Publications
Below is a list of available NOROCK peer reviewed and published science. If you are in search of a specific publication and cannot find it below or through a search, please contact twojtowicz@usgs.gov.
Filter Total Items: 1216
Demographic monitoring and population viability analysis of two rare beardtongues from the Uinta Basin
Energy development, in combination with other environmental stressors, poses a persistent threat to rare species endemic to energy-producing regions of the western United States. Demographic analyses of monitored populations can provide key information on the natural dynamics of threatened plant and animal populations and how these dynamics might be affected by present and future development. In t
Authors
Rebecca M. McCaffery, Rita Reisor, Kathryn M. Irvine, Jessi Brunson
Introduced northern pike consumption of salmonids in Southcentral Alaska
The impacts of introduced northern pike (Esox lucius) on salmonid populations have attracted much attention because salmonids are popular subsistence, sport and commercial fish. Concern over the predatory effects of introduced pike on salmonids is especially high in Southcentral Alaska, where pike were illegally introduced to the Susitna River basin in the 1950s. We used pike abundance, growth, an
Authors
Adam Sepulveda, David S. Rutz, Aaron W Dupuis, Patrick A Shields, Kristine J. Dunker
Estimating landscape resistance to dispersal
Dispersal is an inherently spatial process that can be affected by habitat conditions in sites encountered by dispersers. Understanding landscape resistance to dispersal is important in connectivity studies and reserve design, but most existing methods use resistance functions with cost parameters that are subjectively chosen by the investigator. We develop an analytic approach allowing for direct
Authors
Tabitha A. Graves, Richard B. Chandler, J. Andrew Royle, Paul Beier, Katherine C. Kendall
Climate change and the Rocky Mountains
Rural landscapes in the Andes are characterized by an impressive diversity of natural environments and by multiple resource assets. This is particularly the case in the tropical realm where the ecological altitudinal zones of the tierra caliente, the tierra templada, the tierra fria and the tierra heladaoffer a remarkable range of agricultural potential. This is complemented by a multitude of topo
Authors
James M. Byrne, Daniel B. Fagre, Ryan MacDonald
Simulating future residential property losses from wildfire in Flathead County, Montana
Wildfire damages to private residences in the United States and elsewhere have increased as a result of expansion of the wildland-urban interface (WUI) and other factors. Understanding this unwelcome trend requires analytical frameworks that simulate how various interacting social, economic, and biophysical factors influence those damages. A methodological framework is developed for simulating exp
Authors
Tony Prato, Travis B Paveglio, Yan Barnett, Robin Silverstein, Michael Hardy, Robert Keane, Rachel A. Loehman, Anthony Clark, Daniel B. Fagre, Tyron Venn, Keith Stockmann
Brine contamination to aquatic resources from oil and gas development in the Williston Basin, United States
The Williston Basin, which includes parts of Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota in the United States and the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada, has been a leading domestic oil and gas producing region for more than one-half a century. Currently, there are renewed efforts to develop oil and gas resources from deep geologic formations, spurred by advances in recovery technologies
Authors
Tara L. Chesley-Preston, James L. Coleman, Robert A. Gleason, Seth S. Haines, Karen E. Jenni, Timothy L. Nieman, Zell E. Peterman, Max Post van der Burg, Todd M. Preston, Bruce D. Smith, Brian A. Tangen, Joanna N. Thamke
Toxicity of a traditional molluscicide to asian clam veligers
Aquaculture and hatchery industries are in need of effective control methods to reduce the risk of spreading aquatic invasive species, such as the Asian clam Corbicula fluminea, through aquaculture and hatchery activities. The planktonic nature of Asian clam veligers enables this life stage to enter water-based infrastructure undetected, including hatchery trucks used to stock fish. Once in hatche
Authors
Megan J. Layhee, Bahram Farokhkish, Jackson A. Gross, Miho Yoshioka, Adam Sepulveda
Sex-biased gene flow among elk in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem
We quantified patterns of population genetic structure to help understand gene flow among elk populations across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. We sequenced 596 base pairs of the mitochondrial control region of 380 elk from eight populations. Analysis revealed high mitochondrial DNA variation within populations, averaging 13.0 haplotypes with high mean gene diversity (0.85). The genetic differ
Authors
Brian K. Hand, Shanyuan Chen, Neil Anderson, Albano Beja-Pereira, Paul C. Cross, Michael R. Ebinger, Hank Edwards, Robert A. Garrott, Marty D. Kardos, Matthew J. Kauffman, Erin L. Landguth, Arthur Middleton, Brandon M. Scurlock, P.J. White, Pete Zager, Michael K. Schwartz, Gordon Luikart
Anaxyrus boreas (western toad) predation
No abstract available.
Authors
Swartz Leah K, Faurot-Daniels Cayley R, Blake R. Hossack, Erin L. Muths
Quantifying the effectiveness of conservation measures to control the spread of anthropogenic hybridization in stream salmonids: A climate adaptation case study
Quantifying the effectiveness of management actions to mitigate the effects of changing climatic conditions (i.e., climate adaptation) can be difficult, yet critical for conservation. We used population genetic data from 1984 to 2011 to assess the degree to which ambient climatic conditions and targeted suppression of sources of nonnative Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss have influenced the sprea
Authors
Robert K. Al-Chokhachy, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Matthew Boyer, Leslie A. Jones, Amber Steed, Jeffrey L. Kershner
Invasive hybridization in a threatened species is accelerated by climate change
Climate change will decrease worldwide biodiversity through a number of potential pathways1, including invasive hybridization2 (cross-breeding between invasive and native species). How climate warming influences the spread of hybridization and loss of native genomes poses difficult ecological and evolutionary questions with little empirical information to guide conservation management decisions3.
Authors
Clint C. Muhlfeld, Ryan P. Kovach, Leslie A. Jones, Robert K. Al-Chokhachy, Matthew C. Boyer, Robb F. Leary, Winsor H. Lowe, Gordon Luikart, Fred W. Allendorf
Influence of whitebark pine decline on fall habitat use and movements of grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
When abundant, seeds of the high-elevation whitebark pine (WBP; Pinus albicaulis) are an important fall food for grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Rates of bear mortality and bear/human conflicts have been inversely associated with WBP productivity. Recently, mountain pine beetles (Dendroctonus ponderosae) have killed many cone-producing WBP trees. We used fall (15
Authors
Cecily M. Costello, Frank T. van Manen, Mark A. Haroldson, Michael R. Ebinger, Steven L. Cain, Kerry A. Gunther, Daniel D. Bjornlie