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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Mission Area Publications
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A catalogue of Do's and Don'ts in the modeling of environmental systems A catalogue of Do's and Don'ts in the modeling of environmental systems
Modeling plays a vital role in understanding and managing complex environmental systems, but its credibility and quality depend heavily on a comprehensive set of defensible model activities and practices, especially when the system of interest is plagued with uncertainties and conflicting stakeholder perspectives. This paper proposes a catalogue of Do's and Don'ts to guide modelers in...
Authors
Xifu Sun, Anthony J. Jakeman, Serena H Hamilton, Volker Grimm, Randall J. Hunt, Sondoss El Sawah, Hsiao-Hsuan Wang, Barry Croke, Min Chen
Earthquake-hazard exposure of residents with potential access and functional needs in the United States Earthquake-hazard exposure of residents with potential access and functional needs in the United States
Earthquake response plans and earthquake early warning (EEW) systems designed for general populations may not consider potential access and functional needs (AFN) of individuals with physical, sensory, cognitive, or social limitations. Previous efforts to map the distribution of these populations have focused on social-vulnerability indices that ignore or oversimply these limitations...
Authors
Nathan J. Wood, Alice B. Pennaz, Jeanne M. Jones
A conceptual framework and methods for studying the connectivity of fishes A conceptual framework and methods for studying the connectivity of fishes
Connectivity is a multifaceted concept that has important implications for the management and conservation of marine and freshwater fishes. We developed a conceptual framework that encompasses multiple, interrelated categories of connectedness, including landscape (e.g., structural, functional) connectivity and ecological (e.g., trophic, genetic, demographic) connectivity, that together...
Authors
Jordanna N. Bergman, Jessica A. Robichaud, Jasper McCutcheon, Michael Thomas Booth, Brendan Campbell, Grace A. Casselberry, Cienna R. Cooper, Bronwyn M. Gillanders, Lucas P. Griffin, Edward Hale, Luc LaRochelle, Karen J. Murchie, Mary M. Peacock, Reid G. Swanson, Simon D. Stewart, Ryan. J. Woodland, Daniel P. Zielinski, Steven J. Cooke, Morgan L. Piczak
Extreme Potomac floods at Washington D.C. during the past 500 years Extreme Potomac floods at Washington D.C. during the past 500 years
Washington D.C. faces one of the highest 100-year flood risks of any major city along the U.S. East Coast. In addition to storm-surge inundation during hurricanes and nor'easters, water-level observations for Washington are strongly skewed by major floods on the Potomac River. Using geologic and historic records we find new evidence for ice-jam flooding at Georgetown during the Little...
Authors
Michael Toomey, Thomas M. Cronin, Jessica R. Rodysill, Julia Lynn Seidenstein, Debra A. Willard
Linking community-climate disequilibrium to ecosystem function Linking community-climate disequilibrium to ecosystem function
Turnover in species composition often lags behind the pace of climate change, resulting in mismatches between climate and communities. However, the impact of these community-climate disequilibria on ecosystem functions is rarely considered, and current methods for measuring disequilibria assume that species ranges were, until recently, in equilibrium with climate. Here, we develop a...
Authors
Michael Stemkovski, Michael H. Cortez, Joey R. Bernhardt, Kelvyn K. Bladen, John B. Bradford, Kyra Clark-Wolf, Margaret E.K. Evans, Loretta C. Johnson, Abigail Lynch, Melissa A. Pastore, Malin L. Pinsky, Christine R. Rollinson, Oliver Selmoni, Anthony P. Walker, John W. Williams, Peter B. Adler
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other contaminants of concern in tribal waters of Montana Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other contaminants of concern in tribal waters of Montana
We assessed potential exposures to a broad suite of contaminants (inorganic, organic and microbial) in culturally important surface waters from three watersheds in a northern plains Native American community (Apsáalooke [Crow Tribe of Montana]) in south-central Montana, United States, with water insecurity concerns. Inorganic (37), organic (435) and microbial (3) constituents were...
Authors
Kelly L. Smalling, Paul M. Bradley, Kristin M. Romanok, John T. Doyle, Margaret J. Eggers, Christine Martin, Elliott P. Barnhart, Picabo Binette, Eric M. Castro, Madisan Chavez, Stephanie A. Ewing, Stephanie E. Gordon, Mathew W. Fields, James L. Gray, Ashley M. Groshong, Chiachi Hwang, Leslie K. Kanagy, JoRee WClay LaFrance, Keith A. Loftin, Carrie Mae Long, R. Blaine McCleskey, Shannon M. Meppelink, Crystal L. Richards, Molly L. Schreiner, Jonathan I. Shikany, Mahelat Tesfamariam
Surface variable‐based machine learning for scalable arsenic prediction in undersampled areas Surface variable‐based machine learning for scalable arsenic prediction in undersampled areas
In the United States, private wells are not federally regulated, and many households do not test for Arsenic (As). Chronic exposure is linked with multiple health outcomes, and risk can change sharply over short distances and with well depth. Coarse maps or sparse sampling often miss exceedances. Most existing models operate at ∼1 km resolution and use groundwater chemistry or detailed...
