ARkStorm@Tahoe: Stakeholder perspectives on vulnerabilities and preparedness for an extreme storm event in the greater Lake Tahoe, Reno, and Carson City region
Christine M. Albano, Dale A. Cox, Michael D. Dettinger, Kevin Shaller, Toby L. Welborn, Maureen McCarthy
2014, Report
Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are strongly linked to extreme winter precipitation events in the Western U.S., accounting for 80 percent of extreme floods in the Sierra Nevada and surrounding lowlands. In 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey developed the ARkStorm extreme storm scenario for California to quantify risks from extreme winter storms...
Growth and smolting in lower-mode Atlantic Salmon stocked into the Penobscot River, Maine
Joseph D. Zydlewski, Andrew O’Malley, Oliver Cox, Peter Ruksznis, Joan G. Trial
2014, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (34) 147-158
Restoration of Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar in Maine has relied on hatchery-produced fry and smolts for critical stocking strategies. Stocking fry minimizes domestication selection, but these fish have poor survival. Conversely, stocked smolts have little freshwater experience but provide higher adult returns. Lower-mode (LM) fish, those not growing fast enough to ensure...
Development of a generic auto-calibration package for regional ecological modeling and application in the Central Plains of the United States
Yiping Wu, Shuguang Liu, Zhengpeng Li, Devendra Dahal, Claudia J. Young, Gail L. Schmidt, Jinxun Liu, Brian Davis, Terry L. Sohl, Jeremy M. Werner, Jennifer Oeding
2014, Ecological Informatics (19) 35-46
Process-oriented ecological models are frequently used for predicting potential impacts of global changes such as climate and land-cover changes, which can be useful for policy making. It is critical but challenging to automatically derive optimal parameter values at different scales, especially at regional scale, and validate the model performance. In...
2011 Summary: Coastal wetland restoration research
Kurt P. Kowalski, Michael J. Wiley, Douglas A. Wilcox, Martha L. Carlson Mazur, Alex Czayka, Andrea Dominguez, Susan Doty, Mike Eggleston, Sean Green, Amanda Sweetman
2014, Report
The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) projects currently taking place in Great Lakes coastal wetlands provide a unique opportunity to study ecosystem response to management actions as practitioners strive to improve wetland function and increase ecosystem services. Through a partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey – Great Lakes Science Center...
Experimental additions of aluminum sulfateand ammonium nitrate to in situ mesocosms toreduce cyanobacterial biovolume and microcystinconcentration
Theodore D. Harris, Frank M. Wilhelm, Jennifer L. Graham, Keith A. Loftin
2014, Lake and Reservoir Management (30) 84-93
Recent studies suggest that nitrogen additions to increase the total nitrogen:total phosphorus (TN:TP) ratio may reduce cyanobacterial biovolume and microcystin concentration in reservoirs. In systems where TP is >100 μg/L, however, nitrogen additions to increase the TN:TP ratio could cause ammonia, nitrate, or nitrite toxicity to terrestrial and aquatic organisms. Reducing phosphorus via...
Mapping advanced argillic alteration at Cuprite, Nevada, using imaging spectroscopy
Gregg A. Swayze, Roger N. Clark, Alexander F.H. Goetz, K. Eric Livo, George N. Breit, Fred A. Kruse, Stephen J. Sutley, Lawrence W. Snee, Heather A. Lowers, James L. Post, Roger E. Stoffregen, Roger P. Ashley
2014, Economic Geology (109) 1179-1221
Mineral maps based on Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) data were used to study late Miocene advanced argillic alteration at Cuprite, Nevada. Distributions of Fe-bearing minerals, clays, micas, sulfates, and carbonates were mapped using the Tetracorder spectral-shape matching system. The Al content of white micas increases toward altered areas and...
Chromic and iron oxides as fecal markers to identify individual whooping cranes
Megan E. Brown, Robert Doyle, Jane N. Chandler, Glenn H. Olsen, John B. French, David E Wildt, Sarah J. Converse, Carol L Keefer, Nucharin Songsasen
David Aborn, Richard P. Urbanek, editor(s)
2014, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the twelfth North American crane workshop
The whooping crane (Grus americana) is listed as endangered under the IUCN Red List, the United States Endangered Species Act, and the Canadian Species at Risk Act (BirdLife International 2012, CWS and USFWS 2007). A major focus of recovery efforts for this endangered species is reintroduction to establish new populations...
Estuarine removal of glacial iron and implications for iron fluxes to the ocean
Andrew W. Schroth, John Crusius, Ian Hoyer, Robert Campbell
2014, Geophysical Research Letters (41) 3951-3958
While recent work demonstrates that glacial meltwater provides a substantial and relatively labile flux of the micronutrient iron to oceans, the role of high-latitude estuary environments as a potential sink of glacial iron is unknown. Here we present the first quantitative description of iron removal in a meltwater-dominated estuary. We...
