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.
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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Chapter 5: Health and diseases
Health and diseases are integral parts of the life of seabirds that merit attention if we expect to truly understand, protect, and conserve them. Diseases such as avian influenza, avian pox, pasteurellosis, and paralytic shellfish poisoning have a proven history of decreasing the survival or breeding success of seabirds. However, each host-pathogen-environment system is unique, and our current kno
Authors
Ralph Vanstreels, Marcella Uhart, Thierry M. Work
Using cyanobacteria and other phytoplankton to assess trophic conditions: A qPCR-based, multi-year study in twelve large rivers across the United States
Phytoplankton is the essential primary producer in fresh surface water ecosystems. However, excessive phytoplankton growth due to eutrophication significantly threatens ecologic, economic, and public health. Therefore, phytoplankton identification and quantification are essential to understanding the productivity and health of freshwater ecosystems as well as the impacts of phytoplankton overgrowt
Authors
Chiqian Zhang, Kyle D. McIntosh, Nathan Sienkiewicz, Erin A. Stelzer, Jennifer L. Graham, Jingrang Lu
Hydrologic change in the St. Louis River Basin from iron mining on the Mesabi Iron Range, northeastern Minnesota
This study compares the results of two regional steady-state U.S. Geological Survey Modular Three-Dimensional Finite-Difference Ground-Water Flow (MODFLOW) models constructed to quantify the hydrologic changes in the St. Louis River Basin from iron mining on the Mesabi Iron Range in northeastern Minnesota. The U.S. Geological Survey collaborated in this study with bands of the Minnesota Chippewa T
Authors
Timothy K. Cowdery, Anna C. Baker, Megan J. Haserodt, Daniel T. Feinstein, Randall J. Hunt
National Land Cover Database 2019: A comprehensive strategy for creating the 1986-2019 forest disturbance product
The National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2016 products show that, between 2001 and 2016, nearly half of the land cover change in the conterminous United States (CONUS) involved forested areas. To ensure the quality of NLCD land cover and land cover change products, it is important to accurately detect the location and time of forest disturbance. We designed a comprehensive strategy to integrate a c
Authors
Suming Jin, Jon Dewitz, Congcong Li, Daniel G. Sorenson, Zhe Zhu, Rakibul Shogib, Patrick Danielson, Brian Granneman, Catherine Costello, Adam Case, Leila Gass
Livestock removal increases plant cover across a heterogeneous dryland landscape on the Colorado Plateau
Livestock removal is increasingly used as a management option to mitigate the negative impacts of grazing-related disturbances on rangelands. Removal generally increases plant cover, but it is unclear when, where, and by how much plant and soil cover changes can be expected. On the Colorado Plateau, complex geology, topography, soils, and climate all interact to mediate the relationship between la
Authors
Brandon E McNellis, Anna C Knight, Travis W. Nauman, Samuel Norton Chambers, C.W. Brungard, S.E. Fick, C.G. Livensperger, C.G. Borthwick, Michael C. Duniway
Changes in suspended-sediment yields under divergent land-cover disturbance histories: A comparison of two large watersheds, Olympic Mountains, USA
Improvements in timber harvest practices and reductions in harvest volumes over the past half century are commonly presumed to have reduced sediment loads in many western US rivers. However, direct assessments in larger watersheds are relatively sparse. Here, we compare 2019–21 sediment concentrations against those of the late 1970s in the Bogachiel and Calawah River watersheds, adjacent and simi
Authors
Kristin Jaeger, Scott W. Anderson, Sarah B. Dunn
Peat decomposition and erosion contribute to pond deepening in a temperate salt marsh
Salt marsh ponds expand and deepen over time, potentially reducing ecosystem carbon storage and resilience. The water filled volumes of ponds represent missing carbon due to prevented soil accumulation and removal by erosion and decomposition. Removal mechanisms have different implications as eroded carbon can be redistributed while decomposition results in loss. We constrained ponding effects on
Authors
Sheron Luk, Meagan J. Eagle, Giulio Mariotti, Kelsey Gosselin, Jonathan Sanderman, Amanda C. Spivak
iBluff: An open-source R package for geomorphic analysis of coastal bluffs/cliffs
The R package iBluff is designed for coastal bluffs/bluffs morphological analysis and offers an automatic and reproducible alternative to identify bluff edges using a bare earth digital elevation model (DEM) instead of hand digitizing. This package extracts elevation profiles along automatically identified transects on the bluff-face, bluff top, toe, secondary inflections, relative concavity/conve
Authors
Monica Palaseanu-Lovejoy
The first documented interaction between a long-tailed weasel (Mustela frenata) and a plains spotted skunk (Spilogale interrupta) carcass
A novel interaction between a long-tailed weasel (Mustela frenata) and a plains spotted skunk (Spilogale interrupta) carcass is detailed. In November 2020, a farmer in Edmunds County in north-central South Dakota sent in a video recording of a long-tailed weasel with a spotted skunk carcass. Location of the event, carcass condition, and recorded behavior of the long-tailed weasel offer probable, b
Authors
K.M. White, Joshua D. Stafford, Robert Charles Lonsinger
Lessons learned in knowledge co-production for climate-smart decision-making
Knowledge co-production, a process that involves both creators and users of information in knowledge generation, is growing in popularity in the conservation and ecology fields. While examples of successful co-production are becoming more common, many barriers and challenges remain in this work. Here, we reflect on our experiences in knowledge co-production from three recent case studies, using a
Authors
Alyssa Rosemartin, Theresa Crimmins, Katherine L. Gerst, Erin E. Posthumus, Aaron R. Ramirez, Cynthia S. Wallace, Toni Lyn Morelli
Estimating parasite infrapopulation size given imperfect detection: Proof-of-concept with ectoparasitic fleas on prairie dogs
Parasite infrapopulation size - the population of parasites affecting a single host - is a central metric in parasitology. However, parasites are small and elusive such that imperfect detection is expected. Repeated sampling of parasites during primary sampling occasions (e.g., each host capture) informs the detection process. Here, we estimate flea (Siphonaptera) infrapopulation size on black-tai
Authors
David A. Eads, Kathryn P. Huyvaert, Dean E. Biggins
Viability of side-scan sonar to enumerate Paddlefish, a large pelagic freshwater fish, in rivers and reservoirs
Recreational-grade side-scan sonar (SSS) has become an invaluable tool for inland fisheries, particularly when characterizing underwater habitat, but it is being increasingly used for enumerating large-bodied (> 1 m total length [TL]) aquatic fauna. We used SSS in river and reservoir environments to evaluate methods for identifying and counting Paddlefish Polyodon spathula, a large pelagic plankti
Authors
Wyatt Wolfenkoehler, James M. Long, Ryan Gary, Richard A. Snow, Jason D. Schooley, Lindsey Ann Bruckerhoff, Robert Charles Lonsinger