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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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Tracking the sources of metals to the San Juan River, Four Corners Region, USA: An introduction to the thematic issue Tracking the sources of metals to the San Juan River, Four Corners Region, USA: An introduction to the thematic issue
Surface water quantity and quality is important for arid and semi-arid regions where many people, including underserved and Indigenous communities, rely on a scarce resource for drinking water, irrigation, livestock and ceremonial uses. The southwestern United States, and specifically the Four Corners Region (Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah), is an example of this situation...
Authors
Johanna Blake, Stephen A. Austin, Fred Johnson, Jeb E. Brown, Shaleene Chavarria, Rachel Lynn Mixon, C.A. Van Zante, Kate Wilkins, Michael Ray Whiting, Christina L. Ferguson, Zachary Shephard, K. Bosch, Tristan Joel Austring, Zoreya (Zev) Eden Ratigan, Anani Atahnibaa Shomour, Douglas Yager
Late Quaternary pollen record from southwest Seward Peninsula, western Alaska, and the vegetation history of central Beringia Late Quaternary pollen record from southwest Seward Peninsula, western Alaska, and the vegetation history of central Beringia
Pollen analysis of samples from a coastal exposure near Teller, southwestern Seward Peninsula, Alaska, provides a record of vegetation and climate spanning the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) through the Holocene. The site is near the center of the former Bering Land Bridge (BLB). The oldest pollen-bearing sediment unit is a loess deposit of LGM age, with pollen assemblages that closely...
Authors
Thomas A. Ager
Hosts, pathogens and hot ponds: Thermal mean and variability contribute to spatial patterns of chytrid infection Hosts, pathogens and hot ponds: Thermal mean and variability contribute to spatial patterns of chytrid infection
Temperature is a primary driver of heterogeneity in host–pathogen dynamics and understanding how patch-scale temperature affects landscape-scale patterns of pathogen infection is key to effective monitoring and management. In field studies, both temperature variability and mean temperature are often related to infection of ectothermic animals by fungal pathogens, and although these...
Authors
Brendan K Hobart, Daniel A. Grear, Megan Winzeler, Travis Mcdevitt-Galles, Timothy M Korpita, Erin L. Muths, Valerie J McKenzie
How high? Identifying elevation thresholds to guide coastal marsh restoration How high? Identifying elevation thresholds to guide coastal marsh restoration
Introduction Coastal marshes are highly valuable ecosystems facing threats from rising sea levels and intensifying storm events. To elevate marsh surfaces and prevent loss of ecosystem services, the beneficial use of dredged material (BUDM) is increasingly being implemented across the United States. Objectives The objective of this study was to aid decision-makers and restoration...
Authors
Emily N. Fromenthal, Camille L. Stagg, Jena A. Moon, Taylor Abshier, Omar Alawneh, Jack A. Cadigan, Daniel A. Gallegos, Brian D. Harris, Nia R. Hurst, Navid H. Jafari, Todd Merendino, Matthew R. Nelson, Michael J. Osland, Philip Pauling, Michael Rezsutek, Colt R. Sanspree, Rachel Katherine Villani
Groundwater structures fish growth and production across a riverscape Groundwater structures fish growth and production across a riverscape
Landscapes are composed of habitat patches and conditions that vary across space and time. While habitat variability and complexity can support important ecological processes and ecosystem services, the dynamic nature of habitats can also constrain organismal growth and production as optimal conditions are fleeting. In riverine ecosystems, groundwater discharge to streams stabilises...
Authors
Jeffrey R. Baldock, Robert Al-Chokhachy, Annika W. Walters
When do single-species occupancy models outperform multispecies models? When do single-species occupancy models outperform multispecies models?
Occupancy models have become increasingly popular for species monitoring and assessment, in part, because detection/non-detection data are readily obtained using a variety of methods. Multispecies occupancy models (MSOMs) can yield more accurate parameter estimates than single-species models (SSOMs) with less data through their hierarchical structure, making MSOMs an attractive option...
Authors
Gavin G. Cotterill, Douglas A. Keinath, Tabitha A. Graves
Topographic, climatic, and age controls on the reworking of volcanic debris avalanche deposits Topographic, climatic, and age controls on the reworking of volcanic debris avalanche deposits
Volcanic debris avalanches have deposited as much as 1000 km3 of largely unconsolidated material on landscapes and remodeled existing drainage networks. The landscape disturbances created by these events pose severe, cascading downstream sedimentation hazards that can require long-term societal management, as demonstrated by decades of observations and ongoing interventions after the...
