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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.
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Knowledge gaps update to the 2019 IPCC special report on the ocean and cryosphere: Prospects to refine coastal flood hazard assessments and adaptation strategies with at-risk communities of Alaska Knowledge gaps update to the 2019 IPCC special report on the ocean and cryosphere: Prospects to refine coastal flood hazard assessments and adaptation strategies with at-risk communities of Alaska
This article reviews the status of knowledge gaps and co-production process challenges that impede coastal flood hazard resilience planning in communities of northwestern Alaska, where threat levels are high. Discussion focuses on the state of knowledge arising after preparation of the 2019 IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate and highlights prospects to...
Authors
Dee Williams, Li H. Erikson
Population genomics of free-ranging Great Plains white-tailed and mule deer reflects a long history of interspecific hybridization Population genomics of free-ranging Great Plains white-tailed and mule deer reflects a long history of interspecific hybridization
Hybridization is a natural process at species-range boundaries that may variably promote the speciation process or break down species barriers but minimally will influence management outcomes of distinct populations. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) have broad and overlapping distributions in North America and a recognized capacity for...
Authors
Fraser J. Combe, Levi Jaster, Andrew Ricketts, David A. Haukos, Andrew G. Hope
Warming conditions boost reproductive output for a northern gopher tortoise population Warming conditions boost reproductive output for a northern gopher tortoise population
The effects of climate change on at-risk species will depend on how life history processes respond to climate and whether the seasonal timing of local climate changes overlaps with species-specific windows of climate sensitivity. For long-lived, iteroparous species like gopher tortoises Gopherus polyphemus, climate likely has a greater influence on reproduction than on adult survival...
Authors
Elizabeth Ann Hunter, Kevin J. Loope, K. Kristina Drake, Kaitlyn Hanley, Douglas N. Jones, Kevin T. Shoemaker, David C. Rostal
An introduction to decision science for conservation An introduction to decision science for conservation
Biodiversity conservation decisions are difficult, especially when they involve differing values, complex multidimensional objectives, scarce resources, urgency, and considerable uncertainty. Decision science embodies a theory about how to make difficult decisions and an extensive array of frameworks and tools that make that theory practical. We sought to improve conceptual clarity and...
Authors
Victoria Hemming, Abbey E. Camaclang, Megan Adams, Mark Burgman, Katherine Carbeck, Josie Carwardine, Iadine Chades, Lia Chalifour, Sarah J. Converse, Lindsay Davidson, Georgia E. Garrard, Riley Finn, Jesse R. Fleri, Jacqueline Huard, Helen Mayfield, Eve McDonald Madden, Ilona Naujokaitis-Lewis, Hugh P. Possingham, Libby Rumpff, Michael C. Runge, Daniel Stewart, Vivitskaia J. D. Tulloch, Terry Walshe, Tara G. Martin
Spatial and temporal controls on proglacial erosion rates: A comparison of four basins on Mount Rainier, 1960 to 2017 Spatial and temporal controls on proglacial erosion rates: A comparison of four basins on Mount Rainier, 1960 to 2017
The retreat of alpine glaciers since the mid-19th century has triggered rapid landscape adjustments in many headwater basins. However, the degree to which decadal-scale glacier retreat is associated with systematic or substantial changes in overall coarse sediment export, with the potential to impact downstream river dynamics, remains poorly understood. Here, we use repeat topographic...
Authors
Scott W. Anderson, David Shean
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 S. 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