A synthesis of ten years of chemical contaminant monitoring data in National Park Service - Southeast and southwest Alaska networks
Mary Rider, Dennis Apeti, Annie Jacob, Kimani L. Kimbrough, Erik Davenport, Michael R. Bower, Heather A Colletti, Daniel Esler
2020, NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS/MCCOS 277
With the exception of PAHs and trace metals, which were detected at 100% of the sites, all of the other contaminants were detected at varying frequencies. PBBs, Mirex and Endosulfans were not detected in any of the samples and Chlorpyrifos was only detected in five samples across four sites. Chlordanes...
Quarterly wildlife mortality report July 2020
Bryan J. Richards, Anne Ballmann, Barbara Bodenstein, Robert J. Dusek, Jonathan M. Sleeman
2020, Newsletter
The USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) Quarterly Mortality Report provides brief summaries of epizootic mortality and morbidity events by quarter. The write-ups, highlighting epizootic events and other wildlife disease topics of interest, are published in the Wildlife Disease Association quarterly newsletter. A link is provided in this WDA newsletter...
Population assessment and potential functional roles of native mussels in the Upper Hudson River
Denise A. Mayer, Teresa J. Newton, James T. Rogala
2020, Report, Hudson River Natural Resource Damage Assessment
General Electric Company (GE) directly and indirectly released polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the Hudson River and the surrounding environment starting in the late 1940’s, making it one of the most PCB-contaminated rivers in North America. Source control at two GE plant sites was implemented in 2009 to stem the influx...
Radiocarbon dating of tsunami and storm deposits
Harvey M. Kelsey, Robert C. Witter
2020, Book chapter, Geological records of tsunamis and other extreme waves
Radiocarbon age determinations can be an expedient and accurate means to assign age to deposits of tsunami or storm origin. Essential to the process of incorporating radiocarbon age determinations in tsunami or coastal storm investigations is an awareness on the part...
Plate boundary trench retreat and dextral shear drive intracontinental fault-slip histories: Neogene dextral faulting across the Gabbs Valley and Gillis Ranges, Central Walker Lane, Nevada
Jeffrey Lee, Andrew K.R. Hoxey, Andrew T. Calvert, Peter Dubyoski
2020, Geosphere (16) 1249-1275
The spatial-temporal evolution of intracontinental faults and the forces that drive their style, orientation, and timing are central to understanding tectonic processes. Intracontinental NW-striking dextral faults in the Gabbs Valley–Gillis Ranges (hereafter referred to as the GVGR), Nevada, define a structural domain known as the eastern Central Walker Lane located...
The pervasive and multifaceted influence of biocrusts on water in the world’s drylands
David J. Eldridge, Sasha C. Reed, Samantha K. Travers, Matthew A. Bowker, Fernando T. Maestre, Jingyi Ding, Caroline Ann Havrilla, Emilio Rodriguez-Caballero, Nichole N. Barger, Bettina Weber, Anita Antoninka, Jayne Belnap, Bala V. Chaudhary, Akasha M. Faist, Scott Ferrenberg, Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald, Oumarou M Issa, Y. Zhao
2020, Global Change Biology (26) 6003-6014
The capture and use of water are critically important in drylands, which collectively constitute Earth's largest biome. Drylands will likely experience lower and more unreliable rainfall as climatic conditions change over the next century. Dryland soils support a rich community of microphytic organisms (biocrusts), which are...
Low oxygen: A (tough) way of life for Okavango fishes
Thea M. Edwards, Ineelo J. Mosie, Brandon C. Moore, Guy Lobjoit, Kelsie Schiavone, Robert E. Bachman, Mike Murray-Hudson
2020, PLoS ONE (15)
Botswana’s Okavango Delta is a World Heritage Site and biodiverse wilderness. In 2016–2018, following arrival of the annual flood of rainwater from Angola’s highlands, and using continuous oxygen logging, we documented profound aquatic hypoxia that persisted for 3.5 to 5 months in the river channel. Within these periods, dissolved oxygen...
seawaveQ—An R package providing a model and utilities for analyzing trends in chemical concentrations in streams with a seasonal wave (seawave) and adjustment for streamflow (Q) and other ancillary variables, version 2.0.0
Karen R. Ryberg, Benjamin C. York
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1082
The seawaveQ R package provides functionality and help to fit a parametric regression model, SEAWAVE-Q, to pesticide concentration data from stream-water samples to assess trends. The model incorporates the strong seasonality and high degree of censoring common in pesticide data, and users can incorporate numerous ancillary variables such as streamflow...
Implanted satellite transmitters affect sea duck movement patterns at short- and long-term time scales
Juliet S. Lamb, Peter WC Paton, Jason E. Osenkowski, Shannon S. Badzinski, Alicia Berlin, Timothy D. Bowman, Chris Dwyer, Luke J. Fara, Scott G. Gilliland, Kevin P. Kenow, Christine Lepage, Mark L. Mallory, Glenn H. Olsen, Matthew Perry, Scott A. Petrie, Jean-Pierre L. Savard, Lucas Savoy, Michael L. Schummer, Caleb S. Spiegel, Scott R. McWilliams
2020, Condor
Studies of the effects of transmitters on wildlife often focus on survival. However, non-lethal behavioral changes resulting from radiomarking have the potential to affect inferences from telemetry data and may vary based on individual and environmental characteristics. We used a long-term, multi-species tracking study of sea ducks to assess behavioral...
