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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.

Filter Total Items: 171816

Second round of an interlaboratory comparison of SARS-CoV2 molecular detection assays used by 45 veterinary diagnostic laboratories in the United States

The COVID-19 pandemic presents a continued public health challenge. Veterinary diagnostic laboratories in the United States use RT-rtPCR for animal testing, and many laboratories are certified for testing human samples; hence, ensuring that laboratories have sensitive and specific SARS-CoV2 testing methods is a critical component of the pandemic response. In 2020, the FDA Veterinary Laboratory Inv
Authors
Kaiping Deng, Steffen Uhlig, Laura B. Goodman, Hon S. Ip, Mary Lea Killiam, Sarah Nemser, Jodie Ulaszek, Shannon Kiener, Matthew Kmet, Kirstin Frost, Karina Hettwer, Bertrand Colson, Kapil Nichani, Anja Schlierf, Andriy Tkachenko, Mothomang Mlalazi Oyinloye, Scott Andrew, Ravinder Reddy, Gregory H. Tyson

Collateral damage: Anticoagulant rodenticides pose threats to California condors

Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are widespread environmental contaminants that pose risks to scavenging birds because they routinely occur within their prey and can cause secondary poisoning. However, little is known about AR exposure in one of the rarest avian scavengers in the world, the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus). We assessed AR exposure in California condors and surrogate tur
Authors
Garth Herring, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Rachel Wolstenholme, Alacia Welch, Chris West, Barnett A. Rattner

How does precipitation variability control bedload response across a mountainous channel network in a maritime climate?

Modeled stream discharge is often used to drive sediment transport models across channel networks. Because sediment transport varies non-linearly with flow rates, discharge modeled from daily total precipitation distributed evenly over 24-hrs may significantly underestimate actual bedload transport capacity. In this study, we assume bedload transport capacity determined from a hydrograph resulting
Authors
Jeffrey Keck, Erkan Istanbulluoglu, Jessica Lundquist, Christina Bandaragoda, Kristin Jaeger, Guillaume S. Mauger, Alex Horner-Devine

Natural infrastructure in dryland streams (NIDS) can establish regenerative wetland sinks that reverse desertification and strengthen climate resilience

In this article we describe the natural hydrogeomorphological and biogeochemical cycles of dryland fluvial ecosystems that make them unique, yet vulnerable to land use activities and climate change. We introduce Natural Infrastructure in Dryland Streams (NIDS), which are structures naturally or anthropogenically created from earth, wood, debris, or rock that can restore implicit function of these
Authors
Laura M. Norman, Rattan Lal, Ellen Wohl, Emily Fairfax, Allen C. Gellis, Michael M. Pollock

Using machine learning to improve predictions and provide insight into fluvial sediment transport

A thorough understanding of fluvial sediment transport is critical to addressing many environmental concerns such as exacerbated flooding, degradation of aquatic habitat, excess nutrients, and the economic challenges of restoring aquatic systems. Fluvial sediment samples are integral for addressing these environmental concerns but cannot be collected at every river and time of interest. Therefore,
Authors
J. William Lund, Joel T. Groten, Diana L. Karwan, Chad Babcock

Application of tail transmitters for tracking feral horses as an alternative to radio collars

Radio collars have been used to examine the spatial ecology of all North American ungulates, but are rarely used on feral horses due to concerns that they may cause injury. Due to public concerns for animal welfare, an alternative to radio collars for tracking feral horses, particularly stallions, over the short term would be useful. We developed a method of attaching a global positioning system (
Authors
Sarah R. B. King, Kathryn A. Schoenecker

Metabolic costs associated with seawater acclimation in a euryhaline teleost, the fourspine stickleback (Apeltes quadracus)

The cost of osmoregulation in teleosts has been debated for decades, with estimates ranging from one to 30 % of routine metabolic rate. The variation in the energy budget appears to be greater for euryhaline fish due to their ability to withstand dynamic salinity levels. In this study, a time course of metabolic and physiological responses of the euryhaline fourspine stickleback (Apeltes quadracus
Authors
Jessica L. Norstog, Stephen D. McCormick, John T. Kelly

The effects of prolonged drought on vegetation dieback and megafires in southern California chaparral

Drought contributed to extensive dieback of southern California chaparral, and normalized difference vegetation index before drought and near the end of the drought was used to estimate this dieback, after accounting for other disturbances recorded in aerial photographs. Within the perimeters of two megafires that occurred after the drought, the 2017 Thomas Fire and the 2018 Woolsey Fire, there ha
Authors
Jon Keeley, Theresa J Brennan-Kane, Alexandra D. Syphard

Simplifying complex fault data for systems-level analysis: Earthquake geology inputs for U.S. NSHM 2023

As part of the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) update planned for 2023, two databases were prepared to more completely represent Quaternary-active faulting across the western United States: the NSHM23 fault sections database (FSD) and earthquake geology database (EQGeoDB). In prior iterations of NSHM, fault sections were included only if a field-measurement-derived slip rate was estimate
Authors
Alexandra Elise Hatem, Camille Marie Collett, Richard W. Briggs, Ryan D. Gold, Stephen J. Angster, Edward H. Field, Peter M. Powers

Open-source intelligence for conservation biology

Open-source intelligence (OSINT) evolved in spy agencies but now is rapidly changing many fields of study, from anthropology to zoology. Despite the fact that OSINT occasionally is used in conservation biology, there is little recognition that some tools and frameworks used by conservation professionals are drawn from this well-established field. The history and conceptual foundations of OSINT ste
Authors
Todd E. Katzner, Eve C. Thomason, Karrin Huhmann, Tara Conkling, Camille B. Concepcion, Vincent Slabe, Sharon Poessel

Using surrogate insects in acid bioassays for development of new controls for Varroa destructor (Arachnida: Varroidae)

Resistance to traditional synthetic compounds by Varroa destructor Anderson and Trueman and shortcomings of the organic acid class of acaracides commonly used in varroa management requires continual development of new controls. V. destructor, however, are difficult to obtain for use in control bioassays because they are obligate parasites that cannot be easily reared outside of a honey bee colony.
Authors
Julia Vieira, Casey L. Johnson, Elizabeth M. Varkonyi, Howard Ginsberg, Kassie Picard, Mattew Kiesewetter, Steven R. Alm

Water-quality conditions and constituent loads, water years 2013–19, and water-quality trends, water years 1983–2019, in the Scituate Reservoir drainage area, Rhode Island

The Scituate Reservoir is the primary source of drinking water for more than 60 percent of the population of Rhode Island. From October 1, 1982, to September 30, 2019, water years (WYs) 1983–2019 (a water year is the period between October 1 and September 30 and is designated by the year in which it ends), the Providence Water Supply Board maintained a fixed-frequency sampling program at 37 statio
Authors
Alana B. Spaetzel, Kirk P. Smith
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