Divergent responses of seed banks and aboveground vegetation to drought and deluge in grasslands across an elevational gradient
Jennifer R. Gremer, Margaret M. Moore, Daniel C. Laughlin, Seth Munson
2025, Oecologia (207)
Increased variability in precipitation associated with climate change creates extreme conditions of drought and deluge that can have profound effects on the abundance and composition of plant communities. Responses to these extremes likely vary across climatic gradients and depend on local plant community composition, which includes the emergent, aboveground vegetation...
Simulation of the impacts of spring fiversions on streamflow in the Strawberry Creek watershed, San Bernardino County, California, using an integrated hydrological model
Derek W. Ryter, Joseph A. Hevesi, Linda R. Woolfenden
2025, Preprint
The Strawberry Creek watershed, situated in the San Bernardino Mountains of southern California, features a group of natural springs known as Arrowhead Springs that have been augmented with diversions in the form of sub-horizontal borings and tunnels. Understanding the impact of these structures on streamflow through groundwater capture is crucial...
Structural controls on splay fault rupture dynamics during Cascadia megathrust earthquakes
James Burkhardt Biemiller, Alice-Agnes Gabriel, Lydia M. Staisch, Thomas Ulrich, Audrey Dunham, Erin A. Wirth, Janet Watt, Madeleine C. Lucas, Anna Ledeczi
2025, AGU Advances (6)
Great subduction earthquakes (Mw ≥ 8.0) can generate devastating tsunamis by rapidly displacing the seafloor and overlying water column. These potentially tsunamigenic seafloor offsets result from coseismic fault slip and deformation beneath or within the accretionary wedge. The mechanics of these shallow rupture phenomena and their dependence on subduction...
Systematic approach to prioritize wells for effective groundwater monitoring and management in the Arkansas Headwaters Basin, Colorado, USA
Eleanor E. Fahrney, David C. Mays, Connor P. Newman
2025, Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies (62)
Study regionThe Arkansas Headwaters Basin, an intermountain basin in the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America.Study focusOur specific focus is choosing a set of wells to support a possible future regional groundwater-surface water model that would...
Geomorphic habitat response units for urban stream rehabilitation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Faith A. Fitzpatrick, Shelby P. Sterner, James D. Blount, Jana S. Stewart
2025, Open-File Report 2025-1049
Urban stream rehabilitation plans can benefit from knowledge of the landscape setting and vegetative communities that were adjacent to streams prior to urbanization. Downstream to upstream connections of these characteristics can be relevant for native migratory fish species that have a range of preferred spawning habitats. Based on a need...
Groundwater response to managed aquifer recharge at the Southeast Houghton Artificial Recharge Project in Tucson, Arizona
Libby M. Wildermuth, Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Jacob L. Conrad
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5017
Managed aquifer recharge is a widespread practice for storing water in the subsurface as groundwater. At a managed aquifer recharge facility in southern Arizona, groundwater-level and repeat microgravity data were collected to monitor aquifer response. These data were used to inform parameter identification for an unsaturated-zone flow model used to...
Aridity reduces lag times between aquatic and terrestrial dry-down among watersheds and across years in the northwest US
Bradley J. Butterfield, Daniel Rodolphe Schlaepfer, Robert Al-Chokhachy, Jason B. Dunham, Jeremiah D. Groom, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Christian E. Torgersen, John B. Bradford
2025, Ecosphere (16)
Landscapes encompass both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems that experience the same climate but may respond to climate in divergent ways. For example, the time lag between seasonal dry-down of terrestrial soil moisture and decline in streamflow has important implications for species and ecosystem processes across the aquatic–terrestrial interface. How these...
An inset groundwater-flow model to evaluate the effects of layering configuration on model calibration and assess managed aquifer recharge near Shellmound, Mississippi
Moussa Guira, Jonathan P. Traylor, Andrew T. Leaf, Alec R. Weisser
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5055
The U.S. Geological Survey has developed a high-resolution inset groundwater-flow model in the Mississippi Delta as part of an interdisciplinary collaboration coordinated by the Mississippi Alluvial Plain project to provide a tool that stakeholders can use to support water-resource management decisions. Groundwater withdrawals from the Mississippi River Valley alluvial (MRVA)...
Observational, virological, and serological data provide insights into an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza among wild birds on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska in 2022
Bryan Daniels, Erik E. Osnas, Megan Boldenow, Robert Gerlach, Christina Ahlstrom, Sarah Coburn, Michael J. Brook, Michael Brubaker, Julian Fischer, David N. Koons, Angela Matz, Marin Murphy, Daniel Rizzolo, Laura Celeste Scott, David R. Sinnett, Jordan M. Thompson, Juliana Lenoch, Mia Kim Torchetti, David E. Stallknecht, Rebecca L. Poulson, Andrew M. Ramey
2025, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (61) 1010-1027
In 2021–22, clade 2.3.4.4b highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses were introduced by wild birds into North America, leading to geographically widespread disease. In response to HPAI outbreaks throughout late 2021 and early 2022, we recorded observations of sick and dead birds, estimated abundance of carcasses, collected swab and sera...