Associational effects of plant ontogeny on damage by a specialist insect herbivore
Olivia Cope, Zoe Becker, Paul J. Ode, Paul Ryan, Ian Pearse
2020, Oecologia (193) 593-602
Intraspecific variation in plant traits is a major cause of variation in herbivore feeding and performance. Plant defensive traits change as a plant grows, such that ontogeny may account for a substantial portion of intraspecific trait variation. We tested how the ontogenic stage of an individual plant, of an individual...
Estimating streamflow and base flow within the nontidal Chesapeake Bay riverine system
Patrick C. Buffington, Paul D. Capel
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5055
Daily mean streamflow was estimated for all the nontidal parts of the Chesapeake Bay riverine system with the Unit Flows in Networks of Channels computer application using measured streamflow at the most downstream gage of selected rivers. The streamflows estimated by the Unit Flows in Networks of Channels computer application...
Navigating climate adaptation on public lands: How views on ecosystem change and scale interact with management approaches
Katherine R. Clifford, Laurie Yung, William Travis, Renee Rondeau, Betsy Neely, Imtiaz Rangwala, Nina Burkardt, Carina Wyborn
2020, Environmental Management (66) 614-628
Managers are increasingly being asked to integrate climate change adaptation into public land management. The literature discusses a range of adaptation approaches, including managing for resistance, resilience, and transformation; but many strategies have not yet been widely tested. This study employed in-depth interviews and scenario-based focus groups in the Upper...
6&6: A transdisciplinary approach to art-science collaboration
Sara Clark, Eric Magrane, Thomas Baumgartner, Scott E.K. Bennett, Micahel Bogan, Taylor Edwards, Mark A. Dimmitt, Heather Green, Charles Hedgcock, Bemjamin M. Johnson, Maria R. Johnson, Kathleen Velo, Benjamin T. Wilder
2020, BioScience (70) 821-829
Despite an historical connection between the arts and sciences, in the past century, the two disciplines have been greatly siloed. However, there is a renewed interest in collaboration across the arts and sciences to support conservation practice by understanding and communicating complex environmental, social, and cultural challenges in novel ways....
Causes of variability in suspended‐sand concentration evaluated using measurements in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon
David M. Rubin, Daniel D. Buscombe, Scott Wright, David J. Topping, Paul E. Grams, John C. Schmidt, J.E. Hazel Jr., Matthew A. Kaplinski, Robert B. Tusso
2020, Journal of Geophysical Research, Earth Surface (125)
Rivers commonly exhibit substantial variability in suspended‐sand concentration, even at constant water discharge. Here we derive an approach for evaluating how much of this variability arises from mean bed‐sand grain size. We apply this approach to the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, where discharge‐independent concentration of suspended sand varies by...
Nutrient removal and uptake by native planktonic and biofilm bacterial communities in an anaerobic aquifer
John T. Lisle
2020, Frontiers in Microbiology (11)
Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) offers a collection of water storage and storage options that have been used by resource managers to mitigate the reduced availability of fresh water. One of these technologies is aquifer storage and recovery (ASR), where surface water is treated then recharged into a storage zone within...
Life at the frozen limit: Microbial carbon metabolism across a Late Pleistocene permafrost chronosequence
Mary-Cathrine Leewis, Renaud Berlemont, David C. Podgorski, Archana Srinivas, Phoebe Zito, Robert G. M. Spencer, Jack McFarland, Thomas A. Douglas, Christopher H. Conaway, Mark Waldrop, Rachel Mackelprang
2020, Frontiers in Microbiology (11)
Permafrost is an extreme habitat yet it hosts microbial populations that remain active over millennia. Using permafrost collected from a Pleistocene chronosequence (19 to 33 ka), we hypothesized that the functional genetic potential of microbial communities in permafrost would reflect microbial strategies to metabolize permafrost soluble organic matter (OM) in situ over...
Pulsed Mesozoic deformation in the Cordilleran hinterland and evolution of the Nevadaplano: Insights from the Pequop Mountains, NE Nevada
Andrew V Zuza, Charles H. Thorman, Christopher D. Henry, Drew A. Levy, Seth Dee, Sean P. Long, Charles Sandberg, Emmanuel Soignard
2020, Geosphere (2020)
Mesozoic crustal shortening in the North American Cordillera’s hinterland was related to the construction of the Nevadaplano orogenic plateau. Petrologic and geochemical proxies in Cordilleran core complexes suggest substantial Late Cretaceous crustal thickening during plateau construction. In eastern Nevada, geobarometry from the Snake Range and Ruby Mountains-East Humboldt Range-Wood Hills-Pequop...
