Incorporating water quality analysis into navigation assessments as demonstrated in the Mississippi River Basin
Barbara Kleiss, Jennifer C. Murphy, Casey M. Mayne, Jake P. Allgeier, Amanda B. Edmondson, Katrina C. Ginsberg, Keaton E. Jones, Timothy J. Lauth, Emily L. Moe, Julie W. Murphy, Mead Allison
2021, Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering (147)
A description of historical and ambient water quality conditions is often required as part of navigational studies. This paper describes a series of tools developed by the USGS that can aid navigation managers in developing water quality assessments. The tools use R, a statistical software program, and...
Recovery and analysis of ancient beetle DNA from subfossil packrat middens using high-throughput sequencing
Aaron D. Smith, Marcin J. Kaminski, Kojun Kanda, Andrew D. Sweet, Julio L. Betancourt, Camille A. Holmgren, Elisabeth Hempel, Federica Alberti, Michael Hofreiter
2021, Scientific Reports (11)
The study of ancient DNA is revolutionizing our understanding of paleo-ecology and the evolutionary history of species. Insects are essential components in many ecosystems and constitute the most diverse group of animals. Yet they are largely neglected in ancient DNA studies. We report the results of...
Lower Granite Reservoir biological monitoring at 2015 disposal site
Rulon J Hemingway, Kenneth Tiffan
2021, Report
No abstract available....
Translocations maintain genetic diversity and increase connectivity in sea otters, Enhydra lutris
Shawn E. Larson, Roderick B. Gagne, James L. Bodkin, Michael J. Murray, Katherine Ralls, Lizabeth Bowen, Raphael Leblois, Sylvain Piry, Maria Cecilia Penedo, M. Tim Tinker, Holly B. Ernest
2021, Marine Mammal Science (37) 1475-1497
Sea otters, Enhydra lutris, were once abundant along the nearshore areas of the North Pacific. The international maritime fur trade that ended in 1911 left 13 small remnant populations with low genetic diversity. Subsequent translocations into previously occupied habitat resulted in several reintroduced populations along the coast...
Hemidactylus turcicus (Mediterranean Gecko). Endoparasite.
Chris T. McAllister, Charles R Bursey, Samuel R Fisher, Chelsea E Martin, Robert N. Fisher
2021, Herpetological Review (52) 408-409
Hemidactylus turcicus is a native of western India, Somalia, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean region and is one of the most successful invasive species in the world (Kraus. 2009. Alien Reptiles and Amphibians: A Scientific Compendium and Analysis. Springer Verlag, Berlin. 563 pp.). Since its introduction into the USA...
Evaluation of techniques for mitigating snowmelt infiltration-induced landsliding in a highway embankment
Eric Hinds, Ning Lu, Benjamin B. Mirus, Jonathan W. Godt, Alexandra Wayllace
2021, Engineering Geology (291)
Infiltration-induced landslides threaten transportation infrastructure around the world, and impose both direct costs through repair and remediation work and indirect costs through lost economic activity. Therefore, finding the most cost-effective techniques to mitigate slope failures that can impact critical infrastructure links is desirable. The Straight Creek landslide, which affects a...
When Wyoming became Superior: Oblique convergence along the southern Trans-Hudson orogen
Paul A. Bedrosian, Carol A. Finn
2021, Geophysical Research Letters (48)
The Trans-Hudson orogen (THO) is one of the best-preserved Proterozoic orogens on Earth, largely unaffected by subsequent tectonism, yet its southern extent lies concealed beneath the North American Central Plains. A new 3D resistivity model over the southern orogen is developed and interpreted alongside borehole, potential field,...
Surface-mining modeling for USGS coal assessments
Paul E. Pierce
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1059
The value of national coal deposits is determined for the Solid Fuel Energy Resources Assessment and Research Project through economic evaluations using hypothetical mining models. Deposits near the surface are evaluated with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) surface-mining model, which is patterned after the standard mining techniques and infrastructures of...
Decision analysis of barrier placement and targeted removal to control invasive carp in the Tennessee River Basin
Max Post van der Burg, David R. Smith, Aaron R. Cupp, Mark W. Rogers, Duane Chapman
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1068
Controlling range expansion of invasive carp (specifically Hypophthalmichthys spp.) on the Tennessee River is important to conserve the ecological and economic benefits provided by the river. We collaborated with State and Federal agencies (the stakeholder group) to develop a decision framework and decision support model to evaluate strategies to control...
