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
Twenty-five years of monitoring a Townsend's Big-Eared Bat (Corynorhinus townsendii) maternity roost
A Corynorhinus townsendii maternity roost located in an abandoned ranch house in central California was monitored for 25 y. Prior to the discovery of the bats in 1987, the house was broken into regularly and disturbance levels were quite high. Upon discovery of the roost, the house was fortified and vandalism was greatly reduced. The number of females and the number of volant young greatly increas
Authors
Gary M. Fellers, Brian J. Halstead
A 30-year chronosequence of burned areas in Arizona: effects of wildfires on vegetation in Sonoran Desert Tortoise (Gopherus morafkai) habitats
Fire is widely regarded as a key evolutionary force in fire-prone ecosystems, with effects spanning multiple levels of organization, from species and functional group composition through landscape-scale vegetation structure, biomass, and diversity (Pausas and others, 2004; Bond and Keeley 2005; Pausas and Verdu, 2008). Ecosystems subjected to novel fire regimes may experience profound changes that
Authors
Daniel F. Shryock, Todd C. Esque, Felicia C. Chen
Integrating gene transcription-based biomarkers to understand desert tortoise and ecosystem health
Tortoises are susceptible to a wide variety of environmental stressors, and the influence of human disturbances on health and survival of tortoises is difficult to detect. As an addition to current diagnostic methods for desert tortoises, we have developed the first leukocyte gene transcription biomarker panel for the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), enhancing the ability to identify specific
Authors
Lizabeth Bowen, A. Keith Miles, K. Kristina Drake, Shannon C. Waters, Todd C. Esque, Kenneth E. Nussear
Ecological drivers of variation in tool-use frequency across sea otter populations
Sea otters are well-known tool users, employing objects such as rocks or shells to break open hard-shelled invertebrate prey. However, little is known about how the frequency of tool use varies among sea otter populations and the factors that drive these differences. We examined 17 years of observational data on prey capture and tool use from 8 sea otter populations ranging from southern Californi
Authors
Jessica Fujii, Katherine Ralls, M. Tim Tinker
Mark-recapture and mark-resight methods for estimating abundance with remote cameras: a carnivore case study
Abundance estimation of carnivore populations is difficult and has prompted the use of non-invasive detection methods, such as remotely-triggered cameras, to collect data. To analyze photo data, studies focusing on carnivores with unique pelage patterns have utilized a mark-recapture framework and studies of carnivores without unique pelage patterns have used a mark-resight framework. We compared
Authors
Robert S. Alanso, Brett T. McClintock, Lisa M. Lyren, Erin E. Boydston, Kevin R. Crooks
Observations of territorial breeding common ravens caching eggs of greater sage-grouse
Previous investigations using continuous video monitoring of greater sage-grouse Centrocercus urophasianus nests have unambiguously identified common ravens Corvus corax as an important egg predator within the western United States. The quantity of greater sage-grouse eggs an individual common raven consumes during the nesting period and the extent to which common ravens actively hunt greater sage
Authors
Kristy B. Howe, Peter S. Coates
Monitoring avian productivity and survivorship (MAPS) 5-year summary, Naval Outlying Landing Field, Imperial Beach, southwestern San Diego County, California, 2009-13
During 2009–13, a Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) banding station was operated at the Naval Outlying Landing Field (NOLF), Imperial Beach, in southwestern San Diego County, California. The station was established as part of a long-term monitoring program of Neotropical migratory bird populations on NOLF and helps Naval Base Coronado (NOLF is a component) meet the goals and ob
Authors
Suellen Lynn, Melanie C. Madden, Alexandra Houston, Barbara E. Kus
Bidirectional recovery patterns of Mojave Desert vegetation in an aqueduct pipeline corridor after 36 years: I. Perennial shrubs and grasses
We studied recovery of 21 perennial plant species along a severely disturbed aqueduct corridor in a Larrea tridentata-Ambrosia dumosa plant alliance in the Mojave Desert 36 years after construction. The 97-m wide corridor contained a central dirt road and buried aqueduct pipeline. We established transects at 0 m (road verge), 20 m and 40 m into the disturbance corridor, and at 100 m in undisturbed
Authors
Kristin H. Berry, James F. Weigand, Timothy A. Gowan, Jeremy S. Mack
Effects of fire on small mammal communities in frequent-fire forests in California
Fire is a natural, dynamic process that is integral to maintaining ecosystem function. The reintroduction of fire (e.g., prescribed fire, managed wildfire) is a critical management tool for protecting many frequent-fire forests against stand-replacing fires while restoring an essential ecological process. Understanding the effects of fire on forests and wildlife communities is important in natural
Authors
Susan L. Roberts, Douglas A. Kelt, Jan W. Van Wagtendonk, A. Keith Miles, Marc D. Meyer
In situ effects of pesticides on amphibians in the Sierra Nevada
For more than 20 years, conservationists have agreed that amphibian populations around the world are declining. Results obtained through laboratory or mesocosm studies and measurement of contaminant concentrations in areas experiencing declines have supported a role of contaminants in these declines. The current study examines the effects of contaminant exposure to amphibians in situ in areas actu
Authors
Donald W. Sparling, John W. Bickham, Deborah Cowman, Gary M. Fellers, Thomas E. Lacher, Cole W. Matson, Laura McConnell
Chilled frogs are hot: hibernation and reproduction of the Endangered mountain yellow-legged frog Rana muscosa
In the face of the sixth great extinction crisis, it is imperative to establish effective breeding protocols for amphibian conservation breeding programs. Captive efforts should not proceed by trial and error, nor should they jump prematurely to assisted reproduction techniques, which can be invasive, difficult, costly, and, at times, counterproductive. Instead, conservation practitioners should f
Authors
Frank E. Santana, Ronald R. Swaisgood, Jeffrey M. Lemm, Robert N. Fisher, Rulon W. Clark
Collaborative decision-analytic framework to maximize resilience of tidal marshes to climate change
Decision makers that are responsible for stewardship of natural resources face many challenges, which are complicated by uncertainty about impacts from climate change, expanding human development, and intensifying land uses. A systematic process for evaluating the social and ecological risks, trade-offs, and cobenefits associated with future changes is critical to maximize resilience and conserve
Authors
Karen M. Thorne, Brady J. Mattsson, John Y. Takekawa, Jonathan Cummings, Debby Crouse, Giselle Block, Valary Bloom, Matt Gerhart, Steve Goldbeck, Beth Huning, Christina Sloop, Mendel Stewart, Karen Taylor, Laura Valoppi