Integrated borehole, radar, and seismic velocity analysis reveals dynamic spatial variations within a firn aquifer in southeast Greenland
Siobhan Killingbeck, N. C. Schmerr, L. N. Montgomery, A. D. Booth, P. W. Livermore, Olivia L. Miller, J. Guandique, S. Burdick, R. R. Forster, L. S. Koenig, Anatoly Legchenko, S. R. M. Ligtenberg, C. Miege, D. K. Solomon, L. J. West
2020, Geophysical Research Letters (47)
Perennial water storage in firn aquifers has been observed within the lower percolation zone of the southeast Greenland ice sheet. Spatially distributed seismic and radar observations, made ~50 km upstream of the Helheim Glacier terminus, reveal spatial variations of seismic velocity within a firn aquifer. From 1.65 to 1.8 km elevation, shear‐wave...
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Sedge Wren (Cistothorus stellaris)
Jill A. Shaffer, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. Johnson, Marriah L. Sondreal, Christopher M. Goldade, Barry D. Parkin, Travis L. Wooten, Betty R. Euliss
2020, Professional Paper 1842-V
Keys to Sedge Wren (Cistothorus stellaris) management include providing tall, dense grasslands with moderate forb coverage and minimizing disturbances during the breeding season. Sedge Wrens have been reported to use habitats with 30–166 centimeters (cm) average vegetation height, 8–80 cm visual obstruction reading, 15–75 percent grass cover, 3–78 percent forb...
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Lesser Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus)
Brent E. Jamison, Lawrence D. Igl, Jill A. Shaffer, Douglas H. Johnson, Christopher M. Goldade, Betty R. Euliss
2020, Professional Paper 1842-D
The key to Lesser Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) management is maintaining expansive sand shinnery oak (Quercus havardii) or sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia) grasslands. Within these grasslands, areas should contain short herbaceous cover for lek sites (that is, an area where male prairie-chickens gather to engage in courtship displays to attract mates);...
Coastal marsh degradation into ponds induces irreversible elevation loss relative to sea level
Lennert Schepers, Patrick Brennand, Matthew L. Kirwan, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Stijn Temmerman
2020, Geophysical Research Letters (47)
Coastal marshes and their valuable ecosystem services are feared to be lost by sea level rise, yet the mechanisms of marsh degradation into ponds and potential recovery are poorly understood. We quantified and analyzed elevations of marsh surfaces and pond bottoms along a marsh loss gradient (Blackwater...
Influence of demand and capacity in transportation simulations of short-notice, distant-tsunami evacuations
Nathan J. Wood, Kevin Henry, Jeff Peters
2020, Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives (7)
Distant tsunamis require short-notice evacuations in coastal communities to minimize threats to life safety. Given the available time to evacuate and potential distances out of hazard zones, coastal transportation planners and emergency managers can expect large proportions of populations to evacuate...
Ontogenetic diet shifts with potential ramifications for resource competition in a kokanee – Mysis diluviana system
Zachary B. Klein, Michael C. Quist, Andrew M. Dux, Matthew P. Corsi
2020, Article
Ontogenetic shifts represent important transitions that can influence how fish interact with their environment. However, ontogenetic shifts are rarely placed into a population context due to the difficulty of incorporating the vagaries of size-mediated interactions. As such, we evaluated the role of ontogenetic shifts in diet as they relate to...
Influenza A viruses remain infectious for more than seven months in northern wetlands of North America
Andrew M. Ramey, Andrew B. Reeves, Judith Z. Drexler, Josh T. Ackerman, Susan E.W. De La Cruz, Andrew S. Lang, Christina Leyson, Paul T. Link, Diann Prosser, Gregory J. Robertson, Jordan Wight, Sungsu Youk, Erica Spackman, Mary Pantin-Jackwood, Rebecca L. Poulson, David E. Stallknecht
2020, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (287)
In this investigation, we used a combination of field- and laboratory-based approaches to assess if influenza A viruses (IAVs) shed by ducks could remain viable for extended periods in surface water within three wetland complexes of North America. In a field experiment, replicate filtered surface water samples...
High concentration methane hydrate in a silt reservoir from the deep-water Gulf of Mexico
Stephen Philips, Peter Flemings, Melanie Holland, Peter Schultheiss, William F. Waite, Junbong Jang, Ethan Petrou, Helen Hammon
2020, AAPG Bulletin (104) 1971-1995
We present results from 30 quantitative degassing experiments of pressure core sections collected during The University of Texas-Gulf of Mexico 2-1 (UT-GOM2-1) Hydrate Pressure Coring Expedition at Green Canyon Block 955 in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico as part of The University of Texas at Austin–US Department of Energy Deepwater...
