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: 3617
Fuel treatment impacts on estimated wildfire carbon loss from forests in Montana, Oregon, California, and Arizona
Using forests to sequester carbon in response to anthropogenically induced climate change is being considered across the globe. A recent U.S. executive order mandated that all federal agencies account for sequestration and emissions of greenhouse gases, highlighting the importance of understanding how forest carbon stocks are influenced by wildfire. This paper reports the effects of the most commo
Authors
Scott L. Stephens, Ralph E.J. Boerner, Jason J. Maghaddas, Emily E.Y. Maghaddas, Brandon M. Collins, Christopher B. Dow, Carl Edminster, Carl E. Fiedler, Danny L. Fry, Bruce R. Hartsough, Jon E. Keeley, Eric E. Knapp, James D. McIver, Carl N. Skinner, Andrew P. Youngblood
Role of bird movements in the epidemiology of West Nile and avian influenza virus
Avian influenza virus (AIV) is influenced by site fidelity and movements of bird hosts. We examined the movement ecology of American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) as potential hosts for West Nile virus (WNV) and greater white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons frontalis) as potential hosts for AIVs. Research was based on radio-telemetry studies conducted in the Central Valley of California, USA. While
Authors
Sabir Bin Muzaffar, Nichola J. Hill, John Y. Takekawa, William M. Perry, Lacy M. Smith, Walter M. Boyce
Three pathogens in sympatric populations of pumas, bobcats, and domestic cats: Implications for infections disease transmission
Anthropogenic landscape change can lead to increased opportunities for pathogen transmission between domestic and non-domestic animals. Pumas, bobcats, and domestic cats are sympatric in many areas of North America and share many of the same pathogens, some of which are zoonotic. We analyzed bobcat, puma, and feral domestic cat samples collected from targeted geographic areas. We examined exposure
Authors
Sarah N. Bevins, Scott Carver, Erin E. Boydston, Lisa M. Lyren, Mat Alldredge, Kenneth A. Logan, Seth P.D. Riley, Robert N. Fisher, T. Winston Vickers, Walter Boyce, Mo Salman, Michael R. Lappin, Kevin R. Crooks, Sue VandeWoude
Gene flow and pathogen transmission among bobcats (Lynx rufus) in a fragmented urban landscape
Urbanization can result in the fragmentation of once contiguous natural landscapes into a patchy habitat interspersed within a growing urban matrix. Animals living in fragmented landscapes often have reduced movement among habitat patches because of avoidance of intervening human development, which potentially leads to both reduced gene flow and pathogen transmission between patches. Mammalian car
Authors
Justin S. Lee, Emily W. Ruell, Erin E. Boydston, Lisa M. Lyren, Robert S. Alonso, Jennifer L. Troyer, Kevin R. Crooks, Sue VandeWoude
Hunting influences the diel patterns in habitat selection by northern pintails Anas acuta
Northern pintail Anas acuta (hereafter pintail) populations wintering within Suisun Marsh, a large estuarine managed wetland near San Francisco Bay, California,USA, have declined markedly over the last four decades. The reasons for this decline are unclear. Information on how hunting and other factors influence the selection of vegetation types and sanctuaries would be beneficial to manage pintail
Authors
Michael L. Casazza, Peter S. Coates, Michael R. Miller, Cory T. Overton, Daniel R. Yparraguirre
Population divergence and gene flow in an endangered and highly mobile seabird
Seabirds are highly vagile and can disperse up to thousands of kilometers, making it difficult to identify the factors that promote isolation between populations. The endemic Hawaiian petrel (Pterodroma sandwichensis) is one such species. Today it is endangered, and known to breed only on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Lanai and Kauai. Historical records indicate that a large population formerly bre
Authors
A. J. Welch, R. C. Fleischer, H. F. James, A. E. Wiley, P. H. Ostrom, J. Adams, F. Duvall, N. Holmes, D. Hu, J. Penniman, K. A. Swindle
Brain cancer mortality rates increase with Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence in France
The incidence of adult brain cancer was previously shown to be higher in countries where the parasite Toxoplasma gondii is common, suggesting that this brain protozoan could potentially increase the risk of tumor formation. Using countries as replicates has, however, several potential confounding factors, particularly because detection rates vary with country wealth. Using an independent dataset e
Authors
Marion Vittecoq, Eric Elguero, Kevin D. Lafferty, Benjamin Roche, Jacques Brodeur, Michel Gauthier-Clerc, Dorothée Missé, Frédéric Thomas
Cross-seasonal patterns of avian influenza virus in breeding and wintering migratory birds: a flyway perspective
The spread of avian influenza viruses (AIV) in nature is intrinsically linked with the movements of wild birds. Wild birds are the reservoirs for the virus and their migration may facilitate the circulation of AIV between breeding and wintering areas. This cycle of dispersal has become widely accepted; however, there are few AIV studies that present cross-seasonal information. A flyway perspective
Authors
Nichola J. Hill, John Y. Takekawa, Carol J. Cardona, Brandt W. Meixell, Joshua T. Ackerman, Jonathan A. Runstadler, Walter M. Boyce
Does mercury contamination reduce body condition of endangered California clapper rails?
We examined mercury exposure in 133 endangered California clapper rails (Rallus longirostris obsoletus) within tidal marsh habitats of San Francisco Bay, California from 2006 to 2010. Mean total mercury concentrations were 0.56 μg/g ww in blood (range: 0.15–1.43), 9.87 μg/g fw in head feathers (3.37–22.0), 9.04 μg/g fw in breast feathers (3.68–20.2), and 0.57 μg/g fww in abandoned eggs (0.15–2.70)
Authors
Joshua T. Ackerman, Cory T. Overton, Michael L. Casazza, John Y. Takekawa, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Robin A. Keister, Mark P. Herzog
Eco-virological approach for assessing the role of wild birds in the spread of avian influenza H5N1 along the central Asian flyway
A unique pattern of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 outbreaks has emerged along the Central Asia Flyway, where infection of wild birds has been reported with steady frequency since 2005. We assessed the potential for two hosts of HPAI H5N1, the bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) and ruddy shelduck (Tadorna tadorna), to act as agents for virus dispersal along this ‘thoroughfare’. We use
Authors
Scott H. Newman, Nichola J. Hill, Kyle A. Spragens, Daniel Janies, Igor O. Voronkin, Diann J. Prosser, Baoping Yan, Fumin Lei, Nyambayar Batbayar, Tseveenmyadag Natsagdorj, Charles M. Bishop, Patrick J. Butler, Martin Wikelski, Sivananinthaperumal Balachandran, Taej Mundkur, David C. Douglas, John Y. Takekawa
The Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium
Palmyra Atoll in the tropical Pacific is the site of some exciting work by scientists from a diverse collection of research institutions. The Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium (PARC) fosters collaborative multi- and inter-disciplinary research by U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) agencies (USGS and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service–USFWS), academic institutions (for example, Stanford University,
Authors
Thomas H. Suchanek
A preliminary assessment of the Nactus pelagicus species group (Squamata: Gekkonidae) in New Guinea and a new species from the Admiralty Islands
The Slender-toed Geckos (Nactus) currently have four recognized species in New Guinea, and these species divide into two sister clades: a pelagicus clade and a vankampeni clade (Heinicke et al. 2010). The latter contains three dwarf species. The former consists of five bisexual populations, of which numerous New Guinea populations are uncharacterized nomenclaturally and lumped under the epithet ‘p
Authors
George R. Zug, Robert N. Fisher