Articles
Science Quality and Integrity
The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
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.
Filter Total Items: 78946
Biogeography of freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionida) in Texas and implications on conservation biology Biogeography of freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionida) in Texas and implications on conservation biology
Aim Biogeography seeks to identify and explain the spatial distributions of species and has become an important tool used by conservationists to protect and manage aquatic organisms. Texas, located in the southwestern United States, is home to 52 species of freshwater mussels, 9 of which are endemic to Texas and 7 that are endemic to Texas and neighboring states or countries. There have...
Authors
Michael de Moulpied, Chase H. Smith, Clint R. Robertson, Nathan Johnson, Roel Lopez, Charles R. Randklev
Structured decision making to rank North American Wetland Conservation Act proposals within joint venture regions Structured decision making to rank North American Wetland Conservation Act proposals within joint venture regions
The North American Wetlands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 4401-4412) provided funding and administration for wetland management and conservation projects. The North American Wetland Conservation Fund, enabled in 1989 with the Act, provides financial resources. Resource allocation decisions are based, in part, on regional experts, particularly migratory bird Joint Ventures (JVs) (i.e...
Authors
Anastasia Krainyk, James E. Lyons, Gregory J. Soulliere, John M. Coluccy, Barry C. Wilson, Michael G. Brasher, Mohammed A Al-Saffar, Dale D. Humburg
Can coastal habitats rise to the challenge? Resilience of estuarine habitats, carbon accumulation, and economic value to sea-level rise in a Puget Sound estuary Can coastal habitats rise to the challenge? Resilience of estuarine habitats, carbon accumulation, and economic value to sea-level rise in a Puget Sound estuary
Sea-level rise (SLR) and obstructions to sediment delivery pose challenges to the persistence of estuarine habitats and the ecosystem services they provide. Restoration actions and sediment management strategies may help mitigate such challenges by encouraging the vertical accretion of sediment in and horizontal migration of tidal forests and marshes. We used a process-based soil...
Authors
Monica Mei Jeen Moritsch, Kristin B. Byrd, Melanie J. Davis, Anthony J. Good, Judith Z. Drexler, James T. Morris, Isa Woo, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Eric E. Grossman, Glynnis Nakai, Katrina L. Poppe, John M. Rybczyk
Quantifying the effects of tides, river flow, and barriers on movements of Chinook Salmon smolts at junctions in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta using multistate models Quantifying the effects of tides, river flow, and barriers on movements of Chinook Salmon smolts at junctions in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta using multistate models
Successful migration of Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) smolts seaward in the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta (hereafter, Delta) requires navigating a network of numerous branching channels. Within the Delta, several key junctions route smolts either towards more direct paths to the ocean or towards the interior Delta, an area associated with decreased survival. Movements...
Authors
Michael J. Dodrill, Russell Perry, Adam C. Pope, Xiaochun Wang
Dynamic sensitivity to resource availability influences population responses to mismatches in a shorebird Dynamic sensitivity to resource availability influences population responses to mismatches in a shorebird
Climate change has caused shifts in seasonally recurring biological events leading to the temporal decoupling of consumer-resource pairs – i.e., phenological mismatching. Although mismatches often affect individual fitness, they do not invariably scale up to affect populations, making it difficult to assess the risk they pose. Individual variation may contribute to this inconsistency...
Authors
Luke R. Wilde, Josiah E. Simmons, Rose J. Swift, Nathan R. Senner
A look ahead to the next decade at US volcano observatories A look ahead to the next decade at US volcano observatories
Volcano monitoring, eruption response, and hazard assessment at volcanoes in the United States of America (US) fall under the mandate of five regional volcano observatories covering 161 active volcanoes. Working in a wide range of volcanic and geographic settings, US observatories must learn from and apply new knowledge and techniques to a great variety of scientific and hazard...
Authors
Hannah R. Dietterich, Christina A. Neal
Taking the leap: A binational translocation effort to close the 420-km gap in the Baja California lineage of the California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) Taking the leap: A binational translocation effort to close the 420-km gap in the Baja California lineage of the California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii)
Conservation translocations, the human-mediated movement and release of a living organism for a conservation benefit, are increasingly recommended in species’ recovery plans as a technique for mitigating population declines or augmenting genetic diversity. However, translocation protocols for species with broad distributions may require regionally specific considerations to increase...
Authors
Susan North, Jonathan Q. Richmond, Frank E. Santana, Anny Peralta-García, Elizabeth Gallegos, Adam R. Backlin, Cynthia Joan Hitchcock, Bradford Hollingsworth, Jorge H. Valdez-Villavicencio, Zachary Principe, Robert N. Fisher, Clark S. Winchell
Chew-cards can accurately index invasive rat densities in Mariana Island forests Chew-cards can accurately index invasive rat densities in Mariana Island forests
Rats (Rattus spp.) are likely established on 80–90% of the world’s islands and represent one of the most damaging and expensive biological invaders. Effective rat control tools exist but require accurate population density estimates or indices to inform treatment timing and effort and to assess treatment efficacy. Capture-mark-recapture data are frequently used to produce robust density...
Authors
Emma B. Hanslowe, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Melia Gail Nafus, Douglas A Page, Danielle R. Bradke, Francesca T. Erickson, Larissa L. Bailey
Application of recursive estimation to heat tracing for groundwater/surface-water exchange Application of recursive estimation to heat tracing for groundwater/surface-water exchange
We present and demonstrate a recursive-estimation framework to infer groundwater/surface-water exchange based on temperature time series collected at different vertical depths below the sediment/water interface. We formulate the heat-transport problem as a state-space model (SSM), in which the spatial derivatives in the convection/conduction equation are approximated using finite...
Authors
W. Anderson McAliley, Frederick Day-Lewis, David M. Rey, Martin A. Briggs, Allen M. Shapiro, Dale Werkema
Emoia atrocostata (tidepool skink, mangrove skink). USA Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands: Saipan Island Emoia atrocostata (tidepool skink, mangrove skink). USA Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands: Saipan Island
No abstract available.
Authors
Robert Reed, Jill Liske-Clark, Samantha Liske-Clark
New state and county records of introduced amphibians and reptiles of Georgia, USA. New state and county records of introduced amphibians and reptiles of Georgia, USA.
Recent efforts to eradicate the invasive Argentine Giant Tegu (Salvator merianae) has led to the discovery of several county records of this introduced lizard as well as several other potentially invasive amphibian and reptile species in the state of Georgia, USA. New records were determined using a database of county records maintained by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. All...
Authors
Michael Brennan, Lance McBrayer, Joseph Carroll, Kenneth L. Krysko, Amy A. Yackel Adams
The population genetics of the causative agent of snake fungal disease indicate recent introductions to the USA The population genetics of the causative agent of snake fungal disease indicate recent introductions to the USA
Snake fungal disease (SFD; ophidiomycosis), caused by the pathogen Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola (Oo), has been documented in wild snakes in North America and Eurasia, and is considered an emerging disease in the eastern United States of America. However, a lack of historical disease data has made it challenging to determine whether Oo is a recent arrival to the USA or whether SFD emergence...
Authors
Jason T. Ladner, Jonathan M. Palmer, Cassandra L. Ettinger, Jason E. Stajich, Terence M. Farrell, Brad M. Glorioso, Becki Lawson, Steven J. Price, Anne G. Stengle, Daniel A. Grear, Jeffrey M. Lorch