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
Hydroacoustic survey standardization: Inter-vessel differences in fish densities and potential effects of vessel avoidance
Hydroacoustics is used broadly to assess fish populations in marine and freshwater systems. Large-scale surveys often employ multiple vessels to complete a survey. Vessels can be a source of variation in multi-vessel surveys, and accounting for this variation is critical to precise and accurate assessments, whether as indices or measures of absolute abundance. We examined areal and volumetric dens
Authors
Mark D. DuFour, Patrick Kočovský, J Deller, Paul W. Simonin, Lars G. Rudstam
Investigation of algal toxins in a multispecies seabird die-off in the Bering and Chukchi seas
Between 2014 and 2017, widespread seabird mortality events were documented annually in the Bering and Chukchi seas, concurrent with dramatic reductions of sea ice, warmer than average ocean temperatures, and rapid shifts in marine ecosystems. Among other changes in the marine environment, harmful algal blooms (HABs) that produce the neurotoxins saxitoxin (STX) and domoic acid (DA) have been identi
Authors
Caroline R. Van Hemert, Robert J. Dusek, Matthew M. Smith, Robert Kaler, Gay Sheffield, Lauren M. Divine, Kathy J. Kuletz, Susan Knowles, Julia S. Lankton, D. Ransom Hardison, R. Wayne Litaker, Timothy Jones, Hillary K. Burgess, Julia K. Parrish
Exploration of the 2016 Yellowstone River fish kill and proliferative kidney disease in wild fish populations
Proliferative kidney disease (PKD) is an emerging disease that recently resulted in a large mortality event of salmonids in the Yellowstone River (Montana, USA). Total PKD fish mortalities in the Yellowstone River were estimated in the tens of thousands, which resulted in a multi‐week river closure and an estimated economic loss of US$500,000. This event shocked scientists, managers, and the publi
Authors
Patrick Ross Hutchins, Adam Sepulveda, Hanna Hartikainen, Ken D. Staigmiller, Scott T. Opitz, Renee M. Yamamoto, Amberly Huttinger, Rick J. Cordes, Tammy Weiss, Lacey R. Hopper, Maureen K. Purcell, Beth Okamura
Across borders: External factors and prior behaviour influence North Pacific albatross associations with fishing vessels
Understanding encounters between marine predators and fisheries across national borders and outside national jurisdictions offers new perspectives on unwanted interactions to inform ocean management and predator conservation. Although seabird–fisheries overlap has been documented at many scales, remote identification of vessel encounters has lagged because vessel movement data often are lacking.He
Authors
Rachael A Orben, Josh Adams, Michelle M. Hester, Scott A. Shaffer, Robert M. Suryan, Tomo Deguchi, Kiyoaki Ozaki, Fumio Sato, Lindsay C. Young, Corey A. Clatterbuck, Melinda G. Conners, David A Kroodsma, Leigh G Torres
Forecasting ecological responses for wetland restoration planning in Florida's Everglades
The Everglades wetland was once a river of grass, with water flowing slowly through the sawgrass, southward across the landscape. As developers took hold of south Florida, water was sent away from the heart of the Everglades through canals and levees to protect the former wetland for residential and agricultural development. In the 1990s, planning began to restore the Everglades in what is the lar
Authors
Stephanie Romanach, Leonard G. Pearlstine
Sarcoptic mange: An emerging panzootic in wildlife
Sarcoptic mange, a skin infestation caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei, is an emerging disease for some species of wildlife, potentially jeopardizing their welfare and conservation. Sarcoptes scabiei has a near-global distribution facilitated by its forms of transmission and use of a large diversity of host species (many of those with broad geographic distribution). In this review, we synthesize
Authors
L. E. Escobar, Scott Carver, Paul C. Cross, Luca Rossi, E. S. Almberg, M. J. Yabsley, K D Niedringhaus, Peach Van Wick, Ernesto Dominguez-Villegas, F.F. Gakuya, Yue Xie, Samer Angelone, Christian Gortázar, Francisca Astorga
Assessment of sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) diet using DNA metabarcoding of feces
Sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) are invasive in the Laurentian Great Lakes, parasitize large-bodied fishes, and therefore are the focus of an international control program. However, damage caused by sea lamprey to modern day fish stocks remains uncertain because diet analysis of juvenile sea lamprey has been challenging; they feed on blood and are difficult to randomly sample in the lakes. Here,
Authors
Nicholas S. Johnson, Sean A. Lewandoski, Christopher M. Merkes
Genetic structure of Maryland Brook Trout populations: Management implications for a threatened species
Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis have declined across their native range due to multiple anthropogenic factors, including landscape alteration and climate change. Although coldwater streams in Maryland (eastern United States) historically supported significant Brook Trout populations, only fragmented remnant populations remain, with the exception of the upper Savage River watershed in western Mar
Authors
Raymond P. Morgan II, David C. Kazyak, Tim L. King, Barbara A. Lubinski, Matthew T. Sell, Alan A Heft, Jess W Jones
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Lark Sparrow (Chondestes grammacus)
Keys to Lark Sparrow (Chondestes grammacus) management include providing open grasslands with sparse-to-moderate herbaceous and litter cover and a woody component and allowing occasional burning or moderate grazing. Lark Sparrows have been reported to use habitats with 10–63 centimeters (cm) average vegetation height, 10–54 percent grass cover, 9–25 percent forb cover, 4–18 percent shrub cover, 16
Authors
Jill A. Shaffer, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. Johnson, Marriah L. Sondreal, Christopher M. Goldade, Barry D. Parkin, Betty R. Euliss
Distribution, abundance, and genomic diversity of the endangered antioch dunes evening primrose (Oenothera deltoides subsp. howellii) surveyed in 2019
Sand dune ecosystems are highly dynamic landforms found along coastlines and riverine deltas where a supply of sand-sized material is available to be delivered by aquatic and wind environments. These unique ecosystems provide habitat for a variety of endemic and rare plant and animal species. Sand dunes have been affected by human development, sand mining, and shoreline stabilization from invasive
Mapping climate change vulnerability of aquatic-riparian ecosystems using decision-relevant indicators
Climate change has and is projected to continue to alter historical regimes of temperature, precipitation, and hydrology. To assess the vulnerability of climate change from a land management perspective and spatially identify where the most extreme changes are anticipated to occur, we worked in collaboration with land managers to develop a climate change vulnerability map for the midwestern United
Authors
John T. Delaney, Kristen L. Bouska, Josh D. Eash, Patricia J. Heglund, Andrew A Allstadt
Macrogenetic studies must not ignore limitations of genetic markers and scale
Millette et al. (Ecology Letters, 2020, 23:55–67) reported no consistent worldwide anthropogenic effects on animal genetic diversity using repurposed mitochondrial DNA sequences. We reexamine data from this study, describe genetic marker and scale limitations which might lead to misinterpretations with conservation implications, and provide advice to improve future macrogenetic studies.
Authors
Ivan Paz-Vinas, Evelyn L. Jensen, Laura D. Bertola, Martin F. Breed, Brian K. Hand, Margaret Hunter, Francine Kershaw, Deborah M. Leigh, Gordon Luikart, Joachim Mergeay, Joshua M. Miller, Charles B. van Rees, Gernot Segelbacher, Sean M. Hoban