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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: 4348

Paradigm versus paradox on the prairie: Testing competing stream fish movement frameworks using an imperiled Great Plains minnow

BackgroundMovement information can improve conservation of imperiled species, yet movement is not quantified for many organisms in need of conservation. Prairie chub (Macrhybopsis australis) is a regionally endemic freshwater fish with unquantified movement ecology and currently considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act. The purpose of this study was to test competing ecological theo
Authors
Z.D. Steffensmeier, M. Wedgeworth, L. Yancy, N. Santee, Shannon K. Brewer, J.S. Perkin

Recovery of working grasslands following a megafire in the southern mixed-grass prairie

While fire is a necessary ecological driver for grassland systems, Great Plains grasslands have undergone extensive land use change following European settlement (conversion, fragmentation, fire suppression, intensive grazing, etc.). Recent studies have documented the benefits of re-introducing fire to grasslands, but work has largely focused on small-scale, low-intensity fire, often at a pasture
Authors
Nicholas J. Parker, Daniel S. Sullins, David A. Haukos, Kent A. Fricke, Christian A. Hagen

Prioritizing imperiled native aquatic species for conservation propagation

Native aquatic species are in decline, and hatcheries can play an important role in stemming these losses until larger ecological issues are addressed. However, as more federal and state agencies face budget uncertainty and the number of imperiled species increases, it is necessary to develop a tool to prioritize species for conservation propagation. Our objective was to create prioritized lists o
Authors
Molly A. H. Webb, Christopher S. Guy, Hilary B. Treanor, Krissy W. Wilson, Cassie D. Mellon, Paul Abate, Harry J. Crockett, Jordan Hofmeier, Chelsey Pasbrig, Patrick Isakson

Upper thermal tolerances of two native and one invasive crayfish in Missouri, USA

The spread of invasive crayfish requires invaded habitats to be thermally suitable, and differences in thermal tolerances among species could provide thermal refugia for native crayfish affected by the invader. We estimated upper thermal tolerances for the invasive Faxonius hylas and native F. peruncus and F. quadruncus in Missouri, USA, using critical thermal maxima (CTmax) methodology to determi
Authors
Jacob Thomas Westhoff, Hisham A. Abdelrahman, James A. Stoeckel

Evaluating growth rates of captive, wild, and reintroduced populations of the imperiled Eastern Indigo Snake (Drymarchon couperi)

Reintroduction of species at sites where populations have been extirpated has become a common technique in wildlife conservation. To track progress towards reintroduction success, effective postrelease monitoring is needed to document vital rates of individuals and the corresponding impact on population trajectories. We assessed growth and body size in Eastern Indigo Snakes (Drymarchon couperi) us
Authors
Houston C. Chandler, David Steen, Jack Blue, James E. Bogan, M. Rebecca Bolt, Tony Brady, David R. Breininger, Jorge Buening, Matt Elliott, James Godwin, Craig Guyer, Robert L. Hill, Michelle Hoffman, Natalie L. Hyslop, Christopher L. Jenkins, Chris Lechowicz, Matt Moore, Robert A. Moulis, Sara Piccolomini, Robert Redmond, Frankie H. Snow, Benjamin S. Stegenga, Dirk J. Stevenson, James Stiles, Sierra Stiles, Mark Wallace, Jimmy Waters, Michael Wines, Javan Mathias Bauder

Ectoparasitism and energy infrastructure limit survival of preadult Golden Eagles in the Southern Great Plains

Much of the US Southern Great Plains (SGP) continues to undergo intensive energy development that could affect the region's Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), yet the species' population status there is unknown. During 2011–2020, we used satellite telemetry to assess annual survival rates and causes of mortality among 40 preadult (<3 yr of age) Golden Eagles in the SGP; 29 were monitored beginning
Authors
Robert K. Murphy, Brian A. Millsap, Dale W. Stahlecker, Clint W. Boal, Brian W. Smith, Shea D. Mullican, Corrie C. Borgman

Declining American Goshawk (Accipiter atricapillus) nest site habitat suitability in a timber production landscape: Effects of abiotic, biotic, and forest management factors

Conservation of the American Goshawk (Accipiter atricapillus; hereafter goshawk) has been contentious in relation to forest management. Higher quality goshawk nesting habitat is generally considered to consist of contiguous tracts of mature forest, due to goshawks' large home ranges, territoriality, and food requirements. The large trees of mature forest have the greatest economic value to timber
Authors
Jason E. Bruggeman, Patricia L. Kennedy, David Andersen, Shelly Deisch, Eileen Dowd Stukel

Movement beyond the mean: decoupling sources of individual variation in brook trout movement across seasons

Movement is an important eco-evolutionary process that can shape population and ecosystem structure and function. Accordingly, a firm understanding of species movement ecology is often foundational to effective management and conservation. However, despite movement being an inherently individual-level behavior, there remains a tendency to describe dispersal and migration patterns using simple popu
Authors
Shannon L. White, Jason Keagy, Sarah Batchelor, Julia Langlois, Natalie Thomas, Tyler Wagner

The effects of estradiol-17β on the sex reversal, survival, and growth of Red Shiner and its use in the development of YY individuals

ObjectiveThe Red Shiner Cyprinella lutrensis is one of the most prolific and ecologically destructive invasive fish species in the southwestern United States. The production and release of YY individuals as Trojan sex chromosome carriers can theoretically eradicate invasive fish populations by eventually eliminating phenotypic females.MethodsThe YY individuals are typically produced through hormon
Authors
Chad N. Teal, Daniel J. Schill, Javan Mathias Bauder, Susan B. Fogelson, Kevin Fitzsimmons, William T. Stewart, Melanie Culver, Scott A. Bonar

Achieving success with RISE: A widely implementable, iterative, structured process for mastering interdisciplinary team science collaborations

Scientific experts from different disciplines often struggle to mesh their specialized perspectives into the shared mindset that is needed to address difficult and persistent environmental, ecological, and societal problems. Many traditional graduate programs provide excellent research and technical skill training. However, these programs often do not teach a systematic way to learn team skills, n
Authors
Martha E. Mather, Gabriel Granco, Jason Bergtold, Marcellus Caldas, Jessica Heier Stamm, Aleksey Sheshukov, Matthew Sanderson, Melinda Daniels

An amplicon genotyping panel suitable for species identification and population genetics in sauger (Sander canadensis) and walleye (Sander vitreus)

Sauger (Sander canadensis) and walleye (Sander vitreus) are closely related North American fish species that are often managed by fishery agencies throughout their ranges. However, genotyping resources for sauger are presently limited to a small set of microsatellite loci. We evaluated whether primers in an existing walleye genotyping-in-thousands panel could amplify single nucleotide polymorphism
Authors
Jared Joseph Homola, Wesley A. Larson, Paul Albosta

The context dependency of fish-habitat associations in separated karst ecoregions

Fish populations may be isolated via natural conditions in geographically separated ecoregions. Although reconnecting these populations is not a management goal, we need to understand how these populations persist across landscapes to develop meaningful conservation actions, particularly for species occupying sensitive karst ecosystems. Our study objective was to determine the physicochemical fact
Authors
Dusty A. Swedberg, Robert M. Mollenhauer, Shannon K. Brewer
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