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
Masting is uncommon in trees that depend on mutualist dispersers in the context of global climate and fertility gradients
The benefits of masting (volatile, quasi-synchronous seed production at lagged intervals) include satiation of seed predators, but these benefits come with a cost to mutualist pollen and seed dispersers. If the evolution of masting represents a balance between these benefits and costs, we expect mast avoidance in species that are heavily reliant on mutualist dispersers. These effects play out in t
Authors
Tong Qiu, Marie-Claire Aravena Acuna, Davide Ascoli, Yves Bergeron, Michal Mogdziewicz, Thomas Biovin, Raul Bonal, Thomas Caignard, Maxime Cailleret, Rafael Calama, Sergio Donoso Calderon, J. Julio Camarero, Chia-Hua Chang-Yang, Jerome Chave, Francesco Chianucci, Benoit Courbaud, Andrea Cutini, Adrian Das, Nicolas Delpierre, Sylvain Delzon, Michael Dietze, Laurent Dormont, Josep Maria Espelta, Timothy J. Fahey, William Farfar-Rios, Jerry F. Franklin, Catherine A. Gehring, Gregory S. Gilbert, Georg Gratzner, Cathryn H. Greenberg, Arthur Guignabert, Qinfeng Guo, Andrew Hacket-Pain, Arndt Hampe, Qingmin Han, Jan Holik, Kazuhiko Hoshizaki, Ines Ibanez, Jill F. Johnstone, Valentin Journee, Thomas Kitzberger, Jean Knops, Georges Kunstler, Hiroko Kurokawa, Jonathan G. A. Lageard, Jalene LaMontagne, Francois Lefevre, Theodor Leininger, Jean-Marc Limousin, James A. Lutz, Diana Macias, Anders Marell, Eliot J. B. McIntire, Christopher Moore, Emily V. Moran, Renzo Motta, Jonathan A. Myers, Thomas A. Nagel, Shoji Naoe, Mohoko Noguchi, Michio Oguro, Robert Parmenter, Ignacio M. Perez-Ramos, Lukasz Piechnik, Tomasz Podforski, John Poulsen, Miranda Redmond, Chad Reid, Kyle C. Rodman, Fransisco Rodrigues-Sanchez, Pavel Samonil, Javier Sanguinetto, Lane Scher, Barbara Seget, Shubhi Sharma, Mitsue Shibata, Miles Silman, Michael A. Steele, Nathan L. Stephenson, Jacob N. Straub, Samantha Sutton, Jennifer J. Swenson, Margaret Swift, Peter A. Thomas, Maria Uriarte, Giorgio Vacchiano, Amy V. Whipple, Thomas G. Whitham, Andreas Wion, Joseph Wright, Kai Zhu, Jess Zimmermann, Magdalena Zywiec, James S. Clark
Captive breeding, husbandry, release, and translocation of sciurids
Captive breeding and release programs have been instrumental in preventing the extinction of some wildlife species, but these programs have been less successful for other species. Evaluating initial guidelines for procedures to start a captive breeding and release program for a particular species is an important first step in the process of initiating such a program. The Mohave ground squirrel (Xe
Authors
Sharon A Poessel
Multi-scale relationships in thermal limits within and between two cold-water frog species uncover different trends in physiological vulnerability
1. Critical thermal limits represent an important component of an organism's capacity to cope with future temperature changes. Understanding the drivers of variation in these traits may uncover patterns in physiological vulnerability to climate change. Local temperature extremes have emerged as a major driver of thermal limits, although their effects can be mediated by the exploitation of fine-sca
Authors
Amanda S. Cicchino, Alisha A. Shah, Brenna R. Forester, Jason B. Dunham, Cameron K. Ghalambor, W. Chris Funk
MetaIPM: Placing integral projection models into a metapopulation framework
Metapopulation models include spatial population dynamics such as dispersion and migration between subpopulations. Integral projection models (IPMs) can include demographic rates as a function of size. Traditionally, metapopulation models do not included detailed populaiton models such as IPMs. In some situations, both local population dynamics (e.g. size-based survival) and spatial dynamics are i
Authors
Richard A. Erickson, James P Peirce, Greg J. Sandland, Hannah Mann Thompson, Alison A. Coulter, David C. Glover
Reevaluation of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin equivalency factors for dioxin-like polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans, and polychlorinated biphenyls for fishes
