Reports
Science Quality and Integrity
The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
Browse more than 82,000 reports 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: 85231
Establishing molecular methods to quantitatively profile gastric diet items of fish—Application to the invasive blue catfish (ictalurus furcatus) Establishing molecular methods to quantitatively profile gastric diet items of fish—Application to the invasive blue catfish (ictalurus furcatus)
Understanding the diet of invasive species helps researchers to more accurately assess the health, survivorship, growth, and stability of an invasive fish species, as well as their effects on native populations. Techniques capable of identifying multiple prey species from fish stomach contents have been developed. In this study, a multi-locus metabarcoding approach was used to identify...
Authors
Deborah D. Iwanowicz, W. Bane Schill, Lakyn R. Sanders, Tim Groves, Mary C. Groves
Distribution and abundance of Least Bell’s Vireos (Vireo bellii pusillus) and Southwestern Willow Flycatchers (Empidonax traillii extimus) on the Middle San Luis Rey River, San Diego County, Southern California—2018 data summary Distribution and abundance of Least Bell’s Vireos (Vireo bellii pusillus) and Southwestern Willow Flycatchers (Empidonax traillii extimus) on the Middle San Luis Rey River, San Diego County, Southern California—2018 data summary
We surveyed for Least Bell’s Vireos (Vireo bellii pusillus; vireo) and Southwestern Willow Flycatchers (Empidonax traillii extimus; flycatcher) along the San Luis Rey River, between College Boulevard in Oceanside and Interstate 15 in Fallbrook, California (middle San Luis Rey River), in 2018. Surveys were conducted from April 17 to July 16 (vireo) and from May 16 to July 27 (flycatcher)...
Authors
Lisa D. Allen, Barbara E. Kus
Measurement of long-term channel change through repeated cross-section surveys at bridge crossings in Alaska Measurement of long-term channel change through repeated cross-section surveys at bridge crossings in Alaska
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been working with Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&PF) since 1993 to provide hydraulic assessments of scour for bridges throughout Alaska. The purpose of the program is to evaluate, monitor, and study streambed scour at bridges in Alaska; this includes surveying streambed elevations at regular intervals and monitoring...
Authors
Karenth L. Dworsky, Jeffrey S. Conaway
Laboratory for Infectious Disease and the Environment (LIDE) Laboratory for Infectious Disease and the Environment (LIDE)
The Laboratory for Infectious Disease and the Environment (LIDE) studies the occurrence, fate and transport, and health effects of human and agricultural zoonotic pathogens in the environment. The LIDE is an interagency collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service that conducts research to inform decision...
Authors
Joel P. Stokdyk, Jennifer L. Bruce, Tucker R. Burch, Susan K. Spencer, Aaron D. Firnstahl, Mark A. Borchardt
Tampa Bay Ocean and Coastal Acidification Monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan Tampa Bay Ocean and Coastal Acidification Monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan
Coastal acidification caused by eutrophication, freshwater inflow, and upwelling is already affecting many estuaries worldwide and can be exacerbated by ocean acidification that is caused by increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Effective management, mitigation, and (or) adaptation to the effects of coastal and ocean acidification require careful monitoring of the resulting...
Authors
Kimberly K. Yates, Christopher S. Moore, Nathan H. Goldstein, Edward T. Sherwood
Status and trends of prey fish populations in Lake Michigan, 2018 Status and trends of prey fish populations in Lake Michigan, 2018
The U.S. Geological Survey Great Lakes Science Center has conducted lake-wide surveys of the fish community in Lake Michigan each fall since 1973 using standard 12 m bottom trawls towed along contour at depths of 9 to 110 m at each of seven index transects. The survey provides relative abundance and biomass estimates between the 5 m and 114 m depth contours of the lake for prey fish...
