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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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Adapting standardized trout monitoring to a changing climate for the upper Yellowstone River, Montana, USA Adapting standardized trout monitoring to a changing climate for the upper Yellowstone River, Montana, USA
Objective Long‐term standardized monitoring programs are fundamental to assessing how fish populations respond to anthropogenic stressors. Standardized monitoring programs may need to adopt new methods to adapt to rapid environmental changes that are associated with a changing climate. In the upper Yellowstone River, Montana, biologists have used a standardized, mark–recapture monitoring...
Authors
Michelle A. Briggs, Hayley Corrine Glassic, Christopher S. Guy, Scott T. Opitz, Jay J. Rotella, David A. Schmetterling
Onset of aftershocks: Constraints on the Rate-and-State model Onset of aftershocks: Constraints on the Rate-and-State model
Aftershock rates typically decay with time t after the mainshock according to the Omori–Utsu law, R(t)=K(c+t)−p, with parameters K, c, and p. The rate‐and‐state (RS) model, which is currently the most popular physics‐based seismicity model, also predicts an Omori–Utsu decay with p = 1 and a c‐value that depends on the size of the coseismic stress change. Because the mainshock‐induced...
Authors
Sebastian Hainzl, Morgan T. Page, Nicholas van der Elst
Understanding the role of recreational angling technology in angler expectations of catch, trip catch, and angler satisfaction Understanding the role of recreational angling technology in angler expectations of catch, trip catch, and angler satisfaction
Rapid technological advancement often receives a mix of criticism and welcome implementation. Fishing technologies, such as sonar, are believed to enable anglers to be more efficient and effective in their angling. There are concerns from anglers and managers of increased catch by technology users. We assessed the relationships between technology use—defined as the use of imaging...
Authors
Amanda M. Kerkhove, Ashley Trudeau, Olaf P. Jensen, Daniel A. Isermann, Patricia A. Dombrowski, Alexandra M. Latimer, Zachary S. Feiner
Bacteriological analysis of unionid hemolymph collected from freshwater mussel populations in the Pacific northwestern United States Bacteriological analysis of unionid hemolymph collected from freshwater mussel populations in the Pacific northwestern United States
Native freshwater mussel (Unionidae) mortality events have been occurring with increased frequency in recent decades, with few investigations into potential etiological agents. In the western United States, no surveys have been published regarding the bacteria associated with unionid mussels. Herein, we examine locations of known mussel mortality events in the Chehalis River (Washington)...
Authors
Eric Leis, Sara Dziki, Emilie Blevins, Diane L. Waller, Jordan Richard, Susan Knowles, Tony Goldberg
Taylorisms: The wit and witticisms of Professor William W. Taylor Taylorisms: The wit and witticisms of Professor William W. Taylor
No abstract available.
Authors
Abigail J. Lynch
Declines in brook trout abundance linked to atmospheric warming in Maryland, USA Declines in brook trout abundance linked to atmospheric warming in Maryland, USA
Salmonid fishes provide an important indicator of climate change given their reliance on cold water. We evaluated temporal changes in the density of stream-dwelling brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) from surveys conducted over a 36-year period (1988–2023) by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources in Eastern North America. Nonparametric trend analyses revealed decreasing densities...
Authors
Nathaniel P. Hitt, Karli M. Rogers, Zachary A. Kelly
Preliminary observations of the April 5th, 2024, Mw4.8 New Jersey earthquake Preliminary observations of the April 5th, 2024, Mw4.8 New Jersey earthquake
On 5 April 2024, 10:23 a.m. local time, a moment magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck Tewksbury Township, New Jersey, about 65 km west of New York City. Millions of people from Virginia to Maine and beyond felt the ground shaking, resulting in the largest number (>180,000) of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) “Did You Feel It?” reports of any earthquake. A team deployed by the Geotechnical...
Authors
Oliver S. Boyd, William D. Barnhart, James Bourke, Martin C. Chapman, Paul S. Earle, Guo-chin Dino Huang, Jessica Ann Thompson Jobe, Won-Young Kim, Frederick Link, Mairi Maclean Litherland, Andrew Lloyd, Maureen Long, Sara K. McBride, Andrew J. Michael, Walter D. Mooney, Gregory Moutain, Sissy Nikolaou, Alexandros Savvaidas, Felix Waldhauser, Cecily J. Wolfe, Clara Yoon
Macroinvertebrate community responses to disturbance in a fragmented river with contrasting legacies of alteration Macroinvertebrate community responses to disturbance in a fragmented river with contrasting legacies of alteration
Flow is a critical factor determining the riverine ecosystem structure and function. Widespread hydrologic alteration, however, has impacted the ecological integrity of rivers in ways that are not well understood, including responses of biological communities to increasingly frequent and severe climatic disturbances. Our study compared the responses of invertebrate communities on woody...
Authors
Karen A. Baumann, Eric Arthur Scholl, Heidi M. Rantala, Matt R. Whiles
Adapting standardized trout monitoring to a changing climate for the upper Yellowstone River, Montana, USA Adapting standardized trout monitoring to a changing climate for the upper Yellowstone River, Montana, USA
Objective Long-term standardized monitoring programs are fundamental to assessing how fish populations respond to anthropogenic stressors. Standardized monitoring programs may need to adopt new methods to adapt to rapid environmental changes associated with a changing climate. In the upper Yellowstone River, Montana, biologists have used a standardized, mark-recapture monitoring protocol...
Authors
Michelle A. Briggs, Hayley Corrine Glassic, Christopher S. Guy, Scott T. Opitz, Jay J. Rotella, David A. Schmetterling
Scale-dependence in elk habitat selection for a reintroduced population in Wisconsin, USA Scale-dependence in elk habitat selection for a reintroduced population in Wisconsin, USA
Habitat selection is a critical aspect of a species' ecology, requiring complex decision-making that is both hierarchical and scale-dependent, since factors that influence selection may be nested or unequal across scales. Elk (Cervus canadensis) ranged widely across diverse ecoregions in North America prior to European settlement and subsequent eastern extirpation. Most habitat selection...
Authors
Jennifer L. Merems, Anna L. Brose, Jennifer Price Tack, Shawn M. Crimmins, Timothy R. Van Deelen
Effects of recent wildfires on giant sequoia groves were anomalous at millennial timescales: a response to Hanson et al. Effects of recent wildfires on giant sequoia groves were anomalous at millennial timescales: a response to Hanson et al.
Background The giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum [Lindley] Buchholz) of California’s Sierra Nevada recently suffered historically unprecedented wildfires that killed an estimated 13–19% of seed-bearing sequoias across their native range. Hanson et al. recently sought to characterize post-fire reproduction in two severely burned sequoia groves, but their two papers (1) inaccurately...
Authors
Nathan L. Stephenson, David Nicolas Bertil Soderberg, Joshua A. Flickinger, Anthony C. Caprio, Adrian Das
Studies to assess natural resource recovery and evaluate monitoring methods for restored bottomland hardwood forests Studies to assess natural resource recovery and evaluate monitoring methods for restored bottomland hardwood forests
The Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration process assesses natural resource injury due to oil or chemical spills and calculates the damages to compensate the public for those injuries. Ecological restoration provides a means for recovering resources injured or lost due to contamination from oil or chemical spills by restoring the injured site after remediation, or acquiring...
Authors
Michael J. Hooper, Matthew Struckhoff, John P. Isanhart, Janice L. Albers, Keith Grabner, Nicholas S. Green, Bethany K. Kunz, M. Victoria McDonald, Benjamin M West