Genetic structure and diversity in wild populations of the Light-footed Ridgway’s Rail reflect 20 years of augmentation through captive breeding and release
Amy G. Vandergast, Julia G. Smith, Anna Mitelberg, Dustin A. Wood, Kimberley A. Sawyer, Courtney J. Conway
2025, Open-File Report 2025-1011
Captive breeding and release programs aimed at recovery of rare species can be informed by genetic data to help select high-diversity source populations, make pairing decisions to minimize inbreeding, and manage release strategies. We developed a set of 54 microsatellite loci to assess genetic structure and diversity across the United...
U.S. Geological Survey 2024 Rocky Mountain Region Science Exchange—Showcasing cutting-edge science to adapt to extreme weather events and stakeholder needs
William J. Andrews, Timothy N. Titus, Lauren Ellissa Eng, Kristine L. Zellman, Patrick J. Anderson, Jeremy C Havens
2025, Fact Sheet 2025-3008
IntroductionThe Rocky Mountains and the Colorado River Basin in the Western United States are complex, interconnected systems that sustain a large variety of species, including tens of millions of humans. These regions face risks from drought, wildfires, invasive plant and animal species, and habitat reduction. Working with many stakeholders, scientists...
Statistical approaches for modeling correlated grade and tonnage distributions and applications for mineral resource assessments
Joshua Mark Rosera, Graham W. Lederer, John Schuenemeyer
2025, Applied Computing and Geosciences (26)
Correlations between grade and tonnage exist in mineral resource data compiled from published reports, but they are not always addressed during quantitative assessment of undiscovered mineral resources. Failure to account for correlated grade and tonnage distributions can result in geologically...
System characterization report on Resourcesat-2A Linear Imaging Self Scanning-3 sensor
Seonkyung Park, Mahesh Shrestha, Minsu Kim, Aparajithan Sampath, Jeffrey Clauson
2025, Open-File Report 2021-1030-T
Executive Summary This report addresses system characterization of the Indian Space Research Organisation Resourcesat-2A Linear Imaging Self Scanning-3 sensor and is part of a series of system characterization reports produced and delivered by the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val Center of Excellence since 2021. These reports present...
The relationship between body condition, body composition, and growth in amphibians
Ross K. Hinderer, Blake R. Hossack, Lisa A. Eby
2025, PLoS ONE (20)
Body condition of animals is often assumed to reflect advantages in survival or reproduction, but body condition indices may not reflect body composition, or condition may be unrelated to fitness-associated traits. The relationship between body condition indices and composition has rarely been quantified in amphibians, and body condition has not...
Additional common milkweed would help Canada meet its share of the trinational eastern migratory monarch butterfly recovery target
Greg W. Mitchell, Patrick Kirby, Jason Duffe, Lenore Fahrig, Judith Girard, Mark K. Johnston, Maxim Larrivee, Amanda E. Martin, Iman Momeni-Dehaghi, Jon Pasher, Elizabeth Rezek, Elisabeth Shapiro, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Darren Pouliot
2025, Facets (10)
The eastern migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) population has declined by ∼84% between 1993 and 2024. Population recovery in the Midwestern United States is limited by the availability of the monarch's main host plant for egg laying—common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). The extent to which common milkweed availability is limiting in...
Integrating climate change, biological invasions, and infectious wildlife diseases
David W. Thieltges, David B. Conn, Ross N. Cuthbert, Alison M. Dunn, Rosa Jolma, M. Camille Hopkins, Volodimir Sarabeev, Sander Smolders, Carol A. Stepien, K. Mathias Wegner, Patrick M. Kočovský
2025, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
Climate change is likely to affect infectious diseases that are facilitated by biological invasions, with repercussions for wildlife conservation and zoonotic risks. Current invasion management and policy are underprepared for the future risks associated with such invasion-related wildlife diseases. By considering evidence from bioclimatology, invasion biology, and disease research, we...
Spatial stream network modeling of water temperature within the White River Basin, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
Andrew S. Gendaszek, Anya C. Leach, Kristin L. Jaeger
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5029
Water temperature is a primary control on the occurrence and distribution of fish and other ectothermic aquatic species. In the Pacific Northwest, cold-water species such as Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) and bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) have specific temperature requirements during different life stages that must be met to ensure the...
Hydrogeologic framework and considerations for drilling and grouting of closed-loop geothermal bores in the Erie-Ontario Lowlands and Allegheny Plateau of New York State
John H. Williams, William M. Kappel, Joshua C. Woda
2025, Open-File Report 2025-1013
The hydrogeologic framework at closed-loop geothermal sites in the Erie-Ontario Lowlands and Allegheny Plateau of central and western New York is the result of the complex interaction of bedrock geology, glacial geology, and groundwater hydrology, and the occurrence of petroleum and gas. Considerations for closed-loop geothermal bore installation include the...
