Major and trace element geochemistry and background concentrations for soils in Connecticut
Craig J. Brown, Margaret A. Thomas
2014, Northeastern Geoscience (32) 1-37
Soil samples were collected throughout Connecticut (CT) to determine the relationship of soil chemistry with the underlying geology and to better understand background concentrations of major and trace elements in soils. Soil samples were collected (1) from the upper 5 cm of surficial soil at 100 sites, (2) from the...
Summary of preliminary step-trend analysis from the Interagency Whitebark Pine Long-termMonitoring Program—2004-2013
Kristin Legg, Erin Shanahan, Rob Daley, Kathryn M. Irvine
2014, Natural Resource Data Series NPS/GRYN/NRDS—2014/600
In mixed and dominant stands, whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) occurs in over two million acres within the six national forests and two national parks that comprise the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). Currently, whitebark pine, an ecologically important species, is impacted by multiple ecological disturbances; white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola),...
Hydrologic alteration affects aquatic plant assemblages in an arid-land river
Mark R. Vinson, Bennett Hestmark, Mary E. Barkworth
2014, Southwestern Naturalist (59) 480-488
We evaluated the effects of long-term flow alteration on primary-producer assemblages. In 1962, Flaming Gorge Dam was constructed on the Green River. The Yampa River has remained an unregulated hydrologically variable river that joins the Green River 100 km downstream from Flaming Gorge Dam. In the 1960s before dam construction...
Mount Rainier National Park
Robert Hoffman, Andrea Woodward, Patricia K. Haggerty, Kurt J. Jenkins, Paul C. Griffin, M. J. Adams, Joan Hagar, Tonnie Cummings, Dan Duriscoe, Karen Kopper, Jon Riedel, Barbara Samora, Lelaina Marin, Guillaume S. Mauger, Karen Bumbaco, Jeremy S. Littell
2014, Report
Natural Resource Condition Assessments (NRCAs) evaluate current conditions for a subset of natural resources and resource indicators in national parks. NRCAs also report on trends in resource condition (when possible), identify critical data gaps, and characterize a general level of confidence for study findings. The resources and indicators emphasized in...
The misconception of ecosystem disservices: How a catchy term may yield the wrong messages for science and society
Ferdinando Villa, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Brian Voigt, Gary W. Johnson, Ioannis N Athanasiadis, Stefano Balbi
2014, Ecosystem Services (10) 52-53
In their recent article, Shapiro and Báldi (2014) build on the long-running narrative of “ecosystem services and disservices” (e.g., Zhang et al., 2007 ; Lyytimäki et al., 2008), describing how nature yields both benefits and harms to society. These harms include crop pests, floods, landslides, wildfires, and zoonotic disease transmission,...
Locking horns with Hawai‘i’s non-native ungulate issues
Steve C. Hess
2014, Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference (26) 21-25
Conservation and management interests for sustained-yield hunting of non-native ungulates in Hawai‘i have conflicted with the conservation of native biota for several decades. Hawaiian ecosystems evolved in the absence of large mammals and all currently hunted animals in Hawai‘i are non-native species. The best-studied aspects of Hawai‘i’s ungulates have dealt...
CyberShake-derived ground-motion prediction models for the Los Angeles region with application to earthquake early warning
Maren Bose, Robert Graves, David Gill, Scott Callaghan, Phillip J. Maechling
2014, Geophysical Journal International (198) 1438-1457
Real-time applications such as earthquake early warning (EEW) typically use empirical ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs) along with event magnitude and source-to-site distances to estimate expected shaking levels. In this simplified approach, effects due to finite-fault geometry, directivity and site and basin response are often generalized, which may lead to a...
New imaging of submarine landslides from the 1964 earthquake near Whittier, Alaska, and a comparison to failures in other Alaskan fjords
Peter J. Haeussler, Thomas E. Parsons, David P. Finlayson, Patrick J. Hart, Jason D. Chaytor, Holly F. Ryan, Homa J. Lee, Keith A. Labay, Andrew Peterson, Lee Liberty
2014, Book chapter, Submarine mass movements and their consequences, Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research Vol. 37
The 1964 Alaska M w 9.2 earthquake triggered numerous submarine slope failures in fjords of southern Alaska. These failures generated local tsunamis, such as at Whittier, where they inundated the town within 4 min of the beginning of shaking. Run-up was up to 32 m, with 13 casualties....
