Population densities of painted buntings in the southeastern United States
J. Michael Meyers
2011, Southeastern Naturalist (10) 345-356
The eastern population trend of Passerina ciris (Painted Bunting) declined 3.5% annually during the first 30 yrs of the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS, 1966–1996). Recently, the US Fish and Wildlife Service listed Painted Buntings as a focal species. Surveys for this focal species for the next 10 yrs (BBS, 1997–2007),...
Comparison of statistical and theoretical habitat models for conservation planning: The benefit of ensemble prediction
D. Todd Jones-Farrand, Todd M. Fearer, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Frank R. Thompson III, Mark D. Nelson, John M. Tirpak
2011, Ecological Applications (21) 2269-2282
Selection of a modeling approach is an important step in the conservation planning process, but little guidance is available. We compared two statistical and three theoretical habitat modeling approaches representing those currently being used for avian conservation planning at landscape and regional scales: hierarchical spatial count (HSC), classification and regression...
Aeolian and fluvial processes in dryland regions: The need for integrated studies
Jayne Belnap, Seth M. Munson, Jason P. Field
2011, Ecohydrology (4) 615-622
Aeolian and fluvial processes play a fundamental role in dryland regions of the world and have important environmental and ecological consequences from local to global scales. Although both processes operate over similar spatial and temporal scales and are likely strongly coupled in many dryland systems, aeolian and fluvial processes have...
Alteration of the chronic wasting disease species barrier by in vitro prion amplification
Timothy D. Kurt, Davis M. Seelig, Jay R. Schneider, Christopher J. Johnson, Glenn C. Telling, Dennis M. Heisey, Edward A. Hoover
2011, Journal of Virology (85) 8528-8537
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) of cervids now detected in 19 states of the United States, three Canadian provinces, and South Korea. Whether noncervid species can be infected by CWD and thereby serve as reservoirs for the infection is not known. To investigate this issue,...
Effects of wetland vs. landscape variables on parasite communities of Rana pipiens: Links to anthropogenic factors
Anna M. Schotthoefer, Jason R. Rohr, Rebecca A. Cole, Anson V. Koehler, Catherine M. Johnson, Lucinda B. Johnson, Val R. Beasley
2011, Ecological Applications (21) 1257-1271
The emergence of several diseases affecting amphibian populations worldwide has prompted investigations into determinants of the occurrence and abundance of parasites in frogs. To understand the spatial scales and identify specific environmental factors that determine risks of parasitism in frogs, helminth communities in metamorphic frogs of the northern leopard frog...
Bi-phasic trends in mercury concentrations in blood of Wisconsin common loons during 1992-2010
Michael W. Meyer, Paul W. Rasmussen, Carl J. Watras, Brick M. Fevold, Kevin P. Kenow
2011, Ecotoxicology (20) 1659-1668
We assessed the ecological risk of mercury (Hg) in aquatic systems by monitoring common loon (Gavia immer) population dynamics and blood Hg concentrations. We report temporal trends in blood Hg concentrations based on 334 samples collected from adults recaptured in subsequent years (resampled 2–9 times) and from 421 blood samples...
Digitized data from ground geophysical surveys in Afghanistan: A website for distribution of data
Sarah W. Polster, Benjamin J. Drenth
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1270
This document describes the process of digitization of a 1974 report on geophysical work undertaken by Soviet geophysicists in southern and eastern Afghanistan. These data, uncovered in Afghanistan, represent magnetic and electrical ground surveys for which locations are not well defined. Due to lack of location information, these surveys were...
Polymethylene-interrupted fatty acids: Biomarkers for native and exotic mussels in the Laurentian Great Lakes
Tadej Mezek, Ed Sverko, Martina D. Ruddy, Donna Zaruk, Alfredo Capretta, Craig E. Hebert, Aaron T. Fisk, Daryl J. McGoldrick, Teresa J. Newton, Trent M. Sutton, Marten A. Koops, Andrew M. Muir, Timothy B. Johnson, Mark P. Ebener, Michael T. Arts
2011, Journal of Great Lakes Research (37) 289-297
Freshwater organisms synthesize a wide variety of fatty acids (FAs); however, the ability to synthesize and/or subsequently modify a particular FA is not universal, making it possible to use certain FAs as biomarkers. Herein we document the occurrence of unusual FAs (polymethylene-interrupted fatty acids; PMI-FAs) in select freshwater organisms in...
