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...
Assessment of effects of channelization mitigation alternatives of Stoney Brook, Carlton and St. Louis Counties, Minnesota
Charles V. Cigrand
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5004
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (FDLB), studied the effects of channel modification alternatives on lake levels and floodplain inundation in the Stoney Brook watershed in northeast Minnesota. Northern wild rice (Zizania palustris), also referred to as manoomin by 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...
Population trends of native and non-native forest birds on the island of Molokai, Hawaii
Lauren K. Smith, Seth Judge, Ayesha Genz, Lainie Berry, Laura K Berthold, Hanna L. Mounce, Richard J. Camp
2025, The Wilson Journal of Ornithology (137) 51-64
Hawaiʻi’s avifauna has undergone profound changes over the past 1,000 years, with many endemic bird species driven to extinction and non-native introductions reshaping forest ecosystems. On the island of Molokaʻi, habitat degradation and the introduction of mosquito-borne disease, mainly avian malaria (Plasmodium relictum), have caused extinctions and severe declines in native...
Characterizing the scale of regional landslide triggering from storm hydrometeorology
Jonathan P. Perkins, Nina S. Oakley, Brian D. Collins, Skye C. Corbett, W. Paul Burgess
2025, Natural Hazards and Earth Systems Sciences (NHESS) (25) 1037-1056
Rainfall strongly affects landslide triggering; however, understanding how storm characteristics relate to the severity of landslides at the regional scale has thus far remained unclear, despite the societal benefits that would result from defining this relationship. As mapped landslide inventories typically cover a small region relative to a storm system,...
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....
Decadal-scale effects of a dam removal on channel geomorphology, sediment and large wood on the Elwha River, Washington, USA
Lisa Ely, Alyssa DeMott, Bryon J. Free, Andrew C. Ritchie
2025, Geomorphology (478)
The removal of Glines Canyon Dam on the Elwha River in western Washington, USA, from 2011 to 2014 introduced a 20-Mt pulse of stored sediment and logs into the downstream channel. We used terrestrial laser scanning, high-resolution orthoimages, and surveys of large wood (LW) and sediment grain-size distribution to quantify...
U.S. Geological Survey Cooperative Research Units program
Elise R. Irwin, Tess M. McConnell, Donald E. Dennerline, Kevin L. Pope, Jonathan R. Mawdsley
2025, Fact Sheet 2025-3010
This fact sheet provides a 10-year overview of the U.S. Geological Survey Cooperative Research Units program. It highlights long term accomplishments for the program's mission of applied research, graduate education and technical assistance to the partners....
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...
Distribution and disturbances of ditches across salt marshes of the Northeast U.S. with implications for management and restoration
Erin K. Peck, Julie E. Walker, Kate Ackerman, Joel A. Carr, Maureen D. Correll, Zafer Defne, Linda A. Deegan, Mitchell J. Eaton, Neil K. Ganju, Mitch Hartley, Catherine Johnson, Jason J Mercer, Katharine J. Ruskin, Jonathan D. Woodruff, Brian Yellen
2025, Journal of Environmental Management (376)
Effective management of valuable coastal systems, such as salt marshes requires an understanding of the complex stressors influencing their continued threat of drowning. However, efforts to determine the effects of one potential stressor, ditches, have produced diverging results complicating management efforts. Ditches (linear trenches dug to drain salt marshes for...
Population vulnerability of residents, employees, and cruise-ship passengers to tsunami hazards of islands in complex seismic regions: A case study of the U.S. Virgin Islands
Nathan J. Wood, Jeff Peters, Christopher Moore
2025, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (119)
Reducing the potential for loss of life from tsunamis is challenging on islands located in complex seismic regions given the multiple sources that surround islands, differences among islands in the amount of time needed to evacuate before wave arrival, and the high number of residents, employees, and tourists in tsunami-hazard...
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 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 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 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...
U.S. Geological Survey Cooperative Research Units Program—A hawk’s view of 2024
Elise R. Irwin, Tess M. McConnell, Donald E. Dennerline, Kevin L. Pope, Jonathan R. Mawdsley
2025, Fact Sheet 2025-3009
Introduction The U.S. Geological Survey Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units (USGS CRU) program was established in 1935 and codified by Congress in 1960 to enhance graduate education in wildlife and fisheries sciences and to facilitate research and technical assistance among natural resource agencies and universities on fisheries and wildlife management...
First documentation of pelagic larvae of Prickly Sculpin Cottus asper in Willamette Basin reservoirs using a novel light trapping method
Christina Amy Murphy, Alvaro Cortes, Amanda M.M. Pollock, William J. Gerth, Ivan Arismendi, Peter Konstantinidis
2025, Ichthyology & Herpetology (113) 84-93
Although sculpin can play important ecological roles, serving as abundant key meso-predators in freshwater aquatic systems, much remains to be learned about their development and ecology. Depth discrete light traps effectively captured larval sculpin from Lookout Point Reservoir in the Willamette Basin, Oregon, USA. We confirm that these larvae were...
Letter to Editor regarding “Potential impact of the 2023 Lahaina wildfire on the marine environment: Modeling the transport of ash-laden benzo[a]pyrene and pentachlorophenol” by Downs et al. (2024) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176346
Curt D. Storlazzi, Renee K. Takesue, Alicia Hendrix
2025, Science of the Total Environment (970)
No abstract available....
A wetland for all seasons? Evaluating congruence in avian species richness and habitat associations within restored wetlands across the annual cycle
J. Podoliak, Elisabeth B. Webb, D. Hicks
2025, Wetlands (45)
Wetland restoration on agricultural land to enhance wildlife habitat through the Wetland Reserve Easement (WRE) program has substantially increased wetland area within the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV). Studies assessing avian response to wetland restoration often focus on specific communities during one season such as passerines in spring or waterfowl...
Measuring polar bear health using allostatic load
Sarah Teman, Todd C. Atwood, Sarah J. Converse, Tricia Fry, Kristin L. Laidre
2025, Conservation Physiology (13)
The southern Beaufort Sea polar bear sub-population (Ursus maritimus) has been adversely affected by climate change and loss of sea ice habitat. Even though the sub-population is likely decreasing, it remains difficult to link individual polar bear health and physiological change to sub-population effects. We developed an index of allostatic...
Why the whole is greater than the sum of its parts: A case for population-level management
Matthew P. Corsi, Michael Quist, Joseph Kozfkay, Curtis J. Roth, Daniel J. Schill
2025, Article
Catch-and-release regulations in recreational fisheries have been implemented for decades with the intention of allowing fishing while reducing fishing mortality. In addition, voluntary catch-and-release behaviors are increasingly common. Social and scientific interest in fish handling practices in catch-and-release fisheries as they relate to stress, reflex impairment, reproductive success, and mortality...
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...
