Evaluation of an elk detection probability model in the Black Hills, South Dakota
Evan C. Phillips, Chadwick P. Lehman, Robert W. Klaver, Angela R. Jarding, Susan P. Rupp, Jonathan A. Jenks, Christopher N. Jacques
2019, BioOne (79) 551-565
Since 1993, elk (Cervus canadensis nelsoni) abundance in the Black Hills of South Dakota has been estimated using a detection probability model previously developed in Idaho, though it is likely biased because of a failure to account for visibility biases under local conditions. To correct...
Black Scoter habitat use along the southeastern coast of the United States
H. M. Plumpton, E. D. Silverman, Beth Ross
2019, Ecology and Evolution (11) 10813-10820
While the Atlantic Coast of the United States and Canada is a major wintering area for sea ducks, knowledge about their wintering habitat use is relatively limited. Black Scoters have a broad wintering distribution and are the only open water species of sea duck that is abundant along the southeastern...
Spatial ecology of urban striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) in the Northern Great Plains: A framework for future oral rabies vaccination programs
Anna L. Schneider, Amy T. Gilbert, W. David Walter, Gregory S. Vandeberg, Jason R. Boulanger
2019, Urban Ecosystems (22) 539-552
Few studies have investigated the ecology of urban striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) despite their role as a primary rabies vector species paired with an ability to thrive in these landscapes. Information on home range, nightly movements, and habitat selection, is important for rabies management planning regarding the placement of oral...
Wildland Fire Science — Supporting wildland fire and land management
Paul F. Steblein, Mark P. Miller, Suzanna C. Soileau
2019, Fact Sheet 2019-3025
The U.S. Geological Survey's Wildland Fire Science Program produces fundamental information to identify the causes of wildfires, understand the impacts and benefits of both wildfires and prescribed fires, and help prevent and manage larger, catastrophic events. Our fire scientists provide information and develop tools that are widely used by stakeholders...
Characterizing 12 years of wildland fire science at the U.S. Geological Survey: Wildland Fire Science Publications, 2006–17
Paul F. Steblein, Mark P. Miller
2019, Open-File Report 2019-1002
Wildland fire characteristics, such as area burned, number of large fires, burn intensity, and fire season duration, have increased steadily over the past 30 years, resulting in substantial increases in the costs of suppressing fires and managing damages from wildland fire events (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017)....
Wildland fire science at the U.S. Geological Survey—Supporting wildland fire and land management across the United States postcard
Paul F. Steblein, Mark P. Miller, Suzanna C. Soileau
2019, General Information Product 190
The U.S. Geological Survey’s Wildland Fire Science Program produces information to identify the causes of wildfires, understand the impacts and benefits of both wildfires and prescribed fires, and help prevent and manage larger, catastrophic events. USGS fire scientists provide information and develop tools that are widely used by stakeholders to...
Regionalization of surface-water statistics using multiple linear regression
William H. Farmer, Julie E. Kiang, Toby D. Feaster, Ken Eng
2019, Techniques and Methods 4-A12
This report serves as a reference document in support of the regionalization of surface-water statistics using multiple linear regression. Streamflow statistics are quantitative characterizations of hydrology and are often derived from observed streamflow records. In the absence of observed streamflow records, as at unmonitored or ungaged locations, other techniques are...
Remobilization of old permafrost carbon to Chukchi Sea sediments during the end of the last deglaciation
Jannik Martens, Birgit Wild, Christof Pearce, Tommaso Tesi, August Andersson, Lisa Broder, Matt O’Regan, Martin Jakobsson, Martin Skold, Laura Gemery, Thomas M. Cronin
2019, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (33) 210-14
Climate warming is expected to destabilize permafrost carbon (PF‐C) by thaw‐erosion and deepening of the seasonally thawed active layer and thereby promote PF‐C mineralization to CO2 and CH4. A similar PF‐C remobilization might have contributed to the increase in atmospheric CO2 during deglacial warming after the last glacial maximum. Using carbon isotopes...
Development of regression equations for the estimation of flood flows at ungaged streams in Pennsylvania
Mark A. Roland, Marla H. Stuckey
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5094
Regression equations, which may be used to estimate flood flows at select annual exceedance probabilities, were developed for ungaged streams in Pennsylvania. The equations were developed using annual peak flow data through water year 2015 and basin characteristics for 285 streamflow gaging stations across Pennsylvania and surrounding states. The streamgages...