Petrologic, tectonic, and metallogenic evolution of the Ancestral Cascades magmatic arc, Washington, Oregon, and northern California
Edward A. du Bray, David A. John
2011, Geosphere (7) 1102-1133
Present-day High Cascades arc magmatism was preceded by ∼40 m.y. of nearly cospatial magmatism represented by the ancestral Cascades arc in Washington, Oregon, and northernmost California (United States). Time-space-composition relations for the ancestral Cascades arc have been synthesized from a recent compilation of more than 4000 geochemical analyses and associated...
Petrogenesis of postcollisional magmatism at Scheelite Dome, Yukon, Canada: Evidence for a lithospheric mantle source for magmas associated with intrusion-related gold systems
John L. Mair, G. Lang Farmer, David I. Groves, Craig J. R. Hart, Richard J. Goldfarb
2011, Economic Geology (106) 451-480
The type examples for the class of deposits termed intrusion-related gold systems occur in the Tombstone-Tungsten belt of Alaska and Yukon, on the eastern side of the Tintina gold province. In this part of the northern Cordillera, extensive mid-Cretaceous postcollisional plutonism took place following the accretion of exotic terranes to...
Physiological effects of potassium chloride, formalin and handling stress on bonytail
Catherine L. Sykes, Colleen A. Caldwell, William R. Gould
2011, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (31) 291-298
We characterized the sublethal physiological changes in bonytail Gila elegans subjected to consecutive 750-mg/L potassium chloride (KCl) and 25-mg/L formalin treatments for the removal of zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha and quagga mussel D. bugensis veligers. Plasma cortisol, glucose, and osmolality were measured over 24 h and at 14 d posthandling after exposing bonytail to KCl and...
Physical properties of sediment from the Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well, Alaska North Slope
William J. Winters, Michael Walker, Robert Hunter, Timothy S. Collett, Ray M. Boswell, Kelly K. Rose, William F. Waite, Marta Torres, Shirish Patil, Abhijit Dandekar
2011, Journal of Marine and Petroleum Geology (28) 361-380
This study characterizes cored and logged sedimentary strata from the February 2007 BP Exploration Alaska, Department of Energy, U.S. Geological Survey (BPXA-DOE-USGS) Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well on the Alaska North Slope (ANS). The physical-properties program analyzed core samples recovered from the well, and in conjunction with downhole...
Simulating potential structural and operational changes for Detroit Dam on the North Santiam River, Oregon-Interim Results
Norman L. Buccola, Stewart A. Rounds
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1268
Prior to operational changes in 2007, Detroit Dam on the North Santiam River in western Oregon had a well-documented effect on downstream water temperature that was problematic for endangered salmonid fish species. In this U.S. Geological Survey study, done in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, an existing...
Characterization of salinity and selenium loading and land-use change in Montrose Arroyo, western Colorado, from 1992 to 2010
Jennifer L. Moore
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5106
Salinity and selenium are naturally occurring and perva-sive in the lower Gunnison River Basin of Colorado, includ-ing the watershed of Montrose Arroyo. Although some of the salinity and selenium loading in the Montrose Arroyo study area is from natural sources, additional loading has resulted from the introduction of intensive irrigation...
Summary of the stratigraphy and structural elements related to plate convergence of the Quetta-Muslim Bagh-Sibi region, Balochistan, west-central Pakistan
Florian Maldonado, Jan M. Mengal, Shahid H. Khan, Peter D. Warwick
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1224
Obduction of an ophiolite complex onto the northwestern continental margin of the India plate occurred during the Late Cretaceous to early Paleocene, followed by collision of the ophiolitic complex of the India plate with the Eurasia plate in the Eocene. Lower Eocene marine strata overlie the ophiolitic complex suggesting that...
Earthquake scenario ground motions for the urban area of Evansville, Indiana
Jennifer S. Haase, Robert L. Nowack, Chris H. Cramer, Oliver S. Boyd, Robert A. Bauer
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1260
The Wabash Valley seismic zone and the New Madrid seismic zone are the closest large earthquake source zones to Evansville, Indiana. The New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812, over 180 kilometers (km) from Evansville, produced ground motions with a Modified Mercalli Intensity of VII near Evansville, the highest intensity observed in...
