Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

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

Burrowing owls: Happy urbanite or disgruntled tenant?

No abstract available.
Authors
Courtney J. Conway

The S.O. Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center--a model for progress

No abstract available.
Authors
Theodore R. Castro-Santos, Alexander J. Haro, Benjamin H. Letcher, Stephen D. McCormick

Sediment transport and deposition

Sediment transport and deposition (sedimentation) occurs from natural and anthropogenic sources in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. Substantial changes in sediment transport (such as a major increase or decrease in sediment supply) can impact aquatic ecosystems that depend on a particular sediment quantity and particle size, for example, through altering stream-channel geomorphology or fish habitat.
Authors
Joel B. Sankey, Amy E. East, Jason R. Kreitler, Christina (Naomi) Tague

Chiroptera

With over 1300 species identified, bats represent almost one quarter of the world’s mammals (Fenton and Simmons 2014), bats provide important environmental services such as insect pest suppression, seed dispersal, and pollination and inhabit a wide variety of ecological niches on all continents except Antarctica. Over 150 species are listed as endangered or vulnerable to extinction, primarily due
Authors
Lisa L. Farina, Julia S. Lankton

Fish Lake limnology and watershed aqueous geochemistry, Fish Lake Plateau, Utah

Fish Lake is located at 2696 m elevation on the Fish Lake Plateau with a bedrock geology of Oligocene to Pliocene age volcanics and Cretaceous to Eocene age sedimentary rocks. Lake bathymetry indicates a maximum depth of ~27 m and volume of 2.31 x 108 m3. The lake is dimictic with summer water column temperature declines of 13˚C between 7 to 15 m depth, whereas in spring and fall water column is i
Authors
David Marchetti, Lesleigh Anderson, Joseph J. Donovan, M. Scott Harris, Tyler Huth

Floristic quality index and forested floristic quality index: Assessment tools for restoration projects and monitoring sites in coastal Louisiana

The Floristic Quality Index (FQI) has been used in many areas throughout the United State to assess the integrity of plant communities and restoration projects. Here, we summarize two tools that have been developed for monitoring sites in coastal Louisiana wetlands. The FQI was modified for herbaceous data collected in coastal Louisiana monitoring sites. A second FQI, the Forested Floristic Qualit
Authors
Kari Cretini, William B. Wood, Jenneke M. Visser, Ken W. Krauss, Leigh Anne Sharp, Gregory D. Steyer, Gary P. Shaffer, Sarai Piazza

Geology and geologic history: Overview of the geology of the San Francisco Bay region

The geology of San Francisco and the surrounding northern and central California area has played a pivotal role in the development of our understanding of Earth processes, especially the process of tectonic accretion at a continental margin and the development of transform plate margins. The Franciscan Complex, which underlies most (or perhaps all) of the City and County of San Francisco, is wide
Authors
Russell Graymer

Farmer-managed restoration of agroforestry parklands in Niger

Land rehabilitation enables sustainable intensification of agriculture and more resilient food production systems. Despite severe development challenges, Niger is the site of successful, farmer-managed efforts to counteract the global trend in land degradation that was supported by policy change. The vast majority of Niger’s land is located in the Sahara. Following a series of severe droughts duri
Authors
Melinda Smale, G. Gray Tappan, Chris Reij

Applications of the California pesticide use reporting database in more than 25 years of U.S. Geological Survey hydrological studies

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been collecting data on the occurrence of pesticides in California surface and ground water since the 1970’s. The design of these studies benefited from the availability of the Pesticide Use Reporting (PUR) database of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. Actual locations and dates of applications of active ingredient allow for effective design o
Authors
Joseph L. Domagalski, James Orlando

The Holbrook Lineaments: The geophysical boundary zone between the Proterozoic Mazatzal and Yavapai Provinces, southwest USA

A horizontal gradient analysis of the isostatic gravity and aeromagnetic anomaly grids of the NewMexico-Arizona-southernCalifornia area was carried out, focused on eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, to define the transitional boundary between the Proterozoic Yavapai province to the west and the Mazatzal province to the east. The two provinces differ substantially in their favorability to host
Authors
Mark E. Gettings

Conservation threats and priorities for raptors across Asia

With long coastlines and some of the world’s most important rivers, mountain ranges, high-altitude plateaus, and islands, Asia is the largest and most populous continent in the world (Lyde 1904; Spencer 1954; Population Reference Bureau 2016). Asia supports all major terrestrial ecosystems and all major climatic types (Galloway et al. 1998; Braimoh and Huang 2015). These include barren ice fields
Authors
Camille B. Conception, Keith L. Bildstein, Nigel J. Collar, Todd E. Katzner

The Future

No abstract available.
Authors
David L. Blodgett, Alan H. Rea, Josh Lieberman