Publications
Below are publications associated with the Southwest Biological Science Center's research.
Trying to access a publication? Or looking for a GCMRC/GCES historical report? Reach out to Meredith Hartwell: mhartwell@usgs.gov with your request.
Filter Total Items: 1518
Grand Canyon River Alerts: An emergency alert system designed for satellite texting devices Grand Canyon River Alerts: An emergency alert system designed for satellite texting devices
The Grand Canyon River Alert system is now live! The U.S. Geological Survey, Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC), in collaboration with Coconino County Emergency Management (CCEM), the National Weather Service (NWS) and the National Park Service (NPS), have developed and implemented a framework for sending emergency alerts to boaters and hikers in Grand Canyon. The system...
Authors
Joseph E Thomas, Erica Paige Byerley, Thomas M. Gushue
Ecological dissimilarity matters more than geographical distance when predicting land surface indicators using machine learning Ecological dissimilarity matters more than geographical distance when predicting land surface indicators using machine learning
Supervised training techniques, such as those used in machine learning, use generally large sets of in situ data to train models that can, in turn, be used to make predictions (or prediction maps) about the Earth’s surface in times or places where no in situ data exist. The purpose of the present study is to investigate, using a very large set of in situ data from across the western...
Authors
Bo Zhou, Gregory S. Okin, Junzhe Zhang, Shannon L. Savage, Christopher J. Cole, Michael C. Duniway
Resilience is not enough: Toward a more meaningful rangeland adaptation science Resilience is not enough: Toward a more meaningful rangeland adaptation science
Rangeland ecosystems, and their managers, face the growing urgency of climate change impacts. Researchers are therefore seeking integrative social-ecological frameworks that can enhance adaptation by managers to these climate change dynamics through tighter linkages among multiple scientific disciplines and manager contexts. Social-ecological framings, including resilience and...
Authors
Hailey Wilmer, Daniel B. Ferguson, Maude Dinan, Eric Thacker, Peter B. Adler, Kathryn Bills Walsh, John B. Bradford, Mark Brunson, Justin D. Derner, Emile Elias, Andrew J Felton, Curtis A. Gray, Christina Greene, Mitchel P McClaran, Robert K. Shriver, Mitch Stephenson, Katharine Nash Suding
Greenness and actual evapotranspiration in the unrestored riparian corridor of the Colorado River Delta in response to in-channel water deliveries in 2021 and 2022 Greenness and actual evapotranspiration in the unrestored riparian corridor of the Colorado River Delta in response to in-channel water deliveries in 2021 and 2022
Natural resource managers may utilize remotely sensed data to monitor vegetation within their decision-making frameworks for improving habitats. Under binational agreements between the United States and Mexico, seven reaches were targeted for riparian habitat enhancement. Monitoring was carried out using Landsat 8 16-day intervals of the two-band enhanced vegetation index 2 (EVI2) for...
Authors
Pamela L. Nagler, Ibrahima Sall, Martha Gomez-Sapiens, Armando Barreto-Muñoz, Christopher J. Jarchow, Karl W. Flessa, Kamel Didan
Changes in microbial community and network structure precede shrub degradation in a desert ecosystem Changes in microbial community and network structure precede shrub degradation in a desert ecosystem
Large-scale restoration is intended to promote ecological recovery. Improvements in plant and microbial conditions, however, may slow or even reverse in late succession. To better understand long-term restoration outcomes and underlying drivers of successional pathways, we tracked plant, bacterial and fungal, and soil conditions across a 40-year shrub plantation that was intended to...
Authors
Guohua Wang, Seth M. Munson, Elly Morrien, Fei Mo, Mengting Maggie Yuan, Bin Wang, Ning Chen, Jian-Sheng Ye, Kailiang Yu
Dryland soil recovery after disturbance across soil and climate gradients of the Colorado Plateau Dryland soil recovery after disturbance across soil and climate gradients of the Colorado Plateau
Drylands impacted by energy development often require costly reclamation activities to reconstruct damaged soils and vegetation, yet little is known about the effectiveness of reclamation practices in promoting recovery of soil quality due to a lack of long-term and cross-site studies. Here, we examined paired on-pad and adjacent undisturbed off-pad soil properties over a 22-year...
Authors
Kathryn Delores Eckhoff, Sasha C. Reed, John B. Bradford, Nikita C. Daly, Keven Griffen, Robin H. Reibold, Randi Lupardus, Seth M. Munson, Aarin Sengsirirak, Miguel L. Villarreal, Michael C. Duniway
Combining terrestrial lidar with single line transects to investigate geomorphic change: A case study on the Upper Verde River, Arizona Combining terrestrial lidar with single line transects to investigate geomorphic change: A case study on the Upper Verde River, Arizona
The Upper Verde River in northern Arizona, USA is a vital resource for the wildlife and humans that rely on its waters. We characterize the riparian corridor topography using terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) data from 2021 to 2022. We also quantify geomorphic changes associated with human and climate-driven alterations in river flow and vegetation changes by combining the contemporary...
