Core Science Systems
Publications
Here you will find publications, reports and articles produced by Core Science System scientists. For a comprehensive listing of all USGS publications please click the button below.
How a national vegetation classification can help ecological research and management
The elegance of classification lies in its ability to compile and systematize various terminological conventions and masses of information that are unattainable during typical research projects. Imagine a discipline without standards for collection, analysis, and interpretation; unfortunately, that describes much of 20th-century vegetation ecology...
Franklin, Scott; Comer, Patrick; Evens, Julie; Ezcurra, Exequiel; Faber-Langendoen, Don; Franklin, Janet; Jennings, Michael; Josse, Carmen; Lea, Chris; Loucks, Orie; Muldavin, Esteban; Peet, Robert K.; Ponomarenko, Serguei; Roberts, David G.; Solomeshch, Ayzik; Keeler-Wolf, Todd; Van Kley, James; Weakley, Alan; McKerrow, Alexa J.; Burke, Marianne; Spurrier, Carol
Minerals, lands, and geology for the common defence and general welfare, Volume 4, 1939-1961: A history of geology in relation to the development of public-land, federal science, and mapping policies and the development of mineral resources in the United States from the 60th to the 82d year of the U.S. Geological Survey
The fourth volume of the comprehensive history of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is titled “Minerals, Lands, and Geology for the Common Defence and General Welfare—Volume 4, 1939‒1961.” The title is based on a passage in the preamble of the U.S. Constitution. The late Mary C. Rabbitt (1915‒2002), a geophysicist who served with...
Rabbitt, Mary C.; Nelson, Clifford M. Modeling climate change, urbanization, and fire effects on Pinus palustris ecosystems of the southeastern U.S.
Managing ecosystems for resilience and sustainability requires understanding how they will respond to future anthropogenic drivers such as climate change and urbanization. In fire-dependent ecosystems, predicting this response requires a focus on how these drivers will impact fire regimes. Here, we use scenarios of climate change, urbanization and...
Costanza, Jennifer; Terando, Adam J.; McKerrow, Alexa J.; Collazo, Jaime A. 2014-2015 Partnership accomplishments report on joint activities: National Gap Analysis Program and LANDFIRE
The intended target audience for this document initially is management and project technical specialist and scientists involved in the Gap Analysis Program (GAP) and the Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools - (LANDFIRE) program to help communicate coordination activities to all involved parties. This document is also intended to...
Davidson, Anne; McKerrow, Alexa J.; Long, Don; Earnhardt, Todd Future land-use scenarios and the loss of wildlife habitats in the southeastern United States
Land-use change is a major cause of wildlife habitat loss. Understanding how changes in land-use policies and economic factors can impact future trends in land use and wildlife habitat loss is therefore critical for conservation efforts. Our goal here was to evaluate the consequences of future land-use changes under different conservation policies...
Martinuzzi, Sebastián; Withey, John C.; Pidgeon, Anna M.; Plantinga, Andrew; McKerrow, Alexa J.; Williams, Steven G.; Helmers, David P.; Radeloff, Volker C. Synoptic evaluation of scale-dependent metrics for hydrographic line feature geometry
Methods of acquisition and feature simplification for vector feature data impact cartographic representations and scientific investigations of these data, and are therefore important considerations for geographic information science (Haunert and Sester 2008). After initial collection, linear features may be simplified to reduce excessive detail or...
Stanislawski, Larry V.; Buttenfield, Barbara P.; Raposo, Paulo; Cameron, Madeline; Falgout, Jeff T. Complex Topographic Feature Ontology Patterns
Semantic ontologies are examined as effective data models for the representation of complex topographic feature types. Complex feature types are viewed as integrated relations between basic features for a basic purpose. In the context of topographic science, such component assemblages are supported by resource systems and found on the local...
Varanka, Dalia E.; Jerris, Thomas J. An applied ontology for semantics associated with surface water land cover
Ahlqvist, Ola; Varanka, Dalia; Fritz, Steffen; Janowicz, Krzysztof; Varanka, Dalia E.; Usery, E. Lynn Crisis crowdsourcing framework: designing strategic configurations of crowdsourcing for the emergency management domain
Crowdsourcing is not a new practice but it is a concept that has gained significant attention during recent disasters. Drawing from previous work in the crisis informatics, disaster sociology, and computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) literature, the paper first explains recent conceptualizations of crowdsourcing and how crowdsourcing is a...
Liu, Sophia B. The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium: 20 years of development and integration of USA national land cover data
The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium demonstrates the national benefits of USA Federal collaboration. Starting in the mid-1990s as a small group with the straightforward goal of compiling a comprehensive national Landsat dataset that could be used to meet agencies’ needs, MRLC has grown into a group of 10 USA Federal...
Wickham, James D.; Homer, Collin G.; Vogelmann, James E.; McKerrow, Alexa; Mueller, Rick; Herold, Nate; Coluston, John The southern megalopolis: using the past to predict the future of urban sprawl in the Southeast U.S.
The future health of ecosystems is arguably as dependent on urban sprawl as it is on human-caused climatic warming. Urban sprawl strongly impacts the urban ecosystems it creates and the natural and agro-ecosystems that it displaces and fragments. Here, we project urban sprawl changes for the next 50 years for the fast-growing Southeast U.S....
Terando, Adam; Costanza, Jennifer; Belyea, Curtis; Dunn, Robert R.; McKerrow, Alexa; Collazo, Jaime Generalisation operators
This chapter summarises cartographic generalisation operators used to generalise geospatial data. It includes a review of recent approaches that have been tested or implemented to generalise networks, points, or groups. Emphasis is placed on recent advances that permit additional flexibility to tailor generalisation processing in particular...
Burghardt, Dirk; Duchêne, Cécile; Mackaness, William; Stanislawski, Larry V.; Buttenfield, Barbara P.; Bereuter, Pia; Savino, Sandro; Brewer, Cynthia A.