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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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Changes in suspended sediment concentration along tidal rivers of the Chesapeake Bay: The tidal freshwater “sediment shadow” Changes in suspended sediment concentration along tidal rivers of the Chesapeake Bay: The tidal freshwater “sediment shadow”
Transport of terrigenic sediment from nontidal watersheds into estuaries has important impacts on coastal habitat quality, pollutant transport, and resilience to sea-level rise. However, relatively little is known about changes in suspended sediment as nontidal rivers encounter tide, transition into tidal rivers through the tidal freshwater zone (TFZ), and enter saline portions of...
Authors
Gregory E. Noe, Rebecca Murphy, Ken Krauss
Socio-ecological impacts of the 2025 Los Angeles urban fires on communities, neighborhoods, and homes Socio-ecological impacts of the 2025 Los Angeles urban fires on communities, neighborhoods, and homes
Human settlements are increasingly being impacted by urban fires initiated by wildfires. Metrics such as area burned and number of structures destroyed are important, but research often overlooks the socio-ecological complexity of urban fires. We study the impacts of the 2025 Los Angeles fires on two communities at the neighborhood and residential parcel scales. Geospatial analyses and...
Authors
Carl August Norlen, Sadikshya Sharma, Francisco J. Escobedo
A hierarchical approach for finding undiscovered populations of an endangered bumble bee A hierarchical approach for finding undiscovered populations of an endangered bumble bee
Understanding the distributions of rare species is necessary to guide monitoring and inform species recovery efforts. The rusty patched bumble bee (RPBB; Bombus affinis, Cresson) is an endangered species with an extant, known distribution centered around urban areas of the Midwestern United States. We tested a novel approach for finding undocumented RPBBs outside of urban centers and...
Authors
Clint Otto, Alma Christa Schrage, Audrey Claire Lothspeich, Larissa L. Bailey, Tamara Smith, Robert Planman, Judy Cardin, Kristen S. Ellis, Bethany Dennis, Ralph Grundel
Aligning legacy NLCD land cover maps based on Landsat Collection 1 to Collection 2 Aligning legacy NLCD land cover maps based on Landsat Collection 1 to Collection 2
The transition from Landsat Collection 1 to Collection 2 introduced significant improvements in radiometric and geometric accuracy. However, the improvements cause location misalignment between the existing Landsat-derived land cover products and the new collection. The legacy National Land Cover Database (NLCD) has been used as a cornerstone land cover source for a variety of research...
Authors
Congcong Li, Suming Jin
Springtime formation of laminated soil carbonate rinds and changes in fluvial terrace soils on orbital timescales at Rio Mesa, Utah, USA Springtime formation of laminated soil carbonate rinds and changes in fluvial terrace soils on orbital timescales at Rio Mesa, Utah, USA
Laminated soil carbonate rinds are a Quaternary paleoclimate archive whose isotope composition is linked to soil formation conditions. At Rio Mesa, Utah (USA), we investigated the fidelity of rind records in a river terrace setting by determining the seasonal timing of rind formation and testing for inter-record replication. We infer soil carbonate formed in the spring season...
Authors
Tyler E. Huth, Thure E. Cerling, David W. Marchetti, Amy L. Ellwein, Shannon A. Mahan, David R. Bowling, Benjamin H. Passey, Victor J. Polyak, Yemane Asmerom
Modeling chronic wasting disease transmission risk in mule deer related to habitat characteristics Modeling chronic wasting disease transmission risk in mule deer related to habitat characteristics
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease of cervids that spreads to uninfected individuals through direct transmission (contact with infected individuals), vertical transmission (from mother to offspring), or indirect transmission (exposure to contaminated environments). The risk of indirect transmission is unevenly distributed on the landscape, and risk levels are expected to be
Authors
Erica Meta Christensen, Nathan J. Kleist, David R. Edmunds, Julie A. Heinrichs, D. Joanne Saher, Ashley L. Whipple, Melia DeVivo, Cameron L. Aldridge
Asynchronous landslide seasonality across the United States Asynchronous landslide seasonality across the United States
Mid-range landslide outlooks can facilitate weather-related landslide preparedness and disaster response planning, but seasonal landslide activity remains poorly quantified at continental scales. Leveraging >55,000 reported landslides from across the United States (U.S.), we used circular statistics to quantify landslide seasonality in 67 National Weather Service County Warning Areas...
