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Small, isolated populations present a challenge for conservation. The dueling effects of selection and drift in a limited pool of genetic diversity make the responses of small populations to environmental perturbations erratic and difficult to predict. This is particularly true at the edge of a species...

A portable suction-dredge and sluice-box system were used to collect larval lampreys (Entosphenus tridentatus and Lampetra spp.) from fine and coarse sediment in field and laboratory tests. We evaluated the injury rate, survival, and burrowing capability of lamprey following passage through the dredge system and used collection of lamprey...

The Grand Canyon region in northern Arizona is a home or sacred place of origin for many Native Americans and is visited by over 6 million tourists each year. Most communities in the area depend upon groundwater for all water uses. Some of the highest-grade uranium ore in...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the City of Grandview, Missouri, assessed flooding of the Little Blue River at Grandview resulting from varying precipitation magnitudes and durations and expected land-cover changes. The precipitation scenarios were used to develop a library of flood-inundation maps that included a 3.5-mile reach...

Statistical modeling of water-quality data collected at the Sacramento River at Freeport and San Joaquin River near Vernalis, California, USA, was used to examine trends in concentrations and loads of various forms of dissolved and particulate nitrogen and phosphorus that entered the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta (Delta) from upstream sources...

For more than 130 years, the type locality of the Plains Spotted Skunk, Spilogale putorius interrupta (Rafinesque, 1820) has been accepted to be along the upper Missouri River. The species’ description was based on a specimen observed by Constantine S. Rafinesque during his 1818 exploration of the Ohio River Valley, but...

The southwestern U.S. is a global hotspot of climate change. Models project that temperatures will continue to rise through the end of the 21st century, accompanied by significant changes to the hydrological cycle. Within the Sonoran Desert, a limited number of studies have documented climate...

Land disposal of sewage wastewater through septic systems and cesspools is a major cause of elevated concentrations of nitrogen in the shallow coastal aquifers of southern New England. The discharge of nitrogen from these sources at the coast is affecting the environmental health of coastal saltwater bodies. In response, local,...

This report describes the joint efforts of USGS UMESC and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to monitor bigheaded carps in the Upper Mississippi River. The report prepared for the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource Association details eDNA results from 2021....

Reliable information about the frequency of annual peak streamflow is needed for floodplain management, objective assessment of flood risk, and cost-effective design of dams, levees, other flood-control structures, and roads, bridges, and culverts. Generalized skew coefficients are among the data needed for log-Pearson type III peak-streamflow frequency analyses of annual...

Earthquake-induced secondary ground failure hazards, such as liquefaction and landslides, result in catastrophic building and infrastructure damage as well as human fatalities. To facilitate emergency responses and mitigate losses, the U.S. Geological Survey provides a rapid hazard estimation system for earthquake-triggered landslides and liquefaction using geospatial susceptibility proxies and ShakeMap...

Multi-period response spectra (MPRS) are incorporated in the development of seismic design ground motions in the 2020 edition of the NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures (2020 NEHRP Provisions) and are approved for adoption in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Standard, Minimum Design Loads...

Since 1978, the Lake Ontario preyfish community survey has provided information on the status and trends of the benthic preyfish community related to Fish Community Objectives that includes understanding preyfish population dynamics and community diversity. Beginning in 2015, the benthic preyfish survey expanded from US-only to incorporate lake-wide sampling sites...

This report summarizes the activities and results of the Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM) working group (WG) of the International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology (ICCP), from its inception in September, 2015, to the present day (September, 2021). The purpose of this report is to document the history of...

Expansion of human enterprise across western North America has resulted in an increase in availability of anthropogenic resource subsidies for generalist species. This has led to increases in generalists’ population numbers across landscapes that were previously less suitable for their current demographic rates. Of particular concern are growing populations of...

On Memorial Day, 2015, catastrophic flooding throughout central Texas resulted in the loss of 13 lives and caused millions of dollars in damages (Furl 2018). The flooding exposed the need for water resource managers, first responders, and the public to have better real-time access to streamflow gaging stations and weather information. In...

Decades of mounting scientific evidence have revealed that common raven (Corvus corax; raven) population numbers have been increasing across nearly all regions of their geographic range in North America. Concomitantly, numerous native wildlife species have experienced elevated predation rates from ravens as populations have increased and expanded their range. Managers...

Since 1966, common raven (Corvus corax; raven) abundance has increased throughout much of this species’ Holarctic distribution, fueled by an ever-expanding supply of anthropogenic resource subsidies (e.g., water, food, shelter, and nesting substrate) to ecoregion specific raven population carrying capacities. Consequently, ravens are implicated in declines of both avian and...

Common raven (Corvus corax; raven) populations have increased over the past 5 decades within the western United States. Raven population increases have been largely attributed to growing resource subsidies from expansion of human enterprise. Concomitantly, managers are becoming increasingly concerned about elevated adverse effects on multiple sensitive prey species, damage...

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) calls upon the systematic collection of damage and loss data between 2015 and 2030 to monitor a number of disaster indicators. These indicators include the number of deaths, number of injured people, number of people affected by disasters, and direct economic losses....

Initial alerts by PAGER (Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response) within minutes following an earthquake include several uncertainties, mainly due to potential inaccuracies in location, depth, fault delineation, and shaking estimates. We enhance an updating framework by incorporating early reports of fatalities within the first 24 hours, or so,...

The goals of boundary-spanning organizations include communicating among researchers, stakeholders, and resource managers to improve decision-making. These efforts span public agencies, environmental non-governmental organizations, and private stakeholders and occur throughout Canada, the USA, and Mexico. We describe how the core philosophy of boundary-spanning organizations may help address conservation challenges in...

Introduction Although the Petersburg Granite had long been in practical use as a building stone since the 1830s (Watson, 1906; 1907; 1910; Darton, 1911; Steidtmann, 1945), it was first formally defined as a geologic unit by Anna Jonas on the 1928 geologic map of Virginia. Anna Jonas defined this unit...

Large-scale increases and expansion of common raven (Corvus corax; raven) populations are occurring across much of North America, leading to increased negative consequences for livestock and agriculture, human health and safety, and sensitive species conservation. We describe a science-based adaptive management framework that incorporates recent quantitative analyses and mapping products...

The USGS monitored Black-legged Kittiwake and Common Murre populations on Gull Island from 1995-1999, and from 2016-2021, following the 2014-2016 northeast Pacific marine heatwave. USGS research, which is supported by the USGS and BOEM, includes population monitoring, and quantifying breeding success and predator disturbances. This information is preliminary or provisional...