The collective application of shorebird tracking data to conservation
Autumn-Lynn Harrison, Candace Stenzel, Alexandra Anderson, Jessica Howell, Richard B. Lanctot, Marley Aikens, Joaquín Aldabe, Liam A. Berigan, Joël Bêty, Erik Blomberg, Juliana Bosi de Almeida, Andy J. Boyce, David W. Bradley, Stephen C. Brown, Jay D. Carlisle, Edward Cheskey, Katherine Christie, Sylvain Christin, Rob Clay, Ashley A. Dayer, Jill L. Deppe, Willow B. English, Scott A. Flemming, Olivier Gilg, Christine Gilroy, Susan Heath, Jason M. Hill, J. Mark Hipfner, James A. Johnson, Luanne Johnson, Bart Kempenaers, Paul Knaga, Eunbi Kwon, Benjamin J. Lagassé, Jean-François Lamarre, Christopher Latty, Don-Jean Léandri-Breton, Nicolas Lecomte, Pam Loring, Laura Anne McDuffie, Rebecca L McGuire, Scott Moorhead, Juan G. Navedo, David Newstead, Erica Nol, Alina Olalla-Kerstupp, Bridget Olson, Elizabeth Olson, Julie Paquet, Allison K. Pierce, Jennie Rausch, Kevin Regan, Matthew E. Reiter, Amber M. Roth, Mike Russell, Daniel R. Ruthrauff, Sarah T. Saalfeld, Amy L. Scarpignato, Shiloh Schulte, Nathan R. Senner, Joseph A.M. Smith, Paul A. Smith, Zach Spector, Kelly Srigley Werner, Michelle L. Stantial, Audrey R. Taylor, T. Lee Tibbitts, Mihai Valcu, Nils Warnock, Walter Wehtje, Brad Winn, Michael B. Wunder
2026, Conservation Biology
Addressing urgent conservation issues, such as the drastic declines of North American migratory birds, requires creative, evidence-based, efficient, and collaborative approaches. The abundance of over 50% of monitored North American shorebird populations has declined by over 50% since 1980. To address these declines, we developed a partnership...
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...
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...
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...
Multi-objective optimization of a hydro-economic model in an over-allocated agricultural basin
Katherine H. Markovich, Michael N. Fienen, Nicholas Corson-Dosch, Cecile Coulon, Jeremy T. White, Stephen Gingerich
2026, Groundwater (64) 278-294
Groundwater depletion for agricultural irrigation poses significant environmental and economic challenges. This study introduces a proof-of-concept that combines hydro-economic modeling, scenario-based modeling, and multi-objective optimization to manage pumping curtailment in an over-allocated basin in the western United States. Three optimization scenarios were evaluated, each offering different degrees of management flexibility....
Retrospective stepwise prioritization of chemicals detected in Great Lakes tributaries (2008–2018)
Erin M. Maloney, Steven R. Corsi, Matthew A. Pronschinske, Laura A. DeCicco, John R. Frisch, Niel Fuller, Austin K. Baldwin, Kimani Kimbrough, Michael Edwards, Stephanie L. Hummel, Natalia G. Vinas, Daniel L. Villeneuve
2026, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (44) 2048-2069
Through the U.S. Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a 10-year, multiagency chemical monitoring effort was undertaken across the Great Lakes. In this effort, 586 chemicals were monitored and 334 were detected in grab/composite water samples. To help inform potential future actions, a stepwise prioritization framework was used to...
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...
Advancing compound coastal flood modeling on aouthern O’ahu, Hawai’i: A hybrid stochastic approach
Alba Ricondo, Laura Cagigal, Curt D. Storlazzi, Mark A. Merrifield, Fernando J. Mendez, Peter R Ruggiero
Carlos Coelho, Caroline Hallin, Francisco Sancho, Paulo A. Silva, editor(s)
2026, Conference Paper
Sea-level rise and changing patterns of storminess associated with climate change are expected to increase the frequency and severity of compound coastal flooding events, posing significant challenges to coastal communities in enhancing preparedness and adaptation strategies. This work presents a hybrid stochastic approach for the probabilistic assessment of compound coastal...
Beach nourishment morphodynamics in a high-energy U.S. West Coast environment
Anne de Beer, Andrew W. Stevens, Robert T. McCall, Johan Reyns, Hans R. Moritz
2026, Conference Paper
Dredged sediment from engineered inlets can be used to nourish coastlines adjacent to these inlets, serving as a beneficial alternative to offshore disposal. Effective strategies for beneficial use of dredged sediment, however, rely on understanding of local sediment transport. A beach nourishment project utilizing dredged sand was carried out at...
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...
Ice sheet dynamics drive pronounced changes in the subsurface freshwater-saltwater interface
Julia Guimond, Aaron Mohammed, Barret L. Kurylyk, Michelle A. Walvoord, Victor F. Bense
2026, Geophysical Research Letters (53)
Saltwater is migrating into freshwater aquifers globally with water quality and biogeochemical implications, yet saltwater intrusion in glaciated regions is sparsely investigated. Field observations suggest that groundwater head in glaciated systems is influenced by ice sheet forcings and provides evidence that seawater infiltrated into offshore aquifers during past deglaciation events....
The U.S. Geological Survey 2025 Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands time-independent earthquake rupture forecast
Kevin Ross Milner, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Richard W. Briggs, Jessica A. Thompson Jobe, Andrea L. Llenos, Andrew J. Michael, Allison M. Shumway, Edward H. Field, Kirstie Lafon Haynie
2026, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (116) 1321-1351
We present the 2025 U.S. Geological Survey Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands (PRVI) time‐independent earthquake rupture forecast (ERF), developed for the 2025 update to the National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) for PRVI. The updated ERF improves upon a prior model from 2003, including an expanded fault inventory with slip‐rate...
