Disease, drought, and warming: A triple threat to a declining high-elevation amphibian
Amanda Marie Kissel, L. Mae Lacey, Viorel D. Popescu, Marissa A. Dyck, Larissa L. Bailey, Erin L. Muths
2026, Ecology and Evolution (16)
Managing species in an uncertain future is a reality for natural resource decision makers. Climate change is expected to exacerbate threats such as habitat loss and disease, and cause phenological mismatches, but there is uncertainty in the magnitude of these effects. Amphibians are among the most threatened...
Global pegmatite-hosted lithium, cesium, and rubidium resources: A dataset for grade and tonnage modeling
Joshua Mark Rosera, Dalton M. McCaffrey, Niki E. Wintzer
2026, Ore Geology Reviews (194)
Quantitative mineral resource assessments of potential undiscovered deposits can inform future mineral supply scenarios, but their accuracy is conditional on building robust grade and tonnage models of known deposits. This study presents an up-to-date global compilation and analysis of recently discovered and original, in-situ pegmatite-hosted Li, Cs, and Rb resources...
Arizona Water Science Center activities at Lees Ferry, Arizona
Kathryn Anne Cooney
2026, Fact Sheet 2026-3002
Introduction In 1921, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) established a streamgage on the Colorado River at Lees Ferry, Arizona, to monitor the river’s flow and level as it enters Grand Canyon. The following year, the seven States encompassing the Colorado River Basin (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming)...
Rapid earthquake magnitude classification via P-wave strains from borehole strainmeters and Distributed Acoustic Sensing
Theresa Marie Sawi, Jeffrey J. McGuire, Andrew J. Barbour, Clara Yoon, Martin Karrenbach, Connie Stewart
2026, Nature Communications (17)
Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) offers a promising approach for earthquake early warning (EEW) in settings where seismic networks are costly to maintain. By repurposing fiber-optic cables as dense strainmeter arrays, DAS enables real-time earthquake detection wherever those fibers are accessible. However, poor azimuthal coverage and challenges in estimating magnitude from...
Debunking the myth of the quintessential resource manager: Precision in actionable science
Amanda E. Cravens, Nicole M. Herman-Mercer, Aparna Bamzai-Dodson, Megan A. Moore, Richard Eugene Waggaman Berl, Nicholas W. Cole, Oronde Oliver Drakes, Diamond Victoria Ebanks, David C. Fulton, Megan Siobhan Jones, Dawn Marie Kotowicz, Michael C Mcinturff, James R. Meldrum, Kathryn Powlen, Aaron Daniel Russell, Stefan Gabriel Tangen, Emily J. Wilkins
2026, Conservation Science and Practice
“Actionable science” is a widely held standard for identifying the merits of natural resources research. Yet, science is often framed as actionable to a vaguely identified quintessential “manager” without defining either the intended manager or use. Generic descriptions lack precision for identifying end users or their needs, limiting methodological rigor...
Landslide volume estimation from seismic waveform features using a global catalog of seismogenic events
Elaine A. Collins, Kate E. Allstadt, Liam Toney
2026, Seismological Research Letters (97) 2314-2326
Seismic waves generated by large, rapid landslides encode information about the source and can be analyzed rapidly following an event. Even remote landslides can pose hazards to downstream communities, so rapid detection and characterization using existing seismic monitoring networks could be beneficial. In this study, we expand on past regionally...
Strengthening ties between the U.S. Geological Survey and Interstate Fisheries Commissions
Joshua D. Miller, Michael William Schmidt, Thomas Joseph O'Connell, Kurt R. Newman, Danielle Kitchen, Robert Beal, Marc Gaden, Dave Donaldson, Barry Thom, Steve VanderKooy, Patrick Campfield, John M. Dettmers, Stan Allen, David H. Hu, Jennifer M. Bayer, Deborah Epperson, Rachel E. Reagan, Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Margaret Lamont, Russell M. Strach
2026, Fisheries
Fish inhabiting marine coastal and Great Lakes waters of the United States forage, migrate, and reproduce without regard to human-made boundaries. In the mid-20th century, the 32 states along the U.S. coasts and Great Lakes recognized the growing need for coordinated, interjurisdictional fisheries management and formed four interstate or international...
Black abalone surveys at Naval Base Ventura County, San Nicolas Island, California—2023 annual report
Michael C. Kenner, Julie L. Yee
2026, Open-File Report 2026-1015
The U.S. Geological Survey monitors a suite of intertidal black abalone (Haliotis cracherodii) sites at San Nicolas Island, California, in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, which owns the island. The nine rocky intertidal sites were established in 1980 to study the potential effect of translocated sea otters on the intertidal...
