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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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Using the gut microbiome to assess stocking efforts of the endangered Pallid Sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus albus Using the gut microbiome to assess stocking efforts of the endangered Pallid Sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus albus
The endangered Pallid Sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus albus, has been actively managed to prevent population declines, including stocking of hatchery-raised fish. The gut microbiome plays an innate role in an organism’s absorption of nutrients by increasing nutrient availability and can provide new insights for Pallid Sturgeon management. In this study, the Pallid Sturgeon’s microbiome is...
Authors
Sarah Gaughan, John A. Kyndt, Justin D. Haas, Kirk D. Steffensen, Patrick M. Kocovsky, Kevin L. Pope
Bioenergetics model for the nonnative Redside Shiner Bioenergetics model for the nonnative Redside Shiner
Objective
Authors
Rachelle Carina Johnson, David Beauchamp, Julian D. Olden
Habitat selection of a migratory freshwater fish in response to seasonal hypoxia as revealed by acoustic telemetry Habitat selection of a migratory freshwater fish in response to seasonal hypoxia as revealed by acoustic telemetry
Adaptive efforts to achieve water quality objectives by modifying nutrient loading can have attendant impacts on fish habitats and fisheries. Thus, coordinating fishery and water quality management depends on knowledge of fish behavioral responses to habitat change. This study combined acoustic telemetry of fish with water quality modeling to understand how water quality management might...
Authors
Richard Kraus, H. Andrew Cook, Matthew D. Faust, Joseph Schmitt, Mark D. Rowe, Christopher S. Vandergoot
A 1.2 billion pixel human-labeled dataset for data-driven classification of coastal environments A 1.2 billion pixel human-labeled dataset for data-driven classification of coastal environments
The world’s coastlines are spatially highly variable, coupled-human-natural systems that comprise a nested hierarchy of component landforms, ecosystems, and human interventions, each interacting over a range of space and time scales. Understanding and predicting coastline dynamics necessitates frequent observation from imaging sensors on remote sensing platforms. Machine Learning models...
Authors
Daniel D. Buscombe, Phillipe Alan Wernette, Sharon Fitzpatrick, Jaycee Favela, Evan B. Goldstein, Nicholas Enwright
Persistence and quality of vegetation cover in expired Conservation Reserve Program fields Persistence and quality of vegetation cover in expired Conservation Reserve Program fields
For nearly 40 years, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has implemented practices to reduce soil erosion, improve water quality, and provide habitat for wildlife and pollinators on highly erodible cropland in the United States. However, an approximately 40,470 ha (10 million acres) decline in enrolled CRP land over the last decade has greatly reduced the program's environmental...
Authors
Mark W. Vandever, Kenneth Elgersma, Sarah K. Carter, Ai Wen, Justin L. Welty, Robert S. Arkle, Timothy J. Assal, David S. Pilliod, David M. Mushet, Rich Iovanna
Adult spawners: A critical period for subarctic Chinook salmon in a changing climate Adult spawners: A critical period for subarctic Chinook salmon in a changing climate
Concurrent, distribution-wide abundance declines of some Pacific salmon species, including Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), highlights the need to understand how vulnerability at different life stages to climate stressors affects population dynamics and fisheries sustainability. Yukon River Chinook salmon stocks are among the largest subarctic populations, near the northernmost...
Authors
Kathrine G. Howard, Vanessa R. von Biela
Taxonomic reassessment of the Little pocket mouse, Perognathus longimembris (Rodentia, Heteromyidae) of southern California and northern Baja California Taxonomic reassessment of the Little pocket mouse, Perognathus longimembris (Rodentia, Heteromyidae) of southern California and northern Baja California
The Little pocket mouse (Perognathus longimembris) encompasses 15 to 16 currently recognized subspecies, six of which are restricted to southern California and adjacent northern Baja California. Using cranial geomorphometric shape parameters and dorsal color variables we delineate six regional groups of populations from this area that we recognize as valid, but these differ in name...
Authors
James L. Patton, Robert N. Fisher
Local weather and endogenous factors affect the initiation of migration in short- and medium-distance songbird migrants Local weather and endogenous factors affect the initiation of migration in short- and medium-distance songbird migrants
Migratory birds employ a variety of mechanisms to ensure appropriate timing of migration based on integration of endogenous and exogenous information. The cues to fatten and depart from the non-breeding area are often linked to exogenous cues such as temperature or precipitation and the endogenous program. Shorter distance migrants should rely heavily on environmental information when...
Authors
Theodore J. Zenzal, Darren Johnson, Frank R. Moore, Zoltán Németh
Redd superimposition mediates the accuracy, precision, and significance of redd counts for cutthroat trout Redd superimposition mediates the accuracy, precision, and significance of redd counts for cutthroat trout
Redd counts are commonly applied to estimate spawning population size for salmonids and allow for broad spatial and temporal coverage in monitoring efforts. However, the utility of redd counts may be compromised by observation error, particularly with respect to superimposition, where later arriving spawners construct redds overlapping existing redds. Here, we provide a mechanistic...
Authors
Jeffrey R. Baldock, Robert Al-Chokhachy, Timothy E. Walsworth, Annika W. Walters
Simulating debris flow and levee formation in the 2D shallow flow model D-Claw: Channelized and unconfined flow Simulating debris flow and levee formation in the 2D shallow flow model D-Claw: Channelized and unconfined flow
Debris flow runout poses a hazard to life and infrastructure. The expansion of human population into mountainous areas and onto alluvial fans increases the need to predict and mitigate debris flow runout hazards. Debris flows on unconfined alluvial fans can exhibit spontaneous self-channelization through levee formation that reduces lateral spreading and extends runout distances compared...
Authors
Ryan P. Jones, Francis K. Rengers, Katherine R. Barnhart, David L. George, Dennis M. Staley, Jason W. Kean
Microfaunal recording of recent environmental changes in the Herschel Basin, western Arctic Ocean Microfaunal recording of recent environmental changes in the Herschel Basin, western Arctic Ocean
Microfaunal assemblages of benthic foraminifera, ostracods, and tintinnids from two marine sediment cores retrieved from the Herschel Basin of the Canadian Beaufort Sea shelf document relationships with environmental parameters such as salinity, sea-ice cover, and turbulence. Cores YC18-HB-GC01 and PG2303-1 were collected at 18 and 32 m water depth, respectively. At these sites, sediment
Authors
Jade Falardeau, Anne de Vernal, Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz, Thomas M. Cronin, Laura Gemery, Leo Chassiot, Michael Fritz, Vladislav Carnero-Bravo, Claude Hillaire-Marcel, Philippe Archambault
Invaders at the doorstep: Using species distribution modeling to enhance invasive plant watch lists Invaders at the doorstep: Using species distribution modeling to enhance invasive plant watch lists
Watch lists of invasive species that threaten a particular land management unit are useful tools because they can draw attention to invasive species at the very early stages of invasion when early detection and rapid response efforts are often most successful. However, watch lists typically rely on the subjective selection of invasive species by experts or on the use of spotty occurrence...
Authors
Catherine S. Jarnevich, Peder Engelstad, Jillian LaRoe, Brandon Hays, Terri Hogan, Jeremy Jirak, Ian S. Pearse, Janet S. Prevéy, Jennifer Sieraki, Annie Simpson, Jess Wenick, Nicholas Young, Helen R. Sofaer