Mercury and selenium contamination in waterbird eggs and risk to avian reproduction at Great Salt Lake, Utah
Joshua T. Ackerman, Mark P. Herzog, Christopher A. Hartman, John P. Isanhart, Garth Herring, Sharon Vaughn, John F. Cavitt, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Howard Browers, Chris Cline, Josh Vest
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1020
The wetlands of the Great Salt Lake ecosystem are recognized regionally, nationally, and hemispherically for their importance as breeding, wintering, and migratory habitat for diverse groups of waterbirds. Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge is the largest freshwater component of the Great Salt Lake ecosystem and provides critical breeding habitat for...
A framework for modeling anthropogenic impacts on waterbird habitats: addressing future uncertainty in conservation planning
Elliott Matchett, Joseph P. Fleskes, Charles A. Young, David R. Purkey
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1017
The amount and quality of natural resources available for terrestrial and aquatic wildlife habitats are expected to decrease throughout the world in areas that are intensively managed for urban and agricultural uses. Changes in climate and management of increasingly limited water supplies may further impact water resources essential for sustaining...
Wetland paleoecological study of southwest coastal Louisiana: sediment cores and diatom calibration dataset
Kathryn E. L. Smith, James G. Flocks, Gregory D. Steyer, Sarai C. Piazza
2015, Data Series 877
Wetland sediment data were collected in 2009 and 2010 throughout the southwest Louisiana Chenier Plain as part of a pilot study to develop a diatom-based proxy for past wetland water chemistry and the identification of sediment deposits from tropical storms. The complete dataset includes forty-six surface sediment samples and nine...
Mount St. Helens: Controlled-source audio-frequency magnetotelluric (CSAMT) data and inversions
Jeff Wynn, Herbert A. Pierce
2015, Data Series 901
This report describes a series of geoelectrical soundings carried out on and near Mount St. Helens volcano, Washington, in 2010–2011. These soundings used a controlled-source audio-frequency magnetotelluric (CSAMT) approach (Zonge and Hughes, 1991; Simpson and Bahr, 2005). We chose CSAMT for logistical reasons: It can be deployed by helicopter, has...
Mapping migratory flyways in Asia using dynamic Brownian bridge movement models
E.C. Palm, S. H. Newman, Diann J. Prosser, Xiangming Xiao, Ze Luo, Nyambayar Batbayar, Sivananinthaperumal Balachandran, John Y. Takekawa
2015, Movement Ecology (3) 1-10
Background Identifying movement routes and stopover sites is necessary for developing effective management and conservation strategies for migratory animals. In the case of migratory birds, a collection of migration routes, known as a flyway, is often hundreds to thousands of kilometers long and can extend across political boundaries. Flyways encompass the...
Potentiometric surfaces and water-level trends in the Cockfield (upper Claiborne) aquifer in southern Arkansas and the Wilcox (lower Wilcox) aquifer of northeastern and southern Arkansas, 2012
Kirk D. Rodgers
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5232
The Cockfield aquifer, located in southern Arkansas, is composed of Eocene-age sand beds found near the base of the Cockfield Formation of Claiborne Group. The Wilcox aquifer, located in northeastern and southern Arkansas, is composed of Paleocene-age sand beds found in the middle to lower part of the Wilcox Group....
Geospatial datasets for assessing the effects of rangeland conditions on dissolved-solids yields in the Upper Colorado River Basin
Fred D. Tillman, Marilyn E. Flynn, David W. Anning
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1007
In 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed a Spatially Referenced Regressions on Watershed Attributes (SPARROW) surface-water quality model for the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB) relating dissolved-solids sources and transport in the 1991 water year to upstream catchment characteristics. The SPARROW model focused on geologic and agricultural sources of...
River mainstem thermal regimes influence population structuring within an Appalachian brook trout population
Aaron Aunins, J. Todd Petty, Tim L. King, Mariya Schilz, Patricia M. Mazik
2015, Conservation Genetics (16) 15-29
Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) often exist as highly differentiated populations, even at small spatial scales, due either to natural or anthropogenic sources of isolation and low rates of dispersal. In this study, we used molecular approaches to describe the unique population structure of brook trout inhabiting the Shavers Fork watershed,...
A Bayesian kriging approach for blending satellite and ground precipitation observations
Andrew P. Verdin, Balaji Rajagopalan, William Kleiber, Christopher C. Funk
2015, Water Resources Research (51) 908-921
Drought and flood management practices require accurate estimates of precipitation. Gauge observations, however, are often sparse in regions with complicated terrain, clustered in valleys, and of poor quality. Consequently, the spatial extent of wet events is poorly represented. Satellite-derived precipitation data are an attractive alternative, though they tend to underestimate...