Summaries of goals, actions, and information needs by management entity
Christine D. Miller Hesed, Heather M. Yocum, editor(s)
2026, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5018-B
The grasslands in the North Central region are managed by a diverse group of Federal, State, and Tribal agencies; nongovernmental organizations; partnerships; and private landowners. This chapter highlights these various grassland management entities, provides background information on their mission and organizational structure, and describes some of their key grassland...
Assessing the prevalence, timing, and rapidity of transitions between hydrological extremes and their relation to meteorological extremes in the conterminous United States
Caelan Simeone, John C. Hammond
2026, Preprint
Rapid shifts between droughts and floods, termed hydrological whiplash, challenge water management, yet their timing and drivers remain poorly understood at continental scales. While drought-to-flood (DtF) transitions have received growing attention, flood-to-drought (FtD) transitions — though rarer — pose distinct operational challenges that are less well characterized. These wet-to-dry shifts...
Fifty years of riverine harmful algal bloom modeling: A global synthesis of approaches, challenges, and opportunities
Jennifer C. Murphy, Rebecca M. Gorney, Lisa V. Lucas, Jacob Aaron Zwart, Jennifer L. Graham
2026, Water Research (303)
This systematic literature review critically examines 162 articles on harmful algal bloom (HAB) modeling in riverine systems to uncover persistent gaps, redefine critical challenges, and propose trackable opportunities to advance future modeling efforts. Articles largely focused on site-specific applications (93%) across more than 80 rivers worldwide. Most...
Long-term monitoring identifies increase in Henslow’s Sparrow (Centronyx henslowii) abundance following fire management in a North Carolina grassland
Emily A. Nastase, Nathan J. Hostetter, John P. Carpenter, Jamie A. Collazo
2026, Avian Conservation and Ecology (21)
Understanding population responses to environmental change is critical for assessing vulnerability, resilience, and habitat management needs. We assessed Henslow’s Sparrow (Centronyx henslowii) abundance and breeding productivity in an isolated North Carolina grassland (1149 ha) that transitioned from unmanaged to fire-managed during 2011–2024. Fire management was initiated in 2016, where approximately...
Predictions of anthropogenic background PFAS concentrations in soil and relation to bedrock lithology and groundwater quality
Andrea K. Tokranov, Leah M. Santangelo, Joseph D. Ayotte, Sydney M. Welch, Kate Emma A. Schlosser, Jeffrey M. Marts, Anthony F. Drouin, Harrison Roakes
2026, Environmental Science & Technology (60) 16792-16804
Detectable concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been observed in soils in remote areas and presumably originate from atmospheric deposition. These anthropogenic background concentrations may enable some PFAS to leach to groundwater at levels that exceed regulatory criteria for drinking water. However, anthropogenic background soil concentrations and their...
Trends in subdaily to daily rainfall in Florida, 1990–2022
Saira Haider, Michelle M. Irizarry-Ortiz, Jayantha T. Obeysekera, Ana C. Maran, Tarana Solaiman, Brett D. Johnston
2026, Journal of Hydrometeorology (27) 847-865
Changing rainfall patterns and intensifying rainfall extremes affect urban infrastructure and can increase flash-flood risk. Understanding how climate change has altered rainfall can support state and local agencies as they adapt and build resiliency. In this study, rainfall data from 23 weather stations in Florida were used to examine temporal...
Paleogene landscape and basin evolution in the Missouri River Headwater region of the Basin and Range Province in southwestern Montana: Implications for Paleogene extensional tectonic models and magmatism
Robert K. Schwartz, Theresa Maude Schwartz, Colleen G. Elliott
2026, Report
No abstract available....
Mangrove microbiomes as drivers of ecosystem recovery and restoration success
Elijah I. Ohimain, Robert Eugene Turner, Beth Middleton
2026, Microorganisms (14)
The microbes found in the rhizosphere, roots, leaves and stem surfaces and within the internal tissues of mangrove vegetation and their environment constitute the microbiome of the ecosystem. The organisms in the microbiome include bacteria, protozoa, fungi, algae, amoebas, and slime molds, which assist in maintaining and restoring mangrove ecosystems....
Geothermal district energy systems coupled with seasonal underground thermal energy storage: A U.S. techno-economic screening by climate and geology
Scott Mello, Hyunjun Oh, Whitney J. Trainor-Guitton, Ryan Cain Cahalan, Jeffrey D. Pepin, Erick R. Burns
2026, Renewable Energy (271)
In the United States, cooling-dominated commercial building loads can cause geothermal heat pump-based district energy systems to accumulate a long-term subsurface thermal imbalance, motivating the incorporation of seasonal underground thermal energy storage. We developed a transferable workflow to evaluate geothermal district systems that pair ground heat exchangers with seasonal underground...
