Flood trends: Not higher but more often
Robert M. Hirsch, Stacey A. Archfield
2015, Nature Climate Change (5) 198-199
Heavy precipitation has increased worldwide, but the effect of this on flood magnitude has been difficult to pinpoint. An alternative approach to analysing records shows that, in the central United States, floods have become more frequent but not larger....
Vegetation composition, nutrient, and sediment dynamics along a floodplain landscape
Nancy B. Rybicki, Gregory E. Noe, Cliff R. Hupp, Myles Robinson
2015, River Systems (21) 109-123
Forested floodplains are important landscape features for retaining river nutrients and sediment loads but there is uncertainty in how vegetation influences nutrient and sediment retention. In order to understand the role of vegetation in nutrient and sediment trapping, we quantified species composition and the uptake of nutrients in plant material...
Potential nitrogen critical loads for northern Great Plains grassland vegetation
Amy J. Symstad, Anine T. Smith, Wesley E. Newton, Alan K. Knapp
2015, Natural Resource Report NPS/NGPN/NRR - 2015/989
The National Park Service is concerned that increasing atmospheric nitrogen deposition caused by fossil fuel combustion and agricultural activities could adversely affect the northern Great Plains (NGP) ecosystems in its trust. The critical load concept facilitates communication between scientists and policy makers or land managers by translating the complex effects...
A sinuous tumulus over an active lava tube at Kīlauea Volcano: evolution, analogs, and hazard forecasts
Tim R. Orr, Jacob E. Bleacher, Matthew R. Patrick, Kelly M. Wooten
2015, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (291) 35-48
Inflation of narrow tube-fed basaltic lava flows (tens of meters across), such as those confined by topography, can be focused predominantly along the roof of a lava tube. This can lead to the development of an unusually long tumulus, its shape matching the sinuosity of the underlying lava tube. Such...
Impacts of fire management on aboveground tree carbon stocks in Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks
John R. Matchett, James A. Lutz, Leland W. Tarnay, Douglas G. Smith, Kendall M.L. Becker, Matthew L. Brooks
2015, Report, Natural Resource Report NPS/SIEN/NRR—2015/910
Forest biomass on Sierra Nevada landscapes constitutes one of the largest carbon stocks in California, and its stability is tightly linked to the factors driving fire regimes. Research suggests that fire suppression, logging, climate change, and present management practices in Sierra Nevada forests have altered historic patterns of landscape carbon...
Evaluation of vector coastline features extracted from 'structure from motion'-derived elevation data
Nicole Kinsman, Ann E. Gibbs, Matt Nolan
2015, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the Coastal Sediments 2015
For extensive and remote coastlines, the absence of high-quality elevation models—for example, those produced with lidar—leaves some coastal populations lacking one of the essential elements for mapping shoreline positions or flood extents. Here, we compare seven different elevation products in a lowlying area in western Alaska to establish their appropriateness...
Mobilization of microspheres from a fractured soil during intermittent infiltration events
Sanjay Mohanty, Mark Bulicek, David W. Metge, Ronald W. Harvey, Joseph N. Ryan, Alexandria B. Boehm
2015, Vadose Zone Journal (14)
Pathogens or biocolloids mobilized in the vadose zone may consequently contaminate groundwater. We found that microspheres were mobilized from a fractured soil during intermittent rainfall and the mobilization was greater when the microsphere size was larger and when the soil had greater water permeability.The vadose zone filters pathogenic microbes from...
Permissive tracts for sediment-hosted lead-zinc-silver deposits in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (phase V, deliverable 73)
Jeffrey L. Mauk
2015, Open-File Report 2013-1280-J
Although Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) deposits have not been recognized in Mauritania there are permissive tracts for these deposits in the regionally extensive Proterozoic carbonate rocks of the Taoudeni Basin. Permissive tracts for undiscovered MVT Pb-Zn-Ag deposits in the Proterozoic carbonate units are supported by the occurrences of MVT mineral and...
The origin of Mauna Loa's Nīnole Hills: Evidence of rift zone reorganization
Jeffrey Zurek, Glyn Williams-Jones, Frank A. Trusdell, Simon Martin
2015, Geophysical Research Letters (42) 8358-8366
In order to identify the origin of Mauna Loa volcano's Nīnole Hills, Bouguer gravity was used to delineate density contrasts within the edifice. Our survey identified two residual anomalies beneath the Southwest Rift Zone (SWRZ) and the Nīnole Hills. The Nīnole Hills anomaly is elongated, striking northeast, and in inversions...
