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
Identifying monitoring information needs that support the management of fish in large rivers
Management actions intended to benefit fish in large rivers can directly or indirectly affect multiple ecosystem components. Without consideration of the effects of management on non-target ecosystem components, unintended consequences may limit management efficacy. Monitoring can help clarify the effects of management actions, including on non-target ecosystem components, but only if data are col
Authors
Timothy D. Counihan, Kristen L. Bouska, Shannon K. Brewer, R. B. Jacobson, Andrew F. Casper, Colin G. Chapman, Ian R. Waite, Kenneth R. Sheehan, Mark Pyron, Elise R. Irwin, Karen Riva-Murray, Alexa McKerrow, Jennifer M. Bayer
Ungulate migration in a changing climate—An initial assessment of climate impacts, management priorities, and science needs
Executive SummaryMigratory behavior among ungulates in the Western United States occurs in response to changing forage quality and quantity, weather patterns, and predation risk. As snow melts and vegetation green-up begins in late spring and early summer, many migratory ungulates leave their winter range and move to higher elevation summer ranges to access high-quality forage and areas with veget
Authors
Katherine C. Malpeli
Re-evaluating invasive species in degraded ecosystems: A case study of red-eared slider turtles as partial ecological analogs
Exotic species are often vilified as "bad" without consideration of the potential they have for contributing to ecological functions in degraded ecosystems. The red-eared slider turtle (RES) has been disparaged as one of the worst invasive species. Based on this review, we suggest that RES contribute some ecosystem functions in urban wetlands comparable to those provided by the native turtles they
Authors
Marc Dupuis-Desormeaux, Jeffrey E. Lovich, J. Whitfield Gibbons
Protocols for collecting and processing macroinvertebrates from the benthos and water column in depressional wetlands
Freshwater aquatic macroinvertebrates are key links in food webs and nutrient cycles, and thus often serve as biological indicators of ecosystem health. Macroinvertebrate investigations in research and monitoring require consistent and reliable field and laboratory procedures. Comprehensive standard operating procedures for sampling macroinvertebrates from depressional wetlands, which can range fr
Authors
Breanna R. Keith, Jake D. Carleen, Danelle M. Larson, Michael J. Anteau, Megan J. Fitzpatrick
Hydraulics of freshwater mussel habitat in select reaches of the Big River, Missouri
The Big River is a tributary to the Meramec River in south-central Missouri. It drains an area that has been historically one of the largest lead producers in the world, and associated mine wastes have contaminated sediments in much of the river corridor. This study investigated hydraulic conditions in four study reaches to evaluate the potential contribution of physical habitat dynamics to mechan
Authors
Maura O. Roberts, Robert B. Jacobson, Susannah O. Erwin
Susceptibility of beavers to chronic wasting disease
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a contagious, fatal, neurodegenerative prion disease of cervids. The expanding geographical range and rising prevalence of CWD are increasing the risk of pathogen transfer and spillover of CWD to non-cervid sympatric species. As beavers have close contact with environmental and food sources of CWD infectivity, we hypothesized that they may be susceptible to CWD pri
Authors
Allen Jeffrey Herbst, Serene Wohlgemuth, Jing-Feng Yang, Andrew Castle, Diana Martinez Moreno, Alicia Otero, Judd M. Aiken, David Westaway, Debbie I. McKenzie
Prairie wetlands as sources or sinks of nitrous oxide: Effects of land use and hydrology
National and global greenhouse gas (GHG) budgets are continually being refined as data become available. Primary sources of the potent GHG nitrous oxide (N2O) include agricultural soil management and burning of fossil fuels, but comprehensive N2O budgets also incorporate less prominent factors such as wetlands. Freshwater wetland GHG flux estimates, however, have high uncertainty, and wetlands hav
Authors
Brian Tangen, Sheel Bansal
Plant community context controls short- vs. medium-term effects of pre-emergent herbicides on target and non-target species after fire
