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

Global synthesis of the documented and projected effects of climate change on inland fishes

Although climate change is an important factor affecting inland fishes globally, a comprehensive review of how climate change has impacted and will continue to impact inland fishes worldwide does not currently exist. We conducted an extensive, systematic primary literature review to identify English-language, peer-reviewed journal publications with projected and documented examples of climate chan
Authors
Bonnie Myers, Abigail Lynch, David B. Bunnell, Cindy Chu, Jeffrey A. Falke, Ryan Kovach, Trevor J. Krabbenhoft, Thomas J. Kwak, Craig P. Paukert

Length limits fail to restructure a Largemouth Bass population: A 28‐year case history

Length limits have been implemented by fisheries management agencies to achieve population density, size structure, and angler satisfaction objectives. By redirecting harvest towards or away from particular length‐ or age‐groups, length limits rely on harvest by anglers to maintain a population at or near a desired state. The fish population changes that follow the implementation of harvest regula
Authors
Leandro E. Miranda, M.E. Colvin, A. C. Shamaskin, L. A. Bull, T. Holman, R. Jones

Forecasted range shifts of arid-land fishes in response to climate change

Climate change is poised to alter the distributional limits, center, and size of many species. Traits may influence different aspects of range shifts, with trophic generality facilitating shifts at the leading edge, and greater thermal tolerance limiting contractions at the trailing edge. The generality of relationships between traits and range shifts remains ambiguous however, especially for impe
Authors
James E. Whitney, Joanna B. Whittier, Craig P. Paukert, Julian D. Olden, Angela L. Strecker

Influence of genetic background, salinity, and inoculum size on growth of the ichthyotoxic golden alga (Prymnesium parvum)

Salinity (5–30) effects on golden alga growth were determined at a standard laboratory temperature (22 °C) and one associated with natural blooms (13 °C). Inoculum-size effects were determined over a wide size range (100–100,000 cells ml−1). A strain widely distributed in the USA, UTEX-2797 was the primary study subject but another of limited distribution, UTEX-995 was used to evaluate growth resp
Authors
Rakib H. Rashel, Reynaldo Patiño

Daily survival rate and habitat characteristics of nests of Wilson's Plover

We assessed habitat characteristics and measured daily survival rate of 72 nests of Charadrius wilsonia (Wilson's Plover) during 2012 and 2013 on South Island and Sand Island on the central coast of South Carolina. At both study areas, nest sites were located at slightly higher elevations (i.e., small platforms of sand) relative to randomly selected nearby unused sites, and nests at each study are
Authors
Elizabeth Zinsser, Felicia J. Sanders, Patrick D. Gerard, Patrick G.R. Jodice

Microhabitat selection of the Virginia Northern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus fuscus Miller) in the central Appalachians

Glaucomys sabrinus fuscus (Virginia Northern Flying Squirrel; VNFS) is a rare Sciurid that occurrs in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia and northwest Virginia. Previous work on this subspecies has confirmed close associations with Picea rubens (Red Spruce) at the landscape and stand levels in the region. However, ongoing Red Spruce restoration actions using canopy-gap creation to re
Authors
Corinne A. Diggins, W. Mark Ford

Motivations for enrollment into the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program in the James River Basin of South Dakota

The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) targets high-priority conservation needs (e.g., water quality, wildlife habitat) by paying landowners an annual rental rate to remove environmentally sensitive or agriculturally unproductive lands from rowcrop production, and then implement conservation practices on these lands. This study examined motivations of South Dakota landowners for enrol
Authors
Jarrett Pfrimmer, Larry M. Gigliotti, Joshua Stafford, David Schumann, Katie Bertrand

Dynamic oceanography determines fine scale foraging behavior of Masked Boobies in the Gulf of Mexico

During breeding, foraging marine birds are under biological, geographic, and temporal constraints. These contraints require foraging birds to efficiently process environmental cues derived from physical habitat features that occur at nested spatial scales. Mesoscale oceanography in particular may change rapidly within and between breeding seasons, and findings from well-studied systems that relate
Authors
Caroline L. Poli, Autumn-Lynn Harrison, Adriana Vallarino, Patrick D. Gerard, Patrick G.R. Jodice

Otolith marking of juvenile shortnose gar by immersion in oxytetracycline

Oxytetracycline (OTC) has been used to mark a variety of fish species at multiple developmental stages; however, there is little information on batch-marking Lepisosteidae. Juvenile Shortnose Gar Lepisosteus platostomus (53 ± 3 mm TL) were seined from an Oklahoma State University research pond and transported to the Oklahoma Fishery Research Lab. Juvenile Shortnose Gar were exposed to a range of O
Authors
Richard A. Snow, James M. Long

Lizard activity and abundance greater in burned habitat of a xeric montane forest

Restoring the natural or historical state of ecosystems is a common objective among resource managers, but determining whether desired system responses to management actions are occurring is often protracted and challenging. For wildlife, the integration of mechanistic habitat modeling with population monitoring may provide expedited measures of management effectiveness and improve understanding o
Authors
Kevin L. Fouts, Clinton T. Moore, Kristine D. Johnson, John C. Maerz

Comparison of burbot populations across adjacent native and introduced ranges

Introduced species are a threat to biodiversity. Burbot, Lota lota, a fish native to the Wind River Drainage, Wyoming and a species of conservation concern, have been introduced into the nearby Green River Drainage, Wyoming, where they are having negative effects on native fish species. We compared these native and introduced burbot populations to evaluate potential mechanisms that could be leadin
Authors
Annika W. Walters, Elizabeth G. Mandeville, W. Carl Saunders, Paul C. Gerrity, Joseph A. Skorupski, Zachary E. Underwood, Eric I. Gardunio

Temporal genetic population structure and interannual variation in migration behavior of Pacific Lamprey Entosphenus tridentatus

Studies using neutral loci suggest that Pacific lamprey, Entosphenus tridentatus, lack strong spatial genetic population structure. However, it is unknown whether temporal genetic population structure exists. We tested whether adult Pacific lamprey: (1) show temporal genetic population structure; and (2) migrate different distances between years. We non-lethally sampled lamprey for DNA in 2009 and
Authors
Benjamin J. Clemens, Lance A. Wyss, Rebecca McCoun, Ian Courter, Lawrence Schwabe, Christopher Peery, Carl B. Schreck, Erin K. Spice, Margaret F. Docker