U.S. Geological Survey—Department of the Interior, Region 11, Alaska—2023–24 biennial science report
Elizabeth M. Powers, Dee M. Williams, editor(s)
2025, Circular 1554
IntroductionU.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mission—The USGS national mission is to monitor, analyze, and predict the current and evolving dynamics of complex human and natural Earth-system interactions and to deliver actionable information at scales and timeframes relevant to decision makers. Consistent with the national mission, the USGS in Alaska provides timely...
Responding to ecological transformation in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah—Employee perspectives from pilot interviews from the Cross-Park Resist-Assist-Direct Project
Amanda E. Cravens, Zachary B. Hough Solomon, Julia B. Goolsby, Heather M. Yocum, Stefan Tangen, Wylie Carr
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5103
Executive SummaryClimate change is causing a range of changes that can affect the natural, cultural, and built resources of the Nation’s protected areas and affect opportunities to visit and recreate in these spaces. Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns also affect species and habitats, leading to ecological transformation. This report...
The anatomy and lethality of the Siberian Traps large igneous province
Seth D. Burgess, Benjamin A. Black
2025, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences (53) 567-594
Emplacement of the Siberian Traps large igneous province (LIP) around 252 Ma coincided with the most profound environmental disruption of the past 500 million years. The enormous volume of the Siberian Traps, its ability to generate greenhouse gases and other volatiles, and a temporal coincidence with extinction all suggest a causal...
Bacterial community diversity and potential eco-physiological roles in toxigenic blooms composed of Microcystis, Aphanizomenon or Planktothrix
Joanna Mankiewicz-Boczek, Arnoldo Font Nájera, Karina Yew_Hoong Gin, Jennifer L. Graham, Dominik Strapagiel, Rebecca Michelle Gorney, Jerome Wai Kok, Shu Harn Te, Magdalena Kluska, Milena Skóra, Michał Seweryn, Francisco Josue Hun
2025, Frontiers in Microbiology (16)
Cyanobacterial toxicity, cyanotoxins, and their impact on aquatic ecosystems and human health are well documented. In comparison, less is known about bloom-associated bacterial communities. Co-occurring bacteria can influence bloom development, physiology and collapse, and may also provide a niche for pathogenic bacteria. Existing research focuses on the cyanosphere of Microcystis-dominated blooms,...
The US EPA’s National Nutrient Inventory: Critical shifts in US nutrient pollution sources from 1987 to 2017
Meredith Brehob, Michael Pennino, Jana Compton, Qian Zhang, Marc H. Weber, Ryan A. Hill, Selia Markley, Brian Pickard, Maddie Keefer, Sarah M. Stackpoole, Lauren A Knose, Gerardo J. Ruiz-Mercado, Christopher M. Clark, Anne W. Rea, James N. Carleton, Jiajia Lin, Jesse O. Bash, Kristen M. Foley, Christian Hogrefe, Robert D. Sabo
2025, Environmental Science and Technology (59) 27836-27852
Efforts to constrain the negative environmental impacts of excess nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are costly and challenging, due in part to inconsistent reporting of nutrient sources at temporal and spatial scales relevant for local decision making. To meet this challenge, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Nutrient Inventory provides...
Mitigation of human cognitive bias in volcanic eruption forecasting
Heather M. Wright, J. D. Pesicek, Stephen A. Spiller
2025, Journal of Applied Volcanology (14)
Modern operational eruption forecasting methods rely heavily on human judgment in the face of uncertainty and are thus susceptible to myriad cognitive biases and errors by the scientist-forecasters. Recent developments in the behavioral sciences have elucidated cognitive biases across a wide spectrum of human behaviors and found ways to mitigate...
Greater white-fronted goose habitat use in Louisiana provides water depth management insights
William S. Beatty, Paul T. Link, Brett Leach, Steven C. Houdek, Elisabeth B. Webb
2025, Journal of Wildlife Management
Numerous waterfowl species have altered their geographic distribution in recent decades. The greater white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons) has shifted its wintering distribution from coastal marshes in Texas and Louisiana, USA, to interior landscapes, creating challenges for conservation managers. Although the range shift has been primarily attributed to landscape-scale changes in...
Rising rates of wildfire building destruction in the conterminous United States
Amanda Renee Carlson, Todd Hawbaker, Miranda H. Mockrin, Volker C. Radeloff, Lucas Bair, Mike Caggiano, James Meldrum, Patricia Alexandre, H. Anu Kramer, Paul F. Steblein
2025, PNAS (122)
Many regions of the world have seen an increase in highly destructive wildfires, driven by well-documented increases in burned area and growth of housing in the wildland–urban interface (WUI), which exposes more homes to fire. However, it is unclear whether wildfires are also becoming more destructive due to changes in...