Petrology and chemistry of the Green Acres gabbro complex near Winchester, Riverside County, California
Byron R. Berger
Douglas M. Morton, Fred K. Miller, editor(s)
2014, Book chapter, Peninsular Ranges Batholith, Baja California and Southern California
The Cretaceous Green Acres layered igneous complex, northeast of Winchester, California, is composed of a suite of olivine- and hornblende-bearing gabbros in the Peninsular Ranges batholith within the Perris tectonic block. A consistent mineral assemblage is observed throughout the complex, but there is considerable textural and modal heterogeneity. Both preclude...
Frictional properties of exhumed fault gouges in DFDP-1 cores, Alpine Fault, New Zealand
Carolyn Boulton, Diane E. Moore, David A. Lockner, Virginia G. Toy, John Townend, Rupert Southerland
2014, Geophysical Research Letters (41) 356-362
Principal slip zone gouges recovered during the Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP-1), Alpine Fault, New Zealand, were deformed in triaxial friction experiments at temperatures, T, of up to 350°C, effective normal stresses, σn′, of up to 156 MPa, and velocities between 0.01 and 3 µm/s. Chlorite/white mica-bearing DFDP-1A blue gouge, 90.62 m sample depth, is...
Management and monitoring of the endangered Shenandoah salamander under climate change: Workshop report 10-12 April 2012
Evan H. Campbell Grant, John E. B. Wofford, D. R. Smith, J. Dennis, C. Hawkins-Hoffman, J. Schaberl, M. Foley, M. Bogle
2014, Natural Resource Report NPS/SHEN/NRR—2014/867
Here we report on a structured decision making (SDM) process to identify management strategies to ensure persistence of the federally endangered Shenandoah salamander (Plethodon shenandoah), given that it may be at increased extinction risk under projected climate change. The focus of this report is the second of two SDM workshops;...
A comparison of resident fish assemblages in managed and unmanaged coastal wetlands in North Carolina and South Carolina
Kelly F. Robinson, Cecil A. Jennings
2014, Southeastern Naturalist (13) 237-260
The dominant fish species within impounded coastal wetlands in the southeastern US may be different from the species that dominate natural marshes. We tested the hypothesis that resident fish assemblages inhabiting impounded coastal wetlands in South Carolina would differ from resident assemblages in natural marshes of the southeastern United States....
Transcriptomic effects-based monitoring for endocrine active chemicals: Assessing relative contribution of treated wastewater to downstream pollution
Dalma Martinovic-Weigelt, Alvine C. Mehinto, Gerald T. Ankley, Nancy D. Denslow, Larry B. Barber, Kathy Lee, Ryan J. King, Heiko L. Schoenfuss, Anthony L. Schroeder, Daniel L. Villeneuve
2014, Environmental Science & Technology (48) 2385-2394
The present study investigated whether a combination of targeted analytical chemistry information with unsupervised, data-rich biological methodology (i.e., transcriptomics) could be utilized to evaluate relative contributions of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents to biological effects. The effects of WWTP effluents on fish exposed to ambient, receiving waters were studied at...
Tsunami-generated sediment wave channels at Lake Tahoe, California-Nevada, USA
James G. Moore, Richard A. Schweickert, Christopher A. Kitts
2014, Geosphere (10) 757-768
A gigantic ∼12 km3 landslide detached from the west wall of Lake Tahoe (California-Nevada, USA), and slid 15 km east across the lake. The splash, or tsunami, from this landslide eroded Tioga-age moraines dated as 21 ka. Lake-bottom short piston cores recovered sediment as old as 12 ka that did not...
Fisheries research and monitoring activities of the Lake Erie Biological Station, 2013
Richard T. Kraus, Mark W. Rogers, Patrick Kocovsky, William Edwards, Betsy L. Bodamer Scarbro, Kevin R. Keretz, Stephanie A. Berkman
2014, Report, Compiled Reports to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission of the Annual Bottom Trawl and Acoustic Surveys, 2013
In 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Lake Erie Biological Station successfully completed large vessel surveys in all three of Lake Erie’s basins. Lake Erie Biological Station’s primary vessel surveys included the Western Basin Forage Fish Assessment and East Harbor Forage Fish Assessment as well as contributing to the cooperative multi-agency...
Estimating structural collapse fragility of generic building typologies using expert judgment
Kishor S. Jaiswal, D.J. Wald, D. Perkins, W. P. Aspinall, Anne S. Kiremidjian
George Deodatis, Bruce R. Ellingwood, Dan M. Frangopol, editor(s)
2014, Conference Paper, Safety, reliability, risk, and life-cycle performance of structures and infrastructures
The structured expert elicitation process proposed by Cooke (1991), hereafter referred to as Cooke’s approach, is applied for the first time in the realm of structural collapse-fragility assessment for selected generic construction types. Cooke’s approach works on the principle of objective calibration scoring of judgments coupled with hypothesis testing used...
