Seawater-flooding events and impact on freshwater lenses of low-lying islands: Controlling factors, basic management and mitigation
Stephen B. Gingerich, Clifford I. Voss, Adam G. Johnson
2017, Journal of Hydrology (551) 676-688
An unprecedented set of hydrologic observations was collected after the Dec 2008 seawater-flooding event on Roi-Namur, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. By two days after the seawater flooding that occurred at the beginning of dry season, the observed salinity of water withdrawn by the island’s main skimming...
Controls on the chemical composition of saline surface crusts and emitted dust from a wet playa in the Mojave Desert (USA)
Harland L. Goldstein, George N. Breit, Richard L. Reynolds
2017, Journal of Arid Environments (140) 50-66
Saline-surface crusts and their compositions at ephemeral, dry, and drying lakes are important products of arid-land processes. Detailed understanding is lacking, however, about interactions among locally variable hydrogeologic conditions, compositional control of groundwater on vadose zone and surface salts, and dust composition. Chemical and physical data from groundwater, sediments, and...
High sensitivity of gross primary production in the Rocky Mountains to summer rain
M. Berkelhammer, I.C. Stefanescu, J. Joiner, Lesleigh Anderson
2017, Geophysical Research Letters (44) 3643-3652
In the catchments of the Rocky Mountains, peak snowpack is declining in response to warmer spring temperatures. To understand how this will influence terrestrial gross primary production (GPP), we compared precipitation data across the intermountain west with satellite retrievals of solar-induced fluorescence (SIF), a proxy for GPP. Annual precipitation patterns...
Geologic map of Meridiani Planum, Mars
Brian M. Hynek, Gaetano Di Achille
2017, Scientific Investigations Map 3356
Introduction and BackgroundThe Meridiani Planum region of Mars—originally named due to its proximity to the Martian prime meridian—contains a variety of geologic units, including those that are crater‑related, that span the Early Noachian to Late Amazonian Epochs. Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) data indicate this area contains extensive layered deposits, some...
Precipitation thresholds for landslide occurrence near Seattle, Mukilteo, and Everett, Washington
Caroline R. Scheevel, Rex L. Baum, Benjamin B. Mirus, Joel B. Smith
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1039
Shallow landslides along coastal bluffs frequently occur in the railway corridor between Seattle and Everett, Washington. These slides disrupt passenger rail service, both because of required track maintenance and because the railroad owner, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, does not allow passenger travel for 48 hours after a disruptive landslide....
Ongoing efforts to make ash-cloud model forecasts more accurate
Larry G. Mastin, Alexa R. Van Eaton, David J. Schneider, Roger P. Denlinger
2017, Conference Paper, Proceedings of impact of volcanic ash clouds on military operations
The 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland changed the rules for air travel in Europe and introduced the use of restricted fly zones based on ash-cloud concentrations calculated by dispersion models. This change prompted a sustained effort to improve the accuracy of ash-cloud model forecasts. In this paper we...
Pore network modeling of the electrical signature of solute transport in dual-domain media
Frederick Day-Lewis, Niklas Linde, Roy Haggerty, Kamini Singha, Martin A. Briggs
2017, Geophysical Research Letters (44) 4908-4916
Dual-domain models are used to explain anomalous solute transport behavior observed in diverse hydrologic settings and applications, from groundwater remediation to hyporheic exchange. To constrain such models, new methods are needed with sensitivity to both immobile and mobile domains. Recent experiments indicate that dual-domain transport of ionic...
Monitoring breeding and migration of neotropical migratory birds at Point Loma, San Diego County, California, 5-year summary, 2011–15
Suellen Lynn, Melanie C. Madden, Barbara E. Kus
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1042
Executive SummaryWe operated a bird banding station on the Point Loma peninsula in western San Diego County, California, during spring and summer from 2011 to 2015. The station was established in 2010 as part of a long-term monitoring program for neotropical migratory birds during spring migration and for breeding birds...
Time-causal decomposition of geomagnetic time series into secular variation, solar quiet, and disturbance signals
E. Joshua Rigler
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1037
A theoretical basis and prototype numerical algorithm are provided that decompose regular time series of geomagnetic observations into three components: secular variation; solar quiet, and disturbance. Respectively, these three components correspond roughly to slow changes in the Earth’s internal magnetic field, periodic daily variations caused by quasi-stationary (with respect to...