Groundwater budget for the surficial aquifer surrounding Lake Nokomis, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Colin T. Livdahl
2025, Open-File Report 2025-1021
During prolonged periods of above-average precipitation, rising groundwater levels have the potential to cause damage to and interfere with underground infrastructure and building foundations. To understand the relations between precipitation and groundwater in the vicinity of Lake Nokomis, the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with the University of Minnesota, quantified...
USGS Environmental Health Program—Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) science activities [postcard]
Deborah Iwanowicz
2025, General Information Product 251
Introduction The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Environmental Health Program conducts various activities related to PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) to understand their impacts on human health and the environment. Through these activities, the program aims to provide critical information and resources to address the challenges posed by PFAS contamination....
Simulated effects of future water availability and protected species habitat in a perennial wetland, Santa Barbara County, California
Geoffrey Cromwell, Daniel Philip Culling, Matthew J. Young, Joshua Larsen
2025, Water (17)
This study evaluates the potential water availability in Barka Slough and the effects of changing hydrological conditions on the aquatic habitat of five protected species. Barka Slough is a historically perennial wetland at the downstream western end of the San Antonio Creek Valley watershed (SACVW). A previously published hydrologic model...
Mahi-mahi metacouplings: Quantifying human–nature interactions in dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) fisheries
Andrew Kenneth Carlson
2025, Global Sustainability
Fisheries encompass humans and fish, but fisheries researchers rarely model human–nature interactions over space and time. I filled this information gap for dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus), a popular, widely distributed species that supports industrial, artisanal, recreational, and subsistence fisheries. Dolphinfish human–nature interactions showed a long-term up-and-down pattern in 1950–2019. Recent declines...
Comparative properties of saponitic fault gouge and serpentinite muds cored from mud volcanoes of the Mariana subduction zone
Diane E. Moore, C.A. Morrow, David A. Lockner, Barbara A. Bekins
2025, Geophysics, Geochemistry, Geosystems (26)
We obtained 12 core samples for physical and chemical characterization from three serpentinite mud volcanoes (Yinazao, Asùt Tesoru, and Fantangisña) located on the forearc of the Mariana subduction system, that were drilled during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 366. Two samples from the Fantangisña mud volcano are interpreted to be...
Landsat surface product validation instrumentation: The BigMAC exercise
Dennis Helder, Mahesh Shrestha, Joshua J. Mann, Emily Maddox, Jeffrey Irwin, Larry Leigh, Aaron Gerace, Rehman Eon, Lucy Falcon, David Conran, Nina G. Raqueno, Timothy Bauch, Christopher Durell, Brandon Russell
2025, Sensors (25)
Users of Earth remotely sensed optical imagery are increasingly demanding a surface reflectance or surface temperature product instead of the top-of-atmosphere products that have been produced historically. Validating the accuracy of surface products remains a difficult task since it involves assessment across a range of atmospheric profiles, as well as...
The demise of an icehouse: Calibrating the end of the LPIA
Neil Patrick Griffis, Roland Mundil, Isabel Montañez, Pierre Dietrich, Daniel Le Heron, Roberto Iannuzzi, Bastien Linol, Thammy Mottin, John Richey, Christoph Kettler
2025, Global and Planetary Change
Earth has experienced three complete icehouse-greenhouse turnovers in the Phanerozoic, with the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA) recognized as the last and most extreme icehouse. The nature, scale and dynamics of the LPIA are characterized by periods of intense glaciation, which are often interrupted by short-lived (1–2 Myrs) intervals associated...
Microbiome data management in action workshop: Atlanta, GA, USA, June 12–13, 2024
Julia Kelliher, Mashael Aljumaah, Sarah R. Bordenstein, J. Rodney Brister, Patrick Chain, JosePablo Dunduore-Arias, Joanne B. Emerson, Vanessa Moreira C. Ferdandes, Roberto Flores, Antonio Gonzalez, Zoe A. Hansen, Eneida L. Hatcher, Scott A. Jackson, Christina A. Kellogg, Ramana Madupu, Cassandra Maria Luz Miller, Chloe Mirzayi, Emmanuel F. Mongodin, Ahmed M. Moustafa, Chris Mungall, Aaron Oliver, Nonia Pariente, Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Sydne Record, Linta Reji, Anna-Louise Reysenbach, Virginia Rich, Lorna Richardson, Lynn M. Schriml, Reed S. Shabman, Maria Sierra, Matthew Sullivan, Punithavathi Sundaramurthy, K.M. Thibault, Luke R. Thompson, Scott W. Tighe, Ethell Vereen, Emiley A. Eloe-Fadrosh
2025, Environmental Microbiome (20)
Microbiome research is revolutionizing human and environmental health, but the value and reuse of microbiome data are significantly hampered by the limited development and adoption of data standards. While several ongoing efforts are aimed at improving microbiome data management, significant gaps still remain in terms of defining and promoting adoption...
