Emigration and transportation stress of juvenile Chinook salmon relative to their reintroduction upriver of Shasta Dam, California, 2017–18
Noah S. Adams, Theresa L. Liedtke, John M. Plumb, Lisa K. Weiland, Amy C. Hansen, Scott D. Evans
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1144
The Bureau of Reclamation supports the Shasta Dam Fish Passage Evaluation (SDFPE; Yip, 2015) program, and in 2016 set out to determine the feasibility of reintroducing winter-run and spring-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and steelhead (O. mykiss) to tributaries upstream of Shasta Dam. Ideally, reintroduction strategy includes trapping naturally...
2018 update to the U.S. Geological Survey national volcanic threat assessment
John W. Ewert, Angela K. Diefenbach, David W. Ramsey
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5140
When erupting, all volcanoes pose a degree of risk to people and infrastructure, however, the risks are not equivalent from one volcano to another because of differences in eruptive style and geographic location. Assessing the relative threats posed by U.S. volcanoes identifies which volcanoes warrant the greatest risk-mitigation efforts by...
Geomorphic characteristics of Tenmile Creek, Montgomery County, Maryland, 2014–16
Edward J. Doheny, S. Matthew Baker
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5098
Data collected from April 2014 through September 2016 were used to assess geomorphic characteristics and geomorphic changes over time in a selected reach of Tenmile Creek, a small rural watershed near Clarksburg, Maryland. Longitudinal profiles of the channel bed, water surface, and bank features were developed from field surveys. Changes...
Application of hydrologic-tracer techniques to the Casargiu adit and Rio Irvi (SW-Sardinia, Italy): Using enhanced natural attenuation to reduce extreme metal loads
Giovanni De Giudici, Daniela Medas, Rosa Cidu, Pierfranco Lattanzi, Francesca Podda, Franco Frau, Nicola Rigonat, Claudia Pusceddu, Stefania Da Pelo, Patrizia Onnis, Pier Andrea Marras, Richard B. Wanty, Briant A. Kimball
2018, Applied Geochemistry (96) 42-54
Hydrologic tracer techniques were applied to Rio Irvi (SW Sardinia), a stream affected by mine drainage, allowing the calculation of stream discharge and metal loads and comparison to other streams. The calculated discharge showed a continuous increase from near 21.2 L/s to 29.1 L/s. Cumulative loads of mine-related constituents, including the Casargiu...
Development of a geodetic component for the U.S. West Coast Earthquake Early Warning System
Jessica R. Murray, Brendan W. Crowell, R. Grapenthin, Kathleen Hodgkinson, John O. Langbein, Timothy Melbourne, Diego Melgar, Sarah E. Minson, David A. Schmidt
2018, Seismological Research Letters (89) 2322-2336
An earthquake early warning (EEW) system, ShakeAlert, is under development for the West Coast of the United States. This system currently uses the first few seconds of waveforms recorded by seismic instrumentation to rapidly characterize earthquake magnitude, location, and origin time; ShakeAlert recently added a seismic line source algorithm. For...
Ice wedge degradation and stabilization impacts water budgets and nutrient cycling in Arctic trough ponds
Joshua C. Koch, M. Torre Jorgenson, Kimberly P. Wickland, Mikhail Z. Kanevskiy, Robert G. Striegl
2018, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (123) 2604-2616
Trough ponds are ubiquitous features of Arctic landscapes and an important component of freshwater aquatic ecosystems. Permafrost thaw causes ground subsidence, creating depressions that gather water, creating ponds. Permafrost thaw also releases solutes and nutrients, which may fertilize these newly formed ponds. We measured water budget...
Iron dissolution and speciation in atmospheric mineral dust: Metal-metal synergistic and antagonistic effects
Eshani Hettiarachchi, Richard L. Reynolds, Harland L. Goldstein, Bruce M. Moskowitz, Gayan Rubasinghege
2018, Atmospheric Environment (187) 417-423
Under acidic atmospheric conditions, iron leached from atmospheric mineral dust may influence the distribution of bioavailable iron at a global scale. However, the effects of non-Fe-containing minerals on iron dissolution remain unknown. This work describes metal-metal synergistic and antagonistic effects on iron dissolution that go beyond aggregation and ionic strength...
Findings and lessons learned from the assessment of the Mexico-United States transboundary San Pedro and Santa Cruz aquifers: The utility of social science in applied hydrologic research
James B. Callegary, Sharon B. Megdal, Elia Maria Tapia Villasenor, Jacob D. Petersen-Perlman, Ismael Minjarez Sosa, R. Monreal, F. Gray, Francisco Grijalva Noriega
2018, Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies (20) 60-73
Study RegionThis study region encompasses the Transboundary San Pedro and Santa Cruz aquifers which are shared between the states of Sonora (Mexico) and Arizona (US). Special regional considerations include a semi-arid climate, basin-fill aquifers with predominantly montane recharge areas, economic drivers in the mining, trade, and military...
