System characterization report on Resourcesat-2A Linear Imaging Self Scanning-3 sensor
Seonkyung Park, Mahesh Shrestha, Minsu Kim, Aparajithan Sampath, Jeffrey Clauson
2025, Open-File Report 2021-1030-T
Executive Summary This report addresses system characterization of the Indian Space Research Organisation Resourcesat-2A Linear Imaging Self Scanning-3 sensor and is part of a series of system characterization reports produced and delivered by the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val Center of Excellence since 2021. These reports present...
The relationship between body condition, body composition, and growth in amphibians
Ross K. Hinderer, Blake R. Hossack, Lisa A. Eby
2025, PLoS ONE (20)
Body condition of animals is often assumed to reflect advantages in survival or reproduction, but body condition indices may not reflect body composition, or condition may be unrelated to fitness-associated traits. The relationship between body condition indices and composition has rarely been quantified in amphibians, and body condition has not...
Additional common milkweed would help Canada meet its share of the trinational eastern migratory monarch butterfly recovery target
Greg W. Mitchell, Patrick Kirby, Jason Duffe, Lenore Fahrig, Judith Girard, Mark K. Johnston, Maxim Larrivee, Amanda E. Martin, Iman Momeni-Dehaghi, Jon Pasher, Elizabeth Rezek, Elisabeth Shapiro, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Darren Pouliot
2025, Facets (10)
The eastern migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) population has declined by ∼84% between 1993 and 2024. Population recovery in the Midwestern United States is limited by the availability of the monarch's main host plant for egg laying—common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). The extent to which common milkweed availability is limiting in...
Fisheries dependent and independent data inform a capture technique for an emerging invasive fish species in the mainstem Mississippi River; Black Carp Mylopharyngodon piceus
Patrick Kroboth, Michael E. Colvin, Courtney Broaddus
2025, Fisheries Research (285)
Black Carp Mylopharyngodon piceus were imported into the United States in the 1970s and 1980s for use in aquaculture; escape occurred and reported wild captures increased. Lacking species-specific capture methods, we assessed fisheries dependent incidental Black Carp catches for a common method, hoop nets, by kernel density analysis to identify an area...
Comparison of lapilli otoliths and pectoral fin rays for estimating age of Northern Pikeminnows
Caleb M. Wilson, Bryce Marciniak, Mike Thomas, Jordan Messner, Matthew P. Corsi, Michael Quist
2025, Northwest Science (98) 79-85
The Northern Pikeminnow Ptychocheilus oregonensis is a piscivorous cyprinid native to western North America. Information on the best structure for estimating the age of Northern Pikeminnows is a key knowledge gap that may limit inquiries on management efforts. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate between-reader precision and concordance between...
Integrating climate change, biological invasions, and infectious wildlife diseases
David W. Thieltges, David B. Conn, Ross N. Cuthbert, Alison M. Dunn, Rosa Jolma, M. Camille Hopkins, Volodimir Sarabeev, Sander Smolders, Carol A. Stepien, K. Mathias Wegner, Patrick M. Kocovsky
2025, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (23)
Climate change is likely to affect infectious diseases that are facilitated by biological invasions, with repercussions for wildlife conservation and zoonotic risks. Current invasion management and policy are underprepared for the future risks associated with such invasion-related wildlife diseases. By considering evidence from bioclimatology, invasion biology, and disease research, we...
Spatial stream network modeling of water temperature within the White River Basin, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
Andrew S. Gendaszek, Anya C. Leach, Kristin L. Jaeger
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5029
Water temperature is a primary control on the occurrence and distribution of fish and other ectothermic aquatic species. In the Pacific Northwest, cold-water species such as Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) and bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) have specific temperature requirements during different life stages that must be met to ensure the...
In situ Re-Os geochronology of Re-rich Palaeogene molybdenite by LA-ICP-MS/MS
Stijm Glorie, Jay Michael Thompson, Sarah E. Gilbert, Amanda Souders
2025, Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (JAAS) (40) 1402
In situ Re–Os geochronology by LA-ICP-MS/MS was previously demonstrated by reacting Os with CH4 or N2O reaction gasses. However, for both reactions, a minor proportion of the Re parent isotope also reacts, potentially leading to significant isobaric interferences of 187Re on 187Os, especially for young samples with little radiogenic in-growth. Here we present an...
