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The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
Browse more than 65,000 articles 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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Effectiveness of stewardship and management strategies to conserve coastal bird populations in the northern Gulf of Mexico: A literature review Effectiveness of stewardship and management strategies to conserve coastal bird populations in the northern Gulf of Mexico: A literature review
Shorebirds, seabirds, and wading birds (hereafter coastal birds) have experienced considerable losses over the last century and require proactive conservation management to stabilize or grow populations. Habitat loss and/or degradation and human disturbance are among the most urgent threats faced by coastal bird populations. Identifying effective conservation management techniques to...
Authors
Jennifer L. Fuller, Nicole L. Michel, Evan M. Adams, Abigail J. Darrah, Auriel Fournier, Jacquelyn K. Grace, Lianne Koczur, Bethany A.C. Kraft, Terri J. Maness, Sarah P. Saunders, Caz M. Taylor, Kiara L. Valentine, Theodore J. Zenzal
Pesticide contamination detected across five wildlife refuges in the Sacramento Valley of California Pesticide contamination detected across five wildlife refuges in the Sacramento Valley of California
An important goal for the applied ecological sciences is to understand the extent to which the biodiversity on conserved or managed lands is exposed to anthropogenic stressors. Among the various categories of conserved lands in the United States, the National Wildlife Refuge System is focused on the protection and management of native wildlife and plant populations. Refuge lands can be...
Authors
Angie Lenard, Therese Burns, Michelle L. Hladik, Kaylene Keller, Samantha Marcum, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Matthew L. Forister
Living on the edge: Identifying demographic bottlenecks in an isolated sage-grouse population Living on the edge: Identifying demographic bottlenecks in an isolated sage-grouse population
The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus: hereafter sage-grouse) population in Modoc County California is geographically isolated and contains a single lek (from 56 leks in the 1940s), despite significant efforts to increase the population through translocations and habitat improvement. Repeated wildfire within the landscape has led to an increase in invasive annual grasses and...
Authors
Chelsea E. Sink, Katie M. Dugger, Christian A. Hagen, John N. Vradenburg
Urbanization and host relatedness shape virome composition in a widespread, generalist carnivore Urbanization and host relatedness shape virome composition in a widespread, generalist carnivore
Urban wildlife species have the potential to serve as links in disease transmission between wildlife, humans and domestic animals at the wildland–urban interface (WUI), contributing to both sustained cross-species transmission of pathogens and the emergence of diseases in susceptible populations. However, the relative roles of host and environmental factors in shaping the composition of...
Authors
Natalie Payne, Desiree Andersen, Cheryl Mollohan, Koenraad Van Doorslaer, Leigh Combrink, Melanie Culver
Book review: Ecology of Dakota landscapes: Past, present, and future, by W. Carter Johnson and Dennis H. Knight Book review: Ecology of Dakota landscapes: Past, present, and future, by W. Carter Johnson and Dennis H. Knight
“Ecology of Dakota Landscapes” is an excellent example of fusing observation and scientific studies to describe the origins and development of the landscape of North and South Dakota, the impact of European settlement, the introduction of agriculture to the area, predictions for the future in the face of a changing climate, and a scientific framework for conservation and sustainability...
Authors
Glenn R. Guntenspergen
Spatiotemporal causal inference with mechanistic ecological models: Evaluating targeted culling on chronic wasting disease dynamics in cervids Spatiotemporal causal inference with mechanistic ecological models: Evaluating targeted culling on chronic wasting disease dynamics in cervids
Spatiotemporal causal inference methods are needed to detect the effect of interventions on indirectly measured epidemiological outcomes that go beyond studying spatiotemporal correlations. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) causes neurological degeneration and eventual death to white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Wisconsin. Targeted culling involves removing deer after traditional...