Forest ecosystem reorganization underway in the Southwestern US: A preview of widespread forest changes in the Anthropocene
Craig D. Allen
V. Alaric Sample, R. Patrick Bixler, editor(s)
2014, Proceedings RMRS-P-71
No abstract available....
Changes in vegetation and biological soil crust communities on sand dunes stabilizing after a century of grazing on San Miguel Island, Channel Island National Park, California
Kristine L. Zellman
2014, Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist (7) 225-245
San Miguel Island is the westernmost of the California Channel Islands and one of the windiest areas on the west coast of North America. The majority of the island is covered by coastal sand dunes, which were stripped of vegetation and subsequently mobilized due to droughts and sheep ranching during...
Stratigraphy, structure and regional correlation of eastern Blue Ridge sequences in southern Virginia and northwestern North Carolina: an interim report from new USGS mapping
Mark W. Carter, Arthur J. Merschat
2014, GSA Field Guides (35) 215-241
Examination of key outcrops in the eastern Blue Ridge in southern Virginia and northwestern North Carolina is used to evaluate existing stratigraphic and structural models. Recent detailed mapping along the Blue Ridge Parkway and the eastern flank of the Mount Rogers massif provides the opportunity to (1) evaluate legacy...
Applying threshold concepts to conservation management of dryland ecosystems: Case studies on the Colorado Plateau
Matthew A. Bowker, Mark E. Miller, Steven L. Garman, Travis Belote
Glenn R. Guntenspergen, editor(s)
2014, Book chapter, Application of threshold concepts in natural resource decision making
Ecosystems may occupy functionally distinct alternative states, some of which are more or less desirable from a management standpoint. Transitions from state to state are usually associated with a particular trigger or sequence of triggers, such as the addition or subtraction of a disturbance. Transitions are often not linear, rather...
USGS48 Puerto Rico precipitation - A new isotopic reference material for δ2H and δ18O measurements of water
Haiping Qi, Tyler B. Coplen, Lauren V. Tarbox, Jennifer M. Lorenz, Martha A. Scholl
2014, Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies (50) 442-447
A new secondary isotopic reference material has been prepared from Puerto Rico precipitation, which was filtered, homogenised, loaded into glass ampoules, sealed with a torch, autoclaved to eliminate biological activity, and calibrated by dual-inlet isotope-ratio mass spectrometry. This isotopic reference material, designated as USGS48, is intended to be one of...
Captive propagation, reproductive biology, and early life history of the Diamond Darter (Crystallaria cincotta)
Crystal L. Ruble, Patrick L. Rakes, John R. Shute, Stuart A. Welsh
2014, American Midland Naturalist (172) 107-118
Reproductive biology and early life history data are critical for the conservation and management of rare fishes. During 2008–2012 a captive propagation study was conducted on the Diamond Darter, Crystallaria cincotta, a rare species with a single extant population in the lower Elk River, West Virginia. Water temperatures during spawning ranged...
Evidence of natural reproduction by Muskellunge in middle Tennessee rivers
Lila H. Warren, Phillip William Bettoli
2014, Southeastern Naturalist (13) 506-514
Native Esox masquinongy (Muskellunge) in the Cumberland River drainage, TN, were nearly extirpated in the 1970s due to decades of over-fishing and habitat degradation from coal mining, logging, and other land-use practices. In an effort to preserve the species in that drainage, a stocking program began in 1976 in the upper Caney...
Development of a multimetric index for fish assemblages in a cold tailwater in Tennessee
Tomas J. Ivasauskas, Phillip William Bettoli
2014, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (143) 495-507
Tailwaters downstream of hypolimnetic-release hydropeaking dams exhibit a unique combination of stressors that affects the structure and function of resident fish assemblages. We developed a statistically and biologically defensible multimetric index of fish assemblages for the Caney Fork River below Center Hill Dam, Tennessee. Fish assemblages were sampled at five...