Try, try again: Lessons learned from success and failure in participatory modeling
Eleanor J. Sterling, Moira Zellner, Karen Elizabeth Jenni, Kirsten Leong, Pierre D. Glynn, Todd K. BenDor, Pierre Bommel, Klaus Hubacek, Antonie J. Jetter, Rebecca Jordan, Laura Schmitt Olabisi, Michael Paolisso, Steven Gray
2019, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene (7)
Participatory Modeling (PM) is becoming increasingly common in environmental planning and conservation, due in part to advances in cyberinfrastructure as well as to greater recognition of the importance of engaging a diverse array of stakeholders in decision making. We provide lessons learned, based on over 200 years of...
Assessment of the potential for in-plume sulphur dioxide gas-ash interactions to influence the respiratory toxicity of volcanic ash
Ines Tomasek, David Damby, Claire J. Horwell, Paul M Ayris, Pierre Delmelle, Christopher J Ottley, Pablo Cubillas, Ana S Casas, Christoph Bisig, Alke Petri-Fink, Donald B. Dingwell, Martin J D Clift, Barbara Drasler, Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser
2019, Environmental Research (179)
BackgroundVolcanic plumes are complex environments composed of gases and ash particles, where chemical and physical processes occur at different temperature and compositional regimes. Commonly, soluble sulphate- and chloride-bearing salts are formed on ash as gases interact with ash surfaces. Exposure to respirable volcanic ash...
Towards a predictive framework for biocrust mediation of plant performance: A meta‐analysis
Caroline A. Havrilla, Bala V. Chaudhary, Scott Ferrenberg, Anita J. Antoninka, Jayne Belnap, Matthew A. Bowker, David J. Eldridge, Akasha M. Faist, Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald, Alexander D. Leslie, Emilio Rodriguez-Caballero, Yuanming Zhang, Nichole N. Barger
2019, Journal of Ecology (107) 2789-2807
Understanding the importance of biotic interactions in driving the distribution and abundance of species is a central goal of plant ecology. Early vascular plants likely colonized land occupied by biocrusts — photoautotrophic, surface‐dwelling soil communities comprised of cyanobacteria, bryophytes, lichens and fungi — suggesting biotic interactions between biocrusts and...
Evaluating environmental change and behavioral decision-making for sustainability policy using an agent-based model: A case study for the Smoky Hill River Watershed, Kansas
Gabriel Granco, Jessica L. Heier Stamm, Jason S. Bergtold, Melinda D. Daniels, Matthew R. Sanderson, Aleksey Y. Sheshukov, Martha E. Mather, Marcellus M. Caldas, Steven M. Ramsey, Richard Lehrter, David A. Haukos, Jungang Gao, Sarmistha Chatterjee, James C. Nifong, Joseph Aistrup
2019, Science of the Total Environment (695)
Sustainability has been at the forefront of the environmental research agenda of the integrated anthroposphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere since the last century and will continue to be critically important for future environmental science. However, linking humans and the environment through effective policy remains a...
The importance of early life experience and animal cultures in reintroductions
Claire S. Teitelbaum, Sarah J. Converse, Thomas Mueller
2019, Conservation Letters (12)
Even within a single population, individuals can display striking differences in behavior, with consequences for their survival and fitness. In reintroduced populations, managers often attempt to promote adaptive behaviors by controlling the early life experiences of individuals, but it remains largely unknown whether this early life training has lasting effects...
Geographic-specific capture-recapture models reveal contrasting migration and survival rates of adult horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus)
Justin J. Bopp, Matthew Sclafani, David R. Smith, Kim McKown, Rachel Sysak, Robert Cerrato
2019, Estuaries and Coasts (42) 1570-1585
American horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) have varied migration patterns and harvesting pressure throughout their range, potentially leading to regional differences in population dynamics. Here, a multi-state mark–recapture model was used to estimate annual survival and exchange rates of adult horseshoe crabs across three geographic regions in Long Island, NY (South...
Groundwater flow model for Western Chippewa County–Including analysis of water resources related to industrial sand mining and irrigated agriculture
Michael Parsen, Paul F. Juckem, Madeline Gotkowitz, Michael N. Fienen
2019, Wisconsin Geological and NaturalHistory Survey Bulletin B112
A groundwater flow model for western Chippewa County, Wisconsin, was developed by the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey (WGNHS) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) using the computer program MODFLOW. The model is the result of a five-year groundwater study commissioned by Chippewa County in 2012 to evaluate the...
