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.
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Family Bovidae (Hollow-horned Ruminants)
Probably the single most eye-catching aspect of the current volume is the explosion of species recognized in the family Bovidae (Hollow-horned Ruminants). In 2005, the third edition of Mammal Species of the World listed 143 species in 50 genera of Bovidae. That list, prepared by the late Peter Grubb, was somewhat traditional and provisional, as he was engaged with his long-time colleague, Colin Gr
Authors
Colin P. Groves, David M. Leslie, Brent A. Huffman, Raul Valdez, Khushal Habibi, Paul Weinberg, James Burton, Peter Jarman, William Robichaud
Geomorphology, active tectonics, and landscape evolution in the Mid-Atlantic region
In 2014, the geomorphology community marked the 125th birthday of one of its most influential papers, “The Rivers and Valleys of Pennsylvania” by William Morris Davis. Inspired by Davis’s work, the Appalachian landscape rapidly became fertile ground for the development and testing of several grand landscape evolution paradigms, culminating with John Hack’s dynamic equilibrium in 1960. As part of t
Authors
Frank J. Pazzaglia, Mark W. Carter, Claudio Berti, Ronald C. Counts, Gregory S. Hancock, David Harbor, Richard W. Harrison, Matthew J. Heller, Shannon A. Mahan, Helen Malenda, Ryan McKeon, Michelle S. Nelson, Phillip Prince, Tammy M. Rittenour, James Spotilla, G. Richard Whittecar
Global Cropland Area Database (GCAD) derived from Remote Sensing in Support of Food Security in the Twenty-first Century: Current Achievements and Future Possibilities
The precise estimation of the global agricultural cropland- extents, areas, geographic locations, crop types, cropping intensities, and their watering methods (irrigated or rainfed; type of irrigation) provides a critical scientific basis for the development of water and food security policies (Thenkabail et al., 2012, 2011, 2010). By year 2100, the global human population is expected to grow to 1
Authors
Pardhasaradhi G. Teluguntla, Prasad S. Thenkabail, Jun Xiong, Murali Krishna Gumma, Chandra Giri, Cristina Milesi, Mutlu Ozdogan, Russ Congalton, James Tilton, Temuulen Tsagaan Sankey, Richard Massey, Aparna Phalke, Kamini Yadav
Global view of remote sensing of rangelands: Evolution, applications, future pathways
The term “rangeland” is rather nebulous, and there is no single definition of rangeland that is universally accepted by land managers, scientists, or international bodies (Lund, 2007; Reeves and Mitchell, 2011). Dozens and possibly hundreds (Lund, 2007) of definitions and ideologies exist because various stakeholders often have unique objectives requiring different information. For the purpose of
Authors
Matthew Reeves, Robert A. Washington-Allen, Jay Angerer, E. Raymond Hunt, Ranjani Wasantha Kulawardhana, Lalit Kumar, Tatiana Loboda, Thomas R. Loveland, Graciela Metternicht, R. Douglas Ramsey
Historic and Contemporary Status of Sea Otters in the North Pacific
Similar to other species that in recent centuries experienced unregulated human exploitation, sea otters were extirpated throughout large portions of their historic range in the North Pacific. For most of the twentieth century, with cessation of the fur trade and because of concerted efforts at conservation, sea otters recovered much of their historic range and abundance. Late in the twentieth cen
Authors
James L. Bodkin
Hydraulic modeling development and application in water resources engineering
The use of modeling has become widespread in water resources engineering and science to study rivers, lakes, estuaries, and coastal regions. For example, computer models are commonly used to forecast anthropogenic effects on the environment, and to help provide advanced mitigation measures against catastrophic events such as natural and dam-break floods. Linking hydraulic models to vegetation and
Authors
Francisco J. Simoes
Hyperspectral remote sensing for terrestrial applications
Remote sensing data are considered hyperspectral when the data are gathered from numerous wavebands, contiguously over an entire range of the spectrum (e.g., 400–2500 nm). Goetz (1992) defines hyperspectral remote sensing as “The acquisition of images in hundreds of registered, contiguous spectral bands such that for each picture element of an image it is possible to derive a complete reflectance
Authors
Prasad S. Thenkabail, Pardhasaradhi G. Teluguntla, Murali Krishna Gumma, Venkateswarlu Dheeravath
Ice-clad volcanoes
An icy volcano even if called extinct or dormant may be active at depth. Magma creeps up, crystallizes, releases gas. After decades or millennia the pressure from magmatic gas exceeds the resistance of overlying rock and the volcano erupts. Repeated eruptions build a cone that pokes one or two kilometers or more above its surroundings - a point of cool climate supporting glaciers. Ice-clad volcani
Authors
Richard B. Waitt, B.R. Edwards, Andrew G. Fountain
Implications of climate and land use change
This chapter relates ecosystem services to climate change and land use. The bulk of the chapter focuses on ecosystem services and steepland land use in the humid Neotropics – what is lost with land-cover changed, and what is gained with various types of restoration that are sustainable given private ownership. Many case studies are presented later in the white paper. The USGS contribution relates
Authors
Jefferson S. Hall, Enrique Murgueitio, Zoraida Calle, Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne, Robert F. Stallard, Patricia Balvanera
Interactions of water quality and integrated groundwater management: Examples from the United States and Europe
Groundwater is available in many parts of the world, but the quality of the water may limit its use. Contaminants can limit the use of groundwater through concerns associated with human health, aquatic health, economic costs, or even societal perception. Given this broad range of concerns, this chapter focuses on examples of how water quality issues influence integrated groundwater management. One
Authors
Kelly L. Warner, Fabienne Barataud, Randall J. Hunt, Marc Benoit, Juliette Anglade, Mark A. Borchardt
Introduction to watershed ecosystem services: Chapter 1
Humans derive a great number of goods and services from terrestrial ecosystems (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2003, 2005). Some, like timber, fruits, bush meat, and other forest based food stuffs, are evident but others are not so obvious. Increasingly policy makers have realized the importance of forests and other ecosystems in sequestering carbon, as clearing of once vibrant vegetation or dra
Authors
Jefferson S. Hall, Robert F. Stallard, Vanessa Kirn
Karst of the Mid-Atlantic region in Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia
The Mid-Atlantic region hosts some of the most mature karst landscapes in North America, developed in highly deformed rocks within the Piedmont and Valley and Ridge physiographic provinces. This guide describes a three-day excursion to examine karst development in various carbonate rocks by following Interstate 70 west from Baltimore across the eastern Piedmont, across the Frederick Valley, and in
Authors
Daniel H. Doctor, David J. Weary, David K. Brezinski, Randall C. Orndorff, Lawrence E. Spangler