Top-predator recovery abates geomorphic decline of a coastal ecosystem
Brent B. Hughes, Kathryn M. Beheshti, M. Tim Tinker, Christine Angelini, Charlie Endris, Lee Murai, Sean C. Anderson, Sarah Espinosa, Michelle M. Staedler, Joseph A. Tomoleoni, Madeline Sanchez, Brian R. Silliman
2024, Nature (626) 111-118
The recovery of top predators is thought to have cascading effects on vegetated ecosystems and their geomorphology1,2, but the evidence for this remains correlational and intensely debated3,4. Here we combine observational and experimental data to reveal that recolonization of sea otters in a US estuary generates...
Response of corvid nest predators to thinning: implications for balancing short- and long-term goals for restoration of forest habitat
Joan Hagar, Theodore K Owen, Thomas K. Stevens, Lorraine K Waianuhea
2024, Avian Conservation and Ecology (19)
Forest thinning on public lands in the Pacific Northwest USA is an important tool for restoring diversity in forest stands with a legacy of simplified structure from decades of intensive management for timber production. A primary application of thinning in young (< 50-year-old) stands is to accelerate forest development to...
Isolation and identification of microcystin-degrading bacteria in Lake Erie source waters and drinking-water plant sand filters
Donna S. Francy, Jessica R. Cicale, Erin A. Stelzer, Dane C. Reano, Christopher D. Ecker
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5137
The increasing prevalence of cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms and the toxins they produce is a global water-quality issue. In the Western Basin of Lake Erie, high microcystin concentrations have led to water-quality advisories, process adjustments for treating drinking water, and increased water-quality monitoring. Biodegradation is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective...
Methods of analysis—Determination of pesticides in filtered water and suspended sediment using liquid chromatography- and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry
Michael S. Gross, Corey J. Sanders, Matthew D. De Parsia, Michelle L. Hladik
2024, Techniques and Methods 5-A12
The widespread application of pesticides in agricultural and urban areas leads to their presence in surface waters. Presence of these biologically active chemicals in environmental waters potentially has adverse effects on nontarget organisms. To better understand the environmental fate of these contaminants, a robust method to capture chemicals with wide-ranging...
Lesser prairie-chicken dispersal after translocation: Implications for restoration and population connectivity
Liam A. Berigan, Carly S.H. Aulicky, Elisabeth C. Teige, Daniel S. Sullins, Kent A. Fricke, Jonathan H. Reitz, Liza G. Rossi, Kraig A. Schultz, Mindy Rice, Evan Tanner, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf, David A. Haukos
2024, Ecology and Evolution (14)
Conservation translocations are frequently inhibited by extensive dispersal after release, which can expose animals to dispersal-related mortality or Allee effects due to a lack of nearby conspecifics. However, translocation-induced dispersals also provide opportunities to study how animals move across a novel landscape, and how their movements are influenced by landscape...
Short-term sediment dispersal on a large retreating coastal river delta via 234Th and 7Be sediment geochronology: The Mississippi River Delta Front
Andrew Courtois, Samuel J. Bentley, Jillian Maloney, Kehui Xu, Jason Chaytor, Ioannis Y. Georgiou, Michael Miner, Jeffery Obelcz, Navid H. Jafari, Melanie Damour
2024, Water (16)
Many Mississippi River Delta studies have shown recent declines in fluvial sediment load from the river and associated land loss. In contrast, recent sedimentary processes on the subaqueous delta are less documented. To help address this knowledge gap, multicores were collected offshore from the three main river outlets at water...
Predicting the spatial distribution of wintering golden eagles to inform full annual cycle conservation in western North America
Z. Wallace, Bryan Bedrosian, J Dunk, David W. LaPlante, Brian Woodbridge, B. Simth, Jessi L. Brown, Todd Lickfett, Katherine Gura, D. Bittner, R. Crandall, Robert Domenech, Todd E. Katzner, K. Kritz, S. Lewis, M. Lockhart, T. Miller, K. Quint, A. Sheading, S. Slater, D. Stahlecker
2024, PLoS ONE (19)
Wildlife conservation strategies focused on one season or population segment may fail to adequately protect populations, especially when a species’ habitat preferences vary among seasons, age-classes, geographic regions, or other factors. Conservation of golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) is an example of such a complex scenario, in...