Authors
Lisa Victoria Luna, Benjamin B. Mirus, Brian D. Collins, Jonathan P. Perkins
Characterizing the long-term (1981–2023) temperature and precipitation dynamics in the Trans-Mountain regions of Kazakhstan, Central Asia Characterizing the long-term (1981–2023) temperature and precipitation dynamics in the Trans-Mountain regions of Kazakhstan, Central Asia
Mountain regions are highly climate-sensitive, yet long-term observational evidence of elevation and seasonal climate dynamics in Central Asia remains limited. This study examines spatiotemporal trends in temperature (Tmean, Tmax, Tmin, and diurnal temperature range [DTR]) and precipitation across Kazakhstan’s transmountain regions using 74 meteorological stations (1981–2023). Data were...
Authors
Baktybek Duisebek, Gabriel B. Senay, Talgat Usmanov, Kudaibergen Kyrgyzbay, Janay Sagin, Yerbolat Mukanov, Kanat Samarkhanov, Xuejia Wang, Sulitan Danierhan, Xiaohui Pan
Efficiency of down-looking cameras for detecting round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) over varying substrates in laboratory microcosms Efficiency of down-looking cameras for detecting round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) over varying substrates in laboratory microcosms
Since invading the Laurentian Great Lakes in the late 1980s, round goby Neogobius melanostomus have become a dominant benthic prey species, resulting in a need to accurately monitor their population abundance to inform fisheries management. Camera-based methods for assessing round goby abundances have gained popularity, but their efficiencies for detecting round goby are poorly...
Authors
Nicholas Yeager, Travis O. Brenden, Peter C. Esselman, Kailee A. Schulz, Alden T. Tilley
Rethinking seed selection based on climate matching during restoration: Geography, soils and climate explain species-specific mortality Rethinking seed selection based on climate matching during restoration: Geography, soils and climate explain species-specific mortality
Implicit in the construction of seed transfer zones (STZs) are the assumptions that plant populations are adapted to their home climates and that transferring native seed across climate gradients risks maladaptation and poor performance. However, plants are adapted to multiple aspects of their environments that are often excluded from STZ development. Here, we used models integrating...
Authors
Carla Maria Roybal, Ella M. Samuel, Rachel M. Mitchell, Daniel E. Winkler, Robert Massatti
GT-Seq panel development for species identification and parentage analysis of closely related hybridising Scaphirhynchus sturgeons GT-Seq panel development for species identification and parentage analysis of closely related hybridising Scaphirhynchus sturgeons
Hatchery supplementation is vital for conserving dwindling fish populations. Effective augmentation requires distinguishing hatchery-origin from wild individuals and accurately identifying species, particularly in systems where closely related species coexist. Genetic monitoring is key to quantifying genetic differences, but conventional markers do not distinguish hybrids, especially...
Authors
Junman Huang, Richard Flamio Jr., Nathan R. Campbell, Aaron J. DeLonay, Amy C. Buhman, Edward J. Heist
Cyanobacterial bloom occurrence and emergency department visits for asthma or wheeze, Wisconsin, 2017–2019 Cyanobacterial bloom occurrence and emergency department visits for asthma or wheeze, Wisconsin, 2017–2019
Background: Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) pose risks to human and animal health.Methods: We investigated the relationship between cyanoHABs and asthma or wheeze-related emergency department (ED) visits near three Wisconsin cities (Green Bay, Madison, and Oshkosh) during 2017–2019. CyanoHAB exposure was approximated using the Cyanobacterial Assessment Network remotely...
Authors
Amy M. Lavery, Jordan Murray, Audrey F. Pennington, Blake Schaeffer, Bridget Seegers, Elizabeth D. Hilborn, Keith Loftin, Stephen Scroggins, Lorraine Backer