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
Biotic vs abiotic controls on temporal sensitivity of primary production to precipitation across North American drylands
Dryland net primary productivity (NPP) is sensitive to temporal variation in precipitation (PPT), but the magnitude of this ‘temporal sensitivity’ varies spatially. Hypotheses for spatial variation in temporal sensitivity have often emphasized abiotic factors, such as moisture limitation, while overlooking biotic factors, such as vegetation structure.We tested these hypotheses using spatiotemporal
Authors
Andrew J Felton, Robert K Shriver, John B. Bradford, Katharine N. Suding, Brady W Allred, Peter B. Adler
Integrated hydrology and operations modeling to evaluate climate change impacts in an agricultural valley irrigated with snowmelt runoff
Applying models to developed agricultural regions remains a difficult problem because there are no existing modeling codes that represent both the complex physics of the hydrology and anthropogenic manipulations to water distribution and consumption. We apply an integrated groundwater – surface water and hydrologic river operations model to an irrigated river valley in northwestern Nevada/northern
Authors
Wesley Kitlasten, Eric D. Morway, Richard G. Niswonger, Murphy Gardner, Jeremy T. White, Enrique Triana, David J. Selkowitz
Cape Romain partnership for coastal protection
This final report summarizes activities, outcomes, and lessons learned from a 3-year project titled “Climate Change Adaptation for Coastal National Wildlife Refuges” with the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and local partners in the surrounding South Carolina Lowcountry. The Lowcountry is classified as the 10-county area encompassing the coastal plain of South Carolina (this report spec
Authors
Mitchell J. Eaton, Fred A. Johnson, Jessica Mikels-Carrasco, David J. Case, Julien Martin, Bradley Stith, Simeon Yurek, Bradley Udell, Laura Villegas, Laura Taylor, Zulquarnain Haider, Hadi Charkhgard, Changhyun Kwon
Navigating the science-policy interface
As a wildlife population ecologist who wants to conduct useful science, I find the Endangered Species Act (ESA), like other federal wildlife statutes, an intriguing read. The topic is in my wheelhouse—fish, wildlife, and plants, with a focus at the population and species levels. There is an emphasis on science, in fact, the “best scientific and commercial data available.” And there are intriguin
Authors
Michael C. Runge
Genetic structure and population history in two critically endangered Kaua‘i honeycreepers
Population sizes of endemic songbirds on Kaua‘i have decreased by an order of magnitude over the past 10–15 years to dangerously low numbers. The primary cause appears to be the ascent of invasive mosquitoes and Plasmodium relictum, the agent of avian malaria, into elevations formerly free of introduced malarial parasites and their vectors. Given that these declines in native bird populations appe
Authors
Loren Cassin-Sackett, Michael G. Campana, Nancy McInerney, Haw Chuan Lim, Natalia Przelomska, Bryce M Masuda, R. Terry Chesser, Eben H. Paxton, Jeffery T Foster, Lisa H. Crampton, Robert C. Fleischer
Using systems thinking to inform management of imperiled species: A case study with sea turtles
Management of imperiled species facing spatiotemporally dynamic threats is difficult. Systems thinking can inform their management by quantifying the impacts that they face. We apply systems thinking to the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGM) loggerhead (Caretta caretta) Recovery Unit (RU), one of the smallest subpopulations of loggerheads nesting in the USA. We characterized disturbances to nests, mana
Authors
Ian Silver-Gorges, Simona A. Ceriani, Matthew Ware, Megan Lamb, Margaret Lamont, Janice Becker, Raymond Carthy, Chris Matechik, Joseph C. Mitchell, Raya Pruner, Mike Reynolds, Bradley Smith, Caitlyn Snyder, Mariana M. P. B. Fuentes
Riparian forest cover modulates phosphorus storage and nitrogen cycling in agricultural stream sediments
Watershed land cover affects in-stream water quality and sediment nutrient dynamics. The presence of natural land cover in the riparian zone can reduce the negative effects of agricultural land use on water quality; however, literature evaluating the effects of natural riparian land cover on stream sediment nutrient dynamics is scarce. The objective of this study was to assess if stream sediment p
Authors
Rebecca Kreiling, Lynn A. Bartsch, Patrik Mathis Perner, Enrika Hlavacek, Victoria Christensen
Changes in the abundance and distribution of waterfowl wintering in the Central Valley of California, 1973–2000
The Central Valley of California is one of the most important areas for wintering waterfowl in the world and the focus of extensive conservation efforts to mitigate for historical losses and counter continuing stressors to habitats. To guide conservation, we analyzed trends in the abundance and distribution (spatiotemporal abundance patterns) of waterfowl and their habitats in the Central Valley a
Authors
Joseph P. Fleskes, Michael L. Casazza, Cory T. Overton, Elliott Matchett, Julie L. Yee
Nearshore fish species richness and species–habitat associations in the St. Clair–Detroit River System
Shallow water riparian zones of large rivers provide important habitat for fishes, but anthropogenic influences have reduced the availability and quality of these habitats. In the St. Clair–Detroit River System, a Laurentian Great Lakes connecting channel, losses of riparian habitat contributed to impairment of fish populations and their habitats. We conducted a seine survey annually from 2013 to
Authors
Corbin D. Hilling, Jason L. Fischer, Jason E. Ross, Taaja Tucker, Robin L. DeBruyne, Christine M. Mayer, Edward F. Roseman
Soil reservoir dynamics of ophidiomyces ophidiicola, the causative agent of snake fungal disease
Wildlife diseases pose an ever-growing threat to global biodiversity. Understanding how wildlife pathogens are distributed in the environment and the ability of pathogens to form environmental reservoirs is critical to understanding and predicting disease dynamics within host populations. Snake fungal disease (SFD) is an emerging conservation threat to North American snake populations. The causati
Authors
Lewis J. Campbell, Joanna Burger, Robert T. Zappalorti, John F. Bunnell, Megan Winzeler, Daniel R. Taylor, Jeffrey M. Lorch
A decision-analytical framework for developing harvest regulations
The development of harvest regulations for fish or wildlife is a complex decision that needs to weigh multiple objectives, consider a set of alternative regulatory options, integrate scientific understanding about the population dynamics of the harvested species as well as the human response to regulations, account for uncertainty, and provide an avenue for feedback from monitoring programs. The a
Authors
Michael C. Runge
Predictability of invasive Argentine ant distribution across Mediterranean ecoregions of southern California
The invasiveness of nonnative taxa can vary across a landscape due to environmental gradients, suggesting that location-dependent management strategies may be more effective at reducing spread compared to a “one size fits all” approach across the entire introduced range. Using bait stations placed along linear transects within habitat preserves, we tested for effects of ecoregion, vegetation, soil
Authors
Jonathan Q. Richmond, Tritia Matsuda, Cheryl S. Brehme, Emily E. Perkins, Robert N. Fisher