Rapidly spreading seagrass invades the Caribbean with unknown ecological consequences
Caroline S. Rogers, Demian A Willette, Jeff Miller
2014, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (12) 546-547
The non-native seagrass Halophila stipulacea has spread rapidly throughout the Caribbean Sea (Willette et al. 2014); without additional research, the ecological ramifications of this invasion are difficult to predict. Biodiversity, connectivity of marine ecosystems, and recovery of degraded coral reefs could all be affected. The invasive seagrass, native to the...
Mercury and methylmercury stream concentrations in a Coastal Plain watershed: A multi-scale simulation analysis
Christopher D. Knightes, Heather E. Golden, Celeste A. Journey, Gary M. Davis, Paul Conrads, Mark Marvin-DiPasquale, Mark E. Brigham, Paul M. Bradley
2014, Environmental Pollution (187) 182-192
Mercury is a ubiquitous global environmental toxicant responsible for most US fish advisories. Processes governing mercury concentrations in rivers and streams are not well understood, particularly at multiple spatial scales. We investigate how insights gained from reach-scale mercury data and model simulations can be applied at broader watershed scales using...
Tectonic evolution of the Tualatin basin, northwest Oregon, as revealed by inversion of gravity data
Darcy McPhee, Victoria E. Langenheim, Ray E. Wells, Richard J. Blakely
2014, Geosphere (10) 264-275
The Tualatin basin, west of Portland (Oregon, USA), coincides with a 110 mGal gravity low along the Puget-Willamette lowland. New gravity measurements (n = 3000) reveal a three-dimensional (3-D) subsurface geometry suggesting early development as a fault-bounded pull-apart basin. A strong northwest-trending gravity gradient coincides with the Gales Creek fault,...
A global assessment of the conservation status of the American Oystercatcher Haematopus palliatus
Rob Clay, Arne J. Lesterhuis, Shiloh A. Schulte, Stephen Brown, Debra Reynolds, Theodore R. Simons
2014, International Wader Studies (20) 62-82
The American Oystercatcher Haematopus palliatus is the most widely distributed of the four oystercatcher species in the Western Hemisphere. Its range covers almost the entire Atlantic Coast from northeastern United States to southern Argentina; on the Pacific Coast it is found from northern Mexico to central Chile. This assessment covers the entire range of the...
Geomorphic evidence for enhanced Pliocene-Quaternary faulting in the northwestern Basin and Range
Magdalena A Ellis, Barnes Jason B, Joseph P. Colgan
2014, Lithosphere (7) 59-72
Mountains in the U.S. Basin and Range Province are similar in form, yet they have different histories of deformation and uplift. Unfortunately, chronicling fault slip with techniques like thermochronology and geodetics can still leave sizable, yet potentially important gaps at Pliocene–Quaternary (∼105–106 yr) time scales. Here, we combine existing geochronology...
Effects of low and high salinity regimes on seasonal gametogenesis of the ribbed mussel Geukensia granosissima in coastal Louisiana, USA
Aaron Honig, Megan K. LaPeyre, John Supan
2014, Sexuality and Early Development in Aquatic Organisms (1) 75-82
Benthic intertidal bivalves play an essential role in estuarine ecosystems by contributing to habitat provision, water filtration, and host vegetation productivity. As such, ecosystem level changes that impact population distributions and persistence of local bivalve populations may have large ecosystem level consequences, making it important to better understand the population...
Dietary breadth of grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Kerry A. Gunther, Rebecca Shoemaker, Kevin L. Frey, Mark A. Haroldson, Steven L. Cain, Frank T. van Manen, Jennifer K. Fortin
2014, Ursus (25) 60-72
Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) are opportunistic omnivores that eat a great diversity of plant and animal species. Changes in climate may affect regional vegetation, hydrology, insects, and fire regimes, likely influencing the abundance, range, and elevational distribution of the plants and animals consumed by...
Landscape effects on mallard habitat selection at multiple spatial scales during the non-breeding period
William S. Beatty, Elisabeth B. Webb, Dylan C. Kesler, Andrew H. Raedeke, Luke W. Naylor, Dale D. Humburg
2014, Landscape Ecology (29) 989-1000
Previous studies that evaluated effects of landscape-scale habitat heterogeneity on migratory waterbird distributions were spatially limited and temporally restricted to one major life-history phase. However, effects of landscape-scale habitat heterogeneity on long-distance migratory waterbirds can be studied across the annual cycle using new technologies, including global positioning system satellite transmitters....
