Cumulative effects analysis to inform public land management in the United States: Key characteristics and legal challenges
Tait K. Rutherford, Tim O. Hammond, Alison C. Foster, Megan A. Gilbert, Travis S. Haby, Richard J. Lehrter, Jennifer K. Meineke, Ella M. Samuel, Sarah K. Carter
2026, Environmental Impact Assessment Review (117)
Considering potential cumulative effects of proposed actions is fundamental to environmental impact analysis. However, cumulative effects analyses historically are not robust, especially for site-specific decisions. We sought to identify opportunities to strengthen cumulative effects analysis in a large United States public land management agency, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)....
Toward co-designed Earth System Models: Reflecting end-user priorities in local applications from a modeler's perspective
Yifan Cheng, Nicole M. Herman-Mercer, Andrew J. Newman, Keith Musselman, Cleo Woelfle-Hazard, Dylan Blaskey, Cassandra M. Brooks, Tvetene Carlson, Joshua C. Koch, Monica Morrison, Edda A. Mutter, Daniel Sarna-Wojcicki, Peyton Thomas, Jenessa Tlen, Ryan C. Toohey
2025, AGU Advances (6)
Earth System Models (ESM) are crucial for quantifying climate impacts across Earth's interconnected systems and supporting science-based adaptation and mitigation. However, not including end-users, especially decision-makers representing communities vulnerable to climate change, can limit model utility, increase epistemic risks, and lead to information misuse in decision-making. While the...
Power source, data retrieval method, and attachment type affect success of dorsally mounted tracking tag deployments in 37 species of shorebirds
Emily L. Weiser, Richard Lanctot, Daniel R. Ruthrauff, Sarah T. Saalfeld, Lee Tibbitts, José Abad-Gómez, Joaquin Aldabe, Juliana Bose de Almeida, José A. Alves, Guy Anderson, Phil F. Battley, Heinrich Belting, Joël Bêty, Kristin Bianchini, Mary Anne Bishop, Roeland A. Bom, Katharine Bowgen, Glen S. Brown, Stephen C. Brown, Leandro Bugoni, Niall Burton, David R. Bybee, Camilo Carneiro, Gabriel Castresana, Ying-Chi Chan, Chi-Yeung Choi, Katherine Christie, Nigel A. Clark, Jesse R. Conklin, Medardo Cruz-López, Stephen J. Dinsmore, Steve Dodd, David C. Douglas, Luke Eberhart-Hertel, Willow B. English, Harry Ewing, Fernando A. Faria, Samantha E. Franks, Richard A. Fuller, Robert E. Gill Jr., Marie-Andrée Giroux, Cheri L Gratto-Trevor, David Green, Rhys E. Green, Ros Green, Tómas Gunnarsson, Jorge S. Gutiérrez, Autumn-Lynn Harrison, C. Alex Hartman, Chris J. Hassell, Sarah Hoepfner, Jos C. E. W. Hooijmeijer, James Johnson, Oscar W. Johnson, Bart Kempenaers, Marcel Klaassen, Eva Kok, Johannes Krietsch, Clemens Küpper, Andy Kwarteng, Eunbi Kwon, Jean-Francois Lamarre, Christopher Latty, Nicolas Lecomte, A.H. Loonstra, Zhijun Ma, Lucas Mander, Christopher Marlow, Peter P. Marra, Jose A. Masero, Laura Anne McDuffie, Rebecca L McGuire, Johannes Melter, David S. Melville, Verónica Méndez, Tyler Michels, Christy Morrissey, Tong Mu, David Newstead, Gary W. Page, Allison K. Pierce, Theunis Piersma, Márcio Repenning, Brian H. Robinson, Afonso Rocha, Danny I. Rogers, Amy L. Scarpignato, Shiloh Schulte, Emily Scragg, Nathan R. Senner, Paul Smith, Audrey R. Taylor, Rachel C. Taylor, Böðvar Þórisson, Mihai Valcu, Mo A. Verhoeven, Lena Ware, Nils Warnock, Michael Weber, Lucy J. Wright, Michael B. Wunder
2025, Journal of Avian Biology (2025)
Animal-borne trackers are commonly used to study bird movements, including in long-distance migrants such as shorebirds. Selecting a tracker and attachment method can be daunting, and methodological advancements often have been made by trial and error and conveyed by word of mouth. We synthesized tracking outcomes across...
