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
Forest restoration at Redwood National Park: exploring prescribed fire alternatives to second-growth management: a case study
Almost half of Redwood National Park is comprised of second-growth forests characterized by high stand density, deficient redwood composition, and low understory biodiversity. Typical structure of young redwood stands impedes the recovery of old-growth conditions, such as dominance of redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.), distinct canopy layers and diverse understory vegetation. Young for
Authors
Eamon Engber, Jason Teraoka, Phillip J. van Mantgem
Feline immunodeficiency virus cross-species transmission: Implications for emergence of new lentiviral infections
Owing to a complex history of host-parasite coevolution, lentiviruses exhibit a high degree of species specificity. Given the well-documented viral archeology of HIV emergence following human exposures to SIV, understanding processes that promote successful cross-species lentiviral transmissions is highly relevant. We have previously reported natural cross-species transmission of a subtype of feli
Authors
Justin Lee, Jennifer L. Malmberg, Britta A. Wood, Sahaja Hladky, Ryan Troyer, Melody Roelke, Mark W. Cunningham, Roy McBride, Winston Vickers, Walter Boyce, Erin E. Boydston, Laurel E.K. Serieys, Seth P D Riley, Kevin R. Crooks, Sue VandeWoude
Spatiotemporal patterns of duck nest density and predation risk: a multi-scale analysis of 18 years and more than 10,000 nests
Many avian species are behaviorally-plastic in selecting nest sites, and may shift to new locations or habitats following an unsuccessful breeding attempt. If there is predictable spatial variation in predation risk, the process of many individuals using prior experience to adaptively change nest sites may scale up to create shifting patterns of nest density at a population level. We used 18 years
Authors
Kevin M. Ringelman, John M. Eadie, Joshua T. Ackerman, Andrew Sih, Daniel L. Loughman, Gregory S. Yarris, Shaun L. Oldenburger, M. Robert McLandress
Active season microhabitat and vegetation selection by giant gartersnakes associated with a restored marsh in California
Studies of habitat selection can reveal important patterns to guide habitat restoration and management for species of conservation concern. Giant gartersnakes Thamnophis gigas are endemic to the Central Valley of California, where >90% of their historical wetland habitat has been converted to agricultural and other uses. Information about the selection of habitats by individual giant gartersnakes
Authors
Brian J. Halstead, Patricia Valcarcel, Glenn D. Wylie, Peter S. Coates, Michael L. Casazza, Daniel K. Rosenberg
Temporal segmentation of animal trajectories informed by habitat use
Most animals live in seasonal environments and experience very different conditions throughout the year. Behavioral strategies like migration, hibernation, and a life cycle adapted to the local seasonality help to cope with fluctuations in environmental conditions. Thus, how an individual utilizes the environment depends both on the current availability of habitat and the behavioral prerequisites
Authors
Marielle L. van Toor, Scott H. Newman, John Y. Takekawa, Martin Wegmann, Kamran Safi
Landscape genetic approaches to guide native plant restoration in the Mojave Desert
Restoring dryland ecosystems is a global challenge due to synergistic drivers of disturbance coupled with unpredictable environmental conditions. Dryland plant species have evolved complex life-history strategies to cope with fluctuating resources and climatic extremes. Although rarely quantified, local adaptation is likely widespread among these species and potentially influences restoration outc
Authors
Daniel F. Shryock, Caroline A. Havrilla, Lesley A. DeFalco, Todd C. Esque, Nathan Custer, Troy E. Wood
Mercury contamination and stable isotopes reveal variability in foraging ecology of generalist California gulls