National population exposure and evacuation potential in the United States to earthquake-generated tsunami threats
Nathan J. Wood, Jeff Peters, Anne Sheehan, Doug Bausch
2025, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (123)
Previous efforts to characterize tsunami threats to people have focused primarily on individual scenarios in specific areas but have not recognized multiple scenarios across an entire country. This study addresses this gap by quantifying population exposure and evacuation potential in the United States to 102 earthquake-related, tsunami-hazard zones, including 92...
Insights from growing Globorotalia truncatulinoides and Globorotalia menardii in the laboratory
Caitlin E. Reynolds, Jennifer S. Fehrenbacher, Kaustubh Thirumalai, Eric J. Tappa, Julie N. Richey
2025, Journal of Foraminiferal Research (55) 131-143
The vast majority of planktic foraminiferal culture studies have been carried out on spinose species of foraminifera, with relatively few studies on non-spinose species. We conducted a pilot study to test whether live specimens of the non-spinose planktic foraminifera, Globorotalia truncatulinoides and Globorotalia menardii, could be successfully harvested from offshore plankton tow samples...
Growth patterns of invasive Silver Carp in the Mississippi River basin
Leandro E. Miranda
2025, Fisheries (50) 391-398
Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) are an invasive fish in the Mississippi River Basin. Their rapid expansion over recent decades coupled with extraordinary growth rates have arguably caught many by surprise. Understanding the atypical growth rates that could be the driving force behind the Silver Carp's explosive expansion may be crucial...
Discovery of late Holocene-aged Acropora palmata reefs in Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida, USA: The past as a key to the future?
Anastasios Stathakopoulos, Lauren Toth, Peter Alexander Bacon Modys, Selena Anne-Marie Johnson, Ilsa B. Kuffner
2025, The Depositional Record (11) 808-828
Emblematic of global coral-reef ecosystem decline, the coral ecosystem-engineer Acropora palmata is now rare throughout much of the western Atlantic. Understanding when and where this foundation species occurred during the past can provide information about the environmental limits defining its distribution through space and time. In this paper, the present, historical and...
Regional patterns in U.S. wildfire activity: The critical role of ignition sources
Alexandra D. Syphard, Jon E. Keeley, Erin Conlisk, Mike Gough
2025, Environmental Research Letters (20)
As extreme wildfires increase globally, understanding their causes is critical for effective management. While climate and housing growth are commonly linked to rising fire activity, the role of specific ignition sources—particularly human-caused—remains understudied. Analyzing a 79-year dataset (1940–2019) from U.S. Forest Service regions across the continental United States, we found...
Causal effects verses causal mechanisms: Two traditions with different requirements and contributions towards causal understanding
James Grace, Nick Huntington-Klein, E. William Schweiger, Melinda Martinez, Michael Osland, Laura C. Feher, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Karen M. Thorne
2025, Ecology Letters (28)
The scientific aspiration of building causal knowledge has received little explicit discussion in ecology despite its fundamental importance. When methods are described as ‘causal’, emphasis is increasingly placed on statistical techniques for isolating associations so as to quantify causal effects. In contrast, natural scientists have historically approached the pursuit of...
Hydrogeologic framework and considerations for drilling and grouting of closed-loop geothermal bores in the Erie-Ontario Lowlands and Allegheny Plateau of New York State
John Williams, William M. Kappel, Joshua Woda
2025, Open-File Report 2025-1013
The hydrogeologic framework at closed-loop geothermal sites in the Erie-Ontario Lowlands and Allegheny Plateau of central and western New York is the result of the complex interaction of bedrock geology, glacial geology, and groundwater hydrology, and the occurrence of petroleum and gas. Considerations for closed-loop geothermal bore installation include the...
Groundwater budget for the surficial aquifer surrounding Lake Nokomis, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Colin T. Livdahl
2025, Open-File Report 2025-1021
During prolonged periods of above-average precipitation, rising groundwater levels have the potential to cause damage to and interfere with underground infrastructure and building foundations. To understand the relations between precipitation and groundwater in the vicinity of Lake Nokomis, the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with the University of Minnesota, quantified...
USGS Environmental Health Program—Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) science activities [postcard]
Deborah D. Iwanowicz
2025, General Information Product 251
Introduction The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Environmental Health Program conducts various activities related to PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) to understand their impacts on human health and the environment. Through these activities, the program aims to provide critical information and resources to address the challenges posed by PFAS contamination....
Simulated effects of future water availability and protected species habitat in a perennial wetland, Santa Barbara County, California
Geoffrey Cromwell, Daniel Philip Culling, Matthew J. Young, Joshua Larsen
2025, Water (17)
This study evaluates the potential water availability in Barka Slough and the effects of changing hydrological conditions on the aquatic habitat of five protected species. Barka Slough is a historically perennial wetland at the downstream western end of the San Antonio Creek Valley watershed (SACVW). A previously published hydrologic model...