Streamflow permanence in Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
Kristin Jaeger
2024, Fact Sheet 2023-3051
IntroductionStreams that flow throughout summer (“permanent” streams) provide critical habitat for aquatic species and serve as an important water supply. Streams that go dry seasonally or only flow after rainfall or snowmelt are a natural feature of mountain systems, including Mount Rainier National Park. However, in years with substantially less...
24 hours on the Arthur Kill
Kaitlyn M. Finkelstein
2024, Newsletter
No abstract available....
Mineral commodity summaries 2024
U.S. Geological Survey
2024, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2024
Each mineral commodity chapter of the 2024 edition of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Commodity Summaries (MCS) includes information on events, trends, and issues for each mineral commodity as well as discussions and tabular presentations on domestic industry structure, Government programs, tariffs, 5-year salient statistics, and world production, reserves,...
Chytrid infections exhibit historical spread and contemporary seasonality in a declining stream-breeding frog
A.M. Belasen, R.A. Peek, A.J. Adams, I.D. Russell, M.E. De Leon, Michael J. Adams, J. Bettaso, K.G.H. Breedveld, A. Catenazzi, C.P. Dillingham, Daniel A. Grear, Brian J. Halstead, P.G. Johnson, Patrick M. Kleeman, M.S. Koo, C.W. Koppl, J.D. Lauder, G. Padgett-Flohr, J. Piovia-Scott, K.L. Pope, V. Vredenburg, M. Westphal, K. Wiseman, S.J. Kupferberg
2024, Royal Society Open Science (11)
Species with extensive geographical ranges pose special challenges to assessing drivers of wildlife disease, necessitating collaborative and large-scale analyses. The imperilled foothill yellow-legged frog (Rana boylii) inhabits a wide geographical range and variable conditions in rivers of California and Oregon (USA), and is considered threatened by the...
Eggshell thickness and egg morphometrics in five songbird species from the Central Valley, California
Carley R. Schacter, Sarah H. Peterson, C. Alex Hartman, Mark P. Herzog, Josh T. Ackerman
2024, Journal of Field Ornithology (95)
Avian eggshell thickness is an important life history metric in birds and has broad applications across disciplines ranging from animal behavior to toxicology. Empirical eggshell thickness values for songbirds (Order Passeriformes) are under-represented in the literature due to the difficulty of measuring smaller eggs using traditional methods. We used a...
Earthquake rupture forecast model construction for the 2023 U.S. 50‐State National Seismic Hazard Model Update: Central and eastern U.S. fault‐based source model
Allison Shumway, Mark D. Petersen, Gabriel Toro, Peter M. Powers, Jason M. Altekruse, Julie A. Herrick, Kenneth S. Rukstales, Jessica Ann Thompson Jobe, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Demi Leafar Girot
2024, Seismological Research Letters (95) 997-1029
As part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s 2023 50‐State National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM), we make modest revisions and additions to the central and eastern U.S. (CEUS) fault‐based seismic source model that result in locally substantial hazard changes. The CEUS fault‐based source model...
Illegal dumping of oil and gas wastewater alters arid soil microbial communities
Mitra Kashani, Mark A Engle, Douglas B. Kent, Terry G. Gregston, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Adam Mumford, Matthew S. Varonka, Cassandra Rashan Harris, Denise M. Akob
2024, Applied and Environmental Microbiology (90)
The Permian Basin, underlying southeast New Mexico and west Texas, is one of the most productive oil and gas (OG) provinces in the United States. Oil and gas production yields large volumes of wastewater with complex chemistries, and the environmental health risks posed by these OG wastewaters on sensitive desert...
Mapping Arundo donax (Arundo cane) with multispectral imagery before, during, and after herbicide treatment along the Rio Grande in Webb County, Texas, 2020–21
Jennifer Villa
2024, Scientific Investigations Map 3512
Arundo donax, commonly called Arundo cane, giant reed, or Carrizo cane, is an invasive bamboo-like perennial grass common in riparian areas throughout the southwestern United States. In Texas, not only does it negatively affect riparian ecosystems, but it has also become a problem for border security because it reduces visibility...
Changes in sand storage in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park from July 2017 through June 2020
Ronald E. Griffiths, David J. Topping, Joel A. Unema
2024, Open-File Report 2023-1093
Changes in the quantity of sand stored within river segments can affect aquatic and riparian habitat, archeological resources, and recreation. Since summer to fall of 2002, gaging stations on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park and on its major tributaries and selected lesser tributaries have measured the mass...
