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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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Cotton farming pesticides affect ileal microbiota activity expressions of virulome but not resistome or metabolic pathways in a sedentary wild passerine Cotton farming pesticides affect ileal microbiota activity expressions of virulome but not resistome or metabolic pathways in a sedentary wild passerine
The increased use of agrochemicals to enhance crop production has had detrimental environmental effects including implication in the sharp decline of North American farmland-breeding birds. Here, using a combination of deep shotgun metatranscriptomics and pesticide exposure data, we sought to assess whether exposure to cotton (Gossypium spp.) production had a differential effect on ileum...
Authors
Sergei V. Drovetski, Michelle L. Hladik, Carolina F. Ferreira, Dana W. Kolpin, Gary Voelker
Validating antler- and movement-based estimates of caribou reproduction using video camera collars Validating antler- and movement-based estimates of caribou reproduction using video camera collars
Wildlife agencies invest substantial resources in monitoring ungulate reproductive rates given ongoing concerns about population trends and their implications for management. For barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus) in the North American Arctic, data on parturition and neonate survival have traditionally been collected using visual observations of antler retention and calf presence...
Authors
Heather E. Johnson, Emily Racenet, Gabrielle Coulombe, Matthew Cameron, Kyle Joly, Martin Kienzler, Michael J. Suitor
On-demand global Landsat evapotranspiration product: Development, evaluation, and dissemination On-demand global Landsat evapotranspiration product: Development, evaluation, and dissemination
Global actual evapotranspiration (ET) is one of the essential climate variables needed to understand and manage the relationships among food, energy, and water resources. The U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center launched a provisional ET product in 2020, offering on-demand, field-scale global coverage derived from Landsat data through the EROS...
Authors
Gabriel B. Senay, Gabriel Edwin Lee Parrish, Kul Bikram Khand, Lei Ji, Ray Dittmeier, MacKenzie Friedrichs, John Volk, Charles Morton, Leonardo Laipelt, Stefanie Kagone, Sheila M. Cochrane, Jordan Dornbierer, Saeed Arab, Calli Jenkerson, Anderson Ruhoff, Michael Budde
The effect of temperature, flow, density and disease on smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) early life growth rate The effect of temperature, flow, density and disease on smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) early life growth rate
Individual growth rates of fish are influenced by gradually changing environmental conditions and rapid-onset events. However, there is a paucity of information on drivers of spatiotemporal variability in growth rates of fishes across large spatial extents. Using a 36-year dataset of smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) length-at-age data across 10 river reaches in Pennsylvania, USA (n...
Authors
Rebecca S.M O'Brien, Megan K. Schall, Geoffrey Smith, Kelly L. Smalling, Tyler Wagner
Rewilding the upper Klamath River Basin: Rapid recolonization of Chinook salmon following the world’s largest dam removal Rewilding the upper Klamath River Basin: Rapid recolonization of Chinook salmon following the world’s largest dam removal
Habitat fragmentation is a global driver of decline in biodiversity, yet evaluations of ecological response following re-connection remain rare. In 2024, four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River were removed, reconnecting over 640 km of anadromous habitat and marking the largest dam removal project completed to date. We used a stationary high-resolution multi-beam imaging SONAR to...
Authors
Damon H. Goodman, Keith Denton, George Pess, James Whelan, Oleksandr Stefankiv, Toz Soto, Alex Corum, Jordan Ortega, Oshun O'Rourke, Mark Hereford, Domenic Giudice, Nicholas A Som
Age and colony variation in Adélie penguin metapopulation vital rates: Insights from a 25-year mark–recapture study Age and colony variation in Adélie penguin metapopulation vital rates: Insights from a 25-year mark–recapture study
Understanding how vital rates vary with age, life-history stage, and among populations is fundamental for predicting the demographic consequences of environmental change, especially in longer-lived species with complex life histories. These species often exhibit delayed maturity and iteroparity, making nuanced demographic insights critical for assessing their long-term viability. This...
Authors
Katie M. Dugger, Grant Ballard, Kerry J Barton, Amélie Lescroël, Phil O’B. Lyver, Annie E. Schmidt, Ainley G. David
Numerical modeling of Late Pleistocene to Holocene earthquake-induced progressive rock slope damage in the paraglacial Serpentine valley, Prince William Sound, Alaska Numerical modeling of Late Pleistocene to Holocene earthquake-induced progressive rock slope damage in the paraglacial Serpentine valley, Prince William Sound, Alaska
Landslides in deglaciating fjords pose a potential tsunami threat to nearby communities; however, processes contributing to long-term progressive rock damage and landslide conditioning remain poorly constrained in paraglacial settings. Here, we analyse the role of earthquake-induced rock mass damage over late Pleistocene to Holocene time scales, as a conditioning factor for modern...
