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
Vegetation community monitoring: Species composition and biophysical gradients in Klamath Network parks
The Klamath Network of the National Park Service consists of six park units located in northern California and southern Oregon. The Network began implementing a vegetation monitoring protocol in 2011 to identify ecologically significant vegetation trends in the parks. The premise of the protocol is that multivariate analyses of species composition data is the most robust early detection means for
Authors
Sean B. Smith, Phillip J. van Mantgem, Dennis Odion
Regional-scale variability in the movement ecology of marine fishes revealed by an integrative acoustic tracking network
Marine fish movement plays a critical role in ecosystem functioning and is increasingly studied with acoustic telemetry. Traditionally, this research has focused on single species and small spatial scales. However, integrated tracking networks, such as the Integrated Tracking of Aquatic Animals in the Gulf of Mexico (iTAG) network, are building the capacity to monitor multiple species over larger
Authors
Claudia Friess, Susan K. Lowerre-Barbieri, Gregg R. Poulakis, Neil Hammerschlag, Jayne M. Gardiner, Andrea M. Kroetz, Kim Bassos-Hull, Joel Bickford, Erin C. Bohaboy, Robert D. Ellis, Hayden Menendez, William F. Patterson, Melissa E. Price, Jennifer S. Rehage, Colin P. Shea, Matthew J. Smukall, Sarah Walters Burnsed, Krystan A. Wilkinson, Joy Young, Angela B. Collins, Breanna C. DeGroot, Cheston T. Peterson, Caleb Purtlebaugh, Michael T. Randall, Rachel M. Scharer, Ryan W. Schloesser, Tonya R. Wiley, Gina A. Alvarez, Andy J. Danylchuk, Adam G. Fox, Ashley Hill, R. Dean Grubbs, James V. Locascio, Patrick M. O’Donnell, Gregory B. Skomal, Lucas P. Griffin, Fred G. Whoriskey
Angler-caught salmonid diets illustrate Lake Ontario Alewife population and predator-prey dynamics
Lake Ontario fisheries decision makers use information about the status and trajectory of prey fish populations, such as alewife, for salmonid sport fish management. In 2020, the April bottom trawl survey, typically used to assess alewife, was canceled the day after it began due to Coronavirus health concerns. This prompted NYSDEC and USGS science teams to initiate a diet study using angler-collec
Authors
Brian C. Weidel, Scott P. Minihkeim, Michael Connerton, Christopher Legard, Nicholas Farese, Christopher Osborne, Jana Lantry
Habitat suitability index model improvement recommendations
As part of the model improvement effort for the 2023 Coastal Master Plan, the Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) models used during previous master plans were reevaluated to assess how the model relationships could be improved, and to determine what species should be included in the master plan analyses. This process considered the technical reviews, comments, and suggested improvements provided by m
Authors
Shaye E. Sable, David C. Lindquist, Laura D'Acunto, Ann Hijuelos, Megan K. LaPeyre, Ann M. O'Connell, Elizabeth M. Robinson
Habitat suitability index model improvements
Habitat suitability index (HSI) models were developed for the 2023 Coastal Master Plan to evaluate the potential effects of coastal restoration and protection projects on habitat for key coastal fish, shellfish, and wildlife species. These species included: eastern oyster, brown shrimp, white shrimp, blue crab, crayfish, gulf menhaden, spotted seatrout, largemouth bass, American alligator, gadwall
Authors
David C. Lindquist, Shaye E. Sable, Laura D'Acunto, Ann Hijuelos, Erik I. Johnson, Summer R.M Langlois, Nicole L. Michel, Lindsay Nakashima, Ann M. O’Connell, Katie L. Percy, Elizabeth M. Robinson
Great American Outdoors Act Legacy Restoration Fund for National Parks: Economic impacts of fiscal year 2021 funding
The Great American Outdoors Act of 2020 (GAOA), P.L. 116-152, established the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF) to address priority deferred maintenance projects on National Park Service (NPS) and other federal lands. For the NPS, the LRF equates to receiving a maximum of $1.33 billion per year for fiscal years 2021 through 2025. Funding of this magnitude provides the NP
Authors
Catherine Cullinane Thomas, Lynne Koontz
Enhanced between-site biosecurity to minimize herpetofaunal disease-causing pathogen transmission
Pathogens and their associated diseases have the potential to severely affect wildlife populations, including herpetofauna. Concern is increasing for transmission pathways of herpetofaunal diseases, especially for amphibians affected by the fungal pathogens Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd: Longcore et al. 1999) and B. salamandrivorans (Bsal: Martel et al. 2013), and amphibians and reptiles affe
Authors
Deanna H. Olson, Katherine H. Haman, Matthew J. Gray, Reid N. Harris, Tracy Thompson, Marley Iredale, Michelle Christman, Jennifer M. Williams, Michael J. Adams, Jennifer R. Ballard
Riparian area changes in greenness and water use on the Lower Colorado River in the USA from 2000-2020
Declines in riparian ecosystem greenness and water use have been observed in the delta of the Lower Colorado River (LCR) since 2000. The purpose of our case study was to measure these metrics on the U.S. side of the border between Hoover and Morelos Dams to see if declining greenness was unique to the portion of the river in Mexico. In this case study, five riparian reaches of the LCR from Hoover
Authors
Pamela L. Nagler, Armando Barreto-Muñoz, Sattar Chavoshi Borujeni, Hamideh Nouri, Christopher J. Jarchow, Kamel Didan
Relative energy production determines effect of repowering on wildlife mortality at wind energy facilities
Reduction in wildlife mortality is often cited as a potential advantage to repowering wind facilities, that is, replacing smaller, lower capacity, closely spaced turbines, with larger, higher capacity ones, more widely spaced. Wildlife mortality rates, however, are affected by more than just size and spacing of turbines, varying with turbine operation, seasonal and daily weather and habitat, all o
Authors
Manuela Huso, Tara Conkling, Daniel Dalthorp, Melanie J Davis, Heath Smith, Amy Fesnock-Parker, Todd E. Katzner
Regional ensemble modeling reduces uncertainty for digital soil mapping
Recent country and continental-scale digital soil mapping efforts have used a single model to predict soil properties across large regions. However, different ecophysiographic regions within large-extent areas are likely to have different soil-landscape relationships so models built specifically for these regions may more accurately capture these relationships relative to a ‘global’ model. We ask
Authors
Colby C. Brungard, Travis W. Nauman, Michael C. Duniway, Kari E. Veblen, Kyle C. Nehring, David S. White, Shawn W. Salley, Julius Anchang
Biofluorescence in tiger salamanders documented in Rocky Mountain National Park for the first time
No abstract available.
Authors
Benjamin Lafrance, Andrew M. Ray, Amanda M. Kissel, Erin L. Muths
Biological correlates of sea urchin recruitment in kelp forest and urchin barren habitats
Shifts between the alternate stable states of sea urchin barren grounds and kelp forests correspond to sea urchin density. In the Aleutian Archipelago, green sea urchins Strongylocentrotus polyacanthus are the dominant herbivores that graze kelp forests. Sea urchin recruitment is an important driver that influences sea urchin density, particularly in the absence of top-down control from a keystone
Authors
Ben Weitzman, Brenda H. Konar