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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: 41778

Economic effects of wildfire risk reduction and source water protection projects in the Rio Grande River Basin in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado

Investments in landscape-scale restoration and fuels management projects can protect publicly managed trusts, enhance public health and safety, and help to preserve the many environmental goods and services enjoyed by the public. These investments can also support jobs and generate business sales activities within nearby local economies. This report investigates how investments made by the Rio Gra
Authors
Christopher Huber, Catherine Cullinane Thomas, James Meldrum, Rachel Meier, Steven Bassett

Effect of growth rate on transcriptomic responses to immune stimulation in wild-type, domesticated, and GH-transgenic coho salmon

Background Transcriptomic responses to immune stimulation were investigated in coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) with distinct growth phenotypes. Wild-type fish were contrasted to strains with accelerated growth arising either from selective breeding (i.e. domestication) or genetic modification. Such distinct routes to accelerated growth may have unique implications for relationships and/or trade
Authors
Jin-Hyoung Kim, Daniel J Macqueen, James Winton, John D. Hansen, Hyun Park, Robert H Devlin

Local climate determines vulnerability to camouflage mismatch in snowshoe hares

AimPhenological mismatches, when life‐events become mistimed with optimal environmental conditions, have become increasingly common under climate change. Population‐level susceptibility to mismatches depends on how phenology and phenotypic plasticity vary across a species’ distributional range. Here, we quantify the environmental drivers of colour moult phenology, phenotypic plasticity, and the ex
Authors
Marketa Zimova, Alexej P. K. Siren, Joshua J. Nowak, Alexander Bryan, Jacob S. Ivan, Toni Lyn Morelli, Skyler L. Suhrer, Jesse Whittington, L. Scott Mills

Facilitated adaptation for conservation – Can gene editing save Hawaii's endangered birds from climate driven avian malaria?

Avian malaria has played a significant role in causing extinctions, population declines, and limiting the elevational distribution of Hawaiian honeycreepers. Most threatened and endangered honeycreepers only exist in high-elevation forests where the risk of malaria infection is limited. Because Culex mosquito vectors and avian malaria dynamics are strongly influenced by temperature and rainfall, f
Authors
Michael D. Samuel, Wei Liao, Carter T. Atkinson, Dennis Lapointe

Effect of an environmental flow on vegetation growth and health using ground and remote sensing metrics

Understanding the effectiveness of environmental flow deliveries along rivers requires monitoring vegetation. Monitoring data are often collected at multiple spatial scales. For riparian vegetation, optical remote sensing methods can estimate growth responses at the riparian corridor scale, and field‐based measures can quantify species composition; however, the extent to which these different meas
Authors
Martha M. Gomez-Sapiens, Christopher Jarchow, Karl W. Flessa, Patrick B. Shafroth, Edward P. Glenn, Pamela L. Nagler

Primarily resident grizzly bears respond to late-season elk harvest

Autumn ungulate hunting in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem carries the risk of hunter–grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) conflict and creates a substantial challenge for managers. For Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA, a key information need is whether increased availability of elk (Cervus canadensis) carcasses during a late autumn (Nov–Dec) harvest within the national park attracts grizzly bears
Authors
Frank T. van Manen, Michael R. Ebinger, David D. Gustine, Mark A. Haroldson, Katharine R. Wilmot, Craig Whitman

The effect of sediment cover and female characteristics on the hatching success of walleye

Natural and anthropogenic sources of sedimentation have the potential to degrade spawning habitat and negatively affect incubating fish embryos. Walleye Sander vitreus are lithophilic broadcast spawners that use specific spawning habitats that are vulnerable to degradation caused by deposition of suspended sediments. We measured the effect of different types of sediment cover on hatching success o
Authors
Alex Gatch, S.K. Koenigbauer, Edward F. Roseman, T. Hook

The fate of Madagascar's rainforest habitat

Madagascar has experienced extensive deforestation and overharvesting, and anthropogenic climate change will compound these pressures. Anticipating these threats to endangered species and their ecosystems requires considering both climate change and habitat loss effects. The genus Varecia (ruffed lemurs), which is composed of two Critically Endangered forest-obligate species, can serve as a status
Authors
Toni Lyn Morelli, Adam B. Smith, Amanda N. Mancini, Elizabeth A. Balko, Cortni Borgerson, Rainer Dolch, Zachary Farris, Sarah Federman, Christopher Golden, Sheila Holmes, Mitchell Irwin, Rachel Jacobs, Steig Johnson, Tony King, Shawn Lehman, Edward E. Louis, Asia Murphy, Hery N. T. Randriahaingo, H. L. Lucien Randrianarimanana, Jonah Ratsimbazafy, Onja H. Razafindratsima, Andrea Baden

A hydrogeomorphic classification of connectivity of large rivers of the Upper Midwest, United States

River connectivity is defined as the water-mediated exchange of matter, energy, and biota between different elements of the riverine landscape. Connectivity is an especially important concept in large-river corridors (channel plus floodplain ) because large rivers integrate fluxes of water, sediment, nutrients, contaminants, and other transported constituents emanating from large contributing drai
Authors
Robert B. Jacobson, Jason J. Rohweder, Nathan R. De Jager

Scientist’s guide to developing explanatory statistical models using causal analysis principles

Recent discussions of model selection and multimodel inference highlight a general challenge for researchers, which is how to clearly convey the explanatory content of a hypothesized model or set of competing models. The advice from statisticians for scientists employing multimodel inference is to develop a well‐thought‐out set of candidate models for comparison, though precise instructions for ho
Authors
James B. Grace, Kathryn Irvine

Visualizing populations of North American sea ducks: Maps to guide research and management planning

North American sea ducks generally breed in mid- to northern-latitude regions and nearly all rely upon marine habitats for much of their annual cycle. Most sea duck species remained poorly studied until the 1990s when declines were noted in several species and populations. Subsequent research, much of which was funded by the Sea Duck Joint Venture, began in the late 1990s with an emphasis on defin
Authors
John M. Pearce, Paul L. Flint, Mary E. Whalen, Sarah A. Sonsthagen, Josh Stiller, Vijay P. Patil, Timothy D. Bowman, Sean Boyd, Shannon S. Badzinski, H.G. Gilchrist, Scott G. Gilliland, Christine Lepage, Pam Loring, Daniel McAuley, Nic McLellan, Jason Osenkowski, Eric T. Reed, Anthony J. Roberts, Myra Robertson, Tom Rothe, David E. Safine, Emily D. Silverman, Kyle A. Spragens

Synthesis of maternal transfer of mercury in birds: Implications for altered toxicity risk

Maternal transfer is the predominant route of methylmercury (MeHg) exposure to offspring. We reviewed and synthesized published and unpublished data on maternal transfer of MeHg in birds. Using paired samples of females’ blood (n=564) and their eggs (n=1814) from 26 bird species in 6 taxonomic orders, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate whether maternal transfer of MeHg to eggs differed amo
Authors
Joshua T. Ackerman, Mark P. Herzog, David C. Evers, Daniel A. Cristol, Kevin P. Kenow, Gary Heinz, Raphael A Lavoie, Rebecka Brasso, Mark L. Mallory, Jennifer F Provencher, Birgit M Braune, Angela Matz, Joel A. Schmutz, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Lucas J Savoy, Michael W. Meyer, C. Alex Hartman