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: 41772
Implanted satellite transmitters affect sea duck movement patterns at short- and long-term time scales
Studies of the effects of transmitters on wildlife often focus on survival. However, non-lethal behavioral changes resulting from radiomarking have the potential to affect inferences from telemetry data and may vary based on individual and environmental characteristics. We used a long-term, multi-species tracking study of sea ducks to assess behavioral patterns at multiple temporal scales followin
Authors
Juliet S. Lamb, Peter WC Paton, Jason E. Osenkowski, Shannon S. Badzinski, Alicia Berlin, Timothy D. Bowman, Chris Dwyer, Luke J. Fara, Scott G. Gilliland, Kevin P. Kenow, Christine Lepage, Mark L. Mallory, Glenn H. Olsen, Matthew Perry, Scott A. Petrie, Jean-Pierre L. Savard, Lucas Savoy, Michael L. Schummer, Caleb S. Spiegel, Scott R. McWilliams
Associational effects of plant ontogeny on damage by a specialist insect herbivore
Intraspecific variation in plant traits is a major cause of variation in herbivore feeding and performance. Plant defensive traits change as a plant grows, such that ontogeny may account for a substantial portion of intraspecific trait variation. We tested how the ontogenic stage of an individual plant, of an individual in the context of its neighboring plants, and of a patch of plants with mixed
Authors
Olivia Cope, Zoe Becker, Paul J. Ode, Paul Ryan, Ian Pearse
Navigating climate adaptation on public lands: How views on ecosystem change and scale interact with management approaches
Managers are increasingly being asked to integrate climate change adaptation into public land management. The literature discusses a range of adaptation approaches, including managing for resistance, resilience, and transformation; but many strategies have not yet been widely tested. This study employed in-depth interviews and scenario-based focus groups in the Upper Gunnison Basin in Colorado to
Authors
Katherine R. Clifford, Laurie Yung, William Travis, Renee Rondeau, Betsy Neely, Imtiaz Rangwala, Nina Burkardt, Carina Wyborn
Causes of variability in suspended‐sand concentration evaluated using measurements in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon
Rivers commonly exhibit substantial variability in suspended‐sand concentration, even at constant water discharge. Here we derive an approach for evaluating how much of this variability arises from mean bed‐sand grain size. We apply this approach to the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, where discharge‐independent concentration of suspended sand varies by more than a factor of 23 (N = 1.4 × 106). Th
Authors
David M. Rubin, Daniel Buscombe, Scott A. Wright, David Topping, Paul Grams, John C. Schmidt, J.E. Hazel, Matthew A. Kaplinski, Robert B. Tusso
Seasonal and individual event-responsiveness are key determinants of carbon exchange across plant functional types
Differentiation in physiological activity is a critical component of resource partitioning in resource-limited environments. For example, it is crucial to understand how plant physiological performance varies through time for different functional groups to forecast how terrestrial ecosystems will respond to change. Here, we tracked the seasonal progress of 13 plant species representing C3 shrub, p
Authors
Daniel E. Winkler, Jayne Belnap, Michael C. Duniway, David Hoover, Sasha C. Reed, Hannah Yokum, Richard Gill
Quantifying development to inform management of Mojave and Sonoran desert tortoise habitat in the American southwest
Two tortoise species native to the American southwest have experienced significant habitat loss from development and are vulnerable to ongoing threats associated with continued development. Mojave desert tortoises Gopherus agassizii are listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act, and Sonoran desert tortoises G. morafkai are protected in Arizona (USA) and Mexico. Substantial habitat f
Authors
Sarah K. Carter, Kenneth E. Nussear, Todd C. Esque, Ian IF Leinwand, Elroy Masters, Rich Inman, Natasha B. Carr, Linda J. Allison
Vegetation sampling and management
What is the utility of vegetation measurements for wildlife managers? In the prairie, savanna, tundra, forest, steppe, and wetland regions of the world, mixtures of plant species provide wildlife with food, cover and, in some circumstances, water; the 3 essential habitat elements necessary to sustain viable wildlife populations. We define habitat in reference to use of a vegetation type by an anim
Authors
Kenneth F. Higgins, Kurt Jenkins, Daniel W. Uresk, Lora B. Perkins, Kent C. Jensen, Jack E. Norland, Robert W. Klaver, David E. Naugle
Conservation genetics and molecular ecology in wildlife management
No abstract available.
Authors
Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Emily K. Latch, Paul L. Leberg
Biotelemetry data for Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) captured in coastal southern California, February 2017–December 2019
Because of a lack of clarity about the status of golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) in coastal southern California, the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Bureau of Land Management, and San Diego Management and Monitoring Program, began a multi-year survey and tracking program of golden eagles to address question
Authors
Jeff A. Tracey, Melanie C. Madden, James C. Molden, Jeremy B. Sebes, Peter H. Bloom, Robert N. Fisher
A not so sudden impact—Historical relations between conifers and insects can help predict damage by nonnative insects
The arrival and establishment of nonnative insects in North America is increasingly problematic. International trade has created opportunities to move wood products and nursery stock worldwide, which has increased the risk of insect introduction to regions or countries where they are not native. One group of researchers, the High-impact Insect Invasions Working Group (HIIWG), has developed a predi
Authors
Lekeah A. Durden, Ashley N. Schulz, Angela M. Mech, Kathryn A. Thomas
A standard operating procedure for the preparation of purposely killed juvenile salmon used to test survival model assumptions
This document describes a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the preparation of purposely killed juvenile salmon, implanted with telemetry transmitters, to be released into rivers, lakes, or streams to test one of the survival model assumptions. Procedures for releases of purposely killed fish (hereinafter dead fish releases) were developed by staff from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Columbia R
Authors
Ryan G. Tomka, Theresa L. Liedtke, Conrad Frost, Collin D. Smith
A guidebook to spatial datasets for conservation planning under climate change in the Pacific Northwest
This guidebook provides user-friendly overviews of a variety of spatial datasets relevant to conservation and management of natural resources in the face of climate change in the Pacific Northwest, United States. Each guidebook chapter was created using a standardized template to summarize a spatial dataset or a group of closely related datasets. Datasets were selected according to standardized cr
Authors
Jennifer M. Cartwright, Travis Belote, Kyle W. Blasch, Steve Campbell, Jeanne C. Chambers, Raymond J. Davis, Solomon Dobrowski, Jason B. Dunham, Diana Gergel, Daniel Isaak, Kristin Jaeger, Meade Krosby, Jesse Langdon, Joshua J. Lawler, Caitlin E. Littlefield, Charles H. Luce, Jeremy D Maestas, Anthony Martinez, Arjan J.H. Meddens, Julia Michalak, Sean A. Parks, Wendy Peterman, Ken Popper, Chris Ringo, Roy Sando, Michael Schindel, Diana Stralberg, David M. Theobald, Nathan Walker, Chad Wilsey, Zhiqiang Yang, Andrew Yost