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
Intact landscape promotes gene flow and low genetic structuring in the threatened Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake
Genetic structuring of wild populations is dependent on environmental, ecological, and life-history factors. The specific role environmental context plays in genetic structuring is important to conservation practitioners working with rare species across areas with varying degrees of fragmentation. We investigated fine-scale genetic patterns of the federally threatened Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnak
Authors
Nathan Kudla, Eric M. McCluskey, Vijay Lulla, Ralph Grundel, Jennifer A. Moore
Polar bear foraging behavior
Polar bears forage in the marine environment, primarily on the sea ice over the shallow waters of the continental shelf. They are solitary, ambush hunters that catch ringed and bearded seals when they surface to breathe in ice holes or haul out on the ice to rest and molt. In most parts of their range, polar bears experience dramatic seasonal variability in their ability to catch seals, with forag
Authors
Anthony M. Pagano
Sea otter predator avoidance behavior
Predators directly affect their prey as a source of mortality, and prey respond by employing antipredator strategies. Sea otters are a keystone predator within the nearshore community, but higher trophic level avian, terrestrial, and pelagic predators (e.g., bald eagles, brown bears, wolves, white sharks, and killer whales) prey on them. Three antipredator strategies used by sea otters are vigilan
Authors
Daniel Monson
2020 National Park Visitor Spending Effects Economic Contributions to Local Communities, States,and the Nation
The National Park Service (NPS) manages the Nation’s most iconic destinations that attract millions of visitors from across the Nation and around the world. Trip-related spending by NPS visitors generates and supports economic activity within park gateway communities. This report summarizes the annual economic contribution analysis that measures how NPS visitor spending cycles through local econom
Authors
Catherine Cullinane Thomas, Lynne Koontz
Monitoring the recovery of seabirds and forage fish following a major ecosystem disruption in Lower Cook Inlet
Following the North Pacific marine heatwave of 2014-2016 and associated extreme die-off of seabirds in the winter of 2015-2016, we repeated historical marine bird and forage fish surveys around two seabird colonies (Gull Island, Chisik Island) in lower Cook Inlet during 2016-2019 in order to document immediate and lingering impacts of the heatwave on resident fish and seabird populations. At sea,
Authors
Mayumi L. Arimitsu, Sarah K. Schoen, John F. Piatt, Caitlin Elizabeth Marsteller, Gary S. Drew
Putting people first: Using social science to reduce risk
Wildland-urban interface residents, who occupy the areas where wildlands meet and mix with human development, are both contributors to and recipients of the disastrous effects of wildland fires. They contribute through fire starts, flammable homes, unmitigated properties, opposition to mitigation on nearby public lands, and land use planning efforts. We argue that successful, sustainable wildland
Authors
Patricia A. Champ, Christopher M. Barth, Hannah Brenkert-Smith, Lilia C. Falk, Jamie Gomez, James Meldrum
Conservation status of the world’s skinks (Scincidae): Taxonomic and geographic patterns in extinction risk
Our knowledge of the conservation status of reptiles, the most diverse group of terrestrial vertebrates, has improved dramatically over the past decade, but still lags behind that of the other tetrapod groups. Here, we conduct the first comprehensive assessment (~92% of the world’s ~1,714 described species) of the conservation status of skinks (Scincidae), the most speciose reptile family worldwid
Authors
