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: 41763
Changes in sand storage in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park from July 2017 through June 2020
Changes in the quantity of sand stored within river segments can affect aquatic and riparian habitat, archeological resources, and recreation. Since summer to fall of 2002, gaging stations on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park and on its major tributaries and selected lesser tributaries have measured the mass of sand transported past each station, which allows for changes in the mass
Authors
Ronald E. Griffiths, David J. Topping, Joel A. Unema
Decomposition rates appear stable despite elevated shrimp abundances following hurricanes in montane streams, Puerto Rico
Leaf litter decomposition is a key ecosystem process in headwater streams, influenced by physical fragmentation, microbial degradation and feeding activity by stream biota. In some tropical streams, feeding by freshwater shrimps can exert strong top-down control on leaf litter decomposition, however, variation in shrimp macroconsumer effects across small spatial scales or among years is not well-k
Authors
Max Kelly, Mary Freeman, Pablo E. Gutiérrez-Fonseca, Jesus E. Gomez, Rafael Perez, Lulu Lacey, Alonso Ramírez, Catherine M. Pringle
Hurricanes: An unexpected mechanism linking disturbance and seed production in trees
This technical commentary provides insights into a recent paper by a non-USGS group of authors who link hurricanes to mast seed production in long-leaf pine.
Authors
Ian Pearse, Andreas Paul Wion
Resource-driven pattern formation in consumer-resource systems with asymmetric dispersal on a plane
This paper considers resource-driven pattern formation in consumer-resource systems. Here, a planar pattern consists of many big patches, and a big patch can be regarded as combination of many patches on the plane. The consumer moves between patches asymmetrically, while the asymmetry is driven by the resource abundance. Based on experimental models with linearly-linked patches, we propose a plana
Authors
Weiting Song, Shikun Wang, Yuanshi Wang, Don DeAngelis
Validation of a molecular sex marker in three sturgeons from eastern North America
Despite the importance of sex-specific information for sturgeon conservation and management, sex identification has been a major challenge outside of mature adults on spawning grounds. Recent work identified a sex-specific locus (AllWSex2) that appears to be broadly conserved across many Acipenserids, but the assay was not validated for all species within the family. We tested the AllWSex2 marker
Authors
Nicholas M Sard, Brian R Krieser, Richard M. Pendleton, Barbara A. Lubinski, Robin L. Johnson, Dewayne A. Fox, Joel P Van Eenennaam, Jason E Kahn, Chris H Hager, Amanda L. Higgs, David C. Kazyak
U.S. Geological Survey Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center: Proceedings of the fiscal year 2023 annual reporting meeting to the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program
This proceedings is prepared for the USBR and Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program (GCDAMP) to account for work conducted and products delivered in FY 2023 by SBSC's Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC) and to inform the Technical Work Group of science conducted by GCMRC and its cooperators in support of the GCDAMP. It includes a summary of accomplishments, modifications to w
Authors
Andrew Alan Schultz, Gregory Mark Anderson, David Topping, Ronald E. Griffiths, David Dean, Paul Grams, Keith Kohl, Gerard Lewis Salter, Matthew A. Kaplinski, Katherine Chapman, Erich R. Mueller, Emily C. Palmquist, Bradley J. Butterfield, Joel B. Sankey, Bridget Deemer, Charles Yackulic, Lindsay Erika Hansen, Drew Elliot Eppehimer, Theodore Kennedy, Anya Metcalfe, Jeffrey Muehlbauer, Morgan Ford, Michael Dodrill, Maria C. Dzul, Pilar Rinker, Michael J. Pillow, David Ward, Josh Korman, Molly A.H. Webb, James A. Crossman, Eric J Frye, David L. Rogowski, Kimberley Dibble, Lucas Bair, Joshua Abbott, Thomas Gushue, Erica Paige Byerley, Joseph E Thomas, Thomas A. Sabol, Bryce Anthony Mihalevich
Demography with drones: Detecting growth and survival of shrubs with unoccupied aerial systems
Large-scale disturbances, such as megafires, motivate restoration at equally large extents. Measuring the survival and growth of individual plants plays a key role in current efforts to monitor restoration success. However, the scale of modern restoration (e.g., >10,000 ha) challenges measurements of demographic rates with field data. In this study, we demonstrate how unoccupied aerial system (UAS
Authors
Peter J. Olsoy, Andrii Zaiats, Donna M. Delparte, Matthew Germino, Bryce Richardson, Anna V. Roser, Jennifer S. Forbey, Megan E Cattau, Trevor Caughlin
Seasonal differences in larval sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) sensitivity to the pesticide TFM
Invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) are controlled in the Great Lakes with 4-nitro-3-(trifluoromethyl) phenol (commonly 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol or TFM). The proper concentration of TFM must be applied during treatments to effectively kill larval sea lamprey while minimizing impacts to non-target species. In this study, bioassay tests were conducted in May, July, and September over tw
Authors
Justin Schueller, Michael A. Boogaard, Courtney A Kirkeeng, Nicholas A. Schloesser, Samantha L. Wolfe, Avery J. Lettenberger, Tisha King-Heiden, James A. Luoma
The addition of 144Nd atomic mass to routine ICP-MS analysis as a Quick Screening Tool for Approximating Rare Earth Elements (Q-STAR) in natural waters
Rare earth elements (REEs) are a class of critical minerals, all of which can have supply chain vulnerability that impacts economic security. These elements are widely measured in environmental matrices via inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS); however, successful quantification can require time-consuming, sample-specific optimization. While a sample-by-sample approach is appropri
Authors
Elizabeth J. Tomaszewski, Zhouming Sun, Anthony J. Bednar
Male lake char release taurocholic acid as part of a mating pheromone
The evolutionary origins of sexual preferences for chemical signals remain poorly understood, due, in part, to scant information on the molecules involved. In the current study, we identified a male pheromone in lake char (Salvelinus namaycush) to evaluate the hypothesis that it exploits a non-sexual preference for juvenile odour. In anadromous char species, the odour of stream-resident juveniles
Authors
Tyler J. Buchinger, Ke Li, Ugo Bussy, Belinda Huerta, Sonam Tamrakar, Nicholas S. Johnson, Weiming Li
Seasonal differences in larval sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) sensitivity to the pesticide TFM
Invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) are controlled in the Great Lakes with 4-nitro-3-(trifluoromethyl)phenol (commonly 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol or TFM). The proper amount of TFM must be applied during treatments to effectively kill larval sea lamprey while minimizing impacts to non-target species. In this study, bioassay tests were conducted in May, July, and September in a portable t
Authors
Justin Schueller, Michael A. Boogaard, Courtney A Kirkeeng, Nicholas A. Schloesser, Samantha L. Wolfe, Avery J. Lettenberger, Tisha King-Heiden, James A. Luoma
Seasonal and breeding phenologies of 38 grassland bird species in the midcontinent of North America
Grasslands in the midcontinent of North America are highly imperiled, and grassland birds have suffered the largest bird declines of any terrestrial biome in North America in the last 50 years. Consequently, the conservation and management of grasslands, as well as their associated avian communities, are major priorities for the State, Provincial, and Federal agencies; non-governmental organizatio
Authors
Garrett J. MacDonald, Michael J. Anteau, Kristen S. Ellis, Lawrence D. Igl, Neal D. Niemuth, Josh L. Vest