River ice controls permafrost bank erosion across an Arctic delta
J Arcuri, Irina Overeem, Marisa Repasch, R. S. Anderson, S. P. Anderson, Joshua C. Koch, Frank Urban
2025, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (50)
Bank erosion in Arctic rivers helps shape channel geometry, mobilizes carbon from permafrost and influences sediment delivery to the Arctic Ocean. On Alaska's Arctic coastal plain, rivers begin flowing during snowmelt in late spring while extensive river ice persists in channels, such that hydraulics are altered and water is kept...
The effects of carnivory and herbivory on the energy balance of Arctic grizzly bears
Anthony M. Pagano, Karyn D. Rode, Kerry L. Nicholson, William B. Leacock, Craig A. Stricker, Charles T. Robbins
2025, Oecologia (208)
Omnivores often face tradeoffs between selecting for spatially dispersed energy-dense vertebrate prey versus densely distributed herbivorous resources that have limited energetic value per unit intake. Arctic grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) are large omnivores within a resource-limited ecosystem that are known to exhibit smaller body masses and occur at lower densities...
Comparisons of shoreline positions from satellite-derived and traditional field- and remote-sensing techniques
Andrea C. O'Neill, Sharon F. Batiste, Daniel D. Buscombe, Joseph Burgess, Kara S. Doran, Ann E. Gibbs, Rachel E. Henderson, Julia L. Heslin, Catherine N. Janda, Mark A. Lundine, Joseph F. Terrano, Jonathan A. Warrick, Kathryn M. Weber
2025, Open-File Report 2025-1054
Satellite-derived shorelines (SDS) have the potential to help researchers answer critical coastal science questions and support work to predict coastal change by filling in the spatial and temporal gaps present in current field-based and remote-sensing data collection methods. The U.S. Geological Survey conducted comparison analyses of traditionally sourced shorelines and...
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...
Reply to the discussion by Pilfold “Polar bear mass change confirms hyperphagia follows ringed seal whelping”
Anthony M. Pagano, Stephen N. Atkinson, Louise C. Archer
2025, Arctic Science (11) 1-3
The spring is a critical period when polar bears (Ursus maritimus Phipps, 1774) are thought to have peak access to seals and acquire the majority of their annual energy requirements during a period of hyperphagia. Pagano et al. (Pagano A.M., Atkinson S.N., and Archer L.C. 2025. Arctic Science.11:1-14. doi:10.1139/as-2024-0051) examined the...
Host responses and viral traits interact to shape the impacts of climate warming on highly pathogenic avian influenza in migratory waterfowl
Claire Stewart Teitelbaum, Michael L. Casazza, Cory T. Overton, Elliott Matchett, Diann Prosser
2025, PLOS Computational Biology. (21)
Emerging infectious diseases pose threats to wildlife populations, as exemplified by recent outbreaks of avian influenza viruses in wild birds. Climate change can affect infection dynamics in wildlife through direct effects on pathogens (e.g., environmental decay rates) and changes to host ecology, including shifting migration patterns. Here, we adapt an...
Monitoring Pacific walrus coastal haulouts by satellite to estimate herd abundance and distribution
Anthony S. Fischbach, Rebecca L. Taylor, David C. Douglas
2025, Wildlife Society Bulletin
The Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) has a single, panmictic stock that ranges across the Bering and Chukchi Seas. However, its seasonal distribution is incompletely described, particularly in autumn when herds gather on shore, and abundance is of interest to management entities. We monitored walrus herds using satellite imagery on...
