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.
Filter Total Items: 171795
The future of coastal monitoring through satellite remote sensing
Satellite remote sensing is transforming coastal science from a “data-poor” field into a “data-rich” field. Sandy beaches are dynamic landscapes that change in response to long-term pressures, short-term pulses, and anthropogenic interventions. Until recently, the rate and breadth of beach change have outpaced our ability to monitor those changes, due to the spatiotemporal limitations of our obser
Authors
Sean Vitousek, Dan Buscombe, Kilian Vos, Patrick L. Barnard, Andrew C. Ritchie, Jonathan Warrick
Skeletal indicators of locomotor adaptations in shrews
The Soricidae (Mammalia: Eulypotyphla) comprises more than 450 species inhabiting a variety of habitats on five continents. As a family, shrews employ a variety of locomotor modes that incorporate ambulatory, fossorial, aquatic, and scansorial behaviors, illustrating an ability to exploit a variety of natural substrates and their associated resources. In this study, the association of skeletal m
Authors
Neal Woodman
The Searsville Lake Site (California, USA) as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series
Cores from Searsville Lake within Stanford University’s Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, California, USA, are examined to identify a potential GSSP for the Anthropocene: core JRBP2018-VC01B (944.5 cm-long) and tightly correlated JRBP2018-VC01A (852.5 cm-long). Spanning from 1900 CE ± 3 years to 2018 CE, a secure chronology resolved to the sub-annual level allows detailed exploration of the Holoce
Authors
M. Allison Stegner, Elizabeth A. Hadly, Anthony D. Barnosky, SeanPaul La Selle, Brian Sherrod, R. Scott Anderson, Sergio A. Redondo, Maria Viteri, Karrie Weaver, Andrew Cundy, Pawel Gaca, Neil Rose, Handong Yang, Sarah A. Roberts, Irka Hajdas, Bryan A. Black, Trisha Spanbauer
Improving the operational simplified surface energy balance evapotranspiration model using the forcing and normalizing operation
Actual evapotranspiration modeling is providing useful information for researchers and resource managers in agriculture and water resources around the world. The performance of models depends on the accuracy of forcing inputs and model parameters. We developed an improved approach to the parameterization of the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model using the Forcing and Norm
Authors
Gabriel B. Senay, Gabriel Edwin Lee Parrish, Matthew Schauer, Mackenzie Friedrichs, Kul Bikram Khand, Olena Boiko, Stefanie Bohms, Ray Dittmeier, Saeed Arab, Lei Ji
Vulnerable waters are essential to watershed resilience
Watershed resilience is the ability of a watershed to maintain its characteristic system state while concurrently resisting, adapting to, and reorganizing after hydrological (for example, drought, flooding) or biogeochemical (for example, excessive nutrient) disturbances. Vulnerable waters include non-floodplain wetlands and headwater streams, abundant watershed components representing the most di
Authors
Charles R. Lane, Irena F. Creed, Heather E. Golden, Scott G. Leibowitz, David M. Mushet, Mark C. Rains, Qiusheng Wu, Ellen D’Amico, Laurie C. Alexander, Genevieve A. Ali, Nandita B. Basu, Micah G. Bennett, Jay R. Christensen, Matthew J. Cohen, Tim P. Covino, Ben DeVries, Ryan A. Hill, Kelsey G. Jencso, Megan W. Lang, Daniel L. McLaughlin, Donald O. Rosenberry, Jennifer Rover, Melanie K. Vanderhoof
A comparison of water-quality and stormwater inflow and outflow during habitat restoration at the McEwen storm drainage pond, South Valley, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2020–22
In 2020, the U.S. Geological Survey began targeted monitoring, in partnership with Bernalillo County, at three locations within the McEwen storm drainage pond to evaluate and compare the water quality of stormwater as it enters and exits the study area, which is channelized and routes urban stormwater runoff through a wetland area. Stage in McEwen pond and precipitation at a nearby precipitation g
Authors
R.E. Travis, C.A. Van Zante, N.Y. Montero, K.E. Miltenberger
Age-0 Silver Carp otolith microchemistry and microstructure reveal multiple early life environments and protracted spawning in the upper Mississippi River
Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix are highly mobile and fecund planktivorous cyprinids that have invaded much of the Mississippi River and are known to alter food webs and compete with native planktivores. In 2016, for the first time, an abundance of age-0 Silver Carp (n = 12,208; 16–231 mm) were captured at many (n = 11) sites upstream of Lock and Dam 19 on the upper Mississippi River. Prev
Authors
Jesse A. Williams, Gregory W. Whitledge, Brent C. Knights, Nicholas C. Bloomfield, James T. Lamer
An assessment of fish herding techniques: Management implications for mass removal and control of silver carp
We assessed the effectiveness of herding techniques on adult Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix in a tributary to the Missouri River. Sites (600 m) were contained using block nets and treated with one of five herding techniques: (1) a method commonly used by commercial fishers in the United States (commercial technique), (2) pulsed-DC electrofishing (electric technique), (3) broadband sound a
Authors
Josey Lee Ridgway, Katelyn M. Lawson, Stephen August Shier, Robin D. Calfee, Duane Chapman
Anthropogenic landcover impacts fluvial dissolved organic matter composition in the Upper Mississippi River Basin
Landcover changes have altered the natural carbon cycle; however, most landcover studies focus on either forest conversion to agriculture or urban, rarely both. We present differences in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations and dissolved organic matter (DOM) molecular composition within Upper Mississippi River Basin low order streams and rivers draining one of three dominant landcovers (f
Authors
Derrick R. Vaughn, Anne M. Kellerman, Kimberly Wickland, Robert G. Striegl, David C. Podgorski, Jon R. Hawkings, Jaap Nienhuis, Mark Dornblaser, Edward G. Stets, Robert G. M. Spencer
Characterization of fish assemblages in eleven multi-use reservoirs from North Carolina, USA
Managing impounded river systems is a recurring challenge for aquatic resource professionals because reservoirs serve multiple functions with different ecological and socioeconomic outcomes. However, research on fishes in reservoirs has disproportionally focused on recreationally and economically important species, with less attention directed toward fish assemblages despite the potential for mana
Authors
Stephen W. Parker, Tyler Steven Coleman, Andrew Kenneth Carlson, Jesse R. Fischer
During Nearshore Event Experiment (DUNEX): A collaborative community field data collection effort
The DUring Nearshore Event eXperiment (DUNEX) is an academic, federal agency, and non-government collaborative community experiment supported by and planned under the U.S. Coastal Research Program (USCRP) to study nearshore coastal processes during storms. The motivation for DUNEX is to improve understanding, numerical representation, and prediction of storm processes and impacts; to exchange rese
Authors
Mary Cialone, Nicole Elko, Jeff Lillycrop, Hilary F Stockdon, Britt Raubenheimer, Julie D. Rosati
Efficient mammal biodiversity surveys for ecological restoration monitoring
Efficient biodiversity surveys are critical for successful restoration monitoring and management. We studied the effect of varying sampling effort on the observed species richness of surveys of small mammals (trapping transects), bats (passive acoustic detection), and medium to large mammals (trail cameras). Field studies provided mammalian biodiversity data for 4 bottomland hardwood restoration s
Authors
Nicholas S. Green, Mark L. Wildhaber, Janice L. Albers, Thomas W. Pettit, Michael J. Hooper