Diatom enumeration method influences biological assessments of southeastern USA streams
Meredith Tyree, Daren M. Carlisle, Sarah Spaulding
2020, Freshwater Science (39) 183-195
Current fixed-count enumeration methods for benthic diatoms are likely inadequate for most research and monitoring objectives. These methods underestimate taxa richness and may fail to detect losses of species caused by human impacts. Consequently, the full potential of diatoms is not realized in current assessments of biological integrity or species...
Preferential elution of ionic solutes in melting snowpacks: Improving process understanding through field observations and modeling in the Rocky Mountains
Diogo Costa, Graham A. Sexstone, J.W. Pomeroy, Donald H. Campbell, David W. Clow, M. Alisa Mast
2020, Science of the Total Environment (710) 1-15
The preferential elution of ions from melting snowpacks is a complex problem that has been linked to temporary acidification of water bodies. However, the understanding of these processes in snowpacks around the world, including the polar regions that are experiencing unprecedented warming and melting, remains limited despite being instrumental...
Groundwater availability of the Northern High Plains aquifer in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming
Steven M. Peterson, Jonathan P. Traylor, Moussa Guira
2020, Professional Paper 1864
Executive SummaryThe Northern High Plains aquifer underlies about 93,000 square miles of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming and is the largest subregion of the nationally important High Plains aquifer. Irrigation, primarily using groundwater, has supported agricultural production since before 1940, resulting in nearly $50 billion in sales in...
Mapping hotspots of potential ecosystem fragility using commonly available spatial data
Alexandre Genin, Steven R. Lee, Eric L. Berlow, Steven M. Ostoja, Sonia Kefi
2020, Biological Conservation (241)
Effective conservation requires prioritizing areas that are vulnerable to large, irreversible changes. Unfortunately, rigorously documenting these changes with experiments and long-term monitoring is not only costly, but may provide evidence that is too late to facilitate proactive decisions.We use a simple model to illustrate that commonly available short-term...
Continuous nitrate monitoring in groundwater and potential contribution to surface-water nitrogen loads in Mason County, Illinois
Lance R. Gruhn, Greg M. Nalley
2020, Fact Sheet 2019-3064
Illinois has some of the most productive farmland in the country. The use of fertilizers to improve crop production has increased, which has resulted in an increase in the concentration of nitrogen in many streams and aquifers. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, is...
Earthquake magnitude and Lg Q variations between the Grenville and northern Appalachian geologic provinces of eastern Canada
H.K. Claire Perry, Allison L. Bent, Daniel E. McNamara, Stephen Crane, Michal Kolaj
2020, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (110) 698-714
This article assesses the ability of regionally specific, frequency‐dependent crustal attenuation (1/Q">1/Q) to reduce mean magnitude discrepancies between seismic stations in the northern Appalachian and Grenville provinces (NAP and GP)...
Increasing rates of carbon burial in southwest Florida coastal wetlands
Joshua L. Breithaupt, Joseph M. Smoak, Thomas S. Bianchi, Derrick Vaughn, Christian Sanders, Kara Radabaugh, Michael J. Osland, Laura C. Feher, James C. Lynch, Donald R. Cahoon, Gordon H. Anderson, Kevin R. T. Whelan, Brad E. Rosenheim, Ryan P. Moyer, Lisa Chambers
2020, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (125)
Rates of organic carbon (OC) burial in some coastal wetlands appear to be greater in recent years than they were in the past. Possible explanations include ongoing mineralization of older OC or the influence of an unaccounted‐for artefact of the methods used to measure burial rates. Alternatively, the trend may...
The response of stream ecosystems in the Adirondack region of New York to historical and future changes in atmospheric deposition of sulfur and nitrogen
Shuai Shao, Charles T. Driscoll, Timothy J. Sullivan, Douglas A. Burns, Barry P. Baldigo, Gregory B. Lawrence, Todd C. McDonnell
2020, Science of the Total Environment (716)
The present-day acid-base chemistry of surface waters can be directly linked to contemporary observations of acid deposition; however, pre-industrial conditions are key to predicting the potential future recovery of stream ecosystems under decreasing loads of atmospheric sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N) deposition. The integrated biogeochemical model PnET-BGC was applied to...
Are migratory waterfowl vectors of seagrass pathogens?
Damian M. Menning, David H. Ward, Sandy Wyllie-Echeverria, Kevin Sage, Megan C. Gravley, Hunter Gravley, Sandra L. Talbot
2020, Ecology and Evolution (10) 2062-2073
Migratory waterfowl vector plant seeds and other tissues, but little attention has focused on the potential of avian vectoring of plant pathogens. Extensive meadows of eelgrass (Zostera marina) in southwest Alaska support hundreds of thousands of waterfowl during fall migration and may be susceptible to plant pathogens. We...
