Assessment of fire fuel load dynamics in shrubland ecosystems in the western United States using MODIS products
Zhen Li, Hua Shi, James Vogelmann, Todd Hawbaker, Birgit Peterson
2020, Remote Sensing (12)
Assessing fire behavior in shrubland/grassland ecosystems of the western United States has proven especially problematic, in part due to the complex nature of the vegetation and its relationships with prior fire history events. Our goals in this study were (1) to determine if we can effectively leverage...
Selected geologic maps of the Kodiak batholith and other Paleocene intrusive rocks, Kodiak Island, Alaska
David W. Farris, Peter J. Haeussler
2020, Scientific Investigations Map 3441
Kodiak Island in southern Alaska is one of the premier examples globally for the study of forearc magmatism. This location contains two Paleocene intrusive belts that formed due to the subduction of a migrating spreading ridge and slab-window: the Kodiak batholith and the trenchward magmatic belt. These magmatic rocks are...
Improved understanding and prediction of freshwater fish communities through the use of joint species distribution models
Tyler Wagner, Gretchen J.A. Hansen, Erin Schliep, Bethany Bethke, Andrew Honsey, Peter Jacobson, Benjamen C. Kline, Shannon L. White
2020, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (77) 1540-1551
Two primary goals in fisheries research are to (i) understand how habitat and environmental conditions influence the distribution of fishes across the landscape and (ii) make predictions about how fish communities will respond to environmental and anthropogenic change. In inland, freshwater ecosystems, quantitative approaches traditionally used to accomplish these goals...
Yellowstone Lake ecosystem restoration: A case study for invasive fish management
Todd M. Koel, Jeffrey L. Arnold, Patricia E. Bigelow, Travis O. Brenden, Jeffery D. Davis, Colleen R. Detjens, Philip D. Doepke, Brian D. Ertel, Hayley C. Glassic, Robert E. Gresswell, Christopher S Guy, Drew J. MacDonald, Michael E. Ruhl, Todd J. Stuth, David P. Sweet, John M. Syslo, Nathan A. Thomas, Lusha M. Tronstad, Patrick J. White, Alexander V. Zale
2020, Fishes (5)
Invasive predatory lake trout Salvelinus namaycush were discovered in Yellowstone Lake in 1994 and caused a precipitous decrease in abundance of native Yellowstone cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri. Suppression efforts (primarily gillnetting) initiated in 1995 did not curtail lake trout population growth or lakewide expansion. An adaptive management strategy was developed in...
Increased drought severity tracks warming in the United States’ largest river basin
Justin Martin, Gregory T. Pederson, Connie A. Woodhouse, Edward R. Cook, Gregory J. McCabe, Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Erika K. Wise, Patrick Erger, Larry S. Dolan, Marketa McGuire, Subhrendu Gangopadhyay, Katherine J. Chase, Jeremy Littell, Stephen Gray, Scott St. George, Jonathan M. Friedman, David J. Sauchyn, Jeannine-Marie St. Jacques, John C. King
2020, PNAS (117) 11328-11336
Across the Upper Missouri River Basin, the recent drought of 2000 to 2010, known as the “turn-of-the-century drought,” was likely more severe than any in the instrumental record including the Dust Bowl drought. However, until now, adequate proxy records needed to better understand this event with regard to long-term variability...
Juvenile Lost River and shortnose sucker year-class formation, survival, and growth in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, and Clear Lake Reservoir, California—2018 monitoring report
Ryan J. Bart, Summer M. Burdick, Marshal S. Hoy, Carl O. Ostberg
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1064
Executive SummaryPopulations of federally endangered Lost River (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose suckers (Chasmistes brevirostris) in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, and Clear Lake Reservoir (hereinafter Clear Lake), California, are experiencing long-term decreases in abundance. Upper Klamath Lake populations are decreasing not only because of adult mortality, which is relatively low, but...
The ocean's impact on slow slip events
Joan S. Gomberg, Peter J. Baxter, Euan G. C. Smith, Keisuke Ariyoshi, Steve Chiswell
2020, Geophysical Research Letters (47)
We test the hypothesis that ocean seafloor pressures impart stresses that alter the initiation or termination of transient slow slip events (SSEs) on shallow submarine and near-coastal faults, using simulated seafloor pressures and a new catalog of SSEs in the Hikurangi subduction zone. We show that seafloor pressures may be...
Drought reshuffles plant phenology and reduces the foraging benefit of green-wave surfing for a migratory ungulate
Ellen O. Aikens, Kevin L. Monteith, Jerod A. Merkle, Samantha P. H. Dwinnell, Gary L. Fralick, Matthew Kauffman
2020, Global Change Biology (26) 4215-4225
To increase resource gain, many herbivores pace their migration with the flush of nutritious plant green-up that progresses across the landscape (termed “green-wave surfing”). Despite concerns about the effects of climate change on migratory species and the critical role of plant phenology in mediating the ability...
