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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: 41764

Linking water use efficiency with water use strategy from leaves to communities

Limitations and utility of three measures of water use characteristics were evaluated: water use efficiency (WUE), intrinsic WUE and marginal water cost of carbon gain (aE/aA) estimated, respectively, as ratios of assimilation (A) to transpiration (E), of A to stomatal conductance (gs) and of sensitivities of E and A with variation in gs. Only the measure aE/aA estimates water use strategy in a wa
Authors
Jie Liang, Ken Krauss, John Finnigan, Hilary Stuart-Williams, Graham D. Farquhar, Marilyn C. Ball

Twenty-five years of change in forest structure and nesting behavior of Hawaiʻi ʻelepaio

Long-term ecological studies are invaluable for detecting changes over time. Forest restoration has been a conservation priority in Hawaiʻi, where invasive species have negatively impacted native bird habitat. During 1993–1994, a study was conducted of Hawaiʻi ʻelepaio (Chasiempis sandwichensis) nest site selection and forest composition in mesic montane forest along Mauna Loa Road in Hawaiʻi Volc
Authors
Kelly Jaenecke, Paul C. Banko, Robert W. Peck, Zee Sarr, Nicholas Shema

Geomorphic classification framework for assessing reproductive ecology of Scaphirhynchus albus (pallid sturgeon), Fort Peck segment, Upper Missouri River, Montana and North Dakota

The segment of the Upper Missouri River between Fort Peck Dam and the headwaters of Lake Sakakawea is home to a population of the endangered Scaphirhynchus albus (pallid sturgeon). Lack of population growth (recruitment failure) has been attributed to inadequate dispersal distance of larvae between spawning locations and the headwaters of Lake Sakakawea, where conventional wisdom holds that anoxic
Authors
Robert B. Jacobson, Caroline M. Elliott, Edward Bulliner

Application of the Stream Salmonid Simulator (S3) model to assess fall Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) production in the American River, California

Executive SummaryAnadromous fish returning to the lower American River are restricted to 36 kilometers of free-flowing river between Nimbus Dam and American River’s confluence with the Sacramento River, California. Salmon in the American River provide an important freshwater recreational fishery. However, annual salmon production in the American River in recent years has been low relative to the m
Authors
John M. Plumb, Russell W. Perry, Tyson W. Hatton, Collin D. Smith, John M. Hannon

Toward invasive mussel genetic biocontrol: Approaches, challenges, and perspectives

Invasive freshwater mussels, such as the zebra (Dreissena polymorpha), quagga (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis), and golden (Limnoperna fortunei) mussel have spread outside their native ranges throughout many regions of the North American, South American, and European continents in recent decades, damaging infrastructure and the environment. This review describes ongoing efforts by multiple groups
Authors
Victor H. Hernandez Elizarraga, Scott Ballantyne, Lindsey Gengelbach, Juliana A. Americo, Steven T. Suhr, Marie-Claude Senut, Ben Minerich, Christopher M. Merkes, Thea Margaret Edwards, Katy E. Klymus, Cathy A. Richter, Diane L. Waller, Yale J. Passamaneck, Mauro de F. Rebelo, Daryl M. Gohl

Using explainable machine learning methods to evaluate vulnerability and restoration potential of ecosystem state transitions

Ecosystem state transitions can be ecologically devastating or be a restoration success. State transitions are common within aquatic systems worldwide, especially considering human-mediated changes to land use and water use. We created a transferable conceptual framework to enable multiscale assessments of state resilience and early warnings of state transitions that can inform strategic restorati
Authors
John T. Delaney, Danelle M. Larson

Assay validation of saliva glucocorticoids in Columbia spotted frogs and effects of handling and marking

Non-invasive methods are important to the field of conservation physiology to reduce negative effects on organisms being studied. Glucocorticoid (GC) hormones are often used to assess health of individuals, but collection methods can be invasive. Many amphibians are imperiled worldwide, and saliva is a non- or semi-invasive matrix to measure GCs that has been partially validated for only four amph
Authors
Brian J. Tornabene, Blake R. Hossack, Creagh W. Breuner

Combining resilience and resistance with threat-based approaches for prioritizing management actions in sagebrush ecosystems

The sagebrush biome is a dryland region in the western United States experiencing rapid transformations to novel ecological states. Threat-based approaches for managing anthropogenic and ecosystem threats have recently become prominent, but successfully mitigating threats depends on the ecological resilience of ecosystems. We used a spatially explicit approach for prioritizing management actions t
Authors
Jeanne C. Chambers, Jessi L. Brown, John B. Bradford, Kevin Doherty, Michele R. Crist, Daniel Rodolphe Schlaepfer, Alexandra K. Urza, Karen Short

Does release size into net-pens affect survival of captively reared juvenile endangered suckers in Upper Klamath Lake?

ObjectiveHigh juvenile mortality prevents recruitment into the adult populations of endangered Shortnose Sucker Chasmistes brevirostris and Lost River Sucker Deltistes luxatus in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon. To address the lack of recruitment, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service implemented the Sucker Assisted Rearing Program (SARP). Managers developing the rearing program lack information about how
Authors
John Michael Caldwell, Summer M. Burdick, Jacob Richard Krause, Alta C. Harris

Spatially explicit models of seed availability improve predictions of conifer regeneration following the 2018 Carr Fire in northern California

For many conifer species in dry conifer forests of North America, seeds must be present for postfire regeneration to occur, suggesting that seed dispersal from surviving trees plays a critical role in postfire forest recovery. However, the application of tree fecundity and spatial arrangement to postfire conifer recovery predictions have only recently become more common, and is often included at r
Authors
Micah C. Wright, Phillip J. van Mantgem, Kevin J. Buffington, Karen M. Thorne, Eamon Engber, Sean Smith

Assessing snowpack stratigraphy accuracy based on different input data: Insights for operations avalanche forecasting

Avalanche forecasters and snow scientists use physically based snow stratigraphy models to fill spatial and temporal gaps in field-based snow profile observations. These models generate stratigraphy predictions using meteorological input from automated weather stations (AWS) or numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. The choice of input data is often determined by data availability or convenien
Authors
Ross T. Palomaki, Zachary Miller

Comparing snowpack meteorological inputs to support regional wet snow avalanche forecasting

Wet snow avalanches are predicted to increase in frequency with climate change and are often difficult to forecast. Improving our understanding of wet snow avalanche timing will help with current forecasting challenges. The onset of wet snow avalanching is closely tied to the temporal progression of liquid water flow through the seasonal snowpack. Measuring the flow of water through the snowpack i
Authors
Zachary Miller, Simon Horton, Christoph Mitterer, Erich Peitzsch