Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

Year in Review

Learn more

Collection of Stories (2015-2022)

Learn more

Areas of Expertise

Meet our Researchers

Publication Search

Learn more

Abstracts

Learn more

Partnerships

Learn more

State Conservation Magazines

How much attention is given to specific topics?

Browse publications authored by our scientists.  Publications available are: USGS-authored journal articles, series reports, book chapters, other government publications, and more. **Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

Year in Review

Our Story

Blooming wildflowers in Pinnacles National Park.

The circular highlights how our research efforts fulfill larger USGS strategic goals.

Learn more

Our History

Tricolored Heron at Ding Darling National Park

This book is dedicated to those who are or have been associated with the unit program. 

Learn more

Our Research

Yellow-billed Loon on a lake in the northern area of Alaska.

This report provides abstracts of most of the ongoing and recently completed research.

Learn more
Filter Total Items: 3984

Visualizing social-ecological intensities for management of recreation visitors in a multiuse system

Accounting for the variation of visitor conflicts and ecological disturbance of outdoor recreation activities across space and time can cause difficulty for managers seeking to make decisions in social-ecological systems (SESs). We develop a method to quantify and visualize social and ecological intensities resulting from outdoor recreation. We demonstrate the utility of our method at Valentine Na
Authors
O. A. DaRugna, C. J. Chizinski, Kevin L. Pope, L. A. Powell, M. A. Kaemik
By
Cooperative Research Units

A statistical framework to track temporal dependence of chlorophyll–nutrient relationships with implications for lake eutrophication management

A reliable chlorophyll–nutrient relationship (CNR) is essential for lake eutrophication management. Although the spatial variability of CNRs has been extensively explored, temporal variations of CNRs at the individual lake scale has rarely been discussed. The paucity of information about temporal dependence in CNRs may in part be due to the lack of a suitable statistical framework that helps guide
Authors
Qianlinglin Qiu, Zhongyao Liang, Yaoyang Xu, Shin-ichiro S. Matsuzaki, Kazuhiro Komatsu, Tyler Wagner
By
Cooperative Research Units

Population genomics of free-ranging Great Plains white-tailed and mule deer reflects a long history of interspecific hybridization

Hybridization is a natural process at species-range boundaries that may variably promote the speciation process or break down species barriers but minimally will influence management outcomes of distinct populations. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) have broad and overlapping distributions in North America and a recognized capacity for interspecific hy
Authors
Fraser J. Combe, Levi Jaster, Andrew Ricketts, David A. Haukos, Andrew G. Hope
By
Cooperative Research Units

Warming conditions boost reproductive output for a northern gopher tortoise population

The effects of climate change on at-risk species will depend on how life history processes respond to climate and whether the seasonal timing of local climate changes overlaps with species-specific windows of climate sensitivity. For long-lived, iteroparous species like gopher tortoises Gopherus polyphemus, climate likely has a greater influence on reproduction than on adult survival. Our objectiv
Authors
Elizabeth Ann Hunter, Kevin J. Loope, K. Kristina Drake, Kaitlyn Hanley, Douglas N. Jones, Kevin T. Shoemaker, David C. Rostal
By
Cooperative Research Units

An introduction to decision science for conservation

Biodiversity conservation decisions are difficult, especially when they involve differing values, complex multidimensional objectives, scarce resources, urgency, and considerable uncertainty. Decision science embodies a theory about how to make difficult decisions and an extensive array of frameworks and tools that make that theory practical. We sought to improve conceptual clarity and practical a
Authors
Victoria Hemming, Abbey E. Camaclang, Megan Adams, Mark Burgman, Katherine Carbeck, Josie Carwardine, Iadine Chades, Lia Chalifour, Sarah J. Converse, Lindsay Davidson, Georgia E. Garrard, Riley Finn, Jesse R. Fleri, Jacqueline Huard, Helen Mayfield, Eve McDonald Madden, Ilona Naujokaitis-Lewis, Hugh P. Possingham, Libby Rumpff, Michael C. Runge, Daniel Stewart, Vivitskaia J. D. Tulloch, Terry Walshe, Tara G. Martin
By
Cooperative Research Units

