Do water level fluctuations influence production of walleye and yellow perch young-of-the-year in large northern lakes?
James H. Larson, David F. Staples, Ryan P. Maki, Jon M. Vallazza, Brent C. Knights, Kevin E. Peterson
2016, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (36) 1425-1436
Many ecological processes depend on the regular rise and fall of water levels (WLs), and artificial manipulations to WL regimes can impair important ecosystem services. Previous research has suggested that differences in WL between late summer and early spring may alter the suitability of shoals used by Walleyes Sander vitreus...
Chemical and isotopic changes in Williston Basin brines during long-term oil production: An example from the Poplar dome, Montana
Zell E. Peterman, Joanna N. Thamke
2016, AAPG Bulletin (100) 1619-1632
Brine samples were collected from 30 conventional oil wells producing mostly from the Charles Formation of the Madison Group in the East and Northwest Poplar oil fields on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana. Dissolved concentrations of major ions, trace metals, Sr isotopes, and stable isotopes (oxygen and hydrogen) were...
Direct photolysis rates and transformation pathways of the lampricides TFM and niclosamide in simulated sunlight
Megan B. McConville, Terrance D. Hubert, Christina K. Remucal
2016, Environmental Science & Technology (50) 9998-10006
The lampricides 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) and 2′,5-dichloro-4′-nitrosalicylanilide (niclosamide) are directly added to many tributaries of the Great Lakes that harbor the invasive parasitic sea lamprey. Despite their long history of use, the fate of lampricides is not well understood. This study evaluates the rate and pathway of direct photodegradation of both...
Sagebrush, greater sage-grouse, and the occurrence and importance of forbs
Victoria E. Pennington, Daniel R. Schlaepfer, Jeffrey L. Beck, John B. Bradford, Kyle A. Palmquist, William K. Lauenroth
2016, Western North American Naturalist (76) 298-312
Big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) ecosystems provide habitat for sagebrush-obligate wildlife species such as the Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). The understory of big sagebrush plant communities is composed of grasses and forbs that are important sources of cover and food for wildlife. The grass component is well described in the...
Space use of a dominant Arctic vertebrate: Effects of prey, sea ice, and land on Pacific walrus resource selection
William S. Beatty, Chadwick V. Jay, Anthony S. Fischbach, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, Rebecca L. Taylor, Arny L. Blanchard, Stephen C. Jewett
2016, Biological Conservation (203) 25-32
Sea ice dominates marine ecosystems in the Arctic, and recent reductions in sea ice may alter food webs throughout the region. Sea ice loss may also stress Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens), which feed on benthic macroinvertebrates in the Bering and Chukchi seas. However, no studies have examined the effects...
Evaluation of gas production potential from gas hydrate deposits in National Petroleum Reserve Alaska using numerical simulations
Manish S. Nandanwar, Brian J. Anderson, Taiwo Ajayi, Timothy S. Collett, Margarita V. Zyrianova
2016, Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering (36) 760-772
An evaluation of the gas production potential of Sunlight Peak gas hydrate accumulation in the eastern portion of the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska (NPRA) of Alaska North Slope (ANS) is conducted using numerical simulations, as part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) gas hydrate Life Cycle Assessment program. A field...
Dense surface seismic data confirm non-double-couple source mechanisms induced by hydraulic fracturing
Jeremy Pesicek, Konrad Cieslik, Marc-Andre Lambert, Pedro Carrillo, Brad Birkelo
2016, Geophysics (81) KS207-KS217
We have determined source mechanisms for nine high-quality microseismic events induced during hydraulic fracturing of the Montney Shale in Canada. Seismic data were recorded using a dense regularly spaced grid of sensors at the surface. The design and geometry of the survey are such that the recorded P-wave amplitudes essentially...
Temperature and hydrology affect methane emissions from Prairie Pothole Wetlands
Sheel Bansal, Brian Tangen, Raymond Finocchiaro
2016, Wetlands (36) 371-381
The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) in central North America consists of millions of depressional wetlands that each have considerable potential to emit methane (CH4). Changes in temperature and hydrology in the PPR from climate change may affect methane fluxes from these wetlands. To assess the potential effects of changes in...
A survey of uncertainty in stage-discharge rating curves and streamflow records in the United States
Julie E. Kiang, Robert R. Mason, Jr., Timothy A. Cohn
2016, Conference Paper, River Flow 2016
No abstract available....
Effects of consumption-oriented versus trophy-oriented fisheries on Muskellunge population size structure in northern Wisconsin
Matthew D. Faust, Michael J. Hansen
2016, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (36) 1336-1346
To determine whether a consumption-oriented fishery was compatible with a trophy-oriented fishery for Muskellunge Esox masquinongy, we modeled effects of a spearing fishery and recreational angling fishery on population size structure (i.e., numbers of fish ≥ 102, 114, and 127 cm) in northern Wisconsin. An individual-based simulation model was used...
Filling the interspace—restoring arid land mosses: source populations, organic matter, and overwintering govern success
Lea Condon, David A. Pyke
2016, Ecology and Evolution (6) 7623-7632
Biological soil crusts contribute to ecosystem functions and occupy space that could be available to invasive annual grasses. Given disturbances in the semiarid shrub steppe communities, we embarked on a set of studies to investigate restoration potential of mosses in sagebrush steppe ecosystems. We examined establishment and growth of two...
Analyses of infrequent (quasi-decadal) large groundwater recharge events in the northern Great Basin: Their importance for groundwater availability, use, and management
Melissa D. Masbruch, Christine Rumsey, Subhrendu Gangopadhyay, David D. Susong, Tom Pruitt
2016, Water Resources Research (52) 7819-7836
There has been a considerable amount of research linking climatic variability to hydrologic responses in the western United States. Although much effort has been spent to assess and predict changes in surface water resources, little has been done to understand how climatic events and changes affect groundwater resources. This study...