Two approaches for incorporating climate change into natural resource management planning at Wind Cave National Park
Amy J. Symstad, Andrew J. Long, John Stamm, David A. King, Dominque M. Bachelet, Parker A. Norton
2014, Report
Wind Cave National Park (WICA) protects one of the world’s longest caves, has large amounts of high quality, native vegetation, and hosts a genetically important bison herd. The park’s relatively small size and unique purpose within its landscape requires hands-on management of these and other natural resources, all of which...
Fertilizer consumption and energy input for 16 crops in the United States
Sheila E. Amenumey, Paul D. Capel
2014, Natural Resources Research (23) 299-309
Fertilizer use by U.S. agriculture has increased over the past few decades. The production and transportation of fertilizers (nitrogen, N; phosphorus, P; potassium, K) are energy intensive. In general, about a third of the total energy input to crop production goes to the production of fertilizers, one-third to mechanization, and...
An ecological response model for the Cache la Poudre River through Fort Collins
Jennifer Shanahan, Daniel Baker, Brian P. Bledsoe, LeRoy Poff, David M. Merritt, Kevin R. Bestgen, Gregor T. Auble, Boris C. Kondratieff, John Stokes, Mark Lorie, John Sanderson
2014, Report
The Poudre River Ecological Response Model (ERM) is a collaborative effort initiated by the City of Fort Collins and a team of nine river scientists to provide the City with a tool to improve its understanding of the past, present, and likely future conditions of the Cache la Poudre River...
Locking horns with Hawai‘i’s non-native ungulate issues
Steve C. Hess
2014, Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference (26) 21-25
Conservation and management interests for sustained-yield hunting of non-native ungulates in Hawai‘i have conflicted with the conservation of native biota for several decades. Hawaiian ecosystems evolved in the absence of large mammals and all currently hunted animals in Hawai‘i are non-native species. The best-studied aspects of Hawai‘i’s ungulates have dealt...
Productivity of functional guilds of fishes in managed wetlands in coastal South Carolina
Kelly F. Robinson, Cecil A. Jennings
2014, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (5) 70-86
In coastal South Carolina, many wetlands are impounded and managed as migratory waterfowl habitat. Impoundment effects on fish production and habitat quality largely are unknown. We used the size-frequency method to estimate summer production of fish guilds in three impoundments along the Combahee River, South Carolina. We predicted that guild-specific...
A comparison of survey methods to evaluate macrophyte index of biotic integrity performance in Minnesota lakes
Bruce C. Vondracek, Justine D. Koch, Marcus W. Beck
2014, Ecological Indicators (36) 178-185
Aquatic macrophytes shape trophic web dynamics, provide food and refuge for macroinvertebrates and fish, and increase nutrient retention, sediment stabilization, and water clarity. Macrophytes are well-suited as indicators of ecological health because they are immobile, relatively easy to sample and identify, and respond to anthropogenic disturbance on an ecological time...
Stable occupancy by breeding hawks (Buteo spp.) over 25 years on a privately managed bunchgrass prairie in northeastern Oregon, USA
Patricia L. Kennedy, Anne M. Bartuszevige, Marcy Houle, Ann B. Humphrey, Katie M. Dugger, John Williams
2014, The Condor (116) 435-445
Potential for large prairie remnants to provide habitat for grassland-obligate wildlife may be compromised by nonsustainable range-management practices. In 1979–1980, high nesting densities of 3 species of hawks in the genus Buteo—Ferruginous Hawk (Buteo regalis), Red-tailed Hawk (B. jamaicensis), and Swainson's Hawk (B. swainsoni)—were documented on the Zumwalt Prairie and surrounding...
Shale hydrocarbon reservoirs: Some influences of tectonics and paleogeography during deposition
Jennifer D Eoff
2014, Book chapter, Geology of the Haynesville gas shale in east Texas and west Louisiana
Continuous hydrocarbon accumulations in shale reservoirs appear to be characterized by common paleotectonic and paleogeographic histories and are limited to specific intervals of geologic time. In addition, most North American self-sourced shale correlates with geologic time periods of calcitic seas and greenhouse conditions and with evolutionary turnover of marine...
Winter feeding, growth and condition of brown trout Salmo trutta in a groundwater-dominated stream
William E. French, Bruce C. Vondracek, Leonard C. Ferrington Jr., Jacques C. Finlay, Douglas J. Dieterman
2014, Journal of Freshwater Ecology (29) 187-200
Winter can be a stressful period for stream-dwelling salmonid populations, often resulting in reduced growth and survival. Stream water temperatures have been identified as a primary mechanism driving reductions in fitness during winter. However, groundwater inputs can moderate water temperature and may reduce winter severity. Additionally, seasonal reductions in prey...
