Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

Filter Total Items: 1991

Introduction: Exotic annual Bromus in the western USA

The spread and impacts of exotic species are unambiguous, global threats to many ecosystems. A prominent example is the suite of annual grasses in the Bromus genus (Bromus hereafter) that originate from Europe and Eurasia but have invaded or are invading large areas of the Western USA. This book brings a diverse, multidisciplinary group of authors together to synthesize current knowledge, research
Authors
Matthew J. Germino, Jeanne C. Chambers, Cynthia S. Brown

Land uses, fire, and invasion: Exotic annual Bromus and human dimensions

Human land uses are the primary cause of the introduction and spread of exotic annual Bromus species. Initial introductions were likely linked to contaminated seeds used by homesteading farmers in the late 1880s and early 1900s. Transportation routes aided their spread. Unrestricted livestock grazing from the 1800s through the mid-1900s reduced native plant competitors leaving large areas vulnerab
Authors
David A. Pyke, Jeanne C. Chambers, Jeffrey L. Beck, Matthew L. Brooks, Brian A. Mealor

Plant community resistance to invasion by Bromus species: The roles of community attributes, Bromus interactions with plant communities, and Bromus traits

The factors that determine plant community resistance to exotic annual Bromus species (Bromus hereafter) are diverse and context specific. They are influenced by the environmental characteristics and attributes of the community, the traits of Bromus species, and the direct and indirect interactions of Bromus with the plant community. Environmental factors, in particular ambient and soil temperatur
Authors
Jeanne Chambers, Matthew J. Germino, Jayne Belnap, Cynthia Brown, Eugene W. Schupp, Samuel B St. Clair

Soil moisture and biogeochemical factors influence the distribution of annual Bromus species

Abiotic factors have a strong influence on where annual Bromus species are found. At the large regional scale, temperature and precipitation extremes determine the boundaries of Bromus occurrence. At the more local scale, soil characteristics and climate influence distribution, cover, and performance. In hot, dry, summer-rainfall-dominated deserts (Sonoran, Chihuahuan), little or no Bromus is foun
Authors
Jayne Belnap, John Thomas Stark, Benjamin Rau, Edith B. Allen, Susan L. Phillips

Ecosystem impacts of exotic annual invaders in the genus Bromus

An understanding of the impacts of exotic plant species on ecosystems is necessary to justify and guide efforts to limit their spread, restore natives, and plan for conservation. Invasive annual grasses such as Bromus tectorum, B. rubens, B. hordeaceus, and B. diandrus (hereafter collectively referred to as Bromus) transform the structure and function of ecosystems they dominate. Experiments that
Authors
Matthew J. Germino, Jayne Belnap, John M. Stark, Edith B. Allen, Benjamin M. Rau

Salamander chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans) in the United States—Developing research, monitoring, and management strategies

The recently (2013) identified pathogenic chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), poses a severe threat to the distribution and abundance of salamanders within the United States and Europe. Development of a response strategy for the potential, and likely, invasion of Bsal into the United States is crucial to protect global salamander biodiversity. A formal working group, led by A
Authors
Evan H. Campbell Grant, Erin L. Muths, Rachel A. Katz, Stefano Canessa, M. J. Adams, Jennifer R. Ballard, Lee Berger, Cheryl J. Briggs, Jeremy T. H. Coleman, Matthew J. Gray, M. Camille Harris, Reid N. Harris, Blake R. Hossack, Kathryn P. Huyvaert, Jonathan E. Kolby, Karen R. Lips, Robert E. Lovich, Hamish I. McCallum, Joseph R. Mendelson, Priya Nanjappa, Deanna H. Olson, Jenny G. Powers, Katherine L. D. Richgels, Robin E. Russell, Benedikt R. Schmidt, Annemarieke Spitzen-van der Sluijs, Mary Kay Watry, Douglas C. Woodhams, C. LeAnn White

Genetic structure and viability selection in the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), a vagile raptor with a Holarctic distribution

Molecular markers can reveal interesting aspects of organismal ecology and evolution, especially when surveyed in rare or elusive species. Herein, we provide a preliminary assessment of golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) population structure in North America using novel single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). These SNPs included one molecular sexing marker, two mitochondrial markers, 85 putatively n
Authors
Jacqueline M. Doyle, Todd E. Katzner, Gary Roemer, James W. Cain, Brian Millsap, Carol McIntyre, Sarah A. Sonsthagen, Nadia B. Fernandez, Maria Wheeler, Zafer Bulut, Peter Bloom, J. Andrew DeWoody

A simple prioritization tool to diagnose impairment of stream temperature for coldwater fishes in the Great Basin

We provide a simple framework for diagnosing the impairment of stream water temperature for coldwater fishes across broad spatial extents based on a weight-of-evidence approach that integrates biological criteria, species distribution models, and geostatistical models of stream temperature. As a test case, we applied our approach to identify stream reaches most likely to be thermally impaired for
Authors
Jeffrey A. Falke, Jason B. Dunham, David Hockman-Wert, Randy A. Pahl

Oak mistletoe (Phoradendron villosum) is linked to microhabitat availability and avian diversity in Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana) woodlands

Mistletoes are parasitic or hemi-parasitic flowering plants that parasitize woody plants around the globe. Important food and cover resources provided by mistletoes have been related to strong patterns of positive association between wildlife diversity and mistletoe density. Mistletoes also create microhabitat features known to be important to wildlife by causing deformations in their host trees.
Authors
Kyle R. Pritchard, Joan Hagar, David C. Shaw

CDMetaPOP: An individual-based, eco-evolutionary model for spatially explicit simulation of landscape demogenetics

1. Combining landscape demographic and genetics models offers powerful methods for addressing questions for eco-evolutionary applications.2. Using two illustrative examples, we present Cost–Distance Meta-POPulation, a program to simulate changes in neutral and/or selection-driven genotypes through time as a function of individual-based movement, complex spatial population dynamics, and multiple an
Authors
Erin L. Landguth, Andrew Bearlin, Casey Day, Jason B. Dunham

In-flight turbulence benefits soaring birds

Birds use atmospheric updrafts to subsidize soaring flight. We observed highly variable soaring flight by Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus) and Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) in Virginia, USA, that was inconsistent with published descriptions of terrestrial avian flight. Birds engaging in this behavior regularly deviated vertically and horizontally from linear flight paths. We observed the soari
Authors
Julie M. Mallon, Keith L. Bildstein, Todd E. Katzner

Impacts of climatic variation on trout: A global synthesis and path forward

Despite increasing concern that climate change may negatively impact trout—a globally distributed group of fish with major economic, ecological, and cultural value—a synthetic assessment of empirical data quantifying relationships between climatic variation and trout ecology does not exist. We conducted a systematic review to describe how temporal variation in temperature and streamflow influences
Authors
Ryan Kovach, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Robert K. Al-Chokhachy, Jason B. Dunham, Benjamin Letcher, Jeffrey L. Kershner