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Publications

Below is a list of available NOROCK peer reviewed and published science. If you are in search of a specific publication and cannot find it below or through a search, please contact twojtowicz@usgs.gov.

Filter Total Items: 1211

Annual variation of spawning Cutthroat Trout in a small Western USA stream: A case study with implications for the conservation of potamodromous trout life history diversity

Little is known about the variability in the spatial and temporal distribution of spawning potamodromous trout despite decades of research directed at salmonid spawning ecology and the increased awareness that conserving life history diversity should be a focus of management. We monitored a population of fluvial–resident Bonneville Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii utah in a tributary to the Lo
Authors
Stephen Bennett, Robert K. Al-Chokhachy, Brett B. Roper, Phaedra Budy

Rancher and farmer quality of life in the midst of energy development in southwest Wyoming

Quality of life (QOL) is usually defined as a person’s general well-being, and may include individual perceptions of a variety of factors such family, work, finances, local community services, community relationships, surrounding environment, and other important aspects of their life, ultimately leading to life satisfaction. Energy development can have an effect on QOL components for rural residen
Authors
Leslie Allen, Jessica Montag, Katie Lyon, Suzanna Soileau, Rudy Schuster

Use of isotopic sulfur to determine whitebark pine consumption by Yellowstone bears: a reassessment

Use of naturally occurring stable isotopes to estimate assimilated diet of bears is one of the single greatest breakthroughs in nutritional ecology during the past 20 years. Previous research in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), USA, established a positive relationship between the stable isotope of sulfur (δ34S) and consumption of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) seeds. That work combined
Authors
Charles C. Schwartz, Justin E. Teisberg, Jennifer K. Fortin, Mark A. Haroldson, Christopher Servheen, Charles T. Robbins, Frank T. van Manen

Combining demographic and genetic factors to assess population vulnerability in stream species

Accelerating climate change and other cumulative stressors create an urgent need to understand the influence of environmental variation and landscape features on the connectivity and vulnerability of freshwater species. Here, we introduce a novel modeling framework for aquatic systems that integrates spatially explicit, individual‐based, demographic and genetic (demogenetic) assessments with envir
Authors
Erin L. Landguth, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Leslie W. Jones, Robin S. Waples, Diane Whited, Winsor H. Lowe, John Lucotch, Helen Neville, Gordon Luikart

Partitioning the non‑consumptive effects of predators on preywith complex life histories

Non-consumptive effects (NCEs) of predators on prey can be as strong as consumptive effects (CEs) and may be driven by numerous mechanisms, including predator characteristics. Previous work has highlighted the importance of predator characteristics in predicting NCEs, but has not addressed how complex life histories of prey could mediate predator NCEs. We conducted a meta-analysis to compare the e
Authors
Jon M. Davenport, Blake R. Hossack, Winsor H. Lowe

Performance and effects of land cover type on synthetic surface reflectance data and NDVI estimates for assessment and monitoring of semi-arid rangeland

Federal land management agencies provide stewardship over much of the rangelands in the arid andsemi-arid western United States, but they often lack data of the proper spatiotemporal resolution andextent needed to assess range conditions and monitor trends. Recent advances in the blending of com-plementary, remotely sensed data could provide public lands managers with the needed information.We app
Authors
Edward M. Olexa, Rick L Lawrence

Protected area management

Designated protected areas are diverse in scope and purpose and have expanded from Yellowstone National Park in the United States, the world’s first national park, to 157,897 parks and protected areas distributed globally. Most are publicly owned and serve multiple needs that reflect regional or national cultures. With ever-increasing threats to the integrity of protected areas, managers are turni
Authors
Daniel B. Fagre, Tony Prato

Demographic monitoring and population viability analysis of two rare beardtongues from the Uinta Basin

Energy development, in combination with other environmental stressors, poses a persistent threat to rare species endemic to energy-producing regions of the western United States. Demographic analyses of monitored populations can provide key information on the natural dynamics of threatened plant and animal populations and how these dynamics might be affected by present and future development. In t
Authors
Rebecca M. McCaffery, Rita Reisor, Kathryn M. Irvine, Jessi Brunson

Introduced northern pike consumption of salmonids in Southcentral Alaska

The impacts of introduced northern pike (Esox lucius) on salmonid populations have attracted much attention because salmonids are popular subsistence, sport and commercial fish. Concern over the predatory effects of introduced pike on salmonids is especially high in Southcentral Alaska, where pike were illegally introduced to the Susitna River basin in the 1950s. We used pike abundance, growth, an
Authors
Adam Sepulveda, David S. Rutz, Aaron W Dupuis, Patrick A Shields, Kristine J. Dunker

Estimating landscape resistance to dispersal

Dispersal is an inherently spatial process that can be affected by habitat conditions in sites encountered by dispersers. Understanding landscape resistance to dispersal is important in connectivity studies and reserve design, but most existing methods use resistance functions with cost parameters that are subjectively chosen by the investigator. We develop an analytic approach allowing for direct
Authors
Tabitha A. Graves, Richard B. Chandler, J. Andrew Royle, Paul Beier, Katherine C. Kendall

Climate change and the Rocky Mountains

Rural landscapes in the Andes are characterized by an impressive diversity of natural environments and by multiple resource assets. This is particularly the case in the tropical realm where the ecological altitudinal zones of the tierra caliente, the tierra templada, the tierra fria and the tierra heladaoffer a remarkable range of agricultural potential. This is complemented by a multitude of topo
Authors
James M. Byrne, Daniel B. Fagre, Ryan MacDonald

Simulating future residential property losses from wildfire in Flathead County, Montana

Wildfire damages to private residences in the United States and elsewhere have increased as a result of expansion of the wildland-urban interface (WUI) and other factors. Understanding this unwelcome trend requires analytical frameworks that simulate how various interacting social, economic, and biophysical factors influence those damages. A methodological framework is developed for simulating exp
Authors
Tony Prato, Travis B Paveglio, Yan Barnett, Robin Silverstein, Michael Hardy, Robert Keane, Rachel A. Loehman, Anthony Clark, Daniel B. Fagre, Tyron Venn, Keith Stockmann