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
Bioaccumulation kinetics of model pharmaceuticals in the freshwater unionid pondmussel, Sagittunio subrostratus
Bioaccumulation of ionizable pharmaceuticals has been increasingly studied, with most reported aquatic tissue concentrations in field or laboratory experiments being from fish. However, higher levels of antidepressants have been observed in bivalves compared with fish from effluent-dominated and dependent surface waters. Such observations may be important for biodiversity because approximately 70%
Authors
S. Rebekah Burket, Jaylen L. Sims, Rebecca A. Dorman, Nile E. Kemble, Eric Brunson, Jeffery Steevens, Bryan W. Brooks
Supervised versus unsupervised approaches to classification of accelerometry data
Sophisticated animal-borne sensor systems are increasingly providing novel insight into how animals behave and move. Despite their widespread use in ecology, the diversity and expanding quality and quantity of data they produce have created a need for robust analytical methods for biological interpretation. Machine learning tools are often used to meet this need. However, their relative effectiven
Authors
Maitreyi Sur, Jonathan C. Hall, Joseph Brandt, Molly Astell, Sharon Poessel, Todd E. Katzner
Spatial variability in vertical accretion and carbon sequestration in salt marsh soils of an urban estuary
Salt marshes in New York City’s Jamaica Bay have been disappearing and deteriorating since early 1900s, resulting in the loss of long-term accumulated carbon storage. However, the spatial variations and mechanisms in vertical accretion and soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration across this highly urbanized estuary remains unclear. In this study, we collected soil cores to a depth of ~ 50 cm acros
Authors
Hongqing Wang, Gregg Snedden, Ellen K. Hartig, Q. Chen
Reference genome of an iconic lizard in western North America, Blainville’s horned lizard Phrynosoma blainvillii
Genome assemblies are increasingly being used to identify adaptive genetic variation that can help prioritize the population management of protected species. This approach may be particularly relevant to species like Blainville’s horned lizard, Phrynosoma blainvillii, due to its specialized diet on noxious harvester ants, numerous adaptative traits for avoiding predation (e.g. cranial horns, dorso
Authors
Jonathan Q. Richmond, Jimmy A. McGuire, Merly Escalona, Mohan P. A. Marimuthu, Oanh Nguyen, Samuel Sacco, Eric Beraut, Erin Toffelmier, Robert N. Fisher, Ian J. Wang, H.B. Shaffer
Compensatory mortality explains rodent resilience to an invasive predator
Invasive Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) in the Everglades of Florida, United States, have drastically reduced populations of mammals, yet populations of some rodents appear unaffected by the invasion. To understand this pattern, we radio-tagged cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) in areas of high and low python occurrence densities (hereafter occurrence) and quantified the effects of python occur
Authors
Marina E. McCampbell, Maggie Hunter, John V. Stechly, Kaitlyn N. Leist, Kristen Hart, Robert A. McCleery
Status and trends of the Lake Huron prey fish community, 1976-2022
The United States Geological Survey-Great Lakes Science Center has monitored annual changes in the offshore prey fish community of Lake Huron since 1973. Monitoring of prey fish populations in Lake Huron is based on a bottom trawl survey that targets demersal (benthic) species and an acoustic-midwater trawl survey that targets pelagic species and life stages. Status of the main basin prey fish com
Authors
Darryl W. Hondorp, Timothy P. O'Brien, Edward F. Roseman, Peter C. Esselman
Review and development of best practices for toxicity tests with dreissenid mussels
Since their introduction to North America in the 1980s, research to develop effective control tools for invasive mussels (Dreissena polymorpha and D. rostriformis bugensis) has been ongoing across various research institutions using a range of testing methods. Inconsistencies in experimental methods and reporting present challenges for comparing data, repeating experiments, and applying results. T
Authors
