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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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Stream temperature variability in headwater beaver dam complexes in relation to hydrologic and environmental factors Stream temperature variability in headwater beaver dam complexes in relation to hydrologic and environmental factors
Beaver modify hydrological regimes and have the ability to both increase water storage and alter stream temperatures. For these reasons, beaver translocation and the construction of human engineered beaver-dam analogs (BDAs) have become popular tools for climate-change adaptation. However, there is a lack of understanding about how beaver engineering affects stream temperature. The...
Authors
Catherine D.O. Means, Christian E. Torgersen, Joshua J. Lawler, Andrew S. Gendaszek, Benjamin J. Dittbrenner
Conservation enhances resilience of the United States Duck Factory as environmental shifts may diminish landscape-scale waterfowl breeding capacity Conservation enhances resilience of the United States Duck Factory as environmental shifts may diminish landscape-scale waterfowl breeding capacity
Wetlands in the U.S. Prairie Pothole Region (USPPR) provide habitat for an estimated 5 million breeding ducks and remain a focal point for North American waterfowl conservation. After decades of investment, almost 20% of the USPPR is protected by some form of wetland or grassland conservation. We synthesized four decades of modeling studies aimed at understanding how environmental change...
Authors
Owen P. McKenna, Aaron T. Pearse, Imtiaz Rangwala, Jason D. Tack, Ned Wright, Audrey Claire Lothspeich
Pliocene (Piacenzian) planktic foraminiferal biogeography: Insights into how planktic biogeography is linked to climate and socioeconomic impacts on marine ecosystems Pliocene (Piacenzian) planktic foraminiferal biogeography: Insights into how planktic biogeography is linked to climate and socioeconomic impacts on marine ecosystems
The Piacenzian Age (3.60–2.58 Ma) of the Pliocene Epoch was characterized by globally warmer climates, higher sea levels, and atmospheric CO2 similar to present. Utilizing a robust dataset of 2,101 samples and over 637,000 foraminifer specimens from 77 deep-sea core sites worldwide, we document planktic foraminifer biogeography and biodiversity during the mid-Piacenzian Warm Period (mPWP...
Authors
Harry J. Dowsett, Whittney Spivey, Kevin M. Foley, Marci M. Robinson
The geologic history of the Chehalis Forearc Basin, Washington State, USA The geologic history of the Chehalis Forearc Basin, Washington State, USA
The Chehalis basin is located between the Cascade arc and the Coast Range in southwest Washington State. It consists of sedimentary and volcanic rocks deposited throughout the Cenozoic and is underlain by the Siletzia terrane, a thick, large igneous province accreted in the Eocene. Here, we constrain evolution of the Chehalis basin depocenter using isochore maps derived from isostatic...
Authors
Rud L. Moe, John Bershaw, Lydia M. Staisch, Ashley R. Streig
Long-term aridity shapes grassland drought resistance and modulates the roles of plant diversity and functional composition Long-term aridity shapes grassland drought resistance and modulates the roles of plant diversity and functional composition
Understanding the drivers of plant community stability is crucial for predicting ecosystem responses to extreme drought events. In grasslands, drought resistance supports the maintenance of key functions such as above-ground primary productivity, making the identification of resistance drivers essential to guide management under climate change. Proposed factors contributing to grassland...
Authors
D. Bertuol-Garcia, L. van den Brink, M. Carbognani, M. H. Chandregowda, A. C. Churchill, D. F. Cusack, M. Dubbert, J. S. Dukes, M. E. DuPre, N. Eisenhauer, T. G.W. Forte, Y. Hautier, A. Hector, H. A.L. Henry, A. Jentsch, S. Koerner, A. Kübert, E. Ladouceur, D. Laughlin, M. G. Longo, A. Loydi, A. S. Mori, Seth M. Munson, U. N. Nielsen, T. J. Ohlert, G. R. Oñatibia, R. Otfinowski, M. Pärtel, G. B. Paterno, J. Peñuelas, P. L. Peri, A. Petraglia, J. M. Piñeiro, S. A. Power, Y. Pueyo, W. E. Rogers, B. A. Santos, M. D. Smith, A. Stampfli, R. J. Standish, M. Tedder, G. R. Wheeler, J. Williams, M. Zieter, N. Shackelford
Across-track tilt concept for sun glint mitigation in future Earth-observing missions Across-track tilt concept for sun glint mitigation in future Earth-observing missions
Sun glint is a major limitation for spaceborne optical remote sensing of aquatic environments, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions. By dominating the at-sensor radiance, sun glint complicates atmospheric correction and reduces the quality of aquatic reflectance products derived across Earth observation missions. This study presents a machine learning framework to quantify...
Authors
Saeed Arab, Christopher J. Crawford, Benjamin Page, Kevin Turpie, Peter Gege, David Thompson, Kelly Luis
Restoration is a partial but not complete solution for long-term declines in oyster populations—A case history from the northeastern Gulf of America Restoration is a partial but not complete solution for long-term declines in oyster populations—A case history from the northeastern Gulf of America
Objective We sought to evaluate whether oyster reef restoration is associated with sustained increases in intertidal eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica density in Suwannee Sound, Florida, and to examine how commercial fishing activity and freshwater discharge may modify those patterns.Methods We monitored intertidal oyster reefs for 14 years, including 9 years prior to large-scale...