To predict the niche, model colonization and extinction
Charles B. Yackulic, James D. Nichols, Janice Reid, Ricky Der
2015, Ecology (96) 16-23
Ecologists frequently try to predict the future geographic distributions of species. Most studies assume that the current distribution of a species reflects its environmental requirements (i.e., the species' niche). However, the current distributions of many species are unlikely to be at equilibrium with the current distribution of environmental conditions, both...
Reported industrial minerals occurrences and permissive areas for other occurrences in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, (phase V, deliverable 89)
William H. Langer
2015, Open-File Report 2013-1280-R
Previous PRISM reports discuss a variety of industrial minerals. Gypsum, phosphate, salt, stone, sulfur, and ilmenite command the majority of the attention in the earlier geologic reports. (Ilmenite is evaluated in a separate U.S. Geological Survey report in the current study). Asbestos, arsenic, barite, fluorite, and kaolin are listed in...
Algoma-, Superior-, and oolitic-type iron deposits of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (phase V, deliverable 83)
Cliff D. Taylor, Carol A. Finn, Eric D. Anderson, M. Y. Joud, M. A. Taleb, John D. Horton
2015, Open-File Report 2013-1280-O
High-grade hematitic iron ores (or HIF, containing 60–65 percent Fe) have been mined in Mauritania from Superior-type iron deposits since 1952. Depletion of the high grade ores in recent years has resulted in a number of new projects focused on lower grade magnetite ores in Algoma-type banded iron formation (or...
Mineral potential for sediment-hosted copper deposits in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (phase V, deliverable 75)
Cliff D. Taylor, Stuart A. Giles
2015, Open-File Report 2013-1280-K
The presence of Neoproterozoic through Cambrian, continental, siliciclastic sedimentary rocks interbedded with dolomitic carbonates, shales, and glacial tillites similar to the Katanga Supergroup host rocks of the Central African Copperbelt and other sediment-hosted copper-bearing Proterozoic sequences worldwide, is first order criteria for consideration of the Neoproterozoic units of the Taoudeni...
Ways to be different: Foraging adaptations that facilitate higher intake rates in a northerly wintering shorebird compared with a low-latitude conspecific
Daniel R. Ruthrauff, Anne Dekinga, Robert E. Gill Jr., Jan A. van Gils, Theunis Piersma
2015, Journal of Experimental Biology (218) 1188-1197
At what phenotypic level do closely related subspecies that live in different environments differ with respect to food detection, ingestion and processing? This question motivated an experimental study on rock sandpipers (Calidris ptilocnemis). The species' nonbreeding range spans 20 deg of latitude, the extremes of which are inhabited by two subspecies:...
Mineral potential for volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, (phase V, deliverable 77)
Cliff D. Taylor, Stuart A. Giles
2015, Open-File Report 2013-1280-L
Potential for base- and precious-metal-bearing volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits (VMS) exists in Mauritania in the greenstone belts of the southwestern Rgueïbat Shield and in the allochthonous portions of the central and southern Mauritanides. Additional potential exists for VMS deposits within the Tiris Complex of the central Rgueïbat Shield. Volcanosedimentary successions...
Hydrodynamic modeling to evaluate the influence of constructed side-channel habitat on larval drift of pallid strugeon in the Lower Missouri River
Susannah O. Erwin, Robert B. Jacobson
2015, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the joint federal interagency conference 2015: Proceedings of papers of the 5th federal interagency hydrologic modeling conference and the 10th federal interagency sedimentation conference (Proceedings of the 3rd joint federal interagency conference on sedimentation and hydrologic modeling)
Larval drift is a critical phase of ontogeny for many species of lotic fishes. Downstream advection and dispersion of drifting larvae or eggs is controlled by the complex interaction of flow regime, channel planform, local channel morphology, and the resulting hydraulic gradients. In many regulated rivers, channel engineering and perturbations...
Acidic deposition along the Appalachian Trail corridor and its effects on acid-sensitive terrestrial and aquatic resources
Gregory B. Lawrence, Timothy J. Sullivan, Douglas A. Burns, Scott W. Bailey, Bernard J. Cosby, Martin Dovciak, Holly A. Ewing, Todd C. McDonnell, Rakesh Minocha, Rachel Riemann, Juliana Quant, Karen C. Rice, Jason Siemion, Kathleen C. Weathers
2015, Report
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail (AT), a unit of the National Park Service (NPS), spans nearly 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine, encompassing a diverse range of ecosystems. Acidic deposition (acid rain) threatens the AT’s natural resources. Acid rain is a result of sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N) compounds produced...
