Groundwater-level trends in the U.S. glacial aquifer system, 1964-2013
Glenn A. Hodgkins, Robert W. Dudley, Martha G. Nielsen, Benjamin Renard, Sharon L. Qi
2017, Journal of Hydrology (553) 289-303
The glacial aquifer system in the United States is a major source of water supply but previous work on historical groundwater trends across the system is lacking. Trends in annual minimum, mean, and maximum groundwater levels for 205 monitoring wells were analyzed across three regions of the system (East, Central,...
Where can wolves live and how can we live with them?
L. David Mech
2017, Biological Conservation (210) 310-317
In the contiguous 48 United States, southern Canada, and in Europe, wolves (Canis lupus) have greatly increased and expanded their range during the past few decades.They are prolific, disperse long distances, readily recolonize new areas where humans allow them, and are difficult to control when populations become established.Because wolves originally...
Applying citizen-science data and mark-recapture models to estimate numbers of migrant golden eagles in an important bird area in eastern North America
Andrew J. Dennhardt, Adam E. Duerr, David Brandes, Todd E. Katzner
2017, The Condor (119) 817-831
Estimates of population abundance are important to wildlife management and conservation. However, it can be difficult to characterize the numbers of broadly distributed, low-density, and elusive bird species. Although Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) are rare, difficult to detect, and broadly distributed, they are concentrated during their autumn migration at monitoring...
Spatially explicit population estimates for black bears based on cluster sampling
J. Humm, J. Walter McCown, B.K. Scheick, Joseph D. Clark
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (81) 1187-1201
We estimated abundance and density of the 5 major black bear (Ursus americanus) subpopulations (i.e., Eglin, Apalachicola, Osceola, Ocala-St. Johns, Big Cypress) in Florida, USA with spatially explicit capture-mark-recapture (SCR) by extracting DNA from hair samples collected at barbed-wire hair sampling sites. We employed a clustered sampling configuration with sampling...
Climate change and alpine stream biology: progress, challenges, and opportunities for the future
Scott Hotaling, Debra S. Finn, J. Joseph Giersch, David W. Weisrock, Dean Jacobsen
2017, Biological Reviews (92) 2024-2045
In alpine regions worldwide, climate change is dramatically altering ecosystems and affecting biodiversity in many ways. For streams, receding alpine glaciers and snowfields, paired with altered precipitation regimes, are driving shifts in hydrology, species distributions, basal resources, and threatening the very existence of some habitats and biota. Alpine streams harbour...
Statistical design and analysis for plant cover studies with multiple sources of observation errors
Wilson J. Wright, Kathryn M. Irvine, Jeffrey M . Warren, Jenny K. Barnett
2017, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (8) 1832-1841
Effective wildlife habitat management and conservation requires understanding the factors influencing distribution and abundance of plant species. Field studies, however, have documented observation errors in visually estimated plant cover including measurements which differ from the true value (measurement error) and not observing a species that is present within...
Potential paths for male-mediated gene flow to and from an isolated grizzly bear population
Christopher P. Peck, Frank T. van Manen, Cecily M. Costello, Mark A. Haroldson, Lisa Landenburger, Lori L. Roberts, Daniel D. Bjornlie, Richard D. Mace
2017, Ecosphere (8) 1-19
For several decades, grizzly bear populations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) and the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) have increased in numbers and range extent. The GYE population remains isolated and although effective population size has increased since the early 1980s, genetic connectivity between these populations remains a long-term...
Assessing models of arsenic occurrence in drinking water from bedrock aquifers in New Hampshire
Caroline Andy, Maria Florencia Fahnestock, Melissa A. Lombard, Laura Hayes, Julie Bryce, Joseph D. Ayotte
2017, Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education (160) 25-41
Three existing multivariate logistic regression models were assessed using new data to evaluate the capacity of the models to correctly predict the probability of groundwater arsenic concentrations exceeding the threshold values of 1, 5, and 10 micrograms per liter (µg/L) in New Hampshire, USA. A recently released testing dataset includes...
U.S. Geological Survey input-data forms for the assessment of the Spraberry Formation of the Midland Basin, Permian Basin Province, Texas, 2017
Kristen R. Marra
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1117
In 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an updated assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in the Spraberry Formation of the Midland Basin (Permian Basin Province) in southwestern Texas (Marra and others, 2017). The Spraberry Formation was assessed using both the standard continuous (unconventional) and conventional...
