Publications
Find out more about Species Management Research Program through our publications. Browse the entire list below or by specific topics at the links below.
Filter Total Items: 653
Effects of brine contamination from energy development on wetland macroinvertebrate community structure in the Prairie Pothole Region
Wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America support macroinvertebrate communities that are integral to local food webs and important to breeding waterfowl. Macroinvertebrates in PPR wetlands are primarily generalists and well adapted to within and among year changes in water permanence and salinity. The Williston Basin, a major source of U.S. energy production, underlies the sout
Authors
Todd M. Preston, Michael J. Borgreen, Andrew M. Ray
Research, monitoring, and evaluation of emerging issues and measures to recover the Snake River fall Chinook salmon ESU
The portion of the Snake River fall Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ESU that spawns upstream of Lower Granite Dam transitioned from low to high abundance during 1992–2017 in association with U.S. Endangered Species Act recovery efforts and other federally mandated actions. This annual report focuses on (1) numeric and habitat use responses by natural- and hatchery-origin spawners, (2) phen
Authors
Kenneth Tiffan, John M. Plumb, Russell W. Perry, John Erhardt, Rulon J. Hemingway, Brad Bickford, Tobyn N. Rhodes, William P. Connor, Frank L. Mullins
Demographic response of Louisiana Waterthrush, a stream obligate songbird of conservation concern, to shale gas development
Shale gas development continues to outpace the implementation of best management practices for wildlife affected by development. We examined demographic responses of the Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia motacilla) to shale gas development during 2009–2011 and 2013–2015 in a predominantly forested landscape in West Virginia, USA. Forest cover across the study area decreased from 95% in 2008 to 91% i
Authors
Mack W. Frantz, Petra B. Wood, James Sheehan, Gregory George
USA National Phenology Network observational data documentation
The goals of the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN, www.usanpn.org) are to advance science, inform decisions, and communicate and connect with the public regarding phenology and species’ responses to environmental variation and climate change. The USA-NPN seeks to advance the science of phenology and facilitate ecosystem stewardship by providing phenological information freely and openly. To
Authors
Alyssa H. Rosemartin, Ellen G. Denny, Katharine L. Gerst, R. Lee Marsh, Erin E. Posthumus, Theresa M. Crimmins, Jake Weltzin
Status and trends of adult Lost River (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose (Chasmistes brevirostris) sucker populations in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2017
Executive SummaryData from a long-term capture-recapture program were used to assess the status and dynamics of populations of two long-lived, federally endangered catostomids in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon. Lost River suckers (LRS; Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose suckers (SNS; Chasmistes brevirostris) have been captured and tagged with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags during their spawni
Authors
David A. Hewitt, Eric C. Janney, Brian S. Hayes, Alta C. Harris
Helping decision makers frame, analyze, and implement decisions
All decisions have the same recognizable elements. Context, objectives, alternatives, consequences, and deliberation. Decision makers and analysts familiar with these elements can quickly see the underlying structure of a decision.There are only a small number of classes of decisions. These classes differ in the cognitive and scientific challenge they present to the decision maker; the ability to
Authors
Michael C. Runge, Eve McDonald-Madden
Juvenile Lost River and shortnose sucker year class strength, survival, and growth in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, and Clear Lake Reservoir, California—2016 Monitoring Report
Executive SummaryThe largest populations of federally endangered Lost River (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose suckers (Chasmistes brevirostris) exist in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, and Clear Lake Reservoir, California. Upper Klamath Lake populations are decreasing because adult mortality, which is relatively low, is not being balanced by recruitment of young adult suckers into known spawning aggre
Authors
Summer M. Burdick, Carl O. Ostberg, Marshal S. Hoy
Opportunistically collected data reveal habitat selection by migrating Whooping Cranes in the U.S. Northern Plains
The Whooping Crane (Grus americana) is a federally endangered species in the United States and Canada that relies on wetland, grassland, and cropland habitat during its long migration between wintering grounds in coastal Texas, USA, and breeding sites in Alberta and Northwest Territories, Canada. We combined opportunistic Whooping Crane sightings with landscape data to identify correlates of Whoop
Authors
Neal D. Niemuth, Adam J. Ryba, Aaron T. Pearse, Susan M. Kvas, David A. Brandt, Brian Wangler, Jane E. Austin, Martha J. Carlisle
Decision support frameworks and tools for conservation
The practice of conservation occurs within complex socioecological systems fraught with challenges that require transparent, defensible, and often socially engaged project planning and management. Planning and decision support frameworks are designed to help conservation practitioners increase planning rigor, project accountability, stakeholder participation, transparency in decisions, and learnin
Authors
Mark W. Schwartz, Carly N. Cook, Robert L. Pressey, Andrew S. Pullin, Michael C. Runge, Nick Salafsky, William J. Sutherland, Matthew A. Williamson
Brown trout in the Lees Ferry reach of the Colorado River—Evaluation of causal hypotheses and potential interventions
Over the period 2014–2016, the number of nonnative brown trout (Salmo trutta) captured during routine monitoring in the Lees Ferry reach of the Colorado River, downstream of Glen Canyon Dam, began increasing. Management agencies and stakeholders have questioned whether the increase in brown trout in the Lees Ferry reach represents a threat to the endangered humpback chub (Gila cypha), to the rainb
Authors
Michael C. Runge, Charles B. Yackulic, Lucas S. Bair, Theodore A. Kennedy, Richard A. Valdez, Craig Ellsworth, Jeffrey L. Kershner, R. Scott Rogers, Melissa A. Trammell, Kirk L. Young
Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) habitat selection as a function of land use and terrain, San Diego County, California
Beginning in 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with Bloom Biological, Inc., began telemetry research on golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) captured in the San Diego, Orange, and western Riverside Counties of southern California. This work was supported by the San Diego Association of Governments, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bu
Authors
Jeff A. Tracey, Melanie C. Madden, Peter H. Bloom, Todd E. Katzner, Robert N. Fisher
Science partnership between U.S. Geological Survey and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe—Understanding the Elwha River Dam Removal Project
After nearly a century of producing power, two large hydroelectric dams on the Elwha River in Washington State were removed during 2011 to 2014 to restore the river ecosystem and recover imperiled salmon populations. Roughly two-thirds of the 21 million cubic meters of sediment—enough to fill nearly 2 million dump trucks—contained behind the dams was released downstream, which restored natural pro
Authors
Jeffrey J. Duda, Matt M. Beirne, Jonathan A. Warrick, Christopher S. Magirl