Subsurface swimming and stationary diving are metabolically cheap in adult Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens)
Alicia Borque-Espinosa, Karyn D. Rode, Diana Ferrero-Fernandex, Anabel Forte, Romana Capaccioni-Azzati, Andreas Fahlman
2021, Journal of Experimental Biology (224)
Walruses rely on sea-ice to efficiently forage and rest between diving bouts while maintaining proximity to prime foraging habitat. Recent declines in summer sea ice have resulted in walruses hauling out on land where they have to travel farther to access productive benthic habitat while...
Land use change and climate-smart agriculture in the Sahel
Suzanne E. (Contractor) Cotillon, G. Gray Tappan, Chris Reij
Leonardo A. Villalon, editor(s)
2021, Book chapter, The Oxford handbook of the African Sahel
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Sahel experienced recurrent drought and famine. Farmers and their development partners reacted to this crisis by developing climate-smart agricultural practices and changes in land use, including water-harvesting techniques to restore degraded land to productivity. In several densely populated parts of the Sahel, farmers began...
Occurrence and distribution of PFAS in sampled source water of public drinking-water supplies in the surficial aquifer in Delaware, 2018; PFAS and groundwater age-dating results
Betzaida Reyes
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1109
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the Delaware Geological Survey, conducted a groundwater-quality investigation to (1) describe the occurrence and distribution of PFAS, and (2) document any changes in groundwater quality in the Columbia aquifer public water-supply wells in...
Ecological potential fractional component cover based on Long-Term satellite observations across the western United States
Matthew B. Rigge, Deb Meyer, Brett Bunde
2021, Ecological Indicators (133)
Rangelands have immense inherent spatial and temporal variability, yet land condition and trends are often assessed at a limited number of spatially “representative” points. Spatially comprehensive, and quantitative, Ecological Potential (EP) data provide a baseline for comparison to current rangeland vegetation conditions and trends. Here, we define EP as potential fractional...
Changing impacts of Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone tsunamis in California under future sea-level rise
Tina Dura, Andra Garner, Robert Weiss, Robert E. Kopp, Simon E. Engelhart, Robert C. Witter, Richard W. Briggs, Charles Mueller, Alan Nelson, Benjamin P. Horton
2021, Nature (12)
The amplification of coastal hazards such as distant-source tsunamis under future relative sea-level rise (RSLR) is poorly constrained. In southern California, the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone has been identified as an earthquake source region of particular concern for a worst-case scenario distant-source tsunami. Here, we explore how...
Historical and paleoflood analyses for probabilistic flood-hazard assessments—Approaches and review guidelines
Tessa M. Harden, Karen R. Ryberg, Jim E. O'Connor, Jonathan M. Friedman, Julie E. Kiang
2021, Techniques and Methods 4-B6
Paleoflood studies are an effective means of providing specific information on the recurrence and magnitude of rare and large floods. Such information can be combined with systematic flood measurements to better assess the frequency of large floods. Paleoflood data also provide valuable information about the linkages among climate, land...
Stock composition of the historical New York Bight Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) intercept fishery revealed through microsatellite analysis of archived spines
Shannon L. White, Robin L. Johnson, Barbara A. Lubinski, Michael S. Eackles, David H. Secor, David C. Kazyak
2021, Marine and Coastal Fisheries: Dynamics, Management, and Ecosystem Science (13) 720-727
A targeted commercial fishery for Atlantic Sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus once operated in the New York Bight, where it was assumed that most harvested Atlantic Sturgeon were natal to the Hudson River population. However, more recent evidence suggests that the fishery may have been targeting a mixed-stock aggregation, in which case harvested...
Current distribution and abundance of Kohala forest birds in Hawai‘i
Keith Burnett, Richard J. Camp, Patrick J. Hart
2021, Journal of Field Ornithology (92) 377-387
The Kohala volcano is home to the most spatially isolated population of Hawaiian forest birds on Hawai‘i Island and contains one of the few native bird populations in the state that has not been monitored since the original Hawai‘i Forest Bird Survey (HFBS) in 1979. We surveyed 143 stations across...