Pressure coring a Gulf of Mexico deep-water turbidite gas hydrate reservoir: Initial results from The University of Texas–Gulf of Mexico 2-1 (UT-GOM2-1) Hydrate Pressure Coring Expedition
Peter Flemings, Stephen Phillips, Ray Boswell, Timothy Collett, Ann Cook, Tian Dong, Matthew Frye, David Goldberg, Giles Guerin, Melanie Holland, Junbong Jang, Kevin Meazell, Jamie Morrison, Joshua O’Connell, Ethan Petrou, Tom Pettigrew, Peter Polito, Alexey Portnov, Manasj Santra, Peter Schultheiss, Yongkoo Seol, William Shedd, Evan S. Solomon, Carla Thomas, William F. Waite, Kehua You
2020, AAPG Bulletin (104) 1847-1876
The University of Texas Hydrate Pressure Coring Expedition (UT-GOM2-1) recovered cores at near in situ formation pressures from a gas hydrate reservoir composed of sandy silt and clayey silt beds in Green Canyon Block 955 in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico. The expedition results are synthesized and linked to other...
Littoral sediment from rivers: Patterns, rates and processes of river mouth morphodynamics
Jonathan A. Warrick
2020, Frontiers in Earth Science (8)
Rivers provide important sediment inputs to many littoral cells, thereby replenishing sand and gravel of beaches around the world. However, there is limited information about the patterns and processes of littoral-grade sediment transfer from rivers into coastal systems. Here I address these information gaps by examining topographic and...
Rethinking a groundwater flow system using a multiple-tracer geochemical approach: A case study in Moab-Spanish Valley, Utah
Philip M. Gardner, Nora C. Nelson, Victor M. Heilweil, John E. Solder, Douglas K. Solomon
2020, Journal of Hydrology (590)
The Glen Canyon Group Aquifer (GCGA) is the sole source of public water supply for the city of Moab, Utah, a domestic and international tourist destination. Population and tourism growth are likely to target the GCGA for future water resources, but our analysis indicates...
Giant Gartersnakes (Thamnophis gigas) exploit abundant non-native prey while maintaining their appetite for native anurans
Julia Ersan, Brian J. Halstead, Erica L Wildy, Michael L. Casazza, Glenn D. Wylie
2020, Herpetologica (76) 290-296
The introductions of nonnative species can cause great change in the trophic dynamics of native species. Giant Gartersnakes, endemic predators in the Central Valley of California, are listed as threatened because of the conversion of their once vast wetland habitat to agriculture. Further contributing...
Assessment of water quality and fecal contamination sources at Hook Pond, East Hampton, New York
Shawn C. Fisher, Brendan A. McCarthy, Christopher M. Kephart, Dale W. Griffin
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5071
SummaryThe U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Village of East Hampton, New York, conducted a 1-year study from August 2017 to August 2018 to provide data necessary to improve understanding of the sources of nutrients and pathogens to Hook Pond watershed to allow for possible mitigation or reduction of...
Water Quality of groundwater used for public supply in principal aquifers of the western United States
Celia Z. Rosecrans, MaryLynn Musgrove
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5078
Groundwater provides nearly half of the Nation’s drinking water. As the Nation’s population grows, the importance of (and need for) high-quality drinking-water supplies increases. As part of a national-scale effort to assess groundwater quality in principal aquifers (PAs) that supply most of the groundwater used for public supply, the...
Review of methods to repair and maintain lithophilic fish spawning habitat
Audrey Baetz, Taaja Tucker, Robin DeBruyne, Alex Gatch, T. Hook, J. Fischer, Edward F. Roseman
2020, Water (12)
Rocky reefs provide important spawning and refuge habitats for lithophilic spawning fishes. However, many reefs have been lost or severely degraded through anthropogenic effects like dredging, channelization, or sedimentation. Constructed reefs have been used to mitigate these effects in some systems, but these reefs are also subject to degradation which...
Climate change Is likely to alter future wolf - moose - forest interactions at Isle Royale National Park, United States
Nathan R. De Jager, Jason J. Rohweder, Matthew J. Duveneck
2020, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (8)
We evaluated how climate change and variable rates of moose browsing intensity, as they relate to wolf predation, might affect the forests of Isle Royale National Park, Michigan, United States by conducting a modeling experiment. The experiment consisted of contrasting three different scenarios of wolf management and with a static...