Simulation of daily streamflow for 12 river basins in western Iowa using the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System
Daniel E. Christiansen, Adel E. Haj, John C. Risley
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5091
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, constructed Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System models to estimate daily streamflow for 12 river basins in western Iowa that drain into the Missouri River. The Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System is a deterministic, distributed-parameter, physical-process-based modeling system developed to evaluate the...
Geologic map of the Dusar area, Herat Province, Afghanistan; Modified from the 1973 original map compilations of V.I. Tarasenko and others
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1126
The geologic maps and cross sections presented in this report are redrafted and modified versions of the Geologic map and map of useful minerals of the Dusar area (scale 1:50,000) and Geologic sketch map of the Dusar and Namak-sory ore occurrences (scale 1:10,000), located in the Herat Province, Afghanistan. The...
Some results from ModEM3DMT, the freely available OSU 3D MT inversion code
Gary D. Egbert, Naser Meqbel, Anna Kelbert
2017, Conference Paper
At the 3DEM-5 workshop in 2013, we presented a paper entitled "ModEM: developing 3D EM inversion for the masses", outlining our then recent development of a modular system for inversion of EM geophysical data, called ModEM. As promised in that presentation, we made a version of the code that is...
A coupled metabolic-hydraulic model and calibration scheme for estimating of whole-river metabolism during dynamic flow conditions
Robert A. Payn, Robert O Hall, Theodore A. Kennedy, Geoff C Poole, Lucy A. Marshall
2017, Limnology and Oceanography: Methods (15) 847-866
Conventional methods for estimating whole-stream metabolic rates from measured dissolved oxygen dynamics do not account for the variation in solute transport times created by dynamic flow conditions. Changes in flow at hourly time scales are common downstream of hydroelectric dams (i.e. hydropeaking), and hydrologic limitations of conventional metabolic models...
Remote measurement of river discharge using thermal particle image velocimetry (PIV) and various sources of bathymetric information
Carl J. Legleiter, Paul J. Kinzel, Jonathan M. Nelson
2017, Journal of Hydrology (554) 490-506
Although river discharge is a fundamental hydrologic quantity, conventional methods of streamgaging are impractical, expensive, and potentially dangerous in remote locations. This study evaluated the potential for measuring discharge via various forms of remote sensing, primarily thermal imaging of flow velocities but also spectrally-based depth retrieval from passive optical image...
A effective DNA vaccine against diverse genotype J infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus strains prevalent in China
Liming Xu, Jingzhuang Zhao, Miao Liu, Gael Kurath, Guangming Ren, Scott E. LaPatra, Jiasheng Yin, Hongbai Liu, Jian Feng, Tongyan Lu
2017, Vaccine (35) 2420-2426
Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) is the most important pathogen threatening the aquaculture of salmonid fish in China. In this study, a DNA vaccine, designated pIHNch-G, was constructed with the glycoprotein (G) gene of a Chinese IHNV isolate SD-12 (also called Sn1203) of genotype J. The minimal dose of vaccine...
Riverine discharges to Chesapeake Bay: Analysis of long-term (1927–2014) records and implications for future flows in the Chesapeake Bay basin
Karen C. Rice, Douglas L. Moyer, Aaron L. Mills
2017, Journal of Environmental Management (204) 246-254
The Chesapeake Bay (CB) basin is under a total maximum daily load (TMDL) mandate to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment loads to the bay. Identifying shifts in the hydro-climatic regime may help explain observed trends in water quality. To identify potential shifts, hydrologic data (1927–2014) for 27 watersheds in the...
Arctic deep-water ferromanganese-oxide deposits reflect the unique characteristics of the Arctic Ocean
James R. Hein, Natalia Konstantinova, Mariah Mikesell, Kira Mizell, Jessica N. Fitzsimmons, Phoebe Lam, Laramie T. Jensen, Yang Xiang, Amy Gartman, Georgy Cherkashov, Deborah Hutchinson, Claire P. Till
2017, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (18) 3771-3800
Little is known about marine mineral deposits in the Arctic Ocean, an ocean dominated by continental shelf and basins semi-closed to deep-water circulation. Here, we present data for ferromanganese crusts and nodules collected from the Amerasia Arctic Ocean in 2008, 2009, and 2012 (HLY0805, HLY0905, HLY1202). We determined...
