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
An economic perspective on the relationship between wilderness and water resources
No abstract available.
Authors
James Meldrum, Christopher Huber
Distribution and demography of Southwestern Willow Flycatchers in San Diego County, 2015–19
We surveyed for Southwestern Willow Flycatchers (Empidonax traillii extimus; flycatcher) at 33 locations along multiple drainages in San Diego County, including portions of Agua Hedionda Creek, Cottonwood Creek, Escondido Creek, Los Penasquitos Creek, Otay River, San Diego River, San Dieguito River, San Luis Rey River, Sweetwater River, and Tijuana River. Resident flycatchers were only found on tw
Authors
Scarlett L. Howell, Barbara E. Kus, Shannon M. Mendia
A review of supervised learning methods for classifying animal behavioural states from environmental features
Accurately predicting behavioural modes of animals in response to environmental features is important for ecology and conservation. Supervised learning (SL) methods are increasingly common in animal movement ecology for classifying behavioural modes. However, few examples exist of applying SL to classify polytomous animal behaviour from environmental features especially in the context of millions
Authors
Silas Bergen, Manuela Huso, Adam E. Duerr, Missy A Braham, Sara Schmuecker, Tricia A. Miller, Todd E. Katzner
Grasshopper species composition differs between prairie dog colonies and undisturbed sites in a sagebrush grassland
Grasshoppers are major consumers of plant biomass in grassland and shrubland ecosystems. While often considered generalists, grasshopper species have differing habitat preferences and interactions with other consumers in grasslands. There are conflicting accounts of how prairie dog colonies and differences in vegetation impact grasshopper abundance and composition. We conducted a landscape-scale s
Authors
Ian Pearse, Courtney Duchardt, Lillian Legg, Lauren M. Porensky
Bacteria common to rhizosphere communities of Asiatic bittersweet across a post-glacial landscape
Invasive plants such as Asiatic bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb.) are a significant problem for land managers as they impact plant species composition, disrupt nutrient dynamics and structure of native ecosystems, and are difficult to eradicate. As a result of the increasing abundance of Asiatic bittersweet across the eastern U.S., we have been investigating underlying factors potentially
Authors
Cindy H. Nakatsu, Noel B. Pavlovic, Muruleedhara Byappanahalli
Evaluating noninvasive methods for estimating cestode prevalence in a wild carnivore population
Helminth infections are cryptic and can be difficult to study in wildlife species. Helminth research in wildlife hosts has historically required invasive animal handling and necropsy, while results from noninvasive parasite research, like scat analysis, may not be possible at the helminth species or individual host levels. To increase the utility of noninvasive sampling, individual hosts can be id
Authors
E E Brandell, M.K. Jackson, Paul C. Cross, A.J. Piaggio, D. R. Taylor, Douglas W. Smith, B Boufana, Daniel R. Stahler, PJ Hudson
Life-cycle model reveals sensitive life stages and evaluates recovery options for a dwindling Pacific salmon population
Population models, using empirical survival rates estimates for different life stages, can help managers explore whether various management options could stabilize a declining population or restore it to former levels of abundance. Here we used two decades of data on five life stages of the Cedar River, USA Sockeye Salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka, population to create and parameterize a life-cycle mode
Authors
Neala W. Kendall, Julia R. Unrein, Carol Volk, David Beauchamp, Kurt L. Fresh, Thomas P. Quinn
Assessing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in sediments and fishes in a large, urbanized estuary and the potential human health implications
The primary source of chronic exposures to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in humans is through the ingestion of contaminated foods and drinking water, with fish and other seafood being a major contributor. Nevertheless, there is scant literature on the dietary exposure to PFASs for the general United States (U.S.) population. The Tampa Bay (Florida, USA) region has the highest populat
Authors
Erin L. Pulster, Kylee Rullo, Sherryl Gilbert, Thomas M. Ash, Barbara Goetting, Kevin Campbell, Sara Markham, Steven A. Murawski
Habitat associations of riverine fishes among rocky shoals
Understanding species' associations with physical habitat conditions is a fundamental goal of ecology. For organisms that occupy lotic ecosystems, relationships to streamflow are of particular importance, but these associations are unstudied for most species. We tested the predictability of fish–microhabitat relationships in river shoals (shallow, rocky areas with relatively swift water flow) usin
Authors
Anna Y. Baynes, Mary Freeman, S. Kyle McKay, Seth J. Wenger
Interaction between transect design and animal distribution in distance sampling of deer
We conducted a simulation study to evaluate the consequences of violating statistical assumptions of distance sampling (DS) on the bias and precision of population estimates of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Distance sampling is a method for estimating the density of organisms using a distribution of observed distances to individuals. A key assumption of DS is that sampling transects
Authors
Nicholas S. Green, Mark L. Wildhaber, Janice L. Albers
Ecologically relevant moisture and temperature metrics for assessing dryland ecosystem dynamics
In drylands, water-limited regions that cover ~40% of the global land surface, ecosystems are primarily controlled by access to soil moisture and exposure to simultaneously hot and dry conditions. Quantifying ecologically relevant environmental metrics is difficult in drylands because the response of vegetation to moisture and temperature conditions is not easily explained solely by climate-based
Authors
D. A. Chenoweth, Daniel Rodolphe Schlaepfer, J. C. Chambers, J. L. Brown, A. K. Urza, Brice Hanberry, D. Board, M. Crist, John B. Bradford
Dabbling duck eggs hatch after nest abandonment in the wild
In most birds, parental incubation of eggs is necessary for embryo development and survival. Using a combination of weekly nest visits, temperature dataloggers, infrared video cameras, and GPS tracking of hens, we documented several instances of duck eggs hatching after being abandoned by the incubating female. Of 2826 Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and Gadwall (Mareca strepera) nests monitored 2015
Authors
Carley Rose Schacter, Brady Lynn Fettig, Sarah H. Peterson, C. Alex Hartman, Mark P. Herzog, Michael L. Casazza, Josh T. Ackerman