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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

Animal movement models for migratory individuals and groups

Animals often exhibit changes in their behaviour during migration. Telemetry data provide a way to observe geographic position of animals over time, but not necessarily changes in the dynamics of the movement process. Continuous‐time models allow for statistical predictions of the trajectory in the presence of measurement error and during periods when the telemetry device did not record the animal
Authors
Mevin Hooten, Henry R. Scharf, Trevor J. Hefley, Aaron T. Pearse, Mitch D. Weegman

Rearing performance of juvenile brown trout Salmo trutta fed a bioprocessed soybean meal diet with differing velocity regimes

This 121-day experiment evaluated the rearing performance of brown trout Salmo trutta fed one of two isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets (46% protein, 16% lipid) and reared at velocities of either 2.8 or 16.1 cm/s. Fishmeal was the primary protein source for the reference diet, which was compared to a bioprocessed soybean meal ingredient that replaced approximately 67% of the fishmeal in the exper
Authors
Jill M. Voorhees, Michael Barnes, Steven R. Chipps, Michael Browne

Let’s agree to disagree: Comparing auto-acoustic identification programs for northeastern bats

With the declines in abundance and changing distribution of white-nose syndrome–affected bat species, increased reliance on acoustic monitoring is now the new “normal.” As such, the ability to accurately identify individual bat species with acoustic identification programs has become increasingly important. We assessed rates of disagreement between the three U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service–approved
Authors
W. Mark Ford, Tomás Nocera, Alexander Silvis, Christopher A. Dobony

Perspectives and future directions

No abstract available.
Authors
Stephen DeStefano, Clint W. Boal

Experimental evidence of long-term reproductive costs in a colonial nesting seabird

Trade-offs between current and future reproduction are central to the evolution of life histories. Experiments that manipulate brood size provide an effective approach to investigating future costs of current reproduction. Most manipulative studies to date, however, have addressed only the short-term effects of brood size manipulation. Our goal was to determine whether survival or breeding costs o
Authors
Aly McKnight, Erik J. Blomberg, Gregory H. Golet, David B. Irons, Cyndy Loftin, Shawn T. McKinney

Efficiently optimizing for dendritic connectivity on tree-structured networks in a multi-objective framework

We provide an exact and approximation algorithm based on Dynamic Programming and an approximation algorithm based on Mixed Integer Programming for optimizing for the so-called dendritic connectivity on tree-structured networks in a multi-objective setting. Dendritic connectivity describes the degree of connectedness of a network. We consider different variants of dendritic connectivity to capture
Authors
Quinru Shi, Jonathan M. Gomes-Selman, Roosevelt García-Villacorta, Suresh Sethi, Alexander S. Flecker, Carla P. Gomes

Age and performance at fledging are a cause and consequence of juvenile mortality between life stages

Should they stay or should they leave? The age at which young transition between life stages, such as living in a nest versus leaving it, differs among species and the reasons why are unclear. We show that offspring of songbird species that leave the nest at a younger age have less developed wings that cause poorer flight performance and greater mortality after fledging. Experimentally delayed fle
Authors
Thomas E. Martin, Bret Tobalske, Margaret M. Riordan, Samuel B. Case, Kenneth P. Dial

Growth, condition, and trophic relations of stocked trout in southern Appalachian mountain streams

Stream trout fisheries are among the most popular and valuable in the United States, but many are dependent on hatcheries to sustain fishing and harvest. Thus, understanding the ecology of hatchery‐reared trout stocked in natural environments is fundamental to management. We evaluated the growth, condition, and trophic relations of Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis, Brown Trout Salmo trutta, and R
Authors
J. R. Fischer, Thomas J. Kwak, H. J. Flowers, W. G. Cope, J. M. Rash, D. A. Besler

Combined effects of temperature and salinity on the physiology of two geographically-distant eastern oyster populations

Understanding why a species occupies a certain geographic range and predicting how they will be affected by climate change require characterizing physiological traits in geographically-distant populations. The objective of this study was to perform a direct comparison of two eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) populations that occupy contrasting temperature and salinity habitats, New Brunswick,
Authors
S. M. Casas, R. Filgueira, R. Lavaud, L. A. Comeau, Megan La Peyre, J. F. La Peyre

Historical sediment mercury deposition for select South Dakota, USA, lakes: implications for watershed transport and flooding

PurposeSelect South Dakota, USA water bodies, including both natural lakes and man-made impoundments, were sampled and analyzed to assess mercury (Hg) dynamics and historical patterns of total Hg deposition.Materials and methodsSediment cores were collected from seven South Dakota lakes. Mercury concentrations and flux profiles were determined using lead (210Pb) dating and sedimentation rates.Resu
Authors
Maria K. Squillace, Heidi L. Sieverding, Hailemelekot H. Betemariam, Noel R. Urban, Michael R. Penn, Thomas M. DeSutter, Steven R. Chipps, James J. Stone

Nonbreeding duck use at Central Flyway National Wildlife Refuges

Within the U.S. portion of the Central Flyway, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages waterfowl on numerous individual units (i.e., Refuges) within the National Wildlife Refuge System. Presently, the extent of waterfowl use that Refuges receive and the contribution of Refuges to waterfowl populations (i.e., the proportion of the Central Flyway population registered at each Refuge) remain unass
Authors
Kent Andersson, Craig A. Davis, Grant Harris, David A. Haukos

Large-scale variation in density of an aquatic ecosystem indicator species

Monitoring indicator species is a pragmatic approach to natural resource assessments, especially when the link between the indicator species and ecosystem state is well justified. However, conducting ecosystem assessments over representative spatial scales that are insensitive to local heterogeneity is challenging. We examine the link between polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination and popula
Authors
Chris Sutherland, Angela K. Fuller, Andy Royle, Matthew P. Hare, Sean Madden