Colorado geology then and now: Following the route of the Colorado Scientific Society’s 1901 trip through central Colorado
Beth Simmons
Lon D. Abbott, Gregory S. Hancock, editor(s)
2013, Book chapter, Classic concepts and new directions: Exploring 125 years of GSA discoveries in the Rocky Mountain region
In 1901, Charles Van Hise asked Samuel Emmons and Whitman Cross to organize a grand excursion across Colorado as part of the combined meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, GSA, and the Colorado Scientific Society (CSS). This trip replays part of that 10-day excursion across Colorado....
A sediment budget for the southern reach in San Francisco Bay, CA: Implications for habitat restoration
Gregory Shellenbarger, Scott Wright, David H. Schoellhamer
2013, Marine Geology (345) 281-293
The South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project is overseeing the restoration of about 6000 ha of former commercial salt-evaporation ponds to tidal marsh and managed wetlands in the southern reach of San Francisco Bay (SFB). As a result of regional groundwater overdrafts prior to the 1970s, parts of the project...
High-resolution global maps of 21st-century forest cover change
M.C. Hansen, P.V. Potapov, R. Moore, M. Hancher, S.A. Turubanova, A. Tyukavina, D. Thau, S.V. Stehman, S.J. Goetz, Thomas R. Loveland, A. Kommareddy, Alexey Egorov, L. Chini, C.O. Justice, J.R.G. Townshend
2013, Science (342) 850-853
Quantification of global forest change has been lacking despite the recognized importance of forest ecosystem services. In this study, Earth observation satellite data were used to map global forest loss (2.3 million square kilometers) and gain (0.8 million square kilometers) from 2000 to 2012 at a spatial resolution of 30...
Tackling “boundary faults” across the Alaska-Yukon border: a report from the field
Rick Saltus
2013, Earth (58) 8-9
One day in late May, a team of geologists from two countries and four different organizations got together in a remote corner of the Yukon Territory to try to rectify a mapping discrepancy called a “boundary fault.”...
Comparing bacterial community composition between healthy and white plague-like disease states in Orbicella annularis using PhyloChip™ G3 microarrays
Christina A. Kellogg, Yvette M. Piceno, Lauren M. Tom, Todd Z. DeSantis, Michael A. Gray, David G. Zawada, Gary L. Andersen
2013, PLoS ONE (8)
Coral disease is a global problem. Diseases are typically named or described based on macroscopic changes, but broad signs of coral distress such as tissue loss or discoloration are unlikely to be specific to a particular pathogen. For example, there appear to be multiple diseases that manifest the rapid tissue...
The timing of sediment transport down Monterey Submarine Canyon, offshore California
Thomas Stevens, Charles K. Paull, William Ussler, Mary McGann, Jan-Pieter Buylaert, Eve M. Lundsten
2013, Geological Society of America Bulletin (126) 103-121
While submarine canyons are the major conduits through which sediments are transported from the continents out into the deep sea, the time it takes for sediment to pass down through a submarine canyon system is poorly constrained. Here we report on the first study to couple optically stimulated luminescence (OSL)...
Improving sediment-quality guidelines for nickel: development and application of predictive bioavailability models to assess chronic toxicity of nickel in freshwater sediments
Marnix L. U. Vangheluwe, Frederik A. M. Verdonck, John M. Besser, William G. Brumbaugh, Christopher G. Ingersoll, Christan E. Schlekat, Emily Rogevich Garman
2013, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (32) 2507-2519
Within the framework of European Union chemical legislations an extensive data set on the chronic toxicity of sediment nickel has been generated. In the initial phase of testing, tests were conducted with 8 taxa of benthic invertebrates in 2 nickel-spiked sediments, including 1 reasonable worst-case sediment with low concentrations of...
DOM composition in an agricultural watershed: assessing patterns and variability in the context of spatial scales
Peter J. Hernes, Robert G. M. Spencer, Rachel Y. Dyda, Brian A. Pellerin, Philip A. M. Bachand, Brian A. Bergamaschi
2013, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (121) 599-610
Willow Slough, a seasonally irrigated agricultural watershed in the Sacramento River valley, California, was sampled synoptically in order to investigate the extent to which dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations and compositions from throughout the catchment are represented at the mouth. DOC concentrations ranged from 1.8 to 13.9 mg L−1, with the lowest...
Calibration of semi-stochastic procedure for simulating high-frequency ground motions
Emel Seyhan, Jonathan P. Stewart, Robert Graves
2013, Earthquake Spectra (29) 1495-1519
Broadband ground motion simulation procedures typically utilize physics-based modeling at low frequencies, coupled with semi-stochastic procedures at high frequencies. The high-frequency procedure considered here combines deterministic Fourier amplitude spectra (dependent on source, path, and site models) with random phase. Previous work showed that high-frequency intensity measures from this simulation methodology...