Asymmetric benefits of a heterospecific breeding association vary with habitat, conspecific abundance and breeding stage
Rose J. Swift, Michael J. Anteau, Erin A. Roche, Mark H. Sherfy, Dustin L. Toy, Megan M. Ring
2020, Oikos (10) 1504-1520
Heterospecific breeding associations may benefit individuals by mitigating predation risk but may also create costs if they increase competition for resources or are more easily detectable by predators. Our understanding of the interactions among hetero‐ and conspecifics is often lacking in mixed species colonies. Here, we...
Purpose and benefits of U.S. Geological Survey Trusted Digital Repositories
Natalie Latysh, Keith G. Kirk, John Faundeen
2020, Fact Sheet 2020-3032
Federal mandates and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS, also known as the Bureau) Fundamental Science Practices (FSP) policies require that publicly funded scientific data, publications, and derivative works be openly accessible to researchers and the public. Open access helps to leverage the public investment by making the acquired data and published...
Quantifying the contribution of habitats and pathways to a spatially structured population facing environmental change
Christine Sample, Joanna A. Bieri, Benjamin L. Allen, Yulia Dementieva, Alyssa Carson, Connor Higgins, Sadie Piatt, Shirley Qiu, Summer Stafford, Brady J. Mattsson, Darius J. Semmens, James E. Diffendorfer, Wayne E. Thogmartin
2020, American Naturalist (196) 157-168
The consequences of environmental disturbance and management are difficult to quantify for spatially structured populations because changes in one location carry through to other areas as a result of species movement. We develop a metric, G, for measuring the contribution of a habitat or pathway to network-wide population...
Geochronologic and Hf-isotope framework of Proterozoic rocks from central New Mexico, USA: Formation of the Mazatzal crustal province in an extended continental margin arc
Mark E. Holland, Tyler A. Grambling, Karl E. Karlstrom, James V. Jones III, Kimberly N. Nagotko, Christopher G. Daniel
2020, Precambrian Research (347)
The growth of southern Laurentia has been attributed to the accretion of juvenile arc terranes during the successive 1.74-1.68 Ga Yavapai and 1.65-1.60 Ga Mazatzal orogenies. However, in light of the increasing importance of the ca. 1.49-1.40 Ga Mesoproterozoic Picuris orogeny, the tectonic setting in which the Mazatzal crustal province...
Potential for recreational restrictions to reduce grizzly bear–caused human injuries
Kerry A. Gunther, Mark A. Haroldson
2020, Ursus (2020)
In 2011, 2 hikers were killed by grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in separate incidents on backcountry trails in Hayden Valley, Yellowstone National Park, USA (YNP). Hayden Valley provides prime habitat for grizzly bears and is known to have high densities of bears. During 1970–2017, 23% (10 of 44) of all...
Land use effects on sediment nutrient processes in a heavily modified watershed using structural equation models
Rebecca M. Kreiling, Martin C. Thoms, Lynn A. Bartsch, James H. Larson, Victoria Christensen
2020, Water Resources Research (56)
Contemporary land use can affect sediment nutrient processes in rivers draining heavily modified watersheds; however, studies linking land use to sediment nutrient processes in large river networks are limited. In this study, we developed and evaluated structural equation models (SE models) for denitrification and phosphorus retention capacity to determine direct...
A non-linear relationship between marsh size and sediment trapping capacity compromises salt marshes’ resilience to sea-level rise
Carmine Donatelli, Xiaohe Zhang, Neil K. Ganju, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Sergio Fagherazzi, Nicoletta Leonardi
2020, Geology (48) 966-970
Global assessments predict the impact of sea-level rise on salt marshes with present-day levels of sediment supply from rivers and the coastal ocean. However, these assessments do not consider that variations in marsh extent and the related reconfiguration of intertidal area affect local sediment dynamics, ultimately...
Submarine landslide kinematics derived from high-resolution imaging in Port Valdez, Alaska
Emily Roland, Peter J. Haeussler, Thomas E. Parsons, Patrick E. Hart
2020, Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth (125)
Submarine landslides caused by strong ground shaking during the M9.2 1964 Great Alaska earthquake generated a tsunami that destroyed much of the old town of Valdez, Alaska, and was responsible for 32 deaths at that location. We explore structural details of the 1964 landslide deposit, as well...