An expert meeting was organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1997 to streamline assessments of risk posed by mixtures of dioxin-like chemicals (DLCs) through development of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD) equivalency factors (TEFs) for mammals, birds, and fishes. No reevaluation has been performed for fish TEFs. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to r
Authors
Jon A. Doering, Donald E. Tillitt, Steve Wiseman
Quantifying ecosystem states and state transitions of the Upper Mississippi River System using topological data analysis
Aquatic systems worldwide can exist in multiple ecosystem states (i.e., a recurring collection of biological and chemical attributes), and effectively characterizing multidimensionality will aid protection of desirable states and guide rehabilitation. The Upper Mississippi River System is composed of a large floodplain river system spanning 2200 km and multiple federal, state, tribal and local gov
Authors
Danelle M. Larson, Wako Bungula, Casey McKean, Alaina Stockdill, Amber Lee, Frederick Miller, Killian Davis
Integrated analysis shows how the effects of extreme flooding events propagate through fish communities to impact amphibians
Research Highlight: Davis, C. L., Walls, S. C., Barichivich, W. J., Brown, M. E., & Miller, D. A. (2022). Disentangling direct and indirect effects of extreme events on coastal wetland communities. Journal of Animal Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13874. Catastrophic events such as floods, hurricanes, winter storms, droughts and wildfires increasingly touch our lives either directly or
Authors
James Grace
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023—USGS disaster emergency recovery activities
Title VII of Division N in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117–328), was enacted on December 29, 2022. The U.S. Geological Survey received $41.04 million in disaster emergency supplemental funding for repairing and replacing facilities and equipment, collecting high-resolution elevation data in affected areas, and completing scientific assessments to support direct recovery a
Authors
Jo Ellen Hinck, Joseph Stachyra
Testicular abnormalities in the invasive Argentine Black-and-White Tegu lizard (Salvator merianae) in the Florida Everglades
No abstract available.
Authors
Kyra Woytek, Gretchen Erika Anderson, Kevin Donmoyer, Frank Ridgley, Christina Romagosa, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Andrea Faye Currylow
Geographic isolation reduces genetic diversity of a wide-ranging terrestrial vertebrate, Canis lupus
Genetic diversity is theorized to decrease in populations closer to a species' range edge, where habitat may be suboptimal. Generalist species capable of long-range dispersal may maintain sufficient gene flow to counteract this, though the presence of significant barriers to dispersal (e.g., large water bodies, human-dominated landscapes) may still lead to, and exacerbate, the edge effect. We used
Authors
S.A. Frévol, D. R. MacNulty, M. C. Anderson, H. D. Cluff, L. David Mech, M. Musiani
Evidence for the importance of invasive Dreissena veligers as a novel prey item for larval fish in Lake Huron
The establishment of invasive dreissenid mussels Dreissena polymorpha and Dreissena rostriformis bugensis in the Laurentian Great Lakes has affected multiple aspects of the ecosystem. However, the effects of their larvae (veligers) on lower trophic levels are relatively unknown. Previous research has documented that some larval fishes consume veligers, but it is unclear if they select for veligers
Authors
Ellary C Marano, David Bunnell, Patricia Dieter, Karen M. Alofs
Temporal patterns of structural sagebrush connectivity from 1985 to 2020
The sagebrush biome within the western United States has been reshaped by disturbances, management, and changing environmental conditions. As a result, sagebrush cover and configuration have varied over space and time, influencing processes and species that rely on contiguous, connected sagebrush. Previous studies have documented changes in sagebrush cover, but we know little about how the connect
Authors
Erin K. Buchholtz, Michael O'Donnell, Julie A. Heinrichs, Cameron L. Aldridge