U.S. Geological Survey science for the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative—2016 annual report
Zachary H. Bowen, Ellen Aikens, Cameron L. Aldridge, Patrick J. Anderson, Timothy J. Assal, Anna D. Chalfoun, Geneva W. Chong, Cheryl A. Eddy-Miller, Steven L. Garman, Steve Germaine, Collin G. Homer, Aaron N. Johnston, Matthew J. Kauffman, Daniel J. Manier, Cynthia P. Melcher, Kirk A. Miller, Annika W. Walters, Jerrod D. Wheeler, Daniel J. Wieferich, Anna B. Wilson, Teal B. Wyckoff, Linda Zeigenfuss
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1048
This is the ninth annual report highlighting U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) science and decision-support activities conducted for the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI). The activities address specific management needs identified by WLCI partner agencies. In fiscal year (FY) 2016, there were 26 active USGS WLCI science-based projects. Of these 26...
The complete mitochondrial genome of Hine’s emerald dragonfly (Somatochlora hineana Williamson) via NGS sequencing
Craig Jackson, S. Grace McCalla, Jon Amberg, Daniel Soluk, Hugh Britten
2018, Mitochondrial DNA Part B (3) 562-563
Here, we report the complete mitochondrial genome of the endangered Hine’s emerald dragonfly (HED), Somatochlora hineana Williamson. Data were generated via next generation sequencing (NGS) and assembled using a mitochondrial baiting and iterative mapping approach. The full length circular genome is 15,705 bp with 26.6% GC content. It contains the typical metazoan set...
Flood-inundation maps for the Wabash River at Lafayette, Indiana
Moon H. Kim
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5017
Digital flood-inundation maps for an approximately 4.8-mile reach of the Wabash River at Lafayette, Indiana (Ind.) were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science web...
An initial validation of Landsat 5 and 7 derived surface water temperature for U.S. lakes, reservoirs, and estuaries
Blake A. Schaeffer, John Iiames, John L. Dwyer, Erin Urquhart, Wilson Salls, Jennifer Rover, Bridget Seegers
2018, International Journal of Remote Sensing (39) 7789-7805
The United States Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research Control Act of 2014 identified the need for forecasting and monitoring harmful algal blooms (HAB) in lakes, reservoirs, and estuaries across the nation. Temperature is a driver in HAB forecasting models that affects both HAB growth rates and toxin production. Therefore,...
Capture efficiency and injury rates of band-tailed pigeons using whoosh nets
Christopher L. Coxen, Daniel P. Collins, Scott A. Carleton
2018, Wilson Journal of Ornithology (130) 321-326
Catching ground feeding birds has typically been accomplished through small, walk-in funnel-style traps. This approach is limited because it requires a bird to find its way into the trap, is biased toward less wary birds, and does not allow targeted trapping of individual birds. As part of a large study...
Methods for peak-flow frequency analysis and reporting for streamgages in or near Montana based on data through water year 2015
Steven K. Sando, Peter M. McCarthy
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5046
This report documents the methods for peak-flow frequency (hereinafter “frequency”) analysis and reporting for streamgages in and near Montana following implementation of the Bulletin 17C guidelines. The methods are used to provide estimates of peak-flow quantiles for 50-, 42.9-, 20-, 10-, 4-, 2-, 1-, 0.5-, and 0.2-percent annual exceedance probabilities...
Phosphorus speciation and solubility in aeolian dust deposited in the interior American West
Zhuojun Zhang, Harland L. Goldstein, Richard L. Reynolds, Yongfeng Hu, Xiaoming Wang, Mengqiang Zhu
2018, Environmental Science & Technology (52) 2658-2667
Aeolian dust is a significant source of phosphorus (P) to alpine oligotrophic lakes, but P speciation in dust and source sediments and its release kinetics to lake water remain unknown. Phosphorus K-edge XANES spectroscopy shows that calcium-bound P (Ca−P) is dominant in 10 of 12 dust samples (41−74%) deposited on...
Use of non-invasive genetics to generate core-area population estimates of a threatened predator in the Superior National Forest, USA
Shannon Barber-Meyer, Daniel Ryan, David Grosshuesch, Timothy Catton, Sarah Malick-Wahls
2018, Canadian Wildlife Biology and Management (7) 46-55
Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) are found in boreal forests of Canada and Alaska and range southward into the contiguous United States. Much less is understood about lynx in their southern range compared to northern populations. Because lynx are currently listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act but have...
