Proximity to encroaching coconut palm limits native forest water use and persistence on a Pacific atoll
Ken W. Krauss, Jamie A. Duberstein, Nicole Cormier, Hillary S. Young, Stacie A. Hathaway
2015, Ecohydrology (8) 1514-1524
Competition for fresh water between native and introduced plants is one important challenge facing native forests as rainfall variability increases. Competition can be especially acute for vegetation on Pacific atolls, which depend upon consistent rainfall to replenish shallow groundwater stores. Patterns of sap flow, water use, and diameter growth of...
Structural equation modeling: Building and evaluating causal models
James B. Grace, Samuel M. Scheiner, Donald R. Schoolmaster Jr.
2015, Book chapter, Ecological statistics: contemporary theory and application
Scientists frequently wish to study hypotheses about causal relationships, rather than just statistical associations. This chapter addresses the question of how scientists might approach this ambitious task. Here we describe structural equation modeling (SEM), a general modeling framework for the study of causal hypotheses. Our goals are to (a) concisely...
Direct and indirect effects of environmental variability on growth and survivorship of pre-reproductive Joshua trees, Yucca brevifolia Engelm (Agavaceae)
Todd C. Esque, Phil A. Medica, Daniel F. Shryock, Lesley A. Defalco, Robert H. Webb, Richard B. Hunter
2015, American Journal of Botany (102) 85-91
• Premise of study: Accurate demographic information about long-lived plant species is important for understanding responses to large-scale disturbances, including climate change. It is challenging to obtain these data from desert perennial plants because seedling establishment is exceptionally rare, and estimates of survival are lacking for their vulnerable early stages. Desert...
Value of information in natural resource management: technical developments and application to pink-footed geese
Byron K. Williams, Fred A. Johnson
2015, Ecology and Evolution (5) 466-474
The “value of information” (VOI) is a generic term for the increase in value resulting from better information to guide management, or alternatively, the value foregone under uncertainty about the impacts of management (Yokota and Thompson, Medical Decision Making 2004;24: 287). The value of information can be characterized in terms of several...
The effect of pressurized magma chamber growth on melt migration and pre-caldera vent locations through time at Mount Mazama, Crater Lake, Oregon
Leif Karlstrom, Heather M. Wright, Charles R. Bacon
2015, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (412) 209-219
The pattern of eruptions at long-lived volcanic centers provides a window into the co-evolution of crustal magma transport, tectonic stresses, and unsteady magma generation at depth. Mount Mazama in the Oregon Cascades has seen variable activity over the last 400 ky, including the 50 km3 climactic eruption at ca. 7.7 ka...
Flood-inundation mapping for the Blue River and selected tributaries in Kansas City, Missouri, and vicinity, 2012
David C. Heimann, Trina E. Weilert, Brian P. Kelly, Seth E. Studley
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3008
Kansas City, Missouri, has severely flooded many times, most notably in 1951, 1961, 1977, 1984, 1990, 1998, and 2010. During the past 30 years these floods resulted in damages within Kansas City costing tens of millions of dollars and more than 25 casualties. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and City of...
Natural or Induced: Identifying Natural and Induced Swarms from Pre-production and Co-production Microseismic Catalogs at the Coso Geothermal Field
Martin Schoenball, J. Ole Kaven, Jonathan M. G. Glen, Nicholas C. Davatzes
2015, Conference Paper, Proceedings of Fortieth Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering
Increased levels of seismicity coinciding with injection of reservoir fluids have prompted interest in methods to distinguish induced from natural seismicity. Discrimination between induced and natural seismicity is especially difficult in areas that have high levels of natural seismicity, such as the geothermal fields at the Salton Sea and Coso,...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Utah
William J. Carswell Jr.
2015, Fact Sheet 2014-3115
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of Utah, elevation data are critical for infrastructure and construction management, natural resources conservation, geologic resource assessment and hazard mitigation, flood risk management,...
