Wildfire and Earth surface processes
Paul M Santi, Francis K. Rengers
2020, Book chapter, Reference module in earth systems and environmental sciences
Wildfire is a worldwide phenomenon that is expected to increase in extent and severity in the future, due to fuel accumulations, shifting land management practices, and climate change. It immediately affects the landscape by removing vegetation, depositing ash, influencing water-repellent soil...
Council monitoring and assessment program (CMAP): A framework for using the monitoring program inventory to conduct gap assessments for the Gulf of Mexico Region
Julie Bosch, Heidi B Burkart, Bogdan Chivoiu, Randy Clark, Chris Clement, Nicholas Enwright, Steve Giordano, Chris Jeffrey, Ed Johnson, Rheannon Hart, Sarah D Hile, Jacob S Howell, Claudia Laurenzano, Michael Lee, Terrance McCloskey, Terry McTigue, Michelle B Meyers, Katie E Miller, Scott Mize, Mark E. Monaco, Kevin Owen, Richard Rebich, Samuel H. Rendon, Ali Robertson, Thomas Sample, Kelly Marie Sanks, Gregory Steyer, Kevin Suir, Christopher M. Swarzenski, Hana Rose Thurman
2020, NOAA Technical Memorandum 284
Executive Summary Under the Resources and Ecosystem Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act), the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council or Council) is required to report on the progress of funded projects and programs. Systematic monitoring of restoration at...
Wetlands in agricultural landscapes—Significant findings and recent advances from CEAP-Wetlands
David M. Mushet, William R. Effland
2020, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (75)
The Wetlands Component of the USDA's Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP-Wetlands) is a multi-agency effort advancing science related to quantifying and interpreting effects and effectiveness of conservation practices and programs on ecosystem services provided by wetlands in agricultural landscapes. This special section originated from a symposium...
Upper Mississippi River system weighted wind fetch analysis (1989, 2000, 2010/2011)
Jason J. Rohweder, James T. Rogala
2020, Report
Wind fetch is defined as the unobstructed distance that wind can travel over water in a constant direction. Fetches are limited by landforms surrounding the body of water. Fetch is an important characteristic of open water because longer fetches can result in larger wind-generated waves. The larger waves, in turn,...
Thamnophis elegans--Terrestrial gartersnake
Charles A. Drost
2020, Book chapter, Snakes of Arizona
No abtract available....
Lampropeltis californiae—California kingsnake
Charles A. Drost
2020, Book chapter, Snakes of Arizona
No abstract available....
Lampropeltis splendida—Desert kingsnake
Charles A. Drost
2020, Book chapter, Snakes of Arizona
No abstract available....
Coluber constrictor-North American racer
Trevor Persons, Charles A. Drost
2020, Book chapter, Snakes of Arizona
No abstract available....
Using hair cortisol to assess physiological stress in Alaska polar bears
George M. Durner
2020, Report
The concentration of cortisol in hair (HCC) of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) may provide a retrospective view of physiological stress they experience and a link to their response to environmental change. To understand this relationship, we assayed HCC from polar bears captured in the Alaska Beaufort, Bering and Chukchi...
On the robustness of annual daily precipitation maxima estimates over Monsoon Asia
Phuong-Loan Nguyen, Margot Bador, Lisa Alexander, Todd P. Lane, Chris Funk
2020, Frontiers in Climate Services (2)
Understanding precipitation extremes over Monsoon Asia is vital for water resource management and hazard mitigation, but there are many gaps and uncertainties in observations in this region. To better understand observational uncertainties, this study uses a high-resolution validation dataset to assess the consistency of the representation of annual daily precipitation...
Characterizing spatiotemporal patterns of crop phenology across North America during 2000–2016 using satellite imagery and agricultural survey data
Yanjun Yang, Wei Ren, Bo Tao, Lei Ji, Liang Liang, Alex C. Ruran, J. B. Fisher, Jiangui Liu, Michael Sama, Zhe Li, Qingjiu Tian
2020, ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (170) 156-173
Crop phenology represents an integrative indicator of climate change and plays a vital role in terrestrial carbon dynamics and sustainable agricultural development. However, spatiotemporal variations of crop phenology remain unclear at large scales. This knowledge gap has hindered our ability to...
Farmer behavior under groundwater management scenarios: Implications for groundwater conservation in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain
Mustapha Alhassan, Emily Pindilli, Collin B Lawrence
2020, Water Economics and Policy (6)
Concern about sustained availability of fresh groundwater for agricultural use in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain (MAP) mounts as groundwater levels decline. We evaluate elasticities of demand for groundwater and other agricultural inputs, as well as overall and output specific economies of scale for four major irrigated commodities (rice, corn, soybeans,...
Quarterly wildlife mortality report October 2020
Bryan J. Richards, Jeffrey M. Lorch, Daniel A. Grear
2020, Newsletter
The USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) Quarterly Mortality Report provides brief summaries of epizootic mortality and morbidity events by quarter. The write-ups, highlighting epizootic events and other wildlife disease topics of interest, are published in the Wildlife Disease Association quarterly newsletter. A link is provided in this WDA newsletter...
Wind River Subbasin Restoration annual report of U.S. Geological Survey activities January 2019 through December 2019
Ian Jezorek
2020, Report
No abstract available....
Riparian plant communities remain stable in response to a second cycle of Tamarix biocontrol defoliation
Eduardo Gonzalez, Patrick B. Shafroth, Steven R. Lee, Sasha C. Reed, Jayne Belnap
2020, Wetlands (40) 1863-1875
Reduced abundance of non-native Tamarix shrubs in western U.S. riparian systems following biological control by a defoliating beetle has led to concerns that replacement plant communities could be dominated by other invasive species and/or not provide some of the ecosystem services that Tamarix was providing. In previous studies, Tamarix decline following biocontrol...
