Publications
Below is a list of WERC's peer-reviewed publications. If you are searching for a specific publication and cannot find it in this list, please contact werc_web@usgs.gov
Filter Total Items: 3629
Reef fishes have higher parasite richness at unfished Palmyra Atoll compared to fished Kiritimati Island
We compared parasite communities at two coral atolls in the Line Islands chain of the central Pacific (Kiritimati Island and Palmyra Atoll). Palmyra Atoll is relatively pristine while Kiritimati Island is heavily fished. At each island, we sampled five fish species for helminth and arthropod endoparasites: Chromis margaritifer, Plectroglyphidodon dickii,Paracirrhites arcatus, Acanthurus nigricans,
Authors
Kevin D. Lafferty, Jenny C. Shaw, Armand M. Kuris
Homage to Linnaeus: How many parasites? How many hosts?
Estimates of the total number of species that inhabit the Earth have increased significantly since Linnaeus's initial catalog of 20,000 species. The best recent estimates suggest that there are ≈6 million species. More emphasis has been placed on counts of free-living species than on parasitic species. We rectify this by quantifying the numbers and proportion of parasitic species. We estimate that
Authors
Andy Dobson, Kevin D. Lafferty, Armand M. Kuris, Ryan F. Hechinger, Walter Jetz
Conservation genetics and species recovery
Recent advances in molecular genetics have proven to be extremely useful in efforts to conserve imperiled species. Genetics data are used to identify appropriate units of management (e.g., populations, metapopulations), effective sizes of breeding populations, population mixing rates, and other variables. These data help managers make decisions about which populations to preserve, whether to move
Authors
Ed Pendleton, A. G. Vandergast, T.L. King
Spatial elements of mortality risk in old-growth forests
For many species of long-lived organisms, such as trees, survival appears to be the most critical vital rate affecting population persistence. However, methods commonly used to quantify tree death, such as relating tree mortality risk solely to diameter growth, almost certainly do not account for important spatial processes. Our goal in this study was to detect and, if present, to quantify the rel
Authors
Adrian Das, John Battles, Phillip J. van Mantgem, Nathan L. Stephenson
Parasites in food webs: the ultimate missing links
Parasitism is the most common consumer strategy among organisms, yet only recently has there been a call for the inclusion of infectious disease agents in food webs. The value of this effort hinges on whether parasites affect food-web properties. Increasing evidence suggests that parasites have the potential to uniquely alter food-web topology in terms of chain length, connectance and robustness.
Authors
Kevin D. Lafferty, Stefano Allesina, Matias Arim, Cherie J. Briggs, Giulio A. De Leo, Andrew P. Dobson, Jennifer A. Dunne, Pieter T.J. Johnson, Armand M. Kuris, David J. Marcogliese, Neo D. Martinez, Jane Memmott, Pablo A. Marquet, John P. McLaughlin, Eerin A. Mordecai, Mercedes Pascual, Robert Poulin, David W. Thieltges
A multiscale analysis of nest predation on Least Bell's Vireos (Vireo bellii pusillus)
We examined variables influencing nest predation on the endangered Least Bell's Vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus) at three spatial scales to determine what nest-site, habitat, or landscape characteristics affect the likelihood of nest predation and to determine the spatial distribution of predation risk and the variables influencing it. We used MARK to calculate daily survival rates of Least Bell's Vi
Authors
Barbara E. Kus, Bonnie L. Peterson, Douglas H. Deutschman
Understanding and predicting ecological dynamics: Are major surprises inevitable
Ecological surprises, substantial and unanticipated changes in the abundance of one or more species that result from previously unsuspected processes, are a common outcome of both experiments and observations in community and population ecology. Here, we give examples of such surprises along with the results of a survey of well-established field ecologists, most of whom have encountered one or mor
Authors
Daniel F. Doak, James A. Estes, Benjamin S. Halpern, Ute Jacob, D. R. Lindberg, James R. Lovvorn, Daniel H. Monson, M. Tim Tinker, Terrie M. Williams, J. Timothy Wootton, Ian Carroll, Mark Emmerson, Fiorenza Micheli, Mark Novak
Spatially explicit decision support for selecting translocation areas for Mojave desert tortoises
Spatially explicit decision support systems are assuming an increasing role in natural resource and conservation management. In order for these systems to be successful, however, they must address real-world management problems with input from both the scientific and management communities. The National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, has expanded its training area, encroaching U.S. Fis
Authors
Jill S. Heaton, Kenneth E. Nussear, Todd C. Esque, Richard D. Inman, Frank Davenport, Thomas E. Leuteritz, Philip A. Medica, Nathan W. Strout, Paul A. Burgess, Lisa Benvenuti
Fire management and invasive plants- A handbook
Fire management can help maintain natural habitats, increase forage for wildlife, reduce fuel loads that might otherwise lead to catastrophic wildfire, and maintain natural succession. Today, there is an emerging challenge that fire managers need to be aware of: invasive plants. Fire management activities can create ideal opportunities for invasions by nonnative plants, potentially undermining the
Authors
Matthew L. Brooks, Michael Lusk
Diet and foraging of Rana sauteri and Bufo bankorensis tadpoles in subtropical Taiwanese streams
No abstract available.
Authors
Hong-Chuan Chen, Bo-Chi Lai, Gary M. Fellers, Wei-Lung Wang, Yeong-Choy Kam
Status of the desert tortoise in Red Rock Canyon State Park
We surveyed for desert tortoises, Gopherus agassizii, in the western part of Red Rock Canyon State Park and watershed in eastern Kern County, California, between 2002 and 2004. We used two techniques: a single demographic plot (~4 km2 ) and 37 landscape plots (1-ha each). We estimated population densities of tortoises to be between 2.7 and 3.57/km2 and the population in the Park to be 108 tortoise
Authors
Kristin H. Berry, Kevin Keith, Tracy Y. Bailey