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
By land, air, and water — U.S. Geological Survey science supporting fish and wildlife migrations throughout North America
Countless species of animals—big game, birds, bats, insects, amphibians, reptiles, and fish—migrate to reach suitable habitats to feed, reproduce, and raise their young. Animal migrations developed over millennia commonly follow migration corridors—unique routes for each species—to move among seasonal habitats. Changes along those corridors, whether from human development (buildings, roads, dams)
Authors
Mona Khalil, Mark Wimer, David H. Hu, Michael J. Adams, Melanie J. Steinkamp, Suzanna C. Soileau
Population genetics reveals bidirectional fish movement across the Continental Divide via an interbasin water transfer
Interbasin water transfers are becoming an increasingly common tool to satisfy municipal and agricultural water demand, but their impacts on movement and gene flow of aquatic organisms are poorly understood. The Grand Ditch is an interbasin water transfer that diverts water from tributaries of the upper Colorado River on the west side of the Continental Divide to the upper Cache la Poudre River on
Authors
Audrey Harris, Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Jennifer A. Fike, Matthew P Fairchild, Christopher M Kennedy, Harry J Crockett, Dana L. Winkelman, Yoichiro Kanno
Characterizing mauka-to-makai connections for aquatic ecosystem conservation on Maui, Hawaiʻi
Mauka-to-makai (mountain to sea in the Hawaiian language) hydrologic connectivity – commonly referred to as ridge-to-reef – directly affects biogeochemical processes and socioecological functions across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine systems. The supply of freshwater to estuarine and nearshore environments in a ridge-to-reef system supports the food, water, and habitats utilized by marine fau
Authors
Ella Wilmot, Jesse P. Wong, Yinphan Tsang, Abigail Lynch, Dana M. Infante, Kirsten L. L. Oleson, Ayron Strauch, Hannah Clilverd
Ecological status and trends of the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers
Executive SummaryThis report assesses the status and trends of selected ecological health indicators of the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) based on the data collected and analyzed by the Long Term Resource Monitoring element of the Upper Mississippi River Restoration program, supplemented with data from other sources. This report has four objectives: providing a brief introduction of the UM
An invasive prey provides long-lasting silver spoon effects for an endangered predator
The natal environment can have long-term fitness consequences for individuals, particularly via ‘silver spoon’ or ‘environmental matching’ effects. Invasive species could alter natal effects on native species by changing species interactions, but this potential remains unknown. Using 17 years of data on 2588 individuals across the entire US breeding range of the endangered snail kite (Rostrhamus s
Authors
Caroline L. Poli, Ellen P. Robertson, Julien Martin, Abby Powell, Robert J. Fletcher Jr.
Rare window into an ancient struggle
No abstract available.
Authors
Megan Carolyn Petersohn, Shannon Barber-Meyer
The Prairie Pothole Region: A duck factory, and a bee factory too
No abstract available.
Authors
Stacy C. Simanonok, Clint R.V. Otto
Assessing runoff and erosion on woodland-encroached sagebrush steppe using the Rangeland Hydrology and Erosion Model
The transition of sagebrush-dominated (Artemisia spp.) shrublands to pinyon (Pinus spp.) and juniper (Juniperus spp.) woodlands markedly alters resource-conserving vegetation structure typical of these landscapes. Land managers and scientists in the western United States need knowledge and predictive tools for assessment and effective targeting of tree-removal treatments to conserve or restore sag
Authors
C. Jason Williams, Frederick B. Pierson, Osama Z. Al-Hamdan, S. Kossi Nouwakpo, Justin C. Johnson, Viktor O. Polyakov, Patrick R. Kormos, Scott Shaff, Kenneth E. Spaeth
What is a biocrust? A refined, contemporary definition for a broadening research community
Studies of biological soil crusts (biocrusts) have proliferated over the last few decades. The biocrust literature has broadened, with more studies assessing and describing the function of a variety of biocrust communities in a broad range of biomes and habitats and across a large spectrum of disciplines, and also by the incorporation of biocrusts into global perspectives and biogeochemical models
Authors
Bettina Weber, Jayne Belnap, Burkhard Büdel, Anita J. Antoninka, Nichole N. Barger, V Bala Chaudhary, Anthony Darrouzet-Nardi, David J. Eldridge, Akasha M. Faist, Scott Ferrenberg, Caroline Havrilla, Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald, Oumarou Malam Issa, Fernando T. Maestre, Sasha C. Reed, Emilio Rodriguez-Caballero, Colin L Tucker, Kristina E Young, Yuanming Zhang, Yunge Zhao, Xiaobing Zhou, Matthew A. Bowker
Primary production responses to extreme changes in North American Monsoon precipitation vary by elevation and plant functional composition through time
Primary production in dryland ecosystems is limited by water availability and projected to be strongly affected by future shifts in seasonal precipitation. Warm-season precipitation derived from the North American Monsoon contributes 40% of annual precipitation to dryland ecosystems in the southwestern U.S. and is projected to become more variable. However, there is large uncertainty on whether th
Authors
Seth M. Munson, John B. Bradford, Bradley J. Butterfield, Jennifer R. Gremer
Resisting-accepting-directing: Ecosystem management guided by an ecological resilience assessment
As anthropogenic influences push ecosystems past tipping points and into new regimes, complex management decisions are complicated by rapid ecosystem changes that may be difficult to reverse. For managers who grapple with how to manage ecosystems under novel conditions and heightened uncertainty, advancing our understanding of regime shifts is paramount. As part of an ecological resilience assess
Authors
Kristen L. Bouska, Nathan R. De Jager, Jeffrey N. Houser
Data-driven modeling of wind waves in upper Delaware Bay with living shorelines
Living shoreline projects have been built to preserve coastal ecosystems under future climate change and sea level rise. To quantify the wave power variation across living shorelines, the wave characteristics around the constructed oyster reefs (CORs) in upper Delaware Bay were investigated in this study. Wave parameters seaward and shoreward of CORs were recorded by wave gauges in early 2018. Fou
Authors
Nan Wang, Q. Chen, Ling Zhu, Hongqing Wang