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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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Climate and land use driven ecosystem homogenization in the Prairie Pothole Region Climate and land use driven ecosystem homogenization in the Prairie Pothole Region
The homogenization of freshwater ecosystems and their biological communities has emerged as a prevalent and concerning phenomenon because of the loss of ecosystem multifunctionality. The millions of prairie-pothole wetlands scattered across the Prairie Pothole Region (hereafter PPR) provide critical ecosystem functions at local, regional, and continental scales. However, an estimated...
Authors
Kyle McLean, David M. Mushet, Jon Sweetman
Chemical geodynamics insights from a machine learning approach Chemical geodynamics insights from a machine learning approach
The radiogenic isotope heterogeneity of oceanic basalts is often assessed using 2D isotope ratio diagrams. But because the underlying data are at least six dimensional (87Sr/86Sr, 143Nd/144Nd, 176Hf/177Hf, and 208,207,206Pb/204Pb), it is important to examine isotopic affinities in multi-dimensional data space. Here, we apply t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE), a multi...
Authors
Andreas Stracke, M. Willig, F. Genske, P. Béguelin, Erin Todd
Storeria occipitomaculata (Red-bellied Snake) Storeria occipitomaculata (Red-bellied Snake)
STORERIA OCCIPITOMACULATA (Red-bellied Snake). USA: LOUISIANA: St. Mary Parish: Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge (29.69425N, 91.46701W; WGS 84). 18 August 2022. William C. Carroll and Aidan G. Phillips. Verified by Coleman M. Sheehy III. Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida (UF 193423; photo voucher). Adult photographed in leaf litter in a wet bottomland hardwood...
Authors
Aidan G. Phillips, William C. Carroll, Brad Glorioso
Hydrologic restoration decreases greenhouse gas emissions from shrub bog peatlands in southeastern US Hydrologic restoration decreases greenhouse gas emissions from shrub bog peatlands in southeastern US
Peatlands play a disproportionate role in the global carbon cycle. However, many peatlands have been ditched to lower the water table and converted into agriculture, which contributes to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Hydrologic restoration of drained peatlands could offset greenhouse gas emissions from these actions, but field examples that consider various greenhouse gases are...
Authors
Luise Armstrong, Ariane Peralta, Ken Krauss, N. Cormier, Rebecca Moss, Eric Soderholm, Aaron McCall, Christine Pickens, Marcelo Ardon
Effects of shady environments on fish collective behavior Effects of shady environments on fish collective behavior
Despite significant efforts devoted to understanding the underlying complexity and emergence of collective movement in animal groups, the role of different external settings on this type of movement remains largely unexplored. Here, by combining time series analysis and complex network tools, we present an extensive investigation of the effects of shady environments on the behavior of a...
Authors
Haroldo V. Ribeiro, Matthew Ross Acre, Jacob Faulkner, Leonardo R. da Cunha, Katelyn M. Lawson, James J. Wamboldt, Marybeth K. Brey, Christa M. Woodley, Robin D. Calfee
Getting ahead of flash drought: From early warning to early action Getting ahead of flash drought: From early warning to early action
Flash droughts, characterized by their unusually rapid intensification, have garnered increasing attention within the weather, climate, agriculture, and ecological communities in recent years due to their large environmental and socioeconomic impacts. Because flash droughts intensify quickly, they require different early warning capabilities and management approaches than are typically...
Authors
Jason A. Otkin, Molly Woloszyn, Hailan Wang, Mark Svoboda, Marina Skumanich, Roger Pulwarty, Joel Lisonbee, Andrew Hoell, Mike Hobbins, Tonya Haigh, Amanda E. Cravens
Survival and growth of four floodplain forest species in an Upper Mississippi River underplanting Survival and growth of four floodplain forest species in an Upper Mississippi River underplanting
Forest restoration efforts commonly occur in degraded ecosystems. For the floodplain forests of the Upper Mississippi River, the combination of aging canopy trees and expansion of invasive species such as reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) can shift forested ecosystems to open meadows. Before this shift occurs, there may be opportunities to proactively underplant. Our study...
