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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Africa’s drylands in a changing world: Challenges for wildlife conservation under climate and land-use changes in the Greater Etosha Landscape Africa’s drylands in a changing world: Challenges for wildlife conservation under climate and land-use changes in the Greater Etosha Landscape
Proclaimed in 1907, Etosha National Park in northern Namibia is an iconic dryland system with a rich history of wildlife conservation and research. A recent research symposium on wildlife conservation in the Greater Etosha Landscape (GEL) highlighted increased concern of how intensification of global change will affect wildlife conservation based on participant responses to a...
Authors
Wendy Christine Turner, Stéphanie Périquet, Claire E. Goelst, Kimberlie B. Vera, Elissa Z. Cameron, Kathleen A. Alexander, Jerrold L. Belant, Claudine C. Cloete, Pierre du Preez, Wayne M. Getz, Robyn S. Hetem, Pauline L. Kamath, Marthin K. Kasaona, Monique Mackenzie, John Mendelsohn, John K.E. Mfune, Jeff Muntifering, Ruben Portas, H. Ann Scott, W. Maartin Strauss, Wilferd Versfeld, Bettina Wachter, George Wittemyer, J. Werner Kilian
Drought and nutrient pollution produce multiple interactive effects in stream ecosystems Drought and nutrient pollution produce multiple interactive effects in stream ecosystems
Drought and nutrient pollution can affect the dynamics of stream ecosystems in diverse ways. While the individual effects of both stressors are broadly examined in the literature, we still know relatively little about if and how these stressors interact. Here, we performed a mesocosm experiment that explores the compounded effects of seasonal drought via water withdrawals and nutrient...
Authors
R.J. Fournier, Daniel D. Magoulick
Warming temperatures affect meadow-wide nectar resources, with implications for plant-pollinator communities Warming temperatures affect meadow-wide nectar resources, with implications for plant-pollinator communities
Nectar production may be a point of sensitivity that can help link primary and secondary trophic responses to climate shifts, and is therefore important to our understanding of ecosystem responses. We evaluated the nectar response of two widespread native forbs, Balsamorhiza sagittata and Eriogonum umbellatum, to experimental warming in a high-elevation sagebrush meadow in the Teton...
Authors
Audrey L. McCombs, Diane Debinski, Keith Reinhardt, Matthew J. Germino, Petrutza Caragea
Subaerial volcaniclastic deposits — Influences of initiation mechanisms and transport behaviour on characteristics and distributions Subaerial volcaniclastic deposits — Influences of initiation mechanisms and transport behaviour on characteristics and distributions
Subaerial volcaniclastic deposits are produced principally by volcanic debris avalanches, pyroclastic density currents, lahars, and tephra falls. Those deposits have widely ranging geomorphic and sedimentologic characteristics; they can mantle, modify, or create new topography, and their emplacement and subsequent reworking can have an outsized impact on the geomorphic and sedimentologic...
Authors
Jon J. Major
Gill-net selectivity for fifteen fish species of the upper San Francisco Estuary Gill-net selectivity for fifteen fish species of the upper San Francisco Estuary
Gill-net size selectivity for 15 fish species occurring in the upper San Francisco Estuary was estimated from a data set compiled from multiple studies which together contained 7,096 individual fish observations from 882 gill net sets. The gill nets considered in this study closely resembled the American Fisheries Society’s recommended standardized experimental gill nets for sampling...
Authors
Marissa L. Wulff, Frederick V. Feyrer, Matthew J. Young
Genetic diversity and connectivity of chemosynthetic cold seep mussels from the U.S. Atlantic margin Genetic diversity and connectivity of chemosynthetic cold seep mussels from the U.S. Atlantic margin
Background Deep-sea mussels in the subfamily Bathymodiolinae have unique adaptations to colonize hydrothermal-vent and cold-seep environments throughout the world ocean. These invertebrates function as important ecosystem engineers, creating heterogeneous habitat and promoting biodiversity in the deep sea. Despite their ecological significance, efforts to assess the diversity and...
