Citizen science collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska
Elizabeth Powers, Dee Williams
2020, Fact Sheet 2020-3026
Citizen science is science undertaken by the public, usually in collaboration with professional scientific institutions. It encourages citizens to tackle real-world scientific problems and augments traditional science by expanding the coverage of data collection and by reducing costs of fieldwork in remote locations. Information collected by volunteers enables us all...
A not so sudden impact—Historical relations between conifers and insects can help predict damage by nonnative insects
Lekeah A. Durden, Ashley N. Schulz, Angela M. Mech, Kathryn A. Thomas
2020, Fact Sheet 2020-3039
The arrival and establishment of nonnative insects in North America is increasingly problematic. International trade has created opportunities to move wood products and nursery stock worldwide, which has increased the risk of insect introduction to regions or countries where they are not native. One group of researchers, the High-impact Insect Invasions Working Group (HIIWG), has developed...
Geological and thermal control of the hydrothermal system in northern Yellowstone Lake: Inferences from high resolution magnetic surveys
Claire Bouligand, Maurice A. Tivey, Carol A. Finn, Lisa A Morgan, W. C. Pat Shanks III, Robert A. Sohn
2020, Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth (125)
A multiscale magnetic survey of the northern basin of Yellowstone Lake was undertaken in 2016 as part of the Hydrothermal Dynamics of Yellowstone Lake Project (HD‐YLAKE)—a broad research effort to characterize the cause‐and‐effect relationships between geologic and environmental processes and hydrothermal activity on the lake floor. The magnetic survey includes...
Chemical constituent concentrations in stream water, streambed sediment, and soils of Fort Belvoir, Virginia—A characterization of ambient conditions in 2019
Karen C. Rice, Douglas B. Chambers
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1059
IntroductionThe U.S. Army Fort Belvoir (FTBL) installation is on the banks of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, northeastern Virginia. The installation was founded by the U.S. Army during World War I. It has been home to a variety of military organizations over the course of its more than 100-year...
Groundwater quality in relation to drinking water health standards and geochemical characteristics for 54 domestic wells in Clinton County, Pennsylvania, 2017
John W. Clune, Charles A. Cravotta III
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5022
Despite the reliance on groundwater by approximately 2.4 million rural Pennsylvania residents, publicly available data to characterize the quality of private well water are limited. As part of a regional effort to characterize groundwater in rural areas of Pennsylvania, samples from 54 domestic wells in Clinton County were collected and...
A standard operating procedure for the preparation of purposely killed juvenile salmon used to test survival model assumptions
Ryan G. Tomka, Theresa L. Liedtke, Conrad Frost, Collin D. Smith
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1083
This document describes a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the preparation of purposely killed juvenile salmon, implanted with telemetry transmitters, to be released into rivers, lakes, or streams to test one of the survival model assumptions. Procedures for releases of purposely killed fish (hereinafter dead fish releases) were developed by...
The role of phosphorus and nitrogen on chlorophyll a: Evidence from hundreds of lakes
Zhongyao Liang, Patricia A. Soranno, Tyler Wagner
2020, Water Research (185)
The effect of nutrients on phytoplankton biomass in lakes continues to be a subject of debate by aquatic scientists. However, determining whether or not chlorophyll a (CHL) is limited by phosphorus (P) and/or nitrogen (N) is rarely considered using a probabilistic method in studies of hundreds of lakes across broad spatial extents....
Evidence for a diagenetic origin of Vera Rubin Ridge, Gale Crater, Mars: Summary and synthesis of Curiosity's exploration campaign
Abigail A. Fraeman, Lauren A. Edgar, Elizabeth B. Rampe, Lucy M. Thompson, Jens Frydenvang, Christopher M. Fedo, Jeff G. Catalano, William E. Dietrich, Travis S. J. Gabriel, John P. Grotzinger, Jonas L’Haridon, Nicholas Mangold, Vivian Z. Sun, Christopher H House, Alexander Bryk, Craig Hardgrove, Sean Czarnecki, Kathryn M. Stack, Richard V. Morris, Ray E. Arvidson, Steve G. Banham, Kristen A. Bennett, Jon C. Bridges, Christopher S. Edwards, Woodward W. Fischer, Valerie K. Fox, Sanjeev Gupta, Briony H. N. Horgan, Sammantha R. Jacob, Jeffrey R. Johnson, Sarah S. Johnson, David R. Rubin, Mark R Salvatore, Susanne P. Schwenzer, Kirsten L. Siebach, Nathan T. Stein, Stuart Turner, Danika F. Wellington, Roger C. Wiens, Amy J. Williams, G.A. Davidson, Gregory M. Wong
2020, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (125)
This paper provides an overview of the Curiosity rover's exploration at Vera Rubin ridge (VRR) and summarizes the science results. VRR is a distinct geomorphic feature on lower Aeolis Mons (informally known as Mount Sharp) that was identified in orbital data based on its distinct texture, topographic expression, and association with a...