Authors
Marcella Windemuller-Campione, Molly Van Appledorn, Andrew R. Meier, Laura F. Reuling
Using Landsat and MODIS satellite collections to examine extent, timing, and potential impacts of surface water inundation in California croplands☆ Using Landsat and MODIS satellite collections to examine extent, timing, and potential impacts of surface water inundation in California croplands☆
The state of California, United States of America produces many crop products that are both utilized domestically and exported throughout the world. With nearly 39,000 km2 of croplands, monitoring unintentional and intentional surface water inundation is important for water resource management and flood hazard readiness. We examine inundation dynamics in California croplands from 2003 to...
Authors
Britt Windsor Smith, Christopher E. Soulard, Jessica J. Walker, Anne Wein
Shelf ecosystems along the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain prior to and during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum: Insights into the stratigraphic architecture Shelf ecosystems along the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain prior to and during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum: Insights into the stratigraphic architecture
The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is the most pronounced global warming event of the early Paleogene related to atmospheric CO2 increases. It is characterized by negative δ18O and δ13C excursions recorded in sedimentary archives and a transient disruption of the marine biosphere. Sites from the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain show an additional small, but distinct δ13C excursion...
Authors
Monika Doubrawa, Peter Stassen, Marci M. Robinson, Tali Babila, James Zachos, Robert P. Speijer
Scat as a source of DNA for population monitoring Scat as a source of DNA for population monitoring
Sampling fecal droppings (scat) to genetically identify individual animals is an established method for monitoring mammal populations and could be highly useful for monitoring reptile populations. Whereas existing protocols for obtaining DNA from reptile scat focus on analyses of whole, fresh scat deposited during animal handling, the collection of scat naturally deposited by reptiles in...
Authors
Jeffrey A. Manning, Taylor Edwards, John Clemons, Daniel J. Leavitt, Caren S. Goldberg, Melanie Culver
The socioecology of fear: A critical geographical consideration of human-wolf-livestock conflict The socioecology of fear: A critical geographical consideration of human-wolf-livestock conflict
Animal fear can be an important driver of ecological community structure: predators affect prey not only through predation, but by inducing changes in behavior and distribution—a phenomenon evocatively called the “ecology of fear.” The return of wolves to the western United States is a notable instance of such dynamics, yet plays out in a complex socio-ecological system where efforts to...
Authors
Robert M. Anderson, Susan Charnley, Kathleen Epstein, Kaitlyn M. Gaynor, Jeff Vance Martin, Michael C Mcinturff
The future of fungi: Threats and opportunities The future of fungi: Threats and opportunities
The fungal kingdom represents an extraordinary diversity of organisms with profound impacts across animal, plant, and ecosystem health. Fungi simultaneously support life, by forming beneficial symbioses with plants and producing life-saving medicines, and bring death, by causing devastating diseases in humans, plants, and animals. With climate change, increased antimicrobial resistance...
Authors
Nicola T. Case, Judith Berman, David S. Blehert, Robert A. Cramer, Christina A. Cuomo, Cameron R. Currie, Iuliana V. Ene, Matthew C. Fisher, Lillian K. Fritz-Laylin, Aleeza C. Gerstein, N. Louise Glass, Neil A. R. Gow, Sarah J. Gurr, Chris Todd Hittinger, Tobias M. Hohl, Iliyan D. Iliev, Timothy Y. James, Hailing Jin, Bruce S. Klein, James W. Kronstad, Jeffrey M. Lorch, Victoria McGovern, Aaron P. Mitchell, Julia A. Segre, Rebecca S. Shapiro, Donald C. Sheppard, Anita Sil, Jason E. Stajich, Eva E. Stukenbrock, John W. Taylor, Dawn Thompson, Gerard D. Wright, Joseph Heitman, Leah E. Cowen