Challenges to sea otter recovery and conservation
Brenda E. Ballachey, James L. Bodkin
2015, Book chapter, Sea otter conservation
Similar to other species that in recent centuries experienced unregulated human exploitation, sea otters were extirpated throughout large portions of their historic range in the North Pacific. For most of the twentieth century, with cessation of the fur trade and because of concerted efforts at conservation, sea otters recovered much...
Historic and Contemporary Status of Sea Otters in the North Pacific
James L. Bodkin
Shawn E. Larson, Arthur Gross, Glenn R. VanBlaricom, editor(s)
2015, Book chapter, Sea Otter Conservation
Similar to other species that in recent centuries experienced unregulated human exploitation, sea otters were extirpated throughout large portions of their historic range in the North Pacific. For most of the twentieth century, with cessation of the fur trade and because of concerted efforts at conservation, sea otters recovered much...
Combined effects of climate, predation, and density dependence on Greater and Lesser Scaup population dynamics
Beth E. Ross, Mevin Hooten, Jean-Michel DeVink, David N. Koons
2015, Ecological Applications (25) 1606-1617
An understanding of species relationships is critical in the management and conservation of populations facing climate change, yet few studies address how climate alters species interactions and other population drivers. We use a long-term, broad-scale data set of relative abundance to examine the influence of climate, predators, and density dependence...
Pollen and spores of terrestrial plants
Christopher E. Bernhardt, Debra A. Willard
Ian Shennan, Antony J. Long, Benjamin P. Horton, editor(s)
2015, Book chapter, Handbook of sea-level research
Pollen and spores are valuable tools in reconstructing past sea level and climate because of their ubiquity, abundance, and durability as well as their reciprocity with source vegetation to environmental change (Cronin, 1999; Traverse, 2007; Willard and Bernhardt, 2011). Pollan is found in many sedimentary environments, from freshwater to saltwater,...
Application and utility of a low-cost unmanned aerial system to manage and conserve aquatic resources in four Texas rivers
Timothy W. Birdsong, Megan Bean, Timothy B. Grabowski, Thomas B. Hardy, Thomas Heard, Derrick Holdstock, Kristy Kollaus, Stephan J. Magnelia, Kristina Tolman
2015, Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (2015) 80-85
Low-cost unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have recently gained increasing attention in natural resources management due to their versatility and demonstrated utility in collection of high-resolution, temporally-specific geospatial data. This study applied low-cost UAS to support the geospatial data needs of aquatic resources management projects in four Texas rivers. Specifically,...
National Park Service vegetation inventory program: Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, Minnesota
Kevin D. Hop, Jim Drake, Andrew C. Strassman, Erin E. Hoy, Joseph Jakusz, Shannon Menard, Jennifer Dieck
2015, Natural Resource Report NPS/GLKN/NRR—2015/1002
The Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MISS) vegetation mapping project is an initiative of the National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Inventory Program (VIP) to classify and map vegetation types of MISS. (Note: “MISS” is also referred to as “park” throughout this report.) The goals of the project are to...
Optimizing conservation strategies for Mexican freetailed bats: a population viability and ecosystem services approach
Ruscena Wiederholt, Laura Lopez-Hoffman, Colleen Svancara, Gary McCracken, Wayne E. Thogmartin, James E. Diffendorfer, Brady Mattson, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Paul M. Cryan, Amy Russell, Darius J. Semmens, Rodrigo A. Medellin
2015, Biodiversity and Conservation (24) 63-82
Conservation planning can be challenging due to the need to balance biological concerns about population viability with social concerns about the benefits biodiversity provide to society, often while operating under a limited budget. Methods and tools that help prioritize conservation actions are critical for the management of at-risk species. Here,...
Ordovician of Germany Valley, West Virginia
John T. Haynes, Keith E. Goggin, Randall C. Orndorff, Lisa R. Goggin
2015, Stratigraphy (12) 1-45
This trip will consist of stops at five locations (Fig. 1) that provide a detailed look at the strata in a major part of the Ordovician section in Germany Valley, Pendleton County, West Virginia. At these stops, we will highlight a varied sequence of carbonate and siliciclastic strata that accumulated during the...