First recorded observations of conspecific egg and nestling consumption in common ravens (Corvus corax)
Joseph Atkinson, Peter S. Coates, Brianne E. Brussee, David J. Delehanty
2020, Western North American Naturalist (80) 236-242
We observed cannibalism, the act of consuming a conspecific, of eggs and nestlings by Common Ravens (Corvus corax; hereafter “raven”) by video-monitoring nests in Nevada and California. Specifically, within the sagebrush steppe of Nevada, adult ravens killed and consumed raven chicks from an active...
Modified GIC estimation using 3-D Earth conductivity
Anna Kelbert, Greg M. Lucas
2020, Space Weather (18)
Geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) are quasi-direct current (DC) electric currents that flow in technological conductors during geomagnetic storms. Extreme GICs are hazardous to man-made infrastructure. GICs enter and exit the technological systems, such as the electric power grid, at grounding points, and their magnitudes depend on...
Exhumation of the Coyote Mountains metamorphic core complex (Arizona): Implications for orogenic collapse of the southern North American Cordillera.
Raphael Gottardi, Ryan J. McAleer, Gabriele Casale, Megan Borel, Alexander Iriondo, Gilby Jepson
2020, Tectonics (39)
A microstructural and thermochronometric analysis of the Coyote Mountains detachment shear zone provides new insight into the collapse of the southern North American Cordillera. The Coyote Mountains is a metamorphic core complex that makes up the northern end of the Baboquivari Mountains in southern Arizona. The Baboquivari Mountains records several...
A global hybrid VS30 map with a topographic slope–based default and regional map insets
David C. Heath, David J. Wald, C. Bruce Worden, Eric M. Thompson, Gregory M. Smoczyk
2020, Earthquake Spectra (36) 1570-1584
Time-averaged shear wave velocity over the upper 30 m of the earth’s surface (VS30) is a key parameter for estimating ground motion amplification as both a predictive and a diagnostic tool for earthquake hazards. The first-order approximation of VS30 is commonly obtained through a topographic slope–based or terrain proxy due to the widely...
Comparison of SELDM simulated total-phosphorus concentrations with ecological impervious-area criteria
Lillian C. Jeznach, Gregory E. Granato
2020, Journal of Environmental Engineering (146)
Ecological studies indicate that impervious cover (IC) greater than approximately 5%–20% may have adverse effects on receiving-stream ecology. It is difficult to separate the effects of runoff quality from other effects of urbanization on receiving streams. This study presents the results of a numerical experiment to assess...
Groundwater levels and generalized potentiometric surfaces, former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey, 2018
Alex R. Fiore, Pierre J. Lacombe
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1016
Groundwater-level conditions, generalized groundwater potentiometric surfaces, and generalized flow directions at the decommissioned Naval Air Warfare Center in West Trenton, New Jersey, were evaluated for calendar year 2018. Groundwater levels measured continuously in five on-site wells and one nearby off-site well were plotted as hydrographs for January 1, 2018, through...
Characterizing the diverse hydrogeology underlying rivers and estuaries using new floating transient electromagnetic methodology
John W. Lane, Martin A. Briggs, PK Maurya, Eric A. White, JB Pedersen, Esben Auken, Neil Terry, Burke J. Minsley, Wade Kress, Denis R. LeBlanc, Ryan F. Adams, Carole D. Johnson
2020, Science of the Total Environment (740)
The hydrogeology below large surface water features such as rivers and estuaries is universally under-informed at the long reach to basin scales (tens of km+). This challenge inhibits the accurate modeling of fresh/saline groundwater interfaces and groundwater/surface water exchange patterns at management-relevant spatial extents. Here we introduce a towed, floating...
Acris blanchardi (Blanchard's Cricket Frog), Predation
Brittany R. Maldonado, Brad Glorioso, Raymond P. Kidder II
2020, Herpetological Review (51) 296
Invertebrates are well-known predators of amphibians with many documented cases of spiders preying upon anurans (reviewed in Toledo 2005. Herpetol. Rev. 36:395–400). Wolf spiders are known to feed on a variety of frogs, including those in the genus Acris (Blackburn et al. 2002. Herpetol. Rev. 33:299). Although typically terrestrial, wolf...
Low-level detection of SFD-causing Ophidiomyces on Burmese Pythons in southwest Florida, with confirmation of the pathogen on co-occurring native snakes
Brad Glorioso, Ian A. Bartoszek, Jeffrey M. Lorch
2020, Herpetological Review (51) 245-247
Snake fungal disease (SFD), or ophidiomycosis, is caused by the fungus Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola (Allender et al. 2015; Lorch et al. 2015). SFD is widespread across wild populations in the eastern United States (Lorch et al. 2016) and is known to infect more than 30 species of snake in North America...
