Publications

Beach nourishments are a popular nature-based alternative to armoring for shoreline erosion mitigation, but nourishments have been criticized due to their environmental impacts and uncertain sustainability. Monitoring is often nonexistent or insufficient to constrain nourishment longevity and inform the renourishment interval required to maintain shoreline protection. This study uses a...

Objective The management of invasive Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix in the Tennessee River basin focuses on removal, and there is interest in extending removal efforts to the tailwater environments of high-head locks and dams along the Tennessee River, such as Kentucky Dam. We used acoustic telemetry data from Silver Carp to understand important ecological associations...

Recent developments in molecular testing have created the opportunity for biologists and managers to detect environmental DNA (eDNA) of target species rapidly and without the requirement of a laboratory. These point-of-use protocols may be especially useful for early detection and rapid response for invasive species or surveillance for at-risk native species, where timely management...

We examined 30-year trends in the abundance and distribution of aquatic and floodplain vegetation, as well as human land uses in five study reaches of the Upper Mississippi River and one reach of the Illinois River using aerial photography collected in years 1989, 2000, 2010, and 2020. Permanently inundated area increased in all study reaches over the 30-year period. Increases ranged...

This “U.S. Geological Survey Pollinator Science Strategy, 2025–35—A Review and Look Forward” (“Pollinator Science Strategy”) describes the science vision of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to support management, conservation, and policy decisions on animal pollinators and their habitats. As the science arm of the Department of the Interior, the USGS has a primary role in providing...

A citizen’s right to comment on, and criticize, government decisions makes a difference. The U.S. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) institutionalized public engagement in environmental review in the belief it would lead to better decisions and more sustainable outcomes. But, 50 years later, NEPA’s public comment process has been criticized as costly and slow, while doing...

Changes in vegetation cover are occurring across sub-Saharan Africa and can have substantial effects on ecological communities, but limited data make understanding status and trends difficult for many taxa. We surveyed birds for several decades across Uganda using point counts. Using time-to-detection analysis in a trait-informed Bayesian multi-species occupancy framework, we model bird...

The value of national parks as bird habitat depends not only on local conditions within the parks, but also on the landscape habitat matrices in which they are located. However, the influences of local and landscape habitat matrices on birds vary by species and have not been quantified. Similarly, the trends of land cover types through time have not been systematically quantified for...

In cooperation with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Geological Survey monitored 98 common loon (Gavia immer) focal territories and an additional 37 nonfocal territories in 2024 across 53 study lakes in Minnesota. Focal territories were those territories from which study inferences will be made, whereas nonfocal territories were observed to monitor common loon...

The eastern migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) population has declined by ∼84% between 1993 and 2024. Population recovery in the Midwestern United States is limited by the availability of the monarch's main host plant for egg laying—common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). The extent to which common milkweed availability is limiting in other breeding regions is unknown. Our...

Climate change presents new and compounding challenges to natural resource management. With changing climate patterns, managers are confronted with difficult decisions on how to minimize climate effects on habitats, infrastructure, and wildlife populations. To support climate adaptation decision making, we first conceptualized an approach that integrates the principles of the resist...

Objective Invasive carps continue to spread across the Mississippi River basin, posing significant ecological risk. Identifying technologies to slow their dispersal is critical. The use of sound has been proposed as a method to modify the behavior of Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, offering a nonstructural deterrent strategy.Methods Silver Carp implanted with acoustic...