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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Shellfish aquaculture farms as foraging habitat for nearshore fishes and crabs
ObjectiveOyster reefs across North America have declined precipitously over the past 140 years. In Washington State, Olympia oyster Ostrea lurida reefs historically provided water filtration and nearshore structural habitat for fishes and invertebrates, but this species is now functionally extinct across its historical range. In place of these naturally occurring reefs, shellfish farms consisting
Authors
Karl Veggerby, Mark David Scheuerell, Beth Sanderson, Peter Kiffney, Bridget Ferriss
Preparing for a Bsal invasion into North America has improved multi-sector readiness
Western palearctic salamander susceptibility to the skin disease caused by the amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) was recognized in 2014, eliciting concerns for a potential novel wave of amphibian declines following the B. dendrobatidis (Bd) chytridiomycosis global pandemic. Although Bsal had not been detected in North America, initial experimental trials supported t
Authors
Deanna H. Olson, Evan H. Campbell Grant, Molly Bletz, Jonah Piovia-Scott, David Lesbarrères, Jacob L. Kerby, Michael J. Adams, Maria Florencia Breitman, Michelle R. Christman, María J. Forzán, Matthew J. Gray, Aubree J. Hill, Michelle S. Koo, Olga Milenkaya, Eria A. Rebollar, Louise A. Rollins-Smith, Megan Serr, Alex Shepak, Lenny Shirose, Laura Sprague, Jenifer Walke, Alexa Warwick, Brittany A. Mosher
When to target control efforts? Using novel GPS telemetry to quantify drivers of invasive Argentine black and white tegu (Salvator merianae) movement
In South Florida, the Argentine black and white tegu (Salvator merianae), a large, omnivorous lizard, has become a recent threat to the Everglades ecosystem. The increase in tegu observations, especially near ecologically sensitive areas such as Everglades National Park, makes informed management critical to contain the tegu population. Using Very High Frequency (VHF) and Global Positioning System
Authors
Brittany M. Mason, Sergio A. Balaguera-Reina, Adam Benjamin, Frank J. Mazzotti, Hartwig H. Hochmair, Hardin Waddle
Knowledge gaps and opportunities for understanding water-quality processes affecting water availability for beneficial uses
This report describes scientific gaps that limit our ability to predict water-quality effects on water availability for beneficial uses across the United States. Water-quality constituents considered in the report include salinity, geogenic constituents, contaminants of emerging concern, and nitrogen. For each constituent, there is a selection of scientific gaps, approaches, and outcomes to help g
Knowledge gaps and opportunities in water-quality drivers of aquatic ecosystem health
This report identifies key scientific gaps that limit our ability to predict water quality effects on health of aquatic ecosystems and proposes approaches to address those gaps. Topics considered include (1) coupled nutrient-carbon cycle processes and related ecological-flow-regime drivers of ecosystem health, (2) anthropogenic and geogenic toxin bioexposure, (3) fine sediment drivers of aquatic e
Small forested watershed weathers effects of climate change better than a nearby urban watershed in Northern Virginia, USA
South Fork Quantico Creek (SFQ; 19.8 square kilometre (km2), forested) and Fourmile Run (4MR; 32.4-km2, urban) are small watersheds in northern Virginia, United States. Precipitation and streamflow data for both watersheds were examined from water year (WY) 1952 through 2022. Temporal changes in hydrologic metrics were identified by calculating trends in annual precipitation, annual peak flow, mea
Authors
Aaron J. Porter, Karen C Rice
Integrative phylogenetic, phylogeographic and morphological characterisation of the Unio crassus species complex reveals cryptic diversity with important conservation implications
The global decline of freshwater mussels and their crucial ecological services highlight the need to understand their phylogeny, phylogeography and patterns of genetic diversity to guide conservation efforts. Such knowledge is urgently needed for Unio crassus, a highly imperilled species originally widespread throughout Europe and southwest Asia. Recent studies have resurrected several species fro