Understanding the effect of fire on vegetation composition and gross primary production in a semi-arid shrubland ecosystem using the Ecosystem Demography (EDv2.2) model
Karun Pandit, Hamid Dashti, Andrew A. Hudak, Nancy F. Glenn, Alejandro N Flores, Douglas J. Shinneman
2020, Biogeosciences Discussions (18) 2027-2045
Wildfires in sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) dominated semi-arid ecosystems in the western United States have increased dramatically in frequency and severity in the last few decades. Severe wildfires often lead to the loss of native sagebrush communities and change the biogeochemical conditions which make it difficult for sagebrush to regenerate. Invasion...
Meteotsunamis triggered by tropical cyclones
Maitane Olabarrieta, Luming Shi, David Nolan, John C. Warner
2020, Nature Communications (11)
Tropical cyclones are one of the most destructive natural hazards and much of the damage and casualties they cause are flood-related. Accurate characterization and prediction of total water levels during extreme storms is necessary to minimize coastal impacts. While meteotsunamis are known to influence water levels and to produce severe...
Distribution, density, and land cover associations of wintering Golden Eagles in the Southern Great Plains
N.R. Mitchell, Clint W. Boal, B.R. Skipper
2020, Western North American Naturalist (80) 452-461
In addition to its resident Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), the Southern Great Plains of North America receives an influx of migrant Golden Eagles each winter. However, little current or quantitative information is available regarding eagle presence or the species' land cover associations across the region. During the winters of 2014/2015...
Carbon release through abrupt permafrost thaw
Merritt R. Turetsky, Benjamin W. Abbott, Miriam C. Jones, Katey Walter Anthony, David Olefeldt, Edward A. Schuur, Guido Grosse, Peter Kuhry, Gustaf Hugelius, Charles Koven, David M. Lawrence, Carolyn Gibson, A. Britta K. Sannel, A.D. McGuire
2020, Nature Geoscience (13) 138-143
The permafrost zone is expected to be a substantial carbon source to the atmosphere, yet large-scale models currently only simulate gradual changes in seasonally thawed soil. Abrupt thaw will probably occur in <20% of the permafrost zone but could affect half of permafrost carbon through collapsing ground, rapid erosion and landslides. Here,...
Mapping habitat suitability at range-wide scales: Spatially explicit distribution models to inform conservation and research for marsh birds
Bryan S. Stevens, Courtney J. Conway
2020, Conservation Science and Practice (2)
Habitat Loss is a primary cause of species decline, and predicting the distribution of quality habitats across broad scales is needed for conservation of rare species. Secretive marsh birds are a group of emergent-wetland specialists that include multiple threatened and endangered species whose populations have been impacted by wetland loss...
The Modern Geological Survey; a model for research, innovation, synthjesis: A USGS perspective
Suzette Kimball, Martin B. Goldhaber, Jill S. Baron, Victor F. Labson
2020, Book chapter, Folding and fracturing of rocks: 50 years of research since the seminal text book of J. G. Ramsay
Geological Surveys have long filled the role of providing Earth system science data and knowledge. These functions are increasingly complicated by accelerating environmental and societal change. Here we describe the USGS response to these evolving conditions. Underpinning the USGS approach is the recognition that many of the issues...
Spatiotemporal patterns in trophic niche overlap among five salmonines in Lake Michigan, USA
Matthew S. Kornis, David B. Bunnell, Heidi K. Swanson, Charles R. Bronte
2020, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (77) 1059-1075
Native lake trout and introduced Chinook salmon, coho salmon, steelhead, and brown trout are major predators in Lake Michigan’s complex ecosystem and collectively support a valuable recreational fishery, but declines in their primary prey, alewife, have raised ecological and management concerns about competition and prey allocation. We applied niche overlap...
Dynamic Habitat Disturbance and Ecological Resilience (DyHDER): Modeling population responses to habitat condition
Brendan P. Murphy, Timothy E. Walsworth, Patrick Belmont, Mary M. Conner, Phaedra E. Budy
2020, Ecosphere (11)
Understanding how populations respond to spatially heterogeneous habitat disturbance is as critical to conservation as it is challenging. Here, we present a new, free, and open-source metapopulation model: Dynamic Habitat Disturbance and Ecological Resilience (DyHDER), which incorporates subpopulation habitat condition and connectivity into a population viability analysis framework. Modeling temporally...