Density estimates of monarch butterflies overwintering in central Mexico
Wayne E. Thogmartin, James E. Diffendorfer, Laura Lopez-Hoffman, Karen Oberhauser, John M. Pleasants, Brice X. Semmens, Darius J. Semmens, Orley R. Taylor, Ruscena Wiederholt
2017, PeerJ (5)
Given the rapid population decline and recent petition for listing of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus L.) under the Endangered Species Act, an accurate estimate of the Eastern, migratory population size is needed. Because of difficulty in counting individual monarchs, the number of hectares occupied by monarchs in the overwintering...
A paired-laser photogrammetric method for in situ length measurement of benthic fishes
Austin A. Rizzo, Stuart A. Welsh, Patricia A. Thompson
2017, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (37) 16-22
Photogrammetry, a technique to obtain measurements from photographs, may be a valid method for measuring lengths of rare, threatened, or endangered species. Photogrammetric methods of measurement are nonintrusive and reduce the possibility of physical damage or physiological stress associated with the capture and handling of individuals. We evaluated precision and...
Improved supervised classification of accelerometry data to distinguish behaviors of soaring birds
Maitreyi Sur, Tony Suffredini, Stephen M. Wessells, Peter H. Bloom, Michael J. Lanzone, Sheldon Blackshire, Srisarguru Sridhar, Todd E. Katzner
2017, PLoS ONE (12)
Soaring birds can balance the energetic costs of movement by switching between flapping, soaring and gliding flight. Accelerometers can allow quantification of flight behavior and thus a context to interpret these energetic costs. However, models to interpret accelerometry data are still being developed, rarely trained with supervised datasets, and difficult...
Developing approaches for linear mixed modeling in landscape genetics through landscape-directed dispersal simulations
Jeffery R. Row, Steven T. Knick, Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Stephen C. Lougheed, Bradley C. Fedy
2017, Ecology and Evolution (7) 3751-3761
Dispersal can impact population dynamics and geographic variation, and thus, genetic approaches that can establish which landscape factors influence population connectivity have ecological and evolutionary importance. Mixed models that account for the error structure of pairwise datasets are increasingly used to compare models relating genetic differentiation to pairwise measures of...
Post-fire interactions between soil water repellency, soil fertility and plant growth in soil collected from a burned piñon-juniper woodland
Kaitlynn J. Fernelius, Matthew D. Madsen, Bryan Hopkins, Sheel Bansal, Val J. Anderson, Dennis L. Eggett, Bruce A. Roundy
2017, Journal of Arid Environments (144) 98-109
Woody plant encroachment can increase nutrient resources in the plant-mound zone. After a fire, this zone is often found to be water repellent. This study aimed to understand the effects of post-fire water repellency on soil water and inorganic nitrogen and their effects on plant growth of the introduced annual...
Modeling the long-term effects of introduced herbivores on the spread of an invasive tree
Bo Zhang, Donald L. DeAngelis, Min B. Rayamajhi, Daniel B. Botkin
2017, Landscape Ecology (32) 1147-1161
ContextMelaleuca quinquenervia (Cav.) Blake (hereafter melaleuca) is an invasive tree from Australia that has spread over the freshwater ecosystems of southern Florida, displacing native vegetation, thus threatening native biodiversity. Suppression of melaleuca appears to be progressing through the introduction of insect species, the weevil, Oxiops vitiosa,...
Five-year external reviews of the eight Department of Interior Climate Science Centers: Southeast Climate Science Center
Kenneth G. Rice, Paul Beier, Tim Breault, Beth A. Middleton, Myron A. Peck, John M. Tirpak, Mary Ratnaswamy
2017, Report
In 2008, the U.S. Congress authorized the establishment of the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC) within the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI). Housed administratively within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NCCWSC is part of the DOI’s ongoing mission to meet the challenges of...
Effect of hydraulic hysteresis on the stability of infinite slopes under steady infiltration
Pan Chen, Benjamin B. Mirus, Ning Lu, Jonathan W. Godt
2017, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering (143)
Hydraulic hysteresis, including capillary soil water retention (SWR), air entrapment SWR, and hydraulic conductivity, is a common phenomenon in unsaturated soils. However, the influence of hydraulic hysteresis on suction stress, and subsequently slope stability, is generally ignored. This paper examines the influence of each of these three...
