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At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
USGS2016

Territoriality and inter-pack aggression in gray wolves: shaping a social carnivore's life history

When Rudyard Kipling wrote The Jungle Book in 1894 and included the famous line "For the strength of the Wolf is the Pack, and the strength of the Pack is the Wolf," he would have had no idea that over a century later, scientific research would back up his poetic phrase. Recent studies in Yellowstone have found that both the individual wolf and the collective pack rely on each other and play important roles in territoriality. At a time when most fairy tales and fables were portraying wolves as demonic killers or, at best, slapstick gluttons, Kipling seemed to have a respect or even reverence for the wolf. Wolves in The Jungle Book raise and mentor the main character Mowgli, with the pack's leader eventually dying to save the "man-cub" from a pack of wolves. Kipling may have extended intra- pack benevolence to a human boy for literary sake, but he was clearly enthralled with how pack members treat each other. As wolf packs are almost always family units, most commonly comprised of a breeding pair and their offspring from several years, amiable behavior within the pack is unsurprising. By contrast, wolf packs are fiercely intolerant of their neighbors, their rivals. And this competition is proving to be an important facet in the life of a wolf and its pack.

Yellowstone Science↗
USGS2013

Challenge theme 3: Protecting the environment and safeguarding human health: Chapter 5 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science

Many of the diverse, fragile ecosystems of the United States–Mexican border region are reaching unsustainable levels because of rapid population growth and changes in land use. Water shortages and pollution, poor air quality, increased soil salinities, and pesticides and heavy metal contaminants are some of the many stressors that are degrading the quality of life in the Borderlands. Lack of water treatment and wastewater infrastructure on both sides of the United States–Mexican border contributes to elevated rates of various communicable diseases most commonly found in developing countries: tuberculosis, intestinal infections, and hepatitis. Chronic diseases (diabetes, cancer, and heart disease) also prevail at high rates along the border, resembling trends observed in developed countries. In addition, the subtropical climate of the Borderlands is particularly suited for vectors of tropical diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever.

United States-Mexico Borderlands↗
USGS2013

Too risky to settle: avian community structure changes in response to perceived predation risk on adults and offspring

Predation risk is widely hypothesized as an important force structuring communities, but this potential force is rarely tested experimentally, particularly in terrestrial vertebrate communities. How animals respond to predation risk is generally considered predictable from species life-history and natural-history traits, but rigorous tests of these predictions remain scarce. We report on a large-scale playback experiment with a forest bird community that addresses two questions: (i) does perceived predation risk shape the richness and composition of a breeding bird community? And (ii) can species life-history and natural-history traits predict prey community responses to different types of predation risk? On 9 ha plots, we manipulated cues of three avian predators that preferentially prey on either adult birds or offspring, or both, throughout the breeding season. We found that increased perception of predation risk led to generally negative responses in the abundance, occurrence and/or detection probability of most prey species, which in turn reduced the species richness and shifted the composition of the breeding bird community. Species-level responses were largely predicted from the key natural-history trait of body size, but we did not find support for the life-history theory prediction of the relationship between species' slow/fast life-history strategy and their response to predation risk.

Florida↗
USGS1968

Alga-like forms in Onverwacht Series, South Africa: Oldest recognized lifelike forms on earth

Spheroidal and cupshaped, carbonaceous alga-like bodies, as well as filamentous structures and amorphous carbonaceous matter occur in sedimentary rocks of the Onverwacht Series (Swaziland System) in South Africa. The Onverwacht sediments are older than 3.2 eons, and they are probably the oldest, little-altered sedimentary rocks on Earth. The basal Onverwacht sediments lie approximately 10,000 meters stratigraphically below the Fig Tree sedimentary rocks, from which similar organic microstructures have been interpreted as alga-like microfossils. The Onverwacht spheroids and filaments are best preserved in black, carbon-rich cherts and siliceous argillites interlayered with thick sequences of lavas. These lifelike forms and the associated carbonaceous substances are probably biological in origin. If so, the origins of unicellular life on Earth are buried in older rocks now obliterated by igneous and metamorphic events.