Mahi-mahi metacouplings: Quantifying human–nature interactions in dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) fisheries
Andrew Kenneth Carlson
2025, Global Sustainability
Fisheries encompass humans and fish, but fisheries researchers rarely model human–nature interactions over space and time. I filled this information gap for dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus), a popular, widely distributed species that supports industrial, artisanal, recreational, and subsistence fisheries. Dolphinfish human–nature interactions showed a long-term up-and-down pattern in 1950–2019. Recent declines...
Do mule deer surf peaks in forage quality while on summer range?
Anna Ortega, Kevin L. Monteith, Benjamin Wise, Matthew Kauffman
2025, Ecology (106)
Many animals track ephemeral peaks in food abundance and quality that propagate across landscapes. Migrating ungulates, in particular, track waves of newly emerging plants from low-elevation winter ranges to high-elevation summer ranges—known as “green-wave surfing.” Because plants lose crude protein and gain insoluble fiber with maturation, ruminants are expected to...
Ecologically informed solar enables a sustainable energy transition in U.S. croplands
Matthew A. Sturchio, Adam Gallaher, Steven Mark Grodsky
2025, PNAS (122)
United States (U.S.) croplands are ideal recipient environments for solar photovoltaic (PV) energy because they are flat and have a high solar resource. Perceived threats of solar to agriculture have led some stakeholders to suggest that croplands be exclusively used to produce food. However, 12 million hectares of U.S. croplands,...
Comparative properties of saponitic fault gouge and serpentinite muds cored from mud volcanoes of the Mariana subduction zone
Diane E. Moore, C.A. Morrow, David A. Lockner, Barbara A. Bekins
2025, Geophysics, Geochemistry, Geosystems (26)
We obtained 12 core samples for physical and chemical characterization from three serpentinite mud volcanoes (Yinazao, Asùt Tesoru, and Fantangisña) located on the forearc of the Mariana subduction system, that were drilled during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 366. Two samples from the Fantangisña mud volcano are interpreted to be...
Using DNA barcoding to evaluate freshwater mussel and fish-host relationships in the Flint River (Georgia, USA)
Hayley A. Robinson, John P. Wares, Gail M. Cowie, Shayla D. Williams, Ben F Scott, Matthew T. Rowe, Nathan Johnson, Peter D. Hazelton
2025, Freshwater Science
Freshwater mussels have a unique life history in which larval mussels (glochidia) act as obligate parasites to fish hosts. Host selectivity may be species specific, and identification of host fish is a critical step in conservation planning for individual mussel species. The Flint River harbors ~23% of the freshwater mussel...
Interspecific effects of invasive wild pigs (Sus scrofa) on native nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus)
Matthew S. Broadway, Holly M. Todaro, Molly M. Koeck, Courtney N. Dotterweich, Sarah A. Cain, M. Colter Chitwood, Robert Charles Lonsinger
2025, Journal of Mammalogy (106) 976-988
Biological invasions pose significant risks to ecosystems and native species. Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are a highly detrimental invasive species in North America, directly and indirectly affecting native species. Co-occurrence of wild pigs and native species may lead to interspecific interactions that alter ecological communities. Accordingly, we...
The scientific benefits of a statewide, standardized, coastal wetland monitoring program in Hawaiʻi
Judith Z. Drexler, Helen Raine, Carrie L. Harrington, Kawika B. Winter, Kauaoa Matthew Sam Fraiola, Joy Browning, Jeffrey Burgett, David A. Burney, Kim A. Falinski, Scott Fisher, Kristen C. Harmon, Jessica L. Idle, Monica N. Iglecia, Mari-Vaughn Virginia Johnson, Matthew J. Keir, K. Jackson Letchworth, Kirsten Moy, Anthony Olegario, Melissa R. Price, J. Michael Reed, Yoshimi M. Rii, Rachel A. Rounds, Charles B. van Rees, Brett T. Wolfe
2025, Ecology and Evolution (15)
In this viewpoint, we provide a scientific justification for a statewide, standardized, coastal wetland monitoring program for Hawaiʻi, USA. Hawaiian coastal wetlands provide important habitat for endangered waterbirds, invertebrates, plants, and the Hawaiian hoary bat (ʻōpeʻapeʻa; Lasiurus semotus) as well as support Indigenous food systems. Currently, numerous agencies and groups in...
