Publications
Browse more than 160,000 publications authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS. Publications available are: USGS-authored journal articles, series reports, book chapters, other government publications, and more.
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Filter Total Items: 175006
BatTool: Projecting bat populations facing multiple stressors using a demographic model BatTool: Projecting bat populations facing multiple stressors using a demographic model
Bats provide ecologically and agriculturally important ecosystem services but are currently experiencing population declines caused by multiple environmental stressors, including mortality from white-nose syndrome and wind energy development. Analyses of the current and future health and viability of these species may support conservation management decision making. Demographic modeling...
Authors
Ashton M. Wiens, Amber Schorg, Jennifer Szymanski, Wayne E. Thogmartin
Snowpack relative permittivity and density derived from near-coincident lidar and ground-penetrating radar Snowpack relative permittivity and density derived from near-coincident lidar and ground-penetrating radar
Depth-based and radar-based remote sensing methods (e.g., lidar, synthetic aperture radar) are promising approaches for remotely measuring snow water equivalent (SWE) at high spatial resolution. These approaches require snow density estimates, obtained from in-situ measurements or density models, to calculate SWE. However, in-situ measurements are operationally limited, and few density...
Authors
Randall Bonnell, Daniel McGrath, Andrew Hedrick, Ernesto Trujillo, Tate Meehan, Keith Williams, Hans-Peter Marshall, Graham A. Sexstone, John W, Fulton, Michael Ronayne, Steven R. Fassnacht, Ryan Webb, Katherine Hale
Cultivating resilience in dryland soils: An assisted migration approach to biological soil crust restoration Cultivating resilience in dryland soils: An assisted migration approach to biological soil crust restoration
Land use practices and climate change have driven substantial soil degradation across global drylands, impacting ecosystem functions and human livelihoods. Biological soil crusts, a common feature of dryland ecosystems, are under extensive exploration for their potential to restore the stability and fertility of degraded soils through the development of inoculants. However, stressful...
Authors
Sierra Jech, Natalie K. Day, Nichole Barger, Anita Antoninka, Matthew A. Bowker, Sasha C. Reed, Colin L Tucker
Seven dam challenges for migratory fish: Insights from the Penobscot River Seven dam challenges for migratory fish: Insights from the Penobscot River
More than a century of impoundments in the Penobscot River, Maine, USA, has contributed to population declines in migratory fish in the system. A decade of change, research, and monitoring has revealed direct and indirect ways that dams have influenced the river habitat, connectivity for migratory fish, and the food web. The removal of two main-stem dams (in 2012 and 2013) and bolstering...
Authors
Joseph D. Zydlewski, Stephen M. Coghlan, Cody Dillingham, Guillermo Figueroa-Munoz, Carolyn Merriam, Sean Smith, Rylee Smith, Daniel S. Stich, Sarah K. Vogel, Karen Wilson, Gayle B. Zydlewski
Evaluation of breeding distribution and chronology of North American scoters Evaluation of breeding distribution and chronology of North American scoters
North America's scoter species are poorly monitored relative to other waterfowl. Black Melanitta americana, surf M. perspicillata, and white-winged M. deglandi scoter abundance and trend estimates are thus uncertain in many parts of these species' ranges. The most extensive source of waterfowl abundance and distribution data in North America is the Waterfowl breeding population and...
Authors
Kristin Bianchini, Scott G. Gilliland, Alicia Berlin, Timothy D. Bowman, W. Sean Boyd, Susan E.W. De La Cruz, Daniel Esler, Joseph R. Evenson, Paul L. Flint, Christine Lepage, Scott R. McWilliams, Dustin E. Meattey, Jason E. Osenkowski, Matthew Perry, Jean-Francois Poulin, Eric T. Reed, Christian Roy, Jean-Pierre L. Savard, Lucas Savoy, Jason L Schamber, Caleb S. Spiegel, John Takekawa, David H. Ward, Mark L. Mallory
Science to support conservation action in a large river system: The Willamette River, Oregon, USA Science to support conservation action in a large river system: The Willamette River, Oregon, USA
Management and conservation efforts that support the recovery and protection of large rivers are daunting, reflecting the complexity of the challenge and extent of effort (in terms of policy, economic investment, and spatial extent) needed to afford measurable change. These large systems have generally experienced intensive development and regulation, compromising their capacity to...