Geochemical assessment of groundwater in the Big Chino subbasin, Arizona, 2011–18
Kimberly R. Beisner, Casey J. R. Jones
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5094
A geochemical characterization of groundwater in the Big Chino subbasin of Arizona was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Prescott, the Town of Prescott Valley, and the Salt River Project, to understand groundwater evolution through the study area and the source of water to...
Hydrologic properties of a highly permeable firn aquifer in the Wilkins Ice Shelf, Antarctica
Lynn Montgomery, C. Miege, Julie MIller, Bruce Wallin, Ted A. Scambos, Olivia L. Miller, D Kip Solomon, Richard Forster, Lora Koenig
2020, Geophysical Research Letters (47)
We present measurements of the density, hydraulic conductivity, and specific discharge of a widespread firn aquifer in Antarctica, within the Wilkins Ice Shelf. At the field site, the aquifer is 16.2 m thick, starting at 13.4 m from the snow surface and transitioning from water‐saturated firn to ice at 29.6 m. Hydraulic conductivity...
Fish assemblages in eelgrass beds of Bellingham Bay, Washington, Northern Puget Sound, 2019
Morgan I. Andrews, Theresa L. Liedtke
2020, Data Series 1131
Puget Sound is a critical part of the Pacific Northwest, both culturally and economically. Eelgrass beds are an important feature of Puget Sound and are known to influence fish assemblages. As part of a larger site-characterization effort, and to gain a better understanding of the fish assemblages in Bellingham Bay,...
Differences in neonicotinoid and metabolite sorption to activated carbon are driven by alterations to the insecticidal pharmacophore
Danielle T. Webb, Matthew R. Nagorzanski, Megan M Powers, David M. Cwiertny, Michelle L. Hladik, Gregory H. LeFevre
2020, Environmental Science and Technology (54) 14694-14705
Widespread application of neonicotinoids has led to their proliferation in waters. Despite low neonicotinoid hydrophobicity, our prior studies implicated granular activated carbon (GAC) in neonicotinoid removal. Based on known receptor binding characteristics, we hypothesized that the insecticidal pharmacophore influences neonicotinoid sorption. Our objectives were to illuminate drivers of neonicotinoid sorption...
Harvester ant seed removal in an invaded sagebrush ecosystem: Implications for restoration
Kelsey E Paolini, Matthew Modlin, Alexis A Suazo, David Pilliod, Robert S. Arkle, Kerri T. Vierling, Joseph D. Holbrook
2020, Ecology and Evolution (10) 13731-13741
A better understanding of seed movement in plant community dynamics is needed, especially in light of disturbance‐driven changes and investments into restoring degraded plant communities. A primary agent of change within the sagebrush‐steppe is wildfire and invasion by non‐native forbs and grasses, primarily cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum)....
Salinity and inundation effects on productivity of brackish tidal marsh plants in the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary
Christopher N. Janousek, Bruce D. Dugger, Brandon M Drucker, Karen M. Thorne
2020, Hydrobiologia (847) 4311-4323
Plant productivity is central to numerous ecosystem functions in tidal wetlands. We examined how productivity of brackish marsh plants in northern California responded to abiotic stress gradients of inundation and salinity using two experimental approaches. In a greenhouse study with varying salinity, shoot production and biomass of Juncus balticus, Schoenoplectus acutus and S. americanus all...
Detection and assessment of a large and potentially tsunamigenic periglacial landslide in Barry Arm, Alaska
Chunli Dai, Bretwood Higman, Patrick J. Lynett, Mylene Jacquemart, Ian Howat, Anna K. Liljedahl, Anja Dufresne, Jeffery T. Freymueller, Marten Geertsema, Melissa Ward Jones, Peter J. Haeussler
2020, Geophysical Research Letters
The retreat of glaciers in response to global warming has the potential to trigger landslides in glaciated regions around the globe. Landslides that enter fjords or lakes can cause tsunamis, which endanger people and infrastructure far from the landslide itself. Here we document the ongoing movement of an unstable slope...
On the size of the flare associated with the solar proton event in 774 AD
E. W. Cliver, H. Hayakawa, Jeffrey J. Love, D. F. Neidig
2020, Astrophysical Journal (903)
The 774 AD solar proton event (SPE) detected in cosmogenic nuclides had an inferred >1 GV (>430 MeV) fluence estimated to have been ~30–70 times larger than that of the 1956 February 23 ground level event (GLE). The 1956 GLE was itself ~2.5 times larger at >430 MeV than the...
Nitrate in streams during winter low‐flow conditions as an indicator of legacy nitrate
Henry M. Johnson, Edward G. Stets
2020, Water Resources Research (56)
Winter low‐flow (LF) conditions in streams provide a potential opportunity to evaluate the importance of legacy nitrate in catchments due to the dominance of slow‐flow transport pathways and lowered biotic activity. In this study, the concentration, flux, and trend of nitrate in streams during winter low‐flow...
Estimating the effects of forest structure changes from wildfire on snow water resources under varying meteorological conditions
C. David Moeser, Patrick Borxton, Adrian Harpold, Andrew J. Robertson
2020, Water Resources Research (56)
Modeling forest change effects on snow is critical to resource management. However, many models either do not appropriately model canopy structure or cannot represent fine‐scale changes in structure following a disturbance. We applied a 1 m2 resolution energy budget snowpack model at a forested site in New Mexico,...