Science↗
USGS2014

Influence of sex, migration distance, and latitude on life history expression in steelhead and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Abstract:In partially migratory species, such as Oncorhynchus mykiss, the emergence of life history phenotypes is often attributed to fitness trade-offs associated with growth and survival. Fitness trade-offs can be linked to reproductive tactics that vary between the sexes, as well as the influence of environmental conditions. We found that O. my kiss outmigrants are more likely to be female in nine populations throughout western North America (grand mean 65% female), in support of the hypothesis that anadromy is more likely to benefit females. This bias was not related to migration distance or freshwater productivity, as indicated by latitude. Within one O. my kiss population we also measured the resident sex ratio and did not observe a male bias, despite a high female bias among out migrants in that system. We provide a simulation to demonstrate the relationship between sex ratios and the proportion of anadromy and show how sex ratios could be a valuable tool for predicting the prevalence of life history types in a population.

California;Idaho;Oregon;Washington↗
USGS2007

Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA)

For most of us, Antarctica was at best a distant acquaintance. Now, with the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA), we are on intimate terms. In stunning, up-close and personal detail, LIMA brings Antarctica to life. Explore this virtually cloudless, seamless, most geometrically accurate, and highest resolution satellite mosaic of Antarctica. A team of scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, the British Antarctic Survey, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, with funding from the National Science Foundation, created LIMA in support of the International Polar Year (IPY; 2007?08). As the first major scientific outcome of the IPY, LIMA truly fulfills the IPY goals. LIMA is an international effort, supports current scientific polar research, encourages new projects, and helps the general public visualize Antarctica and changes happening in this southernmost environment. Researchers and the general public can download LIMA and all component Landsat scenes at no charge.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2012

USGS Environmental health science strategy: providing environmental health science for a changing world: Public review release

