Retrospective stepwise prioritization of chemicals detected in Great Lakes tributaries (2008–2018)
Erin M. Maloney, Steven R. Corsi, Matthew A. Pronschinske, Laura A. DeCicco, John R. Frisch, Niel Fuller, Austin K. Baldwin, Kimani Kimbrough, Michael Edwards, Stephanie L. Hummel, Natalia G. Vinas, Daniel L. Villeneuve
2026, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (44) 2048-2069
Through the U.S. Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a 10-year, multiagency chemical monitoring effort was undertaken across the Great Lakes. In this effort, 586 chemicals were monitored and 334 were detected in grab/composite water samples. To help inform potential future actions, a stepwise prioritization framework was used to...
A three-dimensional geologic framework model of the northern Great Plains region of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming, USA
Leland R. Spangler
2026, Scientific Investigations Report 2026-5127
This report presents a new three-dimensional geologic framework model (GFM) of the northern Great Plains region, encompassing parts of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The model provides a regionally consistent, geographic information system (GIS)-ready representation of Phanerozoic sedimentary strata, major fault systems, and Precambrian basement geometry across two...
Deep critical zone controls on shallow landslides
Seulgi Moon, Giuseppe Formetta, Justin T. Higa, Riccardo Busti, Dino G. Bellugi, David G. Milledge, Brian A. Ebel, William E. Dietrich
2026, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (123)
The deep critical zone (CZ) has long been recognized for its importance in influencing shallow landslides but was not considered feasible to include in slope stability models at the watershed scale. In this study, we demonstrate that simple approximations of the CZ in a fully coupled hydrologic and soil slope...
Urban stormwater treatment using biofiltration—Variable performance across solids, nutrients, major ions, and metals
William R. Selbig, James Romano
2026, Scientific Investigations Report 2026-5143
Urban runoff from streets and parking lots carries pollutants that degrade receiving waters. Green infrastructure, such as biofilters, is increasingly used to treat this runoff by mimicking natural hydrologic processes. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, evaluated a biofilter receiving roadway runoff from an...
Investigation of fish communities in natural channel sections of the Mohawk River, New York
Scott D. George, Thomas R. Sadekoski, Michael J. Darling, Barry P. Baldigo, Scott M. Wells, David B. Erway, Andrea L. Conine, Jesse C. Becker, Kristen J. Dieterle
2026, Scientific Investigations Report 2026-5131
Little is known about the natural resources in the natural channel sections of the Mohawk River between Rome and Frankfort, New York, where the river channel runs separately from and parallel to the Erie Canal. This river section runs through multiple locations that are listed as active remediation sites under...
Is new actually better? A structural comparison of collaborative governance structures for the management of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in Maine
Melissa E. Flye, Carly C. Sponarski, Danielle Frechette, Joseph D. Zydlewski
2026, Marine Policy (189)
Collaborative governance structures (CGS) have been increasingly adopted to address joint-jurisdictional management challenges. While the establishment of CGSs has been widely studied, their practical development has remained a conspicuous gap. CGSs are variable systems with several developmental stages (activation, collectivity, and institutionalization) which eventually lead to stabilization,...
Behavioral shifts mask the success of legislation and outreach for endangered species recovery
Victoria J. Bakker, Daniel F. Doak, Alacia Welch, L. Joseph Burnett, María C. Porras Peña, Joseph Brandt, Sharon A. Poessel, Steve Kirkland, Rachel Wolstenholme, Daniel Ryan, Mike Stake, Arianna Punzalan, Nacho Vilchis, Melissa A. Braham, Myra E. Finkelstein
2026, Nature Communications
A fundamental challenge in conservation is assessing the efficacy of recovery actions to optimize endangered species management. Considerable recent attention has focused on effective measures to counter the endangerment of avian scavengers, which have declined worldwide, primarily due to poisoning. One iconic example is efforts to recover...