Calculating crop water requirement satisfaction in the West Africa Sahel with remotely sensed soil moisture
Amy McNally, Gregory J. Husak, Molly Brown, Mark L. Carroll, Christopher C. Funk, Soni Yatheendradas, Kristi Arsenault, Christa Peters-Lidard, James Verdin
2015, Journal of Hydrometeorology (16) 295-305
The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission will provide soil moisture data with unprecedented accuracy, resolution, and coverage, enabling models to better track agricultural drought and estimate yields. In turn, this information can be used to shape policy related to food and water from commodity markets to humanitarian relief efforts....
An integrated Riverine Environmental Flow Decision Support System (REFDSS) to evaluate the ecological effects of alternative flow scenarios on river ecosystems
Kelly O. Maloney, Colin B. Talbert, Jeffrey C. Cole, Heather S. Galbraith, Carrie J. Blakeslee, Leanne Hanson, Christopher L. Holmquist-Johnson
2015, Fundamental and Applied Limnology (186) 171-192
In regulated rivers, managers must evaluate competing flow release scenarios that attempt to balance both human and natural needs. Meeting these natural flow needs is complex due to the myriad of interacting physical and hydrological factors that affect ecosystems. Tools that synthesize the voluminous scientific data and models on these...
The forcing of southwestern Asia teleconnections by low-frequency sea surface temperature variability during boreal winter
Andrew Hoell, Christopher C. Funk, Mathew Barlow
2015, Journal of Climate (28) 1511-1526
Southwestern Asia, defined here as the domain bounded by 20°–40°N and 40°–70°E, which includes the nations of Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, is a water-stressed and semiarid region that receives roughly 75% of its annual rainfall during November–April. The November–April climate of southwestern Asia is strongly influenced by tropical Indo-Pacific...
An assessment of morphometric indices, blood chemistry variables and an energy meter as indicators of the whole body lipid content in Micropterus dolomieu, Sander vitreus and Ictalurus punctatus
Matthew G. Mesa, Brien P. Rose
2015, Journal of Fish Biology (86) 755-764
The effectiveness of several non-lethal techniques as indicators of total lipid content in smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu, walleye Sander vitreus and channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus was investigated. The techniques included (1) the Fulton and relative condition factors, (2) relative mass, (3) plasma indicators of nutritional status (alkaline phosphatase, calcium, cholesterol,...
Sources of endocrine-disrupting compounds in North Carolina waterways: a geographic information systems approach
Dana K. Sackett, Crystal Lee Pow, Matthew J. Rubino, D.D. Aday, W. Gregory Cope, Seth W. Kullman, J.A. Rice, Thomas J. Kwak, LeRoy M. Law
2015, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (34) 437-445
The presence of endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), particularly estrogenic compounds, in the environment has drawn public attention across the globe, yet a clear understanding of the extent and distribution of estrogenic EDCs in surface waters and their relationship to potential sources is lacking. The objective of the present study was to...
Seasonal patterns in stream periphyton fatty acids and community benthic algal composition in six high quality headwater streams
Dale C. Honeyfield, Kelly O. Maloney
2015, Hydrobiologia (744) 35-47
Fatty acids are integral components of periphyton and differ among algal taxa. We examined seasonal patterns in periphyton fatty acids in six minimally disturbed headwater streams in Pennsylvania’s Appalachian Mountains, USA. Environmental data and periphyton were collected across four seasons for fatty acid and algal taxa content. Non-metric multidimensional scaling...
Influence of hardness on the bioavailability of silver to a freshwater snail after waterborne exposure to silver nitrate and silver nanoparticles
Tasha L. Stoiber, Marie Noele Croteau, Isabella Romer, Mila Tejamaya, Jamie R. Lead, Samuel N. Luoma
2015, Nanotoxicology (9) 918-927
The release of Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) into the aquatic environment is likely, but the influence of water chemistry on their impacts and fate remains unclear. Here, we characterize the bioavailability of Ag from AgNO3 and from AgNPs capped with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP AgNP) and thiolated polyethylene glycol (PEG AgNP) in the...
Comment on “Models of stochastic, spatially varying stress in the crust compatible with focal‐mechanism data, and how stress inversions can be biased toward the stress rate” by Deborah Elaine Smith and Thomas H. Heaton
Jeanne L. Hardebeck
2015, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (105) 447-451
Smith and Heaton (2011) propose a model in which stress in the crust is fractal‐like and highly variable on a range of length scales, including short length‐scales of ~1 km. Smith and Heaton (2011) motivate the need for stress heterogeneity on short length‐scales by citing observations such as short length‐scale...
