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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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Demographic implications of lead poisoning for eagles across North America Demographic implications of lead poisoning for eagles across North America
Lead poisoning occurs worldwide in populations of predatory birds, but exposure rates and population impacts are known only from regional studies. We evaluated the lead exposure of 1210 bald and golden eagles from 38 US states across North America, including 620 live eagles. We detected unexpectedly high frequencies of lead poisoning of eagles, both chronic (46 to 47% of bald and golden...
Authors
Vincent A. Slabe, James T. Anderson, Brian A. Millsap, Jeffrey L. Cooper, Alan R. Harmata, Marco Restani, Ross H. Crandall, Barbara L. Bodenstein, Peter H. Bloom, Travis L. Booms, John Buchweitz, Renee C. E. Culver, Kim Dickerson, Robert Domenech, Ernesto Dominguez-Villegas, Daniel Driscoll, Brian W. Smith, Michael J. Lockhart, David McRuer, Tricia A. Miller, Patricia Ortiz, Krysta Rogers, Matt Schwarz, Natalie Turley, Brian Woodbridge, Myra E. Finkelstein, Christian A. Triana, Christopher R. DeSorbo, Todd E. Katzner
The global environmental agenda urgently needs a semantic web of knowledge The global environmental agenda urgently needs a semantic web of knowledge
Progress in key social-ecological challenges of the global environmental agenda (e.g., climate change, biodiversity conservation, Sustainable Development Goals) is hampered by a lack of integration and synthesis of existing scientific evidence. Facing a fast-increasing volume of data, information remains compartmentalized to pre-defined scales and fields, rarely building its way up to...
Authors
Stefano Balbi, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Ainhoa Magrach, Maria Jose Sanz, Naikoa Aguilar-Amuchastegui, Carlo Guipponi, Ferdinando Villa
Pollutant co-attenuation via in-stream interactions between mine drainage and municipal wastewater Pollutant co-attenuation via in-stream interactions between mine drainage and municipal wastewater
Municipal wastewater (MWW) and mine drainage (MD) are common co-occurring sources of freshwater pollution in mining regions. The physicochemical interactions that occur after mixing MWW and MD in a waterway may improve downstream water quality of an impaired reach by reducing downstream concentrations of nutrients and metals (i.e., “co-attenuation”). A first-order stream (Bradley Run in...
Authors
Charles J. Spellman, Peter M. Smyntek, Charles A. Cravotta, Travis L. Tasker, William H. J. Strosnider
Subsurface hydrocarbon degradation strategies in low- and high-sulfate coal seam communities identified with activity-based metagenomics Subsurface hydrocarbon degradation strategies in low- and high-sulfate coal seam communities identified with activity-based metagenomics
Environmentally relevant metagenomes and BONCAT-FACS derived translationally active metagenomes from Powder River Basin coal seams were investigated to elucidate potential genes and functional groups involved in hydrocarbon degradation to methane in coal seams with high- and low-sulfate levels. An advanced subsurface environmental sampler allowed the establishment of coal-associated...
Authors
Hannah S. Schweitzer, Heidi J. Smith, Elliott P. Barnhart, Luke J. McKay, Robin Gerlach, Alfred B. Cunningham, Rex R. Malmstrom, Danielle Goudeau, Matthew W. Fields
Effects of weather variation on waterfowl migration: Lessons from a continental-scale generalizable avian movement and energetics model Effects of weather variation on waterfowl migration: Lessons from a continental-scale generalizable avian movement and energetics model
We developed a continental energetics-based model of daily mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) movement during the non-breeding period (September to May) to predict year-specific migration and overwinter occurrence. The model approximates movements and stopovers as functions of metabolism and weather, in terms of temperature and frozen precipitation (i.e., snow). The model is a Markov process...
Authors
Kevin Aagaard, Eric V. Lonsdorf, Wayne E. Thogmartin
Contaminant fluxes across ecosystems mediated by aquatic insects Contaminant fluxes across ecosystems mediated by aquatic insects
Metals and organic contaminants in aquatic systems affect the coupling of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems through two pathways: contaminant-induced effects on insect emergence and emergence-induced contaminant transfer. Consequently, the impact of aquatic contaminants on terrestrial ecosystems can be driven by modifications in the quantity and quality of adult aquatic insects serving...
