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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

Fisheries research and monitoring activities of the Lake Erie Biological Station, 2020

This report presents biomass-based summaries of fish communities in the West Basin of Lake Erie derived from USGS bottom trawl surveys conducted from 2013 to 2020 during June and September. The survey design provided temporal and spatial coverage that did not exist in the interagency trawl database, and thus complemented the August ODNR-OMNRF effort to reinforce stock assessments with more robust
Authors
Kevin R. Keretz, Patrick Kočovský, Richard Kraus, James Roberts, Joseph Schmitt

Status and trends of pelagic and benthic prey fish populations in Lake Michigan, 2020

Lakewide acoustic (AC) and bottom trawl (BT) surveys are conducted annually to generate indices of pelagic and benthic prey fish densities in Lake Michigan. The BT survey had been conducted each fall from 1973 through 2019 using 12-m trawls at depths ranging from 9 to 110 m and included 70 fixed locations distributed across seven transects; this survey estimates densities of seven prey fish speci
Authors
Ralph William Tingley, David Bunnell, David Warner, Charles P. Madenjian, Patricia Dieter

Ambassador wolves participate In scientific research

The International Wolf Center wolves are famous for providing unique educational opportunities to visitors to Ely and to people around the globe. Less known, are the contributions these wolves make to scientific research. Recently the Center’s Exhibit Pack were subjects of  behavioral and acoustic research.
Authors
Shannon Barber-Meyer, Lori Schmidt, Vicente Palacios, Barbara Marti-Domken

Diel patterns of predation and fledging at nests of four species of grassland songbirds

Although it is common for nestlings to exhibit a strong bias for fledging in the morning, the mechanisms underlying this behavior are not well understood. Avoiding predation risk has been proposed as a likely mechanism by a number of researchers. We used video surveillance records from studies of grassland birds nesting in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin to determine the diel pattern of nes
Authors
Christine Ribic, David J. Rugg, Kevin Ellison, Nicola Koper, Pamela J. Pietz

Tarentola mauritanica (common wall gecko). Endoparasites

No abstract available.
Authors
Chris T. McAllister, Charles R Bursey, Samuel R Fisher, Chelsea E Martin, Robert N. Fisher

Be a wolf researcher! Wolf pup ethogram

Ethology is the study of behavior, and an ethogram is a list of behaviors, typically of a single species. For this ethogram we have selected a few representative behaviors that pups will exhibit during various growth phases, and therefore, this ethogram is not exhaustive. You will likely observe behaviors not detailed in this booklet (be sure to keep notes of your observations on the pages in th
Authors
Lori J. Schmidt, Shannon Barber-Meyer, D. Ann Raspberry

Native mammalian predators can depredate adult Burmese Pythons in Florida

Invasive predators are of conservation concern because they contribute to species declines and extinctions worldwide. Interactions of native fauna and invasive predators can be complex, but understanding these relationships can guide management and restoration. Observations of these interactions are especially important for invaders with low detectability like Python bivittatus (Burmese Python) wh
Authors
Matthew F. McCollister, Jillian Maureen Josimovich, Austin Lee Fitzgerald, Deborah K. Jansen, Andrea Faye Currylow

Demographic and potential biological removal models identify raptor species sensitive to current and future wind energy

A central challenge in applied ecology is understanding the effect of anthropogenic fatalities on wildlife populations and predicting which populations may be particularly vulnerable and in greatest need of management attention. We used 3 approaches to investigate potential effects of fatalities from collisions with wind turbines on 14 raptor species for both current (106 GW) and anticipated futur
Authors
James E. Diffendorfer, Jessica C. Stanton, Julie A. Beston, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Scott R. Loss, Todd E. Katzner, Douglas H. Johnson, Richard A. Erickson, Matthew D. Merrill, Margo D. Corum

Quarterly wildlife mortality report April 2021

The USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) Quarterly Mortality Report provides brief summaries of epizootic mortality and morbidity events by quarter. The write-ups, highlighting epizootic events and other wildlife disease topics of interest, are published in the Wildlife Disease Association quarterly newsletter. A link is provided in this WDA newsletter to the Wildlife Health Information Sha
Authors
Bryan J. Richards, Robin E. Russell, Anne Ballmann

Vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning for projected changes in water quality and quantity for protected areas in the upper Midwest

Climate change and the extreme weather associated with it can be a major challenge to natural resource managers charged with the protection, restoration, recovery, and management of wetlands and wildlife habitats. Forecasting the potential impacts of climate changes will be important for decision-makers and land managers seeking to minimize impacts to habitats, infrastructure, and wildlife populat
Authors
Kristen L. Bouska, John T. Delaney

Integration of geophysical evidence suggests that anorthosite composes a significant portion of Grand Marais ridge, an inferred basement high in western Lake Superior

The Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) is expressed geophysically by a semi-linear, regional gravity high that trends across the Midcontinent and Great Lakes region of North America. The gravity high is interrupted by two prominent, semi-circular gravity lows, which have been interpreted from modeling and seismic-reflection sections as basement highs of Archean granite (Allen et al., 1997). One is cen
Authors
V. J. Grauch, Samuel J. Heller

Field evaluation of an improved solid TFM formulation for use in treating small tributary streams

A solid lampricide formulation containing 23% 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) as the active ingredient was developed in the mid-1980s for use in small tributaries of dendritic streams during routine treatments to kill larval sea lamprey. This TFM bar formulation was designed to use a matrix of commercially prepared surfactants that would dissolve and slowly release their TFM payload over an
Authors
James A. Luoma, Nicholas Robertson, Justin Schueller, Nicholas A. Schloesser, Todd Johnson, Todd J. Severson, Matthew J Meulemans, Erica Muelemans