Integrated analysis for population estimation, management impact evaluation, and decision-making for a declining species
Brian A. Crawford, Clinton T. Moore, Terry M. Norton, John C. Maerz
2018, Biological Conservation (222) 33-43
A challenge for making conservation decisions is predicting how wildlife populations respond to multiple, concurrent threats and potential management strategies, usually under substantial uncertainty. Integrated modeling approaches can improve estimation of demographic rates necessary for making predictions, even for rare or cryptic species with sparse data, but their use in...
Stream permanence is related to crayfish occupancy and abundance in the Ozark Highlands, USA
Allyson N. Yarra, Daniel D. Magoulick
2018, Freshwater Science (37) 54-63
Crayfish use of intermittent streams is especially important to understand in the face of global climate change. We examined the influence of stream permanence and local habitat on crayfish occupancy and species densities in the Ozark Highlands, USA. We sampled in June and July 2014 and 2015. We used a...
Seismicity in the Challis, Idaho region, January 2014 - May 2017: Late aftershocks of the 1983 Ms 7.3 Borah Peak earthquake
Guanning Pang, Keith D. Koper, Michael C. Stickney, James C. Pechmann, Relu Burlacu, Kristine L. Pankow, Suzette Payne, Harley M. Benz
2018, Seismological Research Letters (89) 1366-1378
In April 2014, after about 20 yrs of relatively low seismicity, an energetic earthquake sequence (maximum ML">ML 4.8) began 25–30 km northwest of the 1983 Ms"><span...
Incorporating road crossing data into vehicle collision risk models for moose (Alces americanus) in Massachusetts, USA
Katherine Zeller, David Wattles, Stephen Destefano
2018, Environmental Management (62) 518-528
Wildlife–vehicle collisions are a human safety issue and may negatively impact wildlife populations. Most wildlife–vehicle collision studies predict high-risk road segments using only collision data. However, these data lack biologically relevant information such as wildlife population densities and successful road-crossing locations. We overcome this shortcoming with a new method that...
Use of imaging spectroscopy and LIDAR to characterize fuels for fire behavior prediction
E. Natasha Stavros, Janice Coen, Birgit Peterson, Harshvardhan Singh, Kama Kennedy, Carlos Ramirez, David Schimel
2018, Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment (11) 41-50
To protect ecosystem services and the increasing wildland urban interface in a world with fire, comprehensive maps of wildland fuels are needed to predict fire behavior and effects. Traditionally, fuels have been categorized into a classification scheme whereby a single metric represents vegetation composition and structure, which can then be parameterized based...
Modeled inundation limits of potential lahars from Mount Adams in the White Salmon River Valley, Washington
Julia P. Griswold, Thomas C. Pierson, Joseph A. Bard
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1013
Lahars large enough to reach populated areas are a hazard at Mount Adams, a massive volcano in the southern Cascade Range of Washington State (fig. 1). It is considered to be still active and has the potential to erupt again. By definition, lahars are gravity-driven flows of water-saturated mixtures of...
Compilation and analysis of multiple groundwater-quality datasets for Idaho
Stephen A. Hundt, Candice B. Hopkins
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1079
Groundwater is an important source of drinking and irrigation water throughout Idaho, and groundwater quality is monitored by various Federal, State, and local agencies. The historical, multi-agency records of groundwater quality include a valuable dataset that has yet to be compiled or analyzed on a statewide level. The purpose...
Ecological genomics predicts climate vulnerability in an endangered southwestern songbird
Kristin Ruegg, Rachael A. Bay, Eric C. Anderson, James F. Saracco, Ryan J. Harrigan, Mary J. Whitfield, Eben H. Paxton, Thomas B. Smith
2018, Ecology Letters (21) 1085-1096
Few regions have been more severely impacted by climate change in the USA than the Desert Southwest. Here, we use ecological genomics to assess the potential for adaptation to rising global temperatures in a widespread songbird, the willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii), and find the endangered desert southwestern subspecies (E. t....
Ecosystems science: Genes to landscapes
U.S. Geological Survey
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3030
Bountiful fisheries, healthy and resilient wildlife, flourishing forests and vibrant grasslands are coveted resources that benefit all Americans. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) science supports the conservation and management of the Nation’s fish and wildlife, and the landscapes they inhabit. Our biological resources—ecosystems and the wild things that live in them—are...
Lahar—River of volcanic mud and debris
Jon J. Major, Thomas C. Pierson, James W. Vallance
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3024
Lahar, an Indonesian word for volcanic mudflow, is a mixture of water, mud, and volcanic rock flowing swiftly along a channel draining a volcano. Lahars can form during or after eruptions, or even during periods of inactivity. They are among the greatest threats volcanoes pose to people and property. Lahars...
