An interagency perspective on improving consistency and transparency of land use and land cover mapping
Terry Sohl, Karen Schleeweis, Nate Herold, Megan Lang, Inga P. La Puma, James Wickham, Rick Mueller, Matthew Rigge, Jon Dewitz, Jesslyn F. Brown, Jeffrey Ingebritsen, James Ellenwood, Ellen Wengert, Jordan Rowe, Patrick Flanagan, Emily Kachergis, Iris Garthwaite, Zhuoting Wu
2025, Circular 1549
Executive Summary Geospatial products of land use and land cover are broadly used in many applications. For example, the annual national greenhouse gas inventory uses the National Land Cover Database, the Coastal Change Analysis Program, Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools, the Forest Inventory and Analysis, and the National Resources...
Groundwater-level elevations in the Denver Basin bedrock aquifers and Upper Black Squirrel Creek alluvial aquifer, El Paso County, Colorado, 2021–24
Zachary D. Kisfalusi, Erin K. Hennessy, Jackson B. Sharp
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5123
El Paso County is the second-most populous county in Colorado and is projected to grow another 15 percent by 2030. Within El Paso County is the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Designated Groundwater Basin (Black Squirrel Basin), an area where surface water is scarce and water users rely primarily on groundwater...
U.S. Geological Survey National Groundwater Climate Response Network
Rodney R. Caldwell, Jason M. Fine
2025, Fact Sheet 2024-3057
What is the U.S. Geological Survey National Groundwater Climate Response Network?The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Water Monitoring Network is a network of networks that includes the Climate Response Network (CRN). The CRN is a network of wells selected to monitor the effects of climate variability, including droughts, on groundwater...
Bayesian model selection to investigate meaningful spatial scales
Andrew Hoegh, Kathryn Irvine, Katharine M. Banner, de Wit. Luz, Brian Reichert
2025, Preprint
Ecologists and other statistical practitioners with access to high-resolution spatial data lack guidance on best approaches for discerning meaningful spatial scales for environmental covariates which is necessary when spatial factors influence environmental processes. Recently developed methods have attempted to automate investigating spatial scales for covariates by evaluating models for which...
How can we sea change? Audience subgroups and psychological cognitions to target in action-oriented ocean change communication
Jennifer L. Waldo, Mark D. Needham, Megan Siobhan Jones
2025, Marine Policy (173)
Climate change’s impacts on the oceans (“ocean change”) threaten people globally. Climate action is needed at multiple scales, from individual to collective action, and yet there is limited research on what motivates this action in response to ocean change. In this study, we conducted an online survey of residents of...
Review of the Lake Washington Ship Canal and Ballard Locks model, Seattle, Washington, 2014–20
Annett B. Sullivan, Anya C. Leach
2025, Open-File Report 2024-1078
Executive SummaryThe Hiram M. Chittenden (Ballard) Locks and Lake Washington Ship Canal connect freshwater Lake Washington and saline Shilshole Bay of Puget Sound in Seattle, Washington. The locks and canal allow for ships to traverse this reach. Anadromous salmonids also migrate through, transitioning between saline and freshwater environments, and making...
Relatedness of white-tailed deer from culling efforts within chronic wasting disease management zones in Minnesota
Alberto F. Fameli, Christopher S. Jennelle, Jessie Edson, Erik C. Hildebrand, Michelle Carstensen, W. David Walter
2025, Pathogens (14)
In white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), closely related females form social groups, avoiding other social groups. Consequently, females infected with chronic wasting disease (CWD) are more likely to infect social group members. Culling has been used to reduce CWD transmission in high-risk areas; however, its effectiveness in removing related individuals...
Microbial ecology of permafrost soils: Populations, processes, and perspectives
Mark Waldrop, Jessica Ernakovich, Tatiana A. Vishnivetskaya, Sean Schaefer, Rachel Mackelprang, Jiri Barta, Joy O’Brien, Matthias Winkel, Robyn A. Barbato, Liam Heffernan, Mary-Cathrine Leewis, Rebecca E. Hewitt, Jenni Hultman, Yanchen Sun, Christina Biasi, James A. Bradley, Susanne Liebner, Michael P. Ricketts, Mario Muscarella, Ursel Schuette, Fumnanya Abuah, Emily Whalen, Ina Timling, Carolina Voigt, Neslihan Tas, Karen G. Lloyd, Henri M.P. Siljanen, Elizaveta M. Rivkina, Jana Voriskova, Jing Tao, Renxing Liang, Zhen Li, Jay T. Lennon, T.C. Onstott
2025, Permafrost and Periglacial Processes (36) 245-258
Permafrost microbial research has flourished in the past decades, due in part to improvements in sampling and molecular techniques, but also the increased focus on the permafrost greenhouse gas feedback to climate change and other ecological processes in high latitude and alpine permafrost soils. Permafrost microorganisms are adapted to these...