Special considerations for specimen collections that may be involved in law enforcement cases
Tabitha Viner
J. Christian Franson, Milton Friend, Samantha E.J. Gibbs, Margaret A. Wild, editor(s)
2015, Techniques and Methods 15-C7
Causes of mortality in wildlife include natural conditions—such as the viral, bacterial, and fungal diseases discussed in other chapters of this manual—and human intervention. Direct human intervention in wildlife deaths may be associated with individual human actions, such as gunshot or poisonings, or with institutions, such as wind farms or...
Wildlife specimen collection, preservation, and shipment
C. LeAnn White, Robert J. Dusek
J. Christian Franson, Milton Friend, Samantha E.J. Gibbs, Margaret A. Wild, editor(s)
2015, Techniques and Methods 15-C4
Specimens are used to provide supporting information leading to the determination of the cause of disease or death in wildlife and for disease monitoring or surveillance. Commonly used specimens for wildlife disease investigations include intact carcasses, tissues from carcasses, euthanized or moribund animals, parasites, ingested food, feces, or environmental samples....
Mortality investigation
Thierry M. Work
J. Christian Franson, Milton Friend, Samantha E.J. Gibbs, Margaret A. Wild, editor(s)
2015, Techniques and Methods 15-B3
Wildlife mortality events usually occur unannounced and may find management agencies unaware. These events can become highly visible and politically charged affairs, depending upon the scale or species involved. The public, media, and (or) politicians may pressure managers, field investigators, and diagnosticians to quickly identify the cause or to comment...
Introduction
Milton Friend
J. Christian Franson, Milton Friend, Samantha E.J. Gibbs, Margaret A. Wild, editor(s)
2015, Techniques and Methods 15-A1
This is the third iteration of the National Wildlife Health Center's (NWHC) field guide developed primarily to assist field managers and biologists address diseases they encounter. By itself, the first iteration, “Field Guide of Wildlife Diseases: General Field Procedures and Diseases of Migratory Birds,” was simply another addition to an...
Field Manual of Wildlife Diseases
J. Christian Franson, Milton Friend, Samantha E.J. Gibbs, Margaret A. Wild, editor(s)
2015, Techniques and Methods 15
Welcome to a new version of the “Field Manual of Wildlife Diseases.” Unlike the previous printed versions of this publication, this new version is being developed as a “living“ electronic publication. Content will periodically be added and (or) updated as warranted, and it will always be reviewed by scientific experts...
Hydrologic record extension of water-level data in the Everglades Depth Estimation Network (EDEN), 1991-99
Paul Conrads, Matthew D. Petkewich, Andrew M. O’Reilly, Pamela A. Telis
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5226
The real-time Everglades Depth Estimation Network (EDEN) has been established to support a variety of scientific and water management purposes. The expansiveness of the Everglades, limited number of gaging stations, and extreme sensitivity of the ecosystem to small changes in water depth have created a need for accurate water-level and...
Bathymetry of the Wilderness breach at Fire Island, New York, June 2013
Andrew T. Brownell, Cheryl J. Hapke, Nicholas J. Spore, Jesse E. McNinch
2015, Data Series 914
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, collaborated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina, to collect shallow water bathymetric data of the Wilderness breach on Fire Island, New York, in June 2013. The...
Flood-inundation maps for Indian Creek and Tomahawk Creek, Johnson County, Kansas, 2014
Arin J. Peters, Seth E. Studley
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5202
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6.4-mile upper reach of Indian Creek from College Boulevard to the confluence with Tomahawk Creek, a 3.9-mile reach of Tomahawk Creek from 127th Street to the confluence with Indian Creek, and a 1.9-mile lower reach of Indian Creek from the confluence with Tomahawk Creek to...
Landscape-level terrestrial methane flux observed from a very tall tower
Ankur R. Desai, Ke Xu, Hanqin Tian, Peter Weishampel, Jonthan Thom, Daniel D. Baumann, Arlyn E. Andrews, Bruce D. Cook, Jennifer Y. King, Randall Kolka
2015, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology (201) 61-75
Simulating the magnitude and variability of terrestrial methane sources and sinks poses a challenge to ecosystem models because the biophysical and biogeochemical processes that lead to methane emissions from terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems are, by their nature, episodic and spatially disjunct. As a consequence, model predictions of regional methane emissions...