Rethinking the use of seabed sediment temperature profiles to trace submarine groundwater flow
Barret L. Kurylyk, Dylan J. Irvine, A.A. Mohammed, V. F. Bense, Martin A. Briggs, J.W. Loder, Y. Geshelin
2018, Water Resources Research (54) 4595-4614
Submarine groundwater fluxes across the seafloor facilitate important hydrological and biogeochemical exchanges between oceans and seabed sediment, yet few studies have investigated spatially distributed groundwater fluxes in deep‐ocean environments such as continental slopes. Heat has been previously applied as a submarine groundwater tracer using an analytical solution to a heat...
Acquisition and dissemination of cephalosporin-resistant E. coli in migratory birds sampled at an Alaska landfill as inferred through genomic analysis
Christina Ann Ahlstrom, Jonas Bonnedahl, Hanna Woksepp, Jorge Hernandez, Olsen Bjorn, Andrew M. Ramey
2018, Scientific Reports (8)
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacterial pathogens threatens global health, though the spread of AMR bacteria and AMR genes between humans, animals, and the environment is still largely unknown. Here, we investigated the role of wild birds in the epidemiology of AMR Escherichia coli. Using next-generation sequencing, we characterized cephalosporin-resistant E....
Application of microtremor horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (MHVSR) analysis for site characterization: State of the art
S. Molnar, J. F. Cassidy, S. Castellaro, C. Cornou, H. Crow, J. A. Hunter, S. Matsushima, F. J. Sanchez-Sesma, Alan Yong
2018, Surveys in Geophysics
Nakamura (Q Rep Railway Tech Res Inst 30:25–33, 1989) popularized the application of the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) analysis of microtremor (seismic noise or ambient vibration) recordings to estimate the predominant frequency and amplification factor of earthquake shaking. During the following quarter century, popularity in the microtremor HVSR (MHVSR) method...
Downstream impacts of dams: shifts in benthic invertivorous fish assemblages
Rafaela Vendrametto Granzotti, Leandro E. Miranda, Angelo A. Agostinho, Luiz Carlos Gomes
2018, Aquatic Sciences (80) 1-14
Impoundments alter connectivity, sediment transport and water discharge in rivers and floodplains, affecting recruitment, habitat and resource availability for fish including benthic invertivorous fish, which represent an important link between primary producers and higher trophic levels in tropical aquatic ecosystems. We investigated long-term changes to water regime, water quality, and...
Leaf to landscape responses of giant sequoia to hotter drought: An introduction and synthesis for the special section
Koren R. Nydick, Nathan L. Stephenson, Anthony R. Ambrose, Gregory P. Asner, Wendy L. Baxter, Adrian J. Das, Todd E. Dawson, Roberta E. Martin, Tarin Paz-Kagan
2018, Forest Ecology and Management (419-420) 249-256
Hotter droughts are becoming more common as climate change progresses, and they may already have caused instances of forest dieback on all forested continents. Learning from hotter droughts, including where on the landscape forests are more or less vulnerable to these events, is critical to help resource managers proactively prepare...
Strategies for effective collaborative manuscript development in interdisciplinary science teams
Samantha K. Oliver, C. Emi Fergus, Nicholas K. Skaff, Tyler Wagner, Pang-Ning Tan, Kendra Spence Cheruvelil, Patricia A. Soranno
2018, Ecosphere (9) 1-13
Science is increasingly being conducted in large, interdisciplinary teams. As team size increases, challenges can arise during manuscript development, where achieving one team goal (e.g., inclusivity) may be in direct conflict with other goals (e.g., efficiency). Here, we present strategies for effective collaborative manuscript development that draw from our experiences...
A snow density dataset for improving surface boundary conditions in Greenland ice sheet firn modeling
Robert Fausto, Jason E. Box, Baptiste Vandecrux, Dirk van As, Konrad Steffen, Michael J. MacFerrin, Horst Machguth, William Colgan, Daniel Mcgrath, Lora S. Koenig, Charalampos Charalampidis, Roger J. Braithwaite
2018, Frontiers in Earth Science (6)
The surface snow density of glaciers and ice sheets is of fundamental importance in converting volume to mass in both altimetry and surface mass balance studies, yet it is often poorly constrained. Site-specific surface snow densities are typically derived from empirical relations based on temperature and wind speed. These parameterizations...
