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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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The timing and magnitude of changes to Hortonian overland flow at the watershed scale during the post-fire recovery process The timing and magnitude of changes to Hortonian overland flow at the watershed scale during the post-fire recovery process
Extreme hydrologic responses following wildfires can lead to floods and debris flows with costly economic and societal impacts. Process-based hydrologic and geomorphic models used to predict the downstream impacts of wildfire must account for temporal changes in hydrologic parameters related to the generation and subsequent routing of infiltration-excess overland flow across the...
Authors
Taojun Liu, Luke A. McGuire, Haiyan Wei, Francis K. Rengers, Hoshin Gupta, Lin Ji, David C. Goodrich
Understanding constraints on submersed vegetation distribution in a large, floodplain river: The role of water level fluctuations, water clarity and river geomorphology Understanding constraints on submersed vegetation distribution in a large, floodplain river: The role of water level fluctuations, water clarity and river geomorphology
Aquatic vegetation is a key component of large floodplain river ecosystems. In the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS), there is a long-standing interest in restoring aquatic vegetation in areas where it has declined or disappeared. To better understand what constrains vegetation distribution in large river ecosystems and inform ongoing efforts to restore submersed aquatic vegetation...
Authors
Alicia Carhart, John Kalas, James T. Rogala, Jason J. Rohweder, Deanne C. Drake, Jeffrey N. Houser
Using the Landsat Burned Area products to derive fire history relevant for fire management and conservation in the state of Florida, southeastern USA Using the Landsat Burned Area products to derive fire history relevant for fire management and conservation in the state of Florida, southeastern USA
Development of comprehensive spatially explicit fire occurrence data remains one of the most critical needs for fire managers globally, and especially for conservation across the southeastern United States. Not only are many endangered species and ecosystems in that region reliant on frequent fire, but fire risk analysis, prescribed fire planning, and fire behavior modeling are sensitive...
Authors
Casey Teske, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Todd Hawbaker, Joe Noble, J. Kevin Hires
Stochastic inversion of gravity, magnetic, tracer, lithology, and fault data for geologically realistic structural models: Patua Geothermal Field case study Stochastic inversion of gravity, magnetic, tracer, lithology, and fault data for geologically realistic structural models: Patua Geothermal Field case study
Financial risk due to geological uncertainty is a major barrier for geothermal development. Production from a geothermal well depends on the unknown location of subsurface geological structures, such as faults that contain hydrothermal fluids. Traditionally, geoscientists collect many different datasets, interpret the datasets manually, and create a single model estimating faults'...
Authors
Ahinoam Pollack, Trenton T. Cladouhos, Michael W. Swyer, Drew L. Siler, Tapan Mukerji, Roland N. Horne
Comparative rhyolite systems: Inferences from vent patterns and eruptive episodicities: Eastern California and Laguna del Maule Comparative rhyolite systems: Inferences from vent patterns and eruptive episodicities: Eastern California and Laguna del Maule
Distilling my experience in having field mapped in detail the volcanic fields at Laguna del Maule and Long Valley and having worked out their time-volume-composition magmatic histories, I compare and contrast the postglacial rhyolites of the former with six multi-vent eruptive sequences of rhyolite in California. Compilations and discussions are made of volcanic-field areas and...
Authors
Edward Hildreth
Responses of vertebrate wildlife to oil and natural gas development: Patterns and frontiers Responses of vertebrate wildlife to oil and natural gas development: Patterns and frontiers
Purpose of Review Anthropogenic activities can lead to the loss, fragmentation, and alteration of wildlife habitats. I reviewed the recent literature (2014–2019) focused on the responses of avian, mammalian, and herpetofaunal species to oil and natural gas development, a widespread and still-expanding land use worldwide. My primary goals were to identify any generalities in species’...
Authors
Anna D. Chalfoun
Pathology of Lagovirus europaeus GI.2/RHDV2/b (rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2) in native North American lagomorphs Pathology of Lagovirus europaeus GI.2/RHDV2/b (rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2) in native North American lagomorphs
Rabbit hemorrhagic disease, a notifiable foreign animal disease in the US, was reported for the first time in wild native North American lagomorphs in April 2020 in the southwestern US. Affected species included the desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii), mountain cottontail (Sylvilagus nuttallii), black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus), and antelope jackrabbit (Lepus alleni)...
Authors
Julia S. Lankton, Susan Knowles, Saskia Keller, Valerie I. Shearn-Bochsler, Hon S. Ip
Book Review: “From catastrophe to recovery: Stories of fisheries management successes” Krueger, C. C., Taylor, W. M., and Youn, S. J., editors Book Review: “From catastrophe to recovery: Stories of fisheries management successes” Krueger, C. C., Taylor, W. M., and Youn, S. J., editors
No abstract available.
