Dynamic rating method for computing discharge and stage from time-series data
Marian M. Domanski, Robert R. Holmes, Jr., Elizabeth Heal, Travis M. Knight
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5129
Ratings are used for several reasons in water-resources investigations. The simplest rating relates discharge to the stage of a river (the stage-discharge relation). From a pure hydrodynamics perspective, all rivers and streams have some form of hysteresis in the relation between stage and discharge because flow becomes unsteady as a...
Foundational science in flight—USGS bird programs support conservation, culture, and a thriving U.S. economy
David Ziolkowski, Antonio Celis-Murillo, Jenn Malpass, Keith L. Pardieck, Julien Martin, Lauren Emily Walker
2025, Fact Sheet 2025-3011
Birds are vital to our economy, ecosystems, and cultural heritage. Investing in bird conservation benefits communities, businesses, and working lands while reinforcing our nation’s legacy of stewardship and biodiversity. By valuing birds, we ensure a richer, healthier, and more vibrant future for all Americans. The USGS leads two national bird...
Updating and recalibrating the integrated Santa Rosa Plain Hydrologic Model to assess stream depletion and to simulate future climate and management scenarios in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California
Ayman H. Alzraiee, Andrew Rich, Linda R. Woolfenden, Derek W. Ryter, Enrique Triana, Richard G. Niswonger
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5121
The Santa Rosa Plain Hydrologic Model (SRPHM) was developed and published in 2014 through a collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Sonoma Water to analyze the hydrologic system in the Santa Rosa Plain watershed, help meet the increasing demand for fresh water, and prepare for future uncertainties in...
Meta-analysis of a megafish: Assessing patterns and predictors of Alligator Gar movement across multiple populations
Hayden C. Roberts, Florian Kappen, Matthew Ross Acre, Daniel J. Daugherty, Nathan G. Smith, Joshuah S. Perkin
2025, Movement Ecology (13)
BackgroundFreshwater megafishes are among some of the most commercially and ecologically important aquatic organisms yet are disproportionately threatened with range and population reduction. Anthropogenic alterations of rivers influencing migrations are among the most significant causes for these declines. However, migratory fishes do not always respond similarly to movement...
6PPD-quinone in water from the San Francisco-San Joaquin Delta, California, 2018-2024
Gabrielle Pecora Black, Matthew D. De Parsia, Matthew Uychutin, Rachael F. Lane, James Orlando, Michelle L. Hladik
2025, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (197)
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) is an expansive river delta supplying a large portion of California’s fresh water for agriculture and residential use, and it is also an area of critical habitat for numerous state and federally listed species of concern. In many locations, urban stormwater flows directly into the...
Informing adaptive management to reduce ungulate aggregations: A case study involving winter feeding of elk
William Michael Janousek, Eric K. Cole, Sarah R. Dewey, Tabitha A. Graves
2025, Wildlife Society Bulletin (49)
In the United States, wildlife managers are entrusted with preserving culturally and economically important ungulate populations in the face of the ongoing spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established an adaptive management plan to reduce the reliance of elk (Cervus canadensis) on supplemental winter...
Assessing the effects of climate and visitor use on amphibian occupancy in a protected landscape with long-term data
Amanda Marie Kissel, Mary Kay Watry, Evan Bredeweg, Erin L. Muths
2025, Ecosphere (16)
Determining where animals are, and if they are persisting across protected landscapes, is necessary to implement appropriate management and conservation actions. For long-lived animals and those with boom-and-bust life histories, perspective across time contributes to discerning temporal trends in occupancy and persistence, and potentially in identifying mechanisms affecting those parameters....
Use of multi-resolution, three-dimensional hydrodynamic and water-quality models to assess response to nutrient load reductions in Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor estuary, New Jersey, USA
Vincent T. DePaul
2025, Marine Pollution Bulletin (214)
A coupled three-dimensional hydrodynamic water-quality model has been applied to Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor Estuary, a shallow, back-barrier lagoon located along the central New Jersey coastline. The study aims to enhance understanding of phytoplankton dynamics and nutrient cycling and to quantify estuarine response to potential nutrient load management...
An accuracy assessment of satellite-derived rangeland fractional cover
Georgia Harrison, Matthew B. Rigge, Timothy J. Assal, Cara Applestein, Darren K. James, Sarah E. McCord
2025, Ecological Indicators (172)
Satellite-derived maps of vegetation cover provide detailed information about vegetation spatiotemporal patterns and are increasingly used to better understand and manage rangelands. Despite their utility, questions remain regarding the regional and site level accuracy for these maps, especially compared to field-collected data. We conducted an accuracy assessment of the Rangeland...