King Rail (Rallus elegans) Nesting and Brood Rearing Ecology at Red Slough WMA, SE Oklahoma
David G. Krementz, Karen L. Willard, M. Carroll, Katie M. Dugger
2016, Waterbirds (39) 241-249
The precision problem in conservation and restoration
J. Kevin Hiers, Stephen T. Jackson, Richard J. Hobbs, Emily S. Bernhardt, Leonie E. Valentine
2016, Trends in Ecology and Evolution (31) 820-830
Within the varied contexts of environmental policy, conservation of imperilled species populations, and restoration of damaged habitats, an emphasis on idealized optimal conditions has led to increasingly specific targets for management. Overly-precise conservation targets can reduce habitat variability at multiple scales, with unintended consequences for future ecological resilience. We describe...
Organizing environmental flow frameworks to meet hydropower mitigation needs
Ryan A. McManamay, Shannon K. Brewer, Henriette Jager, Matthew J. Troia
2016, Environmental Management (58) 365-385
The global recognition of the importance of natural flow regimes to sustain the ecological integrity of river systems has led to increased societal pressure on the hydropower industry to change plant operations to improve downstream aquatic ecosystems. However, a complete reinstatement of natural flow regimes is often unrealistic when balancing...
Effects of model complexity and priors on estimation using sequential importance sampling/resampling for species conservation
Kylee Dunham, J. Barry Grand
2016, Ecological Modelling (340) 28-36
We examined the effects of complexity and priors on the accuracy of models used to estimate ecological and observational processes, and to make predictions regarding population size and structure. State-space models are useful for estimating complex, unobservable population processes and making predictions about future populations based on limited data. To...
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Source of cooperation or contention?
Meron Teferi Taye, Tsegaye Tadesse, Gabriel B. Senay, Paul Block
2016, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management (142) 1-5
This paper discusses the challenges and benefits of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which is under construction and expected to be operational on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia in a few years. Like many large-scale projects on transboundary rivers, the GERD has been criticized for potentially jeopardizing downstream...
Bedrock morphology and structure, upper Santa Cruz Basin, south-central Arizona, with transient electromagnetic survey data
Mark W. Bultman, William R. Page
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1152
The upper Santa Cruz Basin is an important groundwater basin containing the regional aquifer for the city of Nogales, Arizona. This report provides data and interpretations of data aimed at better understanding the bedrock morphology and structure of the upper Santa Cruz Basin study area which encompasses the Rio Rico...
Time-lapse gravity data for monitoring and modeling artificial recharge through a thick unsaturated zone
Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Ty P.A. Ferre, Benjamin Creutzfeldt
2016, Water Resources Research (52) 7244-7261
Groundwater-level measurements in monitoring wells or piezometers are the most common, and often the only, hydrologic measurements made at artificial recharge facilities. Measurements of gravity change over time provide an additional source of information about changes in groundwater storage, infiltration, and for model calibration. We demonstrate that for an artificial...
Bayesian cross-validation for model evaluation and selection, with application to the North American Breeding Bird Survey
William A. Link, John R. Sauer
2016, Ecology (97) 1746-1758
The analysis of ecological data has changed in two important ways over the last 15 years. The development and easy availability of Bayesian computational methods has allowed and encouraged the fitting of complex hierarchical models. At the same time, there has been increasing emphasis on acknowledging and accounting for model uncertainty....
Uncertainty in biological monitoring: a framework for data collection and analysis to account for multiple sources of sampling bias
Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez, Melvin B. Hooten, Evan H. Campbell Grant
2016, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (7) 900-909
Biological monitoring programmes are increasingly relying upon large volumes of citizen-science data to improve the scope and spatial coverage of information, challenging the scientific community to develop design and model-based approaches to improve inference.Recent statistical models in ecology have been developed to accommodate false-negative errors, although current...
A downstream voyage with mercury
Gary Heinz
2016, Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (97) 591-592
Retrospective essay for the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology.As I look back on my paper, “Effects of Low Dietary Levels of Methyl Mercury on Mallard Reproduction,” published in 1974 in the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, a thought sticks in my mind. I realize just how much...
Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA analyses of golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos canadensis) from three areas in western North America; initial results and conservation implications
Erica H. Craig, Jennifer R. Adams, Lisette P. Waits, Mark R. Fuller, Diana M. Whittington
2016, PLoS ONE (11)
Understanding the genetics of a population is a critical component of developing conservation strategies. We used archived tissue samples from golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos canadensis) in three geographic regions of western North America to conduct a preliminary study of the genetics of the North American subspecies, and to provide data...
Sedimentation survey of Lago La Plata, Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, March–April 2015
Julieta Gómez-Fragoso
2016, Scientific Investigations Map 3369
IntroductionLago La Plata is operated by the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) and is part of the San Juan Metropolitan Water District. The reservoir serves a population of about 425,000 people. During 2013 the reservoir provided 0.307 million cubic meters (Mm3 ) of water per day (about 81...
Three ingredients for Improved global aftershock forecasts: Tectonic region, time-dependent catalog incompleteness, and inter-sequence variability
Morgan T. Page, Nicholas van der Elst, Jeanne L. Hardebeck, Karen Felzer, Andrew J. Michael
2016, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (106) 2290-2301
Following a large earthquake, seismic hazard can be orders of magnitude higher than the long‐term average as a result of aftershock triggering. Because of this heightened hazard, emergency managers and the public demand rapid, authoritative, and reliable aftershock forecasts. In the past, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) aftershock forecasts following large...
