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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: 6063

Animal migration and risk of spread of viral infections

The potential contribution of migration towards the spread of disease is as varied as the ecology of the pathogens themselves and their host populations. This chapter outlines multiple examples of viral diseases in animal populations and their mechanisms of viral spread. Many species of insects, mammals, fish, and birds exhibit migratory behavior and have the potential to disperse diseases over lo
Authors
Diann J. Prosser, Jessica L. Nagel, John Y. Takekawa

Structured decision making

Wildlife management is a decision-focused discipline. It needs to integrate traditional wildlife science and social science to identify actions that are most likely to achieve the array of desires society has surrounding wildlife populations. Decision science, a vast field with roots in economics, operations research, and psychology, offers a rich set of tools to help wildlife managers frame, deco
Authors
Michael C. Runge, J. Barry Grand, Michael S. Mitchell

Forest ecosystems: Vegetation, disturbance, and economics

Forests cover about 47% of the Northwest (NW–Washington, Oregon, and Idaho) (Smith et al. 2009, fig. 5.1, table 5.1). The impacts of current and future climate change on NW forest ecosystems are a product of the sensitivities of ecosystem processes to climate and the degree to which humans depend on and interact with those systems. Forest ecosystem structure and function, particularly in relativel
Authors
Jeremy S. Littell, Jeffrey A. Hicke, Sarah L. Shafer, Susan M. Capalbo, Laurie L. Houston, Patty Glick

Measuring suspended sediment

Suspended sediment in streams and rivers can be measured using traditional instruments and techniques and (or) surrogate technologies. The former, as described herein, consists primarily of both manually deployed isokinetic samplers and their deployment protocols developed by the Federal Interagency Sedimentation Project. They are used on all continents other than Antarctica. The reliability of th
Authors
J. R. Gray, M. N. Landers

Colorado geology then and now: Following the route of the Colorado Scientific Society’s 1901 trip through central Colorado

In 1901, Charles Van Hise asked Samuel Emmons and Whitman Cross to organize a grand excursion across Colorado as part of the combined meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, GSA, and the Colorado Scientific Society (CSS). This trip replays part of that 10-day excursion across Colorado. Shortened to three days, this trip takes in some of the same sites as the 1901 trip,
Authors
Beth Simmons

Oil and gas

No abstract available.
Authors
Ronald R. Charpentier, Marilyn E. Tennyson

Nitrate Trends in Minnesota Rivers

The objective of this study was to assess long-term trends (30 to 35 years) of flow-adjusted concentrations of nitrite+nitrate-N (hereinafter referred to as nitrate) in a way that would allow us to discern changing trends. Recognizing that these trends are commonly different from one river to another river and from one part of the state to another, our objective was to examine as many river monito
Authors
Dave Wall, Dave Christopherson, Dave Lorenz, Gary Martin

Interactions between an exotic ecosystem engineer (Dreissena spp.) and native burrowing mayflies (Hexagenia spp.) in soft sediments of western Lake Erie

No abstract available.
Authors
Kristen M. DeVanna, Don W. Schloesser, Jonathan M. Bossenbroek, Christine M. Mayer

Aquatic ecosystems as indicators of status and trends in water quality

This chapter provides an introduction and overview of the use of aquatic ecosystems as indicators of water quality. The monitoring of biological communities (fish, algae, and invertebrates) as a means of assessing water quality conditions is emphasized along with ecotoxicological studies and measures of ecosystem function. Issues related to the design, implementation, and analysis of monitoring pr
Authors
Thomas F. Cuffney, Jonathan Kennen, Ian R. Waite

Effects of dreissenids on monitoring and management of fisheries in western Lake Erie

Water clarity increased in nearshore areas of western Lake Erie by the early-1990s mainly as a result of the filtering activities of dreissenid mussels (Dreissena spp.), which invaded in the mid-1980s. We hypothesized that increased water clarity would result in greater trawl avoidance and thus reduced ability to capture fish in bottom trawls during daytime compared to nighttime. We examined this
Authors
Martin A. Stapanian, Patrick M. Kocovsky

Evaluation of potential gas clogging associated with managed aquifer recharge from a spreading basin, southwestern Utah, U.S.A.

Sand Hollow Reservoir in southwestern Utah, USA, is operated for both surface-water storage and managed aquifer recharge via infiltration from surface basin spreading to the underlying Navajo Sandstone. The total volume of estimated recharge from 2002 through 2011 was 131 Mm3., resulting in groundwater levels rising as much as 40 m. Hydraulic and hydrochemical data from the reservoir and various m
Authors
Victor M. Heilweil, Thomas Marston