Depositional interplay between the Ancestral Rocky Mountains and Ouachita–Marathon–Sonora orogenies: Insights from provenance records in the late Paleozoic Marfa Basin, West Texas, U.S.A.
Sandra Juárez-Zúñiga, Daniel F. Stockli, Benjamin G. Johnson, Timothy F. Lawton
2026, Basin Research (38)
The Marfa Basin in West Texas is a late Palaeozoic synorogenic depocenter associated with regional deformation linked to the Ancestral Rocky Mountains (ARM) and Ouachita–Marathon–Sonora (OMS) orogenies in southwestern Laurentia. Basin strata range in age from Middle Pennsylvanian to the middle Permian and include the Cieneguita, Alta, Pinto Canyon, Rose...
Statewide agent-based model for management of chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer: PAOvCWD
Nathaniel H. Wehr, Christopher S. Rosenberry, David Stainbrook, Maureen Staats, Andrea L. Korman, W. David Walter
2026, MethodsX (16)
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is an always-fatal disease infecting wild cervids globally. Ecologically and economically important, CWD presents a challenge for managing white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). We built an agent-based model to simulate CWD transmission and assess potential management actions that could slow disease spread: PAOvCWD. We developed PAOvCWD using contact...
Dog attacks on wild desert tortoises: A risk model
Andrea S. Carlson, Kristin H. Berry, Jeremy S. Mack
2026, Journal of Wildlife Management (90)
We retrospectively compiled a database of 6,727 live, wild Agassiz's desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) and evaluated them for clinical signs of trauma to shell and limbs at 50 sites in the Mojave and Colorado (western Sonoran) deserts of California, USA, spanning the years 1977–2006. Our objectives were...
Invasion resistance varies by fuel break type in sagebrush ecosystems
Austin L. Nash, Brianne E. Brussee, Cali L. Weise, Douglas J. Shinneman, Susan K. McIlroy, Sarah C. Webster, Steven R. Mathews, Seth J. Dettenmaier, Lea A. Condon, Michele R. Crist, Cameron L. Aldridge, Julie A. Heinrichs, Mark A. Ricca, Shawn T. O’Neil, Peter S. Coates
2026, Fire Ecology (22)
Background Wildfire is an increasingly important driver of changes within sagebrush (Artemisia spp. L.) ecosystems of the western USA, often resulting in increased spread of exotic annual grasses, such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.), and subsequent losses of native vegetation and wildlife habitat. Fuel breaks— areas of land treated to...
Stress states on the eve of past earthquakes inform earthquake rupture through fault complexity along the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults
Emery Anderson-Merritt, Michelle Cooke, Katherine M. Scharer
2026, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (116) 1125-1144
Estimating the evolving state of stress along active fault systems can provide insight into the conditions that generated past ground‐rupturing earthquakes and...
A diatom-based quantitative sea-ice proxy for the Bering and Chukchi seas
Anna Nesterovich, Beth Elaine Caissie
2026, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (690)
Sea ice affects Earth's climate system on both regional and global scales. Its incorporation into climate can be used to achieve more accurate predictions of future climate. However, instrumental records of sea-ice concentration do not extend earlier than 1978. In an effort to extend this record, we constructed a proxy...
Multi-site evaluation of a postfire debris-flow runout forecast method
Katherine R. Barnhart, Jason W. Kean, Donald N. Lindsay, Eric Leland Bilderback
2026, Earth's Future (14)
Postfire debris flows pose a hazard to human life, property, and infrastructure when they travel from steep source areas to urbanized alluvial fans or other developed areas. Existing methods for rapid (<1 week) postfire debris-flow hazard assessment document the increase in the likelihood and size of debris flows as the magnitude...
Potential impacts of groundwater pumping on stream temperature are greatest in streams with substantial cold groundwater inflows
Dana A. Lapides, Sam Zipper, John C. Hammond
2026, Hydrological Processes (40)
Groundwater pumping-induced reductions in streamflow (known as ‘streamflow depletion’) have been documented worldwide, but potential impacts of streamflow depletion on stream temperature are not well understood. Here, we use two types of models to identify potential impacts of pumping on stream temperature across the conterminous United States (CONUS) to determine...
Epigenetics in captivity: Restoring wild phenotypes in captive-reared salmonids
Tia Attfield, Andrew Edgar Honsey, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Andreas Luek, Brian Meagher, Hayley Nuetzel, Ilana Koch, Julien April, Kristy Wakeling, Kyle Wellband, Raphael Bouchard, Sarah J. Lehnhert, Shawn R. Narum, Timothy Healy, Trevor E. Pitcher, Clare J. Venney
2026, Evolutionary Applications (19)
Captive rearing is a common practice for the stocking, conservation, and supplementation of fish species worldwide, but captive-reared fish can exhibit altered phenotypes leading to reduced fitness in nature compared to wild conspecifics. In salmonids, certain studies have found limited genetic differentiation between wild and captive-reared fish. However, documented changes...
Modeling species co-occurrence effects to inform invasive barred owl management and recovery of the northern spotted owl
Vaibhava Srivastava, Nicholas J. Van Lanen, Rana D. Parshad
2026, Ecological Applications (36)
Robust estimation of wildlife populations represents a cornerstone of wildlife research and provides critical information to guide management, including identifying at-risk species, setting harvest rates, and evaluating predator and invasive species control programs. Efforts to enhance population estimation have long included influences one species may have on another, beginning with...
