Publications
Browse more than 160,000 publications authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS. Publications available are: USGS-authored journal articles, series reports, book chapters, other government publications, and more.
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Mission Area Publications
Mission Area Publications
We are focused on some of the most significant issues society faces, and our science is making a substantial contribution to the well-being of the Nation and the world. Learn more about the major topics our research covers and the programs focused on those topics.
Filter Total Items: 171207
A decade-long study of repeated prescription burning in California native grassland restoration
Native bunchgrass communities dominated by Stipa pulchra are widely distributed in California but share dominance with non-native annual grasses. Restoration of these grasslands focuses on altering the balance of native to non-native grasses to favor the former. This study investigated the impact of burning on vegetation recovery. In the first postfire year burning showed a 70% reduction in cover
Authors
Jon Keeley, Robert C. Klinger, Teresa J. Brennan, Dawn M. Lawson, John La Grange, Kathryn N. Berg
One Ranney well can make a difference: The impacts of a radial collector well on groundwater level and quality in the Cedar River alluvial aquifer
The City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, depends on groundwater from the Cedar River alluvial aquifer for residential and industrial use. In 2020, the city completed an additional radial collector well, or Ranney well, and was concerned that pumping from the well at high rates may lower water level elevations in the aquifer, reduce yields from nearby production wells, and change the quality of produced wat
Authors
Adel E. Haj, Lance R. Gruhn, Stephen J. Kalkhoff
Hydrogeology of sand and gravel aquifers in the Owasco Inlet watershed, Cayuga and Tompkins Counties, New York
This study is a continuation of a series of hydrogeologic appraisals that have been conducted since 1980, as part of a cooperative, long-term, detailed aquifer mapping program by the U.S. Geological Survey and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. These appraisals provide a foundation for wellhead protection programs, water-resource management and planning decisions, and gro
Authors
Paul M. Heisig
Examining dynamic occupancy of gray wolves in Idaho after a decade of managed harvest
Gray wolves (Canis lupus) were reintroduced to Idaho, USA, in 1995–1996. The removal of Endangered Species Act protections in 2011 transferred wolf management to the state where wolves were subsequently classified as a harvested (i.e., hunted, trapped) big game species. We implemented a camera-based survey across Idaho from 2016–2021 as part of a population monitoring program. We used the resultin
Authors
David Edward Ausband, Sarah J. Thompson, Brendan A. Oates, Shane Roberts, Mark A. Hurley, Matthew Mumma
Quality of surface water in Missouri, water year 2021
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, maintains a statewide group of stations known as the Ambient Water-Quality Monitoring Network, which includes selected streams and springs in Missouri. During water year 2021 (October 1, 2020, through September 30, 2021), the U.S. Geological Survey collected water-quality data at 72 stations: 70 Ambient W
Authors
Kendra M. Markland
Towards a better future for biodiversity and people: Modelling Nature Futures
The Nature Futures Framework (NFF) is a heuristic tool for co-creating positive futures for nature and people. It seeks to open up a diversity of futures through mainly three value perspectives on nature – Nature for Nature, Nature for Society, and Nature as Culture. This paper describes how the NFF can be applied in modelling to support decision-making. First, we describe key considerations for t
Authors
H. Kim, G.D. Peterson, W.W. Cheung, S. Ferrier, R. Alkemade, A. Arneth, Jan J. Kuiper, S. Okayasu, L.M. Pereira, L.A. Acosta, R. Chaplin-Kramer, E. den Belder, T.D. Eddy, J. C. Johnson, S. Karlsson-Viinkhuyzen, M.T.J. Kok, P. Leadley, D. Leclère, C. Lundquist, C. Rondini, R.J. Scholes, M.A. Schoolenberg, Y. Shin, E. Stehfest, F. Stephenson, P. Visconti, D. van Vuuren, C.C.C. Wabnitz, J.J. Alava, I. Cuadros-Casanova, K.K. Davies, M.A. Gasalla, G. Halouani, M. Harfoot, S. Hashimoto, T. Hickler, T. Hirsch, G. Kolomytsev, Brian W. Miller, H. Ohashi, M.G. Palomo, A. Popp, R.P. Remme, O. Saito, U.R. Sumalia, S. Willcock, H.M. Pereira
Reply to Comment by M.D. Lewan
No abstract available.
Authors
K.E. Peters, Paul C. Hackley, A.E. Pomerantz
Increased aridity is associated with stronger tradeoffs in ponderosa pine vital functions
Trees must allocate resources to core functions like growth, defense, and reproduction. These allocation patterns have profound effects on forest health, yet little is known about how core functions trade off over time, and even less is known about how a changing climate will impact tradeoffs. We conducted a 21-year survey of growth, defense, and reproduction in 80 ponderosa pine individuals spann
Authors
Angela Gonzalez, Ian Pearse, Miranda Redmond
Dynamic population models with temporal preferential sampling to infer phenology
To study population dynamics, ecologists and wildlife biologists typically use relative abundance data, which may be subject to temporal preferential sampling. Temporal preferential sampling occurs when the times at which observations are made and the latent process of interest are conditionally dependent. To account for preferential sampling, we specify a Bayesian hierarchical abundance model tha
Authors
Michael Schwob, Mevin B. Hooten, Travis Mcdevitt-Galles
Targeted metabolomics characterizes metabolite occurrence and variability in stable freshwater mussel populations
Freshwater mussels (order Unionida) play a key role in freshwater systems as ecosystem engineers and indicators of aquatic ecosystem health. The fauna is globally imperilled due to a diversity of suspected factors; however, causes for many population declines and mortality events remain unconfirmed due partly to limited health assessment tools. Mussel-monitoring activities often rely on population
Authors
Diane L. Waller, Joel Putnam, John Steiner, Brant Fisher, Grant N. Burcham, John W. Oliver, Stephen B. Smith, Richard A. Erickson, Anne Remek, Nancy Bodeker
Attenuation of barium, strontium, cobalt, and nickel plumes formed during microbial iron-reduction in a crude-oil-contaminated aquifer
We assessed the spatial distribution of 35 elements in aquifer sediments and groundwater of a crude-oil-contaminated aquifer and show evidence of the dissolution of barium (Ba), strontium (Sr), cobalt (Co), and nickel (Ni) during hydrocarbon oxidation coupled to historic microbial Fe(III)-reduction near the oil. Trace element plumes occur in the crude-oil-contaminated aquifer, where 50% Co, 47% Ni
Authors
Katherine Jones, Brady Ziegler, Audrey Davis, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli
Episodic intraplate magmatism fed by a long-lived melt channel of distal plume origin
In the past decade, marine geophysical observations have led to the discovery of thin channels at the base of oceanic plates with anomalous physical properties that indicate the presence of low-degree partial melts. However, mantle melts are buoyant and should migrate toward the surface. We show abundant observations of widespread intraplate magmatism on the Cocos Plate where a thin partial melt c
Authors
Samer Naif, Nathaniel C. Miller, Donna J. Shillington, Anne Becel, Daniel Lizarralde, Dan Bassett, Sidney R. Hemming