Book Chapters
Science Quality and Integrity
The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
Browse more than 5,500 book chapters authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS and refine search by topic, location, year, and advanced search.
Filter Total Items: 6071
Evolution, natural history, and conservation of black-footed ferrets
No abstract available.
Authors
Dean E. Biggins, David A. Eads
Geologic sources of energy
This chapter describes the exploration, development, and geologic setting of petroleum resources (including tar sands), coal resources (including coalbed methane), and geothermal energy resources of the Northern Cordillera.For petroleum resources, the chapter describes: (1) the history of petroleum development and production, first for Alaska and then for the Canadian Cordillera; and (2) generaliz
Authors
Thomas K. Bundtzen, Warren J. Nokleberg
Rehabilitating sea otters: Feeling good versus being effective
This chapter examines the complexities of assessing the merits and drawbacks of wildlife rehabilitation. Wildlife rehabilitation is often costly, and the resulting benefits differ depending on whether one’s interest is in the welfare of individual animals or conserving populations. Two examples of this dilemma include the rehabilitation of oiled sea otters following the Exxon Valdez spill in Princ
Authors
James A. Estes, M. Tim Tinker
Sampling for age and growth estimation
No abstract available.
Authors
Leandro E. Miranda, M.E. Colvin
Serrasalmidae — Piranhas and Pacus
The family Serrasalmidae is a morphologically and ecologically diverse group of South American freshwater fishes consisting of 16 genera and about 91 valid species. This chapter is a summary of the current state of knowledge on serrasalmid taxonomy, species richness, and ecology, and provides an identification key to the genera and references to relevant literature for species-level identification
Authors
Leo Nico, Michel Jegu, Marcelo C Andrade
Spatial data analytics on heterogeneous multi- and many-core parallel architectures using python
Parallel vector spatial analysis concerns the application of parallel computational methods to facilitate vector-based spatial analysis. The history of parallel computation in spatial analysis is reviewed, and this work is placed into the broader context of high-performance computing (HPC) and parallelization research. The rise of cyber infrastructure and its manifestation in spatial analysis as C
Authors
Jason R. Laura, Sergio J. Rey
Turtles: Freshwater
With their iconic shells, turtles are morphologically distinct in being the only extant or extinct vertebrate animals to have their shoulders and hips inside their rib cages. By the time an asteroid hit the earth 65.5 million years ago, causing the extinction of dinosaurs, turtles were already an ancient lineage that was 70% through their evolutionary history to date. The remarkable evolutionary s
Authors
J. Whitfield Gibbons, Jeffrey E. Lovich, R.M. Bowden
Sage grouse
Sage grouse are a group of chicken-sized birds with a unique breeding behavior and dependence on sagebrush shrubs (genus Artemisia) for food and shelter throughout their life cycle. In the last century, human population expansion throughout western North America has reduced the amount of sagebrush and degraded and fragmented the remaining areas. Vanishing sagebrush has resulted in sage grouse (gen
Authors
Shawna Zimmerman, Jennifer M. Timmer, Cameron L. Aldridge, Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Clait E. Braun, Jessica R. Young
Anticoagulant rodenticide toxicity to non-target wildlife under controlled exposure conditions
Much of our understanding of anticoagulant rodenticide toxicity to non-target wildlife has been derived from molecular through whole animal research and registration studies in domesticated birds and mammals, and to a lesser degree from trials with captive wildlife. Using these data, an adverse outcome pathway identifying molecular initiating and anchoring events (inhibition of vitamin K epoxide r
Authors
Barnett A. Rattner, F. Nicholas Mastrota
Anticoagulant rodenticides and wildlife: Concluding remarks
Rodents are known to affect human society globally in various adverse ways, resulting in a widespread demand for their continuous control. Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) have been, and currently remain, the cornerstone of rodent control throughout the world. Although alternative control methods exist, they are generally less effective. ARs work by affecting vitamin K metabolism, thereby preventi
Authors
Nico W. van den Brink, John E. Elliott, Richard F. Shore, Barnett A. Rattner