Authors
Manuel Lopes-Lima, Juergen Geist, Sarah Egg, Luboš Beran, Ani Bikashvili, Bert Van Bocxlaer, Arthur E. Bogan, Ivan N. Bolotov, O. A. Chelpanovskaya, Karel Douda, Vasco Fernandes, André Gomes-dos-Santos, Duarte V. Gonçalves, Mustafa E. Gürlek, Nathan Johnson, Ioannis Karaouzas, Ümit Kebapçı, Alexander V. Kondakov, Ralph Kuehn, Jasna Lajtner, Levan Mumladze, Karl-Otto Nagel, Eike Neubert, Martin Österling, John M. Pfeiffer, Vincent Prié, Nicoletta Riccardi, Jerzy Sell, Lea D. Schneider, Spase Shumka, Ioan Sirbu, Grita Skujienė, Chase H. Smith, Ronaldo Sousa, Katharina Stöckl, Jouni Taskinen, Amílcar Teixeira, Milcho Todorov, Teodora Trichkova, Maria Urbanska, Santtu Välilä, Simone Varandas, Joana Veríssimo, Ilya V. Vikhrev, G. Woschitz, Katarzyna Zając, Tadeusz Zając, David T. Zanatta, Alexandra Zieritz, Stamatis Zogaris, Elsa Froufe
Rising water temperature in rivers: Ecological impacts and future resilience
Rising water temperatures in rivers due to climate change are already having observable impacts on river ecosystems. Warming water has both direct and indirect impacts on aquatic life, and further aggravates pervasive issues such as eutrophication, pollution, and the spread of disease. Animals can survive higher temperatures through physiological and/or genetic acclimation, behavioral and phenolog
Authors
Matthew F. Johnson, Lindsey K. Albertson, Adam C. Algar, Stephen J. Dugdale, Patrick Edwards, Judy England, Christopher Gibbins, So Kazama, Daisuke Komori, Andrew Maccoll, Eric Arthur Scholl, Robert Wilby, Fabio de Oliveira Roque, Paul F. Wood
Writing SMART objectives for natural resource and environmental management
In natural resource and environmental management, well-written objectives are critical for effective decision-making and the achievement of desired outcomes. This article aims to improve practitioners' ability to identify and write SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) objectives for natural resource and environmental management.We differentiate between research and manage
Authors
Caleb A. Aldridge, Michael E. Colvin
Potential use of poultry farms by wild waterfowl in California's Central Valley varies across space, times of day, and species: implications for influenza transmission risk
Interactions between wildlife and livestock can lead to cross-species disease transmission, which incurs economic costs and threatens wildlife conservation. Wild waterfowl are natural hosts of avian influenza viruses (AIVs), are often abundant near poultry farms, and have been linked to outbreaks of AIVs in poultry. Interspecific and seasonal variation in waterfowl movement and habitat use means t
Authors
Claire S. Teitelbaum, Michael L. Casazza, Cory T. Overton, Jeffery D. Sullivan, Elliott Matchett, Fiona McDuie, Austen Lorenz, Josh T. Ackerman, Susan E. W. De La Cruz, Diann Prosser
Exploring landscape and geologic controls on spatial patterning of streambank groundwater discharge in a mixed land use watershed
Preferential groundwater discharge features along stream corridors are ecologically important at local and stream network scales, yet we lack quantification of the multiscale controls on the spatial patterning of groundwater discharge. Here we identify physical attributes that best explain variation in the presence and lateral extent of preferential groundwater discharges along two 5th order strea
Authors
Kevin E. Jackson, Eric M. Moore, Ashley M. Helton, Adam B. Haynes, Janet R. Barclay, Martin Briggs
Prokaryotic microbial ecology as an ecosurveillance tool for eukaryotic pathogen colonisation: Meiothermus and Naegleria fowleri
Naegleria fowleri has been detected in drinking water distribution systems (DWDS) in Australia, Pakistan and the United States and is the causative agent of the highly fatal disease primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. Previous small scale field studies have shown that Meiothermus may be a potential biomarker for N. fowleri. However, correlations between predictive biomarkers in small sample sizes
Authors
Natalia Malinowski, Matthew J. Morgan, Jason Wylie, Tom Walsh, Sergio Domingos, Suzanne Metcalfe, Anna H. Kaksonen, Elliott Barnhart, Rebecca C. Mueller, Brent M. Peyton, Geoffrey J. Puzon