Reports
Science Quality and Integrity
The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
Browse more than 82,000 reports authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS and refine search by topic, location, year, and advanced search.
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Ecosystem extent and fragmentation Ecosystem extent and fragmentation
One of the candidate essential biodiversity variable (EBV) groups described in the seminal paper by Pereira et al. (2014) concerns Ecosystem Structure. This EBV group is distinguished from another EBV group which encompasses aspects of Ecosystem Function. While the Ecosystem Function EBV treats ecosystem processes like nutrient cycling, primary production, trophic interactions, etc., the...
Authors
Roger Sayre, Matt Hansen
Effect of N fertilization and tillage on nitrous oxide (N2O) loss from soil under wheat production Effect of N fertilization and tillage on nitrous oxide (N2O) loss from soil under wheat production
Nitrous oxide (N2O-N) is one of the most important gases in the atmosphere because it is 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in its ability to trap heat, and is a key chemical agent of ozone depletion. The amount of N2O-N emitted from agricultural fields can be quite high, depending on the complex interplay between N fertility and residue management, plant N uptake, microbial...
Authors
Sheel Bansal, Ezra Aberle, Jasper Teboh, Szilvia Yuja, Mark Liebig, Jacob Meier, Alec Boyd
Fisheries and aquatic resources of Prairie Creek, Redwood National Park Fisheries and aquatic resources of Prairie Creek, Redwood National Park
This report synthesizes information on the status of fisheries and aquatic resources in the Prairie Creek sub-basin of Redwood Creek in Humboldt County in northern California, founded on a bibliographic search we conducted of historic and current datasets, unpublished reports, theses, and publications. The compiled Prairie Creek Fisheries Bibliography is available at https://irma.nps.gov...
Authors
Peggy Wilzbach, Vicki Ozaki
Fisheries research and monitoring activities of the Lake Erie Biological Station, 2016 Fisheries research and monitoring activities of the Lake Erie Biological Station, 2016
Authors
Betsy L. Bodamer Scarbro, Richard T. Kraus, Patrick Kocovsky, Christopher Vandergoot
Forest restoration at Redwood National Park: exploring prescribed fire alternatives to second-growth management: a case study Forest restoration at Redwood National Park: exploring prescribed fire alternatives to second-growth management: a case study
Almost half of Redwood National Park is comprised of second-growth forests characterized by high stand density, deficient redwood composition, and low understory biodiversity. Typical structure of young redwood stands impedes the recovery of old-growth conditions, such as dominance of redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.), distinct canopy layers and diverse understory vegetation...
Authors
Eamon Engber, Jason Teraoka, Phillip J. van Mantgem
Geologic map of the Washington West 30’ × 60’ quadrangle, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. Geologic map of the Washington West 30’ × 60’ quadrangle, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C.
The Washington West 30’ × 60’ quadrangle covers an area of approximately 4,884 square kilometers (1,343 square miles) in and west of the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The eastern part of the area is highly urbanized, and more rural areas to the west are rapidly being developed. The area lies entirely within the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin and mostly within the Potomac River...
Authors
Peter T. Lyttle, John N. Aleinikoff, William C. Burton, E. Allen Crider, Avery A. Drake, Albert J. Froelich, J. Wright Horton, Gregorios Kasselas, Robert B. Mixon, Lucy McCartan, Arthur E. Nelson, Wayne L. Newell, Louis Pavlides, David S. Powars, C. Scott Southworth, Robert E. Weems
Geology and assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Hope Basin Province, 2008 Geology and assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Hope Basin Province, 2008
The Hope Basin, an independent petroleum province that lies mostly offshore in the southern Chukchi Sea north of the Chukotka and Seward Peninsulas and south of Wrangel Island, the Herald Arch, and the Lisburne Peninsula, is the largest in a series of postorogenic (successor) basins in the East Siberian-Chukchi Sea region and the only one with exploratory-well control and extensive...
Authors
Kenneth J. Bird, David W. Houseknecht, Janet K. Pitman
Geology and assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the West Greenland-East Canada Province, 2008 Geology and assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the West Greenland-East Canada Province, 2008
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently assessed the potential for undiscovered oil and gas resources of the West Greenland-East Canada Province as part of the USGS Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal program. The province lies in the offshore area between western Greenland and eastern Canada and includes Baffin Bay, Davis Strait, Lancaster Sound, and Nares Strait west of, and including...
Authors
Christopher J. Schenk
Guidance documents: Continued support to improve operations of fish hatcheries and field sites to reduce the impact or prevent establishment of New Zealand Mudsnails and other invasive mollusks Guidance documents: Continued support to improve operations of fish hatcheries and field sites to reduce the impact or prevent establishment of New Zealand Mudsnails and other invasive mollusks
This project tested and revised a risk assessment/management tool authored by Moffitt and Stockton designed to provide hatchery biologists and others a structure to measure risk and provide tools to control, prevent or eliminate invasive New Zealand mudsnails (NZMS) and other invasive mollusks in fish hatcheries and hatchery operations. The document has two parts: the risk assessment...
Authors
Christine M. Moffitt
Hydrogeology, groundwater flow, and groundwater quality of an abandoned underground coal-mine aquifer, Elkhorn Area, West Virginia Hydrogeology, groundwater flow, and groundwater quality of an abandoned underground coal-mine aquifer, Elkhorn Area, West Virginia
The Pocahontas No. 3 coal seam in southern West Virginia has been extensively mined by underground methods since the 1880’s. An extensive network of abandoned mine entries in the Pocahontas No. 3 has since filled with good-quality water, which is pumped from wells or springs discharging from mine portals (adits), and used as a source of water for public supplies. This report presents...
Authors
Mark D. Kozar, Kurt J. McCoy, James Q. Britton, B.M. Blake
Lake Ontario benthic prey fish assessment, 2016 Lake Ontario benthic prey fish assessment, 2016
Benthic prey fishes are a critical component of the Lake Ontario food web, serving as energy vectors from benthic invertebrates to native and introduced piscivores. Beginning in 1978, Lake Ontario benthic prey fishes were assessed using bottom trawls collected from the lake’s south shore (depth range: 8 – 150 m). Historically, the survey targeted the then dominant species, Slimy Sculpin...
Authors
Brian Weidel, Maureen Walsh, Jeremy P. Holden, Michael J. Connerton
Low thinning and crown thinning of two severities as restoration tools at Redwood National Park Low thinning and crown thinning of two severities as restoration tools at Redwood National Park
Interest in the restoration of second-growth forests has continued to increase in the redwood region, which has further increased the importance of evaluating restoration-based silvicultural strategies. This study assessed the short-term effectiveness of four silvicultural treatments (two silvicultural thinning methods, low thinning and crown thinning, and two basal area retentions, 80...
Authors
Jason R Teraoka, Phillip J. van Mantgem, Christopher R. Keyes