Authors
W. E. Pine, J. F. Moore, Michael J. Dodrill, J. Aufmuth, M. Moreno, T. S. Coleman, J. Casteel, S. Beck, B. Ennis, N. Rogers, P. C Frederick
Ecogeomorphologic response of a tidally restricted salt marsh to tidal restoration and sea-level rise Ecogeomorphologic response of a tidally restricted salt marsh to tidal restoration and sea-level rise
Diked marshes with decades of restricted tidal flow exhibit fundamentally altered hydrologic and ecologic dynamics that result in limited vertical accretion, land subsidence, and underdeveloped tidal channels. These changes complicate marsh restoration efforts and constrain the marsh's ability to build elevation in response to future sea levels. In this study, we developed an integrated
Authors
Kasra Naseri, Michelle A. Hummel, Kevin M. Befus, Timothy P. Smith, Meagan J. Eagle, Kevin D. Kroeger
Fipronil baits as emerging tools for flea control and plague mitigation: Experiments with cricetid mice on prairie dog colonies Fipronil baits as emerging tools for flea control and plague mitigation: Experiments with cricetid mice on prairie dog colonies
Plague is a zoonotic disease of mammalian hosts and flea vectors. Wildlife biologists most commonly mitigate plague by controlling flea populations. We evaluated the efficacy of edible baits for systemic flea control with two cricetid species on colonies of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus): the western deer mouse (Peromyscus sonoriensis) and the northern grasshopper mouse
Authors
David A. Eads, Travis Livieri, Marc R. Matchett, Madisen Hartlaub, Jason Fly, Michelle L. Hladik, Shelli A. Dubay, Paul Roghair, Brooke Fricke, Phillip Dobesh, Ashley Merkel, Eddie Childers, John P. Hughes, Dean E. Biggins
Lunar-VISE landing site selection and characterization at Mons Gruithuisen Gamma Lunar-VISE landing site selection and characterization at Mons Gruithuisen Gamma
The Lunar Vulkan Imaging and Spectroscopy Explorer (Lunar-VISE) was selected for a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) delivery to the Gruithuisen domes region of the Moon as part of NASA’s Payloads and Research Investigation on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) program. The Gruithuisen domes are chemically and morphologically distinct from their surroundings with a thorium-rich...
Authors
Jean-Pierre Williams, Margaret E. Landis, Kristen A. Bennett, Sarah Valencia, Kerri L. Donaldson Hanna, Adrienne Dove, Patrick O'Brien, Erwan Mazarico, Javier Benavente, Brett W. Denevi, Justin Hagerty, Craig Hardgrove, Paul O. Hayne, Lena Heffernan, Adam LaMee, Thomas H. Prettyman, Katherine A. Shirley, Matthew A. Siegler, Jessica M. Sunshine, John S. Karcz, Maria E. Banks
Toxoplasma gondii: Challenges and perspectives in interpreting longitudinal seroprevalence data for a chronic parasitic infection Toxoplasma gondii: Challenges and perspectives in interpreting longitudinal seroprevalence data for a chronic parasitic infection
Toxoplasma gondii—the causative agent of toxoplasmosis—is a zoonotic pathogen of warm-blooded hosts. Infection causes mild-to-severe symptoms, including lethargy, fever, muscle pain, abortion, ocular disease, and encephalitis. Toxoplasma affects many vertebrate species, although felids are the only known definitive hosts. Seroprevalence in wildlife is often assessed using cross-sectional...
Authors
Kendall L. Bancroft, Connor J. Meyer, Emily J. Jenkins, Paul C. Cross, Randy W. DeYoung, Aaron M. Foley, Miranda L. Hopper, Kevin T. Lovasik, Landon N. Schofield, Bryan D. Spencer, Michael J Cherry, Alynn M. Martin
A cross-site comparison of ecosystem- and plot-scale methane fluxes across multiple sites A cross-site comparison of ecosystem- and plot-scale methane fluxes across multiple sites
Wetland and upland ecosystems play significant but opposing roles in the global methane (CH4) budget, acting as natural sources and sinks, respectively. Two of the most common approaches for measuring CH4 fluxes (FCH4) are chambers, which measure fluxes at fine spatial scales (ca. 1 m2), and eddy covariance (EC) towers, which integrate fluxes across larger footprints (ca. 100–10 000 m2)...
Authors
Tiia Määttä, Ankur R. Desai, Masahito Ueyama, Rodrigo Vargas, Eric J. Ward, Zhen Zhang, Gil Bohrer, Kyle Delwiche, Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, Järvi Järveoja, Sara H. Knox, Lulie Melling, Mat B. Nilsson, Matthias Peichl, Angela Che Tang, Eeva-Stiina Tuittila, Jinsong Wang, Sheel Bansal, Sarah Feron, Manuel Helbig, Aino Korrensalo, Karen W. Krauss, Gavin McNicol, Shuli Niu, Zutao Ouyang, Kathleen Savage, Oliver Sonnentag, Robert Jackson, Avni Malhotra