Seasonal and individual event-responsiveness are key determinants of carbon exchange across plant functional types
Daniel E. Winkler, Jayne Belnap, Michael C. Duniway, David Hoover, Sasha C. Reed, Hannah Yokum, Richard Gill
2020, Oecologia (193) 811-825
Differentiation in physiological activity is a critical component of resource partitioning in resource-limited environments. For example, it is crucial to understand how plant physiological performance varies through time for different functional groups to forecast how terrestrial ecosystems will respond to change. Here, we tracked the seasonal...
Documentation of Surface Fault Rupture and Ground‐Deformation Features Produced by the 4 and 5 July 2019 Mw 6.4 and Mw 7.1 Ridgecrest Earthquake Sequence
Daniel J. Ponti, James Luke Blair, Rosa Carla M, Kate Thomas, Alexandra Pickering, Sinan Akciz, Stephen J. Angster, Jean-Philipe Avouac, Jeffrey Bachhuber, Steven Bacon, Nicolas C. Barth, S. Bennett, Kelly Blake, Stephan Bork, Benjamin A. Brooks, Thomas Bullard, Paul A. Burgess, Colin Chupik, Timothy E. Dawson, Michael DeFrisco, Jaime E. Delano, Stephen B. DeLong, James D. Dolan, Andrea Donnellan, Christopher DuRoss, Todd Ericksen, Erik Frost, Gareth J. Funning, Ryan D. Gold, Nicholas A Graehl, Carlos Gutierrez, Elizabeth Haddon, Alexandra Elise Hatem, John Helms, Janis Hernandez, Christopher S. Hitchcock, Peter Holland, Kenneth W. Hudnut, Katherine J. Kendrick, Richard D Koehler, Ozgur Kozaci, Tyler C. Ladinsky, Robert Leeper, Christopher Madugo, Maxime Mareschal, James McDonald, Devin McPhillips, Christopher Milliner, Daniel Mongovin, Alexander Morelan, Stephanie Nale, Johanna Nevitt, Matt O’Neal, Brian J. Olsen, Michael Oskin, Salena Padilla, Jason Patton, Belle E. Philibosian, Ian Pierce, Cynthia Pridmore, Nathaniel Roth, David Sandwell, Katherine M. Scharer, Gordon G. Seitz, Drake Singleton, Bridget Smith-Konter, Eleanor Spangler, Brian J. Swanson, Jessica Thompson Jobe, Jerome Treiman, Francesca Valencia, Joshua Vanderwal, Alana Williams, Xiaohua Xu, Judith Zachariasen, Jade Zimmerman, Robert Zinke
2020, Seismological Research Letters (91) 2942-2959
The Mw">MwMw 6.4 and Mw">MwMw 7.1 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence occurred on 4 and 5 July 2019...
Recording the aurora borealis (northern lights) at seismometers across Alaska
C. Tape, Adam T. Ringler, D.L. Hampton
2020, Seismological Research Letters (91) 3039-3053
We examine three continuously recording data sets related to the aurora: all‐sky camera images, three‐component magnetometer data, and vertical‐component, broadband seismic data as part of the EarthScope project (2014 to present). Across Alaska there are six all‐sky cameras, 13 magnetometers, and >200"><span...
Ancient rivers and critical minerals in eastern Alaska
Adrian Bender, Richard O. Lease, James V. Jones III, Douglas C. Kreiner
2020, Eos, American Geophysical Union
No abstract available....
Legacy effects of hydrologic alteration in playa wetland responses to droughts
Micah T. Russell, Jennifer M. Cartwright, Gail H. Collins, Ryan A. Long, Jan H. Eitel
2020, Wetlands (40) 2011-2024
Wetland conservation increasingly must account for climate change and legacies of previous land-use practices. Playa wetlands provide critical wildlife habitat, but may be impacted by intensifying droughts and previous hydrologic modifications. To inform playa restoration planning, we asked: (1) what are the trends in playa inundation? (2) what are the...
Quantifying development to inform management of Mojave and Sonoran desert tortoise habitat in the American southwest
Sarah K. Carter, Kenneth Nussear, Todd Esque, Ian IF Leinwand, Elroy H. Masters, Richard D. Inman, Natasha B. Carr, Linda J. Allison
2020, Endangered Species Research (42) 167-184
Two tortoise species native to the American southwest have experienced significant habitat loss from development and are vulnerable to ongoing threats associated with continued development. Mojave desert tortoises Gopherus agassizii are listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act, and Sonoran desert tortoises G. morafkai are protected in Arizona...
Vegetation sampling and management
Kenneth F. Higgins, Kurt Jenkins, Daniel W. Uresk, Lora B. Perkins, Kent C. Jensen, Jack E. Norland, Robert W. Klaver, David E. Naugle
2020, Book chapter, The wildlife techniques manual. Volume 1: Research. Volume 2: Management.
What is the utility of vegetation measurements for wildlife managers? In the prairie, savanna, tundra, forest, steppe, and wetland regions of the world, mixtures of plant species provide wildlife with food, cover and, in some circumstances, water; the 3 essential habitat elements necessary to sustain viable wildlife populations. We define...
Research and experimental design
Edward O. Garton, Jocelyn L. Aycrigg, Courtney J. Conway, Jon S. Horne
2020, Book chapter, The wildlife techniques manual, volume 1:Research
No abstract available....
