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: 41758
Storms and pH of dam releases affect downstream phosphorus cycling in an arid regulated river
Reservoirs often bury phosphorus (P), leading to seasonal or persistent reductions in P supply to downstream rivers. Here we ask if observed variation in the chemistry of dam release waters stimulates downstream sediment P release and biological activity in an arid, oligotrophic system, the Colorado River below Lake Powell, Arizona, USA. We use bottle incubations to simulate a range of observed pH
Authors
Bridget Deemer, Robin H. Reibold, Anna Fatta, Jessica R. Corman, Charles Yackulic, Sasha C. Reed
White perch health relative to urbanization and habitat degradation in Chesapeake Bay tributaries. II. Hepatic and splenic macrophage aggregates
Macrophage aggregate (MA) abundance in fish is a useful general biomarker of contaminant exposures and environmental stress. Hepatic and splenic MAs were evaluated in semi-anadromous white perch Morone americana (Gmelin, 1789) from the urbanized Severn River (S) and the more rural Choptank River (C), Chesapeake Bay. Fish were collected from different sites in the annual migratory circuit in each r
Authors
Vicki S. Blazer, Mark A Matsche, Erin L. Pulster
White perch health relative to urbanization and habitat degradation in Chesapeake Bay tributaries. I. Biliary neoplasms and hepatic lesions
White perch Morone americana (Gmelin, 1789) from the Chesapeake Bay (USA) watershed have a high incidence of liver disease, including neoplasms of bile duct origin. Fish collected seasonally from spring 2019 to winter 2020 from the urban Severn River and the more rural Choptank River were evaluated for hepatic lesions. Biliary hyperplasia (64.1%), neoplasms (cholangioma and cholangiocarcinoma, 27%
Authors
Vicki S. Blazer, Mark A Matsche, Erin L. Pulster
Evolution of a minimal cell
Possessing only essential genes, a minimal cell can reveal mechanisms and processes that are critical for the persistence and stability of life1,2. Here we report on how an engineered minimal cell3,4 contends with the forces of evolution compared with the Mycoplasma mycoides non-minimal cell from which it was synthetically derived. Mutation rates were the highest among all reported bacteria, but w
Authors
Roy Z. Moger-Reischer, John I. Glass, Kim S. Wise, Lijie Sun, Daniela M.C. Bittencourt, Brent K. Lehmkuhl, Donald Schoolmaster, Michael Lynch, Jay T. Lennon
SARS-CoV-2 utilization of ACE2 from different bat species allows for virus entry and replication in vitro
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is believed to have a zoonotic origin with bats suspected as a natural host. In this work, we individually express the ACE2 of seven bat species including, little brown, great roundleaf, Pearson's horseshoe, greater horseshoe, Brazilian free-tailed, Egyptian rousette, and Chinese rufous horseshoe in DF1 cells and determine their ability
Authors
Kelsey Briggs, Ryan Sweeney, David S. Blehert, Erica Spackman, David L. Suarez, Darrel Kapczynski
Identifying invertebrate indicators for streamflow duration assessments in forested headwater streams
Streamflow-duration assessment methods (SDAMs) are rapid, indicator-based tools for classifying streamflow duration (e.g., intermittent vs perennial flow) at the reach scale. Indicators are easily assessed stream properties used as surrogates of flow duration, which is too resource intensive to measure directly for many reaches. Invertebrates are commonly used as SDAM indicators because many are n
Authors
Ken M. Fritz, Roxolana O. Kashuba, Gregory J. Pond, Jay R. Christensen, Laurie C. Alexander, Benjamin J. Washington, Brent R. Johnson, David Walters, William T. Thoeny, Paul C. Weaver