Land use change influences ecosystem function in headwater streams of the Lowland Amazon Basin
Kathi Jo Jankowski, Linda A. Deegan, Christopher Neill, HIllary L. Sullivan, Paulo Ilha, Leonardo Maracahipes-Santos, Nubia C.S. Marques, Marcia N. Macedo
2021, Water (13)
Intensive agriculture alters headwater streams, but our understanding of its effects is limited in tropical regions where rates of agricultural expansion and intensification are currently greatest. Riparian forest protections are an important conservation tool, but whether they provide adequate protection of stream function in these areas of rapid tropical agricultural...
Burbot (Lota lota) exhibit plasticity in life-history traits in a small drainage at the southwestern-most extent of the species’ native range
Jeff Glaid, Christopher S. Guy, Paul C. Gerrity
2021, Journal of Applied Ichthyology (37) 875-884
Little is known about the life-history traits exhibited by burbot (Lota lota) throughout their circumpolar range. Monitoring PIT-tagged burbot between lentic and lotic habits and collection of demographic data (length, age, sex, and maturity) were used to answer the following questions in the Torrey Creek drainage of west-central Wyoming,...
Cyanotoxin occurrence in the United States: A 20 year retrospective
Jennifer L. Graham
2021, Lakeline (41) 8-11
Cyanobacterial blooms, and associated cyanotoxin occurrence, are a concern because of the potential harms posed to humans, wildlife, and aquatic ecosystem health. Evidence suggests the magnitude, frequency, and duration of cyanobacterial blooms are increasing, and these events represent a significant challenge to freshwaters and, increasingly, marine waters, worldwide. Cyanobacterial blooms...
Movement of sediment through a burned landscape: Sediment volume observations and model comparisons in the San Gabriel Mountains, California, USA
Francis K. Rengers, Luke A. McGuire, Jason W. Kean, Dennis M. Staley, Mariana Dobre, Peter R. Robichaud, Tyson Swetnam
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research (126)
Post-wildfire changes to hydrologic and geomorphic systems can lead to widespread sediment redistribution. Understanding how sediment moves through a watershed is crucial for assessing hazards, developing debris flow inundation models, engineering sediment retention solutions, and quantifying the role that disturbances play in landscape evolution. In this study,...
Sea otter population collapse in southwest Alaska: Assessing ecological covariates, consequences, and causal factors
M. Tim Tinker, James L. Bodkin, Lizabeth Bowen, Brenda Ballachey, Gena Bentall, Alexander Burdin, Heather Coletti, George G. Esslinger, Brian B. Hatfield, Michael C. Kenner, Kimberly A. Kloecker, Brenda Konar, A. Keith Miles, Daniel Monson, Michael J. Murray, Ben Weitzman, James A. Estes
2021, Ecological Monographs (91)
Sea otter (Enhydra lutris) populations in southwest Alaska declined substantially between about 1990 and the most recent set of surveys in 2015. Here we report changes in the distribution and abundance of sea otters, and covarying patterns in reproduction, mortality, body size and condition, diet and...
Is there an urban pesticide signature? Urban streams in five U.S. regions share common dissolved-phase pesticides but differ in predicted aquatic toxicity
Lisa H. Nowell, Patrick W. Moran, Laura M. Bexfield, Barbara Mahler, Peter C. Van Metre, Paul M. Bradley, Travis S. Schmidt, Daniel T. Button, Sharon L. Qi
2021, Science of the Total Environment (793)
Pesticides occur in urban streams globally, but the relation of occurrence to urbanization can be obscured by regional differences. In studies of five regions of the United States, we investigated the effect of region and urbanization on the occurrence and potential toxicity of dissolved...
Citizen science data collection for integrated wildlife population analyses
Catherine C. Sun, Jeremy E. Hurst, Angela K. Fuller
2021, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (9)
Citizen science, or community science, has emerged as a cost-efficient method to collect data for wildlife monitoring. To inform research and conservation, citizen science sampling designs should collect data that match the robust statistical analyses needed to quantify species and population patterns. Further increasing the contributions of citizen...
A new species of tree hyrax (Procaviidae: Dendrohyrax) from West Africa and the significance of the Niger–Volta interfluvium in mammalian biogeography
John F. Oates, Neal Woodman, Philippe Gaubert, Eric J. Sargis, Edward D. Wiafe, Emilie Lecompte, Francoise Dowsett-Lemaire, Robert J. Dowsett, Sery Gonedele Bi, Rachel A. Ikemeh, Chabi Djagoun, Louise Tomsett, Simon K. Bearder
2021, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
Tree hyraxes (Dendrohyrax) are one of only three genera currently recognized in Procaviidae, the only extant family in the mammalian order Hyracoidea. Their taxonomy and natural history have received little attention in recent decades. All tree hyrax populations of Guineo-Congolian forests of Africa are currently treated as a single species, Dendrohyrax...