Geohydrology and water quality of the unconsolidated aquifers in the Enfield Creek Valley, town of Enfield, Tompkins County, New York
Benjamin N. Fisher, Paul M. Heisig, William M. Kappel
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5136
From 2013 to 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Town of Enfield and the Tompkins County Planning Department, studied the unconsolidated aquifer in the Enfield Creek Valley in the town of Enfield, Tompkins County, New York. The valley will likely undergo future development as the population of...
Differences in mosquito communities in six cities in Oklahoma
D. Bradt, J.D. Wormington, James M. Long, W. W. Hoback, B.H. Noden
2019, Journal of Medical Entomology (56) 1395-1403
Vector-borne diseases in the United States have recently increased as a result of the changing nature of vectors, hosts, reservoirs, pathogens, and the ecological and environmental conditions. Current information on vector habitats and how mosquito community composition varies across space and time is vital to successful vector-borne disease management....
Temporal gamma-diversity meets spatial alpha-diversity in dynamically varying ecosystems
David M. Mushet, Matthew J. Solensky, Shay F. Erickson
2019, Biodiversity and Conservation (28) 1783-1797
Community measures collected at a single instance or over a short temporal period rarely provide a complete accounting of biological diversity. The gap between such “snapshot” measures of diversity and actual diversity can be especially large in systems that undergo great temporal variation in environmental conditions. To adequately quantify diversity...
Bottom trawl assessment of Lake Ontario prey fishes
Brian Weidel, Michael J. Connerton, Jeremy Holden
2019, Book chapter, 2018 Annual report
Collaborative Lake Ontario bottom trawl surveys, led by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), provide science and management information for evaluating Fish Community Objectives including predator-prey balance and prey fish community diversity. In 2018, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry...
2017 Status of the Lake Ontario Lower Trophic Levels
Kristen T. Holeck, Lars G. Rudstam, Christopher Hotaling, Russ D. McCullough, Dave Lemon, Web Pearsall, Jana Lantry, Mike Connerton, Chris Legard, Steve LaPan, Zy Biesinger, Brian F. Lantry, Brian Weidel
2019, Report, NYSDEC Lake Ontario Annual Report 2019
Significant Findings for Year 2017: 1) Offshore spring total phosphorus (TP) in 2017 was 4.4 µg/L; values remained stable since 2001. Offshore soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) remained low (1.1 µg/L) in 2017; Apr/May – Oct mean values have been stable in nearshore and offshore habitats since 1998 (range, 0.4 –...
Left out in the rain: Comparing productivity of two associated species exposes a leak in the umbrella species concept
Gunnar R. Kramer, Sean M. Peterson, Kyle O. Daly, Henry M. Streby, David E. Andersen
2019, Biological Conservation (233) 288
Multi-species approaches to wildlife management have become commonplace and purport to benefit entire biological communities. These strategies aim to manage different, often taxonomically distant species under a single regime based on shared habitat associations and/or co-occurrence in the landscape. We tested...
Detection probabilities of bird carcasses along sandy beaches and marsh edges in the northern Gulf of Mexico
Guthrie S. Zimmerman, Veronica Varela, Julie L. Yee
2019, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (191)
We estimated detection probabilities of bird carcasses along sandy beaches and in marsh edge habitats in the northern Gulf of Mexico to help inform models of bird mortality associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. We also explored factors that may influence detection probability, such as carcass size, amount of scavenging, location...
An update of hydrologic conditions and distribution of selected constituents in water, Eastern Snake River Plain aquifer and perched groundwater zones, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho, emphasis 2016–18
Roy C. Bartholomay, Neil V. Maimer, Gordon W. Rattray, Jason C. Fisher
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5149
Since 1952, wastewater discharged to infiltration ponds (also called percolation ponds) and disposal wells at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has affected water quality in the eastern Snake River Plain (ESRP) aquifer and perched groundwater zones underlying the INL. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S....
New method for correcting bottomhole temperatures acquired from wireline logging measurements and calibrated for the onshore Gulf of Mexico Basin, U.S.A.
Lauri A. Burke, Ofori N. Pearson, Scott A. Kinney
2019, Open-File Report 2019-1143
Bottomhole temperature (BHT) measurements offer a useful way to characterize the subsurface thermal regime as long as they are corrected to represent in situ reservoir temperatures. BHT correction methods calibrated for the domestic onshore Gulf of Mexico basin were established in this study. These corrections are empirically derived and...