Distribution, habitat, and population size of Island Night Lizards on San Nicolas Island, California
Charles A. Drost, Gary M. Fellers, Thomas R. Murphey, Patrick M. Kleeman, Brian J. Halstead, Ryan P. O'Donnell
2018, Western North American Naturalist (78) 358-369
The Island Night Lizard (Xantusia riversiana) was removed from the federal list of threatened species in May 2014. This strongly differentiated species is endemic to 3 of the southern California Channel Islands—San Clemente, San Nicolas, and Santa Barbara. Suitable habitat for Island Night Lizards is extensive on San Clemente Island,...
Comparison of estimators for monitoring long-term population trends in deer mice, Peromyscus maniculatus, on the California Channel Islands
Catherin A. Schwemm, Charles A. Drost, John L. Orrock, Timothy J. Coonan, Thomas R. Stanley
2018, Western North American Naturalist (78) 496-509
Capture-recapture methods are commonly used to estimate abundance and density of wild animal populations. Although a variety of sophisticated analytical techniques are available to evaluate capture-recapture data, vertebrate monitoring programs often lack the resources (e.g., time, personnel, and/or analytical expertise) to apply these methods. As an alternative, simple population indices,...
Sediment infilling benefits rainbow trout passage in a baffled channel
Jason Duguay, Brendan Foster, R.W. Jay Lacey, Theodore R. Castro-Santos
2018, Ecological Engineering (125) 38-49
Fish are thought to exploit low velocity recirculation zones in the wakes of baffles to take refuge from challenging hydraulic conditions in baffled culverts. Here, we investigate how sediment deposition in the wakes of baffles affects passage and behaviors of juvenile rainbow trout in a baffled...
Endangered species recovery: A resource allocation problem
Leah R. Gerber, Michael C. Runge, Richard F. Maloney, Gwenllian D. Iacona, C. Ashton Drew, Stephanie Avery-Gomm, James Brazill-Boast, Deborah T. Crouse, Rebecca S. Epanchin-Niell, Sarah B. Hall, Lynn A. Maguire, Tim Male, Don Morgan, Jeff Newman, Hugh P. Possingham, Libby Rumpff, Katherine C. B. Weiss, Robyn S. Wilson, Marilet A. Zablan
2018, Science (362) 284-286
Many nations have laws to identify and protect imperiled species and their ecosystems. In the United States, actions taken under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) have prevented many extinctions, but few listed species have recovered to the point where they can have the ESA protections removed (1, 2). One reason for...
The dilemma of pest suppression in the conservation of endangered species
Peter H. Adler, Jeb A. Barzen, Elmer Gray, Anne E Lacy, Richard P. Urbanek, Sarah J. Converse
Richard P. Urbanek, editor(s)
2018, Conservation Biology (33) 788-796
In the conservation of endangered species, active suppression of a population of one native species to benefit another native species poses particular challenges. Obvious examples include predator control and nest parasite reduction. Less obvious is the control of blood-feeding arthropods. We present a case study on the effect of blood-feeding...
Zooplankton dynamics in the Cache Slough complex of the upper San Francisco Estuary
Wim Kimmerer, Toni R. Ignoffo, Brooke Bemowski, Julien Moderan, Ann E. Holmes, Brian A. Bergamaschi
2018, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science (16)
We studied abundance and dynamics of zooplankton in the tidal freshwater Cache Slough Complex (CSC) in the northern Delta of the San Francisco Estuary during June, July, and October 2015. We asked whether the CSC was an area of high zooplankton production that could act as a source region for...
Drought and fire in the western USA: Is climate attribution enough?
Jeremy S. Littell
2018, Current Climate Change Reports (4) 396-406
Purpose of ReviewI sought to review the contributions of recent literature and prior foundational papers to our understanding of drought and fire. In this review, I summarize recent literature on drought and fire in the western USA and discuss research directions that may increase the...
Distinguishing brackish lacustrine from brackish marine deposits in the stratigraphic record: A case study from the late Miocene and early Pliocene Bouse Formation, Arizona and California, USA
Jordon Bright, Andrew S. Cohen, Scott W. Starratt
2018, Earth-Science Reviews (185) 974-1003
Brackish marine and brackish continental environments are fundamentally different from a compositional perspective. Brackish water is often defined as having salinity lower than that of standard seawater but higher than that of freshwater, but less regard is given to the origin of the salts involved. The simple dilution of standard seawater by freshwater in...
Population differences in susceptibility to Plasmodium relictum in zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata
Erik K. Hofmeister, Christopher N. Balakrishnan, Carter T. Atkinson
2018, Avian Diseases (62) 351-355
Domesticated Australian and Timor zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata castanotis, and T. guttata guttata, respectively) were inoculated with canary (Serinus canaria) blood containing a Hawaiian isolate of Plasmodium relictum (lineage GRW04), a hemoparasite that causes avian malaria. In two experimental trials, Timor, but not Australian zebra finches developed parasitemia that was...
