Marshes to mangroves: Residential surveys reveal perceived wetland trade-offs for ecosystem services
Savannah H. Swinea, A. Randall Hughes, Michael Osland, Christine C. Shepard, Kalaina B. Thorne, Jahson B. Alemu I, Remi Bardou, Steven B. Scyphers
2025, Landscape and Urban Planning (253)
Coastal landscapes are rapidly changing due to both climate change and the decisions of waterfront landowners. For instance, the climate-driven encroachment of woody mangrove species into grassy marshland areas is predicted to impact coastal ecosystems, with consequences for the ecosystem services...
Assessment of the sensitivity of Percina caprodes (logperch) to the pesticide 4-nitro-3-(trifluoromethyl)phenol
Courtney A Kirkeeng, James A. Luoma, Nicholas Schloesser, Justin Schueller, Cheryl Kaye
2024, Open-File Report 2024-1064
A continuous-flow streamside toxicity test was completed to evaluate the risk posed by the use of 4-nitro-3-(trifluoromethyl)phenol (TFM), used to control Petromyzon marinus (sea lamprey), to Percina caprodes (logperch). Logperch are a host fish to the parasitic glochidia life stage of the federally endangered Epioblasma triquetra (snuffbox mussel). Streams with...
Lidar estimation of storage capacity for managed water resources used by Desert Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis mexicana) at Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, Arizona
Joel B. Sankey, Joshua Caster, Nathaniel Bransky, Stephanie Fuest, Steven Sesnie, Ashton Bedford
2024, Open-File Report 2024-1046
In cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey Southwest Biological Science Center employed ground-based light detection and ranging (lidar) during February 2022 to help meet two resource management objectives at the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge (CPNWR), Arizona. The two objectives are (1) characterize the...
Amphibian monitoring in hardwood forests: Optimizing methods for contaminant‐based compensatory restorations
Bethany K. Kunz, Hardin Waddle, Nicholas S. Green
2024, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (20) 1939-1953
Amphibians such as frogs, toads, and salamanders provide important services in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and have been proposed as useful indicators of progress and success for ecological restoration projects. Limited guidance is available, however, on the costs and benefits of different amphibian monitoring techniques that might be applied to...
Rappahannock tributary summary: A summary of trends in tidal water quality and associated factors, 1985-2022
Breck Maura Sullivan, Kaylyn Gootman, Alex Gunnerson, Sarah Betts, Cindy Johnson, Chris A. Mason, Elgin Perry, Gopal Bhatt, Jennifer L. Keisman, James S. Webber, Jon Harcum, Michael F. Lane, Olivia Devereux, Qian Zhang, Rebecca Murphy, Renee Karrh, Thomas Butler, Vanessa Van Note, Angie Wei
2024, Report
The Rappahannock Tributary Summary outlines change over time for a suite of monitored tidal water quality parameters and associated potential drivers of those trends for the period of 1985 to 2022, and provides a brief description of the current state of knowledge explaining these observed changes. Water quality parameters described...
Produced water geochemistry from hydraulically stimulated Niobrara Formation petroleum wells: Origin of salinity and temporal perspectives on treatment and reuse
Aaron M. Jubb, Jenna L. Shelton, Bonnie McDevitt, Kaela K. Amundson, Amanda Sha Herzberg, Jessica Chenault, Andrew Laurence Masterson, Matthew S. Varonka, Glenn D. Jolly, Christina A. DeVera, Elliott Barnhart, Michael J. Wilkins, Madalyn S. Blondes
2024, Science of the Total Environment (955)
Produced water (i.e., a mixture of returned injection fluids and geologic formation brines) represents the largest volumetric waste stream associated with petroleum production in the United States. As such, produced water has been the focus of intense study with emphasis on understanding the...
New occurrences of the rare, REE minerals daqingshanite, törnebohmite, biraite, sahamalite, and ferriperbøeite from the Sheep Creek area, Montana, USA
Christopher H. Gammons, Sarah Risedorf, Gary Wyss, Heather A. Lowers
2024, Minerals (14)
Over 30 small, discontinuous, tabular carbonatite bodies are located in the Sheep Creek area, Ravalli County, southwest Montana. The age and origin of these REE-Nb-rich deposits are currently being investigated. The purpose of this paper is to document the occurrence of several rare minerals, including daqingshanite, törnebohmite, biraite, sahamalite,...
Testing spatial out-of-sample area of influence for grain forecasting models
Frank Davenport, Donghoon Lee, Shraddhanand Shukla, Greg Husak, W. Chris Funk, Michael Budde, James Rowland
2024, Enivronmental Research Letters (19)
We examine the factors that determine if a grain forecasting model fit to one region can be transferred to another region. Prior research has proposed examining the area of applicability (AoA) of a model based on structurally similar characteristics in the Earth Observation predictors and weights based...
