Publications
This list of publications includes peer-review journal articles, official USGS publications series, reports and more authored by scientists in the Ecosystems Mission Area. A database of all USGS publications, with advanced search features, can be accessed at the USGS Publications Warehouse.
Filter Total Items: 41763
Effectiveness of a decade of treatments to reduce invasive buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare)
The invasion of nonnative grasses threatens biodiversity and ecosystem function globally through competition with native plant species and increases to wildfire frequency and intensity. Management actions to reduce buffelgrass [Pennisetum ciliare (L.) Link], an invasive warm-season perennial bunchgrass, are widely implemented, with chemical and mechanical treatments extending over two decades with
Authors
Yue M. Li, Seth M. Munson, Ya-Ching Lin, Perry Grissom
Optimization and application of non-native Phragmites australis transcriptome assemblies
Phragmites australis (common reed) has a cosmopolitan distribution and has been suggested as a model organism for the study of invasive plant species. In North America, the non-native subspecies (ssp. australis) is widely distributed across the contiguous 48 states in the United States and large parts of Canada. Even though millions of dollars are spent annually on Phragmites management, insuffici
Authors
Feng Tao, Chuanzhu Fan, Yimin Liu, Subashini Sivakumar, Kurt P. Kowalski, Edward M Golenberg
Could biological soil crusts act as natural fire fuel breaks in the sagebrush steppe?
No abstract available.
Authors
Lea A. Condon, Douglas J. Shinneman, Roger Rosentreter, Peter S. Coates
The effects of substrate and sediment burial on survival of developing pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) and shovelnose sturgeon (S. platorynchus) embryos
The shovelnose sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus) and endangered pallid sturgeon (S. albus) deposit demersal and adhesive eggs in swift currents, near or over coarse substrate. Hydrographic surveys have demonstrated the dynamic nature of spawning habitats and that coarse substrates may episodically be buried (partially or completely) by fine sediments. To evaluate embryo survival of both speci
Authors
Kimberly Chojnacki, Amy E. George, Aaron J. Delonay
Bioenergetics model for the nonnative Redside Shiner
ObjectiveRedside Shiner Richardsonius balteatus has expanded from its native range in the Pacific Northwest region of North America to establish populations in six other western states. This expansion has fueled concerns regarding competition between Redside Shiner and native species, including salmonids. We developed a bioenergetic model for Redside Shiner, providing a powerful tool to quantify i
Authors
Rachelle Carina Johnson, David Beauchamp, Julian D. Olden
A 1.2 billion pixel human-labeled dataset for data-driven classification of coastal environments
The world’s coastlines are spatially highly variable, coupled-human-natural systems that comprise a nested hierarchy of component landforms, ecosystems, and human interventions, each interacting over a range of space and time scales. Understanding and predicting coastline dynamics necessitates frequent observation from imaging sensors on remote sensing platforms. Machine Learning models that carry
Authors
Daniel Buscombe, Phillipe Alan Wernette, Sharon Fitzpatrick, Jaycee Favela, Evan B. Goldstein, Nicholas Enwright
Persistence and quality of vegetation cover in expired Conservation Reserve Program fields
For nearly 40 years, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has implemented practices to reduce soil erosion, improve water quality, and provide habitat for wildlife and pollinators on highly erodible cropland in the United States. However, an approximately 40,470 ha (10 million acres) decline in enrolled CRP land over the last decade has greatly reduced the program's environmental benefits. We so
Authors
Mark W. Vandever, Kenneth Elgersma, Sarah K. Carter, Ai Wen, Justin L. Welty, Robert Arkle, Timothy J. Assal, David Pilliod, David M. Mushet, Rich Iovanna
Adult spawners: A critical period for subarctic Chinook salmon in a changing climate
Concurrent, distribution-wide abundance declines of some Pacific salmon species, including Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), highlights the need to understand how vulnerability at different life stages to climate stressors affects population dynamics and fisheries sustainability. Yukon River Chinook salmon stocks are among the largest subarctic populations, near the northernmost extent of
Authors
Kathrine G. Howard, Vanessa R. von Biela
Taxonomic reassessment of the Little pocket mouse, Perognathus longimembris (Rodentia, Heteromyidae) of southern California and northern Baja California
The Little pocket mouse (Perognathus longimembris) encompasses 15 to 16 currently recognized subspecies, six of which are restricted to southern California and adjacent northern Baja California. Using cranial geomorphometric shape parameters and dorsal color variables we delineate six regional groups of populations from this area that we recognize as valid, but these differ in name combination an
Authors
James L. Patton, Robert N. Fisher
Local weather and endogenous factors affect the initiation of migration in short- and medium-distance songbird migrants
Migratory birds employ a variety of mechanisms to ensure appropriate timing of migration based on integration of endogenous and exogenous information. The cues to fatten and depart from the non-breeding area are often linked to exogenous cues such as temperature or precipitation and the endogenous program. Shorter distance migrants should rely heavily on environmental information when initiating m
Authors
Theodore J. Zenzal, Darren Johnson, Frank R. Moore, Zoltán Németh
Redd superimposition mediates the accuracy, precision, and significance of redd counts for cutthroat trout
Redd counts are commonly applied to estimate spawning population size for salmonids and allow for broad spatial and temporal coverage in monitoring efforts. However, the utility of redd counts may be compromised by observation error, particularly with respect to superimposition, where later arriving spawners construct redds overlapping existing redds. Here, we provide a mechanistic evaluation of t
Authors
Jeffrey R. Baldock, Robert Al-Chokhachy, Timothy E. Walsworth, Annika W. Walters
Invaders at the doorstep: Using species distribution modeling to enhance invasive plant watch lists
Watch lists of invasive species that threaten a particular land management unit are useful tools because they can draw attention to invasive species at the very early stages of invasion when early detection and rapid response efforts are often most successful. However, watch lists typically rely on the subjective selection of invasive species by experts or on the use of spotty occurrence records.
Authors
Catherine S. Jarnevich, Peder Engelstad, Jillian LaRoe, Brandon Hays, Terri Hogan, Jeremy Jirak, Ian Pearse, Janet S. Prevéy, Jennifer Sieraki, Annie Simpson, Jess Wenick, Nicholas Young, Helen Sofaer