UAV-derived models of vegetation characteristics do not transfer to extreme drought and wet conditions across a northern Arizona landscape
Ryan C. Blackburn, Ginger R. H. Allington, Nicole Motzer, Seth M. Munson, Qiongyu Huang
2025, Landscape Ecology (40)
Context Shifts in precipitation regimes due to climate change are significantly impacting dryland ecosystems, including vegetation composition and structure. Unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs) are widely used to monitor vegetation, but whether models built to predict changes in these characteristics are robust under extreme precipitation regimes is unclear.ObjectivesWe aimed to predict key vegetation...
Lunar grid systems, coordinate systems, and map projections for the Artemis missions and lunar surface navigation
Mark T McClernan, Michael L. Dennis, Ike H. Theriot, Trent M. Hare, Brent A. Archinal, Lillian R. Ostrach, Marc A. Hunter, Matthew J. Miller, Ross A. Beyer, Andrew M. Annex, Samuel J. Lawrence
2025, Techniques and Methods 11-E1
ForewardThis document contains design specifications of a navigational standard for the Moon, including a Lunar Transverse Mercator system, a Lunar Polar Stereographic system, a Lunar Grid Reference System, and a unique coordinate structure, Artemis Condensed Coordinates, for Artemis mission navigation and lunar surface science.The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)...
Rapid butterfly declines across the United States during the 21st century
Collin B. Edwards, Elise F. Zipkin, Erica H. Henry, Nick M. Haddad, Matthew L. Forister, Kevin J. Burls, Steven P. Campbell, Elizabeth E. Crone, Jay Diffendorfer, Margaret R. Douglas, Ryan G. Drum, Candace E. Fallon, Jeffrey Glassberg, Eliza M. Grames, Richard G. Hatfield, Shiran V. Hershcovich, Scott Hoffman-Black, Elise A. Larsen, Wendy Leuenberger, Mary J. Linders, Travis Longcore, Daniel A. Marschalek, James Michielini, Naresh Neupane, Leslie Ries, Arthur M. Shapiro, Ann B. Swengel, Scott R. Swengel, Douglas J. Taron, Braeden Van Deynze, Jerome Wiedmann, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Cheryl B. Schultz
2025, Science (387) 1090-1094
Reports of declining insect populations have received widespread media attention, but evidence for declines has been variable across regions and taxonomic groups. Edwards et al. examined trends in the most surveyed taxon: butterflies (see the Perspective by Inouye). Combining data from 35 citizen science programs across the continental US, the authors...
Using plant invasions to compare occurrence- and abundance-based calculations of biotic homogenisation: Are results complementary or contradictory?
D.M. Buonaiuto, David Barnett, Dana M. Blumenthal, Andrea N. Nebhut, Ian S. Pearse, Helen Sofaer, Cascade J.B. Sorte, Jeffrey D. Corbin, Regan Early, Magda Garbowski, Ines Ibanez, Daniel C. Laughlin, Laís Petri, Montserrat Vilà, Bethany A. Bradley
2025, Global Ecology and Biogeography (34)
AimBeta diversity quantifies the similarity of ecological assemblages. Its increase, known as biotic homogenisation, can be a consequence of biological invasions. However, species occurrence (presence/absence) and abundance-based analyses can produce contradictory assessments of the magnitude and direction of changes in beta diversity. Previous work indicates these contradictions...
Peak streamflow trends in Minnesota and their relation to changes in climate, water years 1921–2020
Tara Williams-Sether, Chris Sanocki
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5064-E
This report chapter summarizes the effect of hydroclimatic variability of annual peak streamflow in Minnesota and is part of a larger U.S. Geological Survey multistate study to assess potential nonstationarity in annual peak streamflows across the Midwest. Spatial and temporal patterns were examined for nonstationarity in annual peak streamflow, daily...
Peak streamflow trends in North Dakota and their relation to changes in climate, water years 1921–2020
Karen R. Ryberg, Tara Williams-Sether
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5064-H
Standardized guidelines for completing flood-flow frequency analyses are presented in a U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods report known as Bulletin 17C, https://doi.org/10.3133/tm4B5. In recent decades (since about 2000), a better understanding of long-term climatic persistence (periods of clustered floods or droughts, or wet or dry periods) and...
Interoperability for ecosystem service assessments: Why, how, who, and for whom?
Kenneth J. Bagstad, Stefano Balbi, Greta Adamo, Ioannis Athanasiadis, Flavio Affinito, Simon Willcock, Ainhoa Magrach, Kiichiro Hayashi, Zuzana Harmackova, Aidin Niamir, Bruno Smets, Marcel Buchhorn, Evangelia Drakou, Alessandra Alfieri, Bram Edens, Luis Gonzalez Morales, Agnes Vari, Maria-Jose Sanz, Ferdinando Villa
2025, Ecosystem Services (72)
Despite continued, rapid growth in the literature, the fragmentation of information is a major barrier to more timely and credible ecosystem services (ES) assessments. A major reason for this fragmentation is the currently limited state of interoperability of ES data, models, and software. The FAIR Principles, a recent reformulation of...