Climate change's impact on key ecosystem services and the human well-being they support in the US
Erik J. Nelson, Peter Kareiva, Mary Ruckelshaus, Katie K. Arkema, Gary Geller, Evan Girvetz, Dave Goodrich, Virginia Matzek, Malin Pinsky, Walt Reid, Martin Saunders, Darius J. Semmens, Heather Tallis
2013, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (11) 483-493
Climate change alters the functions of ecological systems. As a result, the provision of ecosystem services and the well-being of people that rely on these services are being modified. Climate models portend continued warming and more frequent extreme weather events across the US. Such weather-related disturbances will place a premium...
Estimating animal resource selection from telemetry data using point process models
Devin S. Johnson, Mevin Hooten, Carey E. Kuhn
2013, Journal of Animal Ecology (82) 1155-1164
Analyses of animal resource selection functions (RSF) using data collected from relocations of individuals via remote telemetry devices have become commonplace. Increasing technological advances, however, have produced statistical challenges in analysing such highly autocorrelated data. Weighted distribution methods have been proposed for analysing RSFs with telemetry data. However, they can...
Global carbon dioxide emissions from inland waters
Peter A. Raymond, Jens Hartmann, Ronny Lauerwald, Sebastian Sobek, Cory P. McDonald, Mark Hoover, David Butman, Robert G. Striegl, Emilio Mayorga, Christoph Humborg, Pirkko Kortelainen, Hans H. Durr, Michel Meybeck, Philippe Ciais, Peter Guth
2013, Nature (503) 355-359
Carbon dioxide (CO2) transfer from inland waters to the atmosphere, known as CO2 evasion, is a component of the global carbon cycle. Global estimates of CO2 evasion have been hampered, however, by the lack of a framework for estimating the inland water surface area and gas transfer velocity and by the absence...
Baseline coastal oblique aerial photographs collected from Pensacola, Florida, to Breton Islands, Louisiana, February 7, 2012
Karen L.M. Morgan, M. Dennis Krohn, Kara Doran, Kristy K. Guy
2013, Data Series 799
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducts baseline and storm response photography missions to document and understand the changes in vulnerability of the Nation's coasts to extreme storms (Morgan, 2009). On February 7, 2012, the USGS conducted an oblique aerial photographic survey from Pensacola, Fla., to Breton Islands, La., aboard a...
Restoring the Great Lakes: DOI stories of success and partnership in implementing the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Indian Affairs
2013, Report
The Great Lakes are a monumentally unique national treasure containing nearly ninety-five percent of the United States' fresh surface water. Formed by receding glaciers, the Great Lakes support a thriving, resilient ecosystem rich with fish, wildlife, and abundant natural resources. The Great Lakes also support an array of commercial uses,...
Extreme CO2 disturbance and the resilience of soil microbial communities
Jack W. McFarland, Mark P. Waldrop, Monica Haw
2013, Soil Biology and Biochemistry (65) 274-286
Carbon capture and storage (CSS) technology has the potential to inadvertently release large quantities of CO2 through geologic substrates and into surrounding soils and ecosystems. Such a disturbance has the potential to not only alter the structure and function of plant and animal communities, but also...
Refinement of regression models to estimate real-time concentrations of contaminants in the Menomonee River drainage basin, southeast Wisconsin, 2008-11
Austin K. Baldwin, Dale M. Robertson, David A. Saad, Christopher Magruder
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5174
In 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District initiated a study to develop regression models to estimate real-time concentrations and loads of chloride, suspended solids, phosphorus, and bacteria in streams near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. To collect monitoring data for calibration of models, water-quality sensors and automated samplers...
Groundwater and surface-water interaction within the upper Smith River Watershed, Montana 2006-2010
Rodney R. Caldwell, Cheryl A. Eddy-Miller
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5051
The 125-mile long Smith River, a tributary of the Missouri River, is highly valued as an agricultural resource and for its many recreational uses. During a drought starting in about 1999, streamflow was insufficient to meet all of the irrigation demands, much less maintain streamflow needed for boating and viable...
Evidence for 20th century climate warming and wetland drying in the North American Prairie Pothole Region
B. A. Werner, W. Carter Johnson, Glenn R. Guntenspergen
2013, Ecology and Evolution (3) 3471-3482
The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America is a globally important resource that provides abundant and valuable ecosystem goods and services in the form of biodiversity, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood attenuation, and water and forage for agriculture. Numerous studies have found these wetlands, which number in the millions,...
Nitrate Trends in Minnesota Rivers
Dave Wall, Dave Christopherson, Dave Lorenz, Gary Martin
2013, Book chapter, Nitrogen in Minnesota surface waters:
The objective of this study was to assess long-term trends (30 to 35 years) of flow-adjusted concentrations of nitrite+nitrate-N (hereinafter referred to as nitrate) in a way that would allow us to discern changing trends. Recognizing that these trends are commonly different from one river to another river and from...