Influence of grain size and shape on volcanic ash electrical conductivity
Taylor Woods, Kimberly Genareau, Kristi L. Wallace
2020, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (393)
Few studies have examined the electrical properties of volcanic ash or considered the effects of physical characteristics, such as grain size and shape on its electrification. This study measures the resistivity of eight volcanic ash samples, three milled-samples and five natural ashfall samples from Alaska, U.S.A., using a current amplifier and examines the...
Shale gas development has limited effects on stream biology and geochemistry in a gradient-based, multiparameter study in Pennsylvania
Adam Mumford, Kelly O. Maloney, Denise M. Akob, Sarah Nettemann, Arianne Proctor, Jason Ditty, Luke Ulsamer, Josh Lookenbill, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli
2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (117) 3670-3677
The number of horizontally drilled shale oil and gas wells in the United States has increased from nearly 28,000 in 2007 to nearly 127,000 in 2017, and research has suggested the potential for the development of shale resources to affect nearby stream ecosystems. However, the ability to generalize current studies...
Simulation of water-management scenarios for the Mississippi Delta
Connor J. Haugh, Courtney D. Killian, Jeannie R. B. Barlow
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5116
To compare the effectiveness of proposed alternative water-supply scenarios on future water availability in the Mississippi Delta, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality are collaborating on the update and enhancement of an existing regional groundwater-flow model of the area. Through this collaboration, the model has...
Modeling soil porewater salinity response to drought in tidal freshwater forested wetlands
Hongqing Wang, Ken W. Krauss, Gregory E. Noe, Camille L. Stagg, Christopher M. Swarzenski, Jamie A. Duberstein, William H. Conner, Donald L. DeAngelis
2020, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (125)
There is a growing concern about the adverse effects of saltwater intrusion via tidal rivers, streams and creeks into tidal freshwater forested wetlands (TFFW) due to sea‐level rise (SLR) and intense and extended drought events. However, the magnitude and duration of porewater salinity in exceedance of plant salinity stress threshold...
Multiple elements of soil biodiversity drive ecosystem functions across biomes
Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Peter B. Reich, Mandar Trivedi, David J. Eldridge, Sebastian Abades, Fernando D. Alfaro, Felipe Bastida, Asmeret A. Berhe, Nick A. Cutler, Antonio Gallardo, Laura Garcia-Velazquez, Stephen C. Hart, Patrick E. Hayes, Ji-Zheng He, Zeng-Yei Hseu, Hang-Wei Hu, Martin Kirchmair, Sigrid Neuhauser, Cecilia A. Perez, Sasha C. Reed, Fernanda Santos, Benjamin W. Sullivan, Pankaj Trivedi, Jun-Tao Wang, Luis Weber-Grullon, Mark A. Williams, Brajesh K. Singh
2020, Nature Ecology and Evolution (4) 210-220
The role of soil biodiversity in regulating multiple ecosystem functions is poorly understood, limiting our ability to predict how soil biodiversity loss might affect human wellbeing and ecosystem sustainability. Here, combining a global observational study with an experimental microcosm study, we provide evidence that soil biodiversity (bacteria, fungi, protists and...
Osmoregulatory role of the intestine in the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus)
Andre Barany, Ciaran A Shaughnessy, Juan Fuentes, Juan M Mancera, Stephen D. McCormick
2020, American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology (318) R410-R417
Lampreys are the most basal vertebrates with an osmoregulatory strategy. Previous research has established that salinity tolerance of sea lamprey increases dramatically during metamorphosis, but underlying changes in the gut have not been examined. In the present work, we examined changes in intestinal function during metamorphosis and...
Characterization of pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) spawning habitat in the Lower Missouri River
Caroline M. Elliott, Aaron J. Delonay, Kimberly Chojnacki, Robert B. Jacobson
2020, Journal of Applied Ichthyology (36) 25-38
Acipenseriformes (sturgeons and paddlefish) globally have declined throughout their range due to river fragmentation, habitat loss, overfishing, and degradation of water quality. In North America, pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) populations have experienced poor to no recruitment, or substantial levels of hybridization with the closely related shovelnose sturgeon (S. platorynchus). The...
Biomarker similarities between the saline lacustrine Eocene Green River and the Paleoproterozoic Barney Creek Formations
Katherine L. French, Justin E. Birdwell, Michael Vanden Berg
2020, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (274) 228-245
The Paleoproterozoic Barney Creek Formation, which is currently interpreted as a restricted, deep marine paleoenvironment, plays a disproportionate role in our understanding of Proterozoic ocean chemistry and the rise of complex life. The Barney Creek Formation hosts several unusual biomarker features, specifically its methylhopane and carotenoid signatures. Herein, we demonstrate...