Estimating proximity effects to wildfire fuels treatments on house prices in Cibola National Forest, New Mexico, USA
Forested landscapes in the Western United States are subject to growing size and severity of wildfires, in part due to historical management strategies focusing on wildfire suppression. Forest restoration treatments and fuels reductions, including thinning and prescribed burning, can reduce the frequency and intensity of wildfires. Extensive restoration and fuels treatment efforts are underway acr
Authors
Ryan A. Fitch, Julie M. Mueller, James Meldrum, Christopher Huber
Global assessment of marine plastic exposure for oceanic birds
Plastic pollution is distributed patchily around the world’s oceans. Likewise, marine organisms that are vulnerable to plastic ingestion or entanglement have uneven distributions. Understanding where wildlife encounters plastic is crucial for targeting research and mitigation. Oceanic seabirds, particularly petrels, frequently ingest plastic, are highly threatened, and cover vast distances during
Authors
Bethany L. Clark, Ana P. B. Carneiro, Elizabeth J. Pearmin, Marie-Morgane Rouyer, Thomas A Clay, Win Cowger, Richard A. Phillips, Andrea Manica, Carolina Hazin, Marcus Eriksen, Jacob González-Solís, Josh Adams, Yuri V. Albores-Barajas, Joanna Alfaro-Shigueto, Maria Saldhanha Alho, Deusa Teixeira Araujo, José Manuel Arcos, John P. Y. Arnould, Nadito J. P. Barbosa, Christophe Barbraud, Annalea M. Beard, Jessie Beck, Elizabeth Bell, Della G. Bennet, Maud Berlincourt, Manuel Biscoito, Oskar K. Bjørnstad, Mark Bolton, Katherine A. Booth Jones, John J. Borg, Karen Bourgeois, Vincent Bretagnolle, Joël Bried, James V. Briskie, M. de L. Brooke, Katherine C. Brownlie, Leandro Bugoni, Licia Calabrese, Letizia Campioni, Mark J. Carey, Ryan D. Carle, Nicholas Carlile, Ana R. Carreiro, Paulo Catry, Teresa Catry, Jacopo G. Cecere, Filipe R. Ceia, Yves Cherel, Chang-Yong Choi, Marco Cianchetti-Benedetti, Rohan H. Clarke, Jaimie Cleeland, Valentina Colodro, Bradley C. Congdon, Jóhannis Danielsen, Federico De Pascalis, Zoe Deakin, Nina Dehnhard, Giacomo Dell’Omo, Karine Delord, Sébastien Descamps, Ben J. Dilley, Herculano A. Dinis, Jerome Dubos, Brendon J. Dunphy, Louise M. Emmerson, Ana Isabel Fagundes, Annette L. Fayet, Jonathan J. Felis, Johannes H. Fischer, Amanda Freeman, Aymeric Fromant, Giorgia Gaibani, David García, Carina Gjerdrum, Ivandra Soeli Gonçalves Correia Gomes, Manuela G. Forero, José Pedro Granadeiro, W. James Grecian, David Grémillet, Tim Guilford, Gunnar Thor Hallgrimsson, Luke R. Halpin, Erpur Snær Hansen, April Hedd, Morten Helberg, Halfdan H. Helgason, Leeann M. Henry, Hannah F. R. Hereward, Marcos Hernandez-Montero, Mark A. Hindell, Peter J. Hodum, Simona Imperio, Audrey Jaeger, Mark Jessopp, Patrick Jodice, Carl G. Jones, Christopher W. Jones, Jón Einar Jónsson, Adam Kane, Sven Kapelj, Yuna Kim, Holly Kirk, Yann Kolbeinsson, Philipp L. Kraemer, Lucas Krüger, Paulo Lago, Todd J. Landers, Jennifer L. Lavers, Matthieu Le Corre, Andreia Leal, Maite Louzao, Jeremy Madeiros, Maria Magalhães, Mark L. Mallory, Juan F. Masello, Bruno Massa, Sakiko Matsumoto, Fiona McDuie, Laura McFarlane Tranquilla, Fernando Medrano, Benjamin J. Metzger, Teresa Militão, William A. Montevecchi, Rosalinda C. Montone, Leia Navarro-Herrero, Verónica C. Neves, David G. Nicholls, Malcolm A. C. Nicoll, Ken Norris, Steffen Oppel, Daniel Oro, Ellie Owen, Oliver Padget, Vítor H. Paiva, David Pala, Jorge M. Pereira, Clara Péron, Maria V. Petry, Admilton de Pina, Ariete T. Moreira Pina, Patrick Pinet, Pierre A. Pistorius, Ingrid