Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

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

Macroinvertebrate sensitivity thresholds for sediment in Virginia streams

Sediment is the most commonly identified pollutant associated with macroinvertebrate community impairments in freshwater streams nationwide. Management of this physical stressor is complicated by the multiple measures of sediment available (e.g., suspended, dissolved, bedded) and the variability in natural “healthy” sediment loadings across ecoregions. Here we examine the relative importance of 9
Authors
Heather Govenor, Leigh Anne H. Krometis, Lawrence Willis, Paul L. Angermeier, W. Cully Hession

Combining nutrient, productivity, and landscape-based regressions improves predictions of lake nutrients and provides insight into nutrient coupling at macroscales

Empirical nutrient models that describe lake nutrient, productivity, and water clarity relationships among lakes play a prominent role in limnology. Landscape-based regressions are also used to understand macroscale variability of lake nutrients, clarity, and productivity (hereafter referred to as nutrient-productivity). Predictions from both models are used to inform eutrophication management glo
Authors
Tyler Wagner, Erin M. Schliep

Optimal treatment allocations in space and time for online control of anemerging infectious disease

A key component in controlling the spread of an epidemic is deciding where, when and to whom to apply an intervention. We develop a framework for using data to inform these decisions in realtime. We formalize a treatment allocation strategy as a sequence of functions, one per treatment period, that map up‐to‐date information on the spread of an infectious disease to a subset of locations where tre
Authors
Eric B. Laber, Nick J. Meyer, Brian J. Reich, Krishna Pacifici, Jaime A. Collazo, John M. Drake

Lions and leopards coexist without spatial, temporal or demographic effects of interspecific competition

1. Although interspecific competition plays a principle role in shaping species behaviour and demography, little is known about the population-level outcomes of competition between large carnivores, and the mechanisms that facilitate coexistence. 2. We conducted a multi-landscape analysis of two widely distributed, threatened large carnivore competitors to offer insight into coexistence strategies
Authors
Angela K. Fuller, Jennifer Miller, Ross Pittman, Gareth Mann, Guy Balme

Implicit decision framing as an unrecognized source of confusion in endangered species classification

Legal classification of species requires scientific and values‐based components, and how those components interact depends on how people frame the decision. Is classification a negotiation of trade‐offs, a decision on how to allocate conservation efforts, or simply a comparison of the biological status of a species to a legal standard? The answers to problem‐framing questions such as these influen
Authors
Jonathan Cummings, Sarah J. Converse, David R. Smith, Steve Morey, Michael C. Runge

Survival and cause-specific mortality of translocated female mule deer in southern New Mexico, USA

Context: Many mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) populations in New Mexico have failed to recover from previous population declines, while some populations near urban areas have increased, resulting in more frequent human–wildlife conflicts. Translocations were used in an effort to simultaneously reduce an urban mule deer population and augment two low-density populations in south-western New Mexico,
Authors
James W. Cain, Jana B. Ashling, Stewart Liley

Ecology and conservation of the American eel in the Caribbean region

The majority of American eel, Anguilla rostrata LeSueur, knowledge is derived from temperate regions in the United States and Canada, with little known from its tropical Caribbean distribution. Findings of original research on American eel distribution, abundance, population biology, habitat ecology and threats from the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico were synthesised. American eel were captured f
Authors
Thomas J. Kwak, Augustin C. Engman, C.G. Lilyestrom

Wildlife management is science based: Myth or reality?

In the January/February issue of The Wildlife Professional, a group of wildlife leaders discussed what they considered "myths" in wildlife management and invited other wildlife professionals to contribute their favorites. Here, five wildlife professionals take up that theme with their discussions of the scientific basis of wildlife management.
Authors
Daniel J. Decker, John F. Organ, Ann Forstchen, Michael V. Schiavone, Angela K. Fuller

Predicting species-habitat relationships: Does body size matter?

Context. Allometric scaling laws are foundational to structuring processes from cellular to ecosystem levels. The idea that allometric relationships underlie species characteristic selection scales, the spatial scales at which species respond to landscape features, has recently been investigated, however, supporting empirical evidence is scarce. Objectives. Lack of pattern can be explained by ina
Authors
E.F. Stuber, L. Gruber, Joseph J. Fontaine

Effects of landscape characteristics on annual survival of Lesser Prairie-Chickens

Agriculture and development have caused landscape change throughout the southwestern Great Plains in the range of the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus). Landscape alteration within the lesser prairie-chicken range may contribute to range contraction and population losses through decreases in survival rates. Our objectives were to determine if: (1) landscape configuration (i.e., t
Authors
Samantha G. Robinson, David A. Haukos, Reid T. Plumb, John D. Kraft, Daniel S. Sullins, Joseph M. Lautenbach, Jonathan D. Lautenbach, Brett K. Sandercock, Christian A. Hagen, Anne M. Bartuszevige, Mindy B. Rice

Comparison of a prepositioned areal electrofishing device and fixed underwater videography for sampling riverine fishes

Prepositioned areal electrofishing devices (PAEDs) are used to evaluate microhabitat use by fishes because they minimize fright biases associated with traditional electrofishing techniques (e.g., boat electrofishing). Similarly, fixed underwater videography (FUV) is commonly used to minimize the effect of observers on fish behavior. The specific objectives of this research were to evaluate estimat
Authors
Philip R. Branigan, Michael C. Quist, Bradley B. Shepard, Susan C. Ireland

Message in a bottle: The story of drifting plastic in the eastern Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a closed basin with limited water exchange through the Strait of Gibraltar, and sites along its shores show the greatest densities of marine debris in the world. Plastic bottles, which are a growing concern due to high consumption of soft drinks and bottled water, constitute most of the floating marine debris. In this paper we present the transport mechanisms of floating m
Authors
Galia Pasternak, Dov Zviely, Asaf Ariel, Ehud Spanier, Christine Ribic