Effects of tidally varying river flow on entrainment of juvenile salmon into Sutter and Steamboat Sloughs
Jason G. Romine, Russell Perry, Paul Stumpner, Aaron R. Blake, Jon R. Burau
2021, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science (19) 1-17
Survival of juvenile salmonids in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta (Delta) varies by migration route, and thus the proportion of fish that use each route affects overall survival through the Delta. Understanding factors that drive routing at channel junctions along the Sacramento River...
Processing coastal imagery with Agisoft Metashape Professional Edition, version 1.6—Structure from motion workflow documentation
Jin-Si R. Over, Andrew C. Ritchie, Christine J. Kranenburg, Jenna A. Brown, Daniel D. Buscombe, Tom Noble, Christopher R. Sherwood, Jonathan A. Warrick, Phillipe A. Wernette
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1039
IntroductionStructure from motion (SFM) has become an integral technique in coastal change assessment; the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) used Agisoft Metashape Professional Edition photogrammetry software to develop a workflow that processes coastline aerial imagery collected in response to storms since Hurricane Florence in 2018. This report details step-by-step instructions to...
Streambank erosion and related geomorphic change in Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California
Stephen B. DeLong, Alexandra J. Pickering, Timothy Kuhn
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5025
Landscape change in Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California, was characterized using data derived from four lidar surveys: one airborne survey in 2006 and three terrestrial surveys in 2016, 2017, and 2018. These surveys were used to generate a better quantitative understanding of changes associated with fluvial processes along the...
Monitoring and assessing urban heat island variations and effects in the United States
George Z. Xian
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3031
Landsat surface temperature and land cover products have been used to estimate surface temperatures in urban and surrounding nonurban areas and to quantify urban heat island intensity. Understanding the intensity and long-term temporal trends of urban heat islands enables the heat-related health challenges associated with heat waves to be monitored...
Hippopotamus movements structure the spatiotemporal dynamics of an active anthrax outbreak
Keenan Stears, Melissa H. Schmitt, Wendy Christine Turner, Douglas J. McCauley, Epaphras A. Muse, Halima Kiwango, Daniel Matheyo, Benezeth M. Mutayoba
2021, Ecosphere (12)
Globally, anthrax outbreaks pose a serious threat to people, livestock, and wildlife. Furthermore, environmental change can exacerbate these outbreak dynamics by altering the host–pathogen relationship. However, little is known about how the quantitative spatial dynamics of host movement and environmental change may affect the spread of Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent...
Seasonal controls on sediment delivery and hydrodynamics in a vegetated tidally influenced interdistributary island
Richard Styles, Gregg Snedden, S. Jarrell Smith, Duncan B. Bryant, Brandon M. Boyd, Joseph Z. Gailani, Brady Couvillion, Edward Race
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans (126)
River deltas are maintained by a continuous supply of terrestrial sediments that provide critical land building material to help sustain and protect vulnerable ecological communities and serve as natural storm protection barriers. Local hydrodynamics are important in determining the degree to which fluvial sediments are removed from...
Teleseismic waves reveal anisotropic poroelastic response of wastewater disposal reservoir
Andrew J. Barbour, Nicholas M. Beeler
2021, Earth and Planetary Physics (5) 1-12
Connecting earthquake nucleation in basement rock to fluid injection in basal, sedimentary reservoirs, depends heavily on choices related to the poroelastic properties of the fluid-rock system, thermo-chemical effects notwithstanding. Direct constraints on these parameters outside of laboratory settings are rare, and it is commonly assumed that the rock layers are...
Spatial Gaussian processes improve multi-species occupancy models when range boundaries are uncertain and nonoverlapping
Wilson Wright, Kathryn M. Irvine, Tom Rodhouse, Andrea R. Litt
2021, Ecology and Evolution (11) 8516-8527
Species distribution models enable practitioners to analyze large datasets of encounter records and make predictions about species occurrence at unsurveyed locations. In omnibus surveys that record data on multiple species simultaneously, species ranges are often nonoverlapping and misaligned with the administrative unit defining the spatial domain of interest (e.g.,...
