Quantitative microbial risk assessment with microbial source tracking for enteric pathogens in southwest Wisconsin private wells
Tucker R. Burch, Joel P. Stokdyk, Joe Heffron, Sarah A. Opelt, Aaron D. Firnstahl
2026, Journal of Environmental Quality (55)
Private wells supply drinking water for many households, and their contamination by fecal microbes presents a risk of acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI). Risk is thought to vary by contaminating fecal source, but specific associations with fecal source are unknown for most private wells in the United States. This study characterizes...
Net CO2 emissions from dry inland waters persist in the presence of vegetation
K. Sharma, Soren Brothers, S. Bernal, Núria Catalán, P. Keller, M. Koschorreck, S. Kosten, C. Leigh, D. von Schiller, A. Pastor, A. Larrañaga, A. Ari, A. Camacho-Santamans, A. Grinham, A. Lupon, A. Linkhorst, A. Elosegi, B. Obrador, B. D. Eyre, C. Trochine, C. C. Muniz, C. Feijoo, C. Duvert, E. Moreno-Ostos, E. Jacqueline Garcia, E. S. Oliveria, F. Cuassolo, H. R. Fernandez, J. Yeo, J. Oakes, J. R. Paranaíba, J. Pegg, J. Anselmo, J. J. Montes-Perez, L. van den Heuvel, L. Ran, L. L. Wilkinson, L. Gomez-Gener, M. Arroita, M. Shanafield, M. L. Gultemirian, M. I. Arce, M. Cobo, M. M. Sanchez-Montoya, N. Barros, N. Wells, N. Karakaya, P. Erturk Ari, Q. Struik, R. Aben, R. Rimas, S. Kumar, Sheel Bansal, S. Sarkar, S. Rodriguez-Gomez, T. Huang, T. Silverthorn, T. Datry, V. Diaz Villanueva, R. Marce
2026, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (40)
Many inland waters are shrinking due to shifts in climate and water diversion for human uses. As they dry out, their exposed sediments emit large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. However, current global estimates of CO2 emissions from dry inland waters are derived exclusively from bare sediment dark-chamber...
Insights into Mountain Pass carbonatite formation from in-situ sulfur isotopes and geochemistry of sulfate and sulfide minerals
Erin Kay Benson, Kathryn E. Watts, Michael J. Pribil, Jay M. Thompson, Heather A. Lowers
2026, Mineralium Deposita
The Mountain Pass carbonatite stock hosts a world-class rare earth element deposit and may be classified as a carbonate-sulfate igneous rock, as it contains on average > 50 volume percent carbonate minerals and 20 to 30 volume percent sulfate minerals. The sulfates range in composition from barite to celestine...
Estimation of impounded sediment volume in the Similkameen River upstream of Enloe Dam, Okanogan County, Washington
Alexander O. Headman, Oscar A. Wilkerson, Christopher A. Curran, Andrew S. Gendaszek
2026, Scientific Investigations Report 2026-5126
The Enloe Dam was built in 1920 for hydropower generation and impounds a steep-banked, narrow reach of the Similkameen River in north-central Washington. During the subsequent century, sediment from the Similkameen River watershed, which includes historical mining operations, accumulated within Enloe Dam’s impoundment. Enloe Dam ceased hydropower production in 1958...
Utilization of multiple geochronology techniques to constrain the age of laterization and mineralization of the world-class Mount Weld rare earth element deposit, Western Australia
Philip L. Verplanck, Cameron Mark Mercer, Jay M. Thompson, Martin Danišík, Heather A. Lowers, Leah E. Morgan, Ganesh Bhat
2026, Chemical Geology (709)
Pervasive chemical weathering on stable cratons may form thick regoliths and elemental enrichment, but constraining the age of regolith formation is challenging. In this study we utilize multiple geochronological techniques on different minerals from the world-class Mount Weld rare earth element (REE) deposit, formed by lateritic weathering of a carbonatite,...
Local water use and climate variability drive water stress and alter ecological flows over the conterminous United States
Edward G. Stets, Matthew J. Cashman, Olivia L. Miller, Kathryn Powlen, Anthony J. Martinez, Julie Padilla, Althea A. Archer
2026, Environmental Research: Water (2)
Consistent, large-scale estimates of water availability are needed 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 conterminous United States (CONUS)...
Lost in translation: Reconciling different streamflow permanence data products
Kristin Jaeger, Susan Wherry, Malia H. Scott, Audrey Marie Martinez, Roy Sando, Evan A. Thaler
2026, Journal of Environmental Management (404)
The objective of this study is to provide a framework to reconcile streamflow permanence products that provide information on whether a stream is perennial or nonperennial. Accurate classification of streams as perennial or nonperennial is important for a variety of land and water resource management decisions. However, resource managers are...
