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: 41894
Ambystoma opacum (marbled salamander). Atypical nest sites
The discovery of inconspicuous nests in secretive species not only expands knowledge but can reveal previously unknown behaviors and ecological consequences of those behaviors. Marbled salamanders exhibit the unusual strategy of laying their eggs terrestrially under cover. Here we report multiple occurrences of A. opacum nesting inside logs, which may be atypical for this species.
Authors
Joshua M Hall, Brad Glorioso, J Sean Doody
Acoustic and genetic data can reduce uncertainty regarding populations of migratory tree-roosting bats impacted by wind energy
Wind turbine-related mortality may pose a population-level threat for migratory tree-roosting bats, such as the hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) in North America. These species are dispersed within their range, making it impractical to estimate census populations size using traditional survey methods. Nonetheless, understanding population size and trends is essential for evaluating and mitigating ris
Authors
Amanda Hale, Cris D. Hein, Bethany Straw
Case 3853 – Eumeces niger Hombron & Jacquinot, 1853 (currently Emoia nigra) (Reptilia, Scincidae): proposed conservation of prevailing usage by setting aside a lectotype designation for Gongylus (Eumeces) freycineti Duméril & Bibron, 1839 (currently Emoia
The purpose of the present application, under Articles 74.1.1 and 81.1 of the Code, is to maintain consistent usage of the commonly used name Emoia nigra (Hombron & Jacquinot, 1853) by setting aside a lectotype designation for Gongylus (Eumeces) freycineti Duméril & Bibron, 1839 by Wells & Wellington in 1985 in favour of a later lectotype designation by Brown in 1991.
Authors
Glenn M. Shea, Robert N. Fisher, Ivan Ineich
Kittlitz’s murrelet seasonal distribution and post-breeding migration from the Gulf of Alaska to the Arctic Ocean
Kittlitz’s Murrelets (Brachyramphus brevirostris) nest during summer in glaciated or recently deglaciated (post-Wisconsin) landscapes. They forage in adjacent marine waters, especially those influenced by glacial meltwater. Little is known of their movements and distribution outside the breeding season. To identify post-breeding migrations of murrelets, we attached satellite transmitters to birds
Authors
John F. Piatt, David C. Douglas, Mayumi L. Arimitsu, Michelle Kissling, Erica N. Madison, Sarah K. Schoen, Kathy J. Kuletz, Gary S. Drew
Reconnecting the Elwha River: Spatial patterns of fish response to dam removal
The removal of two large dams on the Elwha River was completed in 2014 with a goal of restoring anadromous salmonid populations. Using observations from ongoing field studies, we compiled a timeline of migratory fish passage upstream of each dam. We also used spatially continuous snorkeling surveys in consecutive years before (2007, 2008) and after (2018, 2019) dam removal during summer baseflow t
Authors
Jeffrey J. Duda, Christian E. Torgersen, Samuel J. Brenkman, Roger J. Peters, Kathryn T. Sutton, Heidi A. Connor, Philip R. Kennedy, Stephen C. Corbett, Ethan Z. Welty, Anna Geffre, Josh Geffre, Patrick Crain, Dave Shreffler, John R. McMillan, Mike McHenry, George R. Pess
What are the toxicological effects of mercury in Arctic biota?
No abstract available.
Authors
Rune Dietz, Robert J. Letcher, Josh T. Ackerman, Benjamin D. Barst, Niladri Basu, Olivier Chastel, John Chételat, Sam Dastnai, Jean-Pierre Desforges, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Igor Eulaers, Jérôme Fort, Jacob Nabe-Nielsen, Feiyue Wang, Simon Wilson
Agkistrodon conanti (Florida Cottonmouth) and Python bivittatus (Burmese Python). Diet and Predation
Python bivittatus is established in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem in southern Florida, USA. Documented predators on pythons in Florida include Alligator mississippiensis (American Alligator; Snow et al. 2006. Herpetol. Rev. 37:81–81), Drymarchon couperi (Gulf Coast Indigo Snake; Andreadis et al. 2018. Herpetol. Rev. 49:341–342), Lynx rufus (Bobcat; McCollister et al. 2021. Southeast. Nat. 20:N5
Authors
Ian A. Bartoszek, Gretchen Erika Anderson, Ian Easterling, Jillian Maureen Josimovich, Alex Furst, Frank N. Ridgley, Austin Lee Fitzgerald, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Andrea Faye Currylow
Emerging control strategies for integrated pest management of invasive carps
Invasive carps are ecologically and economically problematic fish species in many large river basins in the United States and pose a threat to aquatic ecosystems throughout much of North America. Four species of invasive carps: black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus), grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) and bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis), are part
Authors
Aaron R. Cupp, Marybeth K. Brey, Robin Calfee, Duane Chapman, Richard A. Erickson, Jesse Robert Fischer, Andrea K. Fritts, Amy E. George, P. Ryan Jackson, Brent C. Knights, Gavin Nicholas Saari, Patrick Kočovský
A quantitative soil-geomorphic framework for developing and mapping ecological site groups
Land management decisions need context about how landscapes will respond to different circumstances or actions. As ecologists’ understanding of nonlinear ecological dynamics has evolved into state-and-transition models (STMs), they have put more emphasis on defining and mapping the soil, geomorphological, and climate parameters that mediate these dynamics. The US Department of Agriculture Natural
Authors
Travis W. Nauman, Samuel S Burch, Joel T. Humphries, Anna C Knight, Michael C. Duniway
Demographic response of brown treesnakes to extended population suppression
From a management perspective, reptiles are relatively novel invasive taxa. Few methods for reptile control have been developed and very little is known about their effectiveness for reducing reptile populations, particularly when the goal is eradication. Many reptiles, and especially snakes, are cryptic, secretive, and undergo extended periods of inactivity, traits that decrease detection probabi
Authors
Melia G. Nafus, Shane R. Siers, Brenna A. Levine, Zachary C. Quiogue, Amy A. Yackel Adams
Optimization of salt marsh management at the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, Maine, through use of structured decision making
Structured decision making is a systematic, transparent process for improving the quality of complex decisions by identifying measurable management objectives and feasible management actions; predicting the potential consequences of management actions relative to the stated objectives; and selecting a course of action that maximizes the total benefit achieved and balances tradeoffs among objective
Authors
Hilary A. Neckles, James E. Lyons, Jessica L. Nagel, Susan C. Adamowicz, Toni Mikula, Maurice Mills, Raymond E. Brown, Keith Ramos
Effects of salinity and a glucocorticoid antagonist, RU486, on waterborne aldosterone and corticosterone of northern leopard frog larvae
Increased salinity is an emerging contaminant of concern for aquatic taxa. For amphibians exposed to salinity, there is scarce information about the physiological effects and changes in osmoregulatory hormones such as corticosterone (CORT) and aldosterone (ALDO). Recent studies have quantified effects of salinity on CORT physiology of amphibians based on waterborne hormone collection methods, but
Authors
Brian J. Tornabene, Creagh W Breuner, Blake R. Hossack, Erica J Crespi