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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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Multi-site evaluation of a postfire debris-flow runout forecast method Multi-site evaluation of a postfire debris-flow runout forecast method
Postfire debris flows pose a hazard to human life, property, and infrastructure when they travel from steep source areas to urbanized alluvial fans or other developed areas. Existing methods for rapid (
Authors
Katherine R. Barnhart, Jason W. Kean, Donald N. Lindsay, Eric Leland Bilderback
Timing is everything: Drivers of upstream movement of fishes Timing is everything: Drivers of upstream movement of fishes
Objective Understanding whether fishes quickly respond to shifting temperatures and flows, especially as they pass through river reaches that may be thermally unsuitable, may help to prioritize climate-informed management strategies.Methods Here, we use 15 years of daily fish passage data (2005–2020) from the Leaburg Dam on the McKenzie River, Oregon, USA, with water temperatures and...
Authors
Daison Weedop, Jeremy D. Womer, Jeffrey S. Ziller, Christina Amy Murphy
Potential impacts of groundwater pumping on stream temperature are greatest in streams with substantial cold groundwater inflows Potential impacts of groundwater pumping on stream temperature are greatest in streams with substantial cold groundwater inflows
Groundwater pumping-induced reductions in streamflow (known as ‘streamflow depletion’) have been documented worldwide, but potential impacts of streamflow depletion on stream temperature are not well understood. Here, we use two types of models to identify potential impacts of pumping on stream temperature across the conterminous United States (CONUS) to determine which aspects of a...
Authors
Dana A. Lapides, Sam Zipper, John C. Hammond
Epigenetics in captivity: Restoring wild phenotypes in captive-reared salmonids Epigenetics in captivity: Restoring wild phenotypes in captive-reared salmonids
Captive rearing is a common practice for the stocking, conservation, and supplementation of fish species worldwide, but captive-reared fish can exhibit altered phenotypes leading to reduced fitness in nature compared to wild conspecifics. In salmonids, certain studies have found limited genetic differentiation between wild and captive-reared fish. However, documented changes in gene...
Authors
Tia Attfield, Andrew Edgar Honsey, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Andreas Luek, Brian Meagher, Hayley Nuetzel, Ilana Koch, Julien April, Kristy Wakeling, Kyle Wellband, Raphael Bouchard, Sarah J. Lehnhert, Shawn R. Narum, Timothy Healy, Trevor E. Pitcher, Clare J. Venney
Evidence for organic and igneous carbon sources in the Mesoproterozoic Adirondack Highlands graphite district, New York Evidence for organic and igneous carbon sources in the Mesoproterozoic Adirondack Highlands graphite district, New York
This study examined the origin of graphite mineralization in the Mesoproterozoic Adirondack Highlands. Flake graphite was mined from the historic mining district around Ticonderoga, New York, USA, from the 1850s to the 1920s. Most of the production and reserves from the district are disseminated graphite from feldspathic quartz schists (e.g., Dixon-American Graphite Co. mine, Faxon...
Authors
William H. Peck, Jade Star Lackey, Gregory J. Walsh, Katia A. Childs, Matthew C. King, Fredrick S. LeClair, Jacob L. Steinberg
Modeling species co-occurrence effects to inform invasive barred owl management and recovery of the northern spotted owl Modeling species co-occurrence effects to inform invasive barred owl management and recovery of the northern spotted owl
Robust estimation of wildlife populations represents a cornerstone of wildlife research and provides critical information to guide management, including identifying at-risk species, setting harvest rates, and evaluating predator and invasive species control programs. Efforts to enhance population estimation have long included influences one species may have on another, beginning with...
Authors
Vaibhava Srivastava, Nicholas J. Van Lanen, Rana D. Parshad
Interspecific brood parasitism of a greater sage-grouse brood by chukar in Nevada Interspecific brood parasitism of a greater sage-grouse brood by chukar in Nevada
Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter, sage-grouse) populations have declined across their range, resulting in high conservation concerns among state and federal wildlife managers. While interspecific nest parasitism by chukar (Alectoris chukar) on sage-grouse nests has been observed previously, the parasitic effects benefiting or harming the reproduction of either...
