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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.
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ShakeAlert® and schools: Incorporating earthquake early warning in school districts in Alaska, California, Oregon, and Washington ShakeAlert® and schools: Incorporating earthquake early warning in school districts in Alaska, California, Oregon, and Washington
The U.S. Geological Survey-managed ShakeAlert® earthquake early warning system is the first public alerting system in the United States to provide rapid mass notification when an earthquake is detected. Although public alert delivery via mobile phones began in California in 2019 followed by Oregon and Washington in 2021, little is known about what might drive widespread implementation in...
Authors
Rachel M. Adams, Holly Davies, Lori Peek, Meghan Mordy, Jennifer Tobin, Jolie Breeden, Sara K. McBride, Robert Michael deGroot
Comparison of cisco (Coregonus artedi) aerobic scope and thermal tolerance between two latitudinally-separated populations Comparison of cisco (Coregonus artedi) aerobic scope and thermal tolerance between two latitudinally-separated populations
The cisco Coregonus artedi is a coldwater fish that is distributed throughout much of Canada and the northern United States, including the Laurentian Great Lakes. Cisco historically supported large commercial fisheries in the Great Lakes during the late 1800s and early 1900s, but many populations declined and never recovered. Restoration efforts focusing on re-establishing cisco in the...
Authors
Martin Albert Simonson, David Bunnell, Charles P. Madenjian, Kevin Keeler, Joseph Schmitt
Aurora: An open-source Python implementation of the EMTF package for magnetotelluric data processing using MTH5 and mt-metadata Aurora: An open-source Python implementation of the EMTF package for magnetotelluric data processing using MTH5 and mt-metadata
The Aurora software package robustly estimates single station and remote reference electromagnetic transfer functions (TFs) from magnetotelluric (MT) time series. Aurora is part of an open-source processing workflow that leverages the self-describing data container MTH5, which in turn leverages the general mt-metadata framework to manage metadata. These pre-existing packages simplify the
Authors
Karl Kappler, Jared R. Peacock, Gary D. Egbert, Andrew Frassetto, Lindsey Heagy, Anna Kelbert, Laura Keyson, Douglas W. Oldenburg, Timothy Ronan, Justin Sweet
A scaling relationship for the width of secondary deformation around strike-slip faults A scaling relationship for the width of secondary deformation around strike-slip faults
Simple mechanical arguments suggest that slip along interlocked, rough faults, damages surrounding rocks. The same arguments require that the scale of secondary damage is proportional to the size of geometric irregularities along the main fault. This relationship could apply at all scales, but has, so far, been difficult to observe at the 10s to 100 s of km scales of large, natural...
Authors
R.G. Perrin, Nathaniel C. Miller, R.M. Lauer, Daniel S. Brothers
The effect of drying boreal lakes on plants, soils, and microbial communities in lake margin habitats The effect of drying boreal lakes on plants, soils, and microbial communities in lake margin habitats
Decadal scale lake drying in interior Alaska results in lake margin colonization by willow shrub and graminoid vegetation, but the effects of these changes on plant production, biodiversity, soil properties, and soil microbial communities are not well known. We studied changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N) storage, plant and microbial community composition, and soil...
Authors
Vijay P. Patil, Jack McFarland, Kimberly Wickland, Kristen L. Manies, Mark Winterstein, Teresa N. Hollingsworth, Eugénie S. Euskirchen, Mark Waldrop
Remote sensing large-wood storage downstream of reservoirs during and after dam removal: Elwha River, Washington, USA Remote sensing large-wood storage downstream of reservoirs during and after dam removal: Elwha River, Washington, USA
Large wood is an integral part of many rivers, often defining river-corridor morphology and habitat, but its occurrence, magnitude, and evolution in a river system are much less well understood than the sedimentary and hydraulic components, and due to methodological limitations, have seldom previously been mapped in substantial detail. We present a new method for this, representing a...
Authors
Daniel D. Buscombe, Jonathan A. Warrick, Andrew C. Ritchie, Amy E. East, M. McHenry, Randall McCoy, Amy C. Foxgrover, E. Wohl
Age, growth, and trophic ecology of the Redeye Bass, an introduced invader of California rivers Age, growth, and trophic ecology of the Redeye Bass, an introduced invader of California rivers
Objective The Redeye Bass Micropterus coosae is a piscivore introduced into California, which has become a threat to the state's endemic freshwater fishes. It has eliminated native fishes from the middle reaches of the Cosumnes River, our study stream, which is the largest stream without a major dam on its main stem in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River drainage, central California, USA...
