Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

All Publications

Access all publications and filter by type, location, and search for keywords to find specific science and data information conducted by our scientists. 

Filter Total Items: 171122

Lake sturgeon population trends in the St. Clair–Detroit River System, 2001–2019

Lake Sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens are listed as threatened or endangered in 15 states or provinces within their native range. Accordingly, investments in habitat and population restoration for this species have increased throughout the Great Lakes. To aide evaluation of restoration efficacy, robust population parameters are needed to inform management decisions. The St. Clair – Detroit River Syst
Authors
Justin A. Chiotti, James C. Boase, Andrew S Briggs, Chris Davis, Richard Drouin, Darryl W. Hondorp, Lloyd Mohr, Edward F. Roseman, Michael V. Thomas, Todd C. Wills

Impacts of a Cascadia subduction zone earthquake on water levels and wetlands of the lower Columbia River and Estuary

Subsidence after a subduction zone earthquake can cause major changes in estuarine bathymetry. Here, we quantify the impacts of earthquake-induced subsidence on hydrodynamics and habitat distributions in a major system, the lower Columbia River Estuary, using a hydrodynamic and habitat model. Model results indicate that coseismic subsidence increases tidal range, with the smallest changes at the c
Authors
M.W. Brand, H.L. Diefenderfer, Jim E. O'Connor, A.B. Borde, D.A. Jay, A. Al-Bahadily, M. McKeon, S.A. Talke

River geomorphology affects biogeochemical responses to hydrologic events in a large river ecosystem

Shifts in the frequency and intensity of high discharge events due to climate change may have important consequences for the hydrology and biogeochemistry of rivers. However, our understanding of event-scale biogeochemical dynamics in large rivers lags that of small streams. To fill this gap, we used high-frequency sensor data collected during four consecutive summers from a main channel and backw
Authors
Taryn Waite, Kathi Jo Jankowski, Denise Bruesewitz, Molly Van Appledorn, Megan Johnston, Jeffrey N. Houser, Douglas Baumann, Barbara Bennie

A recruitment niche framework for improving seed-based restoration

As larger tracts of land experience degradation, seed-based restoration (SBR) will be a primary tool to reestablish vegetation and ecosystem function. SBR has advanced in terms of technical and technological approaches, yet plant recruitment remains a major barrier in some systems, notably drylands. There is an unmet opportunity to test science-based approaches to seed mix design and application,
Authors
Julie E. Larson, A. C. Agneray, Chad S. Boyd, John B. Bradford, O. A. Kildisheva, Katharine N. Suding, Stella M. Copeland

Spatiotemporal variations in copper, arsenic, cadmium, and zinc concentrations in surface water, fine-grained bed sediment, and aquatic macroinvertebrates in the upper Clark Fork Basin, western Montana—A 20-year synthesis, 1996–2016

The legacy of mining-related contamination in the upper Clark Fork Basin created an extensive longitudinal gradient in metal concentrations, extending from Silver Bow Creek to Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho. Downstream metal concentrations continue to decline, but, despite such improvements, the ecological health of much of the river remains uncertain. Understanding the long-term consequences of the Cla
Authors
Sara L. Caldwell Eldridge, Michelle I. Hornberger

An algorithm for correction of atmospheric scattering dilution effects in volcanic gas emission measurements using skylight differential optical absorption spectroscopy

Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) is commonly used to measure gas emissions from volcanoes. DOAS instruments measure the absorption of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation scattered in the atmosphere by sulfur dioxide (SO2) and other trace gases contained in volcanic plumes. The standard spectral retrieval methods assume that all measured light comes from behind the plume and has pas
Authors
Bo Galle, Santiago Arellano, Mattias Johansson, Christoph Kern, Melissa Pfeffer

Slip deficit rates on southern Cascadia faults resolved with viscoelastic earthquake cycle modeling of geodetic deformation

The fore‐arc of the southern Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ), north of the Mendocino triple junction (MTJ), is home to a network of Quaternary‐active crustal faults that accumulate strain due to the interaction of the North American, Juan de Fuca (Gorda), and Pacific plates. These faults, including the Little Salmon and Mad River fault (LSF and MRF) zones, are located near the most populated parts
Authors
Kathryn Zerbe Materna, Jessica R. Murray, Fred Pollitz, Jason R. Patton

Widespread regeneration failure in ponderosa pine forests of the southwestern United States

As climate changes in coming decades, ponderosa pine forest persistence may be increasingly dictated by their regeneration. Sustained regeneration failure has been predicted for forests of the southwestern US (SWUS) even in absence of stand-replacing wildfire, but regeneration in undisturbed and lightly disturbed forests has been studied infrequently and at a limited number of locations. We charac
Authors
Matthew D. Petrie, Robert M. Hubbard, John B. Bradford, Tom E. Kolb, Adam Roy Noel, Daniel Rodolphe Schlaepfer, M.A. Bowen, L.R. Fuller, W. Keith Moser

Minimal shift of eastern wild turkey nesting phenology associated with projected climate change

Climate change may induce mismatches between wildlife reproductive phenology and temporal occurrence of resources necessary for reproductive success. Verifying and elucidating the causal mechanisms behind potential mismatches requires large-scale, longer-duration data. We used eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) nesting data collected across the southeastern U.S. over eight years
Authors
Wesley W. Boone, Christopher E. Moorman, Adam Terando, David J. Moscicki, Bret A. Collier, Michael J. Chamberlain, Krishna Pacifici

Combining expert knowledge of a threatened trout distribution with sparse occupancy data for climate-related projection

ObjectiveTo evaluate the vulnerability of Bull Trout Salvelinus confluentus to potential climate changes across its range in Oregon, we compiled disparate expert knowledge of the distribution of spawning and rearing and combined these probabilistic statements as data along with documented records of breeding and rearing in a joint occupancy model.MethodsThe joint expert knowledge–occupancy model,
Authors
Nathan Chelgren, Jason B. Dunham, Stephanie L Gunckel, David P Hockman-Wert, Chris S Allen

A prioritization protocol for coastal wetland restoration on Molokaʻi, Hawaiʻi

Hawaiian coastal wetlands provide important habitat for federally endangered waterbirds and socio-cultural resources for Native Hawaiians. Currently, Hawaiian coastal wetlands are degraded by development, sedimentation, and invasive species and, thus, require restoration. Little is known about their original structure and function due to the large-scale alteration of the lowland landscape since Eu
Authors
Judith Z. Drexler, Helen Raine, James D. Jacobi, Sally House, Pūlama Lima, William Haase, Arleone Dibben-Young, Brett T. Wolfe

User engagement to improve coastal data access and delivery

Executive SummaryA priority of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program focus on coastal change hazards is to provide accessible and actionable science that meets user needs. To understand these needs, 10 virtual Coastal Data Delivery Listening Sessions were completed with 5 coastal data user types that coastal change hazards data are intended to serve: re
Authors
Amanda D. Stoltz, Amanda E. Cravens, Erika Lentz, Emily A. Himmelstoss