Authors
David B. Bunnell, Charles P. Madenjian, Timothy J. Desorcie, Patricia M. Dieter, Jean V. Adams
Undocumented late 18th- to early 19th-century volcanic eruptions in the Southwest Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i Undocumented late 18th- to early 19th-century volcanic eruptions in the Southwest Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i
The historical record of volcanic activity at Kīlauea Volcano on the Island of Hawaiʻi begins with the phreatomagmatic blasts of 1790. Three decades later, in 1823, the first party of non-Hawaiian visitors, organized by the English Reverend William Ellis, reached Kīlauea’s summit. A detailed narrative by Ellis includes an account of an eruption in Kīlauea’s Southwest Rift Zone that...
Authors
Richard W. Hazlett, Tim R. Orr, Steve P. Lundblad
Southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) population biology at Big Sur and Monterey, California --Investigating the consequences of resource abundance and anthropogenic stressors for sea otter recovery Southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) population biology at Big Sur and Monterey, California --Investigating the consequences of resource abundance and anthropogenic stressors for sea otter recovery
The range of the southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) spans most of the central California coast from Half Moon Bay to Gaviota. Some coastal areas within this range are heavily developed and highly impacted by humans, while other areas are wild and largely pristine. Determining the relative importance of food resource abundance, environmental conditions, and anthropogenic increases...
Authors
M. Tim Tinker, Joseph A. Tomoleoni, Benjamin P. Weitzman, Michelle Staedler, Dave Jessup, Michael J. Murray, Melissa Miller, Tristan Burgess, Lizabeth Bowen, A. Keith Miles, Nicole Thometz, Lily Tarjan, Emily Golson, Francesca Batac, Erin Dodd, Eva Berberich, Jessica Kunz, Gena Bentall, Jessica Fujii, Teri Nicholson, Seth Newsome, Ann Melli, Nicole LaRoche, Holly MacCormick, Andy Johnson, Laird Henkel, Chris Kreuder-Johnson, Pat Conrad
Hydraulic conductivity estimates from slug tests in the Big Sioux aquifer near Sioux Falls, South Dakota Hydraulic conductivity estimates from slug tests in the Big Sioux aquifer near Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Hydraulic conductivity estimates were made for 15 observation wells using slug-out (rising-head) tests in the Big Sioux aquifer near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as part of a cooperative study with the City of Sioux Falls to characterize the hydrogeology and the extent of the Big Sioux aquifer north of the city. Well and aquifer data were collected from field measurements and drillers’...
Authors
William G. Eldridge, Colton J. Medler
Regression models for estimating sediment and nutrient concentrations and loads at the Kankakee River, Shelby, Indiana, December 2015 through May 2018 Regression models for estimating sediment and nutrient concentrations and loads at the Kankakee River, Shelby, Indiana, December 2015 through May 2018
The Kankakee River in northern Indiana flows through the area once known as the Grand Marsh. Beginning in the 1860s, anthropogenic changes to the river within Indiana resulted in downstream flooding and additional transport of sediment and nutrients. In 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, upgraded the gaging station...
Authors
Timothy R. Lathrop, Aubrey R. Bunch, Myles S. Downhour
User’s manual for the Draper climate-distribution software suite with data‑evaluation tools User’s manual for the Draper climate-distribution software suite with data‑evaluation tools
Development of a time series of spatially distributed climate data is an important step in the process of developing physically based environmental models requiring distributed inputs of climate data beyond what is available from observations collected at climate stations. To prepare inputs required for model-mapping units across the study area, climate data (temperature and...
Authors
John M. Donovan, Kathryn M. Koczot
Quality of surface water in Missouri, water year 2017 Quality of surface water in Missouri, water year 2017
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, designed and operates a network of monitoring stations on streams and springs throughout Missouri known as the Ambient Water-Quality Monitoring Network. During water year 2017 (October 1, 2016, through September 30, 2017), data presented in this report were collected at 72 stations: 70 Ambient...
Authors
Miya N. Barr, Katherine A. Bartels