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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.

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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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Filter Total Items: 171816

Mechanisms of forest resilience

Ecosystems are dynamic systems with complex responses to environmental variation. In response to pervasive stressors of changing climate and disturbance regimes, many ecosystems are realigning rapidly across spatial scales, in many cases moving outside of their observed historical range of variation into alternative ecological states. In some cases, these new states are transitory and represent su
Authors
Donald A. Falk, Phillip J. van Mantgem, Jon Keeley, Rachel M Gregg, Christopher H. Guiterman, Alan J. Tepley, Derek J N Young, Laura A. E. Marshall
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Secretive marsh bird habitat relationships at mid-continent spring migration stopover sites

Despite several secretive marsh bird (SMB) species being listed as critically imperiled throughout the mid-continent of North America, limited information on SMB distribution and habitat use within primary migratory corridors results in uncertainty on contributions of wetlands in mid-latitude states toward their annual cycle needs. Our objectives were to quantify temporal patterns of SMB wetland o
Authors
Elisabeth B. Webb, E.B. Hill, K.M. Malone, D. Mengel
By
Cooperative Research Units

Bedload and suspended-sediment transport in lower Vance Creek, western Washington, water years 2019–20

Vance Creek drains a 24 square mile area of the Olympic Mountains in western Washington. The lower 4 miles of the creek often go dry in discontinuous patches during the summer, limiting salmon rearing success. To better understand sediment transport dynamics in the creek and aid in potential restoration design, bedload and suspended-sediment concentration samples were collected for water years 201
Authors
Scott W. Anderson
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Washington Water Science Center

Remote sensing of visible dye concentrations during a tracer experiment on a large, turbid river

Understanding dispersion in rivers is critical for numerous applications, such as characterizing larval drift for endangered fish species and responding to spills of hazardous materials. Injecting a visible dye into the river can yield insight on dispersion processes, but conventional field instrumentation yields limited data on variations in dye concentration over time at a few, fixed points. Rem
Authors
Carl J. Legleiter, Brandon James Sansom, R. B. Jacobson
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Bridging the gap between spatial modeling and management of invasive annual grasses in the imperiled sagebrush biome

Invasions of native plant communities by non-native species present major challenges for ecosystem management and conservation. Invasive annual grasses such as cheatgrass, medusahead, and ventenata are pervasive and continue to expand their distributions across imperiled sagebrush-steppe communities of the western United States. These invasive grasses alter native plant communities, ecosystem func
Authors
Bryan C. Tarbox, Nathan D. Van Schmidt, Jessica E. Shyvers, D. Joanne Saher, Julie A. Heinrichs, Cameron L. Aldridge
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Land Management Research Program, Fort Collins Science Center

Positively selected genes in the hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) lineage: Prominence of thymus expression, immune and metabolic function, and regions of ancient synteny

BackgroundBats of the genus Lasiurus occur throughout the Americas and have diversified into at least 20 species among three subgenera. The hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) is highly migratory and ranges farther across North America than any other wild mammal. Despite the ecological importance of this species as a major insect predator, and the particular susceptibility of lasiurine bats to wind turb
Authors
Robert S. Cornman, Paul M. Cryan
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center

Mass balance of two perennial snowfields: Niwot Ridge, Colorado and the Ulaan Taiga, Mongolia.

Perennial snowfields are generally receding worldwide, though the precise mechanisms causing recessions are not always well understood. Here we apply a numerical snowpack model to identify the leading factors controlling the mass balance of two perennial snowfields that have significant human interest: Arapaho glacier, located at Niwot Ridge in the Colorado Rocky Mountains (United States), and a s
Authors
Kaj E. Williams, Christopher P. McKay, Owen B. Toon, Keith S. Jennings
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers, Astrogeology Science Center

Geophysical imaging of the Yellowstone hydrothermal plumbing system

The nature of Yellowstone National Park’s plumbing system linking deep thermal fluids to its legendary thermal features is virtually unknown. The prevailing concepts of Yellowstone hydrology and chemistry are that fluids reside in reservoirs with unknown geometries, flow laterally from distal sources and emerge at the edges of lava flows. Here we present a high-resolution synoptic view of pathways
Authors
Carol A. Finn, Paul A. Bedrosian, W. Steven Holbrook, Esben Auken, Benjamin R. Bloss, Kayla (Jade) J Crosbie
By
Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center

Reframing groundwater hydrology as a data-driven science

No abstract available. 
Authors
Allen M. Shapiro, F.D. Day-Lewis
By
Water Resources Mission Area

MIS 5e sea-level history along the Pacific coast of North America

The primary last interglacial, marine isotope substage (MIS) 5e records on the Pacific coast of North America, from Washington (USA) to Baja California Sur (Mexico), are found in the deposits of erosional marine terraces. Warmer coasts along the southern Golfo de California host both erosional marine terraces and constructional coral reef terraces. Because the northern part of the region is tecton
Authors
Daniel R. Muhs
By
Climate Research and Development Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Long-term hydrologic sustainability of calcareous fens along the Glacial Lake Agassiz beach ridges, northwestern Minnesota, USA

Calcareous fens are peat-accumulating wetlands fed by calcium-rich groundwater that support several threatened species of plants that thrive in these geochemical conditions. This investigation characterized the hydrology of two calcareous fens in the Glacial Lake Agassiz beach ridge complex in northwestern Minnesota, USA. Sandy surficial beach ridge aquifers and underlying buried glacial aquifers
Authors
Nicholas R. Budde, Howard D. Mooers, Timothy K. Cowdery, Nigel J. Wattrus
By
Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Spatially integrating microbiology and geochemistry to reveal complex environmental health issues: Anthrax in the contiguous United States

Maxent models were run using the B. anthracis presence data and/or the animal outbreak presence data. Models run using the animal outbreak data alone utilized two scales: the Outbreak State scale which included only states reporting animal anthrax outbreaks from 2001 to 2013 and the National scale which included all states in the contiguous United States. Three iterations of the environmental data

Authors
Erin Silvestri, Stephen Douglas, Vicky Luna, C.A.O. Jean-Babtiste, D. Harbin, Laura Hempel, Timothy Boe, Tonya Nichols, Dale W. Griffin
By
Contaminant Biology, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
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