The transition from melt accumulation to eruption initiation recorded by orthopyroxene Fe-Mg diffusion timescales in late Holocene rhyolites, South Sister volcano, Oregon Cascade Range
Nathan Lee Andersen, Annika E. Dechert, Dawn Catherine Sweeney Ruth, May (Mai) Sas, Julie Chouinard, Josef Dufek
2025, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (26)
South Sister volcano, Oregon Cascade Range, USA, has repeatedly erupted rhyolite since ca. 40 ka. The youngest such eruptions are the ca. 2 ka Rock Mesa and Devils Chain rhyolites, erupted several hundred years apart from two multi-vent complexes separated by 3–6 km. Fe-Mg interdiffusion models of orthopyroxene rims from both...
Efficacy of oblique bubble screen deterrents on redirecting live eggs and larvae of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) at different developmental stages
Vindhyawasini Prasad, Juan Martin Andrade Ramos, Cory Suski, P. Ryan Jackson, Amy E. George, Duane C. Chapman, Jesse Robert Fischer, Benjamin H. Stahlschmidt, Rafael O. Tinoco
2025, Water Resources Research (61)
Invasive carp have severely damaged aquatic ecosystems in the USA, particularly in the Mississippi River Basin. Behavioral deterrents have been developed in the last few decades to control population expansion into new ecosystems. However, none of these deterrents are capable of controlling early-life stage carp, which have limited or no...
Assessment of dragonfly and damselfly (Odonata) occupancy and habitat suitability at −12 Mile Slough, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona
Anya Metcalfe, Morgan Ford, Lawrence E. Stevens, Theodore Kennedy
2025, Open-File Report 2025-1042
Management practices that enhance habitat complexity in dam tailwaters often aim to increase biodiversity and improve ecosystem health. However, in other instances, management practices may simplify habitat features to help minimize the establishment of invasive species. These tradeoffs are complex, particularly in the face of drought and warming water temperatures....
Multi-scale geophysical mapping of the brine and bedrock surfaces along the Dolores River, Paradox Valley, Colorado, December 2023
Neil Terry, M. Alisa Mast, Andrea L. Creighton, Joel William Homan, Connor P. Newman, Suzanne S. Paschke
2025, Near Surface Geophysics
Total dissolved solids derived from salt dome–sourced brine in the underlying alluvial aquifer substantially increase with distance in the reach of the Dolores River that passes through Paradox Valley in southwestern Colorado. The area has been the site of salinity control operations since the 1990s to reduce salt loading to...
Using gridded seismicity to forecast the long-term spatial distribution of earthquakes for the 2025 Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands National Seismic Hazard Model
Andrea L. Llenos, Andrew J. Michael, Kirstie Lafon Haynie, Allison Shumway, Julie A. Herrick
2025, Seismological Research Letters
Gridded (or background) seismicity models are a critical component of probabilistic seismic hazard assessments, accounting for off‐fault and smaller‐magnitude earthquakes. They are typically developed by declustering and spatially smoothing an earthquake catalog to estimate a long‐term seismicity rate that can be used to forecast future earthquakes. Here, we present new...
A time-space model of graphite mineral systems
George N.D. Case
2025, Mineralium Deposita
Increasing demand for graphite in energy storage systems warrants review of graphite ore genesis in a mineral systems framework. Orogenic graphite encompasses the metamorphic and orogenic mineral systems that produce flake graphite and hydrothermal vein (lump and chip) graphite deposits, respectively. A common feature of orogenic graphite deposits is an...
High frequency and region-scale simulations of large (Mw7+) earthquakes on the southern Whidbey Island fault, Washington, USA
Ian P. Stone, Erin A. Wirth, Alex R. Grant, Arthur D. Frankel
2025, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
We simulate ground shaking in western Washington State from hypothetical Mw7.0–7.5 earthquakes on the southern Whidbey Island fault (SWIF). Ground motions are modeled considering kinematic source distributions on a complex fault plane, a 3D seismic velocity model, and region‐specific soil velocity models. We run simulations with varying model resolutions, including...
Offsetting the noise: A framework for applying phenological offset corrections in remotely sensed burn severity assessments
Casey Elizabeth Menick, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Joshua J. Picotte, Alicia L. Reiner, Robert A. Chastain
2025, International Journal of Wildland Fire (34)
BackgroundPhenological correction of pre- and post-fire imagery is used to improve remotely sensed burn severity evaluations. Unburned offset values standardize greenness between image pairs; however, efficacy across diverse scenarios remains underexplored.AimsWe evaluated the impact of phenological offset correction methods to support analyst decision-making across fire-prone environments.MethodsWe generated...
Similar population dynamics before and after a chytridiomycosis outbreak in a tropical riparian amphibian species
Graziella Vittoria DiRenzo, Rebecca McCaffery, Ana V. Longo, Kelly R. Zamudio, Karen R. Lips
2025, Ecosphere (16)
Emerging infectious diseases can cause rapid, widespread host mortality, and the lack of demographic data before and after pathogen emergence complicates understanding mechanisms of host persistence. This challenge is further compounded by environmental conditions that influence host behavior, while driving pathogen growth and virulence. These interactions create complex disease outcomes...
