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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Integrating climate-informed planning into State Wildlife Action Plans in the north central United States
State fish and wildlife agencies are required to submit a State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) every 10 years to be eligible for grants through the State Wildlife Grant Program. With the next round of revisions due in 2025, the U.S. Geological Survey North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center is evaluating how to best support states with further integrating climate-informed planning in their SWA
Authors
Kimberly E Szcodronski, Indigo Bannister, Blake R. Hossack, Alisa Wade
Little bugs, big data, and Colorado River adaptive management: Preliminary findings from the ongoing bug flow experiment at Glen Canyon Dam
The undammed Colorado River in Grand Canyon was characterized by spring snow-melt floods that sometimes exceeded 100,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). These were followed by occasional flash floods during summer monsoons, then by low flows from fall through early spring (Figure 1; Topping and others, 2003). This seasonally variable flow regime carried huge loads of sediment and was an important dri
Authors
Theodore Kennedy, Anya Metcalfe, Bridget Deemer, Morgan Ford, Cheyenne Maxime Szydlo, Charles Yackulic, Jeffrey Muehlbauer
Comparing root cohesion estimates from three models at a shallow landslide in the Oregon Coast Range
Although accurate root cohesion model estimates are essential to quantify the effect of vegetation roots on shallow slope stability, few means exist to independently validate such model outputs. One validation approach for cohesion estimates is back-calculation of apparent root cohesion at a landslide site with well-documented failure conditions. The catchment named CB1, near Coos Bay, Oregon, USA
Authors
Collin Cronkite-Ratcliff, Kevin M. Schmidt, Charlotte Wirion
Seabird vulnerability to oil: Exposure potential, sensitivity, and uncertainty in the northern Gulf of Mexico
The northern Gulf of Mexico (nGoM) is a globally important region for oil extraction and supports a diverse assemblage of marine birds. Due to their frequent contact with surface waters, diverse foraging strategies, and the ease with which oil adheres to feathers, seabirds are particularly susceptible to hydrocarbon contamination. Given the chronic and acute exposure of seabirds to oiling and a la
Authors
Pamela E. Michael, K. M. Hixson, J.C. Haney, Y.G. Satgé, J.S. Gleason, Patrick Jodice
Microbiome assembly in thawing permafrost and its feedbacks to climate
The physical and chemical changes that accompany permafrost thaw directly influence the microbial communities that mediate the decomposition of formerly frozen organic matter, leading to uncertainty in permafrost–climate feedbacks. Although changes to microbial metabolism and community structure are documented following thaw, the generality of post-thaw assembly patterns across permafrost soils of
Authors
Jessica G. Ernakovich, Robyn A. Barbato, Virginia Rich, Christina Schädel, Rebecca E. Hewitt, Stacey Doherty, Emily Whalen, Benjamin Abbott, Jiri Barta, Christina Biasi, Chris Chabot, Jenni Hultman, Christian Knoblauch, Maggie Chui Yim Lau Vetter, Mary-Cathrine Leewis, Susanne Liebner, Rachel Mackelprang, Tullis Onstott, Andreas Richter, Ursel M. E. Schütte, Henri Siljanen, Neslihan Taş, Ina Timling, Tatiana Vishnivetskaya, Mark Waldrop, Matthias Winkel
Geochemical studies of the Green River Formation in the Piceance Basin, Colorado: II. Chemofacies from hierarchical cluster analysis
Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) was applied to a geochemical dataset representing the Eocene Green River Formation in the Piceance Basin of Colorado to identify chemofacies in core and outcrop samples from the basin margin and the basin center. The input dataset consisted of inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy and mass spectrometry and total organic carbon (TOC) content an
Authors
Tengfei Wu, Jeremy Boak, Justin E. Birdwell
Geologic characterization and depositional history of the Uteland Butte member, Green River Formation, southwestern Uinta Basin, Utah
The 15- to 65-m-thick informal Uteland Butte member of the Eocene Green River Formation represents the first widespread transgression of Lake Uinta in the Uinta Basin, Utah. This study assesses the spatial and temporal variation of Uteland Butte member deposits along a 40-km transect in the southwestern margin of the Uinta Basin using detailed measured sections, organic and inorganic geochemical d
Authors
Ryan D. Gall, Justin E. Birdwell, Riley Brinkerhoff, Michael D. Vanden Berg
Puerto Rico’s state of the climate 2014-2021
The climate of Puerto Rico is influenced by the changing global climate. The following chapters present the current knowledge of the geophysical and chemical drivers and signals of global climate change as they affect the climate of Puerto Rico and influence the climate-dependent services, risks, and vulnerabilities that govern human well-being. These include sustainable economic development, deli
Authors
William A. Gould, Ernesto Dias, Adam Terando, Mark Jury, Jared Bowden, Patricia Chardon, Melissa Meléndez Oyola, Julio Morell
Geochemical studies of the Green River Formation in the Piceance Basin, Colorado: I. Major, minor, and trace elements
The Eocene Green River Formation contains the largest oil shale deposits in the world and is a welldocumented example of a lacustrine depositional system. In addition, mineral resources associated with oil shale in the Piceance Basin nahcolite [NaHCO3] and dawsonite [NaAl(CO3)(OH)2)] are of current and potential economic value, respectively. Detailed geochemical analysis across the basin can aid i
Authors
Jeremy Boak, Tengfei Wu, Justin E. Birdwell
Changes in aquatic vegetation cover following lock closure on the Illinois Waterway from 2019 – 2021
Over the summer of 2020, the Illinois Waterway was closed to complete maintenance on lock chambers along the Illinois River. This closure restricted inter-pool vessel traffic along the river and potentially changed habitat characteristics for aquatic vegetation establishment and growth. To assess if patterns of vegetation establishment and growth changed during the closure, peak biomass imagery fr
Authors
Andrew C. Strassman
Potential cheatgrass abundance within lightly invaded areas of the Great Basin
ContextAnticipating where an invasive species could become abundant can help guide prevention and control efforts aimed at reducing invasion impacts. Information on potential abundance can be combined with information on the current status of an invasion to guide management towards currently uninvaded locations where the threat of invasion is high.ObjectivesWe aimed to support management by develo
Authors
Helen Sofaer, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Erin K. Buchholtz, Brian S. Cade, John T. Abatzoglou, Cameron L. Aldridge, Patrick Comer, Daniel Manier, Lauren E. Parker, Julie A. Heinrichs
Explainable machine learning improves interpretability in the predictive modeling of biological stream conditions in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, USA
Anthropogenic alterations have resulted in widespread degradation of stream conditions. To aid in stream restoration and management, baseline estimates of conditions and improved explanation of factors driving their degradation are needed. We used random forests to model biological conditions using a benthic macroinvertebrate index of biotic integrity for small, non-tidal streams (upstream area ≤2
Authors
Kelly O. Maloney, Claire Buchanan, Rikke Jepsen, Kevin P. Krause, Matthew Joseph Cashman, Benjamin Paul Gressler, John A. Young, Matthias Schmid