Conflation and integration of archived geologic maps and associated uncertainties
Thomas G. Shoberg
2016, Journal of Geography and Geology (8) 28-40
Old, archived geologic maps are often available with little or no associated metadata. This creates special problems in terms of extracting their data to use with a modern database. This research focuses on some problems and uncertainties associated with conflating older geologic maps in regions where modern geologic maps are,...
Status of alewife and rainbow smelt in U.S. waters of Lake Ontario, 2015
Maureen Walsh, Brian Weidel, Michael J. Connerton, Jeremy P. Holden
2016, NYSDEC Lake Ontario Annual Report 2015-12a
In 2015 the joint USGS and NYSDEC surveys for Alewife and Rainbow Smelt were combined for the first time into a comprehensive spring pelagic prey fish survey. The adult Alewife abundance and weight indices in 2015 increased slightly from 2014 levels, and adult Alewife abundance has remained relatively stable for...
Conservation of imperiled crayfish species - Cambarus veteranus (Decapoda: Cambaridae)
Stuart A. Welsh, Zachary J. Loughman, Roger F. Thoma, James W. Fetzner
2016, Journal of Crustacean Biology (35) 850-860
Hydropedology: Synergistic integration of soil science and hydrology in the Critical Zone
H.S. Lin, J.J. McDonnell, John R. Nimmo, Y. A. Pachepsky
2016, Hydrological Processes (29) 4559-4561
Soil and water are the two critical components of theEarth’s Critical Zone (Figure 1): Soil modulates the connection between bedrock and the atmospheric boundary layer and water is a major driving force and transport agent between these two zones....
Wildfire may increase habitat quality for spring Chinook salmon in the Wenatchee River subbasin, WA, USA
Rebecca L. Flitcroft, Jeffrey A. Falke, Gordon H. Reeves, Paul F. Hessburg, Kris M. McNyset, Lee E. Benda
2016, Forest Ecology and Management (359) 126-140
Pacific Northwest salmonids are adapted to natural disturbance regimes that create dynamic habitat patterns over space and through time. However, human land use, particularly long-term fire suppression, has altered the intensity and frequency of wildfire in forested upland and riparian areas. To examine the potential...
The value of earth observations: methods and findings on the value of Landsat imagery
Holly M. Miller, Larisa O. Serbina, Leslie A. Richardson, Sarah J. Ryker, Timothy R. Newman
2016, Book chapter, Communicating climate-change and natural hazard risk and cultivating resilience
Data from Earth observation systems are used extensively in managing and monitoring natural resources, natural hazards, and the impacts of climate change, but the value of such data can be difficult to estimate, particularly when it is available at no cost. Assessing the socioeconomic and scientific value of these data...
Status of pelagic prey fishes in Lake Michigan, 2015
David M. Warner, Randall M. Claramunt, Steve A. Farha, Dale Hanson, Timothy J. Desorcie, Timothy P. O’Brien
2016, Report, Compiled reports to the Great Lake Fishery Commission of the annual bottom trawl and acoustics surveys, 2015
Acoustic surveys were conducted in late summer/early fall during the years 1992-1996 and 2001-2015 to estimate pelagic prey fish biomass in Lake Michigan. Midwater trawling during the surveys as well as target strength provided a measure of species and size composition of the fish community for use in scaling acoustic...
Testing an attachment method for solar-powered tracking devices on a long-distance migrating shorebird
Ying-Chi Chan, Martin Brugge, T. Lee Tibbitts, Anne Dekinga, Ron Porter, Raymond H. G. Klaassen, Theunis Piersma
2016, Journal of Ornithology (157) 277-287
Small solar-powered satellite transmitters and GPS data loggers enable continuous, multi-year, and global tracking of birds. What is lacking, however, are reliable methods to attach these tracking devices to small migratory birds so that (1) flight performance is not impacted and (2) tags are retained during periods of substantial mass...
Consequences of seasonal variation in reservoir water level for predatory fishes: linking visual foraging and prey densities
Stephen L. Klobucar, Phaedra Budy
2016, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (73) 53-64
In reservoirs, seasonal drawdown can alter the physical environment and may influence predatory fish performance. We investigated the performance of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in a western reservoir by coupling field measurements with visual foraging and bioenergetic models at four distinct states (early summer, mid-summer, late summer, and fall). The...