America has an abundance of natural resources. We have bountiful clean water, fertile soil, and unrivaled national parks, wildlife refuges, and public lands. These resources enrich our lives and preserve our health and wellbeing. These resources have been maintained because of our history of respect for their value and an enduring commitment to their vigilant protection. Awareness of the social, economic, and personal value of the health of our environment is increasing. The emergence of environmentally driven diseases caused by environmental exposure to contaminants and pathogens is a growing concern worldwide. New health threats and patterns of established threats are affected by both natural and anthropogenic changes to the environment. Human activities are key drivers of emerging (new and re-emerging) health threats. Societal demands for land and natural resources, a better quality of life, improved economic prosperity, and the environmental impacts associated with these demands will continue to increase. Natural earth processes, climate trends, and related climatic events will add to the environmental impact of human activities. These environmental drivers will influence exposure to disease agents, including viral, bacterial, prion, and fungal pathogens, parasites, natural earth materials, toxins and other biogenic compounds, and synthetic chemicals and substances. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) defines environmental health science broadly as the interdisciplinary study of relations among the quality of the physical environment, the health of the living environment, and human health. The interactions among these three spheres are driven by human activities, ecological processes, and natural earth processes; the interactions affect exposure to contaminants and pathogens and the severity of environmentally driven diseases in animals and people. This definition provides USGS with a framework for synthesizing natural science information from across the Bureau and providing it to environmental, natural resource, agricultural, and public-health managers. The USGS is a Federal science agency with a broad range of natural science expertise relevant to environmental health. USGS provides scientific information and tools as a scientific basis for management and policy decision making. USGS specializes in science at the environment-health interface, by characterizing the processes that affect the interaction among the physical environment, the living environment, and people, and the resulting factors that affect ecological and human exposure to disease agents. This report describes a 10-year strategy that encompasses the portfolio of USGS environmental health science. It summarizes national environmental health priorities that USGS is best suited to address, and will serve as a strategic framework for USGS environmental health science goals, actions, and outcomes for the next decade. Implementation of this strategy is intended to aid coordination of USGS environmental health activities and to provide a focal point for disseminating information to stakeholders. The "One Health" paradigm advocated by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2011), and the American Veterinary Medicine Association (AVMA, 2008), among others, is based on a general recognition that the health of humans, animals, and the environment are inextricably linked. Thus, successful efforts to protect that health will require increased interdisciplinary research and increased communication and collaboration among the broader scientific and health community. This strategy is built upon that paradigm. The vision, mission, and five cornerstone goals of the USGS Environmental Health Science Strategy were developed with significant input from a wide range of stakeholders. Vision - The USGS is a premier source of the environmental health science needed to safeguard the health of the environment, fish, wildlife, and people. Mission - The mission of USGS in environmental health science is to contribute scientific information to environmental, natural resource, agricultural, and public-health managers, who use that science to support sound decision making. USGS provides the science to: - Goal 1: Identify, prioritize, and detect contaminants and pathogens of emerging environmental concern. - Goal 2: Reduce the impact of contaminants on the environment, fish, wildlife, and people. - Goal 3: Reduce the impact of pathogens on the environment, fish, wildlife, and people. - Goal 4: Discover the complex interactions and combined effects of exposure to contaminants and pathogens. - Goal 5: Prepare for and respond to environmental impacts and related health threats of natural and anthropogenic disasters. Goals 1 through 4 are intended to provide science to address environmental health threats in a logical order, from informing prevention and preparedness, to supporting systematic management response to environmental health issues. Goal 4 addresses the interaction among contaminants and pathogens, an issue of emerging concern in environmental health science. Goal 5 acknowledges the fact that natural and anthropogenic disasters can cause immediate and prolonged adverse environmental health threats. This strategy proposes that USGS take the following strategic science actions to achieve each of the five goals of this strategy: Goal 1: Identify, prioritize, and detect contaminants and pathogens of emerging environmental concern. - Strategic Science Action 1. - Prioritize contaminants and pathogens of emerging concern to guide research, detection, and management activities. - Strategic Science Action 2. - Conduct surveillance and monitoring to provide early warning of emerging health threats. - Strategic Science Action 3. - Develop approaches and tools that identify vulnerable environmental settings, ecosystems, and species. Goal 2: Reduce the impact of contaminants on the environment, fish, wildlife, and people. - Strategic Science Action 1. - Systematically characterize the sources, occurrence, transport and fate of environmental contaminants to guide efforts to manage and mitigate contamination. - Strategic Science Action 2. - Evaluate the threats of contamination on the health of the environment, fish, wildlife, and people, and inform the associated management and protection efforts. - Strategic Science Action 3. - Characterize potential human exposure to support establishment of health-based standards or guidelines and contamination-reduction efforts. Goal 3: Reduce the impact of pathogens on the environment, fish, wildlife, and people. - Strategic Science Action 1. - Determine the biotic and abiotic factors that control the ecology of infectious diseases affecting natural populations of aquatic and terrestrial species and potential transmission to other animals and humans. - Strategic Science Action 2. - Establish how natural and anthropogenic environmental changes affect the distribution and severity of infectious diseases in natural populations of aquatic and terrestrial species and potential transmission to other animals and humans. - Strategic Science Action 3. - Develop surveillance systems to identify changing patterns of disease activity in priority geographic areas. Goal 4: Discover the complex interactions and combined effects of exposure to contaminants and pathogens. - Strategic Science Action 1. - Identify how exposure to one class of disease agents (contaminants or pathogens) can make an organism more susceptible to effects from exposure to the other class of disease agents. - Strategic Science Action 2. - Implement interdisciplinary studies that characterize the effects of combined exposure to pathogens and contaminants. Goal 5: Prepare for and respond to the environmental impacts and related health threats of natural and anthropogenic disasters. - Strategic Science Action 1. - Establish a formal interdisciplinary science capability to rapidly assess the environmental health risks associated with disasters. - Strategic Science Action 2. - Enhance methods to anticipate, prepare for, and identify environmental, ecological, and related health impacts of future disasters. This strategy is one of seven USGS science strategies developed concurrently: - Climate and Land Use Change - Core Science Systems - Ecosystems - Energy and Mineral Resources - Environmental Health - Natural Hazards - Water. This strategy describes how USGS will address the highest priority environmental health issues facing the Nation. The ultimate intended outcome of this science strategy is prevention and reduction of adverse impacts to the quality of the environment, the health of our living resources, and human health. Communication with, and receiving input from, partners and stakeholders regarding their science needs is essential for successful implementation of this strategy. It is incumbent on USGS to reach out to all stakeholders to ensure that USGS efforts are focused on the highest priority environmental health issues and that products are provided in the most timely and usable form to all those who can use them. USGS must reach out to the scientific community, internally and externally, to ensure that our efforts are integrated with and take full advantage of the activities of others.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2022