Authors
Danielle M. DeLeo, Cheryl Morrison, Mariki Sei, Veronica J. Salamone, Amanda Demopoulos, Andrea M. Quattrini
Impact of climate change on mollusks and other invertebrate resources at the Dominican University of California archaeological site (CA-MRN-254), Marin County, California Impact of climate change on mollusks and other invertebrate resources at the Dominican University of California archaeological site (CA-MRN-254), Marin County, California
We have identified and provided ecological interpretations of 30 taxa recovered at two shellmounds at the Dominican University of California archaeology site in Marin County, California (CA-MRN-254). A Q-mode cluster analysis was used to group the samples according to their faunal similarity. The clusters ranged from a diverse grouping of 100 samples with 27 taxa (Cluster A) to those...
Authors
Mary McGann, Charles L. Powell
2021 assessment of the Joint Fire Science Program’s Fire Science Exchange Network 2021 assessment of the Joint Fire Science Program’s Fire Science Exchange Network
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), on behalf of the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP), conducted an evaluation of the Fire Science Exchange Network (FSEN), which connects wildland fire scientists and practitioners through 15 individual exchanges across the United States to help address complex wildfire needs and challenges. The study was divided into two phases: The first phase was a...
Authors
Natasha Collins, James R. Meldrum, Rudy Schuster, Nina Burkardt
Multiple agricultural cropland products of South Asia developed using Landsat-8 30 m and MODIS 250 m data using machine learning on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud and spectral matching techniques (SMTs) in support of food and water security Multiple agricultural cropland products of South Asia developed using Landsat-8 30 m and MODIS 250 m data using machine learning on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud and spectral matching techniques (SMTs) in support of food and water security
Cropland products are of great importance in water and food security assessments, especially in South Asia, which is home to nearly 2 billion people and 230 million hectares of net cropland area. In South Asia, croplands account for about 90% of all human water use. Cropland extent, cropping intensity, crop watering methods, and crop types are important factors that have a bearing on the...
Authors
Murali Krishna Gumma, Prasad Thenkabail, Pranay Panjala, Pardhasaradhi Teluguntla, Takashi Yamano, Ismail Mohammad
Martian gully activity and the gully sediment transport system Martian gully activity and the gully sediment transport system
The formation process for Martian gullies is a critical unknown for understanding recent climate conditions. Leading hypotheses include formation by snowmelt in a past climate, or formation via currently active CO2 frost processes. This paper presents an expanded catalog of >300 recent flows in gullies. The results indicate that sediment transport in current gully flows moves the full...
Authors
Colin M. Dundas, Susan J. Conway, Glen E. Cushing
Can we accurately estimate sediment budgets on Mars? Can we accurately estimate sediment budgets on Mars?
Sediment budgets are fundamentally important for planetary science. However, only one primary method, based on remote sensing, is currently available for determining extraterrestrial sediment budgets. For determining sediment budgets on Earth, both in-situ and remote sensing methods are available. Despite the widespread use of the two methods, there has been surprisingly little research...
Authors
Joel B. Sankey, Alan Kasprak, Matthew Chojnacki, Timothy N. Titus, Joshua Caster, Geoffrey DeBenedetto
Characterization of the bathymetry, hydrodynamics, water quality, infrastructure, and channel condition of the Old Erie Canal from DeWitt to its junction with the current Erie Canal in Verona, near Rome, New York, 2018–19 Characterization of the bathymetry, hydrodynamics, water quality, infrastructure, and channel condition of the Old Erie Canal from DeWitt to its junction with the current Erie Canal in Verona, near Rome, New York, 2018–19
The Old Erie Canal has undergone sedimentation and aquatic growth that have restricted flow and diminished the aesthetic quality of the canal during the nearly 200 years since its construction. During 2018–2019, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Madison County Planning Department and the New York State Canal Corporation conducted a study of the Old Erie Canal...
Authors
John F. Wernly