Questions: Selective herbicide application is a common restoration strategy to control exotic invaders that interfere with native plant recovery after wildfire. Whether spraying with preemergent or bioherbicides releases native plants from competition with exotics (“spray-and-release” strategy) and can make communities resistant to re-invasion by exotic annual grasses (e.g., cheatgrass, medusahead
Authors
Brynne E. Lazarus, Matthew Germino
Globally, tree fecundity exceeds productivity gradients
Lack of tree fecundity data across climatic gradients precludes the analysis of how seed supply contributes to global variation in forest regeneration and biotic interactions responsible for biodiversity. A global synthesis of raw seedproduction data shows a 250-fold increase in seed abundance from cold-dry to warm-wet climates, driven primarily by a 100-fold increase in seed production for a give
Authors
Valentin Journé, Robert A. Andrus, Marie-Claire Aravena Acuna, Davide Ascoli, Roberta Berretti, Daniel Berveiller, Michal Bogdziewicz, Thomas Boivin, Raul Bonal, Thomas Caignard, Rafael Calama, J. Julio Camarero, Chia-Hao Chang-Yang, Benoit Courbaud, Francois Courbet, Thomas Curt, Adrian Das, Evangelia Daskalakou, Hendrik Davi, Nicolas Delpierre, Sylvain Delzon, Michael Dietze, Sergio Donoso Calderon, Laurent Dormont, Josep Maria Espelta, Timothy J. Fahey, William Farfan-Rios, Catherine A. Gehring, Gregory S. Gilbert, Georg Gratzer, Cathryn H. Greenberg, Qinfeng Guo, Andrew Hacket-Pain, Arndt Hampe, Qingmin Han, Janneke Hille Ris Lambers, Kazuhiko Hoshizaki, Ines Ibanez, Jill F. Johnstone, Daisuke Kabeya, Roland Kays, Thomas Kitzberger, Johannes M. H. Knops, Richard K. Kobe, Georges Kunstler, Jonathan G. A. Lageard, Jalene M. LaMontagne, Theodor Leininger, Jean-Marc Limousin, James A. Lutz, Diana Macias, Eliot J. B. McIntire, Christopher M. Moore, Emily V. Moran, Renzo Motta, Jonathan A. Myers, Thomas A. Nagel, Kyotaro Noguchi, Jean-Marc Ourcival, Robert Parmenter, Ian Pearse, Ignacio M. Perez-Ramos, Lukasz Piechnik, John Poulsen, Renata Poulton-Kamakura, Tong Qiu, Miranda D. Redmond, Chantal D. Reid, Kyle C. Rodman, Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez, Javier D Sanguinetti, C. Lane Scher, Harald Schmidt Van Marle, Barbara Seget, Shubhi Sharma, Miles Silman, Michael A. Steele, Nathan L. Stephenson, Jacob N. Straub, Jennifer J. Swenson, Margaret Swift, Peter A. Thomas, Maria Uriarte, Giorgio Vacchiano, Thomas T. Veblen, Amy V. Whipple, Thomas G. Whitham, Boyd Wright, S. Joseph Wright, Kai Zhu, Jess K. Zimmerman, Roman Zlotin, Magdalena Zywiec, James S. Clark
A framework to integrate innovations in invasion science for proactive management
Invasive alien species (IAS) are a rising threat to biodiversity, national security, and regional economies, with impacts in the hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars annually. Proactive or predictive approaches guided by scientific knowledge are essential to keeping pace with growing impacts of invasions under climate change. Although the rapid development of diverse technologies and approaches ha
Authors
Charles B. van Rees, Brian K. Hand, Sean C. Carter, Charles Bargeron, Timothy Joseph Cline, Wesley M. Daniel, Jason A. Ferrante, Keith Gaddis, Margaret E. Hunter, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Melodie A. McGeoch, Jeffrey T. Morisette, Matthew E. Neilson, Helen E. Roy, Mary Ann Rozance, Adam Sepulveda, Rebekah D. Wallace, Diane Whited, Taylor Wilcox, John S. Kimball, Gordon Luikart
Golden Eagle (Aquila chysaetos)
The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is commonly recognized as an indicator of ecosystem health and was selected as an important indicator species for the ecological health of lands owned and managed by East Bay Stewardship Network (Network) partner agencies within the area of focus for this project (See map, Chapter 1). Based on national conservation goals and past and current golden eagle resear
Authors
David Wiens, Patrick Kolar, Douglas A. Bell
A novel herpesvirus detected in 3 different species of chelonians
Herpesviruses are found in free-living and captive chelonian populations, often in association with morbidity and mortality. To date, all known chelonian herpesviruses fall within the subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae. We detected a novel herpesvirus in 3 species of chelonians: a captive leopard tortoise (Stigmochelys pardalis) in western TX, USA; a steppe tortoise (Testudo [Agrionemys] horsfieldii) fo
Authors
John M. Winter, James F. X. Wellehan, Kathleen Apakupakul, Jamie Palmer, Maris Brenn-White, Kali Standorf, Kristin H. Berry, April L. Childress, Pete Koplos, Michael M. Garner, Sharon L. Deem