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Book Chapters

Browse more than 5,500 book chapters 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: 6195

Tributyltin: Advancing the science on assessing endocrine disruption with an unconventional endocrine-disrupting compound Tributyltin: Advancing the science on assessing endocrine disruption with an unconventional endocrine-disrupting compound

Tributyltin (TBT) has been recognized as an endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) for several decades. However, only in the last decade, was its primary endocrine mechanism of action (MeOA) elucidated—interactions with the nuclear retinoid-X receptor (RXR), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), and their heterodimers. This molecular initiating event (MIE) alters a range of
Authors
Laurent Lagadic, Ioanna Katsiadaki, Ronald C. Biever, Patrick Guiney, Natalie Karouna-Renier, Tamar Schwarz, James P. Meador

Tagging and tracking Tagging and tracking

The number of stranding response facilities for marine mammals in the United States has increased over the past two decades, resulting in thousands of rehabilitated marine mammals released back into the wild (Geraci and Lounsbury 2005; Moore et al. 2007; Johnson and Mayer 2015; Simeone et al. 2015). All rehabilitated marine mammals released in the United States must be tagged or marked...
Authors
Michelle E. Lander, Andrew J. Westgate, Brian C. Balmer, James P. Reid, Michael J. Murray, Kristen L. Laidre

Environmental contaminants of health-care origin: Exposure and potential effects in wildlife Environmental contaminants of health-care origin: Exposure and potential effects in wildlife

A diverse range of fauna could be exposed to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) via diet, dermal absorption or bioconcentration. Low level exposures of free-ranging wildlife to APIs has only been demonstrated for a few pathways (e.g., ingestion of fish in estuaries by piscivorous birds), and many remain hypothetical (e.g., ingestion of invertebrates in sludge amended fields by...
Authors
Thomas Bean, Barnett A. Rattner

Understanding map projections Understanding map projections

It has probably never been more important in the history of cartography than now that people understand how maps work. With increasing globalization, for example, world maps provide a key format for the transmission of information, but are often poorly used. Examples of poor understanding and use of projections and the resultant maps are many; for instance, the use of rectangular world...
Authors
E. Lynn Usery

Remote sensing and modeling to fill the “gap” in missing natural capital Remote sensing and modeling to fill the “gap” in missing natural capital

This chapter reviews recent advances in remote sensing and environmental modeling that address the first step in ecosystem accounting: biophysical quantification of ecosystem services. The chapter focuses on those ecosystem services in which the most rapid advances are likely, including crop pollination, sediment regulation, carbon sequestration and storage, and coastal flood regulation...
Authors
Kenneth J. Bagstad, Simon Willcock, Glenn-Marie Lange

Perissodactyla diet Perissodactyla diet

Perissodactyla (Schoch 1989) includes tapirs, rhinoceros, wild asses, horses, and zebras. It is the order of hoofed mammals referred to as “odd-toed ungulates” because its members have one to three weight-bearing toes and walk on hoofs or “ungules.” They are herbivores that are specialized to exploit grasslands and brushy habitat (rhinos, horses, asses, zebras) or dense tropical forests...
Authors
Kathryn A. Schoenecker

Sediment erosion and delivery from Toutle River basin after the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens: A 30-year perspective Sediment erosion and delivery from Toutle River basin after the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens: A 30-year perspective

Exceptional sediment yields persist in Toutle River valley more than 30 years after the major 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Differencing of decadal-scale digital elevation models shows the elevated load comes largely from persistent lateral channel erosion across the debris-avalanche deposit. Since the mid-1980s, rates of channel-bed-elevation change have diminished, and magnitudes...
Authors
Jon J. Major, Adam R. Mosbrucker, Kurt R. Spicer

Sirenian life history Sirenian life history

Sirenians, including the manatees and dugongs, are large herbivorous mammals that have evolved to an aquatic form since the Eocene epoch. Sirenians have unique adaptations, including dense bone for ballast and a longitudinal hemidiaphragm separating paired lungs (which aid in maintaining a horizontal posture in the water column), species-specific rostral deflection, and unique dentition...
Authors
Robert K. Bonde

The northern pike, a prized native but disastrous invasive: Chapter 14 The northern pike, a prized native but disastrous invasive: Chapter 14

As the chapters in this book describe, the northern pike Esox lucius Linneaus, 1758 is a fascinating fish that plays an important ecological role in structuring aquatic communities (chapter 8), has the capacity to aid lake restoration efforts (chapter 11), and contributes substantially to local economies, both as a highlysought after sport fish (chapter 12) and as a commercial fishing...
Authors
David Rutz, Robert L. Massengill, Adam J. Sepulveda, Kristine J. Dunker

Geomorphic response of the Muddy River Basin to the 1980 eruptions of Mount St. Helens, 1980–2000 Geomorphic response of the Muddy River Basin to the 1980 eruptions of Mount St. Helens, 1980–2000

The 18 May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens produced a mosaic of primary landscape disturbances that decreased in intensity with distance from the volcano across the headwaters of Muddy River and its tributaries. Subsequent geomorphic responses were influenced by evolving hillslope and channel conditions that affected fluxes of water, sediment, and wood, as well as by an exceptional...
Authors
Thomas E. Lisle, Jon J. Major, J. H. Hardison

The use of remote camera trapping to study cheetahs The use of remote camera trapping to study cheetahs

Remote camera trapping is an efficient noninvasive technique for monitoring rare and elusive species, such as cheetahs. The unique pelage pattern of cheetahs allows for identification of individuals from photographs, providing detection histories that are naturally suited for abundance estimation using capture–recapture methods. Furthermore, the spatial location of photographic...
Authors
Ezequiel Fabiano, Lorraine Boast, Angela K. Fuller, Chris Sutherland
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