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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: 4351

Increased juvenile native fish abundance following a major flood in an Arizona river

Spring floods trigger spawning in many native fishes of the desert Southwest (USA), but less is known about fish community response when native fishes are rare. Here, we document change to native and nonnative fish captures and instream habitat features following a decade-high flooding event (2019) in the Verde River (AZ) where native fish captures were rare in the years pre-flood. Using prepositi
Authors
Christopher J. Jenney, Zach C. Nemec, Larissa N. Lee, Scott A. Bonar

You can go your own way: No evidence for social behavior based on kinship or familiarity in captive juvenile box turtles

Behavioral interactions between conspecific animals can be influenced by relatedness and familiarity. Compared to other vertebrate taxa, considering such aspects of social behavior when housing captive reptiles has received less attention, despite the implications this could have for informing husbandry practices, enhancing welfare, and influencing outcomes of conservation translocations. In this
Authors
Sasha J. Tetzlaff, Jinelle H. Sperry, Brett Alexander DeGregorio

Seed treatments containing neonicotinoids and fungicides reduce aquatic insect richness and abundance in midwestern USA–managed floodplain wetlands

Agrochemicals including neonicotinoid insecticides and fungicides are frequently applied as seed treatments on corn, soybeans, and other common row crops. Crops grown from pesticide-treated seed are often directly planted in managed floodplain wetlands and used as a soil disturbance or food resource for wildlife. We quantified invertebrate communities within mid-latitude floodplain wetlands and as
Authors
K.J. Kuechle, Elisabeth B. Webb, D. Mengel, A.R. Main

Estimating wolf abundance from cameras

Monitoring the abundance of rare carnivores is a daunting task for wildlife biologists. Many carnivore populations persist at relatively low densities, public interest is high, and the need for population estimates is great. Recent advances in trail camera technology provide an unprecedented opportunity for biologists to monitor rare species economically. Few studies, however, have conducted rigor
Authors
David Edward Ausband, Paul M. Lukacs, Mark A. Hurley, Shane Roberts, Kaitlyn M. Strickfaden, Anna K. Moeller

Tidally-driven gas exchange in beaches: Implications for sea turtle nest success

The success of individual sea turtle nests is influenced by nest location on the beach and the resulting incubation environment. Several abiotic factors affect nest incubation, and thus nest success, but tides and gas exchange are two of the most important. The effects of tides on nest success have been well documented in regard to overwash and inundation events. However, the possible effect of ti
Authors
K.M. Goforth, Raymond Carthy

Toward improved prediction of streamflow effects on freshwater fishes

Understanding the effects of hydrology on fish populations is essential to managing for native fish conservation. However, despite decades of research illustrating streamflow influences on fish habitat, reproduction and survival, biologists remain challenged when tasked with predicting how fish populations will respond to changes in flow regimes. This uncertainty stems from insufficient understand
Authors
Mary Freeman, Kevin R. Bestgen, Daren Carlisle, Emmanuel A. Frimpong, Nathan R. Franssen, Ketih B. Gido, Elise R. Irwin, Yoichiro Kanno, Charles H. Luce, S. Kyle McKay, Meryl C. Mims, Julian D. Olden, N. LeRoy Poff, David L. Propst, Laura Rack, Allison H. Roy, Edward S. Stowe, Annika W. Walters, Seth J. Wenger

Five years of monitoring a bio-engineered living shoreline: Comparison of oyster population development by reef technology.

The Living Shoreline Demonstration Project (PO-148) used five bio-engineered reef technologies (Reef Balls in two configurations; Figure 1) acting as breakwaters to protect vulnerable shorelines. While the primary goal is to attenuate wave energy, the sustainability and success of these products as “living” shorelines are based on their ability to enhance oyster habitat, enabling the reef to maint
Authors
Lauren M. Swam, Danielle Aguilar Marshall, Megan K. La Peyre

Estimating bee abundance: Can mark-recapture methods validate common sampling protocols?

Wild bees are essential pollinators in natural and agricultural systems, but populations of some species have declined. Efforts to assess the status of wild bees are hindered by uncertainty in common sampling methods, such as pan traps and aerial netting, which may or may not provide a valid index of abundance across species and habitats. Mark-recapture methods are a common and effective means of
Authors
Emma L. Briggs, Christopher Baranski, Olivia Munzer Schaetz, Gabriela Garrison, Elsa Youngsteadt, Jaime A. Collazo

Bear diets and human-bear conflicts: Insights from isotopic ecology

Bears, Ursidae, are considered omnivores, except for giant pandas Ailuropoda melanoleuca and polar bears Ursus maritimus. However, omnivory includes a wide range of dietary variation and trophic positions, making bear dietary ecology unclear. We inferred bear trophic positions from δ15N (‰) values and examined their correlation with diets reported in the literature, including frequency of human–be
Authors
Nereyda Falconi, Tomas A. Carlo, Todd K. Fuller, Stephen DeStefano, John F. Organ

High densities of conspecifics buffer native fish from negative interactions with an ecologically similar invasive

Invasive species are a leading cause for native species declines, but it remains unclear whether maintenance of high native densities influence native persistence in freshwater systems. We designed complementary laboratory and field experiments to test whether high native cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii) densities affect competition with invasive brown trout (Salmo trutta). We manipulated d
Authors
Casey A. Pennock, W. Carl Saunders, Phaedra E. Budy

Tracking spatial regimes in animal communities: Implications for resilience-based management

Spatial regimes (the spatial extents of ecological states) exhibit strong spatiotemporal order as they expand or contract in response to retreating or encroaching adjacent spatial regimes (e.g., woody plant invasion of grasslands) and human management (e.g., fire treatments). New methods enable tracking spatial regime boundaries via vegetation landcover data, and this approach is being used for st
Authors
Caleb Powell Roberts, Daniel R. Uden, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler, Larkin A. Powell, Brady W Allred, Matthew O. Jones, Jeremy D Maestas, Dirac Twidwell

Bridled Quail-Dove (Geotrygon mystacea)

No abstract available.
Authors
Clint W. Boal, H. Madden
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