Adaptive capacity of freshwater organisms in North America: Current understanding and future applications
Holly Susan Embke, Karen M Alofs, David Bunnell, Christy M. Caudill, Cindy Chu, Corey Garland Dunn, Kaelyn Fogelman, Spencer T. Gardner, Tomas O Hook, Scott A. Jackson, Matthew Keefer, Scott T Koenigbauer, Olivia E. LeDee, Stuart A. Ludsin, Abigail Lynch, Bonnie Myers, Elizabeth A. Nyboer, Travis Seaborn, Cory Suski, Lindsey Thurman, Annika W. Walters, Jacob Thomas Westhoff
2026, Global Change Biology Communications (1)
Freshwater species are increasingly threatened by climate change, yet our ability to assess their vulnerability remains incomplete. Typically, climate change vulnerability assessments (CCVAs) evaluate three components: exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. Adaptive capacity, defined as the ability of a species to adjust to changing conditions, provides critical insight into how...
Distribution and Abundance of Least Bell’s Vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus) and Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) at the Sepulveda Dam Basin, Los Angeles County, California—2025 Data Summary
Lisa D. Allen, Barbara E. Kus
2026, Data Report 1219
Executive Summary We surveyed for Least Bell’s Vireos (Vireo bellii pusillus; vireo) and Southwestern Willow Flycatchers (Empidonax traillii extimus; flycatcher) along Bull Creek, Haskell Creek, and the Los Angeles River (Sepulveda Dam project area) in Los Angeles County, California, in 2025. Four vireo surveys were completed between April 16 and July...
Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) surveys at the city of Carlsbad Preserve, San Diego County, California—2025 data summary
Lisa D. Allen, Barbara E. Kus
2026, Data Report 1223
Executive Summary We surveyed for Southwestern Willow Flycatchers (Empidonax traillii extimus; flycatcher) at five survey areas within the City of Carlsbad Preserve, Carlsbad, California, in 2025. Three flycatcher surveys were completed between May 16 and June 30, 2025. One transient flycatcher was observed at the Lake Calavera survey area in the...
Distribution and abundance of Least Bell’s Vireos (Vireo bellii pusillus), Southwestern Willow Flycatchers (Empidonax traillii extimus), and Coastal California Gnatcatchers (Polioptila californica californica) at the Carbon Canyon Dam, Orange County, California—2025 data summary
Scarlett L. Howell, Barbara E. Kus
2026, Data Report 1221
Executive Summary We surveyed for Least Bell’s Vireos (Vireo bellii pusillus; vireo), Southwestern Willow Flycatchers (Empidonax traillii extimus; flycatcher), and Coastal California Gnatcatchers (Polioptila californica californica; gnatcatcher) at the Carbon Canyon Dam study area near Brea, California, in 2025. Four gnatcatcher and vireo surveys were completed between April 22 and June...
Bottom-up characterization of geologic methane emissions in the San Juan Basin in the southwestern USA
Margaret Scholer, Kathleen R. Hall, Thomas S. Weber, Marc L. Buursink, Mingzhe Zhu, Alexander C. Ihle, Devin Hencmann, Andrew M. Smith, Katey W. Anthony, Vasilii V. Petrenko
2026, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene (14)
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that plays an important role in atmospheric chemistry and global warming. The current global methane budget has large uncertainties, and a better understanding of the budget would help to guide strategies for reducing anthropogenic emissions to fight climate change. Natural geologic methane emissions are...
Constraining source and path effects of large magnitude earthquakes using ground motion simulations
Xiaofeng Meng, Robert Graves, Christine A Goulet
2026, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
The purpose of this study is to use ground‐motion simulations to investigate ways in which source and path effects for large‐magnitude earthquakes can be represented in nonergodic ground‐motion models (GMMs). To achieve this, we designed a ground‐motion study in the San Francisco Bay Area that includes earthquakes...
Field performance evaluation of a bayluscide 20-percent suspension concentrate formulation
Nadia Carmosini, Justin R. Schueller, Courtney A. Kirkeeng, Anne M. Wood, Lori A. Criger, James A. Luoma
2026, Open-File Report 2026-1067
Petromyzon marinus (sea lamprey) is a parasitic, invasive fish of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Since the late 1950s, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission has implemented an integrated Sea Lamprey Control Program (SLCP) that relies on two lampricidal chemicals: 3-(trifluoromethyl)-4-nitrophenol (TFM) and niclosamide. Niclosamide is applied using a bayluscide 20-percent emulsifiable...
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...
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...
