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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.

Filter Total Items: 175664

Bedload and suspended-sediment transport in lower Vance Creek, western Washington, water years 2019–20 Bedload and suspended-sediment transport in lower Vance Creek, western Washington, water years 2019–20

Vance Creek drains a 24 square mile area of the Olympic Mountains in western Washington. The lower 4 miles of the creek often go dry in discontinuous patches during the summer, limiting salmon rearing success. To better understand sediment transport dynamics in the creek and aid in potential restoration design, bedload and suspended-sediment concentration samples were collected for water...
Authors
Scott W. Anderson

Remote sensing of visible dye concentrations during a tracer experiment on a large, turbid river Remote sensing of visible dye concentrations during a tracer experiment on a large, turbid river

Understanding dispersion in rivers is critical for numerous applications, such as characterizing larval drift for endangered fish species and responding to spills of hazardous materials. Injecting a visible dye into the river can yield insight on dispersion processes, but conventional field instrumentation yields limited data on variations in dye concentration over time at a few, fixed...
Authors
Carl J. Legleiter, Brandon James Sansom, R. B. Jacobson

Bridging the gap between spatial modeling and management of invasive annual grasses in the imperiled sagebrush biome Bridging the gap between spatial modeling and management of invasive annual grasses in the imperiled sagebrush biome

Invasions of native plant communities by non-native species present major challenges for ecosystem management and conservation. Invasive annual grasses such as cheatgrass, medusahead, and ventenata are pervasive and continue to expand their distributions across imperiled sagebrush-steppe communities of the western United States. These invasive grasses alter native plant communities...
Authors
Bryan C. Tarbox, Nathan D. Van Schmidt, Jessica E. Shyvers, D. Joanne Saher, Julie A. Heinrichs, Cameron L. Aldridge

How lions move at night when they hunt? How lions move at night when they hunt?

Movement patterns of lions (Panthera leo) reveal how they hunt large herbivores in heterogeneous landscapes such as the Kruger National Park in South Africa. Large herbivores are distributed differently on the landscape and therefore have different vulnerabilities as prey for lions. For instance, blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) occupy small grazing lawns at night but are...
Authors
Sze-Wing Yiu, Norman Owen-Smith, James W. Cain

Positively selected genes in the hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) lineage: Prominence of thymus expression, immune and metabolic function, and regions of ancient synteny Positively selected genes in the hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) lineage: Prominence of thymus expression, immune and metabolic function, and regions of ancient synteny

Background Bats of the genus Lasiurus occur throughout the Americas and have diversified into at least 20 species among three subgenera. The hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) is highly migratory and ranges farther across North America than any other wild mammal. Despite the ecological importance of this species as a major insect predator, and the particular susceptibility of lasiurine bats...
Authors
Robert S. Cornman, Paul M. Cryan

Mass balance of two perennial snowfields: Niwot Ridge, Colorado and the Ulaan Taiga, Mongolia. Mass balance of two perennial snowfields: Niwot Ridge, Colorado and the Ulaan Taiga, Mongolia.

Perennial snowfields are generally receding worldwide, though the precise mechanisms causing recessions are not always well understood. Here we apply a numerical snowpack model to identify the leading factors controlling the mass balance of two perennial snowfields that have significant human interest: Arapaho glacier, located at Niwot Ridge in the Colorado Rocky Mountains (United States...
Authors
Kaj E. Williams, Christopher P. McKay, Owen B. Toon, Keith S. Jennings

Geophysical imaging of the Yellowstone hydrothermal plumbing system Geophysical imaging of the Yellowstone hydrothermal plumbing system

The nature of Yellowstone National Park’s plumbing system linking deep thermal fluids to its legendary thermal features is virtually unknown. The prevailing concepts of Yellowstone hydrology and chemistry are that fluids reside in reservoirs with unknown geometries, flow laterally from distal sources and emerge at the edges of lava flows. Here we present a high-resolution synoptic view...
Authors
Carol A. Finn, Paul A. Bedrosian, W. Steven Holbrook, Esben Auken, Benjamin R. Bloss, Kayla J Crosbie

MIS 5e sea-level history along the Pacific coast of North America MIS 5e sea-level history along the Pacific coast of North America

The primary last interglacial, marine isotope substage (MIS) 5e records on the Pacific coast of North America, from Washington (USA) to Baja California Sur (Mexico), are found in the deposits of erosional marine terraces. Warmer coasts along the southern Golfo de California host both erosional marine terraces and constructional coral reef terraces. Because the northern part of the region...
Authors
Daniel R. Muhs

Long-term hydrologic sustainability of calcareous fens along the Glacial Lake Agassiz beach ridges, northwestern Minnesota, USA Long-term hydrologic sustainability of calcareous fens along the Glacial Lake Agassiz beach ridges, northwestern Minnesota, USA

Calcareous fens are peat-accumulating wetlands fed by calcium-rich groundwater that support several threatened species of plants that thrive in these geochemical conditions. This investigation characterized the hydrology of two calcareous fens in the Glacial Lake Agassiz beach ridge complex in northwestern Minnesota, USA. Sandy surficial beach ridge aquifers and underlying buried glacial...
Authors
Nicholas R. Budde, Howard D. Mooers, Timothy K. Cowdery, Nigel J. Wattrus

Spatially integrating microbiology and geochemistry to reveal complex environmental health issues: Anthrax in the contiguous United States Spatially integrating microbiology and geochemistry to reveal complex environmental health issues: Anthrax in the contiguous United States

Maxent models were run using the B. anthracis presence data and/or the animal outbreak presence data. Models run using the animal outbreak data alone utilized two scales: the Outbreak State scale which included only states reporting animal anthrax outbreaks from 2001 to 2013 and the National scale which included all states in the contiguous United States. Three iterations of the...
Authors
Erin Silvestri, Stephen Douglas, Vicky Luna, C.A.O. Jean-Babtiste, D. Harbin, Laura Hempel, Timothy Boe, Tonya Nichols, Dale W. Griffin

A user guide to selecting invasive annual grass spatial products for the western United States A user guide to selecting invasive annual grass spatial products for the western United States

Invasive annual grasses (IAGs)—including Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass), Taeniatherum caput-medusae (medusahead), and Ventenata dubia (ventenata) species—present significant challenges for rangeland management by altering plant communities, impacting ecosystem function, reducing forage for wildlife and livestock, and increasing fire risk. Numerous spatial data products are used to map IAGs...
Authors
Nathan D. Van Schmidt, Jessica E. Shyvers, D. Joanne Saher, Bryan C. Tarbox, Julie A. Heinrichs, Cameron L. Aldridge
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