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Book Chapters

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

A method to assess the population-level consequences of wind energy facilities on bird and bat species

For this study, a methodology was developed for assessing impacts of wind energy generation on populations of birds and bats at regional to national scales. The approach combines existing methods in applied ecology for prioritizing species in terms of their potential risk from wind energy facilities and estimating impacts of fatalities on population status and trend caused by collisions with wind
Authors
James E. Diffendorfer, Julie A. Beston, Matthew D. Merrill, Jessica C. Stanton, M.D. Corum, Scott R. Loss, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Douglas H. Johnson, Richard A. Erickson, Kevin W. Heist

Tools for mapping ecosystem services

Mapping tools have evolved impressively in recent decades. From early computerised mapping techniques to current cloud-based mapping approaches, we have witnessed a technological evolution that has facilitated the democratisation of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). These advances have impacted multiple disciplines including ecosystem service (ES) mapping. The information that feeds different
Authors
Ignacio Palomo, Mihai Adamescu, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Constantin Cazacu, Hermann Klug, Stoyan Nedkov

The use of data-mining techniques for developing effective decisionsupport systems: A case study of simulating the effects ofclimate change on coastal salinity intrusion

Natural-resource managers and stakeholders face difficult challenges when managing interactions between natural and societal systems. Potential changes in climate could alter interactions between environmental and societal systems and adversely affect the availability of water resources in many coastal communities. The availability of freshwater in coastal streams can be threatened by saltwater in
Authors
Paul Conrads, Jr. Edwin Roehl

Geology of Seattle, a field trip

Seattle’s geologic record begins with Eocene deposition of fluvial arkosic sandstone and associated volcanic rocks of the Puget Group, perhaps during a time of regional strike-slip faulting, followed by late Eocene and Oligocene marine deposition of the Blakeley Formation in the Cascadia forearc. Older Quaternary deposits are locally exposed.Most of the city is underlain by up to 100 m of glacial
Authors
Ralph A. Haugerud, Kathy Goetz Troost, William T. Laprade

Synthesis

The goal of this report is to examine changes in the current environment and living conditions of the coastal and tundra communities of northwestern Canada, northern Alaska, and the northern Far East of Russia – the Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort (BCB) region – and to understand how people are coping and adapting to these changes. The report seeks to describe how life in this region is changing in the co
Authors
Larry D. Hinzman, Peter Outridge, James M. Gamble, Lyman K. Thorsteinson, Sarah F. Trainor, John E. Walsh, Alexander Klepikov

Geology and vertebrate paleontology of Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, Nevada, USA

Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument (TUSK) preserves 22,650 acres of the upper Las Vegas Wash in the northern Las Vegas Valley, Nevada, USA. TUSK is home to extensive and stratigraphically complex groundwater discharge (GWD) deposits, called the Las Vegas Formation, which represent springs and desert wetlands that covered much of the valley during the late Quaternary. The GWD deposits recor
Authors
Kathleen B. Springer, Jeffrey S. Pigati, Eric Scott

A primer to living shorelines

No abstract available.
Authors
Donna Marie Bilkovic, Molly M. Mitchell, Jason D. Toft, Megan K. LaPeyre

A synthesis of living shoreline perspectives

The main goal of this summary chapter is to synthesize author perspectives across the contributed chapters, make recommendations on the correct usage of the term living shorelines, and offer guidance for planning in the future. Nature-based approaches are being applied globally, as signified by the breadth of geographic coverage in this book. The author’s institutions and locations of study span t
Authors
Jason D. Toft, Donna Marie Bilkovic, Molly M. Mitchell, Megan K. LaPeyre

Adaptive management of rangeland systems

Adaptive management is an approach to natural resource management that uses structured learning to reduce uncertainties for the improvement of management over time. The origins of adaptive management are linked to ideas of resilience theory and complex systems. Rangeland management is particularly well suited for the application of adaptive management, having sufficient controllability and reducib
Authors
Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler, Joseph J. Fontaine, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Noelle M. Hart, Kevin L. Pope, Dirac Twidwell

Chemical tracer methods

Tracers have a wide variety of uses in hydrologic studies: providing quantitative or qualitative estimates of recharge, identifying sources of recharge, providing information on velocities and travel times of water movement, assessing the importance of preferential flow paths, providing information on hydrodynamic dispersion, and providing data for calibration of water flow and solute-transport mo
Authors
Richard W. Healy