Combining scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray fluorescence to characterize shear zones at the Pogo gold deposit, Alaska
Katharina I Pfaff, Filip Kasprowicz, Jonathan Caine, William Benzel, Heather A. Lowers
2025, Conference Paper
This study employs a multi-method analytical approach to characterize the mineralogical, geochemical, and textural properties of fault rocks from the Pogo gold mine in the Yukon-Tanana Upland, central Alaska. Specifically, we examine cataclasites, to document the structural and geochemical evolution of shear zones and their associations with gold mineralization. To...
Deformation mechanisms in quartz veins and shear zones elucidate the origin of gold mineralization at Pogo, Alaska
Jonathan Caine, Douglas C. Kreiner, Heather A. Lowers
2025, Conference Paper
Pogo is a quartz vein hosted, ca. 8 Moz gold deposit. Although it has similarities to orogenic and magmatic-hydrothermal deposits, its origin remains enigmatic. Observations from surface exposures, underground workings, and drill core provide new constraints on quartz vein origins with implications for mineralization. Abundant, largely barren metamorphic segregation quartz...
User’s guide for the National Hydrography Dataset Plus High Resolution (NHDPlus HR)
Richard B. Moore, Lucinda D. McKay, Alan H. Rea, Timothy R. Bondelid, Curtis V. Price, Thomas G. Dewald, Laura Hayes
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5031
The National Hydrography Dataset Plus High Resolution (NHDPlus HR) is a scalable hydrologic geospatial fabric or framework, built from (1) the High Resolution (1:24,000-scale or better) National Hydrography Dataset (NHD), (2) nationally complete Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD), and (3) 1/3-arc-second 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) digital elevation model (DEM) data (at...
Estimated average annualized losses from potential building damage and fatalities due to earthquake-generated tsunamis in the United States
Nathan J. Wood, Anne Sheehan, Douglas Bausch, Cadie Goulette Yeager, Casey Zuzak, Jennifer Sims, Ashley Hoke
2025, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (130)
Earthquake-generated tsunamis represent substantial economic threats to states and territories in the United States (U.S.), but we are unaware of any effort to quantify potential impacts at the national level. This gap is partially due to the lack of nationally consistent data on tsunamigenic sources and associated return periods. This...
Bears avoid residential neighborhoods in response to the experimental reduction of anthropogenic attractants
Cassandre C. Venumière-Lefebvre, Heather E. Johnson, Stewart W. Breck, Mathew W. Alldredge, Kevin R. Crooks
2025, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (13)
Introduction: Urbanization is an extreme form of land use alteration, with human development driving changes in the distribution of resources available to wildlife. Some large carnivores have learned to exploit anthropogenic food resources in urban development, resulting in human-carnivore conflict that can have detrimental impacts to people and carnivores, as exemplified...
Accounting for seasonal patterns in bird availability prevents biased population trend estimates with advancing spring phenology
Emily L. Weiser, James Johnson, Steven M. Matsuoka, Colleen M. Handel
2025, Ornithological Applications
Advancing spring phenology has been observed around the world, including changes in the timing of breeding of birds. When singing rates are tied to breeding stage, the rate at which birds are available for detection by surveyors can also show seasonal patterns that may shift with spring phenology. As the...
Energetic value of Arctic forage-sized fish with implications for a nearshore seabird predator
Ashley E. Stanek, Brian D. Uher-Koch, Kenneth H. Dunton, Vanessa R. von Biela
2025, Marine Biology (172)
Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida, also called polar cod) are considered the single most important Arctic forage fish due to their high abundance and nutritional quality. Because Arctic cod are strongly ice associated and prefer colder waters, their frequency in coastal waters has declined with warming, decreasing availability to nearshore predators....
Paleoproterozoic vein graphite mineralization caused by decarbonation in the Ruby Range, Montana, USA
George N. D. Case, Jay Michael Thompson, S. P. Regan
2025, Conference Paper
Hydrothermal graphite veins are a possible source for modern battery materials and require better understanding of their carbon source(s) and absolute timing to develop mapable criteria for exploration models. We present new observations of graphite vein and alteration paragenesis and U-Pb LA-ICP-MS titanite age data from the Ruby prospect, Montana,...