HERA: A dynamic web application for visualizing community exposure to flood hazards based on storm and sea level rise scenarios
Jeanne M. Jones, Kevin Henry, Nathan J. Wood, Peter Ng, Matthew Jamieson
2017, Computers & Geosciences (109) 124-133
The Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA) dynamic web application was created to provide a platform that makes research on community exposure to coastal-flooding hazards influenced by sea level rise accessible to planners, decision makers, and the public in a manner that is both easy to use and easily accessible....
Reconstructing the evolution of the submarine Monterey Canyon System from Os, Nd, and Pb isotopes in hydrogenetic Fe-Mn crusts
T.A. Conrad, S.G. Nielsen, Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink, J. Blusztajn, D. Winslow, James R. Hein, A. Paytan
2017, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (18) 3946-3963
The sources of terrestrial material delivered to the California margin over the past 7 Myr were assessed using 187Os/188Os, Nd, and Pb isotopes in hydrogenetic ferromanganese crusts from three seamounts along the central and southern California margin. From 6.8 to 4.5 (± 0.5) Ma, all three isotope systems show more radiogenic...
Assessment of an in-channel redistribution technique for large woody debris management in Locust Creek, Linn County, Missouri
David C. Heimann
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5120
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Conservation and Missouri Department of Natural Resources, completed a study to assess a mechanical redistribution technique used for the management of large woody debris (LWD) jams in Locust Creek within Pershing State Park and Fountain Grove Conservation Area, Linn...
Declines revisited: Long-term recovery and spatial population dynamics oftailed frog larvae after wildfire
Blake R. Hossack, R. Ken Honeycutt
2017, Biological Conservation (212) 274-278
Drought has fueled an increased frequency and severity of large wildfires in many ecosystems. Despite an increase in research on wildfire effects on vertebrates, the vast majority of it has focused on short-term (< 5 years) effects and there is still little information on the time scale of population recovery...
Quantifying the effects of wildfire on changes in soil properties by surface burning of soils from the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory
Celeste Wieting, Brian A. Ebel, Kamini Singha
2017, Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies (13) 43-57
Study regionThis study used intact soil cores collected at the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory near Boulder, Colorado, USA to explore fire impacts on soil properties.Study focusThree soil scenarios were considered: unburned control soils, and low- and high-temperature burned soils. We explored simulated fire...
Geographic variation in host fish use and larval metamorphosis for the endangered dwarf wedgemussel
Barbara St. John White, C. Paola Ferreri, William A. Lellis, Barry J. Wicklow, Jeffrey C. Cole
2017, Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems (27) 909-918
Host fishes play a crucial role in survival and dispersal of freshwater mussels (Unionoida), particularly rare unionids at conservation risk. Intraspecific variation in host use is not well understood for many mussels, including the endangered dwarf wedgemussel (Alasmidonta heterodon) in the USA.Host suitability of 33 fish...
Endozoicomonas dominates the gill and intestinal content microbiomes of Mytilus edulis from Barnegat Bay, New Jersey
William B. Schill, Deborah D. Iwanowicz, Cynthia R. Adams
2017, Journal of Shellfish Research (36) 391-401
Blue mussels, Mytilus edulis, Linnaeus 1758 from southern Barnegat Bay, New Jersey were examined to determine the make-up of the normal blue mussel microbiome. Sequencing of 16S ribosomal DNA amplicons from gill and intestinal content microbiomes using the Illumina® MiSeq platform yielded 1,276,161 paired end sequence reads from the...
Movements of Atlantic Sturgeon of the Gulf of Maine inside and outside the geographically defined Distinct Population Segment
Gail S. Wippelhauser, James Sulikowski, Gayle B. Zydlewski, Megan Altenritter, Micah Kieffer, Michael T. Kinnison
2017, Marine and Coastal Fisheries: Dynamics, Management, and Ecosystem Science (9) 93-107
Identification of potential critical habitat, seasonal distributions, and movements within and between river systems is important for protecting the Gulf of Maine (GOM) Distinct Population Segment of Atlantic Sturgeon. To accomplish these objectives, we captured Atlantic Sturgeon in four GOM rivers (Penobscot, Kennebec system, Saco, and Merrimack), and tagged...
