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
The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
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: 171813
Freshwater unionid mussels threatened by predation of Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus)
Indigenous freshwater mussels (Unionidae) are integral to riverine ecosystems, playing a pivotal role in aquatic food webs and providing ecological services. With populations on the decline worldwide, freshwater mussels are of conservation concern. In this study, we explore the propensity of the invasive Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus) fish to prey upon indigenous freshwater mussels. First, we
Authors
Kyle Clark, Deborah D. Iwanowicz, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Sara Mueller, Joshua Wisor, Casey Bradshaw-Wilson, W. Bane Schill, Jay R. Stauffer, Elizabeth W. Boyer
Flexible multimethod approach for seismic site characterization
We describe the flexible multimethod seismic site characterization technique for obtaining shear-wave velocity (VS) profiles and derivative information, such as the time-averaged VS of the upper 30 m (VS30). Simply stated, the multimethod approach relies on the application of multiple independent noninvasive site characterization acquisition and analysis techniques utilized in a flexible field-bas
Authors
William J. Stephenson, Alan Yong, Antony Martin
Plague circulation in small mammals elevates extinction risk for the endangered Peñasco least chipmunk
Wildlife diseases are a major concern for species survival around the world. Vector-borne diseases, in particular, are problematic for both humans and wildlife. Plague is an introduced disease to North America where many species have low natural resistance to infection by the causative bacterium, Yersinia pestis. Plague in the United States is often associated with large-scale epizootic events tha
Authors
Amanda R. Goldberg, David A. Eads, Dean E. Biggins
Reestablishing a foundational species: limitations on post-wildfire sagebrush seedling establishment
Improving post-wildfire restoration of foundational plant species is crucial for conserving imperiled ecosystems. We sought to better understand the initial establishment of sagebrush (Artemisia sp.), a foundational shrubland species over a vast area of western North America, in the first 1–2 years post-wildfire, a critical time period for population recovery. Field data from 460 sagebrush populat
Authors
Robert Arkle, David Pilliod, Matthew Germino, Michelle Jeffries, Justin L. Welty
Sediment and nutrient retention on a reconnected floodplain of an Upper Mississippi River tributary, 2013–2018
The connection of rivers with their floodplains has been greatly reduced in agricultural drainage basins, especially in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. The restriction of the Mississippi River from its floodplain has reduced the sediment trapping and nutrient deposition capabilities of the floodplain, exacerbating water quality problems in the river and in downstream waterbodies. A small part o
Authors
Lynn A. Bartsch, Rebecca M. Kreiling, Lance R. Gruhn, Jessica D. Garrett, William B. Richardson, Greg M. Nalley
Density, harvest rates, and growth of a reintroduced American black bear population
Less than 30% of all species reintroductions have been successful and it is important that factors associated with success or failure be identified. Officials experimentally translocated 14 adult female American black bears (Ursus americanus) from Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee, USA, to Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area in the Cumberland Plateau o
Authors
Joshua D Alston, Joseph D. Clark, Daniel B. Gibbs, John T. Hast
Outgassing through magmatic fractures enables effusive eruption of silicic magma
Several mechanisms have been proposed to allow highly viscous silicic magma to outgas efficiently enough to erupt effusively. There is increasing evidence that challenges the classic foam-collapse model in which gas escapes through permeable bubble networks, and instead suggests that magmatic fracturing and/or accompanying localized fragmentation and welding within the conduit play an important ro
Authors
