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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

Population dynamics of brown trout (Salmo trutta) in Spruce Creek Pennsylvania: A quarter-century perspective

We examined the relationship between density-independent and density-dependent factors on the demography of a dense, relatively unexploited population of brown trout in Spruce Creek Pennsylvania between 1985 and 2011.Individual PCAs of flow and temperature data elucidated groups of years with multiple high flow versus multiple low flow characteristics and high versus low temperature years, althoug
Authors
Gary D. Grossman, Robert F. Carline, Tyler Wagner

Grassland bird productivity in warm season grass fields in southwest Wisconsin

Surrogate grasslands established through federal set-aside programs, such as U.S. Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), provide important habitat for grassland birds. Warm season grass CRP fields as a group have the potential for providing a continuum of habitat structure for breeding birds, depending on how the fields are managed and their floristic composition. We studi
Authors
Carolyn M. Byers, Christine Ribic, David W. Sample, John D. Dadisman, Michael Guttery

Use of spatial capture–recapture to estimate density of Andean bears in northern Ecuador

The Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus) is the only extant species of bear in South America and is considered threatened across its range and endangered in Ecuador. Habitat loss and fragmentation is considered a critical threat to the species, and there is a lack of knowledge regarding its distribution and abundance. The species is thought to occur at low densities, making field studies designed to e
Authors
Santiago Molina, Angela K. Fuller, Dana J. Morin, J. Andrew Royle

A new species of freshwater eel-tailed catfish of the genus Tandanus (Teleostei: Plotosidae) from coastal rivers of mid-northern New South Wales, Australia

Tandanus bellingerensis, new species, is described based on specimens from four river drainages (Bellinger, Macleay, Hastings, and Manning rivers) of the mid-northern coast of New South Wales, Australia. Previously, three species were recognized in the genus Tandanus: T. tropicanus of the wet tropics region of northeast Queensland, T. tandanus of the Murray-Darling drainage and coastal streams of
Authors
Stuart A. Welsh, Dean R. Jerry, Damien Burrows, Meaghan L. Rourke

Evaluating population expansion of black bears using spatial capture-recapture

The population of American black bears (Ursus americanus) in southern New York, USA has been growing and expanding in range since the 1990s. This has motivated a need to anticipate future patterns of range expansion. We conducted a non-invasive, genetic, spatial capture-recapture (SCR) study to estimate black bear density and identify spatial patterns of population density that are potentially ass
Authors
Catherine C. Sun, Angela K. Fuller, Matthew P. Hare, Jeremy E. Hurst

Diet composition of age-0 fishes in created habitats of the Lower Missouri River

Channelization of the Missouri River has greatly reduced the availability of shallow water habitats used by many larval and juvenile fishes and contributed to imperilment of floodplain-dependent biota. Creation of small side channels, or chutes, is being used to restore shallow water habitat and reverse negative environmental effects associated with channelization. In the summer of 2012, the U.S.
Authors
Trevor A. Starks, James M. Long

Lake nutrient stoichiometry is less predictable than nutrient concentrations at regional and sub-continental scales

Production in many ecosystems is co-limited by multiple elements. While a known suite of drivers associated with nutrient sources, nutrient transport, and internal processing controls concentrations of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) in lakes, much less is known about whether the drivers of single nutrient concentrations can also explain spatial or temporal variation in lake N:P stoichiometry. Pre
Authors
Sarah M. Collins, Samantha K. Oliver, Jean-Francois Lapierre, Emily H. Stanley, John R. Jones, Tyler Wagner, Patricia A. Soranno

Tributary use by imperiled Flannelmouth and Bluehead Suckers in the upper Colorado River Basin

Habitat alterations and establishment of nonnative fishes have reduced the distributions of Flannelmouth Sucker Catostomus latipinnis and Bluehead Sucker C. discobolus to less than 50% of their historical ranges in the Colorado River basin. Tributaries are sometimes less altered than main-stem habitat in the basin and may be important to support various life history processes, but their role in th
Authors
Gregory S. Fraser, Dana L. Winkelman, Kevin R. Bestgen, Kevin G. Thompson

Estimating ages of Utah chubs by use of pectoral fin rays, otoliths, and scales

Utah chub Gila atraria is native to the Upper Snake River system in Wyoming and Idaho and to the Lake Bonneville Basin in Utah and southeastern Idaho. However, the Utah chub has been introduced into many other waterbodies in the western United States, where it competes with ecologically and economically important species. The objectives of this study were to evaluate between-reader precision and r
Authors
Kayla M Griffin, Zachary S. Beard, John M. Flinders, Michael C. Quist

Habitat associations of juvenile Burbot in a tributary of the Kootenai River

Burbot Lota lota in the lower Kootenai River, Idaho, have been the focus of extensive conservation efforts, particularly conservation aquaculture. One of the primary management strategies has been the release of Burbot into small tributaries in the Kootenai River basin, such as Deep Creek. Since 2012, approximately 12,000 juvenile Burbot have been stocked into Deep Creek; however, little is known
Authors
Zachary S. Beard, Michael C. Quist, Ryan S. Hardy, Tyler J. Ross

Population characteristics and the influence of discharge on Bluehead Sucker and Flannelmouth Sucker

Rivers are among some of the most complex and important ecosystems in the world. Unfortunately, many fishes endemic to rivers have suffered declines in abundance and distribution suggesting that alterations to lotic environments have negatively influenced native fish populations. Of the 35 fishes native to the Colorado River basin (CRB), seven are considered either endangered, threatened, or speci
Authors
Zachary B. Klein, Matthew J. Breen, Michael C. Quist

Reproductive ecology, spawning behavior, and juvenile distribution of Mountain Whitefish in the Madison River, Montana

Mountain Whitefish Prosopium williamsoni were historically common throughout much of the U.S. Intermountain West. However, within the last decade Mountain Whitefish have exhibited population-level declines in some rivers. In the Madison River, Montana, anecdotal evidence indicates Mountain Whitefish abundance has declined and the population is skewed toward larger individuals, which is typically s
Authors
Jan K. Boyer, Christopher S. Guy, Molly A. H. Webb, Travis B. Horton, Thomas E. McMahon