Localization of spatiotemporally heterogeneous subsurface flows using autoencoder-based deep learning framework for time-lapse self-potential tomography
Huichao Yin, Scott Ikard, Dale F. Rucker, Scott C. Brooks, Zhenxue Dai, Mohamad Reza Soltanian, Kenneth C. Carroll
2026, JGR Machine Learning and Computation (3)
Self-potential (SP) monitoring has emerged as a valuable method for characterizing subsurface hydrogeological features and processes due to its sensitivity to fluid-induced electrokinetic effects. Despite advancements in SP inversion, challenges remain in imaging groundwater dynamics from SP activities due to complex hydrological settings and transient noise. In this study, a...
Improving offshore 3D splay fault geometries and slip histories using seismic data reprocessing and structural modeling
Anna M. Ledeczi, Nathaniel C. Miller, Harold J. Tobin, Cailey B. Condit
2026, Report
The goal of this project as written in the CRESCENT seed grant proposal was as follows: 1) reprocess selected profiles along strike from 45° to 48°N from the CASIE21 crustal-scale seismic data to obtain higher-resolution and higher-quality imaging of the uppermost 1-2 km of the accretionary wedge; 2) convert high-resolution...
Co-occurrence of pesticides and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) across Zostera marina (common eelgrass) communities
Alexandra G. Tissot, Janet C. Niessner, Elise F. Granek, Kimberly Brown, Michelle L. Hladik
2026, Marine Pollution Bulletin (231)
Anthropogenic pressures are driving changes in eelgrass communities, which are altering baseline conditions in estuarine environments. Field detections have validated the transport of land-sourced pollutants to aquatic systems; however, studies rarely sample concurrently for pesticides, and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) across environmental compartments. Moreover, studies on contaminant uptake...
Range-wide relative abundance of the Appalachian grizzled skipper (Pyrgus centaureae wyandot) in the Eastern United States
Nimish B. Vyas, Jennifer Selfridge, David Cuthrell, Robert Somes, Erin White, Judith Ratcliffe, J. Merrill Lynch, Laurie Hamon, Eileen Wyza, Betsy Leppo, Pete Woods, Anthony Tur, Donovan Drummey, Kathryn Nolan, Ellison Orcutt, Andrew Rapp, Leah Card, Jakob Goldner, Susan Olcott
2026, Open-File Report 2026-1017
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated the Pyrgus centaureae wyandot (Appalachian Grizzled Skipper [AGS]) to be at-risk, based on its declining populations and the lack of information on its status. The objective of this study was to complete range-wide surveys to locate extant AGS colonies and to quantify...
Effects of repeat prescribed burning in dry coniferous forests in national parks of California
Phillip J. van Mantgem, Micah C. Wright, Calvin A. Farris, Eamon Engber, Emma J. McClure, Anthony C. Caprio, MaryBeth Keifer
2026, Fire Ecology (22)
BackgroundPrescribed fire is a common approach to reduce fuels and mitigate fire hazards. The accumulation of live and dead fuels following initial treatment means that repeated application of prescribed fire could be used to maintain this benefit. However, the effect of repeated prescribed fires is not well documented...
Future water constraints on United States lithium mining under climate change
Jenna Nicole Trost, Nedal T. Nassar, Jennifer B. Dunn
2026, Communications Earth & Environment
Lithium is necessary for low-carbon technologies that combat climate change, but lithium extraction is water-intensive. Changes in temperature and precipitation arising from climate change are altering water distribution, which could further strain supplies for new mines and industry, farms, and households. Here we explored how climate change, water use, and...
Assessing environmental influences on gene flow for a migratory ungulate in a fire-prone landscape
Elizabeth P Flesch, Tabitha A. Graves, Mark Biel
2026, Landscape Ecology
ContextMigratory species traverse long distances across complex landscape mosaics. Shifts in environmental attributes across space and time could affect movement paths and genetic connectivity of migratory species.ObjectivesWe identified boundaries to genetic connectivity based on population structure and evaluated environmental influences on gene flow in a migratory...
Geochemical, mineralogical, and isotopic evidence for multi-stage genesis of the Hicks Dome REE + Y-HFSE-fluorite deposit, Illinois, USA
Julia A. McIntosh, Allen K. Andersen, Mitchell M. Bennett, Jay M. Thompson, Craig A. Johnson, Albert H. Hofstra, Laurence Nuelle
2026, Ore Geology Reviews (194)
Hicks Dome hosts breccias enriched in rare earth elements (REE), Y, Th, F, Ba, Ti, Nb, and Be, alongside spatially associated lamprophyre dikes (ca. 271 Ma). Hicks Dome is located within the Illinois–Kentucky Fluorspar District, which hosts fluorite, Pb–Zn, and barite resources. This study investigates the genetic relationships between Hicks Dome...