Reptiles and amphibians
Jeffrey E. Lovich, Joshua R. Ennen
Martin Perrow, editor(s)
2017, Book chapter, Wildlife and wind farms – conflicts and solutions
Summary – We reviewed all the peer-reviewed scientific publications we could find on the known and potential effects of wind farm development, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning on reptiles and amphibians (collectively herpetofauna) worldwide. Both groups are declining globally due to a multitude of threats including energy development. Effect studies were...
Hydrology of the Claiborne aquifer and interconnection with the Upper Floridan aquifer in southwest Georgia
Debbie W. Gordon, Gerard Gonthier
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5017
The U.S. Geological Survey conducted a study, in cooperation with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, to define the hydrologic properties of the Claiborne aquifer and evaluate its connection with the Upper Floridan aquifer in southwest Georgia. The effort involved collecting and compiling hydrologic data from the aquifer in subarea 4...
The HayWired earthquake scenario—Earthquake hazards
Shane T. Detweiler, Anne M. Wein, editor(s)
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5013-A–H
The HayWired scenario is a hypothetical earthquake sequence that is being used to better understand hazards for the San Francisco Bay region during and after an earthquake of magnitude 7 on the Hayward Fault. The 2014 Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities calculated that there is a 33-percent likelihood of...
When mechanism matters: Bayesian forecasting using models of ecological diffusion
Trevor J. Hefley, Mevin Hooten, Robin E. Russell, Daniel P. Walsh, James A. Powell
2017, Ecology Letters (20) 640-650
Ecological diffusion is a theory that can be used to understand and forecast spatio-temporal processes such as dispersal, invasion, and the spread of disease. Hierarchical Bayesian modelling provides a framework to make statistical inference and probabilistic forecasts, using mechanistic ecological models. To illustrate, we show how hierarchical Bayesian models of...
Density-driven free-convection model for isotopically fractionated geogenic nitrate in sabkha brine
Warren W. Wood, J.K. Bohlke
2017, Groundwater (55) 199-207
Subsurface brines with high nitrate (NO3−) concentration are common in desert environments as atmospheric nitrogen is concentrated by the evaporation of precipitation and little nitrogen uptake. However, in addition to having an elevated mean concentration of ∼525 mg/L (as N), NO3− in the coastal sabkhas of Abu Dhabi is enriched...
Host-dependent differences in resource use associated with Anilocra spp. parasitism in two coral reef fishes, as revealed by stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses
Rachel Welicky, Amanda W.J. Demopoulos, Paul C. Sikkel
2017, Marine Ecology (38)
The role of parasites in trophic ecology is poorly understood in marine ecosystems. Stable isotope analyses (SIA) have been widely used in studies of trophic ecology, but have rarely been applied to study the role of parasites. Considering that some parasites are associated with altered host foraging patterns, SIA can...
Confirmation of cisco spawning in Chaumont Bay, Lake Ontario using an egg pumping device
Ellen M. George, Wendylee Stott, Brian Young, Curtis T. Karboski, Darran L. Crabtree, Edward F. Roseman, Lars G. Rudstam
2017, Journal of Great Lakes Research (43) 204-208
Cisco Coregonus artedi, a historically abundant and commercially important fish in the Great Lakes, have declined drastically in the last century due to the impacts of invasive species, overfishing, and habitat degradation. Chaumont Bay, New York is believed to contain one of the last remaining spawning populations of cisco in...
Spatial dependence of reduced sulfur in Everglades dissolved organic matter controlled by sulfate enrichment
Brett A. Poulin, Joseph N. Ryan, Kathryn L. Nagy, Aron Stubbins, Thorsten Dittmar, William H. Orem, David P. Krabbenhoft, George R. Aiken
2017, Environmental Science & Technology (51) 3630-3639
Sulfate inputs to the Florida Everglades stimulate sulfidic conditions in freshwater wetland sediments that affect ecological and biogeochemical processes. An unexplored implication of sulfate enrichment is alteration of the content and speciation of sulfur in dissolved organic matter (DOM), which influences the reactivity of DOM with trace metals. Here, we...
