A spatial capture-recapture model to estimate fish survival and location from linear continuous monitoring arrays
Joshua K. Raabe, Beth Gardner, Joseph E. Hightower
2013, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (71) 120-130
We developed a spatial capture–recapture model to evaluate survival and activity centres (i.e., mean locations) of tagged individuals detected along a linear array. Our spatially explicit version of the Cormack–Jolly–Seber model, analyzed using a Bayesian framework, correlates movement between periods and can incorporate environmental or other covariates. We demonstrate the...
Discussion: Numerical study on the entrainment of bed material into rapid landslides
Richard M. Iverson
2013, Geotechnique (63) 887-888
A paper recently published in this journal (Pirulli & Pastor, 2012) uses numerical modelling to study the important problem of entrainment of bed material by landslides. Unfortunately, some of the basic equations employed in the study are flawed, because they violate the principle of linear momentum conservation. Similar errors exist...
Extreme rainfall, vulnerability and risk: a continental-scale assessment for South America
Charles J. Vorosmarty, Lelys Bravo de Guenni, Wilfred M. Wollheim, Brian A. Pellerin, David M. Bjerklie, Manoel Cardoso, Cassiano D’Almeida, Lilybeth Colon
2013, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
Extreme weather continues to preoccupy society as a formidable public safety concern bearing huge economic costs. While attention has focused on global climate change and how it could intensify key elements of the water cycle such as precipitation and river discharge, it is the conjunction of geophysical and socioeconomic forces...
Microhabitat selection, demography, and correlates of home range size for the King Rail (Rallus elegans)
Bradley A. Pickens, Sammy L. King
2013, Waterbirds (36) 319-329
Animal movements and habitat selection within the home range, or microhabitat selection, can provide insights into habitat requirements, such as foraging and area requirements. The King Rail (Rallus elegans) is a wetland bird of high conservation concern in the United States, but little is known about its movements, habitats, or...
Effects of riparian vegetation on topographic change during a large flood event, Rio Puerco, New Mexico, USA
M. C. Perignon, G.E. Tucker, Eleanor R. Griffin, Jonathan M. Friedman
2013, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (118) 1193-1209
The spatial distribution of riparian vegetation can strongly influence the geomorphic evolution of dryland rivers during large floods. We present the results of an airborne lidar differencing study that quantifies the topographic change that occurred along a 12 km reach of the Lower Rio Puerco, New Mexico, during an extreme event...
Representing the effects of alpine grassland vegetation cover on the simulation of soil thermal dynamics by ecosystem models applied to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
S. Yi, N. Li, B. Xiang, X. Wang, B. Ye, A. D. McGuire
2013, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (118) 1186-1199
Soil surface temperature is a critical boundary condition for the simulation of soil temperature by environmental models. It is influenced by atmospheric and soil conditions and by vegetation cover. In sophisticated land surface models, it is simulated iteratively by solving surface energy budget equations. In ecosystem, permafrost, and hydrology models,...
Temporal and spatial variability of global water balance
Gregory J. McCabe, David M. Wolock
2013, Climatic Change (120) 375-387
An analysis of simulated global water-balance components (precipitation [P], actual evapotranspiration [AET], runoff [R], and potential evapotranspiration [PET]) for the past century indicates that P has been the primary driver of variability in R. Additionally, since about 2000, there have been increases in P, AET, R, and PET for most...
Frameworks for amending reservoir water management
Ethan Mower, Leandro E. Miranda
2013, Lake and Reservoir Management (29) 194-201
Managing water storage and withdrawals in many reservoirs requires establishing seasonal targets for water levels (i.e., rule curves) that are influenced by regional precipitation and diverse water demands. Rule curves are established as an attempt to balance various water needs such as flood control, irrigation, and environmental benefits such as...
Ultimate pier and contraction scour prediction in cohesive soils at selected bridges in Illinois
Timothy D. Straub, Thomas M. Over, Marian M. Domanski
2013, Illinois Center for Transportation Series FHWA‐ICT‐13‐025
The Scour Rate In COhesive Soils-Erosion Function Apparatus (SRICOS-EFA) method includes an ultimate scour prediction that is the equilibrium maximum pier and contraction scour of cohesive soils over time. The purpose of this report is to present the results of testing the ultimate pier and contraction scour methods for cohesive...
Capacity, pressure, demand, and flow: A conceptual framework for analyzing ecosystem service provision and delivery
Amy M. Villamagna, Paul L. Angermeier, Elena M. Bennett
2013, Ecological Complexity (15) 114-121
Ecosystem services provide an instinctive way to understand the trade-offs associated with natural resource management. However, despite their apparent usefulness, several hurdles have prevented ecosystem services from becoming deeply embedded in environmental decision-making. Ecosystem service studies vary widely in focal services, geographic extent, and in methods for defining and measuring...
Status of exotic grasses and grass-like vegetation and potential impacts on wildlife in New England
Stephen DeStefano
2013, Wildlife Society Bulletin (37) 486-496
The Northeastern section of the United States, known as New England, has seen vast changes in land cover and human population over the past 3 centuries. Much of the region is forested; grasslands and other open-land cover types are less common, but provide habitat for many species that are currently...
Intrusive dike complexes, cumulate cores, and the extrusive growth of Hawaiian volcanoes
Ashton F. Flinders, Garrett Ito, Michael O. Garcia, John M. Sinton, Jim Kauahikaua, Brian Taylor
2013, Geophysical Research Letters (40) 3367-3373
The Hawaiian Islands are the most geologically studied hot-spot islands in the world yet surprisingly, the only large-scale compilation of marine and land gravity data is more than 45 years old. Early surveys served as reconnaissance studies only, and detailed analyses of the crustal-density structure have been limited. Here we present...
