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.
Science Quality and Integrity
Science Quality and Integrity
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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.
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Metabarcoding analysis of meiobenthic biodiversity along the Gulf of Mexico continental shelf
This study explores how diverse the meiobenthic (meiofauna and other benthic micro-eukaryotes) community is throughout the United States Gulf of Mexico (GOM) continental shelf. In late 2010 and 2011, 51 sediment samples were collected along GOM from Texas through Florida at a range of depths (40m–496m). An additional six deep-sea slope sediment cores were collected in December 2010 near the Deepwa
Authors
Pamela M. Brannock, Amanda Demopoulos, Stephen C. Landers, Damien S. Waits, Kenneth M. Halanych
Sex-biased infections scale to population impacts for an emerging wildlife disease
Demographic factors are fundamental in shaping infectious disease dynamics. Aspects of populations that create structure, like age and sex, can affect patterns of transmission, infection intensity and population outcomes. However, studies rarely link these processes from individual to population-scale effects. Moreover, the mechanisms underlying demographic differences in disease are frequently un
Authors
Macy J. Kailing, Joseph R. Hoyt, J. Paul White, Heather M. Kaarakka, Jennifer A. Redell, Ariel Elizabeth Leon, Tonie E. Rocke, John E. DePue, William H. Scullon, Katy L. Parise, Jeffrey T. Foster, A. Marm Kilpatrick, Kate E. Langwig
Rapid prototyping for quantifying belief weights of competing hypotheses about emergent diseases
Emerging diseases can have devastating consequences for wildlife and require a rapid response. A critical first step towards developing appropriate management is identifying the etiology of the disease, which can be difficult to determine, particularly early in emergence. Gathering and synthesizing existing information about potential disease causes, by leveraging expert knowledge or relevant exis
Authors
Ellen Padgett Robertson, Daniel P. Walsh, Julien Martin, Thierry M. Work, Christina A. Kellogg, James S. Evans, Aine C. Hawthorn, Greta Aeby, Valerie J. Paul, Brian Walker, Yasu Kiryu, Cheryl M. Woodley, Julie L. Meyer, Stephanie M. Rosales, Michael S. Studivan, Jennifer Moore, Marilyn E. Brandt, Andrew Bruckner
The RACE for freshwater biodiversity: Essential actions to create the social context for meaningful conservation
Freshwater habitats are experiencing two to three times the rate of biodiversity loss of terrestrial and marine habitats. As status quo actions within the conservation community are not reversing the downward trajectory for freshwater biodiversity, we propose four actions to shift the narrative such that freshwater biodiversity is no longer invisible and overlooked, but rather explicitly recognize
Authors
Kim Birnie-Gauvin, Abigail Lynch, Paul A. Franklin, Andrea J. Reid, Sean J. Landsman, David Tickner, James Dalton, Kim Aarestrup, Steve J. Cooke
Update on U.S. Geological Survey Fundamental Science Practices
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Fundamental Science Practices (FSP) are a set of standard principles fundamental to how USGS conducts and carries out its science activities and how resulting information products and data are reviewed, approved, and released. These policies, practices, philosophical premises, and operational principles serve as the foundation for all USGS research and monitoring
Why hibernate? Tests of four hypotheses to explain intraspecific variation in hibernation phenology
Hibernation is a remarkable behaviour deployed by a diverse array of endotherms within many clades that greatly reduces metabolic need, but also has somatic costs. Hibernation in modern endotherms is often assumed to be an adaptation allowing animals to avoid extreme thermal conditions or food shortages in seasonal environments. However, many animals hibernate when foraging conditions are energeti
Authors
Austin A Z. Allison, Courtney J. Conway, Alice E Morris
Environmental transmission of Pseudogymnoascus destructans to hibernating little brown bats