Authors
Juan Francisco Mandujano Reyes, Ting Fung Ma, Ian P. McGahan, Daniel J. Storm, Daniel P. Walsh, Jun Zhu
Development and evaluation of the remote passive integrated transponder tag reader for customizable monitoring of wildlife Development and evaluation of the remote passive integrated transponder tag reader for customizable monitoring of wildlife
Increasing the quantity and quality of mark-reencounter data can be important when individual identification data are needed to address research or management questions. Physical recapture methods tend to be labor-intensive and therefore expensive, while remote detection methods are not easily applied to all taxa or are proprietary and thus difficult to customize. However, partnerships...
Authors
Staci M. Amburgey, Aadithya Prakash, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Shane R. Siers, Sarah J. Converse
Tracking diagenetic alteration of magnetic susceptibility in thrust ridge and slope basin sediments of the Cascadia margin (ODP Sites 1249 and 1252; IODP Site U1325) Tracking diagenetic alteration of magnetic susceptibility in thrust ridge and slope basin sediments of the Cascadia margin (ODP Sites 1249 and 1252; IODP Site U1325)
We investigated sediment core records from the Cascadia Margin (Ocean Drilling Program Sites 1249 and 1252 at Hydrate Ridge; Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Site U1325 offshore Vancouver Island) using a Zr/Rb heavy mineral proxy from X-ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanning to identify intervals of primary detrital magnetic susceptibility (κ) and predict intervals where diagenesis caused...
Authors
Stephen C. Phillips, Joel E. Johnson, William Clyde, Wei-Li Hong, Jacob Setera, Marta E. Torres
Landscape transcriptomic analysis detects thermal stress responses and potential adaptive variation in wild brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) during successive heatwaves Landscape transcriptomic analysis detects thermal stress responses and potential adaptive variation in wild brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) during successive heatwaves
Extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, are becoming more frequent and intense as a result of climate change. Critically, such extreme weather events can be more important drivers of extirpation and selection than changes in annual or seasonal averages and they pose a particularly large threat to poikilothermic organisms. In this study, we evaluated the transcriptomic response of a...
Authors
Justin Waraniak, Sarah Batchelor, Tyler Wagner, Jason Keagy
Flow cytometric detection of waterborne bacteria metabolic response to anthropogenic chemical inputs to aquatic ecosystems Flow cytometric detection of waterborne bacteria metabolic response to anthropogenic chemical inputs to aquatic ecosystems
Typical investigations into the biological consequences of suspected xenobiotics or nutrients introduced in watersheds include analytical chemistry screens of environmental samples—such as periphyton responses or studies of fish condition—which are all costly in terms of equipment, reagents, time, and human resources. An alternative is to assess pollutant effects on waterborne bacteria...
Authors
Jill Jenkins, Scott Mize, Darren Johnson, Bonnie L. Brown
ARCHI: A new R package for automated imputation of regionally correlated hydrologic records ARCHI: A new R package for automated imputation of regionally correlated hydrologic records
Missing data in hydrological records can limit resource assessment, process understanding, and predictive modeling. Here, we present ARCHI (Automated Regional Correlation Analysis for Hydrologic Record Imputation), a new, open-source software package in R designed to aggregate, impute, cluster, and visualize regionally correlated hydrologic records. ARCHI imputes missing data in “target”...
Authors
Zeno F. Levy, Robin L. Glas, Timothy J. Stagnitta, Neil C. Terry
Characterizing pyrethroid and fipronil concentrations in biosolids Characterizing pyrethroid and fipronil concentrations in biosolids
Pesticides are prevalent in wastewater, yet few studies have measured pesticides in biosolids and aqueous media from samples collected concurrently. Seventeen California wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) were sampled in May 2020. Biosolids samples were analyzed for 27 analytes, and paired aqueous samples (influent and effluent) were analyzed for 23 analytes. Analytes included fipronil...
Authors
John Wheeler, Gabrielle Pecora Black, Michelle L. Hladik, Corey Sanders, Jennifer Teerlink, Luann Wong, Xuyang Zhang, Robert Budd, Thomas M Young