Distributed volcanism—Characteristics, processes, and hazards
Michael P. Poland, Michael H. Ort, Wendy K. Stovall, R. Greg Vaughan, Charles B. Connor, M. Elise Rumpf, editor(s)
2024, Professional Paper 1890
IntroductionDistributed volcanism is defined by regions of dominantly, but not exclusively, monogenetic eruptive vents that are commonly mafic. Volcanic eruptions within distributed fields can range in composition from basalt to rhyolite and produce all types of volcanoes in all tectonic environments. This diversity in eruption composition and style reflects complex...
Temporal, spatial, and chemical evolution of Quaternary high-silica rhyolites in the Mineral Mountains, Utah
Tiffany A. Rivera, Brian R. Jicha, Stefan Kirby, Hannah B. Peacock
2024, Professional Paper 1890-K
The Mineral Mountains in southwestern Utah are a structurally controlled core complex at the confluence of the Colorado Plateau and the Basin and Range physiographic provinces. Aside from hosting Utah’s largest batholith, the Mineral Mountains host some of the State’s youngest high-silica rhyolites, which have been linked to a magma...
Seasonally varying contributions of contemporaneous and lagged sources of instream total nitrogen and phosphorus load across the Illinois River basin
Noah Schmadel, Olivia L. Miller, Scott Ator, Matthew P. Miller, Gregory E. Schwarz, Dale M. Robertson, Andrew Sekellick, Kenneth Skinner, David A. Saad
2024, Science of the Total Envionrment (955)
Quantifying nutrient sources in streams, their temporal and spatial variability, and drivers of that variability can support effective water resources management. Yet a lack of data and modeling capabilities has previously prevented comprehensive quantification across both space and time. Here a dynamic SPARROW...
The solar cycle, geology, and geoelectric hazards for power grids
Jeffrey J. Love, Steven Sobieszczyk, E. Joshua Rigler, Anna Kelbert, Kristen A. Lewis
2024, Fact Sheet 2024-3036
When sunspots are large and numerous, intense magnetic storms are likely to occur on the Earth. Magnetic storms can generate electric fields in the Earth, and these fields can, in turn, interfere with electric power transmission grids that are grounded at the Earth’s surface. Across the contiguous United States, geoelectric...
The Interagency Coordinating Committee on the validation of alternative methods (ICCVAM)
Barnett A. Rattner, Timothy Bargar, Paula F. P. Henry
2024, Report, ICCVAM Biennial Report 2022-2023
Many ICCVAM member agencies are developing new technologies and resources to replace the use of animals for chemical safety testing. These include new platforms such as microphysiological systems (MPS), data resources to support the development of predictive models and quantitative structure–activity relationships (QSARs), and web tools to facilitate data access and visualization....
Conceptualization and simulation of groundwater flow and groundwater availability in the Boone and Roubidoux aquifers in northeastern Oklahoma, 1980–2017
Adam R. Trevisan, Cory A. Russell, Hayden A. Lockmiller, Derrick L. Wagner, Jessica S. Correll, Katherine J. Knierim
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5093
Oklahoma Groundwater Law (Oklahoma Statute § 82-1020.5) requires that the Oklahoma Water Resources Board conduct hydrologic investigations to determine the maximum annual yield for the State’s groundwater basins. The Boone and Roubidoux aquifers (also known as the Springfield Plateau aquifer and Ozark aquifer, respectively) are bedrock aquifers that extend from...
Direct measurements of firn-density evolution from 2016 to 2022 at Wolverine Glacier, Alaska
Max Stevens, Louis C. Sass, Caitlyn Florentine, Christopher J. McNeil, Emily Baker, Katherine Eleanore Bollen
2024, Journal of Glaciology
Knowledge of snow and firn-density change is needed to use elevation-change measurements to estimate glacier mass change. Additionally, firn-density evolution on glaciers is closely connected to meltwater percolation, refreezing and runoff, which are key processes for glacier mass balance and hydrology. Since 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey...
Most pinyon-juniper woodland species distributions are projected to shrink rather than shift under climate change
Adam Roy Noel, Daniel Rodolphe Schlaepfer, Bradley J. Butterfield, M.C. Swan, J. Michael Norris, K. Hartwig, Michael C. Duniway, John B. Bradford
2024, Rangeland Ecology & Management
Pinyon–juniper (PJ) woodlands are among the most widespread ecosystems in rangelands of western North America, supporting diverse wildlife habitat, recreation, grazing, and cultural/spiritual enrichment. Anticipating future distribution shifts under changing climate will be critical to climate adaptation and conservation efforts in...
Demographic risk factors vary in the invasion front of chronic wasting disease in West Virginia, USA
Brian Scott Dugovich, Ethan P. Barton, James M. Crum, M. Kevin Keel, David E. Stallknecht, Mark G. Ruder
2024, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (60) 839-849
After detecting chronic wasting disease (CWD) in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Hampshire County, West Virginia, USA, in 2005, we investigated the change of CWD apparent prevalence and potential factors influencing infection risk during the invasion front. Over eight sampling years (2006–2012 and 2017)...