A guidebook to spatial datasets for conservation planning under climate change in the Pacific Northwest
Jennifer M. Cartwright, Travis Belote, Kyle W. Blasch, Steve Campbell, Jeanne C. Chambers, Raymond J. Davis, Solomon Dobrowski, Jason B. Dunham, Diana Gergel, Daniel Isaak, Kristin Jaeger, Meade Krosby, Jesse Langdon, Joshua J. Lawler, Caitlin E. Littlefield, Charles H. Luce, Jeremy D Maestas, Anthony Martinez, Arjan J.H. Meddens, Julia Michalak, Sean A. Parks, Wendy Peterman, Ken Popper, Chris Ringo, Roy Sando, Michael Schindel, Diana Stralberg, David M. Theobald, Nathan Walker, Chad Wilsey, Zhiqiang Yang, Andrew Yost
Jennifer M. Cartwright, editor(s)
2020, Report
This guidebook provides user-friendly overviews of a variety of spatial datasets relevant to conservation and management of natural resources in the face of climate change in the Pacific Northwest, United States. Each guidebook chapter was created using a standardized template to summarize a spatial dataset or a group of closely...
Thiamine concentrations in lake trout and Atlantic salmon eggs during 14 years following the invasion of alewife in Lake Champlain
Bret J. Ladago, Matthew H. Futia, William R. Ardren, Dale C. Honeyfield, Kevin P. Kelsey, Carrie L. Kozel, Stephen Riley, Jacques Rinchard, Donald E. Tillitt, James L. Zajicek, J. Ellen Marsden
2020, Journal of Great Lakes Research (45) 1340-1348
Thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency in Great Lakes salmonines has been linked to consumption of alewife Alosa pseudoharengus. Thiamine deficiency has been recognized as a possible impediment to lake trout Salvelinus namaycush recruitment in the Great Lakes and Atlantic salmon Salmo salar recruitment in the Finger Lakes and Baltic Sea. Alewife invaded Lake Champlain in 2003...
Sediment delivery to marsh platforms minimized by source decoupling and flux convergence
Daniel Coleman, Neil K. Ganju, Matt L. Kirwan
2020, Geophysical Research Letters (125)
Sediment supply is a primary factor in determining marsh response to sea level rise and is typically approximated through high‐resolution measurements of suspended sediment concentrations (SSCs) from adjacent tidal channels. However, understanding sediment transport across the marsh itself remains limited by discontinuous measurements of SSC over individual...
Integrating perspectives to understand lake ice dynamics in a changing world
Sapna Sharma, Michael F. Meyer, Joshua Culpepper, Xiao Yang, Stephanie Hampton, Stella A. Berger, Matthew R. Brousil, Steven C. Fradkin, Scott N. Higgins, Kathi Jo Jankowski, Georgiy Kirillin, Adrianne P Smits, Emily C. Whitaker, Foad Yousef, Shuai Zhang
2020, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (125)
Ice cover plays a critical role in physical, biogeochemical, and ecological processes in lakes. Despite its importance, winter limnology remains relatively understudied. Here, we provide a primer on the predominant drivers of freshwater lake ice cover and the current methodologies used to study lake ice, including in...
Importance of accurately quantifying internal loading in developing phosphorus reduction strategies for a chain of shallow lakes
Dale M. Robertson, Matthew W. Diebel
2020, Lake and Reservoir Management (36) 391-411
The Winnebago Pool is a chain of 4 shallow lakes in Wisconsin. Because of high external phosphorus (P) inputs to the lakes, the lakes became highly eutrophic, with much P contained in their sediments. In developing a total maximum daily load (TMDL) for these lakes, it is...
Comparison of storm runoff models for a small watershed in an urban metropolitan area, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Zachary M. Shephard, Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5058
In order to comply with a current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency watershed-based National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, the City of Albuquerque required a better understanding of the rainfall-runoff processes in its small urban watersheds. That requirement prompted the initiation of the assessment of three existing watershed models that were...
Large-scale erosion driven by intertidal eelgrass loss in an estuarine environment
Ryan K. Walter, Jenifer K. O’Leary, Sean Vitousek, Mohsen Taherkhani, Carolyn Geraghty, Ann Kitajima
2020, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (243)
Seagrasses influence local hydrodynamics by inducing drag on the flow and dampening near-bed velocities and wave energy. When seagrasses are lost, near-bed currents and wave energy can increase, which enhances bottom shear stresses, destabilizes sediment, and promotes suspension and erosion. Though seagrasses are being lost rapidly globally, the magnitude of...
DNA metabarcoding of feces to infer summer diet of Pacific walruses
Sarah A. Sonsthagen, Chadwick V. Jay, Robert S. Cornman, Anthony S. Fischbach, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, Sandra L. Talbot
2020, Marine Mammal Science (36) 1196-1211
Environmental conditions in the Chukchi Sea are changing rapidly and may alter the abundance and distribution of marine species and their benthic prey. We used a metabarcoding approach to identify potentially important prey taxa from Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) fecal samples (n = 87). Bivalvia was the most dominant class...
