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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Distribution of ancient carbon in groundwater and soil gas from degradation of petroleum near the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i
The groundwater below the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility (the facility) in Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, contains fuel compounds from past spills. This study used carbon-14 analyses to distinguish fuel-derived carbon from background carbon, along with other biodegradation indicators, to address two goals: (1) determine the extent and migration direction of groundwater affected by residual fuel below the fa
Authors
Jared J. Trost, Barbara A. Bekins, Jeanne B. Jaeschke, Geoffrey N. Delin, Daniel A Sinclair, James K Stack, Rylen K. Nakama, Uli'i M. Miyajima, Lhiberty D. Pagaduan, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli
The where and why of large wood occurrence in the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers
Large wood (LW) plays important geomorphic and ecological roles in rivers and is widely used as a restoration tool. Changes to floodplain land use and historical removal have altered wood dynamics in fluvial systems globally. We know little about the distribution and dynamics of LW in great rivers (approximately >105 km2) like the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers despite its ecosystem importa
Authors
Molly Van Appledorn, Kathi Jo Jankowski, Kaija Gahm, Serenity Budd, Douglas Baumann, Barbara Bennie, Richard A. Erickson, Roger J. Haro, Jason J. Rohweder
Potential hazards of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Great Lakes tributaries using water column and porewater passive samplers and sediment wquilibrium partitioning
The potential for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-related effects in benthic organisms is commonly estimated from organic carbon-normalized sediment concentrations based on equilibrium partitioning (EqP). Although this approach is useful for screening purposes, it may overestimate PAH bioavailability by orders of magnitude in some sediments, leading to inflated exposure estimates and potenti
Authors
Austin K. Baldwin, Steven R. Corsi, David Alvarez, David L. Villeneuve, Gerald T. Ankley, Brett R. Blackwell, Marc A. Mills, Peter L. Lenaker, Michelle A. Nott
Temporal habitat use of mule deer in the Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico
Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) are important economically, culturally, and recreationally to the Pueblo of Santa Ana in central New Mexico, USA. Studies of habitat selection improve our understanding of mule deer ecology in central New Mexico and provide the Tribe with valuable information for management of mule deer. We used global positioning system telemetry-collar data collected on mule deer
Authors
Daniel E. Bird, Laura D'Acunto, Daniel Ginter, Glenn Harper, Patrick A. Zollner
Lifetime reproductive characteristics of gray wolves
Female and male cooperative breeders can use different strategies to maximize reproduction and fitness over their lifetimes. Answering questions about fitness in cooperative breeders requires long-term studies as well as complete data on group composition and size which can be exceedingly difficult to obtain. Using a long-term genetic data set of complete group pedigrees, I asked how lifetime repr
Authors
David Edward Ausband
Streamflow, water quality, and constituent loads and yields, Scituate Reservoir drainage area, Rhode Island, water year 2020
As part of a long-term cooperative program to monitor water quality within the Scituate Reservoir drainage area, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with Providence Water (sometimes known as Providence Water Supply Board) collected streamflow and water-quality data in tributaries to the Scituate Reservoir, Rhode Island. Streamflow and concentrations of chloride and sodium estimated from reco
Authors
Kirk P. Smith
The development of China’s monopoly over cobalt battery materials
While previous resource conflicts have often been linked to fuel minerals such as oil, future resource conflict may revolve around nonfuel minerals that enable strategic emerging technologies. During a 2010 diplomatic dispute, China reportedly blocked exports of rare earth elements to Japan, thereby leveraging China’s near-monopoly to threaten Japanese manufacturers of advanced technologies includ