Authors
Belle Joy-Lynn Malley, McCoy R. Meshach, Steven R. Mathews, Peter S. Coates
Edible baits for systemic flea control, plague mitigation, and wildlife conservation: Evaluation of four active ingredients with three rodent species in western North America Edible baits for systemic flea control, plague mitigation, and wildlife conservation: Evaluation of four active ingredients with three rodent species in western North America
The flea-borne agent of plague, Yersinia pestis, is lethal to endangered black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes, BFFs) and the prairie dogs (Cynomys spp., PDs) on which BFFs depend for habitat and prey. We developed bait pellets containing insecticides for flea control with PDs. Individual baits contained 0.46, 0.91, 1.21, or 1.52 mg fipronil, 5.40 mg afoxolaner, 50.62 mg fluralaner, or...
Authors
David A. Eads, Marc R. Matchett, Magnus McCaffery, Ashlyn Hemmah, Angela R. Jarding, Jennifer Cordova, Heather Heimann, Stefano Liccioli, Laura E. Gardiner, Jordan Cormack, Holly Hicks, Jason Fly, Eddie Childers, Travis M. Livieri, Michelle L. Hladik, Dean E. Biggins
Estimation of parental abundance using hierarchical Bayesian modeling with data augmentation Estimation of parental abundance using hierarchical Bayesian modeling with data augmentation
Pedigree-based estimation methods leverage the fact that each offspring in a cohort is genotypically “marked” by its parents and represent a recent and promising toolset for estimating population dynamics. This includes pedigree accumulation estimators that model the “accumulation” of inferred unique parents within a given cohort to estimate parental abundance. Unlike close-kin mark...
Authors
Benjamin Marcy-Quay, Nicholas M. Sard
Orientation dependence of probabilistic seismic hazard estimates from CyberShake physics-based simulations Orientation dependence of probabilistic seismic hazard estimates from CyberShake physics-based simulations
Earthquake ground‐motion intensities, such as pseudospectral accelerations (SAs), can vary significantly with horizontal orientation. However, conducting probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) for each horizontal orientation is challenging because current ground‐motion models used in PSHA consider only a single horizontal intensity value, usually the median across all orientations...
Authors
Alan John Poulos, Evan Tyler Hirakawa, Grace Alexandra Parker, Annemarie S. Baltay
Surface-wave relocation and characterization of the 2024–2025 dyking episode along the Fentale–Dofen segment of the Ethiopian rift Surface-wave relocation and characterization of the 2024–2025 dyking episode along the Fentale–Dofen segment of the Ethiopian rift
From late-December 2024 to mid-March 2025, a 50-km-long dyke intrusion triggered over 300 earthquakes (magnitude 4 to 5.9) between Fentale and Dofen volcanoes along the Northern Main Ethiopian Rift. Dyke intrusions periodically occur along the Fentale–Dofen magmatic segment and are an expression of ongoing rift extension. Preliminary analyses using interferometric synthetic aperture...
Authors
Chanel A. Deane, Jeremy D. Pesicek, Marco Bagnardi, David R. Shelly, Stephanie G. Prejean, William L. Yeck, Paul S. Earle
The effects of scientific uncertainty and values trade-offs on flow management decisions for an endangered fish The effects of scientific uncertainty and values trade-offs on flow management decisions for an endangered fish
Consumptive use of freshwater is of concern in many estuarine ecosystems, and various frameworks have been used to prescribe environmental flows to benefit native species. However, few of these frameworks explicitly examine the potential trade-offs between socioeconomic and conservation-oriented values. This is exemplified in California, USA, where freshwater management has been an area...
Authors
Brian Mahardja, William E. Smith, Brian D. Healy, Cameron Koizumi, Matthew L. Nobriga, Shawn Acuña, Brian A. Crawford, Kristin K. Arend, Michael C. Runge