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Publications

These publications showcase the significant science conducted in our Science Centers.

Filter Total Items: 16785

Urbanization effects on fishes and habitat quality in a southern Piedmont river basin

We quantified the relationships among urban land cover, fishes, and habitat quality to determine how fish assemblages respond to urbanization and if a habitat index can be used as an indirect measure of urban effects on stream ecosystems. We sampled 30 wadeable streams along an urban gradient (5?37% urban land cover) in the Etowah River basin, Georgia. Fish assemblages, sampled by electrofishing
Authors
D.M. Walters, Mary C. Freeman, D.S. Leigh, B. J. Freeman, C.P. Pringle

Amphibian research and monitoring initiative: Concepts and implementation

This report provides the basis for discussion and subsequent articulation of a national plan for the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI). The authors were members of a task force formed from within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that included scientists with expertise in biology, cartography, hydrology, and statistics. The assignment of the task force was to extend work begun by
Authors
P. S. Corn, M.J. Adams, W.A. Battaglin, Alisa L. Gallant, D.L. James, M. Knutson, C.A. Langtimm, J.R. Sauer

Research for the development of best management practices for minimizing horse trail impacts on the Hoosier National Forest

This research investigates horse trail impacts to gain an improved understanding of the relationship between various levels of horse use, horse trail management alternatives, and subsequent horse trail degradation. A survey of existing horse trails on the Hoosier National Forest was used to collect data on use-related, environmental and management factors to model horse trail impacts. Results ar
Authors
M.W. Aust, J. L. Marion, K. Kyle

Checklist of the terrestrial vertebrates of the Guiana Shield

Distributions are given for 1850 species of terrestrial vertebrates in the Guiana Shield region of northeastern South America, with introductory text by the authors of each section. Distributions cover the three Guianas (Guyana, Surinam, and French Guiana), and the states of the Venezuelan Guayna (Amazonas, Bolivar, and Delta Amacuro), and in some cases the states of the Brazilian portion of the

The Atlantic Seaduck Project: Medical Aspects

Some populations of seaducks, especially scoters along the Atlantic Coast, have been declining over recent decades. A joint US-Canadian tearn has been working to capture and surgically implant satellite radio transmitters in these ducks. Black scoters (Melanitta nigra) captured on the Restigouche River in New Brunswick, Canada and surf scoters (M. perspicilata) captured on Chesapeake Bay, Maryla
Authors
Glenn H. Olsen, M. C. Perry, A.M. Wells, E.J.R. Lohnes, P.C. Osenton

Coastal foredune displacement and recovery, Barrett Beach-Talisman, Fire Island, New York, USA

Coastal foredune mobility has been tracked at Fire Island National Seashore since 1976 with annual field surveys and analysis of frequent aerial photography. Sequential mapping of the foredune crestline depicts nearly islandwide displacement during major storm events, such as in 1992, and localized displacement during alongshore passage of inshore circulation cells during other years. An instanc
Authors
N.P. Psuty, J.P. Pace, J.R. Allen

Testing a West Nile virus vaccine in sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis)

Eight sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) were vaccinated with a commercial equine West Nile virus vaccine (Fort Dodge Animal Health, Fort Dodge, Iowa, USA) at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, Maryland, USA. Three doses of the vaccine were given, the first dose (day 0) was followed by a second 21 days later and the third dose 7 days after the second day 28 after the first dose).
Authors
Glenn H. Olsen, K. Miller, D. Docherty, L. Sileo

Head stabilization in whooping cranes

The whooping crane (Grus americana) is the tallest bird in North America, yet not much is known about its visual ecology. How these birds overcome their unusual height to identify, locate, track, and capture prey items is not well understood. There have been many studies on head and eye stabilization in large wading birds (herons and egrets), but the pattern of head movement and stabilization du
Authors
M.R. Kinloch, T.W. Cronin, Glenn H. Olsen

Fecal corticoid monitoring in whooping cranes trained to follow ultralight aircraft

The use of fecal corticoid assays to measure stress in North American cranes has been limited to laboratory validation and a single field project involving reintroduced sandhill cranes (Ludders et aI., 1998, 2001; Hartup et aI., 2004). In 2001, we documented trends in corticoid concentrations among a cohort of ten costume-reared whooping cranes subjected to ultralight aircraft training and migrat
Authors
B.K. Hartup, Nancy M. Czekala, Glenn H. Olsen, J.A. Langenberg

Whooping crane titers to eastern equine encephalitis vaccinations

In 1984 an epizootic of eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus killed 7 of 39 (18%) whooping cranes in captivity at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Maryland, USA. Since that time whooping cranes have been vaccinated with a human EEE vaccine. This vaccine was unavailable for several years, necessitating use of an equine vaccine in the cranes. This study compared the antibody tit
Authors
Glenn H. Olsen, E. Kolski, J. S. Hatfield, D. E. Docherty

Health management for the reintroduction of eastern migratory whooping cranes (Grus americana)

No abstract available.
Authors
B. Hartup, J. Langenberg, Glenn H. Olsen, M. Spalding, K. Miller