Authors
Lauren Lynn Tango, Temuulen Ts. Sankey, Jackson Leonard, Joel B. Sankey, Alan Kasprak
Biological soil crusts are more prevalent in warmer and drier environments within the Great Basin ecoregion: Implications for managing annual grass invasion Biological soil crusts are more prevalent in warmer and drier environments within the Great Basin ecoregion: Implications for managing annual grass invasion
Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) can thrive under environmental conditions that are stressful for vascular plants such as high temperatures and/or extremely low moisture availability. In these settings, and in the absence of disturbance, cover of biocrusts commonly exceeds cover of vascular plants. Arid landscapes are also typically slow to recover from disturbance and prone to altered
Authors
Lea A. Condon, John B. Bradford, Peter S. Coates
A toolbox for improving reclamation success: Joint USGS-BLM report establishes best management practices for oil and gas operations, monitoring methods, and standards A toolbox for improving reclamation success: Joint USGS-BLM report establishes best management practices for oil and gas operations, monitoring methods, and standards
The U. S. Geological Survey, in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management, recently published an oil and gas reclamation techniques and methods report that provides land managers and oil and gas operators specific guidance and best management practices for development impacts, successfully reclaiming disturbed lands during and after oil and gas activities. Resource inventory...
Authors
Michael C. Duniway, Meredith A. Hartwell
Hotspots of biogeochemical activity linked to aridity and plant traits across global drylands Hotspots of biogeochemical activity linked to aridity and plant traits across global drylands
Perennial plants create productive and biodiverse hotspots, known as fertile islands, beneath their canopies. These hotspots largely determine the structure and functioning of drylands worldwide. Despite their ubiquity, the factors controlling fertile islands under conditions of contrasting grazing by livestock, the most prevalent land use in drylands, remain virtually unknown. Here we...
Authors
David J. Eldridge, Jingyi Ding, Josh Dorrough, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Osvaldo E. Sala, Nicolas Gross, Yoann Le Bagousse-Pinguet, Max Mallen-Cooper, Hugo Saiz, Sergio Asensio, Victoria Ochoa, Beatriz Gozalo, Emilio Guirado, Miguel García-Gómez, Enrique Valencia, Jaime Martinez-Valderrama, Cesar Plaza, Mehdi Abedi, Negar Ahmadian, Rodrigo J. Ahumada, Julio M. Alcantara, Fateh Amghar, Luisa Azevedo, Farah Ben Salem, Miguel Berdugo, Niels Blaum, Bazartseren Boldgiv, Matthew A. Bowker, Donaldo Bran, Chongfeng Bu, Rafaella Canessa, Andrea P. Castillo-Monroy, Ignacio Castro, Patricio Castro-Quezada, Simone Cesarz, Roukaya Chibani, Abel Augusto Conceicao, Anthony Darrouzet-Nardi, Yvonne C. Davila, Balazs Deak, Paloma Diaz-Martinez, David A. Donoso, Andrew David Dougill, Jorge Duran, Nico Eisenhauer, Hamid Ejtehadi, Carlos Ivan Espinosa, Alex Fajardo, Mohammad Farzam, Ana Foronda, Jorgelina Franzese, Lauchlan H. Fraser, Juan J. Gaitan, Katja Geissler, Sofia Laura Gonzalez, Elizabeth Gusman-Montalvan, Rosa Mary Hernandez, Norbert Holzel, Frederic Mendes Hughes, Oswaldo Jadan, Anke Jentsch, Mengchen Ju, Kudzai F. Kaseke, Melanie Kobel, Anika Lehmann, Pierre Liancourt, Anja Linstadter, Michelle A. Louw, Quanhui Ma, Mancha Mabaso, Gillian Maggs-Kolling, Thulani P. Makhalanyane, Oumarou Malam Issa, Eugene Marais, Mitchel P McClaran, Betty J. Mendoza, Vincent Mokoka, Juan P. Mora, Gerardo Moreno, Seth M. Munson, Alice Nunes, Gabriel Oliva, Gastón R. Oñatibia, Brooke B. Osborne, Guadalupe Peter, Margerie Pierre, Yolanda Pueyo, R. Emiliano Quiroga, Sasha C. Reed, Ana Rey, Pedro J. Rey, Victor Manuel Reyes Gomez, Víctor Rolo, Matthias C. Rillig, Peter C. le Roux, Jan Christian Ruppert, Ayman Salah, Phokgedi Julius Sebei, Anarmaa Sharkhuu, Ilan Stavi, Colton R. A. Stephens, Alberto L. Teixido, Andrew David Thomas, Katja Tielborger, Silvia Torres Robles, Samantha K. Travers, Orsolya Valko, Liesbeth van den Brink, Frederike Velbert, Andreas von Hessberg, Wanyoike Wamiti, Deli Wang, Lixin Wang, Glenda M. Wardle, Laura Yahdjian, Eli Zaady, Yuanming Zhang, Xiaobing Zhou, Fernando T. Maestre
Modeling the impacts of Glen Canyon Dam operations on Colorado River resources Modeling the impacts of Glen Canyon Dam operations on Colorado River resources
At the time of this report, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is writing two supplemental Environmental Impact Statements (sEIS ) and a new Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that will analyze the effects of changing water flow out of Glen Canyon Dam (GCD) (U.S. Department of Interior, 2024). These actions have the potential to affect downstream resources, including threatened...
Authors
Charles B. Yackulic, Lucas Bair, Drew Elliot Eppehimer, Gerard Lewis Salter, Bridget R. Deemer, Bradley J. Butterfield, Alan Kasprak, Joshua Caster, Helen C. Fairley, Paul E. Grams, Bryce Anthony Mihalevich, Emily C. Palmquist, Joel B. Sankey