Publications

Long-term survival of a conservation-reliant species requires understanding the impact of threats on population growth rate and the management actions that can help mitigate these threats. We used a threat assessment with expert-elicited estimates to determine the relative effect of each stage-specific threat on the population growth rate of the wood turtle Glyptemys insculpta. In...

Despite the legalization of recreational cannabis in California, USA, illegal cannabis cultivation remains pervasive, partly through the establishment of illegal cultivation on public lands (trespass grows). These operations often illegally divert water for irrigation and perform unauthorized applications of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This work investigates a broad suite of...

1. Understanding the host preferences of non-native polyphagous insects is a key step in anticipating their impacts. 2. We apply a technique from wildlife ecology, a resource selection function, to quantify the host preferences of Acalolepta aesthetica Olliff (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae) in its non-native range on the Island of Hawaiʻi. We then visually surveyed its preferred...

Airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey provides extensive spatial coverage and detailed resolution at the near surface and can be used to develop hydrogeological models. However, utilization of AEM data is not straightforward because AEM resistivity is an indirect measurement for inferring sediment types. This study develops an ordinary interval kriging (OIK) algorithm and a resistivity...

Selenium bioaccumulation in aquatic food webs poses risks to wildlife, particularly in wetlands receiving irrigation runoff. The Salton Sea, California’s largest lake, is primarily sustained by agricultural drainage. This drainage creates wetland habitat along the lakeshore that many bird species depend on, including the federally endangered Yuma Ridgway’s rail (Rallus obsoletus...

This report provides an overview of the U.S. Geological Survey National Map Corps —Federal Emergency Management Agency and Oak Ridge National Laboratory pilot project in St. James Parish, Louisiana, that began in February 2024 and ended at the end of March 2024. The project used the power of The National Map Corps’ volunteer community to improve building classifications in the original...

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean conventional resources of 261 million barrels of oil and 4.5 trillion cubic feet of gas in Yemen.

Remotely sensed data and derived information contribute substantially to mission-critical work across the Department of the Interior (DOI).1 This DOI section highlights a sample of DOI remote sensing applications and illustrates a range of technology, platforms, and specialized sensors employed.

We provide 2 independent radioisotopic age estimates for cored basal sediments of the Gray Fossil Site using cosmogenic nuclides. The first estimate uses meteoric 10Be/9Be from the bottom of the GFS-1 core, as well as from modern local grasses, to constrain the deposition of basal GFS sinkhole complex sediments to 6.60 ± 0.85 Ma. We corroborated this age estimate using in-situ 10Be and...

Worldwide, freshwater systems contain more than 18,000 fish species1,2,3, which are critical to the functioning of these ecosystems4 and are vital cultural and economic resources to humans5,6,7; despite this value, fish biodiversity is at risk globally8,9. In the USA, leading threats to fish communities in rivers and streams include climate change and invasive fish introductions and game...

Identifying drivers of consumer biomass patterns and community structure is complex for managed freshwater ecosystems that are sensitive to nutrients and drought. In the Florida Everglades, flow restoration is expected to reintroduce discharge across an expansive wetland, yet most research on consumers has focused on water depth and dry disturbances. Low-velocity flow can mediate...

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