Reported investments in earthquake mitigation top $73 to $80 billion in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
Thomas M. Brocher, Kerri Gefeke, John Boatwright, Keith L. Knudsen
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1168
The purpose of this report is to provide a compilation of structural retrofits and replacements of older buildings and infrastructure in the San Francisco Bay Area that have either been completed since 1989 or that are in progress as of October 2018. For the purposes of this report, all or parts...
Downscaling of climate model output for Alaskan stakeholders
John E. Walsh, Uma S. Bhatt, Jeremy S. Littell, Matthew Leonawicz, Michael Lindgren, Thomas A. Kurkowski, Peter A. Bieniek, Richard Thoman, Stephen T. Gray, T. Scott Rupp
2018, Environmental Modelling and Software (110) 38-51
The paper summarizes an end-to-end activity connecting the global climate modeling enterprise with users of climate information in Alaska. The effort included retrieval of the requisite observational datasets and model output, a model evaluation and selection procedure, the actual downscaling by the delta method with its inherent bias-adjustment, and the provision of products to...
Identifying management-relevant research priorities for responding to disease-associated amphibian declines
Evan H. Campbell Grant, M. J. Adams, Robert N. Fisher, Daniel A. Grear, Brian J. Halstead, Blake R. Hossack, Erin L. Muths, Katherine L. D. Richgels, Robin E. Russell, Kelly L. Smalling, J. Hardin Waddle, Susan C. Walls, C. LeAnn White
2018, Global Ecology and Conservation (16) 1-9
A research priority can be defined as a knowledge gap that, if resolved, identifies the optimal course of conservation action. We (a group of geographically distributed and multidisciplinary research scientists) used tools from nominal group theory and decision analysis to collaboratively identify and prioritize information needs within the context of disease-associated amphibian decline, in order...
Low survey response! Can I still use the data?
Larry M. Gigliotti, Seth Fompa
2018, Human Dimensions of Wildlife (24) 71-79
Natural resource agencies often use mail surveys to collect stakeholder information. However, a major concern of mail surveys have long been relatively low response rates compared to telephone or face-to-face interviews. Survey research has largely focused on achieving high response rates; however, in some situations even well designed surveys can...
Mapping crop residue and tillage intensity using WorldView-3 satellite shortwave infrared residue indices
W. Dean Hively, Brian T. Lamb, Craig S. T. Daughtry, Jacob Shermeyer, Gregory W. McCarty, Miguel Quemada
2018, Remote Sensing (10) 1-22
Crop residues serve many important functions in agricultural conservation including preserving soil moisture, building soil organic carbon, and preventing erosion. Percent crop residue cover on a field surface reflects the outcome of tillage intensity and crop management practices. Previous studies using proximal hyperspectral remote sensing have demonstrated accurate measurement of...
Cryovolcanic rates on Ceres revealed by topography
M. M. Sori, H. G. Sizemore, S. Byrne, A. M. Bramson, Michael T. Bland, N. T. Stein, C. T. Russell
2018, Nature Astronomy (2) 946-950
Cryovolcanism, defined here as the extrusion of icy material from depth, may be an important planetary phenomenon in shaping the surfaces of many worlds in the outer Solar System and revealing their thermal histories<a id="ref-link-section-d13594e451" title="Kargel, J. S. Brine volcanism and the interior structures of asteroids and icy satellites. Icarus...
Growth and survival relationships of 71 tree species with nitrogen and sulfur deposition across the conterminous U.S.
Kevin J Horn, R. Quinn Thomas, Christopher M. Clark, Linda H Pardo, Mark E. Fenn, Gregory B. Lawrence, Steven S. Perakis, Erica A.H. Smithwick, Doug Baldwin, Sabine Braun, Annika Nordin, Charles H. Perry, Jennifer N Phelan, Paul G. Schaberg, Samuel B St Clair, Richard Warby, Shaun A. Watmough
2018, PLoS ONE (13)
Atmospheric deposition of nitrogen (N) influences forest demographics and carbon (C) uptake through multiple mechanisms that vary among tree species. Prior studies have estimated the effects of atmospheric N deposition on temperate forests by leveraging forest inventory measurements across regional gradients in deposition. However, in the United States...
Patterns in fish assemblage structure in a small western stream
Michael C. Quist, Zachary S. Beard, Ryan S. Hardy, Tyler J. Ross
2018, Copeia (106) 589-599
Knowledge of how patterns in fish assemblages are spatially structured is important for guiding management and conservation actions. However, most studies have taken place in the eastern and midwestern U.S., resulting in a poor understanding of factors influencing western stream fishes. The objectives of this...
