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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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Informing ASR treatment practices in a Florida aquifer through a human health risk approach Informing ASR treatment practices in a Florida aquifer through a human health risk approach
Aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) can augment water supplies and hydrologic flows under varying climatic conditions. However, imposing drinking water regulations on ASR practices, including pre-treatment before injection into the aquifer, remains arguable. Microbial inactivation data—Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, poliovirus type 1 and Cryptosporidium parvum—were used in a...
Authors
Anna Gitter, Kristina Mean, John T. Lisle
Vegetation change over 140 years in a sagebrush landscape of the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, New Mexico, USA Vegetation change over 140 years in a sagebrush landscape of the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, New Mexico, USA
Questions Big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) ecosystems across the western United States have experienced many changes in ecosystem dynamics and vegetation composition over the last century due to livestock grazing, non-native species, and changing climate and fire regimes. We conducted the first systematic investigation of historical vegetation composition and vegetation change in a...
Authors
Kara Fox, Ellis Q. Margolis, Manuel K. Lopez, Ella Kasten, J.T. Stevens
Using multiple metal mixture models to predict toxicity of riverine sediment porewater to the benthic life stage of juvenile white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) Using multiple metal mixture models to predict toxicity of riverine sediment porewater to the benthic life stage of juvenile white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus)
Five metal mixture dose–response models were used to predict the toxicity of porewater to young sturgeon at areas of interest in the Upper Columbia River (WA, USA/BC, Canada) and to evaluate these models as tools for risk assessments. Dose components of metal mixture models included exposure to free metal ion activities or metal accumulation by biotic ligands or humic acid, and links of...
Authors
Laurie S. Balistrieri
Survey optimization for invasive Burmese pythons informed by camera traps Survey optimization for invasive Burmese pythons informed by camera traps
The Burmese python (Python bivittatus) is an invasive predator responsible for broad mammal declines in South Florida, United States. Despite their large size, pythons remain cryptic and require multifaceted approaches for detection. We evaluated a novel technique by deploying camera traps at known locations of radiotagged pythons in the Florida Keys. We estimated daily detection...
Authors
Michael V. Cove, Jeremy Dixon, Katherine King, Matthew Willson, Kristen Hart
Temperature thresholds for leaf damage from two extreme freeze events (2018 and 2021) near the northern range limit of black mangroves (Avicennia germinans) in southeastern North America Temperature thresholds for leaf damage from two extreme freeze events (2018 and 2021) near the northern range limit of black mangroves (Avicennia germinans) in southeastern North America
Extreme winter temperatures govern the northern range limit of black mangroves (Avicennia germinans) in southeastern North America. There is a pressing need for studies that advance our understanding of how extreme cold temperature events affect mangroves near their range limits. However, such events are infrequent and challenging to study at regional scales. Here, we compared the damage...
Authors
Simen Kaalstad, Michael Osland, Donna J. Devlin, C. Edward Proffitt, Laura Feher, Anna R. Armitage, Richard Day, Kathleen M. Swanson, Gordon Anderson, Brigid Berger, Just Cebrian, Karen L. Cummins, Kenneth H. Dunton, Ilka C. Feller, Alejandro Fierro-Cabo, Elena A. Flores, Andrew From, A. Randall Hughes, David A. Kaplan, Amy K. Langston, Melinda Martinez, Briana Martinez, Christopher J. Miller, Nathan G.F. Reaver, Colt R. Sanspree, Caitlin M. Snyder, Andrew P. Stetter, Jamie E. Thompson, Carlos Zamora-Tovar
Lessons learned in applying decision analysis to natural resource management for high stakes issues surrounded by uncertainty Lessons learned in applying decision analysis to natural resource management for high stakes issues surrounded by uncertainty
Management agencies are tasked with difficult decisions for conservation and management of natural resources. These decisions are difficult because of ecological and social uncertainties, the potential for multiple decision makers from multiple jurisdictions, and the need to account for the diverse values of stakeholders. Decision analysis provides a framework for accounting for these...