Key components and contrasts in the nitrogen budget across a US-Canadian transboundary watershed
Jiajia Lin, Jana Compton, Chris Clark, Shabtai Bittman, Donna Schwede, Peter Homann, Peter Kiffney, David Hooper, Gary Bahr, Jill S. Baron
2020, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (125)
Watershed nitrogen (N) budgets provide insights into drivers and solutions for groundwater and surface water N contamination. We constructed a comprehensive N budget for the transboundary Nooksack River Watershed (British Columbia, Canada, and Washington, USA) using locally derived data, national statistics, and standard parameters. Feed imports...
Monitoring and real-time modeling of Escherichia coli bacteria for the Chattahoochee River, Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Georgia, 2000–2019
Brent T. Aulenbach, Anna M. McKee
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1048
The Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (CRNRA) is a National Park Service unit/park with 48 miles of urban waterway in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Chattahoochee River within the CRNRA is a popular place for water-based recreation but is known to periodically experience elevated levels of fecal-coliform bacteria associated with...
Pesticide concentrations associated with augmented flow pulses in the Yolo Bypass and Cache Slough Complex, California
James L. Orlando, Matt De Parsia, Corey J. Sanders, Michelle L. Hladik, Jared Frantzich
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1076
Surface-water and suspended-sediment samples were collected and analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey for multiple current-use pesticides and pesticide degradates approximately every 2 weeks at up to five sites in the Yolo Bypass and Cache Slough Complex before, during, and after augmented flow pulses in summer and fall 2016 and...
Benthic habitat is an integral part of freshwater Mysis ecology
Jason D. Stockwell, Brian O’Malley, Sture Hansson, Rosie C Chapina, Lars G. Rudstam, Brian Weidel
2020, Freshwater Biology (65) 1997-2009
Diel vertical migration (DVM) is common in aquatic organisms. The trade‐off between reduced predation risk in deeper, darker waters during the day and increased foraging opportunities closer to the surface at night is a leading hypothesis for DVM behaviour.Diel vertical migration behaviour has dominated research and assessment frameworks for Mysis ,...
An invasive disease, sylvatic plague, increases fragmentation of black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) colonies
Krystal M. Keuler, Gebbiana M. Bron, Randall Griebel, Katherine Richgels
2020, PLoS ONE (15)
ContextA disease can be a source of disturbance, causing population declines or extirpations, altering species interactions, and affecting habitat structure. This is particularly relevant for diseases that affect keystone species or ecosystem engineers, leading to potentially cascading effects on ecosystems.<div...
Linking land and sea through an ecological-economic model of coral reef recreation
Kirsten L. L. Oleson, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Carlo Fezzi, Megan Barnes, Mary Donovan, Kim A. Falinski, Kelvin Gorospe, Hla Htun, Joey Lecky, Ferdinando Villa, Tamara Wong
2020, Ecological Economics (177)
Coastal zones are popular recreational areas that substantially contribute to social welfare. Managers can use information about specific environmental features that people value, and how these might change under different management scenarios, to spatially target actions to areas of high current or potential value. We explored how snorkelers’ experience would...
Effectiveness of partial sedation to reduce stress in captured mule deer
Anna C. Ortega, Samantha P. Dwinnell, Tayler N. Lasharr, Rhiannon P. Jakopak, Kristin Denryter, Katey S. Huggler, Matthew M. Hayes, Ellen O. Aikens, Tana L Verzuh, Alexander B. May, Matthew J. Kauffman, Kevin L. Monteith
2020, Journal of Wildlife Management (84) 1445-1456
Information garnered from the capture and handling of free-ranging animals helps advance understanding of wildlife ecology and can aid in decisions on wildlife management. Unfortunately, animals may experience increased levels of stress, injuries, and death resulting from captures (e.g., exertional myopathy, trauma). Partial sedation is a technique proposed to alleviate...
Application of empirical land-cover changes to construct climate change scenarios in federally managed lands
Christopher E. Soulard, Matthew B. Rigge
2020, Remote Sensing (12)
Sagebrush-dominant ecosystems in the western United States are highly vulnerable to climatic variability. To understand how these ecosystems will respond under potential future conditions, we correlated changes in National Land Cover Dataset “Back-in-Time” fractional cover maps from 1985-2018 with Daymet climate data in three federally managed preserves in the sagebrush...
Flowering plants preferred by bees of the Prairie Pothole Region
Stacy C. Simanonok, Clint Otto
2020, Fact Sheet 2020-3038
Land managers have stressed the need for improved pollinator habitat on private and public lands of the Prairie Pothole Region. Understanding flowering plant preferences of pollinators will improve the cost-effectiveness of conservation seeding mixes. The purpose of this fact sheet is to assist conservation planners and producers with developing seed...