Effects of satellite transmitters on captive and wild mallards
Dylan C. Kesler, Andrew H. Raedeke, Jennifer R. Foggia, William S. Beatty, Elisabeth B. Webb, Dale D. Humburg, Luke W. Naylor
2014, Wildlife Society Bulletin (38) 557-565
Satellite telemetry has become a leading method for studying large-scale movements and survival in birds, yet few have addressed potential effects of the larger and heavier tracking equipment on study subjects. We simultaneously evaluated effects of satellite telemetry equipment on captive and wild mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) to assess impacts on...
Space use and resource selection by foraging Indiana bats at the northern edge of their distribution
David S. Jachowski, Joshua B. Johnson, Christopher A. Dobony, John W. Edwards, W. Mark Ford
2014, Endangered Species Research (24) 149-157
Despite 4 decades of conservation concern, managing endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) populations remains a difficult wildlife resource issue facing natural resource managers in the eastern United States. After small signs of population recovery, the recent emergence of white-nose syndrome has led to concerns of local and/or regional extirpation of...
One hundred volatile years of volcanic gas studies at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
A.J. Sutton, Tamar Elias
Michael P. Poland, T. Jane Takahashi, Claire M. Landowski, editor(s)
2014, Professional Paper 1801-7
The first volcanic gas studies in Hawai‘i, beginning in 1912, established that volatile emissions from Kīlauea Volcano contained mostly water vapor, in addition to carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. This straightforward discovery overturned a popular volatile theory of the day and, in the same action, helped affirm Thomas A. Jaggar,...
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory: A natural laboratory for studying basaltic volcanism
Robert I. Tilling, James P. Kauahikaua, Steven R. Brantley, Christina A. Neal
Michael P. Poland, T. Jane Takahashi, Claire M. Landowski, editor(s)
2014, Professional Paper 1801-1
In the beginning of the 20th century, geologist Thomas A. Jaggar, Jr., argued that, to fully understand volcanic and associated hazards, the expeditionary mode of studying eruptions only after they occurred was inadequate. Instead, he fervently advocated the use of permanent observatories to record and measure volcanic phenomena—at and below...
Petrologic insights into basaltic volcanism at historically active Hawaiian volcanoes
Rosalind T. Helz, David A. Clague, Thomas W. Sisson, Carl R. Thornber
Michael P. Poland, T. Jane Takahashi, Claire M. Landowski, editor(s)
2014, Professional Paper 1801-6
Study of the petrology of Hawaiian volcanoes, in particular the historically active volcanoes on the Island of Hawai‘i, has long been of worldwide scientific interest. When Dr. Thomas A. Jaggar, Jr., established the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) in 1912, detailed observations on basaltic activity at Kīlauea and Mauna Loa volcanoes...
Trap configuration and spacing influences parameter estimates in spatial capture-recapture models
Catherine C. Sun, Angela K. Fuller, J. Andrew Royle
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
An increasing number of studies employ spatial capture-recapture models to estimate population size, but there has been limited research on how different spatial sampling designs and trap configurations influence parameter estimators. Spatial capture-recapture models provide an advantage over non-spatial models by explicitly accounting for heterogeneous detection probabilities among individuals that...
Key recovery factors for the August 24, 2014, South Napa Earthquake
Kenneth W. Hudnut, Thomas M. Brocher, Carol S. Prentice, John Boatwright, Benjamin A. Brooks, Brad T. Aagaard, J. Luke Blair, Jon Peter B. Fletcher, Jemile Erdem, Charles W. Wicks Jr., Jessica R. Murray, Fred F. Pollitz, John O. Langbein, Jerry L. Svarc, David P. Schwartz, Daniel J. Ponti, Suzanne Hecker, Stephen B. DeLong, Carla M. Rosa, Brenda Jones, Rynn M. Lamb, Anne M. Rosinski, Timothy P. McCrink, Timothy E. Dawson, Gordon G. Seitz, Craig Glennie, Darren Hauser, Todd Ericksen, Dan Mardock, Don F. Hoirup, Jonathan D. Bray, Ron S. Rubin
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1249
Through discussions between the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) following the South Napa earthquake, it was determined that several key decision points would be faced by FEMA for which additional information should be sought and provided by USGS and its partners. This report addresses...
US Topo Maps 2014: Program updates and research
Kristin A. Fishburn
2014, Conference Paper
The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) US Topo map program is now in year two of its second three-year update cycle. Since the program was launched in 2009, the product and the production system tools and processes have undergone enhancements that have made the US Topo maps a popular success...
