Groundwater quality from private domestic water-supply wells in the vicinity of petroleum production in southwestern Indiana
Martin R. Risch, Cheryl A. Silcox
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1081
The U.S. Geological Survey provided technical support to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry for site selection and sample collection and analysis in a 2012 investigation of groundwater quality from 29 private domestic water-supply wells in the vicinity of petroleum production in southwestern Indiana. Petroleum hydrocarbons, oil and...
Field survey of earthquake effects from the magnitude 4.0 southern Maine earthquake of October 16, 2012
Amy L. Radakovich, Alex J. Fergusen, John Boatwright
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1071
The magnitude 4.0 earthquake that occurred on October 16, 2012, near Hollis Center and Waterboro in southwestern Maine surprised and startled local residents but caused only minor damage. A two-person U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) team was sent to Maine to conduct an intensity survey and document the damage. The only...
Tree Cover Mapping Tool—Documentation and user manual
Suzanne E. Cotillon, Melissa L. Mathis
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1067
The Tree Cover Mapping (TCM) tool was developed by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Center to allow a user to quickly map tree cover density over large areas using visual interpretation of high resolution imagery within a geographic information system interface. The TCM tool...
Status of the California Red-legged Frog (Rana draytonii) in the State of Baja California, México
Anny Peralta-Garcia, Bradford D. Hellingsworth, Jonathan Q. Richmond, Jorge H. Valdez-Villavicencio, Gorgonio Ruiz-Campos, Robert N. Fisher, Pedro Cruz-Hernandez, Patricia Galina-Tessaro
2016, Herpetological Conservation and Biology (11) 168-180
The California Red-legged Frog (Rana draytonii) is a threatened species in the United States that has undergone population declines, especially in southern California. Due to the lack of information on the status of Mexican populations, we surveyed for the presence of R. draytonii in Baja California and assessed possible threats...
Effects of turbidity on predation vulnerability of juvenile humpback chub to rainbow and brown trout
David L. Ward, Rylan Morton-Starner, Benjamin M. Vaage
2016, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (7) 1-8
Predation on juvenile native fish by introduced rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss and brown trout Salmo trutta is considered a significant threat to the persistence of endangered humpback chub Gila cypha in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. Diet studies of rainbow and brown trout in Glen and Grand canyons indicate...
Biodiversity conservation and environmental change: Using palaeoecology to manage dynamic landscapes in the Anthropocene.
Charles B. Yackulic
2016, The Quarterly Review of Biology 206-206
No abstract available....
A fault-based model for crustal deformation, fault slip-rates and off-fault strain rate in California
Yuehua Zeng, Zheng-Kang Shen
2016, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (106) 766-784
We invert Global Positioning System (GPS) velocity data to estimate fault slip rates in California using a fault‐based crustal deformation model with geologic constraints. The model assumes buried elastic dislocations across the region using Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast Version 3 (UCERF3) fault geometries. New GPS velocity and geologic slip‐rate...
Malberg mystery solved!
Shannon Barber-Meyer
2016, International Wolf (26) 22-23
No abstract available....
At the nexus of fire, water and society
Deborah A. Martin
2016, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (371)
The societal risks of water scarcity and water-quality impairment have received considerable attention, evidenced by recent analyses of these topics by the 2030 Water Resources Group, the United Nations and the World Economic Forum. What are the effects of fire on the predicted water scarcity and declines in water quality?...
Larval long-toed salamanders incur nonconsumptive effects in the presence of nonnative trout
Erin K. Kenison, Andrea R. Litt, David S. Pilliod, Thomas E. McMahon
2016, Ecosphere (7)
Predators can influence prey directly through consumption or indirectly through nonconsumptive effects (NCEs) by altering prey behavior, morphology, and life history. We investigated whether predator-avoidance behaviors by larval long-toed salamanders (Ambystoma macrodactylum) in lakes with nonnative trout result in NCEs on morphology and development. Field studies in lakes with and...