Moving toward a more human-oriented analysis of urban heat: Examining differences of heat exposure intensity at busy commuting locations
Peter Christian Ibsen, Melissa R. McHale, Priyanka deSouza, Logan Steinharter, Carl Green Jr., James E. Diffendorfer, Travis Warziniak
2026, Environmental Research: Health (4)
Examining urban thermal environments has become a critical area of research spanning epidemiology, urban planning, and ecology. While traditional metrics like air temperature (Tair) and satellite-derived surface temperature dominate urban heat studies, these measures often fail to reflect how people actually experience thermal exposure intensity. More human-oriented...
Regreening, restoring, and reconnecting a southwestern wetland ecosystem – the Zeedyk wetland
Roy E. Petrakis, Laura M. Norman, Maryann McGraw, Steve Carson, Craig Sponholtz, Cameron Weber, Bill D. Zeedyk
2026, Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment (42)
Alluvial wetland ecosystems are vital as biodiversity hotspots but are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic stressors and drought. These pressures are especially acute in arid and semi-arid regions, where eco-hydrologic connectivity is fragile and recovery is slow. This study quantifies the efficacy of nature-based solutions, particularly the ‘Zeedyk approach,’ which employs...
Advancing compound coastal flood modeling on aouthern O’ahu, Hawai’i: A hybrid stochastic approach
Alba Ricondo, Laura Cagigal, Curt D. Storlazzi, Mark A. Merrifield, Fernando J. Mendez, Peter R Ruggiero
Carlos Coelho, Caroline Hallin, Francisco Sancho, Paulo A. Silva, editor(s)
2026, Conference Paper
Sea-level rise and changing patterns of storminess associated with climate change are expected to increase the frequency and severity of compound coastal flooding events, posing significant challenges to coastal communities in enhancing preparedness and adaptation strategies. This work presents a hybrid stochastic approach for the probabilistic assessment of compound coastal...
Beach nourishment morphodynamics in a high-energy U.S. West Coast environment
Anne de Beer, Andrew W. Stevens, Robert T. McCall, Johan Reyns, Hans R. Moritz
2026, Conference Paper
Dredged sediment from engineered inlets can be used to nourish coastlines adjacent to these inlets, serving as a beneficial alternative to offshore disposal. Effective strategies for beneficial use of dredged sediment, however, rely on understanding of local sediment transport. A beach nourishment project utilizing dredged sand was carried out at...
Unprecedented burning in tropical peatlands during the 20th century compared to the previous two millennia
Yuwan Wang, Ted R. Feldpausch, Graeme T. Swindles, Patrick Moss, Hamish A. McGowan, Thomas G. Sim, Paul J. Morris, Adam Benfield, Colin Courtney-Mustaphi, David Wahl, Encarni Montoya, Esther N. Githumbi, Euridice N. Honorio Coronado, Femke Augustijns, Gert Verstraeten, Jess O'Donnell, John Tibby, Juan C. Benavides, K. Anggi Hapsari, Karsten Schittek, Khairun Nisha Mohamed Ramdzan, Kunshan Bao, Lydia E. Cole, Lysanna Anderson, Mariusz Galka, Orijemie Emuobosa Akpo, Paul Strobel, Prabhakaran Ramya Bala, Rene Dommain, Rob Marchant, Raman Sukumar, Sakonvan Chawchai, Sarath Pullyottum Kavil, Scott Mooney, Thomas J. Kelly, Yang Gao, Apostolos Voulgarakis, Arnoud Boom, Chantelle Burton, Juan Carlos Berrio, Kelly Ribeiro, Liana O. Anderson, Mark Hardiman, Molly Spater, Susan E. Page, Angela Gallego-Sala
2026, Global Change Biology (32)
Tropical peatland wildfire incidence has risen in recent decades, driven by drainage for land use and intensified by severe droughts with global climate change. These disturbances have altered vegetation structure, disrupted ecosystem functioning, and increased carbon emissions, particularly in Southeast Asia. However, the long-term history and characteristics of wildfires in...