High sensitivity of Bering Sea winter sea ice to winter insolation and carbon dioxide over the last 5,500 years
Miriam C. Jones, Max Berkelhammer, Katherine Keller, Kei Yoshimura, Matthew J. Wooller
2020, Science Advances (6)
Anomalously low winter sea ice extent and early retreat in CE 2018 and 2019 challenge previous notions that winter sea ice in the Bering Sea has been stable over the instrumental record, although long-term records remain limited. Here, we use a record of peat cellulose oxygen...
Effects of water level alteration on carbon cycling in peatlands
Yehui Zhong, Jiang Ming, Beth Middleton
2020, Ecosystem Health and Sustainability (6)
Globally, peatlands play an important role in the carbon (C) cycle. High water level is a key factor in maintaining C storage in peatlands, but water levels are vulnerable to climate change and anthropogenic disturbance. This review examines literature related to the effects of water level alteration on C cycling...
Endocrine disrupting activities and geochemistry of water resources associated with unconventional oil and gas activity
Christopher D. Kassotis, Jennifer S. Harkness, Phuc H. Vo, Danh C. Vu, Kate Hoffman, Katelyn M. Cinnamon, Jennifer N. Cornelius-Green, Avner Vengosh, Chung-Ho Lin, Donald E. Tillitt, Robin L. Kruse, Jane A. McElroy, Susan C. Nagel
2020, Science of the Total Environment (748)
The rise of hydraulic fracturing and unconventional oil and gas (UOG) exploration in the United States has increased public concerns for water contamination induced from hydraulic fracturing fluids and associated wastewater spills. Herein, we collected surface and groundwater samples across Garfield County, Colorado, a...
Drivers and consequences of apex predator diet composition in the Canadian Beaufort Sea
Katie R. N. Florko, Gregory W. Thiemann, Jeffrey F. Bromaghin
2020, Oecologia (194) 51-63
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) rely on annual sea ice as their primary habitat for hunting marine mammal prey. Given their long lifespan, wide geographic distribution, and position at the top of the Arctic marine food web, the diet composition of polar bears can provide insights into temporal and spatial ecosystem...
Sacramento pikeminnow migration record
Dennis A. Valentine, Matthew J. Young, Frederick V. Feyrer
2020, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (11) 588-592
Sacramento Pikeminnow Ptychocheilus grandis is a potamodromous species endemic to mid- and low-elevation streams and rivers of Central and Northern California. Adults are known to undertake substantial migrations, typically associated with spawning, though few data exist on the extent of these migrations. Six Sacramento Pikeminnow implanted with passive integrated transponder tags in...
SurfRCaT: A tool for remote calibration of pre-existing coastal cameras to enable their use as quantitative coastal monitoring tools
Matthew P. Conlin, Peter N Adams, Benjamin Wilkinson, Gregory Dusek, Margaret L. Palmsten, Jenna A. Brown
2020, SoftwareX (12)
The Surf-camera Remote Calibration Tool (SurfRCaT) is a Python-based software application to calibrate and rectify images from pre-existing video cameras that are operating at coastal sites in the United States. The software enables remote camera calibration and subsequent image rectification by facilitating the remote-extraction of ground control points using airborne...
Fates and fingerprints of sulfur and carbon following wildfire in economically important croplands of California, U.S.
Anna L. Hermes, Brian A. Ebel, Sheila F. Murphy, Eve-Lyn S. Hinckley
2020, Science of the Total Environment (750)
Sulfur (S) is widely used in agriculture, yet little is known about its fates within upland watersheds, particularly in combination with disturbances like wildfire. Our study examined the effects of land use and wildfire on the biogeochemical “fingerprints,” or the quantity and chemical composition,...
Food matrix reference materials for hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur stable isotope-ratio measurements: Collagens, flours, honeys, and vegetable oils
Arndt Schimmelmann, Haiping Qi, Philip J.H. Dunn, Federica Camin, Luana Bontempo, Doris Potocnik, Nives Ogrinc, Simon Kelly, James Carter, Aiman Abrahim, Lauren T Reid, Tyler B. Coplen
2020, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (68) 10852-10864
An international project developed, quality-tested, and measured isotope–delta values of 10 new food matrix reference materials (RMs) for hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur stable isotope-ratio measurements to support food authenticity testing and food provenance verification. These new RMs, USGS82 to USGS91,...
Sediment export and impacts associated with river delta channelization compound estuary vulnerability to sea-level rise, Skagit River Delta, Washington, USA
Eric E. Grossman, Andrew W. Stevens, Peter Dartnell, Doug A George, David Finlayson
2020, Marine Geology (430)
Improved understanding of the budget and retention of sediment in river deltas is becoming increasingly important to mitigate and plan for impacts expected with sea level rise. In this study, analyses of historical bathymetric change, sediment core stratigraphy, and modeling are...