Landscapes of Santa Rosa Island, Channel Islands National Park, California
R. Randall Schumann, Scott A. Minor, Daniel R. Muhs, Jeffery S. Pigati
2014, Book chapter, Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist
Santa Rosa Island (SRI) is the second-largest of the California Channel Islands. It is one of 4 east–west aligned islands forming the northern Channel Islands chain, and one of the 5 islands in Channel Islands National Park. The landforms, and collections of landforms called landscapes, of Santa Rosa Island have...
Post-breeding migration of Dutch-breeding black-tailed godwits: timing, routes, use of stopovers, and nonbreeding destinations
Jos C. E. W. Hooijmeijer, Nathan R. Senner, T. Lee Tibbitts, Robert E. Gill Jr., David C. Douglas, Leo W. Bruinzeel, Eddy Wymenga, Theunis Piersma
2014, Ardea (101) 141-152
Conservation of long-distance migratory shorebirds is complex because these species use habitats spread across continents and hemispheres, making identification of critical habitats and potential bottlenecks in the annual cycle especially difficult. The population of Black-tailed Godwits that breeds in Western Europe, Limosa limosa limosa, has declined precipitously over the past...
Studying seafloor bedforms using autonomous stationary imaging and profiling sonars
Ellyn T. Montgomery, Christopher R. Sherwood
2014, Conference Paper, OCEANS 2013: Proceedings of a meeting held 23-27 September 2013, San Diego, California, USA
The Sediment Transport Group at the U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center uses downward looking sonars deployed on seafloor tripods to assess and measure the formation and migration of bedforms. The sonars have been used in three resolution-testing experiments, and deployed autonomously to observe changes in...
Groundwater conditions in Utah, spring of 2014
Carole B. Burden
2014, Cooperative Investigations Report 55
This is the fifty-first in a series of annual reports that describe groundwater conditions in Utah. Reports in this series, published cooperatively by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights, and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Water Quality, provide...
Arsenic speciation and sorption in natural environments
Kate M. Campbell, D. Kirk Nordstrom
2014, Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry (79) 185-216
Aqueous arsenic speciation, or the chemical forms in which arsenic exists in water, is a challenging, interesting, and complicated aspect of environmental arsenic geochemistry. Arsenic has the ability to form a wide range of chemical bonds with carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur, resulting in a large variety of compounds that...
Molecular signature of organic nitrogen in septic-impacted groundwater
William A. Arnold, Krista Longnecker, Kevin D. Kroeger, Elizabeth B. Kujawinski
2014, Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts (16) 2400-2407
Dissolved inorganic and organic nitrogen levels are elevated in aquatic systems due to anthropogenic activities. Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) arises from various sources, and its impact could be more clearly constrained if specific sources were identified and if the molecular-level composition of DON were better understood. In this work, the...
Water quality monitoring protocol for wadeable streams and rivers in the Northern Great Plains Network
Marcia H. Wilson, Barbara L. Rowe, Robert A. Gitzen, Stephen K. Wilson, Kara J. Paintner-Green
2014, Natural Resource Report NPS/NGPN/NRR—2014/868
Preserving the national parks unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations is a fundamental purpose of the National Park Service (NPS). To address growing concerns regarding the overall physical, chemical, and biological elements and processes of park ecosystems, the NPS implemented science-based management through “Vital Signs” monitoring in 270 national...
Survival of female white-cheeked pintails during brood rearing in Puerto Rico
Marisel Lopez-Flores, J. Brian Davis, Francisco Vilella, Richard M. Kaminski, Jose A. Cruz-Burgos, Joseph D. Lancaster
2014, Caribbean Naturalist (10) 1-12
Anas bahamensis (White-cheeked Pintail) is widely distributed across the Caribbean islands and South America. The species is classified as threatened in Puerto Rico and a species of least concern across most of its range. Little demographic data exist for the species, particularly during the breeding season. During 2000-2002, we radiomarked...
Assessment of lesser prairie-chicken use of wildlife water guzzlers
Clint W. Boal, Philip K. Borsdorf, Trevor S. Gicklhorn
2014, Bulletin of the Texas Ornithological Society (46) 10-18
Man-made water sources have been used as a management tool for wildlife, especially in arid regions, but the value of these water sources for wildlife populations is not well understood. In particular, the value of water as a conservation tool for Lesser Prairie-Chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) is unknown. However, this is...