Integrated tools for identifying optimal flow regimes and evaluating alternative minimum flows for recovering at-risk salmonids in a highly managed system

Water resource managers are faced with difficult decisions on how to satisfy human water needs while maintaining or restoring riverine ecosystems. Decision sciences have developed approaches and tools that can be used to break down difficult water management decisions into their component parts. An essential aspect of these approaches is the use of quantitative models to evaluate alternative manag
Authors
James Peterson, Jessica E. Pease, Luke Whitman, James White, Laurel E. Stratton Garvin, Stewart A. Rounds, J. Rose Wallick
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units, Oregon Water Science Center

Effects of sample gear on estuarine nekton assemblage assessments and food web model simulations

Long-term fisheries-independent sampling data inform population status and trends of species-specific biomass and are often used to drive biomass-based food web models such as the Comprehensive Aquatic Systems Model (CASM). Indicators such as total biomass and mean trophic level derived from these data and from CASM outputs inform management and facilitate assessments of on-going and predicted coa
Authors
Megan K. La Peyre, S. Sable, C. M. Taylor, Katherine S. Watkins, E. Kiskaddon, M. Baustian
By
Cooperative Research Units

Genomics reveals identity, phenology and population demographics of larval ciscoes (Coregonus artedi, C. hoyi, and C. kiyi) in the Apostle Islands, Lake Superior

We demonstrate, for the first time, the ability to reliably assign an assemblage of larval coregonines [Salmonidae Coregoninae] to shallow and multiple deepwater species. Larval coregonines from the Apostle Islands, Lake Superior, were genotyped using restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) and were assigned to species using reference genotypes from adult corgonines from the same regio
Authors
Hannah Lachance, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Wesley Larson, Mark Vinson, Jason D. Stockwell
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units, Great Lakes Science Center

Supplemental habitat is reservoir dependent: Identifying optimal planting decision using Bayesian Decision Networks

Environmental management often requires making decisions despite system uncertainty. One such example is mudflat mediation in flood control reservoirs. Reservoir mudflats limit development of diverse fish assemblages due to the lack of structural habitat provided by plants. Seeding mudflats with agricultural plants may mimic floodplain wetlands once inundated and provide fish habitat and achieve h
Authors
D. M. Norris, M. E. Colvin, Leandro E. Miranda, M. A. Lashley
By
Cooperative Research Units

The Southeastern U.S. as a complex of use sites for nonbreeding rufa Red Knots: Fifteen years of band-encounter data

Shorebirds have been banded for decades and monitoring programs have helped to accumulate large band-encounter datasets from across the globe; however, many of these datasets are left largely unused, particularly those collected by citizen scientists. These datasets can provide valuable insight into the migration and movement strategies of shorebirds and the threats they face throughout their migr
Authors
M.E. Tuma, Abby Powell
By
Cooperative Research Units

Influence of seasonal extreme flows on Brook Trout recruitment

Populations of Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis exhibit large variation in annual recruitment (abundance of young of the year [age 0]), which is likely a product of density-dependent and density-independent factors. Quantifying the importance of each of these mechanisms in regulating Brook Trout recruitment would be valuable to managers that are responsible for the conservation of this iconic spe
Authors
John A. Sweka, Tyler Wagner
By
Cooperative Research Units

Can identifying discrete behavioral groups with individual-based acoustic telemetry advance the understanding of fish distribution patterns?

Identifying patterns of organismal distribution can provide valuable insights for basic and applied marine and coastal ecology because understanding where animals are located is foundational to both research and science-based conservation. Understanding variation in distributional patterns can lead to a better assessment of ecological drivers and an improved ability to predict consequences of natu
Authors
Ryland B. Taylor, Martha E. Mather, Joseph M. Smith, Kayla M. Boles
By
Cooperative Research Units