Authors
Andrew L. Gulley
Evolutionary ecology of masting: Mechanisms, models, and climate change
Many perennial plants show mast seeding, characterized by synchronous and highly variable reproduction across years. We propose a general model of masting, integrating proximate factors (environmental variation, weather cues, and resource budgets) with ultimate drivers (predator satiation and pollination efficiency). This general model shows how the relationships between masting and weather shape
Authors
Michal Bogdziewicz, Dave Kelly, Davide Ascoli, Thomas Caignard, Francesco Chianucci, Elizabeth E. Crone, Emilie Fleurot, Jessie Foest, Georg Gratzer, Tomika Hagiwara, Qingmin Han, Valentin Journé, Léa Keurinck, Katarzyna Kondrat, Ryan McClory, Jalene M. LaMontagne, Ignacio A. Mundo, Anita Nussbaumer, Iris Oberklammer, Misuzu Ohno, Ian Pearse, Mario B. Pesendorfer, Giulia Resente, Akiko Satake, Mitsue Shibata, Rebecca Snell, Jakub Szymkowiak, Laura Touzot, Rafał Zwolak, Magdalena Żywiec, Andrew Hacket-Pain
Microbial diversity, genomics, and phage–host interactions of cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms
The occurrence of cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) is related to their physical and chemical environment. However, less is known about their associated microbial interactions and processes. In this study, cyanoHABs were analyzed as a microbial ecosystem, using 1 year of 16S rRNA sequencing and 70 metagenomes collected during the bloom season from Lake Okeechobee (Florida, USA). Biog
Authors
Lauren E Krausfeldt, Elizaveta Shmakova, Hyo Won Lee, Viviana Mazzei, Keith Loftin, Robert P Smith, Emily E. Karwacki, Eric Fortman, B.H. Rosen, Hidetoshi Urakawa, Manoj Dadlani, Rita Colwell, Jose V Lopez
Egg mercury concentration and egg size varies with position in the laying sequence in two songbird species
In birds, mercury embryotoxicity can occur through the transfer of mercury from the female to her eggs. Maternal transfer of mercury can vary by egg position in the laying sequence, with first-laid eggs often exhibiting greater mercury concentrations than subsequently laid eggs. We studied egg mercury concentration, mercury burden (total amount of mercury in the egg), and egg morphometrics by egg
Authors
C. Alex Hartman, Josh T. Ackerman, Breanne Cooney, Mark P. Herzog
Climate change scenarios for air and water temperatures in the upper San Francisco Estuary: Implications for thermal regimes and Delta Smelt
Climate projections and their effects in the San Francisco Estuary have been evaluated as part of the US Geological Survey’s CASCaDE2 project. Understanding the ecological effects of climate change can help manage and maintain the ecological health and productivity of the San Francisco Estuary. In this study, we assessed downscaled air temperature data from 10 global climate models (GCMs) under tw
Authors
Brock Huntsman, Larry R. Brown, Marissa L. Wulff, Noah Knowles, R. Wayne Wagner, Frederick V. Feyrer
A circumpolar study unveils a positive non-linear effect of temperature on arctic arthropod availability that may reduce the risk of warming-induced trophic mismatch for breeding shorebirds
Seasonally abundant arthropods are a crucial food source for many migratory birds that breed in the Arctic. In cold environments, the growth and emergence of arthropods are particularly tied to temperature. Thus, the phenology of arthropods is anticipated to undergo a rapid change in response to a warming climate, potentially leading to a trophic mismatch between migratory insectivorous birds and
Authors
Aurélie Chagnon-Lafortune, Éliane Duchesne, Pierre Legagneux, Laura McKinnon, Jeroen Reneerkens, Nicolas Casajus, Kenneth F. Abraham, Élise Bolduc, Glen S. Brown, Stephen C. Brown, H. River Gates, Olivier Gilg, Marie-Andrée Giroux, Kirsty Gurney, Steve Kendall, Eunbi Kwon, Richard B. Lanctot, David B. Lank, Nicolas Lecomte, Maria Leung, Joe Liebezeit, R.I.G. Morrison, Erica Nol, David C. Payer, Donald Reid, Daniel R. Ruthrauff, Sarah T. Saalfeld, Brett K. Sandercock, Paul Smith, Niels Martin Schmidt, Ingrid Tulp, David H. Ward, Toke Thomas Høye, Dominique Berteaux, Joël Bêty