Authors
Joseph D. Zydlewski
Legacy contaminant-stable isotope-age relationships in Lake Ontario year-class Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) Legacy contaminant-stable isotope-age relationships in Lake Ontario year-class Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus)
Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) are the preferred prey species of the top piscivore predators in the Lake Ontario food web and are an essential constituent in the bioaccumulation of persistent organic contaminants. Year-class samples collected in 2016 represent the alewife age ranges of 2015 (Age-01) sequentially dating back to 2008 (Age-08). The most abundant contaminant measured in Lake...
Authors
James J. Pagano, James J. Garner, Brian Weidel, Daryl J. McGoldrick, Maureen G. Walsh, Thomas M. Holsen
Mapping out a future for ungulate migrations Mapping out a future for ungulate migrations
Migration of ungulates (hooved mammals) is a fundamental ecological process that promotes abundant herds, whose effects cascade up and down terrestrial food webs. Migratory ungulates provide the prey base that maintains large carnivore and scavenger populations and underpins terrestrial biodiversity (fig. S1). When ungulates move in large aggregations, their hooves, feces, and urine...
Authors
Matthew J. Kauffman, Francesca Cagnacci, Simon Chamaille-Jammes, Mark Hebblewhite, J. Grant C. Hopcraft, Jerod A. Merkle, Thomas Mueller, Atle Mysterud, Wibke Peters, Christiane Roettger, Alethea Steingisser, James Meacham, Kasahun Abera, Jan Adamczewski, Ellen O. Aikens, Hattie Bartlam-Brooks, Emily Bennitt, Joel Berger, Charlotte Boyd, Steeve D. Cote, Lucie Debeffe, Andrea S. Dekrout, Nandintsetseg Dejid, Emiliano Donadio, Luthando Dziba, William F. Fagan, Claude Fischer, S. Focardi, J. M. Fryxell, Richard W. S. Fynn, Chris Geremia, Benito A. Gonzalez, Anne Gunn, E. Gurarie, Marco Heurich, Jodi A. Hilty, Mark Hurley, Aran Johnson, Kyle Joly, Petra Kaczensky, Corinne J. Kendall, Pavel Kochkarev, Leonid Kolpaschikov, Rafal Kowalczyk, Frank van Langeveld, V. Li Binbin, Alex L. Lobora, Anne Loison, Tinaapi H. Madiri, David P. Mallon, Pascal Marchland, Rodrigo A. Medellin, Erling Meisingset, Evelyn Merrill, Arthur D. Middleton, Kevin Monteith, Malik Morjan, Thomas A. Morrison, Steffen Mumme, Robin Naidoo, A.J. Novaro, Joseph O. Ogutu, Kirk A. Olson, Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Ovejero Ramiro J.A., Norman Owen-Smith, Antti Paasivaara, Craig Packer, Danilla Panchenko, Luca Pedrotti, Andrew J. Plumptre, Christer Moe Rolandsen, Sonia Said, Albert Salemgareyev, Piotr Savchenko, Hall Sawyer, Moses Selebatso, Matthew Skroch, Erling J. Solberg, Jared A. Stabach, Olav Strand, Michael J. Suitor, Yasuyuki Tachiki, Anne Trainor, Arnold Tshipa, M.Z. Virani, Carly Vynne, Stephanie Ward, George Wittemyer, Wenjing Xu, Steffen Zuther
Correlation of porosity variations and rheological transitions on the southern Cascadia megathrust Correlation of porosity variations and rheological transitions on the southern Cascadia megathrust
The unknown onshore extent of megathrust earthquake rupture in the Cascadia subduction zone represents a key uncertainty in earthquake hazard for the Pacific Northwest that is governed by the physical state and mechanical properties of the plate interface. The Cascadia plate interface is segmented into an interseismically locked zone located primarily offshore that is expected to rupture...
Authors
Hao Guo, Jeffrey J. McGuire, Haijiang Zhang
TrendPowerTool: A lookup tool for estimating the statistical power of a monitoring program to detect population trends TrendPowerTool: A lookup tool for estimating the statistical power of a monitoring program to detect population trends
A simulation-based power analysis can be used to estimate the sample sizes needed for a successful monitoring program, but requires technical expertise and sometimes extensive computing resources. We developed a web-based lookup app, called TrendPowerTool (https://www.usgs.gov/apps/TrendPowerTool/), to provide guidance for ecological monitoring programs when resources are not available...
Authors
Emily L. Weiser, James E. Diffendorfer, Laura Lopez-Hoffman, Darius J. Semmens, Wayne E. Thogmartin