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
Soil depth and precipitation moderate soil textural effects on seedling survival of a foundation shrub species
In drylands, there is a need for controlled experiments over multiple planting years to examine how woody seedlings respond to soil texture and the potentially interactive effects of soil depth and precipitation. Understanding how multiple environmental factors interactively influence plant establishment is critical to restoration ecology and in this case to broad-scale restoration efforts in west
Authors
Kari E. Veblen, Kyle C. Nehring, Michael C. Duniway, Anna C Knight, Thomas A. Monaco, Eugene W. Schupp, Janis L Boettinger, Juan J Villalba, Steven Fick, Colby C. Brungard, Eric Thacker
Summer/fall diet and macronutrient assimilation in an Arctic predator
Free-ranging predator diet estimation is commonly achieved by applying molecular-based tracers because direct observation is not logistically feasible or robust. However, tracers typically do not represent all dietary macronutrients, which likely obscures resource use as prey proximate composition varies and tissue consumption can be specific. For example, polar bears (Ursus maritimus) preferentia
Authors
Craig A. Stricker, Karyn D. Rode, Brian D. Taras, Jeffrey F. Bromaghin, Lara Horstmann, Lori T. Quakenbush
Seed menus: An integrated decision-support framework for native plant restoration in the Mojave Desert
The combination of ecosystem stressors, rapid climate change, and increasing landscape-scale development has necessitated active restoration across large tracts of disturbed habitats in the arid southwestern United States. In this context, programmatic directives such as the National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration have increasingly emphasized improved restoration practices that p
Authors
Daniel F. Shryock, Lesley A. DeFalco, Todd C. Esque
Global genetic diversity status and trends: Towards a suite of Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) for genetic composition
Biodiversity underlies ecosystem resilience, ecosystem function, sustainable economies, and human well-being. Understanding how biodiversity sustains ecosystems under anthropogenic stressors and global environmental change will require new ways of deriving and applying biodiversity data. A major challenge is that biodiversity data and knowledge are scattered, biased, collected with numerous method
Authors
Sean M. Hoban, Frederick I. Archer, Laura D. Bertola, Jason G. Bragg, Martin F. Breed, Michael W. Bruford, Melinda A. Coleman, Robert Ekblom, W. Chris Funk, Catherine E. Grueber, Brian K. Hand, Rodolfo Jaffé, Evelyn Jensen, Jeremy S. Johnson, Francine Kershaw, Libby Liggins, Anna J. MacDonald, Joachim Mergeay, Joshua M. Miller, Frank Muller-Karger, David O'Brien, Ivan Paz-Vinas, Kevin M. Potter, Orly Razgour, Cristiano Vernesi, Maggie Hunter
Extent of sedge-grass meadow in a Lake Michigan drowned river mouth wetland dictated by topography and lake level
Water-level fluctuations are critical in maintaining diversity of plant communities in Great Lakes wetlands. Sedge-grass meadows are especially sensitive to such fluctuations. We conducted vegetation sampling in a sedge-grass dominated Lake Michigan drowned river mouth wetland in 1995, 2002, and 2010 following high lake levels in 1986 and 1997. We also conducted photointerpretation studies in 16 y
Authors
Douglas A. Wilcox, John A Bateman, Kurt P. Kowalski, James E Meeker, Nicole Dunn
Increased mercury and reduced insect diversity in linked stream-riparian food webs downstream of a historical mercury mine
Historical mining left a legacy of abandoned mines and waste rock in remote headwaters of major river systems in the western United States. Understanding the influence of these legacy mines on culturally and ecological important downstream ecosystems is not always straight-forward because of elevated natural levels of mineralization in mining-impacted watersheds. To test the ecological effects of
Authors
Johanna M. Kraus, JoAnn Holloway, Michael Pribil, Ben N. Mcgee, Craig A. Stricker, Danny Rutherford, Andrew S. Todd
Soft pressure sensor for underwater sea lamprey detection
In this paper, an economical and effective soft pressure sensor for underwater sea lamprey detection is proposed, which consists of an array of piezoresistive elements between two layers of perpendicular copper tape electrodes, forming a passive resistor network. With multiplexers, the apparent resistance corresponding to each pixel of the sensing matrix can be measured directly, where the pixel i
Authors
Hongyang Shi, Ian González-Afanador, Christopher Holbrook, Nelson Sepúlveda, Xiaobo Tan
Balancing model generality and specificity in management-focused habitat selection models for Gunnison sage-grouse
Identifying, protecting, and restoring habitats for declining wildlife populations is foundational to conservation and recovery planning for any species at risk of decline. Resource selection analysis is a key tool to assess habitat and prescribe management actions. Yet, it can be challenging to map suitable resource conditions across a wide range of ecological contexts and use the resulting model
Authors
Dorothy Saher, Michael O'Donnell, Cameron L. Aldridge, Julie A. Heinrichs
Annual summer submersed macrophyte standing stocks estimated from long-term monitoring data in the Upper Mississippi River
System-scale restoration efforts within the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge have included annual monitoring of submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) since 1998 in four representative reaches spanning ∼ 440 river kilometers. We developed predictive models relating monitoring data (site-scale SAV abundance indices) to diver-harvested SAV biomass, used the models to back-estima
Authors
Deanne C. Drake, Eric M. Lund, Rebecca Kreiling
Decline in biological soil crust N-fixing lichens linked to increasing summertime temperatures
Across many global drylands, biocrusts form a protective barrier on the soil surface and fill many critical roles in these harsh yet fragile environments. Previous short-term research suggests that climate change and invasive plant introduction can damage and alter biocrust communities, yet few long-term observations exist. Using a globally unique long-term record of continuous biocrust surveys fr
Authors
Rebecca A Finger-Higgens, Michael C. Duniway, Stephen E. Fick, Erika L. Geiger, David L. Hoover, Alix A. Pfennigwerth, Matthew W. Van Scoyoc, Jayne Belnap
Fire-driven vegetation type conversion in Southern California
One consequence of global change causing widespread concern is the possibility of ecosystem conversions from one type to another. A classic example of this is vegetation type conversion (VTC) from native woody shrublands to invasive annual grasslands in the biodiversity hotspot of Southern California. Although the significance of this problem is well recognized, understanding where, how much, and
Authors
Alesandra D. Syphard, Theresa J Brennan-Kane, Heather Rustigian-Romsos, Jon E. Keeley
Pink-footed Shearwater Ardenna creatopus
The Pink-footed Shearwater’s life history is tied to the Humboldt and California upwelling currents in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. It is larger than other shearwaters in its range, other than Flesh-footed Shearwater Ardenna carneipes. It is also distinct in appearance with pinkish bill and feet, pale underparts, and brown to grayish upperparts. It is known to breed on the Juan Fernández Islands and
Authors
Ryan D. Carle, Valentina Colodro, Jonathan J. Felis, Josh Adams, Peter J. Hodum