Gene transcript profiling in sea otters post-Exxon Valdez oil spill: A tool for marine ecosystem health assessment
Lizabeth Bowen, A. Keith Miles, Brenda E. Ballachey, Shannon C. Waters-Dynes, James L. Bodkin
2016, Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (4)
Using a panel of genes stimulated by oil exposure in a laboratory study, we evaluated gene transcription in blood leukocytes sampled from sea otters captured from 2006–2012 in western Prince William Sound (WPWS), Alaska, 17–23 years after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS). We compared WPWS sea otters to reference...
Changes to extreme wave climates of islands within the Western Tropical Pacific throughout the 21st century under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5, with implications for island vulnerability and sustainability
James B. Shope, Curt D. Storlazzi, Li H. Erikson, Christie Hegermiller
2016, Global and Planetary Change (141) 25-38
Waves are the dominant influence on coastal morphology and ecosystem structure of tropical Pacific islands. Wave heights, periods, and directions for the 21st century were projected using near-surface wind fields from four atmosphere-ocean coupled global climate models (GCM) under representative concentration pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5. GCM-derived wind fields forced...
Baseline and projected future carbon storage and greenhouse-gas fluxes in ecosystems of Alaska
Zhiliang Zhu, A. David McGuire, editor(s)
2016, Professional Paper 1826
This assessment was conducted to fulfill the requirements of section 712 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and to contribute to knowledge of the storage, fluxes, and balance of carbon and methane gas in ecosystems of Alaska. The carbon and methane variables were examined for major terrestrial...
Can captive populations function as sources of genetic variation for reintroductions into the wild? A case study of the Arabian oryx from the Phoenix Zoo and the Shaumari Wildlife Reserve, Jordan
Alexander Ochoa, Stuart A. Wells, Gary West, Ma’en Al-Smadi, Sergio A. Redondo, Sydnee R. Sexton, Melanie Culver
2016, Conservation Genetics (17) 1145-1155
The Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) historically ranged across the Arabian Peninsula and neighboring countries until its extirpation in 1972. In 1963–1964 a captive breeding program for this species was started at the Phoenix Zoo (PHX); it ultimately consisted of 11 animals that became known as the ‘World Herd’....
Morphodynamics of prograding beaches: A synthesis of seasonal- to century-scale observations of the Columbia River littoral cell
Peter Ruggiero, George Kaminsky, Guy R. Gelfenbaum, Nicholas Cohn
2016, Marine Geology (376) 51-68
Findings from nearly two decades of research focused on the Columbia River littoral cell (CRLC), a set of rapidly prograding coastal barriers and strand-plains in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, are synthesized to investigate the morphodynamics associated with prograding beaches. Due to a large sediment supply from the Columbia...
Dynamic simulation and numerical analysis of hurricane storm surge under sea level rise with geomorphologic changes along the northern Gulf of Mexico
Matthew V. Bilskie, S.C. Hagen, K.A. Alizad, S.C. Medeiros, Davina Passeri, H.F. Needham, A. Cox
2016, Earth's Future (4) 177-193
This work outlines a dynamic modeling framework to examine the effects of global climate change, and sea level rise (SLR) in particular, on tropical cyclone-driven storm surge inundation. The methodology, applied across the northern Gulf of Mexico, adapts a present day large-domain, high resolution, tide, wind-wave, and hurricane storm surge...
MODIS derived vegetation index for drought detection on the San Carlos Apache Reservation
Zhuoting Wu, Miguel G. Velasco, Jason McVay, Barry R. Middleton, John M. Vogel, Dennis G. Dye
2016, International Journal of Advanced Remote Sensing and GIS (5) 1524-1538
A variety of vegetation indices derived from remotely sensed data have been used to assess vegetation conditions, enabling the identification of drought occurrences as well as the evaluation of drought impacts. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra 8-day composite data were used to compute the Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index...