Predictive habitat models derived from nest-box occupancy for the endangered Carolina northern flying squirrel in the southern Appalachians
W. Mark Ford, A.M. Evans, Richard H. Odom, Jane L. Rodrigue, C.A. Kelly, Nicole Abaid, Corinne A. Diggins, Doug Newcomb
2016, Endangered Species Research (27) 131-140
In the southern Appalachians, artificial nest-boxes are used to survey for the endangered Carolina northern flying squirrel (CNFS; Glaucomys sabrinus coloratus), a disjunct subspecies associated with high elevation (>1385 m) forests. Using environmental parameters diagnostic of squirrel habitat, we created 35 a priori occupancy models in the program PRESENCE for boxes surveyed in...
Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme coastal biodiversity monitoring background paper
Donald McLennan, Rebecca Anderson, S. Wegeberg, Maria Pettersvik Arvnes, Liudmila Sergienko, Carolina Behe, Pitseolak Moss-Davies, S. Fritz, Carl J. Markon, T. Christensen, T. Barry, C. Price
2016, Report
In 2014, the United States (U.S.) and Canada agreed to act as co-lead countries for the initial development of the Coastal Expert Monitoring Group (CEMG) as part of the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP, www. cbmp.is) under the Arctic Council’s Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF, www.caff.is) working group....
Analysis and interpretation of stress indicators in deviated wells of the Coso Geothermal Field
Martin Schoenball, Jonathan M. G. Glen, Nicholas C. Davatzes
2016, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 41st workshop on geothermal reservoir engineering
Characterizing the tectonic stress field is an integral part of the development of hydrothermal systems and especially for enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). With a well characterized stress field the propensity of fault slip on faults with known location and orientation can be identified. Faults that are critically oriented for faulting...
Volcanogenic massive sulphide and orogenic gold deposits of northern southeast Alaska
Patrick J Sack, Susan M. Karl, Nathan Steeves, J Bruce Gemmell
2016, Book
This five-day field trip visits the most significant mineral deposits in northern southeast Alaska. The trip begins and ends with regional transects in the interior Intermontane terranes around Whitehorse, Yukon, and the Insular terranes along the northern Chatham Strait region of southeast Alaska (Fig. A-1 and Fig. A-2; Plate-1). To...
Exotic annual Bromus invasions: Comparisons among species and ecoregions in the western United States
Matthew L. Brooks, Cynthia S. Brown, Jeanne C. Chambers, Carla M. D'Antonio, Jon E. Keeley, Jayne Belnap
2016, Book chapter, Exotic brome-grasses in arid and semiarid ecosystems of the western US
Exotic annual Bromus species are widely recognized for their potential to invade, dominate, and alter the structure and function of ecosystems. In this chapter, we summarize the invasion potential, ecosystem threats, and management strategies for different Bromus species within each of five ecoregions of the western United States. We characterize...
Photoperiod and nesting phenology of whooping cranes at two captive sites
Glenn H. Olsen
2016, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop
Increasing daylight is known to be a breeding stimulus in many avian species breeding in northern latitudes. This is thought to be true for cranes that breed in such latitudes including the Whooping Crane (Grus americana). For this reason, the captive breeding centers use artificial light to lengthen daylight hours,...
Ecological resilience
Craig R. Allen, Ahjond S. Garmestiani, Shana Sundstrom, David G. Angeler
2016, Book chapter, IRGC resource guide on resilience
Resilience is the capacity of complex systems of people and nature to withstand disturbance without shifting into an alternate regime, or a different type of system organized around different processes and structures (Holling, 1973). Resilience theory was developed to explain the non-linear dynamics of complex adaptive systems, like social-ecological systems...
Estimating abundance
Chris Sutherland, Andy Royle
2016, Book chapter, Reptile ecology and conservation: A handbook of techniques
This chapter provides a non-technical overview of ‘closed population capture–recapture’ models, a class of well-established models that are widely applied in ecology, such as removal sampling, covariate models, and distance sampling. These methods are regularly adopted for studies of reptiles, in order to estimate abundance from counts of marked individuals...