Preserving and increasing water resources—Natural infrastructure in dryland streams in Baja California Sur, Mexico
Alma Lizette Anides Morales, Laura M. Norman, Thomas J. Mack
2025, Fact Sheet 2025-3042
The Los Planes watershed of Baja California Sur, Mexico, and its underlying aquifer are experiencing groundwater decline owing to low average annual rainfall (28.1 centimeters per year) and rising water demand from population growth and agricultural activities. This decline in water availability can lead to desertification—a process that changes arable...
Carbon and nitrogen isotopes of different native fish tissues from the Santa Ana River, California
Brock Huntsman, Matthew J. Young, Kai Palenscar, Kurt E. Anderson, William Ota, Jordan Mae-Jean Buxton, Justin K. Clause, Danielle L. Palm, Jeff Lee Gronemyer, Brett Mills, Kerwin Russell, Rebecca Christensen
2025, North American Journal of Fisheries Management
ObjectiveStable isotopes are commonly used to understand the role of fishes in aquatic food webs. However, variability in species- and tissue-specific isotopic values can affect the inference that is drawn from a stable isotope study. We evaluated differences in stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen...
Modeling floods, sediment entrainment, and downstream debris flows from hypothetical breaches of the blockage at Spirit Lake, Washington
David L. George, Charles M. Cannon
2025, Open-File Report 2025-1046
This report describes a modeling investigation by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) of hazards in the Toutle and Cowlitz River valleys posed by hypothetical outburst floods from Spirit Lake, Washington. A massive debris avalanche resulting from the collapse of Mount St. Helens’ north flank during the May 18, 1980, eruption...
Quantitative PCR detection of endangered diamond darter Crystallaria Cincotta in environmental DNA: Employing locked nucleic acids and blocking probe for specificity
Andrew P. Kinziger, Cameron M. Layne, Stuart A. Welsh
2025, Conservation Genetics Resources (18)
This study presents a quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay for the detection of the endangered diamond darter Crystallaria cincotta from environmental DNA (eDNA) in water samples. The assay design is based on an alignment of mitochondrial cytochrome b DNA sequences from 58 individuals representing 25 percid species. Leveraging genetic differences, a species-specific...
Reconnaissance of potential alternate water supply sources for the City of Gary, West Virginia
Mark D. Kozar, Samuel H. Austin
2025, Open-File Report 2025-1037
Seven potential sources of water, consisting of free-flowing discharge from abandoned coal mines at six locations and one abandoned flooded underground coal mine air shaft, were sampled for chemical analysis to assess the quality of the groundwater emanating from the seven mine sources. The six free-flowing mine discharge sources were...
Using monitoring and partnerships to provide management-relevant information about Chesapeake Bay rivers
James S. Webber, Kaylyn S. Gootman, Kenneth Hyer, Peter J. Tango, Douglas L. Moyer
2025, Fact Sheet 2025-3045
The lands and waters of the Chesapeake Bay watershed provide more than $100 billion in economic benefits- an amount that is expected to increase by achieving the region’s clean-water goals. Achieving those goals requires accurate and timely information about the health of the watershed’s rivers and streams. The Chesapeake Bay...
The 3D Elevation Program—Supporting the economy of Massachusetts
Dan Walters
2025, Fact Sheet 2025-3044
Introduction Massachusetts extends from the mountains of the Appalachian system in the west of the State to the sandy beaches and rocky shorelines of the Atlantic coast in the east. Inland topographic data support a wide range of important activities, including geologic mapping, transportation planning, forest and wildlife management, quantifying ecological...
Morphometric and geological characterization with statistical correlations for 33 tributary drainage basins of the San Juan River watershed in the Four Corners region, USA
K. E. Miltenberger, Zachary Shephard, Rachel Lynn Mixon, Johanna Blake, Shaleene Chavarria, Douglas Yager
2025, Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis (25)
Basin morphometry, climate and geology control how a hydrological network evolves over time, controlling the efficiency of weathering of elements from geological materials, and ultimately the input of sediment and dissolved constituents to river systems. Exceedances to the Navajo Nation surface water quality standards for trace metals have been reported...
Satellite tracking supports hypotheses of breeding allochrony and allopatry in the Endangered Pterodroma hasitata (Black-capped Petrel, Diablotin)
Yvan G. Satgé, J. Brian Patteson, Bradford S. Keitt, Chris P. Gaskin, Patrick G.R. Jodice
2025, Journal of Caribbean Ornithology (38) 59-66
Pterodroma hasitata, the Black-capped Petrel (locally known as Diablotin), is the only extant Pterodroma petrel nesting in the Caribbean. The species is listed as globally Endangered by the IUCN and was recently listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Pterodroma hasitata show a phenotypic gradient, ranging from a darker, smaller form to...
