Publications

High resolution topobathymetric field surveys were conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in collaboration with Northeastern University and in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and The Nature Conservancy in a selected shoreline along Gandys Beach, New Jersey, from January to April 2018. These data are a critical model input for hydrodynamic and wave models and can...

Map-based decision support tools (DSTs) that use species distributions are an important means of identifying priority areas for conservation. The 2020 Wisconsin Waterfowl Habitat Conservation Strategy (WWHCS) uses a DST to identify priority ecological landscapes and watersheds to guide waterfowl habitat projects. The WWHCS DST relies on waterfowl habitat suitability layers derived...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are contaminants that can lead to adverse health effects in aquatic organisms, including reproductive toxicity and developmental abnormalities. To assess the ecological health risk of PFAS in Pennsylvania stream surface water, we conducted a comprehensive analysis that included both measured and predicted estimates. The potential combined...

Executive Summary The U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Calibration and Validation (Cal/Val) Center of Excellence (ECCOE) focuses on improving the accuracy, precision, calibration, and product quality of remote-sensing data, leveraging years of multiscale optical system geometric and radiometric calibration and characterization experience. The ECCOE Landsat...

Introduction In 2021, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and the U.S. Geological Survey worked in cooperation to develop a geographic information system (GIS)-based methodology that systematically assesses the vulnerability of public-supply drinking water to potential contaminants consistent with the standards set forth in the Tennessee Source Water...

This book is an illustrative guide designed to introduce young minds to the exciting world of geologic hazards science careers. From geomorphologist to volcanologist, this book showcases a variety of science-based professions through fun and engaging activities. Each section of the book features a different science career and includes information about how the job got its name and what a...

Reports of widespread pollinator declines, data deficiencies, and inabilities to assess status and trends underscore the need for wild bee monitoring. Chief among the challenges with wild bee monitoring is identifying monitoring objectives and state variables. Here we make the case for considering occupancy, the proportion of area occupied, as a primary state variable of interest for...

Lithium-rich brine deposits occur throughout the United States, including in the Smackover Formation. The concentration of lithium in Smackover Formation brines was predicted across southern Arkansas by using a machine-learning model that incorporated lithium concentration data and geologic information. Between 5.1 and 19.0 million metric tons of lithium are calculated to be present in...

The Central Valley of California (CVC) and Mid-Atlantic (MA) in the U.S. are both critical sites for nationwide food security, and many waterfowl species annually, especially during the winter, providing feeding and roosting locations for a variety of species. Mapping waterfowl distributions, using NEXRAD, may aid in the adaptive management of important waterfowl habitat and allow...

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) provides a powerful framework for addressing threats to human well-being caused by nuisance species including invasives. We examined the hypothesis that adaptive management could erode barriers to IPM implementation by developing a decision-analytic adaptive management framework for invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) IPM in the Laurentian Great...

Water withdrawal from private groundwater wells is often unaccounted for in water planning studies, and water from private wells can be a source of exposure to environmental contaminants. The sizes of populations that depend on private wells for domestic water use and the amounts of water that are withdrawn from these wells are generally poorly represented in data collection efforts...

Understanding the causes of mortality for a declining species is essential for developing effective conservation and management strategies, particularly when anthropogenic activities are the primary threat. Using a competing hazards framework allows for robust estimation of the cause-specific variation in risk that may exist across multiple dimensions, such as time and individual. Here...