Evidence for offset of Cretaceous plutons by the Tintina fault in eastern Alaska: Implications for regional metallogeny
Douglas C. Kreiner, Erin Todd, James V. Jones III, Christopher S. Holm-Denoma, Laura Pianowski, Paul O’Sullivan
2025, Conference Paper
Cretaceous magmatism in eastern interior Alaska is voluminous, but temporally and spatially diverse – suggestive of varying sources and drivers. More than 150 new U-Pb zircon and more than 500 geochemical analyses of Cretaceous plutonic units allow for the grouping of distinct plutonic suites. Magmatism was continuous from 120-66 Ma...
Synergy between geology and geophysics in graphite mineral resource assessment
Patricia Grace Macqueen, George N. D. Case, Paul A. Bedrosian, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Susan M. Karl, Graham W. Lederer, Elizabeth M. Bollen, John Whitmore, Dane VanDervoort, Abraham M. Emond, Logan Fusso, Philip J. Brown, Gregory J. Walsh, Keith A. Labay, Martha Stokes, Andrew Arnold Stewart
2025, Conference Paper
Graphite is designated as a critical mineral by the U.S. Government due to its essential role in modern technology and its vulnerability to supply chain disruption. To evaluate domestic graphite resources, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted two airborne electromagnetic (AEM) surveys as part of the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative...
Speleothem evidence for Late Miocene extreme Arctic amplification – An analogue for near-future anthropogenic climate change?
Stuart Umbo, Franziska Lechleitner, Thomas Opel, Sevasti Modestou, Tobias Braun, Anton Vaks, Gideon Henderson, Pete Scott, Alexander Osintzev, Alexander Kononov, Irina Adrian, Yuri Dublyansky, Alena Maria Giesche, Sebastian F.M. Breitenbach
2025, Climate of the Past (21) 1533-1551
The Miocene provides an excellent climatic analogue for near-future runaway anthropogenic warming, with atmospheric CO2 concentrations and global average temperatures similar to those projected for the coming century under extreme-emissions scenarios. However, the magnitude of Miocene Arctic warming remains unclear due to the scarcity of reliable proxy data. Here we use...
Avak Creek oil occurrence, North Slope, Alaska: Newly discovered oil seep on Native lands, near village of Utqiagvik
Palma J. Botterell, David W Houseknecht, Jody Brae Wycech, J. Mike Moldowan, Paul G. Lillis, Rebecca A. Smith, Kimberley Maher
2025, Conference Paper
An unknown occurrence of oil was detected near Avak Creek on Native lands on the North Slope of Alaska. Determining the source of oil was imperative for allowing stakeholders (Federal, State, and local government agencies and the landowner, an Alaska Native corporation) to make timely and informed decisions and mount...
Estimated average annualized tsunami losses for the United States
Anne Sheehan, Casey Zuzak, Nathan J. Wood, Doug Bausch, Cadie Goulette Yeager, Alice McDougall
2025, Report
Tsunami hazards are substantial threats to coastal communities across the United States (U.S.) and its territories. U.S. states and territories collaborate through the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP) to develop their own tsunami-hazard information for outreach and evacuation planning. An effort to curate this tsunami-hazard information to support comprehensive...
U.S. Geological Survey science strategy to address white-nose syndrome and bat health in 2025–2029
M. Camille Hopkins, Amy E. George, Rebecca McCaffery
2025, Circular 1560
Since its discovery in 2006, the fungal disease known as white-nose syndrome (WNS) has killed millions of bats. Of the 47 bat species native to the conterminous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Canada, 12 have been affected by WNS, including 3 endangered species and 1 proposed endangered species. WNS has also been detected in...
Seismic anomalies expand Alaska’s Umiat Anticline potential
Paul McColgan, Nilesh Dixit, Jacob T. Murchek
2025, Oil and Gas Journal
Recent seismic advancements, including AVO analysis, have redefined Alaska's Umiat field potential, revealing deeper reservoirs and increasing estimated oil in place....
