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
Setting and tracking suppression targets for sea lampreys in the Great Lakes
In response to invasive species, the course of action taken by management agencies often evolves over a range of options from a do-nothing approach to suppression to complete eradication. As a case study of suppression targets, we explore the history of approaches used by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission in response to the invasion of the Laurentian Great Lakes by sea lampreys (Petromyzon marinu
Authors
Ted Treska, Mark P. Ebener, Gavin Christie, Jean V. Adams, Michael J Siefkes
Carbon and ecohydrological priorities in managing woody encroachment: UAV perspective 63 years after a control treatment
Woody encroachment, including both woody species expansion and density increase, is a globally observed phenomenon that deteriorates arid and semi-arid rangeland health, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Mechanical and chemical control treatments are commonly performed to reduce woody cover and restore ecohydrologic function. While the immediate impacts of woody control treatments are well doc
Authors
Temuulen T. Sankey, Jackson Leonard, Margaret Moore, Joel B. Sankey, Adam Belmonte
Effects of stocking density on stress response and susceptibility to infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus in rainbow trout
The goals of this study were to examine the effect of stocking density on the stress response and disease susceptibility in juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Fish were sorted into one of 2 stocking densities (high density "HD", 20-40 kg/m3) or (low density, "LD", 4-8 kg/m3) and 3 stress indices (cortisol levels in serum and water, and neutrophil: lymphocyte (N:L) ratios from blood smea
Authors
Jenna J Klug, Piper M Treuting, George E. Sanders, James Winton, Gael Kurath
Exposure of predatory and scavenging birds to anticoagulant rodenticides in France: Exploration of data from French surveillance programs
Wild raptors are widely used to assess exposure to different environmental contaminants, including anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs). ARs are used on a global scale for rodent control, and act by disruption of the vitamin K cycle that results in haemorrhage usually accompanied by death within days. Some ARs are highly persistent and bioaccumulative, which can cause significant exposure of non-targe
Authors
Meg-Anne Moriceau, Sébastien Lefebvre, Isabelle Fourel, Etienne Benoit, Florence Buronfosse, Pascal Orabi, Barnett A. Rattner, Virginie Lattard
Viral-like particles are associated with endosymbiont pathology in Florida corals affected by stony coral tissue loss disease
Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) was first documented in 2014 near the Port of Miami, Florida, and has since spread north and south along Florida’s Coral Reef, killing large numbers of more than 20 species of coral and leading to the functional extinction of at least one species, Dendrogyra cylindrus. SCTLD is assumed to be caused by bacteria based on presence of different molecular assembl
Authors
Thierry M. Work, Tina M. Weatherby, Jan H. Landsberg, Yasunaru Kiryu, Samantha M. Cook, Esther C. Peters
Olfactory lures in predator control do not increase predation risk to birds in areas of conservation concern
Context: Lethal control of predators is often undertaken to protect species of conservation concern. Traps are frequently baited to increase capture efficacy, but baited traps can potentially increase predation risk by attracting predators to protected areas. This is especially important if targeted predators can escape capture due to low trap success. Snake traps using live mouse lures may be ben
Authors
Page E. Klug, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Robert Reed
Distribution of tiger salamanders in northern Sonora, Mexico: Comparison of sampling methods and possible implications for an endangered subspecies
Many aquatic species in the arid USA-Mexico borderlands region are imperiled, but limited information on distributions and threats often hinders management. To provide information on the distribution of the Western Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma mavortium), including the USA-federally endangered Sonoran Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma mavortium stebbinsi), we used traditional (seines, dip-nets) and moder
Authors
Blake R. Hossack, Julio A. Lemos-Espinal, Brent H. Sigafus, Erin L. Muths, Gerardo Carreon Arroyo, Daniel Toyos Martinez, David Hurtado Felix, Guillermo Molina Padilla, Caren S. Goldberg, T. R. Jones, M. J. Sredl, Thierry Chambert, J. C. Rorabaugh
Estimating abundance, temporary emigration and the pattern of density dependence in a cyclic snowshoe hare population in Yukon, Canada
Estimates of demographic parameters based on capture-mark-recapture (CMR) methods may be biased when some individuals in the population are temporarily unavailable for capture (temporary emigration). We estimated snowshoe hare abundance, apparent survival, and probability of temporary emigration in a population of snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus Erxleben 1777) in the Yukon using Pollock’s robust
Authors
Madan K. Oli, Alice J Kenny, Rudy Boonstra, Stan Boutin, Vratika Chaudhary, James E. Hines, Charles J Krebs
Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay for detection of Asian fish tapeworm, Schyzocotyle acheilognathi (Yamaguti, 1934) [syn. Bothriocephalus acheilognathi]
The Asian fish tapeworm (Schyzocotyle acheilognathi syn. Bothriocephalus acheilognathi) (AFT) is an invasive parasite that can infect many species of fish, although most hosts are primarily members of Cyprinidae. Pathogenicity has most often been reported in aquaculture settings in fry and fingerling stages of carp (Cyprinus spp.). More recently, it has been shown to cause growth retardation in th
Authors
Erik K. Hofmeister, Fiona Antigoni Georgousi, Melissa Lund, Constance Roderick, Anindo Choudhury, Gary Whelan, Rebecca A. Cole
Expanding freshwater biologger studies to view fish as environmental sensing platforms
While recording fish habitat use by electronic sensors, biologgers can also be viewed as autonomous environmental monitoring systems with the organism as a vehicle. This dual perspective has provided novel results from marine ecosystems, but has not been applied to freshwater ecosystems. To understand limitations in fresh water, we evaluated miniature depth and temperature recorders as aquatic mon
Authors
Richard Kraus, Helen Bontrager, Chris Vandergoot, Matthew Faust
Small shorebirds feast on green slime to fuel their long migration
Shorebirds wade in shallow waters along shorelines searching for food. More than a million shorebirds visit the San Francisco Estuary each year during their migration to feast on the insects, worms, clams, and crabs that live on or under the surface of the sand or mud. The abundant food in the Estuary provides shorebirds with the energy they need to migrate thousands of kilometers, between their b
Authors
Laurie Anne Hall, Susan E. W. De La Cruz, Isa Woo, Tomohiro Kuwae, David Mcgovern Nelson, John Y. Takekawa
Does restoration of plant diversity trigger concomitant soil microbiome changes in dryland ecosystems?
Drylands are highly vulnerable to land degradation, and despite increasing efforts, restoration success remains low. Although often ignored in the design and deployment of management strategies, soil microbial communities might be critical for dryland restoration due to their central role in promoting soil stability, nutrient cycling and plant establishment.We collected soil samples from eight dry
Authors
Ben Yang, Kathleen R. Balazs, Bradley J. Butterfield, Katherine M. Laushman, Seth M. Munson, Elise S. Gornish, Albert Barberán