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Publications

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.

Filter Total Items: 3984

Survival of angled saugers in the lower Tennessee River

An intense winter fishery for sauger Sander canadensis exists in the lower Tennessee River, and the objective of this study was to estimate the survival of angled saugers. In February 2008 and January–March 2009, 81 angled saugers (72 live plus 9 euthanized) were affixed with ultrasonic tags. The movements (or lack thereof) by saugers released alive were compared with those of euthanized fish to a
Authors
Christy L. Kitterman, Phillip William Bettoli

Seasonal habitat shifts by benthic fishes in headwater streams

Fish-habitat associations in streams have been widely studied; however, temporal considerations have been neglected, particularly during the winter. We quantitatively sampled perennial headwater streams in the Missouri Ozarks during the summer (n = 13) and winter (n = 4) to evaluate possible habitat shifts by three benthic fishes at two spatial scales: channel unit and microhabitat. Density of all
Authors
Adam V. Rettig, Shannon K. Brewer

Genetic analysis of scats reveals minimum number and sex of recently documented mountain lions

Recent records of mountain lions Puma concolor and concurrent declines in desert bighorn sheep Ovis canadensis mexicana on Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona, United States, have prompted investigations to estimate the number of mountain lions occurring there. We performed noninvasive genetic analyses and identified species, individuals, and sex from scat samples collected from the Kofa and
Authors
Ashwin Naidu, Lindsay A. Smythe, Ron W. Thompson, Melanie Culver

Genetic methods for biodiversity assessment

No abstract available.
Authors
Melanie Culver, Robert R. Fitak, Hans-Werner Herrmann

Isolation of microsatellite loci from the lesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris yerbuenae)

Leptonycteris yerbabuenae is a nectarivore (subfamily: Glossophaginae, family: Phyllostomidae), is found from southern Arizona/southwestern New Mexico to southern Mexico including the Baja California peninsula (Ceballos et al.1997; Cockrum 1991).Leptonycteris yerbabuenae is listed as endangered in the United States (Shull 1988) and threatened in Mexico (SEMARNAT 2002). They migrate up to 1,800 k
Authors
Judith Ramirez, A. Munguia-Vega, Melanie Culver

Diet and population metrics of the introduced blue catfish population in the Altamaha, River, GA

Blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) were first detected in the Altamaha River, Georgia, during an access creel survey in 2005 and subsequently in 2006 during annual ictalurid sampling. Introduction of this species in the Altamaha River is believed to have occurred via escape from normal upstream reservoir releases from Lake Sinclair and Lake Oconee. Relative abundance, as indexed by electrofishing c
Authors
Timothy F. Bonvechio, Cecil A. Jennings

Hepatic element concentrations of lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) during spring migration in the upper Midwest

High concentrations of some hepatic elements might be contributing to the decline of the continental lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) population. We evaluated hepatic element concentrations of male and female lesser scaup collected from the upper Midwest (Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota) during the 2003 and 2004 spring migrations. We measured concentrations of 24 elements in livers of
Authors
Angela E. Pillatzki, Regg D. Neiger, Steven R. Chipps, Kenneth F. Higgins, Nancy Thiex, Alan D. Afton

Diet composition and feeding patterns of adult shovelnose sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus) in the lower Platte River, Nebraska, USA

Two-hundred and seven adult shovelnose sturgeon ranging from 450 to 718 mm in length were sampled from June to October 2001 and May to July 2002 to determine diet composition and feeding patterns in the lower Platte River. Shovelnose sturgeon fed primarily upon aquatic insect larvae and nymphs (>99% composition by number). Diptera of the family Chironomidae were the dominant prey items in both yea
Authors
T. Rapp, D.A. Shuman, B.D.S. Graeb, Steven R. Chipps, E.J. Peters

Seabird use of discards from a nearshore shrimp fishery in the South Atlantic Bight, USA

Shrimp trawling is common throughout the southeastern and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the USA and is the primary contributor to fisheries discards in these regions. Tens of thousands of nearshore seabirds nest near shrimp trawling grounds in the USA, but to date, there has been no assessment of the relationship between seabirds and shrimp trawlers. We examined the taxonomic composition of bycatch, ra
Authors
Patrick G.R. Jodice, Lisa C. Wickliffe, Elena B. Sachs

Characterization of winter foraging locations of Adélie penguins along the Western Antarctic Peninsula, 2001–2002

In accord with the hypotheses driving the Southern Ocean Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (SO GLOBEC) program, we tested the hypothesis that the winter foraging ecology of a major top predator in waters off the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), the Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae), is constrained by oceanographic features related to the physiography of the region. This hypothesis grew from the
Authors
Eric S. Erdmann, Christine Ribic, Donna L. Patterson-Fraser, William R. Fraser

Assessing the role of conspecific attraction in habitat restoration for Henslow's sparrows in Iowa

The presence of conspecific individuals may provide important cues about habitat quality for territorial songbirds. We tested the ability of a conspecific song playback system to attract Henslow’s sparrows to previously unoccupied restored habitat. We successfully attracted Heslow’s sparrows to 3 of 7 treatment plots using conspecific song playbacks and we found no Henslow’s sparrows in control pl
Authors
Jennifer A. Vogel, Rolf R. Koford, David L. Otis

Changing permafrost and its impacts

No abstract available.
Authors
Terry V. Callaghan, Margareta Johansson, Barrie Bonsal, Hanne H. Christiansen, Arne Instanes, Vladimir E. Romanovsky, Sharon A. Smith