Vegetation cover and composition in environments surrounding uranium mines in the Grand Canyon ecosystem, Northern Arizona
Rebecca K. Mann, Michael C. Duniway, Jo Ellen Hinck
2026, Open-File Report 2025-1024
Mining uranium from breccia-pipe deposits in the greater Grand Canyon region has occurred since the mid-1900s. However, possible ecosystem contamination with harmful levels of radionuclides may have occurred due to mining activities in the 21st century. In response, a 20-year Federal moratorium on new mining claims in the Grand Canyon...
Seasonal and decadal changes in winter body condition of four sympatric diving ducks
Mason A. Hill, Susan E.W. De La Cruz, Laurie Anne Hall, Stacy M. Moskal, John Y. Takekawa, John M. Eadie
2026, Journal of Wildlife Management
Winter body condition is an important driver of survival, reproductive output, and overall population health in waterfowl. Diving duck species use distinct habitats, exploit unique resources, and can collectively provide an integrated index of winter habitat quality. The San Francisco Bay (SFB) is the largest estuary on...
ECCOE Landsat Quarterly Calibration and Validation Report—Quarter 2, 2025
Md Obaidul Haque, Nahid Hasan, Ashish Shrestha, Rajagopalan Rengarajan, Mark Lubke, Daniel Steinwand, Paul Bresnahan, Jerad L. Shaw, Kathryn Ruslander, Esad Micijevic, Michael J. Choate, Cody Anderson, Jeff Clauson, Kurt Thome, Amit Angal, Raviv Levy, Jeff Miller, Leibo Ding, Cibele Teixeira Pinto
2026, Open-File Report 2026-1059
Executive Summary The U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Calibration and Validation (Cal/Val) Center of Excellence (ECCOE) focuses on improving the accuracy, precision, calibration, and product quality of remote- sensing data, leveraging years of multiscale optical system geometric and radiometric calibration and characterization experience. The ECCOE Landsat Cal/Val Team...
Latest Pleistocene to 19th-century earthquakes on bending-moment reverse faults of the Seattle fault zone, Washington
Stephen J. Angster, Brian L. Sherrod, Jessie K. Pearl, Lydia M. Staisch, Wes Johns, Richard J. Blakely
2026, GSA Bulletin
Fault-related folds and their associated secondary faults play a critical yet often underrecognized role in accommodating strain and generating earthquakes in active fold-and-thrust belts. In the Seattle fault zone (SFZ), Washington, USA, we present new paleoseismic, geomorphic, and geophysical evidence for late Pleistocene and Holocene earthquakes on...
A matter of timing: Sagebrush steppe restoration seeding outcomes altered by species responses to warmer spring temperatures and interannual weather variation
Stella M Copeland, Jonathan D Bates, Kirk W Davies, Matthew Germino
2026, Restoration Ecology
IntroductionRestoration outcomes in cold desert ecosystems like sagebrush steppe are affected by weather variability, particularly during the spring, a critical time period for seedling establishment. Seedling emergence phenology is also highly variable among species in these ecosystems. Seed-based restoration outcomes are likely affected by the emergence timing...
Sea-level rise in a coastal marsh: Linking increasing tidal inundation, decreasing soil strength and increasing pond expansion
Mona Huyzentruyt, Lennert Schepers, Matt L. Kirwan, Glenn Guntenspergen, Stijn Temmerman
2026, Biogeosciences (23) 751-766
Coastal marsh conversion into ponds, which may be triggered by sea-level rise, is considered an important driver of marsh loss and their valuable ecosystem services. Previous studies have focused on the role of wind waves in driving the expansion of interior marsh ponds, through lateral erosion of marsh edges surrounding...
Recent scientific contributions by the U.S. Geological Survey in the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta Estuary
Judith Z. Drexler, Jake Weltzin
2026, Fact Sheet 2025-3058
Introduction The San Francisco Bay and Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta Estuary (hereafter, Bay-Delta) is the largest estuary on the West Coast of the United States. The Bay- Delta covers more than 1,600 square miles and drains a watershed of more than 75,000 square miles, which is greater than 40 percent of California....