H7N9 influenza A virus in turkeys in Minnesota
Camille Lebarbenchon, J.C. Pedersen, Srinand Sreevatsan, Andrew M. Ramey, Vivien G. Dugan, R.A. Halpin, Paul A. Ferro, B. Lupiani, Shinichiro Enomoto, Rebecca L. Poulson, M. Smeltzer, Carol J. Cardona, S. Tompkins, D.E. Wentworth, D.E. Stallknecht, J. Brown
2015, Journal of General Virology (96) 269-276
Introductions of H7 Influenza A virus (IAV) from wild birds into poultry have been documented worldwide, resulting in varying degrees of morbidity and mortality. H7 IAV infection in domestic poultry has served as a source of human infection and disease. We report the detection of H7N9 subtype IAV in Minnesota...
Ephemeral stream reaches preserve the evolutionary and distributional history of threespine stickleback in the Santa Clara and Ventura River watersheds of southern California
Jonathan Q. Richmond, David K. Jacobs, Adam R. Backlin, Camm C. Swift, Chris Dellith, Robert N. Fisher
2015, Conservation Genetics (16) 85-101
Much remains to be understood about the evolutionary history and contemporary landscape genetics of unarmored threespine stickleback in southern California, where populations collectively referred to as Gasterosteus aculeatus williamsoni have severely declined over the past 70+ years and are now endangered. We used mitochondrial sequence and microsatellite data to assess...
Integrated survival analysis using an event-time approach in a Bayesian framework
Daniel P. Walsh, VJ Dreitz, Dennis M. Heisey
2015, Ecology and Evolution (5) 769-780
Event-time or continuous-time statistical approaches have been applied throughout the biostatistical literature and have led to numerous scientific advances. However, these techniques have traditionally relied on knowing failure times. This has limited application of these analyses, particularly, within the ecological field where fates of marked animals may be unknown. To...
Spatial genetic structure of bristle-thighed curlews (Numenius tahitiensis): Breeding area differentiation not reflected on the non-breeding grounds
Sarah A. Sonsthagen, T. Lee Tibbitts, Robert E. Gill Jr., Ian S. Williams, Sandra L. Talbot
2015, Conservation Genetics (16) 223-233
Migratory birds occupy geographically and ecologically disparate areas during their annual cycle with conditions on breeding and non-breeding grounds playing separate and important roles in population dynamics. We used data from nuclear microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA control region loci to assess the breeding and non-breeding spatial genetic structure of a...
Site-scale disturbance and habitat development best predict an index of amphibian biotic integrity in Ohio shrub and forested wetlands
Mick Micacchion, Martin A. Stapanian, Jean V. Adams
2015, Wetlands (35) 509-519
We determined the best predictors of an index of amphibian biotic integrity calculated from 54 shrub and forested wetlands in Ohio, USA using a two-step sequential holdout validation procedure. We considered 13 variables as predictors: four metrics of wetland condition from the Ohio Rapid Assessment Method (ORAM), a wetland vegetation...
An open-population hierarchical distance sampling model
Rachel Sollmann, Beth Gardner, Richard B Chandler, J. Andrew Royle, T Scott Sillett
2015, Ecology (96) 325-331
Modeling population dynamics while accounting for imperfect detection is essential to monitoring programs. Distance sampling allows estimating population size while accounting for imperfect detection, but existing methods do not allow for direct estimation of demographic parameters. We develop a model that uses temporal correlation in abundance arising from underlying population...
Magmatic gas emissions at Holocene volcanic features near Mono Lake, California, and their relation to regional magmatism
D. Bergfeld, William C. Evans, James F. Howle, Andrew G. Hunt
2015, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (292) 70-83
Silicic lavas have erupted repeatedly in the Mono Basin over the past few thousand years, forming the massive domes and coulees of the Mono Craters chain and the smaller island vents in Mono Lake. We report here on the first systematic study of magmatic CO2 emissions from these features, conducted during...
Evaluation of satellite rainfall estimates for drought and flood monitoring in Mozambique
Carolien Tote, Domingos Patricio, Hendrik Boogaard, Raymond van der Wijngaart, Elena Tarnavsky, Christopher C. Funk
2015, Remote Sensing (7) 1758-1776
Satellite derived rainfall products are useful for drought and flood early warning and overcome the problem of sparse, unevenly distributed and erratic rain gauge observations, provided their accuracy is well known. Mozambique is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events such as major droughts and floods and thus, an understanding of...