Spatial distribution and relative biomass of bigheaded carps in Lake Balaton, Hungary estimated from an environmental DNA survey
Nora Boross, Ardo Laszlo, Duane C. Chapman, Gergely Boros, Zoltán Vitál, Viktor Tóth, Nathan Thompson, Katy E. Klymus, Catherine A. Richter
2025, PLoS ONE (20)
Silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis), bighead carp (H. molitrix) and their hybrids, collectively known as bigheaded carps, have been introduced to Lake Balaton, Hungary. The current stock sizes are difficult to assess. We investigated environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques targeted for bigheaded carps, assessed the spatial distribution of eDNA in Lake Balaton,...
Too hot for comfort: Elevated temperatures influence gene expression and exceed thermal tolerance of bigmouth shiners, Ericymba dorsalis
Ella K. Humphrey, Jonathan J. Spurgeon, Lizabeth Bowen, Robert E. Wilson, Shannon C. Waters-Dynes, Braxton M. Newkirk, Sarah A. Sonsthagen
2025, Journal of Fish Biology
Environmental and associated ecosystem change may affect the persistence of fish species based on their ability to adapt to changing conditions, including decreasing flows and rising water temperatures. Exceeding the thermal tolerances of stream fish will likely result in a loss of ability to maintain metabolic processes. We evaluated the...
Quantifying depuration of methylmercury from fish consumption by travelers
Ryan F. Lepak, Jean H. Mve Beh, Clotaire Moukegni-Sika, Jean N.B. Binguema, Sarah E. Janssen, Jacob M. Ogorek, Michael Tate, Peter B. McIntyre
2025, Environment and Health
During a two-week field sampling expedition in Gabon, two American scientists consumed fish daily from the Ogooué River watershed. We sampled their scalp and facial hair periodically to evaluate hair as a biomarker to track shifts in methylmercury (MeHg) exposure from diet. Each individual differed in the onset and extent...
Changes in phosphorus concentration and flux from 2011 to 2023 in major U.S. tributaries to the Laurentian Great Lakes
Dustin William Kincaid, Matthew W. Diebel, Erin E. Bertke, Donald B. Bonville, G. F. Koltun, Dale M. Robertson, Luke C. Loken
2025, Journal of Great Lakes Research (51)
Reducing phosphorus (P) flux to the Great Lakes is critical for improving water quality and controlling eutrophication. We used 13 water years (2011–2023) of U.S. Geological Survey data from 24 major U.S. tributaries (representing 47% of the U.S. Great Lakes watershed area) to evaluate temporal changes in orthophosphate (PO4-P) and...
Amphibian diversity of the western Colorado canyonlands including potential threats from nonnative bullfrogs and disease
Denita M Weeks, David Pilliod, Madeline (Nikki) Grant-Hoffman, Anjelica F Quintana Spencer, Daniel Neubaum, Paul Hampton, Michaela Ray Grossklaus, Matthew B Laramie, Erin L. Muths
2025, Western North American Naturalist (85) 515-535
Throughout the canyons of the Colorado and Uncompahgre Plateaus, water is a limited resource for wildlife, with patchy distribution and seasonal availability. Tributary creeks within these canyons drain into mainstem rivers, providing habitat and breeding sites for native amphibians. Yet, little is known about the diversity and distribution of amphibians...
Landsat-derived rainfed and irrigated-area product for conterminous United States for the year 2020 (LRIP30 CONUS 2020) using supervised and unsupervised machine learning on the cloud
Pardhasaradhi Teluguntla, Prasad Thenkabail, Adam Oliphant, Itiya Aneece, Trent Biggs, Murali Krishna Gumma, Daniel Foley, Richard L McCormick, Neelam Rohitha, Emerson Long, Jake Lawton
2025, Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing (91) 703-714
Accurate maps of irrigated and rainfed croplands are crucial for assessing global food and water security. Irrigated croplands yield two to four times more grain and biomass than rainfed croplands. To meet rising food demand, the proportion of cropland that is irrigated must be increased globally. Because agriculture uses 80%...
Effects of flow on pesticides in water and zooplankton in the northern Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
James Orlando, Laura Twardochleb, David Bosworth, Michelle Hladik, Corey Sanders, Matt De Parsia, Brittany E. Davis
2025, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science (23)
Zooplankton are a key food source for juvenile fishes in estuaries worldwide, including California’s Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta (hereafter Delta); both zooplankton quality and quantity are critical to ecosystem health. Zooplankton may be affected by pesticides in water and the food web, and the Delta is known to contain complex pesticide...