Cardiac and behavioral responses to chemical and electrical immobilization in Lake Trout
Tyler Reid Funnell, Thomas R. Binder, Christopher S. Vandergoot
2025, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
ObjectiveImmobilizing or anesthetizing fish is important for promoting fish welfare in numerous routine activities that involve handling. Electroanesthesia, an alternative to traditional chemical anesthetics, uses weak electrical current to immobilize fish while current is applied, resulting in near-immediate induction and recovery. The physiological effects of electroanesthesia...
A framework for understanding the effects of subsurface agricultural drainage on downstream flows
Hannah L. Podzorski, Karen R. Ryberg
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5023
Understanding controls on streamflow volume and magnitude is important to water resource management applications, such as critical water and transportation structure design and floodplain mapping. Changes in land use and agricultural practices, such as subsurface agricultural drainage, may be contributing to changes in streamflow characteristics. Subsurface agricultural drainage, also known...
Assessment of undiscovered conventional and continuous oil and gas resources in the Escondido, Olmos, and San Miguel Formations of the Western Gulf Basin Province, U.S. Gulf Coast region, 2023
William H. Craddock, John W. Counts, Colin A. Doolan, Marc L. Buursink, Celeste D. Lohr, Javin J. Hatcherian, Katherine L. French, Jared T. Gooley, Phuong A. Le, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Christopher J. Schenk
2025, Fact Sheet 2025-3015
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 5 million barrels of oil and 25 billion cubic feet of gas in conventional reservoirs and 361 million barrels of oil and 10,978 billion cubic feet of gas in continuous reservoirs in the Western...
Altitude of the potentiometric surface and depth to water in the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, spring 2022
Virginia L. McGuire, Kellan R. Strauch, Erik A. Wojtylko, William H. Asquith, Anna M. Nottmeier, Judith C. Thomas, Roland W. Tollett, Wade H. Kress
2025, Scientific Investigations Map 3532
Potentiometric-surface and depth-to-water maps for spring 2022 were created for the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer (MRVA) using groundwater-altitude data from 1,136 wells completed in the MRVA and from the altitude of the top of the water surface in area rivers from 160 streamgages. The potentiometric-surface and depth-to-water maps for...
Evaluation of alternative coatings for U.S. Geological Survey water-quality samplers
Alyssa M. Thornton
2025, Open-File Report 2025-1016
Each year, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) personnel collect approximately 52,000 water-quality samples from rivers and streams across the United States. Several samplers are used by the USGS for water-quality sample collection in riverine environments. These samplers are coated with Plasti Dip to protect the exterior of the sampler; however, Plasti...
Gaps in water quality modeling of hydrologic systems
Lisa Lucas, Craig J. Brown, Dale M. Robertson, Nancy T. Baker, Zachary Johnson, Christopher Green, Se Jong Cho, Melinda L. Erickson, Allen C. Gellis, Jeramy Roland Jasmann, Noah Knowles, Andreas Prein, Paul Stackelberg
2025, Water (17)
This review assesses gaps in water quality modeling, emphasizing opportunities to improve next-generation models that are essential for managing water quality and are integral to meeting goals of scientific and management agencies. In particular, this paper identifies gaps in water quality modeling capabilities that, if addressed, could support assessments, projections,...
Development of species-specific primers for the identification of Atlantic and shortnose sturgeons
Miluska Olivera Hyde, David C. Kazyak
2025, Conservation Genetics Resources
Atlantic (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) and shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) are broadly distributed along the Atlantic Coast of North America, where they use rivers, estuaries, and coastal habitats. In order to support management under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, it is important to understand when and where these fish occur. However,...
Anomalous shear stress variation in wet granular medium: Implications for landslide lateral faults
Chengrui Chang, Kohei Ono, William Schulz, Tetsuo Yamaguchi
2025, Geophysical Research Letters (52)
Landslide assessments typically focus on the mechanical properties of the basal shear zone, but lateral faults are frequently overlooked, possibly due to their lower normal stresses and variably saturated conditions. Using double-cylinder shear experiments on wet granular systems as analogs for landslide lateral faults, we observe anomalous shear stress variations...