Convergence of undulatory swimming kinematics across a diversity of fishes
V. di Santo, E. Goerig, D Wainwright, O. Akanyeti, J.C. Liao, Theodore R. Castro-Santos, G.V. Lauder
2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (118)
Fishes exhibit an astounding diversity of locomotor behaviors from classic swimming with their body and fins to jumping, flying, walking, and burrowing. Fishes that use their body and caudal fin (BCF) during undulatory swimming have been traditionally divided into modes based on the length of the...
Thermal conditions predict intraspecific variation in senescence rate in frogs and toads
Hugo Cayuela, Jean-Francois Lemaitre, Erin L. Muths, Rebecca McCaffery, Thierry Fretey, Bernard Le Garff, Benedikt R. Schmidt, Kurt Grossenbacher, Omar Lenzi, Blake R. Hossack, Lisa A Eby, Brad A. Lambert, Johan Elmberg, Juha Merila, Jerome MW Gippet, Jean-Michel Gaillard, David S. Pilliod
2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (118)
Variation in temperature is known to influence mortality patterns in ectotherms. Even though a few experimental studies on model organisms have reported a positive relationship between temperature and actuarial senescence (i.e., the increase in mortality risk with age), how variation in climate influences the senescence rate...
Mean annual runoff and annual runoff variability map for Oklahoma, 1940–2007
S. Jerrod Smith, Elise M. Sherrod
2021, Scientific Investigations Map 3482
Hydrologic records used to create previously published maps depicting mean annual runoff are biased to a relatively dry period in Oklahoma history that was dominated by droughts. Therefore, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, developed an updated mean annual runoff and annual runoff...
Historical changes in bed elevation and water depth within the Nehalem Bay, Oregon, 1891–2019
Mackenzie K. Keith, Krista L. Jones, Gabriel W. Gordon
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5108
Estuaries, at the nexus of rivers and the ocean, are depositional areas that respond to changes in streamflow, tides, sea level, and inputs of sediment from marine and watershed sources. Understanding changes in bed elevations, deposited and eroded sediment, and water depth throughout estuaries is relevant for understanding their...
Load estimation and trend analysis for nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended sediment in the Eucha-Spavinaw drainage area, northeastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas, 2011–18
Nicole Paizis, Carol Becker, Kayla A. Lockmiller
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5105
Lake Eucha is a source of water for public supply and recreation for the residents of Tulsa and other municipalities in northeastern Oklahoma. Beaty Creek and Spavinaw Creek flow into Lake Eucha and drain about 388 square miles of agricultural and forested land in northeastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas. Beginning...
Earthquake risk of gas pipelines in the conterminous United States and its sources of uncertainty
N. Simon Kwong, Kishor S. Jaiswal, Jack W. Baker, Nico Luco, K. A. Ludwig, Vasey J. Stephens
2021, ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering (8)
Relatively little research has been conducted to systematically quantify the nationwide earthquake risk of gas pipelines in the US; simultaneously, national guidance is limited for operators across the country to consistently evaluate the earthquake risk of their assets. Furthermore, many challenges and uncertainties exist in a comprehensive...
Hydrometeorology and hydrology of flooding in Cape Fear River basin during Hurricane Florence in 2018
Dongxiao Yin, George Xue, John C. Warner, Daoyang Bao, Yongjie Huang, Wei Yu
2021, Journal of Hydrology (603)
Hurricanes are the major flood generating mechanism dominating the upper tail of the peak discharge distribution over the Cape Fear River Basin (CFRB). In 2018, Hurricane Florence swamped CFRB as the ninth-most-destructive hurricane ever hit the United States and set new...
Contributed reports of widely felt earthquakes in California, United States: If they felt it, did they report it?
Susan E. Hough
2021, Frontiers Earth Science Journal (9)
In a recent study, Hough and Martin (2021) considered the extent to which socioeconomic factors influence the numbers and distribution of contributed reports available to characterize the effects of both historical and recent large earthquakes. In this study I explore the question further, focusing on analysis of widely felt earthquakes...