Multi-year cut-to-drown management limits Phragmites australis growth, belowground resources, and rhizome viability in Great Lakes wetlands
Wesley A. Bickford, Kaira A. Schaefer, Spenser L. Widin, Kurt P. Kowalski
2026, Journal of Great Lakes Research
The distribution and abundance of Phragmites in the Great Lakes coastal zone has expanded in part due to its unique ventilation physiology and its ability to take advantage of changes in lake levels over the past several decades. During an extended period of low lake levels in the early...
Teach me how to pycap: A high-capacity well decision support tool using analytical solutions in Python
Michael N. Fienen, Aaron Pruitt, Howard W. Reeves
2026, Groundwater
Regulatory agencies in humid temperate environments rely on timely evaluations of streamflow depletion and drawdown to protect aquatic ecosystems and existing water users. Numerical models offer detailed insights, but their complexity and time demands often preclude their practical use in rapid decision-making. We present pycap-dss, an open-source Python package that...
Modeling carbon fluxes in tidal forested wetlands in the Mississippi river deltaic plain under various hydrologic conditions: Implications for river diversions
Hongqing Wang, Ken W. Krauss, Gary P. Shaffer, Brett Patton, Daniel Kroes, Gregory E. Noe, Zhaohua Dai, Lindsey Dettwiller, Carl C. Trettin
2026, Wetlands Ecology and Management (34)
Our understanding of the impacts of climate change, sea-level rise (SLR), and freshwater management on the magnitude and variability of carbon fluxes in tidal forested wetlands remains limited. In this study, we applied a process-driven wetland biogeochemistry model, Wetland Carbon Assessment Tool—DeNitrification-DeComposition (WCAT-DNDC) model to explore responses of carbon fluxes...
Prioritizing resource protection and understanding potential susceptibility of springs to surficial changes in a low-temperature geothermal system
Connor P. Newman, Jeff D. Pepin
2026, Geothermics (136)
Geothermal systems are vulnerable to changes in water budget and composition, requiring science-based management. This study uses a dataset of spring water temperatures, time series of groundwater residence time tracers (tritium and carbon-14), and stable isotopes of water to understand geothermal flow in a low-temperature geothermal system in north west...
Earthquake-hazard exposure of residents with potential access and functional needs in the United States
Nathan J. Wood, Alice Pennaz, Jeanne M. Jones
2026, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (134)
Earthquake response plans and earthquake early warning (EEW) systems designed for general populations may not consider potential access and functional needs (AFN) of individuals with physical, sensory, cognitive, or social limitations. Previous efforts to map the distribution of these populations have focused on social-vulnerability indices that ignore or oversimply these...
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other contaminants of concern in tribal waters of Montana
Kelly L. Smalling, Paul M. Bradley, Kristin M. Romanok, John T. Doyle, Margaret J. Eggers, Christine Martin, Elliott P. Barnhart, Picabo Binette, Eric M. Castro, Madisan Chavez, Stephanie A. Ewing, Stephanie E. Gordon, Mathew W. Fields, James L. Gray, Ashley M. Groshong, Chiachi Hwang, Leslie K. Kanagy, JoRee WClay LaFrance, Keith A. Loftin, Carrie Mae Long, R. Blaine McCleskey, Shannon M. Meppelink, Crystal L. Richards, Molly L. Schreiner, Jonathan I. Shikany, Mahelat Tesfamariam
2026, Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts
We assessed potential exposures to a broad suite of contaminants (inorganic, organic and microbial) in culturally important surface waters from three watersheds in a northern plains Native American community (Apsáalooke [Crow Tribe of Montana]) in south-central Montana, United States, with water insecurity concerns. Inorganic (37), organic (435)...
Surface variable‐based machine learning for scalable arsenic prediction in undersampled areas
Shams Azad, Mason O. Stahl, Melinda Erickson, Beck A. DeYoung, Craig T. Connolly, Lawrence Chillrud, Kathrin Schilling, Ana Navas-Acien, Anirban Basu, Brian Mailloux, Benjamin C. Bostick, Steven N. Chillrud
2026, GeoHealth (10)
In the United States, private wells are not federally regulated, and many households do not test for Arsenic (As). Chronic exposure is linked with multiple health outcomes, and risk can change sharply over short distances and with well depth. Coarse maps or sparse sampling often miss exceedances....