A VS30 map for California with geologic and topographic constraints
Eric Thompson, David J. Wald, Charles Worden
2014, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (104) 2313-2321
For many earthquake engineering applications, site response is estimated through empirical correlations with the time‐averaged shear‐wave velocity to 30 m depth (VS30). These applications therefore depend on the availability of either site‐specific VS30 measurements or VS30 maps at local, regional, and global scales. Because VS30 measurements are sparse, a proxy frequently is needed to estimate VS30 at unsampled locations....
Best practices for continuous monitoring of temperature and flow in wadeable streams
Jen Stamp, Anna I. Hamilton, Michelle Craddock, Laila Parker, Allison H. Roy, Daniel J. Isaak, Zachary Holden, Margaret Passmore, Britta Bierwagen
2014, Report
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) is working with its regional offices, states, tribes, river basin commissions and other entities to establish Regional Monitoring Networks (RMNs) for freshwater wadeable streams. To the extent possible, uninterrupted, biological, temperature and hydrologic data will be collected on an ongoing basis at...
Geophysical framework of the Peninsular Ranges batholith—Implications for tectonic evolution and neotectonics
Victoria E. Langenheim, Robert C. Jachens, Carlos Aiken
2014, GSA Memoirs (211) 1-20
The crustal structure of the Peninsular Ranges batholith can be divided geophysically into two parts: (1) a western mafic part that is dense, magnetic, and characterized by relatively high seismic velocities (>6.25 km/s), low heat flow (<60 mW/m2), and relatively sparse seismicity, and (2) an eastern, more felsic part that...
Development of a globally applicable model for near real-time prediction of seismically induced landslides
M. Anna Nowicki, David J. Wald, Michael W. Hamburger, Mike Hearne, Eric M. Thompson
2014, Engineering Geology (173) 54-65
Substantial effort has been invested to understand where seismically induced landslides may occur in the future, as they are a costly and frequently fatal threat in mountainous regions. The goal of this work is to develop a statistical model for estimating the spatial distribution of landslides in near real-time around...
2014 update of the U.S. national seismic hazard maps
Mark D. Petersen, Morgan P. Moschetti, Peter M. Powers, Charles S. Mueller, Kathleen M. Haller, Arthur D. Frankel, Yuehua Zeng, Sanaz Rezaeian, Stephen C. Harmsen, Oliver S. Boyd, Edward H. Field, R Chen, Kenneth S. Rukstales, Nicolas Luco, Russell L. Wheeler, Anna H. Olsen
2014, Book
We held 8 regional and topical workshops across the U.S. to gather information for these maps. The maps were available to the public for comment during a 60-day period. A Steering Committee (9 experts) was assembled to review the inputs and results and provide additional insights. The maps have been...
Re-evaluating neonatal-age models for ungulates: Does model choice affect survival estimates?
Troy W. Grovenburg, Kevin L. Monteith, Christopher N. Jacques, Robert W. Klaver, Christopher S. DePerno, Todd J. Brinkman, Kyle B. Monteith, Sophie L. Gilbert, Joshua B. Smith, Vernon C. Bleich, Christopher C. Swanson, Jonathan A. Jenks
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
New-hoof growth is regarded as the most reliable metric for predicting age of newborn ungulates, but variation in estimated age among hoof-growth equations that have been developed may affect estimates of survival in staggered-entry models. We used known-age newborns to evaluate variation in age estimates among existing hoof-growth equations and...
Does age matter? The influence of age on response rates in a mixed-mode survey
Larry M. Gigliotti, Alia Dietsch
2014, Human Dimensions of Wildlife: An International Journal (19) 280-287
The appeal of cost savings and faster results has fish and wildlife management agencies considering the use of Internet surveys instead of traditional mail surveys to collect information from their constituents. Internet surveys, however, may suffer from differential age-related response rates, potentially producing biased results if certain age groups respond...
Sources and sinks of carbon in boreal ecosystems of interior Alaska: a review
Thomas A. Douglas, Miriam C. Jones, Christopher A. Hiemstra
2014, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene (2)
Boreal regions store large quantities of carbon but are increasingly vulnerable to carbon loss due to disturbance and climate warming. The boreal region, underlain by discontinuous permafrost, presents a challenging landscape for itemizing current and potential carbon sources and sinks in the boreal soil and vegetation. The roles of fire,...
A continuous record of intereruption velocity change at Mount St. Helens from coda wave interferometry
Alicia J. Hotovec-Ellis, Joan S. Gomberg, John Vidale, Ken C. Creager
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (119) 2199-2214
In September 2004, Mount St. Helens volcano erupted after nearly 18 years of quiescence. However, it is unclear from the limited geophysical observations when or if the magma chamber replenished following the 1980–1986 eruptions in the years before the 2004–2008 extrusive eruption. We use coda wave interferometry with repeating earthquakes to...
