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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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Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES): Open-source spatial modeling of cultural services Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES): Open-source spatial modeling of cultural services
Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) version 4.0 is a fully open-source, GIS-based tool designed to aid in the creation of quantitative, spatially explicit models of the nonmonetary values attributed to cultural ecosystem services, such as aesthetics and recreation, specifically to facilitate their incorporation into larger ecosystem service assessments. Newly redeveloped for...
Authors
Benson C. Sherrouse, Darius J. Semmens, Zachary H. Ancona
Integrated tools for identifying optimal flow regimes and evaluating alternative minimum flows for recovering at-risk salmonids in a highly managed system Integrated tools for identifying optimal flow regimes and evaluating alternative minimum flows for recovering at-risk salmonids in a highly managed system
Water resource managers are faced with difficult decisions on how to satisfy human water needs while maintaining or restoring riverine ecosystems. Decision sciences have developed approaches and tools that can be used to break down difficult water management decisions into their component parts. An essential aspect of these approaches is the use of quantitative models to evaluate...
Authors
James T. Peterson, Jessica E. Pease, Luke Whitman, James White, Laurel E. Stratton Garvin, Stewart A. Rounds, J. Rose Wallick
Gopherus polyphemus (Gopher Tortoise). Twinning Gopherus polyphemus (Gopher Tortoise). Twinning
No abstract available.
Authors
Kevin J. Loope, J. Nicole DeSha, Garrett R. Lawson, Elizabeth Ann Hunter
Assessment and significance of the frequency domain for trends in annual peak streamflow Assessment and significance of the frequency domain for trends in annual peak streamflow
Risk management of nonstationary floods depends on an understanding of trends over a range of flood frequencies representing small (frequent) to large (infrequent) floods. Quantile regression is applied to the annual peak streamflow distributions at 2683 sites in the contiguous United States to test for trends in the 10th quantile (floods with a 0.9 annual exceedance probability), the...
Authors
Christopher P. Konrad, Daniel E. Restivo
Selected crater and small caldera lakes in Alaska: Characteristics and hazards Selected crater and small caldera lakes in Alaska: Characteristics and hazards
This study addresses the characteristics, potential hazards, and both eruptive and non-eruptive role of water at selected volcanic crater lakes in Alaska. Crater lakes are an important feature of some stratovolcanoes in Alaska. Of the volcanoes in the state with known Holocene eruptive activity, about one third have summit crater lakes. Also included are two volcanoes with small caldera...
Authors
Christopher F. Waythomas
Assessing cormorant populations and association with fish stocking in Texas Assessing cormorant populations and association with fish stocking in Texas
—Double-Crested Cormorants (Nannopterum auritum) and Neotropic Cormorants (Nannopterum brasilianum) are thought to be expanding their populations across Texas. This expansion is cause for a concern for both fish stocking and fisheries management in public waters. To examine the historic and current populations and distributions of cormorants, we first evaluated the temporal and spatial...
Authors
Sophie A. Morris, Clint W. Boal, Reynaldo Patino
Effects of sample gear on estuarine nekton assemblage assessments and food web model simulations Effects of sample gear on estuarine nekton assemblage assessments and food web model simulations
Long-term fisheries-independent sampling data inform population status and trends of species-specific biomass and are often used to drive biomass-based food web models such as the Comprehensive Aquatic Systems Model (CASM). Indicators such as total biomass and mean trophic level derived from these data and from CASM outputs inform management and facilitate assessments of on-going and...
Authors
Megan K. La Peyre, S. Sable, C. M. Taylor, Katherine S. Watkins, E. Kiskaddon, M. Baustian
Diadophis punctatus (Ring-necked snake) Diadophis punctatus (Ring-necked snake)
No abstract available.
Authors
Raymond P Kidder, Brad Glorioso, Katie D Gray
Genomics reveals identity, phenology and population demographics of larval ciscoes (Coregonus artedi, C. hoyi, and C. kiyi) in the Apostle Islands, Lake Superior Genomics reveals identity, phenology and population demographics of larval ciscoes (Coregonus artedi, C. hoyi, and C. kiyi) in the Apostle Islands, Lake Superior
We demonstrate, for the first time, the ability to reliably assign an assemblage of larval coregonines [Salmonidae Coregoninae] to shallow and multiple deepwater species. Larval coregonines from the Apostle Islands, Lake Superior, were genotyped using restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) and were assigned to species using reference genotypes from adult corgonines from the...
Authors
Hannah Lachance, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Wesley Larson, Mark R. Vinson, Jason D. Stockwell
Simultaneous effusive and explosive cinder cone eruptions at Veniaminof Volcano, Alaska Simultaneous effusive and explosive cinder cone eruptions at Veniaminof Volcano, Alaska
Historical eruptions of Veniaminof Volcano, Alaska have all occurred at a 300-m-high cinder cone within the icefilled caldera that characterizes the volcano. At least six of nineteen historical eruptions involved simultaneous explosive and effusive activity from separate vents. Eruptions in 1944, 1983–1984, 1993–1994, 2013, 2018 and 2021 included periods of explosive ash-producing...
Authors
Christopher F. Waythomas
Supplemental habitat is reservoir dependent: Identifying optimal planting decision using Bayesian Decision Networks Supplemental habitat is reservoir dependent: Identifying optimal planting decision using Bayesian Decision Networks
Environmental management often requires making decisions despite system uncertainty. One such example is mudflat mediation in flood control reservoirs. Reservoir mudflats limit development of diverse fish assemblages due to the lack of structural habitat provided by plants. Seeding mudflats with agricultural plants may mimic floodplain wetlands once inundated and provide fish habitat and...
Authors
D. M. Norris, M. E. Colvin, Leandro E. Miranda, M. A. Lashley
Inter- and intra-annual effects of lethal removal on common raven abundance in Nevada and California, USA Inter- and intra-annual effects of lethal removal on common raven abundance in Nevada and California, USA
Populations of common ravens (Corvus corax; ravens) have increased rapidly within sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems between 1960 and 2020. Although ravens are native to North America, their population densities have expanded to levels that negatively influence the population dynamics of other wildlife species of conservation concern, such as greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus...
Authors
Shawn T. O’Neil, Peter S. Coates, Julia C. Brockman, Pat J. Jackson, Jack O. Spencer, Perry J. Williams