Difference infiltrometer: a method to measure temporally variable infiltration rates during rainstorms
John A. Moody, Brian A. Ebel
2012, Hydrological Processes (26) 3312-3318
We developed a difference infiltrometer to measure time series of non-steady infiltration rates during rainstorms at the point scale. The infiltrometer uses two, tipping bucket rain gages. One gage measures rainfall onto, and the other measures runoff from, a small circular plot about 0.5-m in diameter. The small size allows...
Uncertainty quantification for environmental models
Mary C. Hill, Dan Lu, Dmitri Kavetski, Martyn P. Clark, Ming Ye
2012, SIAM News (45)
Environmental models are used to evaluate the fate of fertilizers in agricultural settings (including soil denitrification), the degradation of hydrocarbons at spill sites, and water supply for people and ecosystems in small to large basins and cities—to mention but a few applications of these models. They also play a role...
Atmospheric inputs to watersheds of the Luquillo Mountains in eastern Puerto Rico: Chapter D in Water quality and landscape processes of four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico
Robert F. Stallard
Sheila F. Murphy, Robert F. Stallard, editor(s)
2012, Professional Paper 1789-D
Twenty years of precipitation-chemistry data from the National Atmospheric Deposition Program site at El Verde, Puerto Rico, demonstrate that three major sources control the composition of solutes in rain in eastern Puerto Rico. In order of importance, these sources are marine salts, temperate contamination from the Northern Hemisphere, and Sahara...
Coastal wetlands of Chesapeake Bay
Andrew H. Baldwin, Patrick J. Kangas, J. Patrick Megonigal, Matthew C. Perry, Dennis F. Whigham, Darold P. Batzer
Darold P. Batzer, Andrew H. Baldwin, editor(s)
2012, Book chapter, Wetland habitats of North America: Ecology and conservation concerns
Wetlands are prominent landscapes throughout North America. The general characteristics of wetlands are controversial, thus there has not been a systematic assessment of different types of wetlands in different parts of North America, or a compendium of the threats to their conservation. Wetland Habitats of North America adopts a geographic...
Land use, population dynamics, and land-cover change in eastern Puerto Rico: Chapter B in Water quality and landscape processes of four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico
William A. Gould, Sebastián Martinuzzi, Isabel K. Pares-Ramos, Sheila F. Murphy, Robert F. Stallard
Sheila F. Murphy, Robert F. Stallard, editor(s)
2012, Professional Paper 1789-B
We assessed current and historic land use and land cover in the Luquillo Mountains and surrounding area in eastern Puerto Rico, including four small subwatersheds that are study watersheds of the U.S. Geological Survey's Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB) program. This region occupies an area of 1,616 square kilometers,...
Weathering processes in the Rio Icacos and Rio Mameyes watersheds in Eastern Puerto Rico: Chapter I in Water quality and landscape processes of four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico
Heather L. Buss, Arthur F. White
Sheila F. Murphy, Robert F. Stallard, editor(s)
2012, Professional Paper 1789-I
Streams draining watersheds of the two dominant lithologies (quartz diorite and volcaniclastic rock) in the Luquillo Experimental Forest of eastern Puerto Rico have very high fluxes of bedrock weathering products. The Río Blanco quartz diorite in the Icacos watershed and the Fajardo volcaniclastic rocks in the Mameyes watershed have some...
Weathering, landscape equilibrium, and carbon in four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico: Chapter H in Water quality and landscape processes of four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico
Robert F. Stallard
Sheila F. Murphy, Robert F. Stallard, editor(s)
2012, Professional Paper 1789-H
The U.S. Geological Survey's Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB) program research in eastern Puerto Rico involves a double pair-wise comparison of four montane river basins, two on granitic bedrock and two on fine-grained volcaniclastic bedrock; for each rock type, one is forested and the other is developed. A confounding...
Landslides and sediment budgets in four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico: Chapter F in Water quality and landscape processes of four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico
Matthew C. Larsen
Sheila F. Murphy, Robert F. Stallard, editor(s)
2012, Professional Paper 1789-F
The low-latitude regions of the Earth are undergoing profound, rapid landscape change as forests are converted to agriculture to support growing population. Understanding the effects of these land-use changes requires analysis of watershed-scale geomorphic processes to better inform and manage this usually disorganized process. The investigation of hillslope erosion and...
Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources: Powder River Basin, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska: Chapter B in Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources
William H. Craddock, Ronald M. Drake II, John L. Mars, Matthew D. Merrill, Peter D. Warwick, Madalyn S. Blondes, Mayur A. Gosai, P.A. Freeman, Steven M. Cahan, Christina A. DeVera, Celeste D. Lohr
Peter D. Warwick, M.D. Corum, editor(s)
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1024-B
This report presents ten storage assessment units (SAUs) within the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska. The Powder River Basin contains a thick succession of sedimentary rocks that accumulated steadily throughout much of the Phanerozoic, and at least three stratigraphic packages contain strata that are suitable...
Effects of earthworms on slopewash, surface runoff, and fine-litter transport on a humid-tropical forested hillslope in eastern Puerto Rico: Chapter G in Water quality and landscape processes of four watersheds in eastern Puerto Rico
Matthew C. Larsen, Zhigang Liu Liu, Xiaoming Zou
Sheila F. Murphy, Robert F. Stallard, editor(s)
2012, Professional Paper 1789-G
Rainfall, slopewash (the erosion of soil particles), surface runoff, and fine-litter transport were measured in tropical wet forest on a hillslope in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico, from February 1998 until April 2000. Slopewash data were collected using Gerlach troughs at eight plots, each 2 square meters in area....
Precision of channel catfish catch estimates using hoop nets in larger Oklahoma reservoirs
David R. Stewart, James M. Long
2012, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (32) 1108-1112
Hoop nets are rapidly becoming the preferred gear type used to sample channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus, and many managers have reported that hoop nets effectively sample channel catfish in small impoundments (<200 ha). However, the utility and precision of this approach in larger impoundments have not been tested. We sought...
Holocene diatom flora and climate history of Medicine Lake, Northern California, USA
Scott W. Starratt
2012, Nova Hedwigia, Beiheft (141) 485-504
A 226-cm-long sediment core spanning the past ~ 11,400 years was recovered from Medicine Lake, on the Modoc Plateau in northeastern California. Diatom assemblages provide a record of lake level that is driven by local and regional climate changes and changes in basin morphology due to the activity of Medicine...
Developing accurate survey methods for estimating population sizes and trends of the critically endangered Nihoa Millerbird and Nihoa Finch.
P. Marcos Gorresen, Richard J. Camp, Kevin W. Brinck, Chris Farmer
2012, Technical Report HCSU-034
This report describes the results of a comparative study of bird survey methods undertaken for the purpose of improving assessments of the conservation status for the two endemic passerines on the Island of Nihoa—Nihoa Millerbird (Sylviidae: Acrocephalus familiaris kingi) and Nihoa Finch (Fringilidae: Telespiza ultima; also referred herein as millerbird...
Recent advances in applying decision science to managing national forests
Bruce G. Marcot, Matthew P. Thompson, Michael C. Runge, Frank R. Thompson, Steven McNulty, David Cleaves, Monica Tomosy, Larry A. Fisher, Bliss Andrew
2012, Forest Ecology and Management (285) 123-132
Management of federal public forests to meet sustainability goals and multiple use regulations is an immense challenge. To succeed, we suggest use of formal decision science procedures and tools in the context of structured decision making (SDM). SDM entails four stages: problem structuring (framing the problem and defining objectives and...
The hydrology of a drained topographical depression within an agricutlural field in north-central Iowa
Jason L. Roth, Paul D. Capel
2012, Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (55) 1801-1814
North-central Iowa is an agriculturally intensive area comprising the southeastern portion of the Prairie Pothole Region, a landscape containing a high density of enclosed topographical depressions. Artificial drainage practices have been implemented throughout the area to facilitate agricultural production. Vertical surface drains are utilized to drain the topographical depressions that...
Predicting biological condition in southern California streams
Larry R. Brown, Jason T. May, Andrew C. Rehn, Peter R. Ode, Ian R. Waite, Jonathan G. Kennen
2012, Landscape and Urban Planning (108) 17-27
As understanding of the complex relations among environmental stressors and biological responses improves, a logical next step is predictive modeling of biological condition at unsampled sites. We developed a boosted regression tree (BRT) model of biological condition, as measured by a benthic macroinvertebrate index of biotic integrity (BIBI), for streams...