Waterfowl move less in heterogeneous and human-populated landscapes, with implications for spread of avian influenza viruses
Claire Stewart Teitelbaum, Diann J. Prosser, Joshua T. Ackerman, Sakib Ahmed, A.B.M. Sarowar Alam, Kazi Zenifar Azmiri, Nyambaya Batbayar, Joël Bêty, Abigail Blake-Bradshaw, Dmitrijs Boiko, Nelleke H. Buitendijk, Jeffrey J. Buler, David Cabot, Michael L. Casazza, Bradley S. Cohen, Batmunkh Davaasuren, Sébastien Farau, Jamie Feddersen, John R. Fieberg, Wolfgang Fiedler, Peter Glazov, Larry R. Griffin, Matthieu Guillemain, Heath Hagy, Matthew J. Hardy, Cory Highway, David Hoffman, Tehan Kang, Allison Keever, Jennifer Kilburn, Andrea Kölzsch, Helmut Kruckenberg, Toni Laaksonen, Brian S. Ladman, Hansoo Lee, Siwan Lee, Josée Lefebvre, Pierre Legagneux, Hans Linssen, Jesper Madsen, Nicholas M. Masto, Scott R. McWilliams, Tori Mezebish Quinn, Carl P.J. Mitchell, Axelle Moreau, Gerhard Müskens, Scott Newman, Bart A. Nolet, Rascha J.M. Nuijten, Jay Osenkowski, Cory T. Overton, Antti Piironen, Betty Plaquin, Andrew M. Ramey, Jean Rodrigue, David Rodrigues, Kees H.T. Schreven, Yali Si, Jeffery D. Sullivan, John Takekawa, Philippe J. Thomas, Mariëlle van Toor, Jonas Waldenström, Christopher K. Williams, David W. Wolfson, Fei Xu, Ian G. Brosnan, Susan E.W. De La Cruz
2026, Ecology Letters (29)
Animal movements contribute to the spread of infectious diseases and are driven in part by environmental conditions. We investigated the links among the environment, animal movement, and infectious disease dynamics in waterfowl, which are among the primary wildlife hosts of avian influenza viruses. By combining telemetry data...
Assessing the influence of conservation implementation on water quality during surface runoff events at edge-of-field monitoring sites located in the Laurentian Great Lakes basin
Brittany Rose Hanrahan, Matthew W. Diebel, Rebecca B. Carvin, Edward G. Dobrowolski, Matthew John Hardebeck, Andrew Jason Kowalczk, Chad A. Toussant, Matthew J. Komiskey
2026, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
The Laurentian Great Lakes are a vital freshwater resource in the United States, and nonpoint source (NPS) nutrient pollution, specifically phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N), from agricultural land use continues to negatively impact water quality throughout the Great Lakes basin. One focus of the Great Lakes Restoration...
Strength of depensation not influenced by fish population productivity
Greg S. Sass, Joesph T. Mrnak, Stephanie L Shaw, Zachary S. Feiner, Colin J. Dassow, Andrew L. Rypel, Holly Susan Embke
2026, Fisheries Research (294)
A long-held assumption in the management of exploited fisheries is that fish populations will compensate with increased recruit survival to replenish the population when adult stock size is reduced through harvest. Observations of depensatory recruitment (reduced recruit survival at low adult stock size) and critical depensatory thresholds have challenged the...
Mountain goat declines in a protected, interior, native population
Tabitha A. Graves, William Michael Janousek, Michael Yarnall, Jami Belt
2026, Ecosphere (17)
A shifting climate poses threats to alpine-adapted species including mountain goats. We used long-term (12 years) citizen science monitoring data and Bayesian N-mixture modeling to estimate population trends and drivers of population metrics among mountain goats in Glacier National Park (GNP). Median goats per site (n = 37 sites) declined by 45% (95%...