Switching predominance of organic versus inorganic carbon exports from an intermediate-size subarctic watershed
Mark M. Dornblaser, Robert G. Striegl
2015, Geophysical Research Letters (42) 386-394
Hydrologic exports of dissolved inorganic and organic carbon (DIC, DOC) reflect permafrost conditions in arctic and subarctic river basins. DIC yields in particular, increase with decreased permafrost extent. We investigated the influence of permafrost extent on DIC and DOC yield in a tributary of the Yukon River, where the upper...
A model for evaluating stream temperature response to climate change in Wisconsin
Jana S. Stewart, Stephen M. Westenbroek, Matthew G. Mitro, John D. Lyons, Leah E. Kammel, Cheryl A. Buchwald
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5186
Expected climatic changes in air temperature and precipitation patterns across the State of Wisconsin may alter future stream temperature and flow regimes. As a consequence of flow and temperature changes, the composition and distribution of fish species assemblages are expected to change. In an effort to gain a better understanding...
Digital geospatial presentation of geoelectrical and geotechnical data for the lower American River and flood plain, east Sacramento, California
Lyndsay B. Ball, Bethany L. Burton, Michael H. Powers, Theodore H. Asch
2015, Data Series 902
To characterize the extent and thickness of lithologic units that may have differing scour potential, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has performed several geoelectrical surveys of the lower American River channel and flood plain between Cal Expo and the Rio Americano High...
USGS compilation of geographic information system (GIS) data representing coal mines and coal-bearing areas in China
Michael H. Trippi, Harvey E. Belkin, Shifeng Dai, Susan J. Tewalt, Chiu-Jung Chou
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1219
Geographic information system (GIS) information may facilitate energy studies, which in turn provide input for energy policy decisions. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has compiled geographic information system (GIS) data representing the known coal mine locations and coal-mining areas of China as of 2001. These data are now available for...
Future wave and wind projections for United States and United-States-affiliated Pacific Islands
Curt D. Storlazzi, James B. Shope, Li H. Erikson, Christine A. Hegermiller, Patrick L. Barnard
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1001
Changes in future wave climates in the tropical Pacific Ocean from global climate change are not well understood. Spatially and temporally varying waves dominate coastal morphology and ecosystem structure of the islands throughout the tropical Pacific. Waves also impact coastal infrastructure, natural and cultural resources, and coastal-related economic activities of...
Evaluating the piscicide rotenone as an option for eradication of invasive Mozambique tilapia in a Hawaiian brackish-water wetland complex
Leo Nico, Ronald A. Englund, Howard L. Jelks
2015, Management of Biological Invasions (6) 83-104
Mozambique tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus were recently discovered in ‘Aimakapā Fishpond, a 12-hectare brackish-water wetland complex in Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park, on the Island of Hawai’i. As a possible eradication method, we evaluated rotenone, a natural piscicide used in fish management and the active ingredient in plants traditionally used by indigenous Hawaiians for...
Direct measurement of asperity contact growth in quartz at hydrothermal conditions
Nicholas M. Beeler, Stephen H. Hickman
2015, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (120) 3599-3616
Earthquake recurrence requires interseismic fault restrengthening which results from solid state deformation in room-temperature friction and indentation experiments. In contrast exhumed fault zones show solution-transport processes such as pressure solution and contact overgrowths influence fault zone properties . In the absence of fluid flow, overgrowths are driven by gradients in...
Depth-dependent groundwater quality sampling at City of Tallahassee test well 32, Leon County, Florida, 2013
W. Scott McBride, Michael A. Wacker
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1255
Public-supply wells sometimes produce water of less than desirable quality because contaminants can migrate to the open interval of wells through preferential pathways. If these pathways can be identified, zones that produce poor quality water can be excluded during the well-construction process. The U.S. Geological Survey has developed geophysical testing...