How to model a new invader? US-invaded range models outperform global or combined range models after 100 occurrences
Nicholas E. Young, Demetra A. Williams, Keana S. Shadwell, Ian S. Pearse, Catherine S. Jarnevich
2025, Ecological Applications (35)
Invasive species are an economic and ecological burden, and efforts to limit their impact are greatly improved with reliable maps based on species distribution models (SDMs). However, the potential distribution of new invaders is difficult to anticipate because they are still spreading with few observations in their invaded habitat. Therefore,...
North American Waterfowl Management Plan survey regional profile—Southeast region
Nicholas W. Cole, David C. Fulton
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5102
Executive SummaryGaining a better understanding of the human dimensions of waterfowl management to inform the North American Waterfowl Management Plan is a valuable but challenging goal for the future success of waterfowl management. Increasing engagement with key stakeholder groups will lead to more support and effective waterfowl management. Social systems...
Land-use and socioeconomic time-series reveal legacy of redlining on present-day gentrification within a growing United States city
Peter Christian Ibsen, Anna Bierbrauer, Lucila Marie Corro, Zachary H. Ancona, Mark Drummond, Kenneth J. Bagstad, James E. Diffendorfer
2025, PLoS ONE (20)
Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) maps illustrated patterns of segregation in United States cites in the 1930s. As the causes and drivers of demographic and land-use segregation vary over years, these maps provide an important spatial lens in determining how patterns of segregation spatially and temporally developed during the past...
Estimating spatially explicit survival and mortality risk from telemetry data with thinned point process models
Joseph Michael Eisaguirre, Medeleine G. Lohman, Graham G. Frye, Heather E. Johnson, Thomas V. Riecke, Perry J. Williams
2025, Ecology Letters (28)
Mortality risk for animals often varies spatially and can be linked to how animals use landscapes. While numerous studies collect telemetry data on animals, the focus is typically on the period when animals are alive, even though there is important information that could be gleaned about mortality risk. We introduce...
Bedrock fracture characterization of the New Hampshire State Route 111 bypass, Windham, New Hampshire
Gregory J. Walsh, Nicholas Edwin Powell
2025, Data Report 1208
Bedrock roadcuts developed with blasting along the New Hampshire State Route 111 bypass in Windham expose the metasedimentary Silurian Berwick Formation and intrusions of multiple phases of foliated to nonfoliated granite to granitic pegmatite of the Devonian New Hampshire Plutonic Suite. Fracture characterization at two roadway rock cuts (roadcuts) included...
Piping Plover home ranges do not appear to be impacted by restoration of barrier islands and headlands
Theodore J. Zenzal Jr., Amanda Nicole Anderson, Delaina LeBlanc, Robert C. Dobbs, Brock Geary, Hardin Waddle
2025, Preprint
Restoration of barrier island and headland habitats can alter existing and create new habitats, which may impact wildlife occupying these areas such as the threatened Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus). We used resight data from banded birds to develop minimum convex polygon (MCP) and kernel density estimates (KDE) of individual Piping...
Documenting, quantifying, and modeling a large glide avalanche in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA
James W. Dillon, Erich H. Peitzsch, Zachary Miller, Perry Bartelt, Kevin D. Hammonds
2025, Cold Regions Science and Technology (231)
Glide avalanches present a significant and repetitive challenge to many operational forecasting programs, and they are likely to become more frequent. While the spatial location of glide release areas is extremely consistent, the onset of glide avalanche release is notoriously difficult to forecast, and their destructive potential can be immense....
Spatial scale dependence of error in fractional component cover maps
Matthew B. Rigge, Brett Bunde, Sarah E. McCord, Georgia Harrison, Timothy J Assal, James L. Smith
2025, Rangeland Ecology & Management (99) 77-87
Geospatial products such as fractional vegetation cover maps often report overall, pixel-wise accuracy, but decision-making with these products often occurs at coarser scales. As such, data users often desire guidance on the appropriate spatial scale to apply these data. We worked toward establishing this guidance by assessing RCMAP (Rangeland Condition...
A survey of mammal and fish genetic diversity across the global protected area network
Chloe Schmidt, Eleana Karachaliou, Amy G. Vandergast, Eric D. Crandall, Jeff T. Falgout, Margaret Hunter, Francine Kershaw, Deborah M. Leigh, David O'Brien, Ivan Paz-Vinas, Gernot Segelbacher, Colin J. Garroway
2025, Conservation Letters (18)
Global conservation targets aim to expand protected areas and maintain species’ genetic diversity. Whether protected areas capture genetic diversity is unclear. We examined this question using a global sample of nuclear population-level microsatellite data comprising genotypes from 2513 sites, 134,183 individuals, and 176 mammal and marine fish species. The genetic...