Sackung at Bald Eagle ridge, central Colorado: An updated interpretation of ridge-spreading movement, structures, and mechanisms from 50 years (1975–2025) of U.S. Geological Survey research
Jeffrey A. Coe, Nikita N. Avdievitch, Kate E. Allstadt, Elaine A. Collins, Erin K. Jensen, Olivia J. Hoch, Lauren N. Schaefer, Chester A. Ruleman, Jonathan W. Godt, Vince Matthews III
2026, Engineering Geology (366)
Slow gravitational failures of mountain peaks and ridges are poorly understood. Herein, we report on 50 years of studies at a slowly spreading castellate ridge in the Sawatch Range in central Colorado. The orientations of geomorphic-structural features indicate that the fractured Precambrian granitic rock underlying the ridge has extended and...
Current and near-future conditions of aquatic spatial data for use in ecological models in the United States
Grace C. Henderson, Peder Engelstad, Cameron J. Reimer, Shelby K. LeClare, Linnea S. Fraser, Demetra A. Williams, Keana S. Shadwell, Wesley M. Daniel, Ian A. Pfingsten, Catherine S. Jarnevich
2026, Knowledge and Management of Aquatic Ecosystems
To address increasing demand for ecological models of aquatic species that can inform the management of national freshwater resources, we leveraged manager input to develop suites of environmental data layers characterizing freshwater habitats for the contiguous United States. Using the National Hydrography Dataset, these new data cover...
Ice sheet dynamics drive pronounced changes in the subsurface freshwater-saltwater interface
Julia Guimond, Aaron Mohammed, Barret L. Kurylyk, Michelle A. Walvoord, Victor F. Bense
2026, Geophysical Research Letters (53)
Saltwater is migrating into freshwater aquifers globally with water quality and biogeochemical implications, yet saltwater intrusion in glaciated regions is sparsely investigated. Field observations suggest that groundwater head in glaciated systems is influenced by ice sheet forcings and provides evidence that seawater infiltrated into offshore aquifers during past deglaciation events....
Spatial and temporal geochemical variations of lava flows and tephra deposits from the December 2020 to September 2024 eruptions of Kīlauea volcano
Drew T. Downs, Kendra J. Lynn, Heather Brianne Winslow, Steven P. Lundblad, Meghann F.I. Decker
2026, Bulletin of Volcanology (88)
Kīlauea volcano underwent dramatic morphological changes in 2018. That year recorded the end of the 35-year-long eruption of Puʻuʻōʻō (1983–2018) and 10-year-long (2008–2018) Halemaʻumaʻu lava lake and emplacement of the ~4-month-long lower East Rift Zone lava flows that coincided with ~500 m of summit caldera collapse. Starting on December 20, 2020,...
The U.S. Geological Survey 2025 Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands time-independent earthquake rupture forecast
Kevin Ross Milner, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Richard W. Briggs, Jessica A. Thompson Jobe, Andrea L. Llenos, Andrew J. Michael, Allison M. Shumway, Edward H. Field, Kirstie Lafon Haynie
2026, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (116) 1321-1351
We present the 2025 U.S. Geological Survey Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands (PRVI) time‐independent earthquake rupture forecast (ERF), developed for the 2025 update to the National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) for PRVI. The updated ERF improves upon a prior model from 2003, including an expanded fault inventory with slip‐rate...
Depositional interplay between the Ancestral Rocky Mountains and Ouachita–Marathon–Sonora orogenies: Insights from provenance records in the late Paleozoic Marfa Basin, West Texas, U.S.A.
Sandra Juárez-Zúñiga, Daniel F. Stockli, Benjamin G. Johnson, Timothy F. Lawton
2026, Basin Research (38)
The Marfa Basin in West Texas is a late Palaeozoic synorogenic depocenter associated with regional deformation linked to the Ancestral Rocky Mountains (ARM) and Ouachita–Marathon–Sonora (OMS) orogenies in southwestern Laurentia. Basin strata range in age from Middle Pennsylvanian to the middle Permian and include the Cieneguita, Alta, Pinto Canyon, Rose...
