Publications
Publications from USGS science centers throughout the Southeast Region.
Filter Total Items: 9967
Habitat utilization, demography, and behavioral observations of the squat lobster, Eumunida picta (Crustacea: Anomura: Eumunididae), on western North Atlantic deep-water coral habitats
Deep-sea coral habitats, comprising mostly Lophelia pertusa (Linnaeus 1758), are well developed on the upper and middle continental slope off the southeastern United States (SEUS). These habitats support a diverse and abundant invertebrate fauna, yet ecology and biology of most of these species are poorly known. Ten cruises conducted off the SEUS (Summer–Fall; Cape Lookout, NC–Cape Canaveral, FL)
Authors
Martha S. Nizinski, Jennifer McClain Counts, Steve W. Ross
Effects of shading on the rare plant species, Physostegia correllii (Lamiaceae) and Trillium texanum (Melanthiaceae)
Rare plant species that are constrained by shading may be threatened by a lack of natural disturbance that removes overhanging vegetation. The original distribution of the study species Physostegia correllii (Lundell) Shinners included freshwater floodplains of large rivers in the southcentral U.S. (Colorado, Rio Grande, and Mississippi rivers). A second species, Trillium texanum Buckley was found
Authors
Beth Middleton, Casey R. Williams, Chris Doffitt, Darren Johnson
Abundance and distribution of large thecosome pteropods in the northern Gulf of Mexico
The ecological role of large thecosome pteropods in the pelagic ecosystem of the northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM) may be substantial, both in the food web and biogeochemical cycling. We analyzed species abundances, vertical and horizontal distributions of large species with calcareous shells (those collected in 3-mm mesh nets). Pteropod samples were collected following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil
Authors
Sarah Shedler, Brad Seibel, Michael Vecchione, Dale W. Griffin, Heather Judkins
Climate-modulated range expansion of reef-building coral communities off southeast Florida during the late Holocene
The Holocene reefs off southeast Florida provide unique insights into the biogeographical and ecological response of western Atlantic coral reefs to past climate change that can be used to evaluate future climate impacts. However, previous studies have focused on millennial-scale change during the stable mid-Holocene, making it difficult to make inferences about the impact of shorter-term variabil
Authors
Alex B. Modys, Anton E. Olenik, Richard A. Mortlock, Lauren Toth, William F. Precht
Assigning causality to events in the Holocene record of coral reefs
The uncemented reef-frameworks of Pacific Panamá, which have been dominated throughout the Holocene by branching corals of the genus Pocillopora, experienced a hiatus in vertical accretion lasting c. 2300 years, beginning c. 4100 years ago. The hiatus has been attributed to an increase in variability of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). We tested the alternative hypothesis that the hiatus w
Authors
Victor Rodriguez-Ruano, Lauren Toth, Richard B. Aronson
Optimizing Landsat Next shortwave infrared bands for crop residue characterization
This study focused on optimizing the placement of shortwave infrared (SWIR) bands for pixel-level estimation of fractional crop residue cover (fR) for the upcoming Landsat Next mission. We applied an iterative wavelength shift approach to a database of crop residue field spectra collected in Beltsville, Maryland, USA (n = 916) and computed generalized two- and three-band spectral indices for all w
Authors
Brian T Lamb, Phillip Dennison, W. Dean Hively, Raymond F. Kokaly, Guy Serbin, Zhuoting Wu, Philip W. Dabney, Jeffery G. Masek, Michael Campbell, Craig S. T. Daughtry
Learning from arid and urban aquatic ecosystems to inform more sustainable and resilient futures
The hydrology and aquatic ecology of arid environments has long been understudied relative to temperate regions. Yet spatially and temporally intermittent and ephemeral waters characterized by flashy hydrographs typify arid regions that comprise a substantial proportion of the Earth. Additionally, drought, intense storms, and human modification of landscapes increasingly affect many temperate regi
Authors
Lauren McPhillips, Marta Berbés-Blázquez, Rebecca Hale, Tamara K Harms, Vanya Bisht, Lilana Caughman, Sandra Clinton, Elizabeth Cook, Xiaoli Dong, Jennifer Edmonds, Sarah Gergel, Rosa Gomez, Kristina G. Hopkins, David Iwaniec, Yeowon Kim, Amanda Kuhn, Libby Larson, David Bruce Lewis, Eugenía Martí, Monica M. Palta, W. John Roach, Lin Ye
Haploid gynogens facilitate disomic marker development in paleotetraploid sturgeons
Acipenseriformes (sturgeons and paddlefishes) are of substantial conservation concern, and development of genomic resources for these species is difficult due to past whole genome duplication. Development of disomic markers for polyploid organisms can be challenging due to difficulty in resolving alleles at a single locus from those among duplicated loci. In this study, we detail the development o
Authors
Richard Jr Flamio, Dominic G Swift, David S Portnoy, Kimberly Chojnacki, Aaron J. Delonay, Jeffrey Powell, Patrick Braaten, Edward J. Heist
Endangered Cape Sable seaside sparrow ecology: Actions towards recovery through landscape-scale ecosystem restoration
Understanding the ecology of endangered taxa and the factors affecting their population growth and decline is imperative for their recovery. In the southeastern USA, the Everglades wetland ecosystem supports a high diversity of species and communities, including many endemic and imperiled taxa, such as the federally endangered Cape Sable seaside sparrow Ammospiza maritima mirabilis (CSSS). The Eve
Authors
Allison Benscoter, Stephanie Romanach
Verification of irrigated agricultural land acreage in 55 counties in Florida, 2013–21
In 2012, the Florida Legislature mandated that the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), Office of Agricultural Water Policy, promote an agricultural water-conservation program that would include a cost-share program and best management practices and that would aid the five water management districts in the development of consistent agricultural water-supply planning, as
Authors
Richard L. Marella, Joann F. Dixon
Ingested toxicity of antimycin A to grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella and black carp Mylopharyngodon piceus in two carriers
Toxic baits are a potential control mechanism for nuisance carps, but rotenone-based baits for grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella have been ineffective. Failures have been attributed to the palatability of rotenone because innocuous training pellets are readily consumed prior to provision of piscicide baits. Several studies suggest antimycin A, a common alternative piscicide, typically applied dir
Authors
Patrick Kroboth, Duane Chapman, Jeffery Steevens, Curtis G. Byrd
Biofilms as potential reservoirs of stony coral tissue loss disease
Since 2014, corals throughout Florida’s Coral Reef have been plagued by an epizootic of unknown etiology, colloquially termed stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD). Although in Florida the movement of this waterborne coral disease has been consistent with natural transport via water currents, outbreaks in the Caribbean have been more sporadic, with infections occurring in locations inconsistent
Authors
James S. Evans, Valerie J. Paul, Christina A. Kellogg