Enhancing One Health outcomes using decision science and negotiation
Jonathan D. Cook, Evan H. Campbell Grant, Howard S. Ginsberg, Diann Prosser, Michael C. Runge
2025, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (23)
One Health initiatives have advanced zoonotic disease management by recognizing the interconnectedness of three sectors of governance (human, ecosystem, and animal) and by identifying options that can improve full-system health. Although One Health has had many successes, its full realization may be inhibited by a lack of strategies to overcome...
Chemostratigraphy of the Cretaceous Hue Shale in Arctic Alaska: Exploring paleoceanographic controls on trace element enrichment, organic matter accumulation, and source-rock evolution
Palma J. Botterell, Margaret M. Sanders, David W. Houseknecht, Richard O. Lease, William A. Rouse, Katherine J. Whidden, Julie A. Dumoulin, Rebecca A. Smith, Christina A. DeVera, Brett J. Valentine
2025, Applied Geochemistry (180)
We document chemostratigraphy in an outcrop of late Albian to early Campanian (∼103–82 Ma) marine source rocks to better understand paleoenvironmental controls on trace element (TE) enrichment and organic matter accumulation in the distal Colville foreland basin of Arctic Alaska and how those drivers are linked to arc volcanism and successions...
An enigmatic wild passerine mortality event in the eastern United States
Sabrina S. Greening, Julie C. Ellis, Nicole L. Lewis, David B. Needle, Cristina M. Tato, Susan Knowles, Valerie I. Shearn-Bochsler, Jaimie L. Miller, Daniel A. Grear, Jeffrey M. Lorch, David S. Blehert, Caitlin Burrell, Lisa A. Murphy, Erica A. Miller, C. Brandon Ogbunugafor, Andrea J. Ayala, W. Kelley Thomas, Megan S. Kirchgessner, Christine Casey, Ethan P. Barton, Michael J. Yabsley, Eman Anis, Roderick B. Gagne, Patrice Klein, Cindy P. Driscoll, Chelsea Sykes, Robert H. Poppenga, Nicole M. Nemeth
2025, Veterinary Sciences (12)
The ability to rapidly respond to wildlife health events is essential. However, such events are often unpredictable, especially with anthropogenic disturbances and climate-related environmental changes driving unforeseen threats. Many events also are short-lived and go undocumented, making it difficult to draw on lessons learned from past investigations. We report on...
Local water use and climate drive water stress over the conterminous United States with substantial impacts to fish species of conservation concern
Edward G. Stets, Olivia L. Miller, Matthew J. Cashman, Kathryn Powlen, Anthony J. Martinez, Althea A. Archer, Julie Padilla
2025, Preprint
There is a growing need for consistent, large-scale estimates of water availability to identify and avoid potential conflicts among human and ecosystem uses of water. We present an assessment of water limitation, defined as the monthly balance (difference) between water supply (ws) and human consumptive water use (wc), for the...
Understanding and predicting infection dynamics for an endangered amphibian using long-term surveys of wild and translocated frogs
Talisin T. Hammond, Adam R. Backlin, Elizabeth Gallegos, Debra M. Shier, Ronald R. Swaisgood, Robert N. Fisher
2025, Biological Conservation (301)
Amphibians are a prominent component of Earth's sixth mass extinction and the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is a primary driver of declines. Although Bd dynamics are well studied, the environmental drivers, exacerbating risk factors, and value of conservation interventions like translocations remain challenging to predict. Here, we present results from two...
Integrated Hydro-terrestrial Modeling 2.0: Progress and path forward on building a national capability
Katherine Skalak, Nathalie Voisin, Patrick Read, Ying Fan Reinfelder
2025, Report
Growing societal pressures on U.S. water resources and the challenges inherent in understanding how future water risks may evolve are driving major investments to improve our knowledge of the integrated water cycle. This improved understanding as captured in innovations in our data, knowledge, and modeling capabilities, needs to be accelerated...
DNA metabarcoding of biocrust lichen-forming fungi detects responses to disturbance and invasion
Heather T Root, Bruce McCune, David A. Pyke, Steven D. Leavitt
2025, Bryologist (128) 1-15
Biocrusts dominated by bryophytes and lichens perform important functions in dryland ecosystems but monitoring these communities can be cost prohibitive over broad scales. We explored DNA metabarcoding as a potential tool for monitoring biocrust lichen communities at a site in Washington (U.S.A.) that had...
Reply to, “Comment on ‘The 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, earthquake: Relic railroad offset reveals rupture,’ by Roger Bilham and Susan E. Hough”
Roger Bilham, Susan E. Hough
2025, The Seismic Record (5) 23-34
We welcome this opportunity to respond to Pratt et al. (2024) (hereinafter P24). Bilham and Hough (2023) proposed a “first-cut” elastic deformation model for the 1886 earthquake, a quantitative source model constrained by identified coseismic constraints. A key observation was the measurement of a lateral offset of...
Modelling and mapping burn severity of prescribed and wildfires across the southeastern United States (2000-2022)
Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Casey Elizabeth Menick, Joshua J. Picotte, Kevin Robertson, Holly Nowell, Chris Matechik, Todd Hawbaker
2025, International Journal of Wildland Fire (34)
BackgroundThe southeastern United States (‘Southeast’) experiences high levels of fire activity, but the preponderance of small and prescribed fires means that existing burn severity products are incomplete across the region.AimsWe developed and applied a burn severity model across the Southeast to enhance our understanding of regional...
