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
Section 5: Remote sensing of vegetation in the riparian corridor of the Colorado River’s delta 2013-2018
This remote sensing section is based on Nagler et al. (in preparation for the journal Hydrological Processes) and is a summary of the USGS preliminary findings to date. This report documents the changes in green foliage density (greenness) as measured by satellite vegetation index (VI) data and corresponding evapotranspiration (ET) in the riparian corridor of the Colorado River delta associated wi
Authors
Pamela L. Nagler, Armando Barreto-Munoz, Christopher J. Jarchow, Kamel Didan
Editorial: Fire regimes in desert ecosystems: Drivers, impacts and changes
Although not commonly associated with fire, many desert ecosystems across the globe do occasionally burn, and there is evidence that fire incidences are increasing, leading to altered fire regimes in this biome. The increased prevalence of megafires (wildfires >10,000 ha in size and typically damaging) in most global biomes is linked to climate change, although those occurring in deserts have rece
Authors
Eddie J. B. van Etten, Matthew L. Brooks, Aaron C. Greenville, Glenda M. Wardel
Defining fine-scaled population structure among continuously distributed populations
Understanding wildlife population structure and connectivity can help managers identify conservation strategies, as structure can facilitate the study of population changes and habitat connectivity can provide information on dispersal and biodiversity. To facilitate the use of wildlife monitoring data for improved adaptive management, we developed a novel approach to define hierarchical tiers (mul
Authors
Michael O'Donnell, David R. Edmunds, Cameron L. Aldridge, Julie A. Heinrichs, Adrian P. Monroe, Peter S. Coates, Brian G. Prochazka, Steve E. Hanser, Lief A. Wiechman
Analysis of provisioning ecosystem services and perceptions of climate change for indigenous communities in the Western Himalayan Gurez Valley, Pakistan
Climate change is a significant threat to people living in mountainous regions. It is essential to understand how montane communities currently depend especially on the provisioning ecosystem services (ES) and the ways in which climate change will impact these services, so that people can develop relevant adaptation strategies. The ES in the Gurez Valley, in the Western Himalayas of Pakistan, prov
Authors
Uzma Saeed, Muhammad Arshad, Shakeel Hayat, Toni Lyn Morelli, Muhammad Ali Nawaz
Rural turtles: Estimating the occupancy of Northwestern Pond Turtles and non-native red-eared sliders in agricultural habitats in California's Sacramento Valley and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta
The Northwestern Pond Turtle (Actinemys marmorata; WPT) was once widespread throughout the Sacramento Valley and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Much of its historical range has been converted into agricultural land, reducing and altering aquatic habitat and surrounding uplands. Red-eared Sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans; RES) have been introduced throughout much of the existing WPT rang
Authors
Jonathan P. Rose, Brian J. Halstead, Alexandria M. Fulton
Recommendations regarding water level management to achieve ecological goals in the Upper Mississippi River System
The Water Level Management Regional Coordinating Committee tasked an ad hoc group to employ structured decision making (SDM) practices to reach partnership agreement around a set of basic recommendations as to when, where, and why WLM should be used as an ecosystem restoration tool in the UMRS. Between April 2021 and August 2021, the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association (UMRBA; www.umrba.org)
Authors
Patricia J. Heglund, Lauren Salvato, Danelle M. Larson, Aaron McFarlane
Subindicator: Native Prey Fish Diversity
No abstract available.
Authors
Brian C. Weidel, Mark Vinson, Darryl W. Hondorp, Ralph W. Tingley, Joseph Schmitt
Sub-indicator: Cladophora
Every three years the Great Lakes Executive Committee reports on the status of the Great Lakes' ecosystem based on 9 indicators and several sub-indicators. This sub-indicator technical report supports assessment of the Nutrients and Algae Indicator by evaluating the status of Cladophora and other benthic algae that can grow to nuisance levels. Based on established criteria, the overall status fo
Authors
David Depew, Harvey A. Bootsma, Todd Howell, Megan McCusker, Mary Anne Evans
Key observations of flexed-leg urination in the free-ranging Gray Wolf (Canis lupus)
Flexed-leg urination (FLU) in female Gray Wolves (Canis lupus) has been little studied in the wild. Captive females in packs do not exhibit FLU unless they are both mature and dominant to an associate female, but these characteristics have not been confirmed in free-ranging wolves. We present observations of wolves in Yellowstone National Park that accord with those of wolves in captivity, extend
Authors
L. David Mech, Rick McIntyre
Spatiotemporal changes in influenza A virus prevalence among wild waterfowl inhabiting the continental United States throughout the annual cycle
Avian influenza viruses can pose serious risks to agricultural production, human health, and wildlife. An understanding of viruses in wild reservoir species across time and space is important to informing surveillance programs, risk models, and potential population impacts for vulnerable species. Although it is recognized that influenza A virus prevalence peaks in reservoir waterfowl in late summe
Authors
Cody M. Kent, Andrew M. Ramey, Josh T. Ackerman, Justin Bahl, Sarah N. Bevins, Andrew S. Bowman, Walter Boyce, Carol Cardona, Michael L. Casazza, Troy D. Cline, Susan E. W. De La Cruz, Jeffrey S. Hall, Nichola J. Hill, Hon S. Ip, Scott Krauss, Jennifer M. Mullinax, Jacqueline M. Nolting, Magdalena Plancarte, Rebecca L. Poulson, Jonathan A. Runstadler, Richard D. Slemons, David E. Stallknecht, Jeffery D. Sullivan, John Y. Takekawa, Richard J. Webby, Robert G. Webster, Diann J. Prosser
Interspecific and local variation in Tern chick diets across nesting colonies in the Gulf of Maine
The Gulf of Maine, USA is home to four colonial co-nesting tern species: Least Tern (Sternula antillarum), Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea), and the federally endangered Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii). Over three decades of visual observations of chick provisioning were compiled for a comparative dietary study in the region, including the first detailed descriptions o
Authors
Keenan Yakola, Adrian Jordaan, Stephen Kress, Paula Shannon, Michelle Staudinger
Constraints on the adjustment of tidal marshes to accelerating sea level rise
Much uncertainty exists about the vulnerability of valuable tidal marsh ecosystems to relative sea level rise. Previous assessments of resilience to sea level rise, to which marshes can adjust by sediment accretion and elevation gain, revealed contrasting results, depending on contemporary or Holocene geological data. By analyzing globally distributed contemporary data, we found that marsh sedimen
Authors
Neil Saintilan, Katya E. Kovalenko, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Kerrylee Rogers, James C. Lynch, Donald Cahoon, Catherine E. Lovelock, Daniel A. Friess, Erica Ashe, Ken Krauss, Nicole Cormier, Tom Spencer, Janine Adams, Jacqueline Raw, Carles Ibanez, Francesco Scarton, Stijn Temmerman, Patrick Meire, Tom Maris, Karen M. Thorne, John Brazner, Gail L. Chmura, Tony Bowron, Vishmie Palepitiya Gamage, Kimberly Cressman, Charlie Endris, Christina Marconi, Pamela Marcum, Kari St. Laurent, William G. Reay, Kenneth B. Raposa, Jason A. Garwood, Nicole Kahn