Invasive wild pig movement and space use in a mixed-use forest landscape, South Carolina
Erin K. Buchholtz, Andrew Jamison, Greg Yarrow
2025, Stacks Journal (2025)
Invasive wild pigs (Sus scrofa) pose considerable ecological and economic challenges across their introduced range, and understanding their spatial ecology is critical for management. This research and accompanying dataset represents adult wild pig movement in South Carolina, United States based on 16 individuals collared in 2023-2024. Using hourly GPS collar...
Status report on the Long-Term Experimental and Management Plan (LTEMP) Metrics for the Glen Canyon Dam adaptive management program
Helen C. Fairley, Gregory Mark Anderson, Andrew Alan Schultz, Joel B. Sankey, Joshua Caster, Lauren Lynn Tango, Bridget Deemer, Theodore Kennedy, Anya Metcalfe, Emily C. Palmquist, Maria C. Dzul, Kimberly L. Dibble, David Ward, David L. Rogowski, Emily C. Omana Smith, Jeffrey Arnold, Brian D. Healy, Charles Yackulic, Lucas Bair, David J. Topping, Paul Grams, Katherine Anne Chapman, Robert B. Tusso, Dale Fonken, Josh Korman, Lindsay Erika Hansen, Benjamin John Miller, John M. Fennell, Drew Elliot Eppehimer, Claudia James Dimartini, Nathaniel D. Bransky
2025, Report
No abstract available....
Gas chemistry and isotope data for volcano monitoring at the Lassen Volcanic Center, Lassen Volcanic National Park
Deborah Bergfeld, Jennifer L. Lewicki, Sara Peek, Andrew Hunt
2025, Open-File Report 2025-1056
This report presents chemical and isotopic compositions of volcanic gases collected from thermal areas within Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California from 1974 through 2019. As the southernmost volcano in the Cascade Range and designated a very-high-threat volcano by the U.S. Geological Survey, the Lassen Volcanic Center (LVC) requires...
Noble and base metal distribution and processes affecting ore tenors in the disrupted lower stratigraphy of the Stillwater Complex, USA
Allen K. Andersen, Michael Jenkins
2025, Mineralium Deposita
Exploration continues for contact-style Ni-Cu sulfide and chromitite-associated PGE mineralization in ultramafic rocks of the Stillwater Complex. At the Iron and Chrome Mountain areas, massive sulfides occur along the complex’s footwall contact and anomalous concentrations of PGE+Au are associated with the three lowermost chromitite seams. Southeast of Chrome Mountain, magmatic...
Achieving interpretable machine learning by functional decomposition of black-box models into explainable predictor effects
David Kohler, David Rügamer, Lindsey J. Boyle, Kelly O. Maloney, Matthias Schmid
2025, npj Artificial Intelligence (1)
Machine learning (ML) models are often based on complex black-box architectures that are difficult to interpret. This interpretability problem can hinder the use of ML in fields like medicine, ecology, and insurance, and has boosted research in interpretable machine learning (IML). Here, we propose a novel approach for the functional...
Longer exposure to warm water increases subsequent thermal tolerance of brook trout in cold water: Acclimation timing and physiology
Amy M. Regish, Matthew O’Donnell, Benjamin Letcher, Timothy Lambert, Daniel J. Hall, Stephen D. McCormick
2025, Conservation Physiology (13)
Climate change has resulted in increased incidence and variability of warming episodes in cold-water streams that support salmonids. The capacity to acclimate to warm temperatures may allow cold-water fish to persist in spite of changing thermal regimes, but accurately predicting fish performance under fluctuating stream temperatures also requires understanding re-acclimation...
Rapid structured decision making for Hypomesus transpacificus (delta smelt) summer–fall freshwater outflow management
Brian D. Healy, Corey C. Phillis, Brian Mahardja, Cameron Koizumi, Catarina Pien, Nancy Parker, J. Louise Conrad, Julie Ekstrom, Julie Leimbach, Rafael Silberblatt, Tom Fischer, Chase Ehlo
2025, Open-File Report 2025-1055
Managers of the Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Projects (SWP) in California are confronted with difficult tradeoffs between water uses and associated values affected by water management decisions. These decisions involve altering the timing and magnitude of water releases from dams and reservoirs, which can affect habitats for...
USGS—An Unparalleled Scientific Asset
Shonte Jenkins, Emily Pindilli, David Applegate, Rachel E. Reagan
2025, General Information Product 263
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) delivers information critical to powering our economy, managing our natural resources, and keeping Americans safe and healthy.1Mapping the Nation$21B Geologic maps save users an estimated 15% in annual costs: a value of between $14B and $21B.$25.6B is the annual value to users of key Earth observation platforms...
