All Publications
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Groundwater hydrology, groundwater and surface-water interactions, aquifer testing, and groundwater-flow simulations for the Fountain Creek alluvial aquifer, near Colorado Springs, Colorado, 2018–20
From 2018 through 2020, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Air Force Civil Engineering Center, conducted an integrated study of the Fountain Creek alluvial aquifer located near Colorado Springs, Colorado. The objective of the study was to characterize hydrologic conditions for the alluvial aquifer pertinent to the potential for transport of solutes. Specific goals of this report w
Authors
Connor P. Newman, Cory A. Russell, Zachary D. Kisfalusi, Suzanne S. Paschke
Estimation and comparison of 1-percent annual exceedance probability flood flows at Federal Emergency Management Agency flood insurance study flow locations across Pennsylvania
Flood-flow estimates were computed at over 5,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood insurance study (FIS) flow locations across Pennsylvania for the 1-percent annual exceedance probability flood event (1-percent AEP). Depending on a point of interest’s proximity to a streamgage, weighting techniques may be applied to obtain flood-flow estimates for ungaged flow locations using observ
Authors
Mitchell R. Weaver, Marla H. Stuckey, James E. Colgin, Mark A. Roland
Deep learning workflow to support in-flight processing of digital aerial imagery for wildlife population surveys
Deep learning shows promise for automating detection and classification of wildlife from digital aerial imagery to support cost-efficient remote sensing solutions for wildlife population monitoring. To support in-flight orthorectification and machine learning processing to detect and classify wildlife from imagery in near real-time, we evaluated deep learning methods that address hardware limitati
Authors
Tsung-Wei Ke, Stella X Yu, Mark D. Koneff, David L. Fronczak, Luke J. Fara, Travis Harrison, Kyle Lawrence Landolt, Enrika Hlavacek, Brian R. Lubinski, Timothy White
Propensity score matching mitigates risk of faulty inferences in observational studies of effectiveness of restoration trials
Determining effectiveness of restoration treatments is an important requirement of adaptive management, but it can be non-trivial where only portions of large and heterogeneous landscapes of concern can be treated and sampled. Bias and non-randomness in the spatial deployment of treatment and thus sampling is nearly unavoidable in the data available for large-scale management trials, and the bioph
Authors
Chad Raymond Kluender, Matthew Germino, Christopher A Anthony
Identifying an understudied interface: Preliminary evaluation of the use of retention ponds on commercial poultry farms by wild waterfowl
While the recent incursion of highly pathogenic avian influenza into North America has resulted in notable losses to the commercial poultry industry, the mechanism by which virus enters commercial poultry houses is still not understood. One theorized mechanism is that waterfowl shed virus into the environment surrounding poultry farms, such as into retention ponds, and is then transmitted into pou
Authors
Jeffery D. Sullivan, Ayla McDonough, Lauren Lescure, Diann Prosser
Quantifying and evaluating strategies to decrease carbon dioxide emissions generated from tourism to Yellowstone National Park
The tourism industry needs strategies to reduce emissions and hasten the achievement of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reduction targets. Using a case study approach, we estimated CO2 emissions related to park tourism in Yellowstone National Park (USA) generated from transit to and from the park, transit within the park, accommodations, and park operations. Results indicate tourism to Yellow
Authors
Emily J. Wilkins, Dani T. Dagan, Jordan W. Smith
Effects and perceptions of weather, climate, and climate change on outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism in the United States: A systematic review
Weather, climate, and climate change all effect outdoor recreation and tourism, and will continue to cause a multitude of effects as the climate warms. We conduct a systematic literature review to better understand how weather, climate, and climate change affect outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism across the United States. We specifically explore how the effects differ by recreational acti
Authors
Emily J. Wilkins, Lydia Horne
Range-wide genetic analysis of an endangered bumble bee (Bombus affinis, Hymenoptera: Apidae) reveals population structure, isolation by distance, and low colony abundance
Declines in bumble bee species range and abundances are documented across multiple continents and have prompted the need for research to aid species recovery and conservation. The rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) is the first federally listed bumble bee species in North America. We conducted a range-wide population genetics study of B. affinis from across all extant conservation units to
Authors
John Mola, Ian Pearse, Michelle Boone, Elaine Evans, Mark Hepner, Robert Jean, Jade Kochanski, Cade Nordmeyer, Eric Runquist, Tamara A. Smith, Jaime Strange, Jay Watson, Jonathan B Koch
The potential influence of genome-wide adaptive divergence on conservation translocation outcome in an isolated greater sage-grouse population
Conservation translocations are an important conservation tool commonly employed to augment declining or reestablish extirpated populations. One goal of augmentation is to increase genetic diversity and reduce the risk of inbreeding depression (i.e., genetic rescue). However, introducing individuals from significantly diverged populations risks disrupting coadapted traits and reducing local fitnes
Authors
Shawna J Zimmerman, Cameron L. Aldridge, Michael A Schroeder, Jennifer A. Fike, Robert S. Cornman, Sara J. Oyler-McCance
Bathymetric and velocimetric surveys at highway bridges crossing the Missouri River between Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri, May 19–26, 2021
Bathymetric and velocimetric data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Transportation, near nine bridges at eight highway crossings of the Missouri River between Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri, from May 19 to 26, 2021. A multibeam echosounder mapping system was used to obtain channel-bed elevations for river reaches about 1,640 to 1,840
Authors
Richard J. Huizinga
Measuring and interpreting the surface and shallow subsurface process influences on coastal wetland elevation: A review
A century ago, measuring elevation in tidal wetlands proved difficult, as survey leveling of soft marsh soils relative to a fixed datum was error prone. For 60 years, vertical accretion measures from marker horizons were used as analogs of elevation change. But without a direct measure of elevation, it was not possible to measure the total influence of surface and subsurface processes on elevation
Authors
Donald Cahoon
Vegetation, fuels, and fire-behavior responses to linear fuel-break treatments in and around burned sagebrush steppe: Are we breaking the grass-fire cycle?
BackgroundLinear fuel breaks are being implemented to moderate fire behavior and improve wildfire containment in semiarid landscapes such as the sagebrush steppe of North America, where extensive losses in perennial vegetation and ecosystem functioning are resulting from invasion by exotic annual grasses (EAGs) that foster large and recurrent wildfires. However, fuel-break construction can also po
Authors
Matthew Germino, Samuel J. Price, Susan J Prichard