Periphyton biomass and community compositions as indicators of water quality in the Lower Grand River hydrologic unit, Missouri and Iowa, 2011–18
Heather M. Krempa
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5012
Biological communities, including periphyton, are continuously affected by chemical, physical, and other biological factors, and the health of these communities can reflect the overall health of the aquatic system. A diverse community is more robust, and communities with lower richness and evenness often indicate a degraded community dominated by few...
A customized framework for regional classification of conifers using automated feature extraction
Cali L. Roth, Peter S. Coates, K. Benjamin Gustafson, Michael P. Chenaille, Mark A. Ricca, Erika Sanchez-Chopitea, Michael L. Casazza
2021, MethodsX (8)
Pinyon and juniper expansion into sagebrush ecosystems is one of the major challenges facing land managers in the Great Basin. Effective pinyon and juniper treatment requires maps that accurately and precisely depict tree location and degree of woodland development so managers can target restoration efforts for early stages of pinyon...
White-nose syndrome-related changes to Mid-Atlantic bat communities across an urban-to-rural gradient
Sabrina M. Deeley, Joshua B. Johnson, W. Mark Ford, J. Edward Gates
2021, BMC Zoology (6) 1-11
BackgroundWhite-nose Syndrome (WNS) has reduced the abundance of many bat species within the United States’ Mid-Atlantic region. To determine changes within the National Park Service National Capital Region (NCR) bat communities, we surveyed the area with mist netting and active acoustic sampling (2016–2018) and compared findings to pre-WNS...
The 4th paradigm in multiscale data representation: Modernizing the National Geospatial Data Infrastructure
Barbara P. Buttenfield, Larry Stanislawski, Barry J. Kronenfeld, Ethan J. Shavers
Martin Werner, Yao-Yi Chiang, editor(s)
2021, Book chapter, Handbook of big geospatial data
The need of citizens in any nation to access geospatial data in readily usable form is critical to societal well-being, and in the United States (US), demands for information by scientists, students, professionals and citizens continue to grow. Areas such as public health, urbanization, resource management, economic development and environmental...
Bridging the research-implementation gap in avian conservation with translational ecology
Sarah P. Saunders, Joanna X. Wu, Elizabeth A. Gow, Evan A. Adams, Brooke L. Bateman, Trina Bayard, Stephanie Beilke, Ashley A. Dayer, Auriel Fournier, Kara Fox, Christoper Hamilton, Patricia J. Heglund, Susannah B. Lerman, Nicole L. Michel, Eben H. Paxton, Cagan H. Sekercioglu, Melanie A. Smith, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Mark S Woodrey, Charles van Riper III
2021, Ornithological Applications (123)
The recognized gap between research and implementation in avian conservation can be overcome with translational ecology, an intentional approach in which science producers and users from multiple disciplines work collaboratively to co-develop and deliver ecological research that addresses management and conservation issues. Avian conservation naturally lends itself to translational ecology...
Plasma metabolite indices are robust to extrinsic variation and useful indicators of foraging habitat quality in Lesser Scaup
Eric J. Smith, Michael J. Anteau, Heath M. Hagy, Christopher N. Jacques
2021, Ornithology (138)
Energy acquisition and storage are important for survival and fecundity of birds during resource-limited periods such as spring migration. Plasma-lipid metabolites (i.e. triglyceride [TRIG], β-hydroxybutyrate [BOHB]) have been used to index changes in lipid stores and, thus, have utility for assessing foraging habitat quality during migration. However, such an index...
The timing and magnitude of changes to Hortonian overland flow at the watershed scale during the post-fire recovery process
Taojun Liu, Luke A. McGuire, Haiyan Wei, Francis K. Rengers, Hoshin Gupta, Lin Ji, David C. Goodrich
2021, Water Resources Research (35)
Extreme hydrologic responses following wildfires can lead to floods and debris flows with costly economic and societal impacts. Process-based hydrologic and geomorphic models used to predict the downstream impacts of wildfire must account for temporal changes in hydrologic parameters related to the generation and subsequent routing...
Spatial data reduction through element -of-interest (EOI) extraction
Samantha Arundel, E. Lynn Usery
2021, Book chapter, Handbook of big geospatial data
Any large, multifaceted data collection that is challenging to handle with traditional management practices can be branded ‘Big Data.’ Any big data containing geo-referenced attributes can be considered big geospatial data. The increased proliferation of big geospatial data is currently reforming the geospatial industry into a data-driven enterprise....
Understanding constraints on submersed vegetation distribution in a large, floodplain river: The role of water level fluctuations, water clarity and river geomorphology
Alicia Carhart, John Kalas, James T. Rogala, Jason J. Rohweder, Deanne C. Drake, Jeffrey N. Houser
2021, Wetlands (41)
Aquatic vegetation is a key component of large floodplain river ecosystems. In the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS), there is a long-standing interest in restoring aquatic vegetation in areas where it has declined or disappeared. To better understand what constrains vegetation distribution in large river ecosystems and inform ongoing efforts...