Best practice guidelines for targeted environmental DNA-based proficiency testing in non-regulatory contexts
Margaret Hunter, Adam Sepulveda, Dianne M. Gleeson, Alejandro Trujillo-Gonzalez, Caren C. Helbing, Helen C. Rees, Devin Nicole Jones-Slobodian, Rachel C. Miliano, Toshifumi Minamoto, Susanna Theroux, Cecilia Villacorta Rath, Taylor Wilcox, Hiroki Yamanaka, Katy E. Klymus
2026, Environmental DNA (8)
The effective use of environmental DNA (eDNA) tools is contingent on strict adherence to established and validated methods. Differences in eDNA methods and quality assurance protocols may contribute to variability in results. However, quality assurance measures such as proficiency testing can provide independent evaluation of laboratory performance against pre-established test...
Compilation of a nationwide river image dataset for identifying river channels and river rapids via deep learning
Nicholas Brimhall, Kelvyn K. Bladen, Tom Kerby, Carl J. Legleiter, Cameron Swapp, Hannah Fluckiger, Julie E Bahr, Makenna Roberts, Kaden Hart, Christina L. Stegman, Brennan Bean, Kevin Moon
2026, Remote Sensing (18)
Remote sensing enables large-scale, image-based assessments of river dynamics, offering new opportunities for hydrological monitoring. We present a publicly available dataset consisting of 281,024 satellite and aerial images of U.S. rivers, constructed using an Application Programming Interface (API) and the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Hydrography Dataset. The dataset includes images,...
Bedrock geologic map of the Eagle Lake quadrangle, Essex County, New York
Gregory J. Walsh, Sean P. Regan, Phillip S. Geer, Arthur J. Merschat, Kaitlyn A. Suarez, Ryan J. McAleer, Matt S. Walton, Jr., E. Allen Crider, Jr.
2026, Scientific Investigations Map 3542
The bedrock geology of the 7.5-minute Eagle Lake quadrangle, Essex County, New York, consists of deformed and metamorphosed Mesoproterozoic gneisses of the Adirondack Highlands unconformably overlain by weakly deformed lower Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of the Champlain Valley. The Mesoproterozoic rocks occur on the eastern edge of the Adirondack Highlands and...
An energetic tradeoff best explains parturition timing in grizzly bears
C. M. Costello, L. L. Roberts, D. D. Bjornlie, M. D. Cameron, J. G. Clapp, Mark Haroldson, G. V. Hilderbrand, K. Joly, W. Kasworm, J. M. Nicholson, T. Radandt, M. S. Sorum, J. E. Teisberg, Frank T. van Manen, M. A. Vinks
2026, Ecology and Evolution (16)
Timing of grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) parturition during hibernation has been explained by ancestral traits (delayed implantation, altricial young, obligate maternal denning), but the ultimate driver underlying precise timing has not been fully explored. Capitalizing on an observed latitudinal increase in denning duration among four populations in interior North America,...
Distribution, abundance, breeding activities, and habitat use of the Least Bell's Vireo at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California—2020–24 summary report
Suellen Lynn, Alexandra Houston, Barbara E. Kus, Shannon M. Mendia
2026, Open-File Report 2025-1057
Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to provide the Marine Corps with a summary of abundance, breeding activity, demography, and habitat use of endangered Least Bell’s Vireos (Vireo bellii pusillus) at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California (MCBCP or Base). The report presents results of vireo surveys and monitoring...
Comparison of two precipitation gage networks in Cook County, Illinois
Kevin K. Johnson
2026, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5102
The Cook County Precipitation Network is a set of 25 precipitation gages established within Cook County, Illinois, on approximately a 5- to 7-mile square grid and used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help account for diversions of water from Lake Michigan to the State of Illinois. The...
Widespread terrestrial ecosystem disruption at the onset of the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum
Mei Nelissen, Debra A. Willard, Han Konijnenburg-van Cittert, Gabriel J. Bowen, Teuntje Hollaar, Appy Sluijs, Joost Frieling, Henk Brinkhuis
2026, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (123)
The Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, ~56 Mya) interval was marked by massive 13C-depleted carbon emissions into the ocean/atmosphere system, manifested as a negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE) in sedimentary components, and ~5 °C global average warming. Episodes of hydrological perturbations and soil-erosion have been widely documented for the PETM but their...
