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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: 41772

Book review: Proceedings of the First International Snakehead Symposium

Snakehead fishes (family Channidae) are among the most maligned aquatic invasive species in the USA and some other countries where they have been introduced outside of their native range in Asia and Africa. Nevertheless, snakeheads continue to be widely exploited in the live‐food trade in aquaculture and wild‐capture fisheries, are highly sought by anglers, and are also popular in the aquarium tra
Authors
Stephen Walsh

The incubation environment of nests deposited by a genetically distinct group of loggerhead sea turtles in Northwest Florida

The warming climate presents a challenge to conservation of all threatened and endangered species but particularly to those that exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination such as sea turtles. Changes in temperature may result in changes in the sex ratio of the population which can directly affect reproductive rate, abundance and population dynamics. The NW Atlantic loggerhead turtle populati
Authors
Margaret Lamont, Darren Johnson, Raymond Carthy

Model selection for the North American Breeding Bird Survey

The North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) provides data that can be used in complex, multiscale analyses of population change, while controlling for scale‐specific nuisance factors. Many alternative models can be fit to the data, but most model selection procedures are not appropriate for hierarchical models. Leave‐one‐out cross‐validation (LOOCV), in which relative model fit is assessed by om
Authors
William A. Link, John R. Sauer, Daniel K Niven

Variable prey consumption leads to distinct regional differences in Chinook salmon growth during the early marine critical period

Growth during the early marine critical period is positively associated with survival and recruitment for Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp., so it is important to understand how certain foraging strategies may bolster growth in estuarine and marine environments. To elucidate how spatiotemporal and demographic differences in diet contribute to growth rate variability, we analyzed stomach contents in
Authors
Melanie J Davis, Joshua W. Chamberlin, Jennifer R. Gardner, Kristin A. Connelly, Madilyn M. Gamble, Brian R. Beckman, David Beauchamp

Simulated increases in fire activity reinforce shrub conversion in a southwestern US forest

Fire exclusion in historically frequent-fire forests of the southwestern United States has altered forest structure and increased the probability of high-severity fire. Warmer and drier conditions, coupled with dispersal distance limitations, are impeding tree seedling establishment and survival following high-severity fire. High-severity patches are commonly dominated by non-forest vegetation, a
Authors
Alisa R. Keyser, Dan J. Krofchek, Cécile C. Remy, Craig D. Allen, Matthew D. Hurteau

Biogeography and phylogeny of masting: Do global patterns fit functional hypotheses?

1) Interannual variability of seed crops (CVp) has profound consequences for plant populations and food webs, where high CVp is termed ‘masting’. Here we ask: is global variation in CVp better predicted by plant or habitat differences consistent with adaptive economies of scale, in which flower and seed benefits increase disproportionately during mast years; or to passive mechanisms, in which seed
Authors
Ian Pearse, Jalene LaMontagne, Michael Lordon, Andrew Hipp, Walter D. Koenig

FiCli, the Fish and Climate Change Database, informs climate adaptation and management for freshwater fishes

Inland fishes provide important ecosystem services to communities worldwide and are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Fish respond to climate change in diverse and nuanced ways, which creates challenges for practitioners of fish conservation, climate change adaptation, and management. Although climate change is known to affect fish globally, a comprehensive online, public dat
Authors
Trevor J. Krabbenhoft, Bonnie Jean Evaline Myers, Jesse Wong, Cindy Chu, Ralph W. III Tingley, Jeffrey A. Falke, Thomas J. Kwak, Craig P. Paukert, Abigail Lynch

Post-fire management-scale trials of bacterial soil amendment MB906 show inconsistent control of invasive annual grasses

Rangeland managers need tools to control invasive annual grasses, particularly following wildfire. We assessed responses of native and invasive/exotic grasses to the MB906 soil amendment containing live cultures of a purportedly weed-suppressive strain of the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens (“WSB”). MB906 was applied alone and in combination with the pre-emergent herbicide imazapic on >3000 ha a
Authors
Brynne E. Lazarus, Matthew Germino, Martha Brabec, Logan Peterson, Ryan N Walker, Ann Moser

Biological control of Aedes mosquito larvae with carnivorous aquatic plant, Utricularia macrorhiza

BackgroundBiological controls with predators of larval mosquito vectors have historically focused almost exclusively on insectivorous animals, with few studies examining predatory plants as potential larvacidal agents. In this study, we experimentally evaluate a generalist plant predator of North America, Utricularia macrorhiza, the common bladderwort, and evaluate its larvacidal efficiency for th
Authors
Jannelle Couret, Marco Notarangelo, Sarashwathi Veera, Noah LeClaire-Conway, Howard S. Ginsberg, Roger A. LeBrun

Novel insights into serodiagnosis and epidemiology of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, a newly recognized pathogen in muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus)

Muskoxen are a key species of Arctic ecosystems and are important for food security and socio-economic well-being of many Indigenous communities in the Arctic and Subarctic. Between 2009 and 2014, the bacterium Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae was isolated for the first time in this species in association with multiple mortality events in Canada and Alaska, raising questions regarding the spatiotempor
Authors
F. Mavrot, K. Orsel, W. Hutchins, Layne G. Adams, K. Beckmen, J. Blake, S. Checkley, T. Davison, J. Di Francesco, B. Elkin, L. Leclerc, A. Schneider, M. Tomaselli, S. Kutz

If you build it and they come, will they stay? Maturation of constructed fish spawning reefs in the St. Clair-Detroit River System

Constructed rock reefs have been used to remediate spawning habitat for Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) and other lithophilic spawning fishes in the St. Clair-Detroit River System, North America. Early projects used a cross-channel design and species-specific metrics (e.g., proximity to historical spawning locations) to guide reef placement. However, the Middle Channel Reefs and portions of o
Authors
Jason Fischer, Edward F. Roseman, Christine Mayer, Todd Wills

Nature’s Notebook-A tool for recording the timing of seasonal activity of plants and animals

Nature's Notebook is a customizable program used by individual observers and Federal Government partners to document patterns in phenology—the timing of seasonal activity of plants and animals over the course of the calendar year. The USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) established Nature's Notebook in 2009 to create a standard approach for collecting phenology data on plants and animals acro
Authors
Erin E. Posthumus, Mark P. Miller, Theresa Crimmins