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
Value of information analysis as a decision support tool for biosecurity
This chapter demonstrates the economic concept of ‘value of information’(VOI), and how biosecurity managers can use VOI analysis to decide whether or not to reduce uncertainty by collecting additional information through monitoring, experimentation, or some other form of research. We first explore how some uncertainties may be scientifically interesting to resolve, but ultimately irrelevant to dec
Authors
Michael C. Runge, Tracy Rout, Daniel Spring, Terry Walshe
Oil Shale
Oil shales are fine-grained sedimentary rocks formed in many different depositional environments (terrestrial, lacustrine, marine) containing large quantities of thermally immature organic matter in the forms of kerogen and bitumen. If defined from an economic standpoint, a rock containing a sufficient concentration of oil-prone kerogen to generate economic quantities of synthetic crude oil upon h
Authors
Justin E. Birdwell
Infectious haematopoietic necrosis virus
Infectious haematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) is a Rhabdovirus that causes significant disease in Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.), Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), and rainbow and steelhead trout (O. mykiss). IHNV causes necrosis of the haematopoietic tissues, and consequently it was named infectious haematopoietic necrosis. This virus is waterborne and may transmit horizontally and vertically
Authors
Jo-Ann Leong, Gael Kurath
Geomorphology and sediment regimes of intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams
The geomorphology and sediment regimes of intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES) are extremely diverse, owing in large part to the substantial spatiotemporal variability of the associated hydrological regimes. We describe the geomorphological character and sediment transport processes along IRES within the context of four geomorphological zones—upland, piedmont, lowland, and floodout—to
Authors
Kristin Jaeger, Nicholas A. Sutfin, Stephen Tooth, Katerina Michaelides, Michael B. Singer
Hydrological connectivity in intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams
In intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (hereafter, IRES), hydrological connectivity mediated by either flowing or nonflowing water extends along three spatial dimensions—longitudinal, lateral, and vertical—and varies over time. Flow intermittence disrupts this connectivity, operating through complex hydrological transitions (e.g., between flowing and nonflowing phases). These transitions occ
Authors
Andrew J. Boulton, Robert J. Rolls, Kristin Jaeger, Thibault Datry
Allowable take of a population of red-winged blackbirds in the northern Great Plains
Red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), which has provisions against take. Blackbirds may be taken legally without a Federal permit, however, under an existing Depredation Order (50 CFR 21.43), which allows for take of blackbirds that are in the process of doing, or about to do, agricultural damage. Modeling the effect of take on blackb
Authors
Michael C. Runge, John R. Sauer
Examples of storm impacts on barrier islands
This chapter focuses on the morphologic variability of barrier islands and on the differences in storm response. It describes different types of barrier island response to individual storms, as well as the integrated response of barrier islands to many storms. The chapter considers case study on the Chandeleur Island chain, where a decadal time series of island elevation measurements have document
Authors
Nathaniel G. Plant, Kara S. Doran, Hilary F. Stockdon
Assessing welfare of individual sirenians in the wild and in captivity
Assessing the welfare of wild populations of sirenians has required a “generalist” approach. The outcome has been a subjective decision as to whether what the observers are witnessing in an individual or group of animals is normal and whether that has positive or negative consequences. The understanding of sirenian welfare requirements, and a decision process for whether to support and maintain th
Authors
Mark Flint, Robert K. Bonde
Human interactions with sirenians (manatees and dugongs)
There are three extant sirenian species of the Trichechidae family and one living Dugongidae family member. Given their close ties to coastal and often urbanized habitats, sirenians are exposed to many types of anthropogenic activities that result in challenges to their well-being, poor health, and even death. In the wild, they are exposed to direct and indirect local pressures as well as subject
Authors
Robert K. Bonde, Mark Flint
Mortality investigation
No abstract available.
Authors
Brian Stacy, Allen M. Foley, Thierry M. Work, Terry M. Norton