Joshua Allen Crozier, Samantha Tramontano, Pablo Forte, Sarah Oliva, Helge M. Gonnermann, Einat Lev, Michael Manga, Madison Myers, Erika Rader, Philipp Ruprecht, Hugh Tuffen, Rebecca Paisley, Bruce F. Houghton, Tom Shea, Ian Schipper, Jonathan Castro
Beyond the teleseism: Introducing regional seismic and geodetic data into routine USGS finite‐fault modeling
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) routinely produces finite‐fault models following significant earthquakes. These models are spatiotemporal estimates of coseismic slip critical to constraining downstream response products such as ShakeMap ground motion estimates, Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquake for Response loss estimates, and ground failure ass
Authors
Dara Elyse Goldberg, Pablo Koch, Diego Melgar, Sebastian Riquelme, William L. Yeck
Valuing angling on reservoirs using benefit transfer
Economic assessments are rarely applied to inland recreational fisheries for management purposes, especially when compared to fish, habitat, and creel assessments, yet economic assessments can provide critical information for management decisions. We provide a brief overview of economic value, key terminology, and existing economic techniques to address these issues. Benefit transfer, a technique
Authors
Richard T. Melstrom, Mark A. Kaemingk, Nicholas W. Cole, John C. Whitehead, Christopher J. Chizinski, Kevin L. Pope
Reimagine fire science for the anthropocene
Fire is an integral component of ecosystems globally and a tool that humans have harnessed for millennia. Altered fire regimes are a fundamental cause and consequence of global change, impacting people and the biophysical systems on which they depend. As part of the newly emerging Anthropocene, marked by human-caused climate change and radical changes to ecosystems, fire danger is increasing, and
Authors
Jacquelyn K. Shuman, Jennifer K. Balch, Rebecca T. Barnes, Philip E. Higuera, Christopher I. Roos, Dylan W. Schwilk, E. Natasha Stavros, Tirtha Banerjee, Megan Bela, Jacob Bendix, Sandro Bertolino, Solomon Bililign, Kevin D. Bladon, Paulo Brando, Robert E. Breidenthal, Brian Buma, Donna Calhoun, Leila M. V. Carvalho, Megan Cattau, Kaelin M Cawley, Sudeep Chandra, Melissa L. Chipman, Jeanette Cobian, Erin Conlisk, Jonathan Coop, Alison Cullen, Kimberley T Davis, Archana Dayalu, Megan Dolman, Lisa M. Ellsworth, Scott Franklin, Chris Guiterman, Matthew Hamilton, Erin J. Hanan, Winslow D. Hansen, Stijn Hantson, Brian J Harvey, Andrés Holz, Matt Hurteau, Nayani T Ilangakoon, Megan Jennings, Charles Jones, Anna Klimaszewski-Patterson, Leda N. Kobziar, John Kominoski, Branko Kosovic, Meg A. Krawchuk, Paul Laris, Jackson Leonard, S. Marcela Loria- Salazar, Melissa Lucash, Hussam Mahmoud, Ellis Margolis, Toby Maxwell, Jessica McCarty, David B McWethy, Rachel Meyer, Jessica R. Miesel, W. Keith Moser, R. Chelsea Nagy, Dev Niyogi, Hannah M. Palmer, Adam Pellegrini, Benjamin Poulter, Kevin Robertson, Adrian Rocha, Mojtaba Sadegh, Fernando De Sales, Fernanda Santos, Facundo Scordo, Joseph O. Sexton, A Surjalal Sharma, Alistair M. S. Smith, Amber Soja, Christopher Still, Tyson Swetnam, Alexandra D. Syphard, Morgan W. Tingey, Ali Tohidi, Anna Trugman, Merritt Turetsky, J. Morgan Varner, Yuhang Wang, Thea Whitman, Stephanie Yelenik, Xu Zhang
Groundwater resources of the Harney Basin, southeastern Oregon
In response to increasing groundwater demand and declining groundwater levels in the Harney Basin of southeastern Oregon, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Oregon Water Resources Department conducted a cooperative groundwater-availability study during 2016–22. This Fact Sheet summarizes the results of this study. Full details of the study are provided in Gingerich and others (2022a, 2022b), Garci
Authors
Stephen B. Gingerich, C. Amanda Garcia, Henry M. Johnson
Are we falling short on restoring oysters at a regional scale?
Across coastal areas of the northern Gulf of Mexico, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill resulted in significant ecological injury, and over 8 billion USD directed to restoration activities. Oyster restoration projects were implemented with regional goals of restoring oyster abundance, spawning stock, and population resilience. Measuring regional or large-scale ecosystem restoration outcomes challenge
Authors
Megan K. La Peyre, Danielle Aguilar Marshall, Sarah Catherine Leblanc Buie, Ann Hijuelos, Gregory Steyer