Continuous resistivity profiling data from the Corsica River Estuary, Maryland
V.A. Cross, J.F. Bratton, C.R. Worley, John Crusius, K.D. Kroeger
2011, Open-File Report 2010-1094
Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) into Maryland's Corsica River Estuary was investigated as part of a larger study to determine its importance in nutrient delivery to the Chesapeake Bay. The Corsica River Estuary represents a coastal lowland setting typical of much of the eastern bay. An interdisciplinary U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)...
Distribution of transmissivity and yield of the surficial, Castle Hayne, and Peedee aquifers in Northern New Hanover County, North Carolina
Kristen Bukowski McSwain, Laura A. Nagy
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1205
Data were collected from more than 230 wells in northern New Hanover County, North Carolina, to evaluate the distribution of transmissivity and yield of the surficial, Castle Hayne, and Peedee aquifers of the Coastal Plain Physiographic Province. Constant-rate,single-well aquifer test data were obtained and analyzed to calculate additional transmissivity values...
Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative data management and integration
Natalie Latysh, R. Sky Bristol
2011, WLCI Fact Sheet 1
Six Federal agencies, two State agencies, and two local entities formally support the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI) and work together on a landscape scale to manage fragile habitats and wildlife resources amidst growing energy development in southwest Wyoming. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was tasked with implementing targeted research...
Ecosystem ecology meets adaptive management: food web response to a controlled flood on the Colorado River, Glen Canyon
Wyatt F. Cross, Colden V. Baxter, Kevin C. Donner, Emma J. Rosi-Marshall, Theodore A. Kennedy, Robert O. Hall Jr., Holly A. Wellard Kelly, R. Scott Rogers
2011, Ecological Applications (21) 2016-2033
Large dams have been constructed on rivers to meet human demands for water, electricity, navigation, and recreation. As a consequence, flow and temperature regimes have been altered, strongly affecting river food webs and ecosystem processes. Experimental high‐flow dam releases, i.e., controlled floods, have been implemented on the Colorado River, USA,...
Bioaccumulation dynamics and exposure routes of Cd and Cu among species of aquatic mayflies
Daniel Cain, Marie-Noële Croteau, Samuel Luoma
2011, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (30) 2532-2541
Consumption of periphyton is a potentially important route of metal exposure to benthic invertebrate grazers. The present study examined the bioaccumulation kinetics of dissolved and dietary Cd and Cu in five species of mayflies (class Insecta). Artificial stream water and benthic diatoms were separately labeled with enriched stable metal isotopes...
Book review: Extreme ocean waves
Eric L. Geist
2011, Pure and Applied Geophysics (168) 1887-1888
‘‘Extreme Ocean Waves’’ is a collection of ten papers edited by Efim Pelinovsky and Christian Kharif that followed the April 2007 meeting of the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union. A note on terminology: extreme waves in this volume broadly encompass different types of waves, includ- ing deep-water and...
Site characterization and site response in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Susan E. Hough, Alan K. Yong, Jean Robert Altidor, Dieuseul Anglade, Douglas D. Given, Saint-Louis Mildor
2011, Earthquake Spectra (27) 137-155
Waveform analysis of aftershocks of the Mw7.0 Haiti earthquake of 12 January 2010 reveals amplification of ground motions at sites within the Cul de Sac valley in which Port-au-Prince is situated. Relative to ground motions recorded at a hard-rock reference site, peak acceleration values are amplified by a factor of...
A multi-agency nutrient dataset used to estimate loads, improve monitoring design, and calibrate regional nutrient SPARROW models
David A. Saad, Gregory E. Schwarz, Dale M. Robertson, Nathaniel Booth
2011, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (47) 933-949
Stream-loading information was compiled from federal, state, and local agencies, and selected universities as part of an effort to develop regional SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) models to help describe the distribution, sources, and transport of nutrients in streams throughout much of the United States. After screening, 2,739...
Persistence and diversification of the Holarctic shrew, Sorex tundrensis (Family Soricidae), in response to climate change
Andrew G. Hope, Eric Waltari, Vadim B. Fedorov, Anna V. Goropashnaya, Sandra L. Talbot, Joseph A. Cook
2011, Molecular Ecology (20) 4346-4370
Environmental processes govern demography, species movements, community turnover and diversification and yet in many respects these dynamics are still poorly understood at high latitudes. We investigate the combined effects of climate change and geography through time for a widespread Holarctic shrew, Sorex tundrensis. We include a comprehensive suite of closely...