Predicting invasion in grassland ecosystems: Is exotic dominance the real embarrassment of richness?
Eric Seabloom, Elizabeth Borer, Yvonne Buckley, Elsa E. Cleland, Kendi Davies, Jennifer Firn, W. Stanley Harpole, Yann Hautier, Eric M. Lind, Andrew MacDougall, John L. Orrock, Suzanne M. Prober, Peter Adler, Juan Alberti, T. Michael Anderson, Jonathan D. Bakker, Lori A. Biederman, Dana Blumenthal, Cynthia S. Brown, Lars A. Brudvig, Maria Caldeira, Cheng-Jin Chu, Michael J. Crawley, Pedro Daleo, Ellen Ingman Damschen, Carla M. D'Antonio, Nicole M. DeCrappeo, Chris R. Dickman, Guozhen Du, Philip A. Fay, Paul Frater, Daniel S. Gruner, Nicole Hagenah, Andrew Hector, Aveliina Helm, Helmut Hillebrand, Kirsten S. Hofmockel, Hope C. Humphries, Oscar Iribarne, Virginia L. Jin, Adam Kay, Kevin P. Kirkman, Julia A. Klein, Johannes M.H. Knops, Kimberly J. La Pierre, Laura M. Ladwig, Lambrinos, G. John, Andrew D.B. Leakey, Qi Li, Wei Li, Rebecca McCulley, Brett Melbourne, Mitchell, E. Charles, Joslin L. Moore, John Morgan, Brent Mortensen, Lydia R. O’Halloran, Meelis Pärtel, Jesus Pascual, David A. Pyke, Anita C. Risch, Roberto Salguero-Gomez, Mahesh Sankaran, Martin Schuetz, Anna Simonsen, Melinda Smith, Carly Stevens, Lauren Sullivan, Glenda M. Wardle, Elizabeth M. Wolkovich, Peter D. Wragg, Justin Wright, Louie Yang
2013, Global Change Biology (19) 3677-3687
Invasions have increased the size of regional species pools, but are typically assumed to reduce native diversity. However, global-scale tests of this assumption have been elusive because of the focus on exotic species richness, rather than relative abundance. This is problematic because low invader richness can indicate invasion resistance by...
Creating potentiometric surfaces from combined water well and oil well data in the midcontinent of the United States
Nicholas J. Gianoutsos, Philip H. Nelson
2013, Book, 125th Anniversary Annual Meeting & Expo: The Geological Society of America
For years, hydrologists have defined potentiometric surfaces using measured hydraulic-head values in water wells from aquifers. Down-dip, the oil and gas industry is also interested in the formation pressures of many of the same geologic formations for the purpose of hydrocarbon recovery. In oil and gas exploration, drillstem tests (DSTs)...
Characterization of cyanophyte biomass in a Bureau of Reclamation reservoir
Nancy S. Simon, Ahmad Abdul Ali, Kyle Michael Samperton, Charles S. Korson, Kris Fischer, Michael L. Hughes
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1156
The purpose of this study was to characterize the cyanophyte Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (AFA) from Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, (UKL) and, based on this description, explore uses for AFA, which would have commercial value. AFA collected from UKL in 2010 from eight sites during a period of approximately 2 weeks were...
Improving regression-model-based streamwater constituent load estimates derived from serially correlated data
Brent T. Aulenbach
2013, Journal of Hydrology (503) 55-66
A regression-model based approach is a commonly used, efficient method for estimating streamwater constituent load when there is a relationship between streamwater constituent concentration and continuous variables such as streamwater discharge, season and time. A subsetting experiment using a 30-year dataset of daily suspended sediment observations from the Mississippi River...
Evaluating greater sage-grouse seasonal space use relative to leks: Implications for surface use designations in sagebrush ecosystems
Michael L. Casazza, Peter S. Coates
2013, Journal of Wildlife Management (77) 1598-1609
The development of anthropogenic structures, especially those related to energy resources, in sagebrush ecosystems is an important concern among developers, conservationists, and land managers in relation to greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter, sage-grouse) populations. Sage-grouse are dependent on sagebrush ecosystems to meet their seasonal life-phase requirements, and research indicates that...
Is reduced benthic flux related to the Diporeia decline? Analysis of spring blooms and whiting events in Lake Ontario
James M. Watkins, Lars G. Rudstam, Darran L. Crabtree, Maureen Walsh
2013, Journal of Great Lakes Research (39) 395-403
Benthic monitoring by USGS off the southern shore of Lake Ontario from October 1993 to October 1995 provides a detailed view of the early stages of the decline of the native amphipod Diporeia. A loss of the 1994 and 1995 year classes of Diporeia preceded the disappearance of the native...