Expanded conceptual risk framework for uranium mining in Grand Canyon watershed—Inclusion of the Havasupai Tribe perspective
Carletta Tilousi, Jo Ellen Hinck
2024, Open-File Report 2023-1092
In 2012, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior placed a 20-year limit on mineral extraction on Federal lands in the Grand Canyon watershed to permit further study of the environmental effects of uranium mining. Tribal concerns were also noted by the U.S. Department of the Interior and...
Fault activity in the San Gabriel Mountains, southern California, USA: Insights from landscape morphometrics, erosion rates, and fault-slip rates
Andrew Meredith, Devin McPhillips
2024, Geological Society of America Bulletin (136) 3353-3376
Many studies use landscape form to determine spatial patterns of tectonic deformation, and these are particularly effective when paired with independent measures of rock uplift and erosion. Here, we use morphometric analyses and 10Be catchment-averaged erosion rates, together with reverse slip rates from the...
Laboratory hydrofractures as analogs to tectonic tremors
Congcong Yuan, Thomas Cochard, Marine A. Denolle, Joan S. Gomberg, Aaron Wech, Xiao Lizhi, David Weitz
2024, AGU Advances (5)
The fracture of Earth materials occurs over a wide range of time and length scales. Physical conditions, particularly the stress field and Earth material properties, may condition rupture in a specific fracture regime. In nature, fast and slow fractures occur concurrently: tectonic tremor events are fast enough to emit seismic...
Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources in presalt reservoirs of the West-Central Coastal Province of Africa, 2022
Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Phuong A. Le, Andrea D. Cicero, Ronald M. Drake II, Geoffrey S. Ellis, Thomas M. Finn, Michael H. Gardner, Sarah E. Gelman, Jane S. Hearon, Benjamin G. Johnson, Jenny H. Lagesse, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Kristen R. Marra, Kira K. Timm, Scott S. Young
2024, Fact Sheet 2023-3028
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean conventional resources of 12.1 billion barrels of oil and 50 trillion cubic feet of gas in presalt reservoirs within the West-Central Coastal Province of Africa....
Hurricanes: An unexpected mechanism linking disturbance and seed production in trees
Ian Pearse, Andreas Paul Wion
2024, New Phytologist (242) 8-9
This technical commentary provides insights into a recent paper by a non-USGS group of authors who link hurricanes to mast seed production in long-leaf pine....
Resource-driven pattern formation in consumer-resource systems with asymmetric dispersal on a plane
Weiting Song, Shikun Wang, Yuanshi Wang, Don DeAngelis
2024, SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics
This paper considers resource-driven pattern formation in consumer-resource systems. Here, a planar pattern consists of many big patches, and a big patch can be regarded as combination of many patches on the plane. The consumer moves between patches asymmetrically, while the asymmetry is driven by the resource abundance. Based on...
Ratingcurve: A Python package for fitting streamflow rating curves
Timothy O. Hodson, Keith James Doore, Terry A. Kenney, Thomas M. Over, Muluken Yeheyis
2024, Hydrology (11)
Streamflow is one of the most important variables in hydrology, but it is difficult to measure continuously. As a result, nearly all streamflow time series are estimated from rating curves that define a mathematical relationship between streamflow and some easy-to-measure proxy like water surface elevation (stage). Despite the existence...
Sedimentary processes and instability on the Mississippi River Delta Front near the shipwreck of the SS Virginia
Nathan Figueredo, Samuel J. Bentley, Jason Chaytor, Kehui Xu, Navid H. Jafari, Iaonnis Georgiou, Melanie D'amour, Jeffrey Duxbury, Jeffrey B. Obelcz, Jillian Maloney
2024, Water (16)
Sediment cores were collected from a mudflow lobe (80 m water depth) offshore of the Mississippi River’s Southwest Pass in 2017 to better understand the sedimentology near the lobe entraining the SS Virginia shipwreck (sunk by a German U-boat in 1942) and surrounding Mississippi River delta front. Core analyses...
Validation of a molecular sex marker in three sturgeons from eastern North America
Nicholas M Sard, Brian R Krieser, Richard M. Pendleton, Barbara A. Lubinski, Robin L. Johnson, Dewayne A. Fox, Joel P Van Eenennaam, Jason E Kahn, Chris H Hager, Amanda L. Higgs, David C. Kazyak
2024, Journal of Applied Ichthyology (16) 173-177
Despite the importance of sex-specific information for sturgeon conservation and management, sex identification has been a major challenge outside of mature adults on spawning grounds. Recent work identified a sex-specific locus (AllWSex2) that appears to be broadly conserved across many Acipenserids, but the assay was not...