Statewide agent-based model for management of chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer: PAOvCWD
Nathaniel H. Wehr, Christopher S. Rosenberry, David Stainbrook, Maureen Staats, Andrea L. Korman, W. David Walter
2026, MethodsX (16)
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is an always-fatal disease infecting wild cervids globally. Ecologically and economically important, CWD presents a challenge for managing white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). We built an agent-based model to simulate CWD transmission and assess potential management actions that could slow disease spread: PAOvCWD. We developed PAOvCWD using contact...
Dog attacks on wild desert tortoises: A risk model
Andrea S. Carlson, Kristin H. Berry, Jeremy S. Mack
2026, Journal of Wildlife Management (90)
We retrospectively compiled a database of 6,727 live, wild Agassiz's desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) and evaluated them for clinical signs of trauma to shell and limbs at 50 sites in the Mojave and Colorado (western Sonoran) deserts of California, USA, spanning the years 1977–2006. Our objectives were...
Invasion resistance varies by fuel break type in sagebrush ecosystems
Austin L. Nash, Brianne E. Brussee, Cali L. Weise, Douglas J. Shinneman, Susan K. McIlroy, Sarah C. Webster, Steven R. Mathews, Seth J. Dettenmaier, Lea A. Condon, Michele R. Crist, Cameron L. Aldridge, Julie A. Heinrichs, Mark A. Ricca, Shawn T. O’Neil, Peter S. Coates
2026, Fire Ecology (22)
Background Wildfire is an increasingly important driver of changes within sagebrush (Artemisia spp. L.) ecosystems of the western USA, often resulting in increased spread of exotic annual grasses, such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.), and subsequent losses of native vegetation and wildlife habitat. Fuel breaks— areas of land treated to...
Stress states on the eve of past earthquakes inform earthquake rupture through fault complexity along the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults
Emery Anderson-Merritt, Michelle Cooke, Katherine M. Scharer
2026, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (116) 1125-1144
Estimating the evolving state of stress along active fault systems can provide insight into the conditions that generated past ground‐rupturing earthquakes and...
Optimizing cryo-focused pyrolysis GC/MS for tracing soil organic matter across diverse ecosystems
Abrar Shahriar, Mavrik Zavarin, Erin E. Nuccio, Katherine E. Grant, Karis J. McFarlane, Jennifer Pett-Ridge, David Toews, Jason P. Sexton, Rebecca Ryals, Joy Baccel, Aiden J. Berndt, Rene Boiteau, Ishtiaq Ahmed Jawad, Yu Yang, Sheel Bansal, Edward J. O’Loughlin, Kenneth M. Kemner, Roser Matamala, Keith D. Morrison
2026, Environmental Science and Technology (60) 9237-9249
The cycling of organic matter in terrestrial soils and sediments is central to a range of biogeochemical processes that regulate nutrient cycling, crop productivity, trace gas emissions, and contaminant transport. Pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (py-GC/MS) is a powerful tool for characterizing bulk soil organic matter (SOM) at the molecular level. In...
Intertidal community responses to perturbations along Alaska park coastlines
Sarah Beth Traiger, Brenda Ballachey, Heather Coletti, Daniel Esler
2026, Alaska Park Science (24) 72-79
Nearshore ecosystems are highly productive zones with strong connections to both terrestrial and open ocean ecosystems. The rocky intertidal is a highly dynamic ecosystem and changes over a variety of spatial and temporal scales depending on the factors contributing to the change. Here we summarize how nearshore communities and species responded to several perturbations...
Investigating the role of lake environments and food chains on the transfer of mercury to lake trout
Sarah M. Laske, Krista K. Bartz, Daniel Young
2026, Alaska Park Science (24) 46-55
Mercury contamination can pose threats to fish, wildlife, and people. Methylmercury, found in fish, can be particularly detrimental, especially to children. This study explores the sources and concentrations of mercury and proposes how people can become aware and limit their exposure....