Authors
Beth C. Long, Peter B. Moyle, Matthew J. Young, Patrick K. Crain
Social vulnerability and water insecurity in the western US: A systematic review of framings, indicators, and uncertainty Social vulnerability and water insecurity in the western US: A systematic review of framings, indicators, and uncertainty
Water insecurity poses a complex challenge for the western United States. Large populations are exposed and susceptible to physical and social factors that can leave them with precarious access to sufficient water supplies. Consideration of social issues by water managers can help ensure equitable supply. However, how social factors affect water insecurity conditions remains unclear...
Authors
Oronde Oliver Drakes, Diana Restrepo-Osorio, Kathryn Powlen, Megan Hines
The reach-scale biogeomorphic effect of submerged macrophytes on trout habitat suitability The reach-scale biogeomorphic effect of submerged macrophytes on trout habitat suitability
Submerged macrophytes have complex effects on spatiotemporal characteristics of river ecosystems, including trout habitat. We investigated the impact of submerged macrophyte coverage on trout habitat in the Henrys Fork of the Snake River, Idaho, USA. We hypothesized that higher submerged macrophyte coverage would create new habitat types beneficial for trout growth. We assessed river...
Authors
John S. McLaren, Robert W. Van Kirk, Phaedra E. Budy, Soren Brothers
DNA-based studies and genetic diversity indicator assessments are complementary approaches to conserving evolutionary potential DNA-based studies and genetic diversity indicator assessments are complementary approaches to conserving evolutionary potential
Genetic diversity is essential for maintaining healthy populations and ecosystems. Several approaches have recently been developed to evaluate population genetic trends without necessarily collecting new genetic data. Such “genetic diversity indicators” enable rapid, large-scale evaluation across dozens to thousands of species. Empirical genetic studies, when available, provide detailed
Authors
Sean M. Hoban, Ivan Paz-Vinas, Robyn E. Shaw, Luis Castillo-Reina, Jessica M. da Silva, J. Andrew DeWoody, Robert Ekblom, Ancuta Fedorca, Brenna R. Forester, W. Chris Funk, Julia C. Geue, Myriam Heuertz, Peter M. Hollingsworth, Alice C. Hughes, Margaret Hunter, Christina Hvilsom, Fumiko Ishihama, Rebecca Jordan, Belma Kalamujic Stroil, Francine Kershaw, Colin K. Khoury, Viktoria Koppa, Linda Laikre, Anna J. MacDonald, Alicia Mastretta-Yanes, Mariah H. Meek, Joachim Mergeay, Katie L. Millette, David O'Brien, Victor J. Rincon-Parra, M. Alejandra Rodriguez-Morales, Meredith C. Schuman, Gernot Segelbacher, Paul Sunnucks, Rebecca S. Taylor, Henrik Thurfjell, Cristiano Vernesi, Catherine E. Grueber
Despite regional variation, Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus (Pinyon Jay) densities generally increase with local pinyon–juniper cover and heterogeneous ground cover Despite regional variation, Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus (Pinyon Jay) densities generally increase with local pinyon–juniper cover and heterogeneous ground cover
Traditionally, local-scale habitat-relationship models are developed over small spatial extents, limiting model transferability and inference outside the study area. Thus, habitat managers frequently lack fine-scale information regarding the influence of vegetation composition and structure on site suitability or species abundance. Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus (Pinyon Jay) represents one...
Authors
Nicholas J. Van Lanen, Adrian P. Monroe, Cameron L. Aldridge
The impact of source time function complexity on stress drop estimates The impact of source time function complexity on stress drop estimates
Earthquake stress drop—a key parameter for describing the energetics of earthquake rupture—can be estimated in several different, but theoretically equivalent, ways. However, independent estimates for the same earthquakes sometimes differ significantly. We find that earthquake source complexity plays a significant role in why theoretically (for simple rupture models) equivalent methods...
Authors
James S. Neely, Sunyoung Park, Annemarie S. Baltay Sundstrom