Phylogeographic implications for release of critically endangered manatee calves rescued in Northeast Brazil
Fabia O. Luna, Robert K. Bonde, Fernanda L.N. Attademo, Jonathan W. Saunders, Gaia Meigs-Friend, Jose Zanon O. Passavante, Margaret E. Hunter
2012, Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems (22) 665-672
1. The Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus), a subspecies of the West Indian manatee, is a large-bodied marine mammal found in fresh, brackish, and marine habitats throughout the Caribbean Islands and Central and South America. Antillean manatees in Brazil are classified as critically endangered, with a census size of approximately...
Occurrence and potential sources of pyrethroid insecticides in stream sediments from seven U.S. metropolitan areas
Kathryn Kuivila, Michelle Hladik, Christopher G. Ingersoll, Nile E. Kemble, Patrick W. Moran, Daniel L. Calhoun, Lisa H. Nowell, Robert J. Gilliom
2012, Environmental Science & Technology (46) 4297-4303
A nationally consistent approach was used to assess the occurrence and potential sources of pyrethroid insecticides in stream bed sediments from seven metropolitan areas across the United States. One or more pyrethroids were detected in almost half of the samples, with bifenthrin detected the most frequently (41%) and in each...
Dissolved organic matter reduces algal accumulation of methylmercury
Allison C. Luengen, Nicholas S. Fisher, Brian A. Bergamaschi
2012, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (31) 1712-1719
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) significantly decreased accumulation of methylmercury (MeHg) by the diatom Cyclotella meneghiniana in laboratory experiments. Live diatom cells accumulated two to four times more MeHg than dead cells, indicating that accumulation may be partially an energy-requiring process. Methylmercury enrichment in diatoms relative to ambient water was measured...
Pathology in euthermic bats with white nose syndrome suggests a natural manifestation of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome
Carol U. Meteyer, Daniel Barber, Judith N. Mandl
2012, Virulence (3) 583-588
White nose syndrome, caused by Geomyces destructans, has killed more than 5 million cave hibernating bats in eastern North America. During hibernation, the lack of inflammatory cell recruitment at the site of fungal infection and erosion is consistent with a temperature-induced inhibition of immune cell trafficking. This immune suppression allows...
Catalog of earthquake hypocenters at Alaskan volcanoes: January 1 through December 31, 2011
James P. Dixon, Scott D. Stihler, John A. Power, Cheryl K. Searcy
2012, Data Series 730
Between January 1 and December 31, 2011, the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) located 4,364 earthquakes, of which 3,651 occurred within 20 kilometers of the 33 volcanoes with seismograph subnetworks. There was no significant seismic activity above background levels in 2011 at these instrumented volcanic centers. This catalog includes locations, magnitudes,...
United States Geological Survey fire science: Fire danger monitoring and forecasting
Jeff C. Eidenshink, Stephen M. Howard
2012, Fact Sheet 2012-3121
Each day, the U.S. Geological Survey produces 7-day forecasts for all Federal lands of the distributions of number of ignitions, number of fires above a given size, and conditional probabilities of fires growing larger than a specified size. The large fire probability map is an estimate of the likelihood that...
Prevalence of a potentially lethal parasite of wading birds in natural and agricultural wetlands in south Louisiana
Margaret C. Luent, Melissa Collins, Clinton Jeske, Paul Leberg
2012, Southeastern Naturalist (11) 415-422
Gambusia affinis (Western Mosquitofish) were sampled from 18 sites representing marsh, forested wetlands, and agricultural wetlands in south Louisiana to determine distribution and infection parameters of Eustrongylides ignotus, a potentially lethal nematode parasite of wading birds, (n = 400 per site). Overall, prevalence of infection was 0.3%, with significantly higher...
Landslides in Colorado, USA--Impacts and loss estimation for 2010
Lynn M. Highland
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1204
The focus of this study is to investigate landslides and consequent losses which affected Colorado in the year 2010. By obtaining landslide reports from a variety of sources, this report will demonstrate the feasibility of creating a profile of landslides and their effects on communities. A short overview of the...
Watershed regressions for pesticides (warp) models for predicting atrazine concentrations in Corn Belt streams
Wesley W. Stone, Robert J. Gilliom
2012, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (48) 970-986
Watershed Regressions for Pesticides (WARP) models, previously developed for atrazine at the national scale, are improved for application to the United States (U.S.) Corn Belt region by developing region-specific models that include watershed characteristics that are influential in predicting atrazine concentration statistics within the Corn Belt. WARP models for the...