Using the Landsat Burned Area products to derive fire history relevant for fire management and conservation in the state of Florida, southeastern USA
Casey Teske, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Todd Hawbaker, Joe Noble, J. Kevin Hires
2021, Fire (4)
Development of comprehensive spatially explicit fire occurrence data remains one of the most critical needs for fire managers globally, and especially for conservation across the southeastern United States. Not only are many endangered species and ecosystems in that region reliant on frequent fire, but fire risk analysis, prescribed fire planning,...
Stochastic inversion of gravity, magnetic, tracer, lithology, and fault data for geologically realistic structural models: Patua Geothermal Field case study
Ahinoam Pollack, Trenton T. Cladouhos, Michael W. Swyer, Drew L. Siler, Tapan Mukerji, Roland N. Horne
2021, Geothermics (95)
Financial risk due to geological uncertainty is a major barrier for geothermal development. Production from a geothermal well depends on the unknown location of subsurface geological structures, such as faults that contain hydrothermal fluids. Traditionally, geoscientists collect many different datasets, interpret the...
Comparative rhyolite systems: Inferences from vent patterns and eruptive episodicities: Eastern California and Laguna del Maule
Edward Hildreth
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research (126)
Distilling my experience in having field mapped in detail the volcanic fields at Laguna del Maule and Long Valley and having worked out their time-volume-composition magmatic histories, I compare and contrast the postglacial rhyolites of the former with six multi-vent eruptive sequences of rhyolite in California....
Responses of vertebrate wildlife to oil and natural gas development: Patterns and frontiers
Anna D. Chalfoun
2021, Current Landscape Ecology Reports (6) 71-84
Purpose of ReviewAnthropogenic activities can lead to the loss, fragmentation, and alteration of wildlife habitats. I reviewed the recent literature (2014–2019) focused on the responses of avian, mammalian, and herpetofaunal species to oil and natural gas development, a widespread and still-expanding land use worldwide....
Pathology of Lagovirus europaeus GI.2/RHDV2/b (rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2) in native North American lagomorphs
Julia S. Lankton, Susan Knowles, Saskia Keller, Valerie I. Shearn-Bochsler, Hon S. Ip
2021, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (57) 694-700
Rabbit hemorrhagic disease, a notifiable foreign animal disease in the US, was reported for the first time in wild native North American lagomorphs in April 2020 in the southwestern US. Affected species included the desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii), mountain cottontail (Sylvilagus nuttallii), black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus), and antelope jackrabbit (Lepus...
Methodology and technical input for the 2021 review and revision of the U.S. Critical Minerals List
Nedal T. Nassar, Steven M. Fortier
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1045
Pursuant to Section 7002 (“Mineral Security”) of Title VII (“Critical Minerals”) of the Energy Act of 2020 (Public Law 116–260, December 27, 2020, 116th Cong.), the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, is tasked with reviewing and revising the methodology used to evaluate...
Book Review: “From catastrophe to recovery: Stories of fisheries management successes” Krueger, C. C., Taylor, W. M., and Youn, S. J., editors
Joseph D. Zydlewski
2021, Fisheries Magazine (46) 340
No abstract available....
Legacy contaminant-stable isotope-age relationships in Lake Ontario year-class Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus)
James J. Pagano, James J. Garner, Brian Weidel, Daryl J. McGoldrick, Maureen G. Walsh, Thomas M. Holsen
2021, Journal of Great Lakes Research (47) 1086-1096
Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) are the preferred prey species of the top piscivore predators in the Lake Ontario food web and are an essential constituent in the bioaccumulation of persistent organic contaminants. Year-class samples collected in 2016 represent the alewife age ranges of 2015 (Age-01) sequentially dating back to 2008 (Age-08). The most abundant...
Mapping out a future for ungulate migrations
Matthew Kauffman, Francesca Cagnacci, Simon Chamaille-Jammes, Mark Hebblewhite, J. Grant C. Hopcraft, Jerod A. Merkle, Thomas Mueller, Atle Mysterud, Wibke Peters, Christiane Roettger, Alethea Steingisser, James Meacham, Kasahun Abera, Jan Adamczewski, Ellen O. Aikens, Hattie Bartlam-Brooks, Emily Bennitt, Joel Berger, Charlotte Boyd, Steeve D. Cote, Lucie Debeffe, Andrea S. Dekrout, Nandintsetseg Dejid, Emiliano Donadio, Luthando Dziba, William F. Fagan, Claude Fischer, S. Focardi, J. M. Fryxell, Richard W. S. Fynn, Chris Geremia, Benito A. Gonzalez, Anne Gunn, E. Gurarie, Marco Heurich, Jodi A. Hilty, Mark Hurley, Aran Johnson, Kyle Joly, Petra Kaczensky, Corinne J. Kendall, Pavel Kochkarev, Leonid Kolpaschikov, Rafal Kowalczyk, Frank van Langeveld, V. Li Binbin, Alex L. Lobora, Anne Loison, Tinaapi H. Madiri, David P. Mallon, Pascal Marchland, Rodrigo A. Medellin, Erling Meisingset, Evelyn Merrill, Arthur D. Middleton, Kevin Monteith, Malik Morjan, Thomas A. Morrison, Steffen Mumme, Robin Naidoo, A.J. Novaro, Joseph O. Ogutu, Kirk A. Olson, Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Ovejero Ramiro J.A., Norman Owen-Smith, Antti Paasivaara, Craig Packer, Danilla Panchenko, Luca Pedrotti, Andrew J. Plumptre, Christer Moe Rolandsen, Sonia Said, Albert Salemgareyev, Piotr Savchenko, Hall Sawyer, Moses Selebatso, Matthew Skroch, Erling J. Solberg, Jared A. Stabach, Olav Strand, Michael J. Suitor, Yasuyuki Tachiki, Anne Trainor, Arnold Tshipa, M.Z. Virani, Carly Vynne, Stephanie Ward, George Wittemyer, Wenjing Xu, Steffen Zuther
2021, Science (372) 566-569
Migration of ungulates (hooved mammals) is a fundamental ecological process that promotes abundant herds, whose effects cascade up and down terrestrial food webs. Migratory ungulates provide the prey base that maintains large carnivore and scavenger populations and underpins terrestrial biodiversity (fig. S1). When ungulates move in large aggregations, their hooves,...