Diane L. Waller, Sherri Pucherelli, Matthew Barbour, Samantha Tank, Matthew J Meulemans, Jeremy K. Wise, Angelique Dahlberg, David C. Aldridge, Renata Claudi, W. Gregory Cope, Patricia L. Gillis, Donna Kashian, Denise A. Mayer, Kelly A. Stockton-Fiti, Wai Hing Wong
Assessing environmental oil spill based on fluorescence images of water samples and deep learning
Measuring oil concentration in the aquatic environment is essential for determining the potential exposure, risk, or injury for oil spill response and natural resource damage assessment. Conventional analytical chemistry methods require samples to be collected in the field, shipped, and processed in the laboratory, which is also rather time-consuming, laborious, and costly. For rapid field respons
Authors
D. P. Liu, Ming Liu, Guangyu Sun, Zhiqian Zhou, Duolin Wang, Fei He, Jiaxin Li, Jiacheng Xie, Ryan Gettler, Eric Brunson, Jeffery Steevens, Dong Xu
Rapidly changing range limits in a warming world: Critical data limitations and knowledge gaps for advancing understanding of mangrove range dynamics in the southeastern USA
Climate change is altering species’ range limits and transforming ecosystems. For example, warming temperatures are leading to the range expansion of tropical, cold-sensitive species at the expense of their cold-tolerant counterparts. In some temperate and subtropical coastal wetlands, warming winters are enabling mangrove forest encroachment into salt marsh, which is a major regime shift that has
Authors
Rémi Bardou, Michael Osland, Steven B. Scyphers, Christine C. Shepard, Karen E. Aerni, Jahson B. Alemu, Robert Crimian, Richard Day, Nicholas Enwright, Laura Feher, Sarah L. Gibbs, Kiera O'Donnell, Savannah H. Swinea, Kalaina Thorne, Sarit Truskey, Anna R. Armitage, Ronald J. Baker, Joshua L. Breithaupt, Kyle C. Cavanaugh, Just Cebrian, Karen Cummins, Donna J. Devlin, Jacob Doty, William L. Ellis, Ilka C. Feller, Christopher A. Gabler, Yiyang Kang, David A. Kaplan, John Paul Kennedy, Ken Krauss, Margaret Lamont, Kam-biu Liu, Melinda Martinez, Ashley M. Matheny, Giovanna M. McClenachan, Karen L. McKee, Irving A. Mendelssohn, Thomas C. Michot, Christopher J. Miller, Jena A. Moon, Ryan P. Moyer, James A. Nelson, Richard O'Connor, James W. Pahl, Jonathan L. Pitchford, C. Edward Proffitt, Tracy Quirk, Kara R. Radabaugh, Whitney A. Scheffel, Delbert L. Smee, Caitlin M. Snyder, Eric Sparks, Kathleen M. Swanson, William C. Vervaeke, Carolyn A. Weaver, Jonathan A Willis, Erik S. Yando, Qiang Yao, A. Randall Hughes
Acoustic measurements on a shallow, sand-bed river: A case study from the Rio Grande
The Middle Rio Grande (MRG) is a dynamic and complex fluvial system where flow and sediment transported from the Upper Rio Grande and MRG tributaries influence the form of the river. How sediment is transported through the MRG is an important planning question as it addresses a wide range of concerns including flood control and river rehabilitation, thus continuous sediment measurements are needed
Authors
Jonathan AuBuchon, David Abraham, Ari Posner, Jeb E. Brown, Tony Jackson, Ronald E. Griffiths
Environmental, morphological, and molecular data reveal a new species of freshwater mussel, Strophitus howellsi, endemic to the Edwards Plateau in Texas
Freshwater mussels are considered the most imperiled group of organisms in North America and systematics research has played an integral role in the development and implementation of their conservation. Despite the importance of systematics in conservation planning, the evolutionary relationships between many mussel taxa remain poorly explored, clearly illustrated by Strophitus undulatus. This spe
Authors
Chase H. Smith, Alexander H. Kiser, Nathan Johnson, Charles R. Randklev
2019 Volcanic activity in Alaska—Summary of events and response of the Alaska Volcano Observatory
The Alaska Volcano Observatory responded to eruptions, volcanic unrest or suspected unrest, increased seismicity, and other significant activity at 17 volcanic centers in Alaska in 2019. The most notable volcanic activity was an eruption of Shishaldin Volcano, featuring eruptive activity that produced lava flows, lahars, and ash. Weak explosive activity also took place at Great Sitkin Volcano and
Authors
Tim R. Orr, Cheryl E. Cameron, Hannah R. Dietterich, James P. Dixon, Max L. Enders, Ronni Grapenthin, Alexandra M. Iezzi, Matthew W. Loewen, John A. Power, Cheryl Searcy, Gabrielle Tepp, Liam Toney, Christopher F. Waythomas, Aaron G. Wech