Authors
Mirco Bundschuh, Sebastian Pietz, Alexis P. Roodt, Johanna M. Kraus
Forbs included in conservation seed mixes exhibit variable blooming detection rates and cost-effectiveness: Implications for pollinator habitat design Forbs included in conservation seed mixes exhibit variable blooming detection rates and cost-effectiveness: Implications for pollinator habitat design
Although forb-rich plantings for pollinator habitat are becoming more common, natural resource managers lack insight on the cost-effectiveness of forbs seeded in private land conservation programs. Additional information on the possible benefits of including more forb species in a mix may help guide the design of future pollinator habitat. We examined the detection of blooming forbs from...
Authors
Stacy C. Simanonok, Clint Otto, Rich Iovanna
Atlantic circulation change still uncertain Atlantic circulation change still uncertain
Deep oceanic overturning circulation in the Atlantic (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)) is projected to decrease in the future in response to anthropogenic warming. Caesar et al.1 argue that an AMOC slowdown started in the nineteenth century and intensified during the mid-twentieth century. Although the argument and selected evidence proposed have some merits, we find...
Authors
K. Halimeda Kilbourne, Alan D. Wanamaker, Paola Moffa-Sanchez, David J. Reynolds, Daniel E. Amrhein, Paul G. Butler, Marlos Goes, Malte Jansen, Christopher M. Little, Madelyn Jean Mette, Eduardo Moreno-Chamarro, Pablo Ortega, Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Thomas Rossby, James Scourse, Nina M. Whitney
Wildfire probability models calibrated using past human and lightning ignition patterns can inform mitigation of post-fire hydrologic hazards Wildfire probability models calibrated using past human and lightning ignition patterns can inform mitigation of post-fire hydrologic hazards
Most wildfires are started by humans, however, geographic variation of potential ignition sources is not often explicitly accounted for in wildfire simulation modelling or risk assessments. In this study, we investigated how patterns of human and lightning ignitions can influence modelled fire simulations and demonstrate how these data can be used to assess post-fire flooding and...
Authors
Miguel L. Villarreal, Laura M. Norman, Erika Yao, Caroline Rose Conrad
Conflicts among protected native birds and valuable sport fishes: Potential pelican predation effects Conflicts among protected native birds and valuable sport fishes: Potential pelican predation effects
Reservoirs are examples of novel ecosystems that have developed into popular sport fisheries; these systems are also becoming seasonal refuges for migratory birds, including the piscivorous American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos). We (1) investigated the proportion of cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii utah) and other species consumed by pelicans, (2) compared whether...
Authors
Phaedra E. Budy, Gary P. Thiede, Kevin Chapman, Frank P. Howe
How similar was the 1983 Mw 6.9 Borah Peak earthquake rupture to its surface-faulting predecessors along the northern Lost River fault zone (Idaho, USA)? How similar was the 1983 Mw 6.9 Borah Peak earthquake rupture to its surface-faulting predecessors along the northern Lost River fault zone (Idaho, USA)?
We excavated trenches at two paleoseismic sites bounding a trans-basin bedrock ridge (the Willow Creek Hills) along the northern Lost River fault zone to explore the uniqueness of the 1983 Mw 6.9 Borah Peak earthquake compared to its prehistoric predecessors. At the Sheep Creek site on the southernmost Warm Springs section, two earthquakes occurred at 9.8−14.0 ka (95% confidence) and 6.5...
Authors
Christopher DuRoss, Richard W. Briggs, Ryan D. Gold, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Austin John Elliott, Jaime Delano, Ivan Medina-Cascales, Harrison J. Gray, Shannon A. Mahan, Sylvia Nicovich, Zachery Lifton, Emily J. Kleber, Greg N. McDonald, Adam Hiscock, Mike Bunds, Nadine G. Reitman
Mapping benthic algae and cyanobacteria in river channels from aerial photographs and satellite images: A proof-of-concept investigation on the Buffalo National River, AR, USA Mapping benthic algae and cyanobacteria in river channels from aerial photographs and satellite images: A proof-of-concept investigation on the Buffalo National River, AR, USA
Although rivers are of immense practical, aesthetic, and recreational value, these aquatic habitats are particularly sensitive to environmental changes. Increasingly, changes in streamflow and water quality are resulting in blooms of bottom-attached (benthic) algae, also known as periphyton, which have become widespread in many water bodies of US national parks. Because these blooms...
Authors
Carl J. Legleiter, Shawn W Hodges