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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

Spatial extent and dynamics of dam impacts on tropical island freshwater fish assemblages

Habitat connectivity is vital to the persistence of migratory fishes. Native tropical island stream fish assemblages composed of diadromous species require intact corridors between ocean and riverine habitats. High dams block fish migration, but low-head artificial barriers are more widespread and are rarely assessed for impacts. Among all 46 drainages in Puerto Rico, we identified and surveyed 33
Authors
Patrick B. Cooney, Thomas J. Kwak

Effects of hydrologic connectivity on aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages in different marsh types

Hydrologic connectivity can be an important driver of aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages. Its effects on aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages in coastal marshes, however, are relatively poorly studied. We evaluated the effects of lateral hydrologic connectivity (permanently connected ponds: PCPs; temporary connected ponds: TCPs), and other environmental variables on aquatic macroinvertebrate a
Authors
Sung-Ryong Kang, Sammy L. King

Impacts of golden alga Prymnesium parvum on fish populations in reservoirs of the upper Colorado River and Brazos River basins, Texas

Several reservoirs in the upper Colorado River and Brazos River basins in Texas have experienced toxic blooms of golden alga Prymnesium parvum and associated fish kills since 2001. There is a paucity of information, however, regarding the population-level effects of such kills in large reservoirs, species-specific resistance to or recovery from kills, or potential differences in the patterns of im
Authors
Matthew M. VanLandeghem, Mukhtar Farooqi, B. Farquhar, Reynaldo Patiño

Reduced Myxobolus cerebralis actinospore production in a Colorado reservior may be linked to changes in Tubifex tubifex population structure

Elucidating the dynamics of a parasitic infection requiring two hosts in a natural ecosystem can be a daunting task. Myxobolus cerebralis (Mc), the myxozoan parasite that causes whirling disease in some salmonids, was detected in the Colorado River upstream of Windy Gap Reservoir (WGR) in 1988. Subsequently, whirling disease was implicated in the decline of wild Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss i
Authors
R. Barry Nehring, B. Hancock, M. Catanese, M.E.T. Stinson, Dana L. Winkelman, J. Wood, J. Epp

Interactions between striped bass and other gamefish in reservoirs

Competitive interactions among reservoir fishes may be pronounced because fish assemblages in these artificial environments have had little time to develop niche-partitioning strategies that alleviate negative interspecific interactions. Such interactions may at times have been intensified by introductions of predators such as striped bass Morone saxatilis, introduced to create additional fisherie
Authors
Leandro E. Miranda, Scott W. Raborn

Assessing effects of stocked trout on nongame fish assemblages in southern Appalachian Mountain streams

Fisheries managers are faced with the challenge of balancing the management of recreational fisheries with that of conserving native species and preserving ecological integrity. The negative effects that nonnative trout species exert on native trout are well documented and include alteration of competitive interactions, habitat use, and production. However, the effects that nonnative trout may exe
Authors
D. Weaver, Thomas J. Kwak

Nocturnal activity of nesting shrubland and grassland passerines: Chapter 9

Nocturnal activity of nesting passerines is largely undocumented in field situations. We used video recordings to quantify sleep patterns of four shrubland and three grassland bird species during the nestling period. All species exhibited “back sleep” (bill tucked under scapular feathers); individuals woke frequently for vigils of their surroundings. Sleep-bout duration varied from 6 minutes (gras
Authors
Christy M. Slay, Kevin S. Ellison, Christine Ribic, Kimberly G. Smith, Carolyn M. Schmitz

A manual for remote sensing of Maine lake clarity

The purpose of this manual is to support use of satellite-based remote sensing for statewide lake water-quality monitoring in Maine. The authors describe step-by-step methods that combine Landsat and MODIS satellite data with field-collected Secchi disk data for statewide assessment of lake water clarity. Landsat can be simul­taneously used to assess more than Maine 1,000 lakes ≥ 8 ha, whereas MOD
Authors
Ian M. McCullough, Cyndy Loftin, Steven A. Sader

Experimental evaluation of size-dependent predation by adult post-spawned rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) on larval lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis)

Introduced landlocked Rainbow Smelt Osmerus mordax are hypothesized to be a major factor in the decline of Lake Whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis populations in many lakes. We sought to identify the size of Lake Whitefish preyed upon by adult Rainbow Smelt and how the efficiency of Rainbow Smelt predation changes Lake Whitefish ontogeny. In a laboratory setting, we exposed larval Lake Whitefish of
Authors
Joseph D. Zydlewski, Dimitry Gorsky

Environmental clustering of lakes to evaluate performance of a macrophyte index of biotic integrity

Proper classification of sites is critical for the use of biological indices that can distinguish between natural and human-induced variation in biological response. The macrophyte-based index of biotic integrity was developed to assess the condition of Minnesota lakes in relation to anthropogenic stressors, but macrophyte community composition varies naturally across the state. The goal of the st
Authors
Bruce C. Vondracek, Bruce Vondracek, Lorin K. Hatch

Landscape-scale evaluation of asymmetric interactions between Brown Trout and Brook Trout using two-species occupancy models

Predicting the distribution of native stream fishes is fundamental to the management and conservation of many species. Modeling species distributions often consists of quantifying relationships between species occurrence and abundance data at known locations with environmental data at those locations. However, it is well documented that native stream fish distributions can be altered as a result o
Authors
Tyler Wagner, Jefferson T. Deweber, Jason Detar, John A. Sweka

Semi-automted analysis of high-resolution aerial images to quantify docks in Upper Midwest glacial lakes

Lake resources can be negatively affected by environmental stressors originating from multiple sources and different spatial scales. Shoreline development, in particular, can negatively affect lake resources through decline in habitat quality, physical disturbance, and impacts on fisheries. The development of remote sensing techniques that efficiently characterize shoreline development in a region
Authors
Marcus W. Beck, Bruce C. Vondracek, Lorin K. Hatch, Jason Vinje