Response of nutrient limitation to invasive fish suppression: How carcasses and analog pellets alter periphyton

The native Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout ( Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri Jordan and Gilbert, 1883) population in Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA, is in decline because of competition from the introduced, invasive Lake Trout ( Salvelinus namaycush Walbaum in Artedi, 1792). Gillnetting is used to suppress adult Lake Trout; however, methods are being developed to suppress embryos, including adding Lake Trout carcasses and carcass-analog pellets to spawning sites. Decomposing carcasses and analog pellets cause decreased dissolved oxygen concentrations thereby leading to Lake Trout embryo mortality, but the effects of these methods on primary producers are unknown. We deployed in-situ nutrient diffusing substrates (NDS) at 3 spawning sites. The 1 st site was treated with carcasses, the 2 nd site was treated with analog pellets, and a 3 rd lacked treatment (control). To estimate how suppression measures may alter nutrient limitation, we measured algal biomass in 6 NDS amendments at each site: nothing (control), N, P, N + P, ground carcasses, or pulverized analog pellets. We deployed 5 replicates of each amendment at each site before and after treating whole sites. N and P co-limited periphyton before carcasses or analog pellets were added to spawning sites ( p < 0.01); however, nutrients were not limiting after the treatments were added to spawning sites ( p = 0.31–1). Algal biomass was 4× higher after whole-site carcass treatments. In contrast, analog pellets appeared to suppress algal biomass in the amendments (20% of NDS at the control site post-treatment) and in the treatment plot (33% of pre-treatment biomass at analog pellet site). We also measured how individual ingredients in analog pellets altered periphyton biomass, which suggested that vitamin E, estrogen, and soybean oil ingredients reduced the growth of primary producers. Suppression methods may stimulate or reduce algal biomass, depending on the methods used, which could have cascading effects on food webs and potentially reduce the success of the control measures. Estimating how different Lake Trout suppression methods may alter basal resources in the littoral zone of Yellowstone Lake will help natural resource agencies develop effective plans to control invasive predators at early life stages while minimally altering ecosystems.

Wyoming↗
USGS2003

Timing of autumn bird migration under climate change: advances in long–distance migrants, delays in short–distance migrants

As a response to increasing spring temperature in temperate regions in recent years, populations of many plant and animal species, including migratory birds, have advanced the seasonal start of their reproduction or growth. However, the effects of climate changes on subsequent events of the annual cycle remain poorly understood. We investigated long–term changes in the timing of autumn migration in birds, a key event in the annual cycle limiting the reproductive period. Using data spanning a 42–year period, we analysed long–term changes in the passage of 65 species of migratory birds through Western Europe. The autumn passage of migrants wintering south of the Sahara has advanced in recent years, presumably as a result of selection pressure to cross the Sahel before its seasonal dry period. In contrast, migrants wintering north of the Sahara have delayed autumn passage. In addition, species with a variable rather than a fixed number of broods per year have delayed passage, possibly because they are free to attempt more broods. Recent climate changes seem to have a simple unidirectional effect on the seasonal onset of reproduction, but complex and opposing effects on the timing of subsequent events in the annual cycle, depending on the ecology and life history of a species. This complicates predictions of overall effects of global warming on avian communities.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sci↗
USGS2005