Authors
Rebecca L. Flitcroft, Luke Whitman, James White, J. Rose Wallick, Laurel E. Stratton Garvin, Cassandra Smith, Robert Plotnikoff, Michael Mulvey, Tobias J. Kock, Krista Jones, Peter Gruendike, Carolyn Gombert, Guillermo Giannico, Andrew Dutterer, Daniel G. Brown, Hannah Barrett, Robert M. Hughes
Genomic insights into isolation of the threatened Florida crested caracara (Caracara plancus) Genomic insights into isolation of the threatened Florida crested caracara (Caracara plancus)
We conducted a population genomic study of the crested caracara (Caracara plancus) using samples (n = 290) collected from individuals in Florida, Texas, and Arizona, United States. Crested caracaras are non-migratory raptors ranging from the southern tip of South America to the southern United States, including a federally protected relict population in Florida long thought to have been...
Authors
Natalie Payne, John A. Erwin, Joan L. Morrison, James F. Dwyer, Melanie Culver
Development of a Surface-Water Index of Permanence to assess surface-water availability for ecohydrological refugia Development of a Surface-Water Index of Permanence to assess surface-water availability for ecohydrological refugia
Surface-water availability has major implications for the environment and society in the 21st century. With climate change, increased drought severity, and altered water and land use, future water availability is predicted to continue to decline in many areas, including much of the western United States. An understanding of where and when water will be available at multiple scales is...
Authors
Alynn Martin, Roy Sando, Lindsey Thurman, Kyle McLean, Patrick Wurster, John Jones, Anteneh Sarbanes
Hydrologic, water operations, reservoir temperature, river temperature, sediment transport, habitat, and fish population modeling for the Trinity River Water Management Plan Hydrologic, water operations, reservoir temperature, river temperature, sediment transport, habitat, and fish population modeling for the Trinity River Water Management Plan
Humboldt County is developing a Water Management Plan that will describe a range of proposed annual releases from Trinity Reservoir consistent with the 1959 water delivery contract between Humboldt County and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation). The 1959 contract states that Reclamation shall release not less than an annual quantity of 50,000 acre-feet into the Trinity River for...
Authors
John Plumb, Russell Perry
Growth performance of Rainbow Trout in reservoir tributaries and implications for steelhead growth potential above Skagit River dams Growth performance of Rainbow Trout in reservoir tributaries and implications for steelhead growth potential above Skagit River dams
Objective In the Pacific Northwest (USA), Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. populations have been declining significantly for decades, prompting stakeholders to respond with a variety of conservation and restoration measures. One such measure being considered in the Skagit River basin (Washington, USA) is the introduction of steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss (anadromous Rainbow Trout) above...
Authors
Benjamin Lorenz Jensen, Rachelle Carina Johnson, Jeffrey J. Duda, Carl O. Ostberg, Tessa Julianne Code, Jonathan H Mclean, Karl D. Stenberg, Kimberly Larsen, Marshal S. Hoy, David Beauchamp
Unraveling mechnisms underlying effects of wetting–drying cycles on soil respiration in a dryland Unraveling mechnisms underlying effects of wetting–drying cycles on soil respiration in a dryland
Rewetting of dry soils usually stimulates soil carbon (C) emission, a phenomenon known as the Birch effect. Soil C cycling in drylands, which store approximately one third of terrestrial soil organic C (SOC), is strongly affected by wetting–drying cycles. However, the physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms that link rewetting cycles with dryland soil C cycling have not been...
Authors
Guopeng Liang, Sasha C. Reed, John M. Stark, Bonnie G. Waring