Environmental contaminants are a concern for animal health, but contaminant exposure can also be used as a tracer of foraging ecology. In particular, mercury (Hg) concentrations are highly variable among aquatic and terrestrial food webs as a result of habitat- and site-specific biogeochemical processes that produce the bioaccumulative form, methylmercury (MeHg). We used stable isotopes and total
Authors
Sarah H. Peterson, Joshua T. Ackerman, Collin A. Eagles-Smith
A global database of ant species abundances
What forces structure ecological assemblages? A key limitation to general insights about assemblage structure is the availability of data that are collected at a small spatial grain (local assemblages) and a large spatial extent (global coverage). Here, we present published and unpublished data from 51,388 ant abundance and occurrence records of more than 2693 species and 7953 morphospecies from l
Authors
Heloise Gibb, Rob R. Dunn, Nathan J. Sanders, Blair F. Grossman, Manoli Photakis, Silvia Abril, Donat Agosti, Alan N. Andersen, Elena Angulo, Ingre Armbrecht, Xavier Arnan, Fabricio B. Baccaro, Tom R. Bishop, Raphael Boulay, Carsten Bruhl, Cristina Castracani, Xim Cerda, Israel Del Toro, Thibaut Delsinne, Mireia Diaz, David A. Donoso, Aaron M. Ellison, Martha L. Enriquez, Tom M. Fayle, Donald H. Feener Jr., Brian L. Fisher, Robert N. Fisher, Matthew C. Fitpatrick, Cristanto Gomez, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Aaron Gove, Donato A. Grasso, Sarah Groc, Benoit Guenard, Nihara Gunawardene, Brian Heterick, Benjamin Hoffmann, Milan Janda, Clinton Jenkins, Michael Kaspari, Petr Klimes, Lori Lach, Thomas Laeger, John Lattke, Maurice Leponce, Jean-Philippe Lessard, John Longino, Andrea Lucky, Sarah H. Luke, Jonathan Majer, Terrence P. McGlynn, Sean Menke, Dirk Mezger, Alessandra Mori, Jimmy Moses, Thinandavha Caswell Munyai, Renata Pacheco, Omid Paknia, Jessica Pearce-Duvet, Martin Pfeiffer, Stacy M. Philpott, Julian Resasco, Javier Retana, Rogerio R. Silva, Magdalena D. Sorger, Jorge Souza, Andrew V. Suarez, Melanie Tista, Heraldo L. Vasconcelos, Merav Vonshak, Michael D. Weiser, Michelle Yates, Catherine L. Parr
Potential effects of drought on carrying capacity for wintering waterfowl in the Central Valley of California
We used the bioenergetics model TRUEMET to evaluate potential effects of California's recent drought on food supplies for waterfowl wintering in the Central Valley under a range of habitat and waterfowl population scenarios. In nondrought years in the current Central Valley landscape, food supplies are projected to be adequate for waterfowl from fall through early spring (except late March) even i
Authors
Mark J. Petrie, Joseph P. Fleskes, Mike A. Wolder, Craig R. Isola, Gregory S. Yarris, Daniel A. Skalos
Habitat selection by Forster's Terns (Sterna forsteri) at multiple spatial scales in an urbanized estuary: The importance of salt ponds
The highly urbanized San Francisco Bay Estuary, California, USA, is currently undergoing large-scale habitat restoration, and several thousand hectares of former salt evaporation ponds are being converted to tidal marsh. To identify potential effects of this habitat restoration on breeding waterbirds, habitat selection of radiotagged Forster's Terns (Sterna forsteri) was examined at multiple spati
Authors
Jill Bluso-Demers, Joshua T. Ackerman, John Y. Takekawa, Sarah H. Peterson
Diadophis Punctuatus (Ring-necked Snake). Diet.
No abstract available.
Authors
Dustin A. Wood, Jason Myrand, Andrew T. Holycross
Environmental extremes and biotic interactions facilitate depredation of endangered California Ridgway’s rail in a San Francisco Bay tidal marsh
On 23 December 2015 while performing a high tide population survey for endangered Ridgway’s rails (Rallus obsoletus obsoletus; formerly known as the California clapper rail) and other rail species at Arrowhead Marsh, Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland, California, the authors observed a series of species interactions resulting in the predation of a Ridgway’s rail by an adult female
Authors
Cory T. Overton, Steven Bobzien, Marcia Grefsrud