Publications
Below is a list of WERC's peer-reviewed publications. If you are searching for a specific publication and cannot find it in this list, please contact werc_web@usgs.gov
Filter Total Items: 3631
Learning from a high-severity fire event—Conditions following the 2018 Carr Fire at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area
The 2018 Carr Fire burned more than 90 percent of Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, with much of the park burning at high severity. California yellow pine and mixed conifer forests are not well adapted to large, high-severity fires, and forest recovery after these events may be problematic. Large, high-severity fire patches pose difficulties for recruitment with interiors that are long distanc
Authors
Phillip J. van Mantgem, Micah C. Wright, Karen M. Thorne, Jill Beckmann, Kevin Buffington, Lyndsay L. Rankin, Audrey Colley, Eamon A. Engber
Occupancy dynamics of the California Gnatcatcher in southern California
Executive SummaryThe Coastal California Gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica californica: “gnatcatcher”) is a resident species restricted to coastal sage scrub habitat in southern California. Listed as federally threatened, the gnatcatcher is subject to multiple threats, including habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation, particularly in association with the increasing frequency of large wildfi
Authors
Barbara E. Kus, Alexandra Houston, Kristine L. Preston
Distribution, abundance, and breeding activities of the Least Bell's Vireo at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California—2022 annual report
Executive SummaryThe purpose of this report is to provide the Marine Corps with an annual summary of abundance, breeding activity, demography, and habitat use of endangered Least Bell’s Vireos (Vireo bellii pusillus) at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton (MCBCP or “Base”). Surveys for the Least Bell's Vireo were completed at MCBCP, California, between April 4 and July 12, 2022. Core survey areas and
Authors
Suellen Lynn, Michelle Treadwell, Barbara E. Kus
Distribution, abundance, and breeding activities of the Least Bell's Vireo at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California—2021 annual report
Executive SummaryThe purpose of this report is to provide the Marine Corps with an annual summary of abundance, breeding activity, demography, and habitat use of endangered Least Bell’s Vireos (Vireo bellii pusillus) at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton (MCBCP or “Base”). Surveys for the Least Bell's Vireo were completed at MCBCP, California, between April 5 and July 13, 2021. Core survey areas and
Authors
Suellen Lynn, Michelle Treadwell, Barbara E. Kus
Distribution, abundance, and breeding activities of the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California—2022 annual report
Executive SummarySurveys for the endangered Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) were done at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton (MCBCP or “Base”), California, between May 9 and July 20, 2022. All of MCBCP’s historically occupied riparian habitat (core survey area) was surveyed for flycatchers in 2022. None of the non-core survey area was surveyed in 2022.Eight transient Willo
Authors
Scarlett L. Howell, Barbara E. Kus
Distribution, abundance, and breeding activities of the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California—2021 annual report
Executive SummaryThe purpose of this report is to provide the Marine Corps with an annual summary of abundance, breeding activity, demography, and habitat use of the endangered Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton (MCBCP). Surveys for the flycatcher were completed at MCBCP between May 5 and July 31, 2021. All of MCBCP’s historically occupi
Authors
Scarlett L. Howell, Barbara E. Kus
Least Bell's Vireos and Southwestern Willow Flycatchers—Breeding activities and habitat use—2023 annual report
Executive SummaryWe completed four protocol surveys for Least Bell’s Vireos (Vireo bellii pusillus; hereinafter vireo) during the breeding season, supplemented by weekly territory monitoring visits between April 6 and July 20 at the San Luis Rey Flood Risk Management Project Area (hereinafter Project Area). We identified a total of 136 territorial male vireos; 121 were confirmed as paired, and 4 w
Authors
Alexandra Houston, Lisa D. Allen, Shannon M. Mendia, Barbara E. Kus
Climate and weather drivers in southern California Santa Ana Wind and non-Santa Wind fires
Background. Autumn and winter Santa Ana Winds (SAW) are responsible for the largest and most destructive wildfires in southern California. Aims. 1) To contrast fires ignited on SAW days vs non-SAW days, 2) evaluate the predictive ability of the Canadian Fire Weather Index (CFWI) for these two fire types, and 3) determine climate and weather factors responsible for the largest wildfires. Methods. C
Authors
Jon Keeley, Michael Flannigan, Tim J. Brown, Tom Rolinski, Daniel Cayan, Alexandra D. Syphard, Janin Guzman-Morales, Alexander Gershunov
Foraging ecology of southern sea otters at the northern range extent informs regional population dynamics
Sea otters Enhydra lutris are vital keystone predators throughout the North Pacific that were nearly extirpated during the maritime fur trade. Recovery of southern sea otters E. l. nereis has proceeded slowly, with much of their historical range remaining unoccupied, resulting in reduced ecosystem functioning. Numerous studies have used foraging metrics to assess the population status of southern
Authors
Sophia N. Lyon, Joseph A. Tomoleoni, Julie L. Yee, Jessica Fujii, Nicole M. Thometz
Body mass changes of dabbling and diving ducks wintering in California
Bird body mass is often used as an index of body condition and fluctuates throughout the year in response to environmental conditions and avian life-history events. We examined the body mass of 59,572 ducks representing 13 species (7 dabbling duck species and 6 diving duck species) harvested within the 3 regions of the Central Valley in California, USA (Sacramento Valley, Suisun Marsh, San Joaquin
Authors
Mark P. Herzog, Josh T. Ackerman, Jeffrey D. Kohl, Brady Lynn Fettig, C. Alex Hartman, Sarah H. Peterson, Michael L. Casazza, Joseph P. Fleskes
Estimating traffic volume and road age in Wyoming to inform resource management planning: An application with wildlife-vehicle collisions
Road networks and their associated vehicular traffic disturb many terrestrial systems, but inventories of roads used to assess these effects often focus on the ‘where’ (e.g., local road type and density) and neglect the ‘when’ (e.g., temporal disturbance) or ‘how much’ (e.g., traffic volume disturbance). We developed annual estimates of the ‘when’ (road age) and ‘how much’ (vehicular traffic volum
Authors
Richard D. Inman, Benjamin Seward Robb, Michael S. O'Donnell, David R. Edmunds, Matthew J Holloran, Cameron L. Aldridge
Mitigating risk: Predicting H5N1 avian influenza spread with an empirical model of bird movement
Understanding timing and distribution of virus spread is critical to global commercial and wildlife biosecurity management. A highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIv) global panzootic, affecting ~600 bird and mammal species globally and over 83 million birds across North America (Dec 2023), poses a serious global threat to animals and public health. We combined a large, long-term waterfowl
Authors
Fiona McDuie, Cory T. Overton, Austen Lorenz, Elliott Matchett, Andrea Mott, Desmond Alexander Mackell, Josh T. Ackerman, Susan E. W. De La Cruz, Vijay P. Patil, Diann Prosser, John Y. Takekawa, Dennis L. Orthmeyer, Maurice E. Pitesky, Samuel L. Díaz-Muñoz, Brock M. Riggs, Joseph Gendreau, Eric T. Reed, Mark J. Petrie, Chris K. Williams, Jeffrey J. Buler, Matthew J. Hardy, Brian S. Ladman, Pierre Legagneux, Joël Bêty, Philippe J. Thomas, Jean Rodrigue, Josée Lefebvre, Michael L. Casazza