Life-history variation of a neotropical thrush challenges food limitation theory

Since David Lack first proposed that birds rear as many young as they can nourish, food limitation has been accepted as the primary explanation for variation in clutch size and other life-history traits in birds. The importance of food limitation in life-history variation, however, was recently questioned on theoretical grounds. Here, we show that clutch size differences between two populations of a neotropical thrush were contrary to expectations under Lack's food limitation hypothesis. Larger clutch sizes were found in a population with higher nestling starvation rate (i.e. greater food limitation). We experimentally equalized clutches between populations to verify this difference in food limitation. Our experiment confirmed greater food limitation in the population with larger mean clutch size. In addition, incubation bout length and nestling growth rate were also contrary to predictions of food limitation theory. Our results demonstrate the inability of food limitation to explain differences in several life-history traits: clutch size, incubation behaviour, parental feeding rate and nestling growth rate. These life-history traits were better explained by inter-population differences in nest predation rates. Food limitation may be less important to life history evolution in birds than suggested by traditional theory. ?? 2005 The Royal Society.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sci↗
USGS2026

Adaptation and response in drylands: A dryland research agenda and campaign strategy

Dryland ecosystems cover 41% of Earth's land surfaces, account for 44% of cultivated lands and 60% of food sources, and make large contributions to the global water and carbon cycles. However, these ecosystems are experiencing unprecedented extremes including heatwaves, floods, and droughts as well as hotter temperatures and often declining water resource availability. These ecosystems are some of the most challenging to monitor given their high temporal variability with rapid response to their environment as well as vast spatial variability with intermixing of different plant species and life forms amongst bare soil coverage. The Adaptation and Response in Drylands (ARID) campaign was selected by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a scoping study to develop a research agenda for a dryland field campaign. Here, we detail our ARID science research agenda and implementation plan that were developed based on an extensive community engagement effort in over 160 events with over a thousand scientists, land managers, and Tribal communities between 2023 and 2024. The selected science themes cover drought and climate variability, ecosystem structure, function, and biodiversity, carbon cycle interannual variability and trends, and social ecological systems (land management and adaptation). We then detail our remote sensing, modeling, and field-based strategies to capture high temporal and high spatial resolution processes. Finally, our implementation strategy is presented which includes focus area selections in a core intensive western U.S. domain and distributed international domains. This strategy includes our overarching guiding principles of using multi-temporal airborne acquisitions and super sites as well as enhancing land management in co-development with end-user partners. While originally developed for NASA, our ARID report creates a blueprint for any future dryland field campaign, at any scale, that can be implemented widely for foundational and applied science objectives.

Global Change Biology↗
USGS2021

Partial migration and spawning movements of humpback chub in the Little Colorado River are better understood using data from autonomous PIT tag antennas

Choosing whether or not to migrate is an important life history decision for many fishes. Here we combine data from physical captures and detections on autonomous passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag antennas to study migration in an endangered fish, the humpback chub (Gila cypha). We develop hidden Markov mark-recapture models with and without antenna detections and find that the model fit without antenna detections misses a large proportion of fish and underestimates migration and survival probabilities. We then assess survival and growth differences associated with life history strategy and migration for different demographic groups (small male, small female, large male, large female). We find large differences in survival according to life history strategy, where residents had much lower over-winter survival than migrants. However, within the migratory life history strategy, survival and growth were similar for active migrants and skipped migrants for all demographic groups. We discuss some common challenges to incorporating detections from autonomous antennas into population models and demonstrate how these data can provide insight about fish movement and life history strategies.