Implications of multi-scale sea level and climate variability for coastal resources
Christina Karamperidou, Victor Engel, Upmanu Lall, Erik Stabenau, Thomas J. Smith III
2013, Regional Environmental Change (13) 91-100
While secular changes in regional sea levels and their implications for coastal zone management have been studied extensively, less attention is being paid to natural fluctuations in sea levels, whose interaction with a higher mean level could have significant impacts on low-lying areas, such as wetlands. Here, the long record...
Role of a polymorphism in a Hox/Pax-responsive enhancer in the evolution of the vertebrate spine
Isabel Guerreiro, Andreia Nunes, Joost M. Woltering, Ana Casaca, Ana Novoa, Tania Vinagre, Margaret E. Hunter, Denis Duboule, Moises Mallo
2013, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (110) 10682-10686
Patterning of the vertebrate skeleton requires the coordinated activity of Hox genes. In particular, Hox10 proteins are essential to set the transition from thoracic to lumbar vertebrae because of their rib-repressing activity. In snakes, however, the thoracic region extends well into Hox10-expressing areas of the embryo, suggesting that these proteins...
Estimating abundance while accounting for rarity, correlated behavior, and other sources of variation in counts
Robert M. Dorazio, Juulien Martin, Holly H. Edwards
2013, Ecology (94) 1472-1478
The class of N-mixture models allows abundance to be estimated from repeated, point count surveys while adjusting for imperfect detection of individuals. We developed an extension of N-mixture models to account for two commonly observed phenomena in point count surveys: rarity and lack of independence induced by unmeasurable sources of...
Settlement of the USS Arizona, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Brad A. Carkin, Robert E. Kayen
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5096
The U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center, undertook investigations at the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 2002, 2003, and 2005 to characterize geological factors affecting the deterioration and movement of the hull of the USS Arizona. Since sinking on the...
Comparison of methods for predicting shear-wave velocities of unconsolidated shallow sediments in the Gulf of Mexico
Myung W. Lee
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5141
Accurate shear-wave velocities for shallow sediments are important for a variety of seismic applications such as inver-sion and amplitude versus offset analysis. During the U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored Gas Hydrate Joint Industry Project Leg II, shear-wave velocities were measured at six wells in the Gulf of Mexico using the logging-while-drilling...
U.S. mineral dependence—Statistical compilation of U.S. and world mineral production, consumption, and trade, 1990–2010
James J. Barry, Grecia R. Matos, W. David Menzie
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1184
This report provides insight into the dependence of the United States on foreign supply to meet the country’s mineral needs. When determining vulnerabilities to the U.S. supply, it is not enough to look solely at the mining source for each mineral to determine the potential impact that a supply disruption...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Colorado
William J. Carswell Jr.
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3050
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 Colorado, elevation data are critical for natural resources conservation, agriculture and precision farming, infrastructure and construction management, flood risk management, geologic resource...
Reconstructing vegetation response to altered hydrology and its use for restoration, Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Florida
Christopher E. Bernhardt, Laura A. Brandt, Bryan D. Landacre, Marci E. Marot, Debra A. Willard
2013, Wetlands (33) 1139-1149
We present reconstructed hydrologic and vegetation trends of the last three centuries across the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Florida in order to understand the effects of 20th century water management. We analyzed pollen assemblages from cores at marsh sites along three transects to document vegetation and infer...
Three new Psammothidium species from lakes of Olympic and Cascade Mountains in Washington State, USA
Mihaela D. Enache, Marina Potapova, Rich Sheibley, Patrick Moran
2013, Phytotaxa (127) 49-57
Populations of several Psammothidium species were found in core sediments from nine remote, high elevation, ultraoligotrophic and oligotrophic, Olympic and Cascade Mountain lakes. Three of these species, P. lacustre, P. alpinum, and P. nivale, are described here as new. The morphology of the silica frustules of these species was documented...
Histopathological analysis of fish from Acorn Fork Creek, Kentucky exposed to hydraulic fracturing fluid releases
Diana M. Papoulias, Anthony L. Velasco
2013, Southeastern Naturalist (12) 92-111
Fracking fluids were released into Acorn Fork, KY, a designated Outstanding State Resource Water, and habitat for the threatened Chrosomus cumberlandensis (Blackside Dace). As a result, stream pH dropped to 5.6 and stream conductivity increased to 35,000 μS/cm, and aquatic invertebrates and fish were killed or distressed. The objective of this study was to...
In vitro prion protein conversion suggests risk of bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) to transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
Christopher J. Johnson, A.R. Morawski, C.M. Carlson, H. Chang
2013, BMC Veterinary Research (9)
Background: Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) affect both domestic sheep (scrapie) and captive and free-ranging cervids (chronic wasting disease; CWD). The geographical range of bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis; BHS) overlaps with states or provinces that have contained scrapie-positive sheep or goats and areas with present epizootics of CWD in cervids. No...
A sand budget for Marble Canyon, Arizona: implications for long-term monitoring of sand storage change
Paul E. Grams
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3074
Recent U.S. Geological Survey research is providing important insights into how best to monitor changes in the amount of tributary-derived sand stored on the bed of the Colorado River and in eddies in Marble Canyon, Arizona. Before the construction of Glen Canyon Dam and other dams upstream, sandbars in Glen,...
Bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) movement in relation to water temperature, season, and habitat features in Arrowrock Reservoir, Idaho, 2012
Terry R. Maret, Justin E. Schultz
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5158
Acoustic telemetry was used to determine spring to summer (April–August) movement and habitat use of bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) in Arrowrock Reservoir (hereafter “Arrowrock”), a highly regulated reservoir in the Boise River Basin of southwestern Idaho. Water management practices annually use about 86 percent of the reservoir water volume to...