Authors
Molly E. McCreary, Jeffrey R. Moore, Erin K. Jensen, Valentin S. Gischig, Dennis M. Staley, Brian D. Collins
Towards a refined definition of “tidal influence” for the coastal wetland sciences Towards a refined definition of “tidal influence” for the coastal wetland sciences
The astronomical tide relates to lunar (and to a lesser extent solar) influences on rising and falling water bodies, and is a key control of many coastal processes. However, tides manifest along coastal margins in different ways to muddle application beyond Sir Isaac Newton’s first descriptions. Here, we argue that tide, or specifically “tidal,” has not been adequately defined for the...
Authors
Ken W. Krauss, Laura S. Brophy, Judith Z. Drexler, Jeffrey A. Kelleway, Janine B. Adams, Havalend E. Steinmuller, Gregory B. Noe, Michael J. Osland, Jamie A. Duberstein, Kurt P. Kowalski, Amanda L. McCutcheon, Kaile'a M. Annandale, Daniel A. Friess, Eric E. Grossman, Kristin B. Byrd, Kevin J. Buffington, Joel A. Carr, Nicholas M. Enwright, Camille L. Stagg, Davina L. Passeri, Stephanie S. Romanach, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, James B. Grace, Christopher G. Smith, Justine A. Neville, Karen M. Thorne, Brian J. Roberts
Satellite embeddings for crop type classification: A comparative examination Satellite embeddings for crop type classification: A comparative examination
Embedding datasets encode complex relationships among multiple sources of Earth observation data into a compact format. Here, we evaluated the utility of a 10-m global Satellite Embedding product (SE) for classifying crop types in central California for the year 2020. We compared the classification accuracy of a random forest model based exclusively on the SE layer to an existing random...
Authors
Britt Windsor Smith, Jessica J. Walker, Christopher E. Soulard
SlideDetect: Spatio-temporal landslide detection using a three-dimensional convolutional neural network SlideDetect: Spatio-temporal landslide detection using a three-dimensional convolutional neural network
Landslides pose a serious and ongoing threat to both human lives and infrastructure worldwide; therefore, it is of interest to predict where and when landslides are likely to occur. Advances in machine learning techniques have spurred numerous studies aimed at estimating relative landslide propensity, but are limited to spatial (as opposed to temporal) prediction due to the sparsity of...
Authors
Max Sutton, Benjamin B. Mirus, George Hilley
Ductile and brittle Rio Grande Rift deformation in Oligocene granite records a two-stage rift history in southern Colorado Ductile and brittle Rio Grande Rift deformation in Oligocene granite records a two-stage rift history in southern Colorado
The timing and nature of early deformation in the Rio Grande Rift remains poorly constrained. We present evidence for the earliest structural signature of rift extension in the Sangre de Cristo Range, southern Colorado, based on new geologic mapping, structural analysis, rock magnetic data, and thermochronology. These analyses focus on the ~30.0 Ma granite of Chokecherry Canyon, which...
Authors
Samantha Malavarca, John Singleton, Mark R. Hudson, Gabrielle Ursin, Jeffrey M. Rahl, Martin Wong, Miriam Primus, Hunter Broeder
Listening for extinction: Range-wide occupancy highlights critical risks and priorities for northern spotted owls Listening for extinction: Range-wide occupancy highlights critical risks and priorities for northern spotted owls
The northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) continues to decline across its range, threatened by habitat disturbances and invasive barred owls (Strix varia). We conducted a range-wide spotted owl occupancy assessment using 2.1 million h of passive acoustic recordings from 4081 survey stations within 1027 randomly selected 5-km2 hexagons across six physiographic regions...
Authors
Damon B. Lesmeister, Julianna M.A. Jenkins, Raymond J. Davis, Natalie M. Rugg, Cara L. Appel, Larissa L. Bailey, Erin Bayne, Chestnut Tara, Leila S. Duchac, Katie M. Dugger, Taylor D. Ellis, Alan B. Franklin, Scott A. Gremel, Aaron Henderson, Edward Henson, J. Mark Higley, James E. Hines, Bruce A. Hollen, William L. Kendall, Taal Levi, Darryl I. MacKenzie, Christopher E. McCafferty, Thomas Munger, David Press, Caroline Provost, Suzanne Reffler, Zachary J. Ruff, James K. Swingle, Erica Tevini, Alaina D. Thomas, Matthew J. Weldy, Kirsten Wert, Angela White, Charles B. Yackulic