Authors
Kristin Sweeney, Jon J. Major
Twenty years (2000-2020) of butterfly monitoring data across the contiguous United States Twenty years (2000-2020) of butterfly monitoring data across the contiguous United States
We present the most comprehensive, integrated, butterfly monitoring dataset ever assembled for the United States. It contains over 1.2 million count records, from 65,000 surveys, representing over 12.6 million individual butterflies. To compile this dataset, we integrated data and harmonized taxonomy across 19 butterfly monitoring programs in the United States – one national, 13...
Authors
Erica H Henry, Collin B. Edwards, Vaughn Shirey, Jeffrey S. Pippen, Dave Waetjen, Matthew L. Forister, Elise A. Larsen, Cheryl B. Schultz, James Michielini, Nathan Brockman, Kevin J. Burls, Ryan G. Drum, Martha Gatch, Jeffrey Glassberg, Nancy Hamlett, Shiran V. Hershcovich, Catherine Le, Steve McGaffin, Jen Meilinger, Lisa Richter, Regina Rochefort, Charles Schelz, Arthur M. Shapiro, Katheryn Sullivan, Douglas J. Taron, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Anna Walker, Anita Westphal, Jerome Wiedmann, Irmgard U. Wilcockson, Jennifer Zaspel, Leslie Ries
The rise of U.S. photovoltaics: An exploration of land use density trends in large-scale solar facility attributes, 2012-2021 The rise of U.S. photovoltaics: An exploration of land use density trends in large-scale solar facility attributes, 2012-2021
An energy transition is underway in the United States; renewable energy generation is now on par with coal and nuclear generation. The number of large-scale solar photovoltaic facilities increased approximately tenfold between 2012 and 2021, with an associated 25-fold increase in cumulative installed capacity. With ambitious decarbonization and renewable energy deployment goals at both...
Authors
K. Sydny Fujita, Ben Hoen, Dana Robson, Joesph Rand, Zachary H. Ancona, James E. Diffendorfer, Louisa Kramer, Christopher Garrity, Jianyu Gu, Jordan Macknick
Drowned river mouth lakes are winter foraging habitats for the expanding Lake Michigan cisco Coregonus artedi population Drowned river mouth lakes are winter foraging habitats for the expanding Lake Michigan cisco Coregonus artedi population
Characterizing fish movements is required for understanding habitat use, energy flow, and trophic structure and can inform fisheries management. Drowned river mouth (DRM) lakes are productive inland habitats in the Laurentian Great Lakes basin used by migratory fishes. Despite recognition of their ecological connections to the Great Lakes, the value of DRM lakes as seasonal habitats is...
Authors
Ralph W. Tingley, Darryl W. Hondorp, Benjamin A. Turschak, Steven A. Pothoven, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Jory Jonas, William W. Fetzer, Benjamin Scott Leonhardt, Andrew Edgar Honsey, Jeff Elliott, Lindsie Ann Egedy, Cory Brant, Lynn Benes, Kendra Kozlauskos, Renee Renauer-Bova, Ann J. Ropp
Divergent responses of seed banks and aboveground vegetation to drought and deluge in grasslands across an elevational gradient Divergent responses of seed banks and aboveground vegetation to drought and deluge in grasslands across an elevational gradient
Increased variability in precipitation associated with climate change creates extreme conditions of drought and deluge that can have profound effects on the abundance and composition of plant communities. Responses to these extremes likely vary across climatic gradients and depend on local plant community composition, which includes the emergent, aboveground vegetation as well as...
Authors
Jennifer R. Gremer, Margaret M. Moore, Daniel C. Laughlin, Seth M. Munson
Long‐period ground motions from dynamic rupture simulations of large earthquakes on the creeping Hayward–Calaveras–Rodgers Creek fault system Long‐period ground motions from dynamic rupture simulations of large earthquakes on the creeping Hayward–Calaveras–Rodgers Creek fault system
he Hayward, Calaveras, and Rodgers Creek faults in the San Francisco Bay region of California have a high probability of producing a large earthquake in the next decades. Although these faults creep, the creep is insufficient to keep up with their relatively rapid slip rates on their deepest sections, so they have been storing tectonic strain since their last large earthquakes, with the...
Authors
Ruth A. Harris, Michael Barall, Grace Alexandra Parker, Evan Tyler Hirakawa