David G. Chapple, Uri Roll, Monika Böhm, Rocío Aguilar, Andrew P. Amey, Chris C. Austin, Maureen Baling, Anthony J. Barley, Michael F. Bates, Aaron M. Bauer, Daniel G. Blackburn, Phil Bowles, Rafe M. Brown, S. R. Chandramouli, Laurent Chirio, Hal Cogger, Guarino R. Colli, Werner Conradie, Patrick J. Couper, Mark A. Cowan, Michael D. Craig, Indraneil Das, Aniruddha Datta-Roy, Chris R. Dickman, Ryan J. Ellis, Aaron L. Fenner, Stewart Ford, S. R. Ganesh, Michael G. Gardner, Peter Geissler, Graeme R. Gillespie, Frank Glaw, Matthew J. Greenlees, Oliver W. Griffith, L. Lee Grismer, Margaret L. Haines, D. James Harris, S. Blair Hedges, Rod A. Hitchmough, Conrad J. Hoskin, Mark N. Hutchinson, Ivan Ineich, Jordi Janssen, Gregory R. Johnston, Benjamin R. Karin, J. Scott Keogh, Frederick Kraus, Matthew LeBreton, Petros Lymberakis, Rafaqat Masroor, Peter J. McDonald, Sven Mecke, Jane Melville, Sabine Melzer, Damian R. Michael, Aurélien Miralles, Nicola J. Mitchell, Nicola J. Nelson, Truong Q. Nguyen, Cristiano de Campos Nogueira, Hidetoshi Ota, Panayiotis Pafilis, Olivier S. G. Pauwels, Ana Perera, Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, Robert Reed, Marco A. Ribeiro-Júnior, Julia L. Riley, Sara Rocha, Pamela L. Rutherford, Ross A. Sadlier, Boaz Shacham, Glenn M. Shea, Richard Shine, Alex Slavenko, Adam Stow, Joanna Sumner, Oliver J. S. Tallowin, Roy Teale, Omar Torres-Carvajal, Jean-Francois Trape, Peter Uetz, Kanishka D. B. Ukuwela, Leonie E. Valentine, James U. Van Dyke, Dylan van Winkel, Raquel Vasconcelos, Miguel Vences, Philipp Wagner, Erik Wapstra, Geoffrey M. While, Martin J. Whiting, Camilla M. Whittington, Steve Wilson, Thomas Ziegler, Reid Tingley, Shai Meiri
Nocturnal incubation recess and flushing behavior by duck hens
Incubating birds must balance the needs of their developing embryos with their own physiological needs, and many birds accomplish this by taking periodic breaks from incubation. Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and gadwall (Mareca strepera) hens typically take incubation recesses in the early morning and late afternoon, but recesses can also take place at night. We examined nocturnal incubation recess
Authors
Rebecca Croston, Sarah H. Peterson, C. Alex Hartman, Mark P. Herzog, Cliff L. Feldheim, Michael L. Casazza, Josh T. Ackerman
Wetlands in intermittently closed estuaries can build elevations to keep pace with sea-level rise
Sea-level rise is a threat to coastal ecosystems, which have important conservation and economic value. While marsh response to sea-level rise has been well characterized for perennially open estuaries, bar-built intermittently-closed estuaries and their sea-level rise response are seldom addressed in the literature – despite being common globally. We seek to advance the conceptual understanding o
Authors
Karen M. Thorne, Kevin Buffington, Scott Jones, John L. Largier
Differential reliance on aquatic prey subsidies influences mercury exposure in riparian arachnids and songbirds
Cross-ecosystem subsidies move substantial amounts of nutrients between ecosystems. Emergent aquatic insects are a particularly important prey source for riparian songbirds but may also move aquatic contaminants, such as mercury (Hg), to riparian food webs. While many studies focus on species that eat primarily emergent aquatic insects, we instead study riparian songbirds with flexible foraging st
Authors
Allyson K. Jackson, Collin Eagles-Smith, W Douglas Robinson
Widespread Ranavirus and Perkinsea infections in Cuban treefrogs (Osteopilus septentrionalis) invading New Orleans, USA
Invasive species can negatively impact ecosystems in numerous ways, including vectoring pathogenic organisms. In amphibians, a lineage globally threatened by multiple pathogens, this spread of disease via invasive species could contribute to declines in native populations. The Cuban Treefrog (Osteopilus septentrionalis) is invasive in the southeastern USA. To assess whether O. septentrionalis is a
Authors
Net Galt, Matthew S Atkinson, Brad Glorioso, Hardin Waddle, Melanie Litton, Anna E. Savage
Effect of temperature on survival of Lost River Suckers with a natural infection of Ichthyobodo spp.
To compensate for low natural survival of endangered Lost River Suckers Deltistes luxatus, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Klamath Tribes have initiated captive rearing programs. We conducted laboratory experiments intended to determine the temperature for optimum growth of juvenile Lost River Suckers; however, due to an unanticipated infection with Ichthyobodo spp., we instead estimate
Authors
Barbara A. Martin, Summer M. Burdick, Maureen K. Purcell, Rachel L. Powers