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Publications

These publications showcase the significant science conducted in our Science Centers.

Filter Total Items: 16783

Partitioning global change: Assessing the relative importance of changes in climate and land cover for changes in avian distribution

Understanding the relative impact of climate change and land cover change on changes in avian distribution has implications for the future course of avian distributions and appropriate management strategies. Due to the dynamic nature of climate change, our goal was to investigate the processes that shape species distributions, rather than the current distributional patterns. To this end, we analyz
Authors
Matthew J. Clement, James D. Nichols, Jaime A. Collazo, Adam Terando, James E. Hines, Steven G. Williams

Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum prolonged by fossil carbon oxidation

A hallmark of the rapid and massive release of carbon during the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum is the global negative carbon isotope excursion. The delayed recovery of the carbon isotope excursion, however, indicates that CO2 inputs continued well after the initial rapid onset, although there is no consensus about the source of this secondary carbon. Here we suggest this secondary input might
Authors
Shelby L. Lyons, Allison A. Baczynski, Tali L. Babila, Timothy J. Bralower, Elizabeth A. Hajek, Lee R. Kump, Ellen G. Polites, Jean Self-Trail, Sheila M. Trampush, Jamie R. Vornlocher, James C. Zachos, Katherine H. Freeman

Evaluating response distances to develop buffer zones for staging terns

Buffer zones, calculated by flight‐initiation distance (FID), are often used to reduce anthropogenic disturbances to wildlife, but FID can vary significantly across life‐history stages. We examined the behavioral effect of potential natural (gulls and shorebirds) and anthropogenic (pedestrians) disturbance sources to staging roseate (Sterna dougallii) and common tern (S. hirundo) flocks from July
Authors
Melissa A. Althouse, Jonathan B. Cohen, Sarah M. Karpanty, Jeffrey A. Spendelow, Kayla L. Davis, Katherine C. Parsons, Cristin F. Luttazi

Allowable take of black vultures in the eastern United States

Black vultures (Coragyps atratus) have been increasing in density and expanding their range in the eastern United States since at least the 1960s. In many areas, their densities have increased to the level where they are causing damage to property and livestock and the number of requests for allowable take permits has increased throughout these areas. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (U
Authors
Guthrie S. Zimmerman, Brian A. Millsap, Michael L. Avery, John R. Sauer, Michael C. Runge, Kenneth D. Richkus

Clade 2.3.4.4 H5 North American highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses infect, but do not cause clinical signs in American Black Ducks (Anas rubripes)

Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) from the goose/Guangdong/1996 clade 2.3.4.4 H5 lineage spread from Asia into North America in 2014, most likely by wild bird migrations. Although several variants of the virus were detected, an H5N8 and H5N2 were the most widespread in North American wild birds and domestic poultry. In early 2015, the H5N2 virus spread through commercial poultry in
Authors
Erica Spackman, Diann Prosser, Mary Pantin-Jackwood, Christopher B. Stephens, Alicia Berlin

Simulating runoff quality with the highway-runoff database and the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model

Stormwater practitioners need quantitative information about the quality and volume of highway runoff to assess and mitigate potential adverse effects of runoff on the Nation’s receiving waters. The U.S. Geological Survey developed the Highway Runoff Database (HRDB) in cooperation with the FHWA to provide practice-ready information to meet these information needs on the local or national scale. Th
Authors
Gregory E. Granato, Susan C. Jones

Landscape evolution of a fluvial sediment-rich Avicennia marina mangrove forest: Insights from seasonal and inter-annual surface-elevation dynamics

Mangrove forests are vulnerable to accelerated sea-level rise associated with climate warming because they occupy a relatively narrow zone on the mid-to-upper-intertidal flats. The fate of these ecosystems largely depends on their capacity to accrete sediment at a rate sufficient to maintain their elevation relative to sea level. We investigated the role of biophysical processes and feedbacks cont
Authors
Andrew Swales, Glen Reeve, Donald R. Cahoon, Catherine Lovelock

Demographic and genetic description of Greenland’s only indigenous Atlantic salmon Salmo salar population

A survey of the Kapisillit River system was conducted in 2005 and 2012 to study the only indigenous Atlantic salmon Salmo salar population in Greenland. Little is known about its characteristics or its relationship with other S. salar populations across the species range. Juvenile S. salar were captured in all stations surveyed within the lower river with the highest densities lower in the river a
Authors
Jo Vegar Arnekleiv, Jan Grimsrud Davidsen, Timothy F Sheehan, Sarah J Lehnert, Ian R Bradbury, L Ronning, Aslak Darre Sjursen, G Kjaerstad, Barbara A. Lubinski, Kjell J Nilssen

Development of regression equations for the estimation of flood flows at ungaged streams in Pennsylvania

Regression equations, which may be used to estimate flood flows at select annual exceedance probabilities, were developed for ungaged streams in Pennsylvania. The equations were developed using annual peak flow data through water year 2015 and basin characteristics for 285 streamflow gaging stations across Pennsylvania and surrounding states. The streamgages included active and discontinued contin
Authors
Mark A. Roland, Marla H. Stuckey

Daily estimates reveal fine-scale temporal and spatial variation in fish survival across a stream network

Environmental drivers of population vital rates, such as temperature and precipitation, often vary at short time scales, and these fluctuations can have important impacts on population dynamics. However, relationships between survival and environmental conditions are typically modeled at coarse temporal scales, ignoring the role of daily environmental variation in survival. Our goal was to determi
Authors
Evan S. Childress, Keith Nislow, Andrew R. Whiteley, Matthew O'Donnell, Benjamin Letcher

Geographic-specific capture-recapture models reveal contrasting migration and survival rates of adult horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus)

American horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) have varied migration patterns and harvesting pressure throughout their range, potentially leading to regional differences in population dynamics. Here, a multi-state mark–recapture model was used to estimate annual survival and exchange rates of adult horseshoe crabs across three geographic regions in Long Island, NY (South Shore, North Shore, and Jam
Authors
Justin J. Bopp, Matthew Sclafani, David R. Smith, Kim McKown, Rachel Sysak, Robert Cerrato

Mineral Commodity Summaries 2019

Published on an annual basis, this report is the earliest Government publication to furnish estimates covering nonfuel mineral industry data and is available at https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/mcs/. Data sheets contain information on the domestic industry structure, Government programs, tariffs, and 5-year salient statistics for more than 90 individual minerals and materials.
Authors