Geospatial PDF map of the compilation of GIS data for the mineral industries of select countries in the Indo-Pacific region
Elizabeth R. Neustaedter, Erica R. Wolfe
2024, Open-File Report 2024-1066
Introduction In 2024, the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Minerals Information Center (NMIC) completed the project titled "Compilation of geospatial data for the mineral industries of select countries in the Indo-Pacific." This project aimed to leverage the expertise and capabilities of the NMIC to collect, synthesize, and interpret geospatial data to...
U.S. Geological Survey Tunison Laboratory of Aquatic Science research to rehabilitate native prey fish of the Lake Ontario fish community—Coregonine fishes
James E. McKenna Jr., James H. Johnson, Steven Lapan, Marc Chalupnicki, Gregg Mackey, Mike Millard, Kevin Loftus, Michael Connerton, Christopher Legard, Brian Weidel, Dimitry Gorsky
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5094
Restoration of native coregonines to Lake Ontario of the Laurentian Great Lakes will improve the diversity of forage for salmonid predators and ecological function in the lake, but efficacy of experimental releases for native species restoration must be evaluated. The Coregonine Research Program at the U.S. Geological Survey Tunison Laboratory...
Bird community response to field-level integration of prairie strips
Jordan C. Giese, Lisa A. Schulte, Robert W. Klaver
2024, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment (374)
Grassland birds are under threat worldwide due to loss of habitat to agriculture. Prairie strips are a new agricultural conservation practice composed of linear strips of reconstructed diverse, native, herbaceous, perennial vegetation designed to promote land sharing among agriculture and biodiversity, while also addressing soil and water conservation goals. We...
Closing the conservation gap in the sagebrush biome: Spatial targeting and coordination are needed for conservation to keep pace with sagebrush losses
Tina G. Mozelewski, Patrick T. Freeman, Alexander V. Kumar, David E. Naugle, Elissa M. Olimpi, Scott L. Morford, Michelle Jeffries, David Pilliod, Caitlin E. Littlefield, Sarah E. McCord, Lief A. Wiechman, Emily J. Kachergis, Kevin E. Doherty
2024, Rangeland Ecology and Management (97) 12-24
Core sagebrush areas (CSAs), patches of high sagebrush ecological integrity, continue to decline despite significant conservation and restoration investments across the sagebrush biome. Historically, conservation decisions in the biome have been driven by wildlife species-specific demands, but increasing recognition of the...
The state of the bats in North America
Amanda M. Adams, Luis A. Trujillo, C.J. Campbell, Karen L. Akre, Joaquin Arroyo-Cabrales, Leanne Burns, Jeremy T.H. Coleman, Rita D. Dixon, Charles M. Francis, Melquisedec Gamba-Rios, Vona Kuczynska, Angie McIntire, Rodrigo A. Medellín, Katrina M. Morris, Jonathan D. Reichard, Brian Reichert, Jordi L. Segers, Michael D. Whitby, Winifred F. Frick
2024, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
The world's rich diversity of bats supports healthy ecosystems and important ecosystem services. Maintaining healthy biological systems requires prompt identification of threats to biodiversity and immediate action to protect species, which for wide-ranging bat species that span geopolitical boundaries warrants international coordination. Anthropogenic forces drive...
Quantifying potential effects of China’s gallium and germanium export restrictions on the U.S. economy
Nedal T. Nassar, Ensieh Shojaeddini, Elisa Alonso, Brian Jaskula, Amy Tolcin
2024, Open-File Report 2024-1057
China’s export controls on gallium and germanium exemplify concerns regarding the reliability of supplies of mineral commodities that are essential to economic development, national security, and transition to renewable energy. This report presents a new model that quantifies the potential effects of mineral commodity supply disruptions on the U.S. economy....
Climate futures for lizards and snakes in western North America may result in new species management issues
David Pilliod, Michelle Jeffries, Robert Arkle, Deanna H. Olson
2024, Ecology and Evolution (14)
We assessed changes in fundamental climate-niche space for lizard and snake species in western North America under modeled climate scenarios to inform natural resource managers of possible shifts in species distributions. We generated eight distribution models for each of 130 snake and lizard species...
Propagating observation errors to enable scalable and rigorous enumeration of plant population abundance with aerial imagery
Andrii Zaiats, Trevor Caughlin, Jennyffer Cruz, David Pilliod, Megan E Cattau, Rongsong Liu, Richard Rachman, Maisha Maliha, Donna M. Delparte, John DF Clare
2024, Methods in Ecology and Evolution
Estimating and monitoring plant population size is fundamental for ecological research, as well as conservation and restoration programs. High-resolution imagery has potential to facilitate such estimation and monitoring. However, remotely sensed estimates typically have higher uncertainty than field measurements, risking biased inference on...
