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
Understanding marsh elevation and accretion processes and vulnerability to rising sea levels across climatic and geomorphic gradients in California, USA
Tidal marshes build elevations by below- and aboveground organic and mineral soil processes. Marsh elevation and accretion data can be used to determine if marshes are keeping pace with sea-level rise. Using a network of 54 deep rod surface elevation tables with paired feldspar marker horizon plots, we tracked elevation and accretion trends across 16 marshes in California, USA. All sites had overa
Authors
Karen M. Thorne, Mckenna Leigh Bristow, Lyndsay Lee Rankin, Katya E. Kovalenko, Justine Annaliese Neville, Chase M. Freeman, Glenn R. Guntenspergen
Characterization of acoustic detection efficiency using an unmanned surface vessel as a mobile receiver platform
Studies involving acoustic telemetry typically use stationary acoustic receivers arranged in an array or grid. Unmanned surface vehicle (USV)-based mobile receivers offer advantages over the latter approach: the USV can be programmed to autonomously carry a receiver to and from target locations, more readily adapting to a survey’s spatial scope and scale. This work examines the acoustic detection
Authors
Eric M. Gaskell, Tyler Reid Funnell, Christopher Holbrook, Darryl W. Hondorp, Xiaobo Tan
Stress gradients structure spatial variability in coastal tidal marsh plant composition and diversity in a major Pacific coast estuary
Understanding the drivers of variability in plant diversity from local to landscape spatial scales is a challenge in ecological systems. Environmental gradients exist at several spatial scales and can be nested hierarchically, influencing patterns of plant diversity in complex ways. As plant community dynamics influence ecosystem function, understanding the drivers of plant community variability a
Authors
Lyndsay Lee Rankin, Scott F. Jones, Christopher N. Janousek, Kevin J. Buffington, John Takekawa, Karen M. Thorne
Observing coastal wetland transitions using national land cover products
Over the coming century, climate change and sea-level rise are predicted to cause widespread change to coastal wetlands. Estuarine vegetated wetlands can adapt to sea-level rise through both vertical development (i.e., biophysical feedbacks and sedimentation) and upslope/horizontal migration. Quantifying changes to estuarine vegetated wetlands over time can help to inform current and future decisi
Authors
Nicholas Enwright, Michael Osland, Karen M. Thorne, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, James Grace, Gregory Steyer, Nate Herold, Bogdan Chivoiu, Minoo Han
Grizzly bear responses to restrictions of recreation in Yellowstone National Park
Avoiding humans will be more difficult and energetically costly for animals as outdoor recreation increases and people venture farther into wildland areas that provide high-quality habitat for wildlife. Restricting human access can be an attractive management tool to mitigate effects of human recreation activities on wildlife; however, the efficacy of such measures is rarely assessed. In 1982, Yel
Authors
Elise Loggers, Andrea R. Litt, Frank T. van Manen, Mark A. Haroldson, Kerry A. Gunther
Evaluating management alternatives for Wyoming elk feedgrounds in consideration of chronic wasting disease
Executive SummaryThe authors used decision and modeling analyses to evaluate management alternatives for a decision on whether to permit Cervus canadensis (elk) feeding on two sites on Bridger-Teton National Forest, Dell Creek and Forest Park. Supplemental feeding of elk could increase the transmission of chronic wasting disease (CWD) locally and disease spread regionally, potentially impacting el
Authors
Jonathan D. Cook, Paul C. Cross, Emily M. Tomaszewski, Eric K. Cole, Evan H. Campbell Grant, James M. Wilder, Michael C. Runge
Toxicity of wildland fire retardants to rainbow trout in short exposures
Long-term wildland fire retardants are one important tool used to control and suppress wildfires. During suppression activities, these retardants may enter waterbodies; thus, there is a need to understand their potential effects to aquatic biota. We investigated the effect of three current-use wildland fire retardants to juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) survival in short exposures more
Authors
Holly J. Puglis, Michael G. Iacchetta
Less is more: Less herbicide does more when biological control is present in Pontederia crassipes
An experiment along with simulation modeling was applied to study the combinations of herbicide treatment and biological control that best limit invasive water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes, formerly Eichhornia crassipes) in freshwater aquatic systems. The experiment consisted of 14 different treatments of P. crassipes in 1.67 m2 outdoor tank mesocosms. Seven treatments were with and seven were w
Authors
Linhao Xu, Ashley B.C. Goode, Philip W. Tipping, Melissa C. Smith, Lyn A. Gettys, Brittany K. Knowles, Eileen Pokorny, Luz Salinas, Don DeAngelis
Survival implications of diversion entrainment for outmigrating juvenile Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and steelhead (O. mykiss)
Efforts to ameliorate negative effects of diversion dams on aquatic species of concern are important in rivers where water withdrawal supports agricultural economies and are likely to become increasingly important with impending climate change. A multiyear study was conducted to evaluate the survival consequences of diversion dam passage for juvenile Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and s
Authors
Tobias Kock, Scott D. Evans, Russell Perry, Patrick A. Monk, Michael S. Porter, Amy Hansen, Adam Pope
Climate change and collapsing thermal niches of desert reptiles and amphibians: Assisted migration and acclimation rescue from extirpation
Recent climate change should result in expansion of species to northern or high elevation range margins, and contraction at southern and low elevation margins in the northern hemisphere, because of local extirpations or range shifts or both. We combined museum occurrence records from both the continental U.S. and Mexico with a new eco-physiological model of extinction developed for lizard families
Authors
Bary Sinervo, Rafael A. Lara Reséndiz, Donald B. Miles, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Philip C. Rosen, Héctor Gadsden, Gamaliel Casteñada Gaytán, Patricia Galina Tessaro, Victor H. Luja, Raymond B. Huey, Amy V. Whipple, Víctor Sánchez Cordero, Jason B. Rohr, Gabriel Caetano, Juan C. Santos, Jr. Sites, Fausto R. Méndez de la Cruz
Springing forward: Migrating songbirds catch up with the start of spring in North America
In temperate regions, the annual pattern of spring onset can be envisioned as a ‘green wave’ of emerging vegetation that moves across continents from low to high latitudes, signifying increasing food availability for consumers.Many herbivorous migrants ‘surf’ such resource waves, timing their movements to exploit peak vegetation resources in early spring. Although less well studied at the individu
Authors
Claire E. Nemes, Peter P. Marra, Theodore J. Zenzal, Samantha A. Collins, Bryant C. Dossman, Alexander R. Gerson, Camila Gómez, Ana M. González, Mariamar Gutierrez Ramirez, Sarah A. Hamer, Joseph Marty, Phillip L. Vasseur, Emily B. Cohen
Two new species of small-eared shrews of the Genus Cryptotis Pomel, 1848, from the Colombian Andes (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Soricidae)
Shrews (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Soricidae) reach the southern limit of their New World distribution in the Andes and eastern coastal highlands of northern South America. South of Honduras, the family is represented only by species of the genus Cryptotis Pomel, 1848. In South America, soricids are restricted to moist, high-elevation environments above 1000 m, and their distribution appears to be di
Authors
Neal Woodman