Building a subduction zone observatory
Joan S. Gomberg, Paul Bodin, Jody Bourgeois, Susan Cashman, Darrel Cowan, Kenneth C. Creager, Brendan Crowell, Alison Duvall, Arthur D. Frankel, Frank I. Gonzalez, Heidi Houston, Paul Johnson, Harvey Kelsey, Una Miller, Emily C. Roland, David Schmidt, Lydia M. Staisch, John Vidale, William Wilcock, Erin Wirth
2016, Eos, Earth and Space Science News
Subduction zones contain many of Earth’s most remarkable geologic structures, from the deepest oceanic trenches to glacier-covered mountains and steaming volcanoes. These environments formed through spectacular events: Nature’s largest earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions are born here....
Book review: Advances in reintroduction biology of Australian and New Zealand fauna
Erin L. Muths
2016, Journal of Wildlife Management (80) 579-580
Reintroduction, and other forms of moving animals around the landscape, is an established action that has been used in the...
Ecology and control of an introduced population of Southern Watersnakes (Nerodia fasciata) in southern California
Robert Reed, Brian D Todd, Oliver J. Miano, Mark Canfield, Robert N. Fisher, Louanne McMartin
2016, Herpetologica (72) 130-136
Native to the southeastern United States, Southern Watersnakes (Nerodia fasciata) are known from two sites in California, but their ecological impacts are poorly understood. We investigated the ecology of Southern Watersnakes in Machado Lake, Harbor City, Los Angeles County, California, including an assessment of control opportunities. We captured 306 watersnakes...
Body size distributions signal a regime shift in a lake ecosystem
Trisha Spanbauer, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler, Tarsha Eason, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Kirsty L. Nash, Jeffery R. Stone, Craig A. Stow, Shana M. Sundstrom
2016, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (283)
Communities of organisms, from mammals to microorganisms, have discontinuous distributions of body size. This pattern of size structuring is a conservative trait of community organization and is a product of processes that occur at multiple spatial and temporal scales. In this study, we assessed whether body size patterns serve as...
Hierarchical species distribution models
Trevor J. Hefley, Mevin Hooten
2016, Current Landscape Ecology Reports (1) 87-97
Determining the distribution pattern of a species is important to increase scientific knowledge, inform management decisions, and conserve biodiversity. To infer spatial and temporal patterns, species distribution models have been developed for use with many sampling designs and types of data. Recently, it has been shown that count, presence-absence, and...
Seismic envelope-based detection and location of ground-coupled airwaves from volcanoes in Alaska
David Fee, Matthew M. Haney, Robin S. Matoza, Curt A.L. Szuberla, John J. Lyons, Christopher F. Waythomas
2016, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (106) 1024-1035
Volcanic explosions and other infrasonic sources frequently produce acoustic waves that are recorded by seismometers. Here we explore multiple techniques to detect, locate, and characterize ground‐coupled airwaves (GCA) on volcano seismic networks in Alaska. GCA waveforms are typically incoherent between stations, thus we use envelope‐based techniques in our analyses. For...
Measuring the relationship between sportfishing trip expenditures and anglers’ species preferences
James M. Long, Richard T. Melstrom
2016, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (36) 731-737
We examined the relationship between fishing trip expenditures and anglers’ species preferences from a survey of Oklahoma resident anglers conducted in 2014. Understanding patterns in fishing trip expenditures is important because a significant share of state wildlife agency revenue comes from taxes on purchases of fishing equipment. Presently, there is...
Making it and breaking it in the Midwest: Continental assembly and rifting from modeling of EarthScope magnetotelluric data
Paul A. Bedrosian
2016, Precambrian Research (278) 337-361
A three-dimensional lithospheric-scale resistivity model of the North American mid-continent has been estimated based upon EarthScope magnetotelluric data. Details of the resistivity model are discussed in relation to lithospheric sutures, defined primarily from aeromagnetic and geochronologic data, which record the southward growth of the Laurentian margin in the Proterozoic. The...