L. Pollet, Benjamin J. Porter, Timothée A. Poupart, Christopher D. L. Powell, Carolina B. Proaño, Júlia Pujol-Casado, Petra Quillfeldt, John L. Quinn, Andre F. Raine, Helen Raine, Iván Ramírez, Jaime A. Ramos, Raül Ramos, Andreas Ravache, Matt J. Rayner, Timothy A. Reid, Gregory J. Robertson, Gerard J. Rocamora, Dominic P. Rollinson, Robert A. Ronconi, Andreu Rotger, Diego Rubolini, Kevin Ruhomaun, Asunción Ruiz, James C. Russell, Peter G. Ryan, Sarah Saldanha, Ana Sanz-Aguilar, Mariona Sardà-Serra, Yvan G. Satgé, Katsufumi Sato, Wiebke C. Schäfer, Stefan Schoombie, Scott A. Shaffer, Nirmal Jivan Shah, Akiko Shoji, Dave Shutler, Ingvar A. Sigurðsson, Mónica C. Silva, Alison E. Small, Cecilia Soldatini, Hallvard Strøm, Christopher A. Surman, Akinori Takahashi, Vikash R. V. Tatayah, Graeme A. Taylor, Robert J. Thomas, David R. Thompson, Paul M. Thompson, Thorkell L. Thórarinsson, Diego Vicente-Sastre, Eric Vidal, Ewan D. Wakefield, Susan M. Waugh, Henri Weimerskirch, Heiko U. Wittmer, Takashi Yamamoto, Ken Yoda, Carlos B. Zavalaga, Francis J. Zino, Maria P. Dias
Seasonal habitat utilization provides evidence for site fidelity during both spawn and non-spawning seasons in Lake Ontario cisco Coregonus artedi
The Lake Ontario cisco Coregonus artedi population declined in the 20th century, and restoration of this species is a management objective. Management tools to restore cisco are limited because little is known about cisco spawning behavior and habitat use. We tagged 76 cisco from a remnant population in Chaumont Bay, Lake Ontario with acoustic transmitters and characterized seasonal habitat use fr
Authors
Alexander J. Gatch, Dimitry Gorsky, Brian C. Weidel, Zy F. Biesinger, Michael J. Connerton, Cameron Davis, Hannah Lachance, Brian O'Malley
Presence of hummock and hollow microtopography reflects shifting balances of shallow subsidence and root zone expansion along forested wetland river gradients
Tidal freshwater forested wetlands (TFFWs) are in an active phase of transition to tidal marsh with sea level rise and salinity incursion along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States (U.S.). A prominent feature of TFFWs is hummock/hollow microtopography where hollows represent the flat, base-elevation of the floodplain where inundation occurs relatively frequently, while hummocks provid
Authors
Ken Krauss, Gregory Noe, Jamie A. Duberstein, Nicole Cormier, Andrew From, Thomas Rossiter Doody, William H. Conner, Donald Cahoon, Darren Johnson
Validation of a species-specific probe-based qPCR assay for the threatened meltwater stonefly, Lednia tumana, in environmental samples
A probe-based quantitative real-time PCR assay was developed to detect meltwater stonefly (Lednia tumana) environmental (e)DNA in water samples. The limits of detection and quantification, respectively, were 12.1 and 58.4 gene copies for calibration standards and these values were similarly low in a relevant environmental sample matrix (8.6 and 174.2, respectively). The assay’s utility was demonst
Authors
Patrick Ross Hutchins, Jonathan Giersch, Adam Sepulveda, Clint C. Muhlfeld
Development of a quantitative PCR assay for detecting northwest salamander (ambystoma gracile) in environmental DNA samples
We developed a primer and probe based quantitative PCR assay for use with environmental DNA to detect Northwest salamander (Ambystoma gracile), a species endemic to the temperate Pacific coastal region of North America. The assay targets a region in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop gene. Tests of the assay were performed in silico (using the NCBI BLAST tool), in vitro (using DNA extracted from
Authors
Marshal Hoy, Carl Ostberg