier Bustamante, Carlos Carrapato, José Alfredo Castillo‐Guerrero, Elizabeth Clingham, Mark Desholm, Christopher R. DeSorbo, Robert Domenech, Hayley Douglas, Olivier Duriez, Peter Enggist, Nina Farwig, Wolfgang Fiedler, Anna Gagliardo, Clara García‐Ripollés, José Antonio Gil Gallús, Morgan E. Gilmour, Roi Harel, Autumn-Lynn Harrison, Leeann Henry, Todd E. Katzner, Roland Kays, Erik Kleyheeg, Rubén Limiñana, Pascual López-López, Giuseppe Lucia, Alan Maccarone, Egidio Mallia, Ugo Mellone, E.K. Mojica, Ran Nathan, Scott H. Newman, Steffen Oppel, Yotam Orchan, Diann J. Prosser, Hannah Riley, Sascha Rösner, Dana G. Schabo, Holger Schulz, Scott A. Shaffer, Adam Shreading, João Paulo Silva, Jolene Sim, Henrik Skov, Orr Spiegel, Matthew J. Stuber, John Y. Takekawa, Vicente Urios, Javier Vidal‐Mateo, Kevin Warner, Bryan D. Watts, Nicola Weber, Sam Weber, Martin Wikelski, Ramunas Zydelis, Thomas Mueller, William F. Fagan
Seabird‐induced natural mortality of forage fish varies with fish abundance: Evidence from five ecosystems
Forage fish populations often undergo large and rapid fluctuations in abundance. However, most of their predators are buffered against such fluctuations owing to their slower pace of life, which allows them to maintain more stable populations, at least during short periods of food scarcity. In this study, we investigated top‐down processes exerted by seabirds on forage fish stocks in five contrast
Authors
Claire Saraux, William J. Sydeman, John F. Piatt, Tycho Anker-Nilssen, Jonas Hentati-Sundberg, Sophie Bertrand, Philippe M. Cury, Robert W. Furness, James A. Miller, Henrik Österblom, Giannina Passuni, Jean-Paul Roux, Lynne Shannon, Robert J.M. Crawford
Modeling population dynamics with multinomial count data
No abstract available.
Authors
Andy Royle, Marc Kery
Artificial nightlight alters the predator-prey dynamics of an apex carnivore
Artificial nightlight is increasingly recognized as an important environmental disturbance that influences the habitats and fitness of numerous species. However, its effects on wide‐ranging vertebrates and their interactions remain unclear. Light pollution has the potential to amplify land‐use change, and as such, answering the question of how this sensory stimulant affects behavior and habitat us
Authors
Mark A. Ditmer, David C. Stoner, Clinton D. Francis, Jesse R. Barber, James D. Forester, David M. Choate, Kristen E. Ironside, Kathleen Longshore, Kent R. Hersey, Randy T. Larson, Brock R. McMillan, Daniel Olson, Alyson M. Andreasen, Jon P. Beckmann, Brandon P. Holton, Neil H. Carter, Terry A. Messmer
Landscape‐scale restoration minimizes tree growth vulnerability to 21st century drought in a dry forest
Increasing aridity is a challenge for forest managers and reducing stand density to minimize competition is a recognized strategy to mitigate drought impacts on growth. In many dry forests, the most widespread and common forest management programs currently being implemented focus on restoration of historical stand structures, primarily to minimize fire risk and enhance watershed function. The imp
Authors
John B. Bradford, Caitlin M. Andrews, Marcos D. Robles, Lisa A. McCauley, Travis Woolley, Robert Marshall
From pools to flow: The PROMISE framework for new insights on soil carbon cycling in a changing world
Soils represent the largest terrestrial reservoir of organic carbon, and the balance between soil organic carbon (SOC) formation and loss will drive powerful carbon‐climate feedbacks over the coming century. To date, efforts to predict SOC dynamics have rested on pool‐based models, which assume classes of SOC with internally homogenous physicochemical properties. However, emerging evidence suggest
Authors
Bonnie G. Waring, Benjamin N. Sulman, Sasha C. Reed, A. Peyton Smith, Colin Averill, Courtney Creamer, Daniela F. Cusack, Steven J. Hall, Julie Jastrow, Kenneth M. Kemner, Markus Kleber, Xiao-Jun Allen Liu, Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Marjorie S. Schulz
Variables affecting resource subsidies from streams and rivers to land and their susceptibility to global change stressors
Stream and river ecosystems provide subsidies of emergent adult aquatic insects and other resources to terrestrial food webs, and this lotic–land subsidy has garnered much attention in recent research. Here, we critically examine a list of biotic and abiotic variables—including productivity, dominant taxa, geomorphology, and weather—that should be important in affecting the nature of these subsidy
Authors
Jeffrey Muehlbauer, Stefano Larsen, Micael Jonsson, Erik J.S. Emilson
Metamorphosis and the impact of contaminants on ecological subsidies
Animals with complex life histories such as aquatic insects and amphibians link freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems when they transition from water to land during development. This transition requires metamorphosis from juvenile to adult life stages. Metamorphosis is a stressful and ecologically sensitive life history event. Exposure to contaminants during juvenile development (before or during
Authors
Jeff Wesner, Johanna M. Kraus, Brianna L. Henry, Jacob Kerby
Introduction: Ecological subsidies as a framework for understanding contaminant fate, exposure, and effects at the land-water interface
Ecologists have long recognized that ecological subsidies (the flow of organic matter, nutrients, and organisms between ecosystems) can strongly affect ecosystem processes and community structure in the recipient ecosystem. Animal movements, organic matter flows, and food web dynamics between linked aquatic and terrestrial systems can also influence contaminant fate, exposure, and effects at the l
Authors
David Walters, Johanna M. Kraus, Marc A. Mills
Practical considerations for the incorporation of insect-mediated contaminant flux into ecological risk assessments
Insect-mediated contaminant flux is truly an interdisciplinary concept that merges ideas from many technical areas of science (e.g., environmental chemistry, landscape ecology, and entomology). This chapter introduces risk assessors to this emerging and ecologically relevant concept by distilling the main mechanisms that drive insect-mediated contaminant flux and integrating them together so that
Authors
Ryan R. Otter, Gale B. Beaubien, Connor I. Olson, David Walters, Marc A. Mills
Synthesis: A framework for predicting the dark side of ecological subsidies
In this chapter, we synthesize the state of the science regarding ecological subsidies and contaminants at the land-water interface and suggest research and management approaches for linked freshwater-terrestrial ecosystems. Specifically, we focus on movements of animals with complex life histories and the detrital inputs associated with animal and plant matter delivered to freshwaters. We present
Authors
Johanna M. Kraus, Jeff Wessner, David Walters