Arizona↗
USGS2017

The U.S. Geological Survey Flagstaff Science Campus—Providing expertise on planetary science, ecology, water resources, geologic processes, and human interactions with the Earth

T he U.S. Geological Survey’s Flagstaff Science Campus is focused on interdisciplinary study of the Earth and solar system, and has the scientific expertise to detect early environmental changes and provide strategies to minimize possible adverse effects on humanity. The Flagstaff Science Campus (FSC) is located in Flagstaff, Arizona, which is situated in the northern part of the State, home to a wide variety of landscapes and natural resources, including (1) young volcanoes in the San Francisco Volcanic Field, (2) the seven ecological life zones of the San Francisco Peaks, (3) the extensive geologic record of the Colorado Plateau and Grand Canyon, (4) the Colorado River and its perennial, ephemeral, and intermittent tributaries, and (5) a multitude of canyons, mountains, arroyos, and plains. More than 200 scientists, technicians, and support staff provide research, monitoring, and technical advancements in planetary geology and mapping, biology and ecology, Earth-based geology, hydrology, and changing climate and landscapes. Scientists at the FSC work in collaboration with multiple State, Federal, Tribal, municipal, and academic partners to address regional, national, and global environmental issues, and provide scientific outreach to the general public.

Arizona↗
USGS1985

Study and interpretation of the chemical characteristics of natural water

The chemical composition of natural water is derived from many different sources of solutes, including gases and aerosols from the atmosphere, weathering and erosion of rocks and soil, solution or precipitation reactions occurring below the land surface, and cultural effects resulting from human activities. Broad interrelationships among these processes and their effects can be discerned by application of principles of chemical thermodynamics. Some of the processes of solution or precipitation of minerals can be closely evaluated by means of principles of chemical equilibrium, including the law of mass action and the Nernst equation. Other processes are irreversible and require consideration of reaction mechanisms and rates. The chemical composition of the crustal rocks of the Earth and the composition of the ocean and the atmosphere are significant in evaluating sources of solutes in natural freshwater. The ways in which solutes are taken up or precipitated and the amounts present in solution are influenced by many environmental factors, especially climate, structure and position of rock strata, and biochemical effects associated with life cycles of plants and animals, both microscopic and macroscopic. Taken together and in application with the further influence of the general circulation of all water in the hydrologic cycle, the chemical principles and environmental factors form a basis for the developing science of natural-water chemistry. Fundamental data used in the determination of water quality are obtained by the chemical analysis of water samples in the laboratory or onsite sensing of chemical properties in the field. Sampling is complicated by changes in the composition of moving water and by the effects of particulate suspended material. Some constituents are unstable and require onsite determination or sample preservation. Most of the constituents determined are reported in gravimetric units, usually milligrams per liter or milliequivalents per liter. More than 60 constituents and properties are included in water analyses frequently enough to provide a basis for consideration of the sources from which each is generally derived, the most probable forms of elements and ions in solution, solubilitycontrols, expected concentration ranges, and other chemical factors. Mechanisms that control concentrations of elements commonly present in amounts less than a few tens of micrograms per liter cannot always be easily ascertained, but present information suggests that many are controlled by solubility of their hydroxides or carbonates or by sorption on solid particles. Many dissolved organic compounds can now be specifically determined. Chemical analyses may be grouped and statistically evaluated by means, medians, frequency distributions, or ion correlations to summarize large volumes of data. Graphing of analyses or of groups of analyses aids in showing chemical relationships among water, probable sources of solutes, areal water-quality regimen, temporal and spatial variation, and water-resources evaluation. Graphs may show water type based on chemical composition, relationships among ions, or groups of ions in individual waters or many waters considered simultaneously. The relationships of water quality to hydrogeologic characteristics, such as stream discharge rate or ground-water flow patterns, can be shown by mathematical equations, graphs, and maps. About 80 water analyses selected from the literature are tabulated to illustrate the relationships described, and some of these, along with many others that are not tabulated, are also used in demonstrating graphing and mapping techniques. Relationships of water composition to source rock type are illustrated by graphs of some of the tabulated analyses. Human activities may modify water composition extensively through direct effects of pollution and indirect results of water development, such as intrusion of seawater in groundwater aquifers. Water-quality standards for domestic, agricultural, and industrial use have been published by various agencies. Irrigation project requirements for water quality are particularly intricate. Fundamental knowledge of processes that control natural-water composition is required for rational management of water quality.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS2007