Geochemical processes related to mined, milled, or natural metal deposits in a rapidly changing global environment
Annika Parviainen, Kimberly R. Beisner, Johanna Blake, Edel Mary O'Sullivan, Clare Miller, Carolina Rosca
2025, Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis (25)
The demand for metals and raw materials, such as nickel and copper, has been projected to expand in the coming decades, driven by the global energy transition, the need for green technologies, and expanding infrastructure. Consequently, the increasing extraction and production of mining waste can have adverse impacts on surrounding...
Stream discharge determinations using slug additions and specific conductance
R. Blaine McCleskey, Robert L. Runkel, Sheila F. Murphy, David A. Roth
2025, Water Resources Research (61)
Stream discharge is often determined by wading the stream and measuring the velocity at fixed widths and depths. However, there are conditions when wading measurements are not safe or the measurements are poor because of high turbulence, rocky streambeds, shallow or sheet flow, aquatic plants, or inaccessibility due to ice....
The ichnology of White Sands (New Mexico): Linear traces and human footprints, evidence of transport technology?
Matthew R. Bennett, Thomas M. Urban, David Bustos, Sally C. Reynolds, Edward A. Jolie, Hannah C. Strehlau, Daniel Odess, Kathleen B. Springer, Jeffrey S. Pigati
2025, Quaternary Science Advances (17)
A travois is crafted from one or more wooden poles and is one of the simplest pre-historic vehicles. Although these devices likely played vital roles in the lives of ancient peoples, they have low preservation potential in the archaeological record. Here we report linear features associated with human footprints, some...
Comment on “The 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, earthquake: Relic railroad offset reveals rupture” by Roger Bilham and Susan E Hough
Thomas Pratt, Martin C. Chapman, Qimin Wu
2025, The Seismic Record (5) 11-22
No abstract available. ...
Parentage and sibship relationships among captive snakes at the Phoenix Zoo—2024 data summary
Dustin A. Wood, Anna Mitelberg, Amy G. Vandergast
2025, Data Report 1204
IntroductionThe narrow-headed gartersnake (Thamnophis rufipunctatus) is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2014). This species has a strong association with aquatic habitats, and these habitats have been highly altered by impoundments, land-use changes, and the introduction and spread of non-native aquatic species, which...
Validation of the U37K' paleotemperature proxy in the South Brazilian Bight from core-top sediments
Felipe Stanchak, Julie N. Richey, Amanda Gerotto, Amelia Shevenell, Marcia C. Bicego, Felipe A. Toledo, Michel M. de Mahiques, Renata H. Nagai
2025, Organic Geochemistry (200)
The paleothermometer based on the alkenone unsaturation index (U37K′">U37K′) is often used to reconstruct past sea surface temperatures (SST). In the SW Atlantic Ocean, however, a limited understanding of the seasonal and depth distribution of coccolithophores,...
Widespread occurrence of former anhydrite phenocrysts in Laramide-age magmas related to porphyry-skarn Cu mineralization at Santa Rita and Hanover-Fierro, New Mexico, USA
Andreas Audétat, Jia Chang, Sean Patrick Gaynor
2025, Journal of Petrology (66)
Reports of magmatic anhydrite are relatively rare, with only ~30 occurrences documented worldwide so far. However, magmatic anhydrite saturation is difficult to recognize because anhydrite decomposes rapidly in near-surface environments. In most cases, only anhydrite inclusions shielded within other phenocryst phases were able to survive. Alternatively, since anhydrite phenocrysts preserved...
Site-level connectivity identified from multiple sources of movement data to inform conservation of a migratory bird
M. Beal, J. Nightingale, J.R. Belo, C. Batey, H. Belting, P. Bocher, M. Burgess, T.B. Craft, N. Crockford, P. Delaporte, L. Donaldson, G. Gelinaud, J.A. Gill, T.G. Gunnarsson, B. J. Morrison, J.S. Gutierrez, J. Hooijmeijer, R.A. Howison, P. Hunke, L. Jomat, H. Lemke, J. P. Ludwig, F.A. Majoor, C. Marlow, J.A. Masero, J. Melter, I. Nicholson, M. Parejo, B. O'Mahony, E. Pasanen, J. Pessa, T. Piersma, A.D. Rocha, F. Robin, M. Roodbergen, P. Rousseau, V. Salewski, L. Schmidt, J. Smart, A. Staneva, T. Lee Tibbitts, S. Timonen, J.A. Alves, M.P. Dias
2025, Journal of Applied Ecology (62) 303-316
Migratory birds depend on a suite of sites across their annual cycles, making them vulnerable to a wide variety of anthropogenic pressures. Current area-based conservation measures have been found inadequate to safeguard migratory birds, in part due to a lack of consideration for the connectivity between sites mediated by...