Nutrient dynamics of the Delta: Effects on primary producers
Clifford N. Dahm, Alexander E. Parker, Anne E. Adelson, Mairgareth A. Christman, Brian A. Bergamaschi
2016, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science (14)
Increasing clarity of Delta waters, the emergence of harmful algal blooms, the proliferation of aquatic water weeds, and the altered food web of the Delta have brought nutrient dynamics to the forefront. This paper focuses on the sources of nutrients, the transformation and uptake of nutrients, and the links of...
Hematology results from experimental exposure of sandhill cranes to West Nile virus
Glenn H. Olsen
2016, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop
West Nile virus is a deadly virus for young cranes. In testing two different vaccines on both adult sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis), we discovered that some blood parameters are altered by exposure to the virus. White blood cell counts were the most obvious, and may be used as an indicator...
Natural soil reservoirs for human pathogenic and fecal indicator bacteria
Maria L Boschiroli, Joseph Falkinham, Sabine Favre-Bonte, Sylvie Nazaret, Pascal Piveteau, Michael J. Sadowsky, Muruleedhara Byappanahalli, Pascal Delaquis, Alain Hartmann
2016, Book chapter, Manual of environmental microbiology
Soils receive inputs of human pathogenic and indicator bacteria through land application of animal manures or sewage sludge, and inputs by wildlife. Soil is an extremely heterogeneous substrate and contains meso- and macrofauna that may be reservoirs for bacteria of human health concern. The ability to detect and quantify bacteria...
Kriging and local polynomial methods for blending satellite-derived and gauge precipitation estimates to support hydrologic early warning systems
Andrew Verdin, Christopher C. Funk, Balaji Rajagopalan, William Kleiber
2016, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (54) 2552-2562
Robust estimates of precipitation in space and time are important for efficient natural resource management and for mitigating natural hazards. This is particularly true in regions with developing infrastructure and regions that are frequently exposed to extreme events. Gauge observations of rainfall are sparse but capture the precipitation process with...
Geology of the Mount Rogers area, revisited: Evidence of Neoproterozoic continental rifting, glaciation, and the opening and closing of the Iapetus ocean, Blue Ridge, VA–NC–TN
Arthur J. Merschat, C. Scott Southworth, Christopher S. Holm-Denoma, Ryan J. McAleer
Arthur J. Merschat, editor(s)
2016, Book chapter, Geology of the Mount Rogers area, revisited, Blue Ridge, VA–NC–TN: Carolina Geological Society Annual Field Trip Guidebook
Recent field and geochronological studies in eight 7.5-minute quadrangles near Mount Rogers in Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee recognize important stratigraphic and structural relationships for the Neoproterozoic Mount Rogers and Konnarock formations, the northeast end of the Mountain City window, the separation of Mesoproterozoic rocks of the Blue Ridge into...
Brackish marsh zones as a waterfowl habitat resource in submerged aquatic vegetation beds in the northern Gulf of Mexico
Kristin DeMarco, Eva R. Hillmann, Michael G. Brasher, Megan K. LaPeyre
2016, Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (3) 261-269
Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) beds are shallow coastal habitats that are increasingly exposed to the effects of sea-level rise (SLR). In the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGoM), an area especially vulnerable to SLR, the abundance and distribution of SAV food resources (seeds, rhizomes, and tissue) can influence the carrying...
Recent and possible future variations in the North American Monsoon
Andrew Hoell, Chris Funk, Mathew Barlow, Shraddhanand Shukla
2016, Book chapter, The monsoons and climate change
The dynamics and recent and possible future changes of the June–September rainfall associated with the North American Monsoon (NAM) are reviewed in this chapter. Our analysis as well as previous analyses of the trend in June–September precipitation from 1948 until 2010 indicate significant precipitation increases over New Mexico and the...
Potentially induced earthquakes during the early twentieth century in the Los Angeles Basin
Susan E. Hough, Morgan T. Page
2016, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (106) 2419-2435
Recent studies have presented evidence that early to mid‐twentieth‐century earthquakes in Oklahoma and Texas were likely induced by fossil fuel production and/or injection of wastewater (Hough and Page, 2015; Frohlich et al., 2016). Considering seismicity from 1935 onward, Hauksson et al. (2015) concluded that there is no evidence for significant induced activity...