Pathogens with persistent environmental stages can have devastating effects on wildlife communities. White-nose syndrome (WNS), caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, has caused widespread declines in bat populations of North America. In 2009, during the early stages of the WNS investigation and before molecular techniques had been developed to readily detect P. destructans in environm
Authors
Alan C. Hicks, Scott Darling, Joel Flewelling, Ryan von Linden, Carol Meteyer, Dave Redell, J. Paul White, Jennifer A. Redell, Ryan Smith, David S. Blehert, Noelle L. Rayman-Metcalf, Joseph R. Hoyt, Joseph C. Okoniewski, Kate E. Langwig
Evolving radon diffusion through earthen barriers at uranium waste disposal sites
Field measurements of Rn-222 fluxes from the tops and bottoms of compacted clay radon barriers were used to calculate effective Rn diffusion coefficients (DRn) at four uranium waste disposal sites in the western United States to assess cover performance after more than 20 years of service. Values of DRn ranged from 7.4 × 10−7 to 6.0 × 10−9 m2/s, averaging 1.42 × 10−7. Water saturation (SW) from so
Authors
Mark Fuhrmann, Todd Caldwell, William J. Likos, W. Jodi Waugh, Morgan M. Williams, Craig H. Benson
Understanding the spatiotemporal distribution of snow refugia in the rain-snow transition zone of north-central Idaho
Knowledge of snow cover distribution and disappearance dates over a wide range of scales is imperative for understanding hydrological dynamics and for habitat management of wildlife species that rely on snow cover. Identification of snow refugia, or places with relatively late snow disappearance dates (SDDs) compared to surrounding areas, is especially important as climate change alters snow cover
Authors
Kaitlyn M. Strickfaden, Adrienne M. Marshall, Leona K. Svancara, Katie Dugger, Timothy E. Link
Extensive regional variation in the phenology of insects and their response to temperature across North America
Climate change models often assume similar responses to temperatures across the range of a species, but local adaptation or phenotypic plasticity can lead plants and animals to respond differently to temperature in different parts of their range. To date, there have been few tests of this assumption at the scale of continents, so it is unclear if this is a large-scale problem. Here, we examined th
Authors
Peter Dunn, Insiyaa Ahmed, Elise Armstrong, Natasha Barlow, Malcolm Barnard, Marc Belisle, T.J. Benson, Lisha Berzins, Chloe Boynton, T. Anders Brown, Melissa Cady, Kyle Cameron, Xuan Chen, Bob Clark, Ethan Clotfelter, Kara Cromwell, Russ Dawson, Elsie Denton, Andrew Forbes, Kendrick Fowler, Kamal J.K. Gandhi, Dany Garant, Megan Hiebert, Claire Houchen, Jennifer Houtz, Tara Imlay, Brian Inouye, David Inouye, Michelle Jackson, Andrew Jacobson, Kristen Jayd, Christy Juteau, Andrea Kautz, Caroline Killian, Kimberly J Komatsu, Kirk Larsen, Andrew Laughlin, Valerie Levesque-Beaudin, Ryan Leys, Elizabeth Long, Stephen Lougheed, Stu Mackenzie, Jen Marangelo, Colleen Miller, Brenda Molano-Flores, Christy Morrissey, Emony Nicholls, Jessica Orlofske, Ian Pearse, Kristen Peck, Fanie Pelletier, Amber Pitt, Joe Poston, Danielle Racke, Jeannie A. Randall, Matthew Richardson, Olivia Rooney, A. Rose Ruegg, Scott Rush, Sadie Ryan, Mitchell Sadowski, Ivana Schoepf, Lindsay Schulz, Brenna Shea, Tom Sheehan, Lynn Siefferman, Derek Sikes, Mark Stanback, Jennifer Styrsky, John Styrsky, Conor Taff, Jennifer Uehling, Kit Uvino, Thomas Wassmer, Katie Weglarz, Megan Weinberger, John Wenzel, Linda A Whittingham
Integrating terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems to constrain estimates of land-atmosphere carbon exchange
In this Perspective, we put forward an integrative framework to improve estimates of land-atmosphere carbon exchange based on the accumulation of carbon in the landscape as constrained by its lateral export through rivers. The framework uses the watershed as the fundamental spatial unit and integrates all terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems as well as their hydrologic carbon exchanges. Application
Authors
Joan Casas-Ruiz, Pascal Bodmer, Kelly Ann Bona, David Butman, Mathilde Couturier, Erik J.S. Emilson, Kerri Finlay, Helene Genet, Daniel B. Hayes, Jan Karlsson, David Paré, Changhui Peng, Robert G. Striegl, Jackie Webb, Xinyuan Wei, Sue Ziegler, Paul Del Giorgio