Authors
Kelly Filer Robinson, Mark Richard Dufour, Jason L. Fischer, Seth J. Herbst, Michael L. Jones, Lucas R. Nathan, Tammy J. Newcomb
Lessons learned from community and citizen science monitoring projects on the Elwha River Restoration Project Lessons learned from community and citizen science monitoring projects on the Elwha River Restoration Project
Community and citizen science (CCS) projects – initiatives that involve public participation in scientific research – can both sustain and expand long-term monitoring of large dam removal projects. In this article, we discuss our perspectives on CCS associated with the Elwha River dam removals. We summarize how the public has been or could be involved in monitoring and distill lessons...
Authors
M. V. Eitzel, Ryan Meyer, Sarah A. Morley, Ian M. Miller, Patrick B. Shafroth, Chelsea Behymer, Christopher Jadallah, David Parks, Anna Kagley, Anne Shaffer, Heidi L. Ballard
Synergistic behavioral antagonists of a sex pheromone reduce reproduction of invasive sea lamprey Synergistic behavioral antagonists of a sex pheromone reduce reproduction of invasive sea lamprey
Sex pheromones impart maximal attraction when their components are present at optimal ratios that confer balanced olfactory inputs in potential mates. Altering ratios or adding pheromone analogs to optimal mixtures may disrupt balanced olfactory antagonism and result in reduced attraction, however, tests in natural populations are lacking. We tested this hypothesis in sea lamprey...
Authors
Anne M. Scott, Nicholas S. Johnson, Michael J. Siefkes, Weiming Li
Crop water use dynamics over arid and semi-arid croplands in the lower Colorado River Basin Crop water use dynamics over arid and semi-arid croplands in the lower Colorado River Basin
Numerous studies have evaluated the application of Remote Sensing (RS) techniques for mapping actual evapotranspiration (ETa) using Vegetation-Index-based (VI-based) and surface energy balance methods (SEB). SEB models computationally require a large effort for application. VI-based methods are fast and easy to apply and could therefore potentially be applied at high resolution; however...
Authors
Neda Abbasi, Hamideh Nouri, Pamela L. Nagler, Kamel Didan, Sattar Chavoshi Borujeni, Armando Barreto-Muñoz, Christian Opp, Stefan Siebert
Long-term trends of local bird populations based on monitoring schemes: Are they suitable for justifying management measures? Long-term trends of local bird populations based on monitoring schemes: Are they suitable for justifying management measures?
Local biodiversity monitoring is important to assess the effects of global change, but also to evaluate the performance of landscape and wildlife protection, since large-scale assessments may buffer local fluctuations, rare species tend to be underrepresented, and management actions are usually implemented on local scales. We estimated population trends of 58 bird species using open...
Authors
Antonio J. Hernandez-Navarro, Francisco Robledano, María V. Jiménez-Franco, J. Andrew Royle, José F. Calvo
Evidence for fine-grained material at lunar red spots: Insights from thermal infrared and radar data sets Evidence for fine-grained material at lunar red spots: Insights from thermal infrared and radar data sets
Lunar red spots are small spectrally red features that have been proposed to be the result of non-mare volcanism. Studies have shown that a number of red spots are silicic, and are spectrally distinct from both highlands and mare compositions. In this work, we use data from LRO Diviner, Mini-RF, and Arecibo to investigate the material properties of 10 red spots. We create albedo maps...
Authors
Benjamin Byron, Catherine Elder, Timothy Glotch, Paul O. Hayne, Lori M. Pigue, Joshua T. S. Cahill
Eruption of stagnant lava from an inactive perched lava lake Eruption of stagnant lava from an inactive perched lava lake
Lava flow hazards are usually thought to end when the erupting vent becomes inactive, but this is not always the case. At Kīlauea in August 2014, a spiny ʻaʻā flow erupted from the levee of a crusted perched lava lake that had been inactive for a month, and the surface of the lava lake subsided as the flow advanced downslope over the following few days. Topography constructed from...
Authors
Tim R. Orr, Michael H. Zoeller, Edward W. Llewellin, Matthew R. Patrick