Correlation of porosity variations and rheological transitions on the southern Cascadia megathrust
Hao Guo, Jeffrey J. McGuire, Haijiang Zhang
2021, Nature Geoscience (14) 341-348
The unknown onshore extent of megathrust earthquake rupture in the Cascadia subduction zone represents a key uncertainty in earthquake hazard for the Pacific Northwest that is governed by the physical state and mechanical properties of the plate interface. The Cascadia plate interface is segmented into an interseismically locked zone located...
TrendPowerTool: A lookup tool for estimating the statistical power of a monitoring program to detect population trends
Emily L. Weiser, James E. Diffendorfer, Laura Lopez-Hoffman, Darius J. Semmens, Wayne E. Thogmartin
2021, Conservation Science and Practice (3)
A simulation-based power analysis can be used to estimate the sample sizes needed for a successful monitoring program, but requires technical expertise and sometimes extensive computing resources. We developed a web-based lookup app, called TrendPowerTool (https://www.usgs.gov/apps/TrendPowerTool/), to provide guidance for ecological monitoring programs when resources are not...
Survival and growth of suckers in mesocosms at three locations within Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2018
Summer M. Burdick, Carla M. Conway, Carl O. Ostberg, Ryan J. Bart, Diane G. Elliott
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1036
Executive SummaryDue to high mortality in the first year or two of life, Lost River (Deltistes luxatus sp.) and Shortnose suckers (Chasmistes brevirostris sp.) in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon rarely reach maturity. In 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began the Sucker Assisted Rearing Program (SARP) to improve...
Hydraulic characterization of carbonate-rock and basin-fill aquifers near Long Canyon, Goshute Valley, northeastern Nevada
C. Amanda Garcia, Keith J. Halford, Philip M. Gardner, David W. Smith
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5021
Understanding groundwater flow and pumping effects near pending mining operations requires accurate subsurface hydraulic characterization. To improve conceptual models of groundwater flow and development in the complex hydrogeologic system near Long Canyon Mine, in northwestern Goshute Valley, northeastern Nevada, the U.S. Geological Survey characterized the hydraulic properties of carbonate...
Using next generation sequencing of alpine plants to improve fecal metabarcoding diet analysis for Dall’s sheep
Kelly E. Williams, Damian M. Menning, Eric J. Wald, Sandra L. Talbot, Kumi L. Rattenbury, Laura R. Prugh
2021, BMC Research Notes (14)
ObjectivesDall’s sheep (Ovis dalli dalli) are important herbivores in the mountainous ecosystems of northwestern North America, and recent declines in some populations have sparked concern. Our aim was to improve capabilities for fecal metabarcoding diet analysis of Dall’s sheep and other herbivores by contributing new sequence data for...
Responses of vertebrate wildlife to oil and natural gas development: Patterns and frontiers
Anna D. Chalfoun
2021, Current Landscape Ecology Reports (6) 71-84
Purpose of Review Anthropogenic activities can lead to the loss, fragmentation, and alteration of wildlife habitats. I reviewed the recent literature (2014–2019) focused on the responses of avian, mammalian, and herpetofaunal species to oil and natural gas development, a widespread and still-expanding land use worldwide. My primary goals were to...
eDNA metabarcoding outperforms traditional fisheries sampling and reveals fine-scale heterogeneity in a temperate freshwater lake
Rebecca R. Gehri, Wesley Larson, Kristen Gruenthal, Nicholas Sard, Yue Shi
2021, Environmental DNA (3) 919-929
Understanding biodiversity in aquatic systems is critical to ecological research and conservation efforts, but accurately measuring species richness using traditional methods can be challenging. Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding, which uses high-throughput sequencing and universal primers to amplify DNA from multiple species present in an environmental sample, has shown great promise...