Sustaining Rocky Mountain landscapes: Science, policy and management for the Crown of the Continent ecosystem

Prato and Fagre offer the first systematic, multi-disciplinary assessment of the challenges involved in managing the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem ( CCE), an area of the Rocky Mountains that includes northwestern Montana, southwestern Alberta, and southeastern British Columbia. The spectacular landscapes, extensive recreational options, and broad employment opportunities of the CCE have made it one of the fastest growing regions in the United States and Canada, and have lead to a shift in its economic base from extractive resource industries to service-oriented recreation and tourism industries. In the process, however, the amenities and attributes that draw people to this &ldquo;New West&rdquo; are under threat. Pastoral scenes are disappearing as agricultural lands and other open spaces are converted to residential uses, biodiversity is endangered by the fragmentation of fish and wildlife habitats, and many areas are experiencing a decline in air and water quality. Sustaining Rocky Mountain Landscapes provides a scientific basis for communities to develop policies for managing the growth and economic transformation of the CCE without sacrificing the quality of life and environment for which the land is renowned. This forthcoming edited volume focuses on five aspects of sustaining mountain landscapes in the CCE and similar regions in the Rocky Mountains. The five aspects are: 1) how social, economic, demo graphic and environmental forces are transforming ecosystem structure and function, 2) trends in use and conditions for human and environmental resources, 3) activating science, policy and education to enhance sustainable landscape management, 4) challenges to sustainable management of public and private lands, and 5) future prospects for achieving sustainable landscapes.

Idaho, Montana↗
USGS2007

Water quality of Lake Pontchartrain and outlets to the Gulf of Mexico following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Chapter 7E in Science and the storms-the USGS response to the hurricanes of 2005

Water-quality samples collected from drainage canals, from Lake Pontchartrain, La., and from flood waters contained contaminants typically found in waters influenced by urban runoff. Pesticides and wastewater compounds were detected in all water samples, but none exceeded U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drinking water or aquatic life criteria. Although metals were detected in all samples, copper, nickel, and silver occurred in concentrations greater than water-quality criteria for salt water. Salinity levels in the freshwater marshes south of New Orleans were typical of Gulf of Mexico waters for an extended period of time, and levels did not return to prehurricane levels until February 2006.

Circular↗
USGS2014

ShakeAlert—An earthquake early warning system for the United States west coast

Earthquake early warning systems use earthquake science and the technology of monitoring systems to alert devices and people when shaking waves generated by an earthquake are expected to arrive at their location. The seconds to minutes of advance warning can allow people and systems to take actions to protect life and property from destructive shaking. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in collaboration with several partners, has been working to develop an early warning system for the United States. ShakeAlert, a system currently under development, is designed to cover the West Coast States of California, Oregon, and Washington.

California, Oregon, Washington↗
USGS2023

So, you want to build a decision-support tool? Assessing successes, barriers, and lessons learned for tool design and development

The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of how the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is developing decision-support tools (DSTs) by documenting successes and barriers across all levels of USGS scientific tool creation and outreach. These findings will help streamline future tool design and development processes. We provide a synthesis of lessons learned and best practices across a spectrum of USGS decision-support efforts to, A, provide guidance to future efforts and, B, identify knowledge gaps and opportunities for knowledge transfer and integration. We present this information as five guiding principles for those striving to create effective DSTs. These principles are: (1) use an adaptive, iterative design process, (2) collaborate across disciplines and organizations, (3) engage with the target users of the tool, (4) develop an empirical understanding of use and usability, and (5) plan for the tool’s full life span. By providing guidance on how effective DSTs are realized at every phase of development (from planning to maintenance), these principles provide a starting point to improve the process of designing DSTs and thus help further the USGS mission of delivering actionable science.

Scientific Investigations Report↗