A statistical framework to track temporal dependence of chlorophyll–nutrient relationships with implications for lake eutrophication management
Qianlinglin Qiu, Zhongyao Liang, Yaoyang Xu, Shin-ichiro S. Matsuzaki, Kazuhiro Komatsu, Tyler Wagner
2021, Journal of Hydrology (603)
A reliable chlorophyll–nutrient relationship (CNR) is essential for lake eutrophication management. Although the spatial variability of CNRs has been extensively explored, temporal variations of CNRs at the individual lake scale has rarely been discussed. The paucity of information about temporal dependence...
Wild juvenile salmonid abundance in Wisconsin tributaries indicates limited contributions to Lake Michigan fisheries
Eric Wegleitner, Joshua Raabe, Daniel Dembkowski, Nicholas Legler, Daniel A. Isermann
2021, Journal of Great Lakes Research (47) 1824-1835
Natural reproduction of salmonids occurs in many Lake Michigan tributaries, yet little is known about abundance and the potential contribution of wild fish hatching in Wisconsin tributaries. The objectives of our study were to determine if: 1) abundance of wild juvenile salmonids (primarily adfluvial rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, referred to...
Impact of molecular modifications on the Immunogenicity and efficacy of recombinant raccoon poxvirus-vectored rabies vaccine candidates in mice
Carly Marie Malave, Jaime Lopera-Madrid, Lex Guillermo Medina-Magues, Tonie E. Rocke, Jorge E. Osorio
2021, Vaccines (9)
Rabies is an ancient disease that is responsible for approximately 59,000 human deaths annually. Bats (Order Chiroptera) are thought to be the original hosts of rabies virus (RABV) and currently account for most rabies cases in wildlife in the Americas. Vaccination is being used to manage rabies in other wildlife...
Reproductive health and endocrine disruption in smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) from the Lake Erie drainage, Pennsylvania, USA
Heather L. Walsh, Sean D. Rafferty, Stephanie E. Gordon, Vicki S. Blazer
2021, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (194)
Smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu were sampled from three sites within the Lake Erie drainage (Elk Creek, Twentymile Creek, and Misery Bay, an embayment in Presque Isle Bay). Plasma, tissues for histopathological analyses, and liver and testes preserved in RNALater® were sampled from 30 smallmouth bass (of both sexes)...
Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources of China, 2020
Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Geoffrey S. Ellis, Thomas M. Finn, Phuong A. Le, Kristen R. Marra, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Ronald M. Drake II
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3051
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 13.4 billion barrels of oil and 244.4 trillion cubic feet of gas in nine geologic provinces of China....
Simulation of potential water allocation changes, Cape May County, New Jersey
Glen B. Carleton
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5052
Saltwater intrusion and declining water levels have been a water-supply problem in Cape May County, New Jersey, for decades. Cape May County is surrounded by saltwater on three sides. Several communities in the county have only one aquifer from which freshwater withdrawals can be made, and that sole source is...
Diet-driven mercury contamination is associated with polar bear gut microbiota
Sophie Watson, Melissa McKinney, Massimo Pindo, Matthew Bull, Todd C. Atwood, Heidi Hauffe, Sarah Perkins
2021, Scientific Reports (11)
The gut microbiota may modulate the disposition and toxicity of environmental contaminants within a host but, conversely, contaminants may also impact gut bacteria. Such contaminant-gut microbial connections, which could lead to alteration of host health, remain poorly known and are rarely studied in free-ranging wildlife. The...
Knowledge gaps update to the 2019 IPCC special report on the ocean and cryosphere: Prospects to refine coastal flood hazard assessments and adaptation strategies with at-risk communities of Alaska
Dee Williams, Li H. Erikson
2021, Frontiers in Climate (3)
This article reviews the status of knowledge gaps and co-production process challenges that impede coastal flood hazard resilience planning in communities of northwestern Alaska, where threat levels are high. Discussion focuses on the state of knowledge arising after preparation of the 2019 IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere...
The water quality of selected streams in the Catskill and Delaware water-supply watersheds in New York, 1999–2009
Michael R. McHale, Jason Siemion, Peter S. Murdoch
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5049
From October 1, 1999, through September 30, 2009, water-quality samples were collected, and discharge was measured at 13 streamgages within the Catskill and Delaware watersheds of the New York City water supply system. The Catskill and Delaware watersheds supply about 90 percent of the water needed by 9 million customers....
