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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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Forest thinning in the seaward fringe speeds up surface elevation increment and carbon accumulation in managed mangrove forests Forest thinning in the seaward fringe speeds up surface elevation increment and carbon accumulation in managed mangrove forests

Mangroves are significant carbon (C) sinks and ecological engineers as they accumulate sediments and increase soil surface elevation. Thus, the forest management practice of thinning may not only alter forest structure, but also facilitate new biogeomorphological processes that affect soil development. Thinning may create additional opportunity for understorey species, such as the light...
Authors
Luzhen Chen, Qiulian Lin, Ken Krauss, Yun Zhang, Nicole Cormier, Qiong Yang

Trait-based filtering mediates the effects of realistic biodiversity losses on ecosystem functioning Trait-based filtering mediates the effects of realistic biodiversity losses on ecosystem functioning

Biodiversity losses are a major driver of global changes in ecosystem functioning. While most studies of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning have examined randomized species losses, trait-based filtering associated with species-specific vulnerability to drivers of diversity loss can strongly influence how ecosystem functioning responds to declining...
Authors
Amelia A. Wolf, Jennifer L. Funk, Paul C. Selmants, Connor N Morozumi, Daniel L. Hernandez, Jae R Pasari, Erika S Zavaleta

Improving ChemCam LIBS long-distance elemental compositions using empirical abundance trends Improving ChemCam LIBS long-distance elemental compositions using empirical abundance trends

The ChemCam instrument on the Curiosity rover provides chemical compositions of Martian rocks and soils using remote laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). The elemental calibration is stable as a function of distance for Ti, Fe, Mg, and Ca. The calibration shows small, systematically increasing abundance trends as a function of distance for Al, Na, K, and to some extent, Si. The...
Authors
Roger C. Wiens, A. J. Blazon-Brown, N. Melikechi, J. Frydenvang, E. Dehouck, S. M. Clegg, D. Delapp, Ryan B. Anderson, A. Cousin, S. Maurice

Increasing hydroperiod in a karst-depression wetland based on 165 years of simulated daily water levels Increasing hydroperiod in a karst-depression wetland based on 165 years of simulated daily water levels

The hydrology of seasonally inundated depression wetlands can be highly sensitive to climatic fluctuations. Hydroperiod—the number of days per year that a wetland is inundated—is often of primary ecological importance in these systems and can vary interannually depending on climate conditions. In this study we re-examined an existing hydrologic model to simulate daily water levels in...
Authors
Jennifer M. Cartwright, William J. Wolfe

Creep on the Sargent Fault over the past 50 yr from alignment arrays with implications for slip transfer between the Calaveras and San Andreas Faults, California Creep on the Sargent Fault over the past 50 yr from alignment arrays with implications for slip transfer between the Calaveras and San Andreas Faults, California

The 55‐km‐long Sargent fault connects the creeping Calaveras fault with the locked San Andreas fault through the Santa Cruz Mountains west of Gilroy, California. The position of the Sargent fault between these two faults may have implications for slip transfer and strain accumulation between a creeping and locked fault. The detection and measurement of creep on the Sargent fault would...
Authors
Daniel Mongovin, Belle E. Philibosian

Characterizing ground motion amplification by extensive flat sediments: The seismic response of the eastern U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain strata Characterizing ground motion amplification by extensive flat sediments: The seismic response of the eastern U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain strata

We examine the effects that Atlantic Coastal Plain (ACP) strata have on ground motions in the eastern and southeastern United States. The ACP strata consist of widespread, nearly flat‐lying sediments, the upper portions of which are unconsolidated or semiconsolidated. The ACP sediments are deposited primarily on crystalline basement rocks, creating large velocity and density contrasts...
Authors
Thomas L. Pratt, Lisa Sue Schleicher

Factors affecting staff support of a voluntary nonlead ammunition outreach program Factors affecting staff support of a voluntary nonlead ammunition outreach program

Lead poisoning from ingestion of bullet fragments in gut piles and unretrieved deer carcasses continues to cause mortality in bald eagles. To address this issue, the Midwest region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) initiated an outreach program during 2016–2018 encouraging hunters to voluntarily use nonlead ammunition while deer hunting on National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs). We...
Authors
J. H. Schulz, S. A. Wilhelm Stanis, Christine Jie Li, Mark Morgan, Elisabeth B. Webb

A more representative community of ecologists A more representative community of ecologists

Ecologists play a crucial role in providing solutions to the challenges facing the world. For most of the history of the field, however, the science of ecology has been pursued by white men, and increasingly, by white women. This lack of diversity is untenable today, not only because it is socially unjust, but also because solving environmental problems requires diversity. Ecology as a...
Authors
David S Schimel, Jill S. Baron

Fully accounting for nest age reduces bias when quantifying nest survival Fully accounting for nest age reduces bias when quantifying nest survival

Accurately measuring nest survival is challenging because nests must be discovered to be monitored, but nests are typically not found on the first day of the nesting interval. Studies of nest survival therefore often monitor a sample that overrepresents older nests. To account for this sampling bias, a daily survival rate (DSR) is estimated and then used to calculate nest survival to the...
Authors
Emily L. Weiser

Chemical connectivity and multi-element composition of groundwater in depressional wetlands Chemical connectivity and multi-element composition of groundwater in depressional wetlands

Little is known about the element composition of groundwater along flow paths between wetlands. What is known is based on a few major elements, such as Na and Ca. We examined the spatial and temporal variation of elements in a depressional-wetland, groundwater-flow system in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota, USA. Wetlands of the region are characterized by their occurrence in
Authors
Yuxiang Yuan, Xiaoyan Zhu, David M. Mushet, Matthew J. Solensky, Marinus L. Otte

Identifying policy-relevant indicators for assessing landscape vegetation patterns to inform planning and management on multiple use public lands Identifying policy-relevant indicators for assessing landscape vegetation patterns to inform planning and management on multiple use public lands

Understanding the structure and composition of landscapes can empower agencies to effectively manage public lands for multiple uses while sustaining land health. Many landscape metrics exist, but they are not often used in public land decision-making. Our objectives were to (1) develop and (2) apply a process for identifying a core set of indicators that public land managers can use to...
Authors
Sarah K. Carter, Lucy Burris, Chris Domschke, Steven L Garman, Travis Haby, Benjamin R Harms, Emily Kachergis, Kevin Miller, S. E. Litschert

Identification of low-frequency earthquakes on the San Andreas fault with deep learning Identification of low-frequency earthquakes on the San Andreas fault with deep learning

Low-frequency earthquakes are a seismic manifestation of slow fault slip. Their emergent onsets, low amplitudes, and unique frequency characteristics make these events difficult to detect in continuous seismic data. Here, we train a convolutional neural network to detect low-frequency earthquakes near Parkfield, CA using the catalog of Shelly (2017), https://doi.org/10.1002/2017jb014047...
Authors
A. M. Thomas, A. Inbal, J. Searcy, David R. Shelly, R. Bürgmann
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