Authors
Shams Azad, Mason O. Stahl, Melinda L. Erickson, Beck A. DeYoung, Craig T. Connolly, Lawrence Chillrud, Kathrin Schilling, Ana Navas-Acien, Anirban Basu, Brian Mailloux, Benjamin C. Bostick, Steven N. Chillrud
Waterfowl move less in heterogeneous and human-populated landscapes, with implications for spread of avian influenza viruses Waterfowl move less in heterogeneous and human-populated landscapes, with implications for spread of avian influenza viruses
Animal movements contribute to the spread of infectious diseases and are driven in part by environmental conditions. We investigated the links among the environment, animal movement, and infectious disease dynamics in waterfowl, which are among the primary wildlife hosts of avian influenza viruses. By combining telemetry data on 4606 individuals from 26 waterfowl species with data on...
Authors
Claire Stewart Teitelbaum, Diann J. Prosser, Joshua T. Ackerman, Sakib Ahmed, A.B.M. Sarowar Alam, Kazi Zenifar Azmiri, Nyambaya Batbayar, Joël Bêty, Abigail Blake-Bradshaw, Dmitrijs Boiko, Nelleke H. Buitendijk, Jeffrey J. Buler, David Cabot, Michael L. Casazza, Bradley S. Cohen, Batmunkh Davaasuren, Sébastien Farau, Jamie Feddersen, John R. Fieberg, Wolfgang Fiedler, Peter Glazov, Larry R. Griffin, Matthieu Guillemain, Heath Hagy, Matthew J. Hardy, Cory Highway, David Hoffman, Tehan Kang, Allison Keever, Jennifer Kilburn, Andrea Kölzsch, Helmut Kruckenberg, Toni Laaksonen, Brian S. Ladman, Hansoo Lee, Siwan Lee, Josée Lefebvre, Pierre Legagneux, Hans Linssen, Jesper Madsen, Nicholas M. Masto, Scott R. McWilliams, Tori Mezebish Quinn, Carl P.J. Mitchell, Axelle Moreau, Gerhard Müskens, Scott Newman, Bart A. Nolet, Rascha J.M. Nuijten, Jay Osenkowski, Cory T. Overton, Antti Piironen, Betty Plaquin, Andrew M. Ramey, Jean Rodrigue, David Rodrigues, Kees H.T. Schreven, Yali Si, Jeffery D. Sullivan, John Takekawa, Philippe J. Thomas, Mariëlle van Toor, Jonas Waldenström, Christopher K. Williams, David W. Wolfson, Fei Xu, Ian G. Brosnan, Susan E.W. De La Cruz
Assessing the influence of conservation implementation on water quality during surface runoff events at edge-of-field monitoring sites located in the Laurentian Great Lakes basin Assessing the influence of conservation implementation on water quality during surface runoff events at edge-of-field monitoring sites located in the Laurentian Great Lakes basin
The Laurentian Great Lakes are a vital freshwater resource in the United States, and nonpoint source (NPS) nutrient pollution, specifically phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N), from agricultural land use continues to negatively impact water quality throughout the Great Lakes basin. One focus of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), a mechanism to coordinate conservation efforts in...
Authors
Brittany Rose Hanrahan, Matthew W. Diebel, Rebecca B. Carvin, Edward G. Dobrowolski, Matthew John Hardebeck, Andrew Jason Kowalczk, Chad A. Toussant, Matthew J. Komiskey
Strength of depensation not influenced by fish population productivity Strength of depensation not influenced by fish population productivity
A long-held assumption in the management of exploited fisheries is that fish populations will compensate with increased recruit survival to replenish the population when adult stock size is reduced through harvest. Observations of depensatory recruitment (reduced recruit survival at low adult stock size) and critical depensatory thresholds have challenged the compensation assumption...
Authors
Greg S. Sass, Joesph T. Mrnak, Stephanie L Shaw, Zachary S. Feiner, Colin J. Dassow, Andrew L. Rypel, Holly Susan Embke
The development of long-term mean annual total nitrogen and total phosphorus load models for Mississippi, U.S., using RSPARROW The development of long-term mean annual total nitrogen and total phosphorus load models for Mississippi, U.S., using RSPARROW
Water-quality degradation from nutrient pollution remains a major challenge for resource managers. Developing effective strategies requires tools to characterize nutrient sources and transport. This study used the RSPARROW framework to develop and assess new, smaller-scale models for Total Nitrogen (TN) and Total Phosphorus (TP) transport across Mississippi (MS). These state-level models...
Authors
Victor L. Roland, Emily Gain, Matthew B. Hicks
Fish introductions related to strong and diversifying effects on zooplankton assemblages in high-elevation mountain lakes Fish introductions related to strong and diversifying effects on zooplankton assemblages in high-elevation mountain lakes
Freshwater environments are threatened by multiple anthropogenic stressors. High-elevation mountain lakes are particularly vulnerable to introduced nonnative fish and nutrient deposition because they were historically fishless and typically oligotrophic. To understand the potential effects of fish introduction and nutrient levels on high-elevation lake ecosystems, we assessed differences...
Authors
Lindsey J. Boyle, Catherine E. Wagner, Annika W. Walters, Amy C. Krist