Responses of a 64-story unique San Francisco, CA. building to four earthquakes and ambient motions
Mehmet Celebi, J. Hooper, Ron Klemencic
2017, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering
We analyze the ambient and earthquake responses of a 64-story, instrumented, concrete core shear wall building in San Francisco, Calif. equipped with tuned sloshing liquid dampers (TSDs) and buckling restraining braces (BRBs). In an earlier paper [1], only ambient data were used to identify dynamic characteristics. Recently, the 72-channel instrumental...
Validation of NEXRAD data and models of bird migration stopover sites in the Northeast U.S.
Jeffrey J. Buler, James McLaren, Timothy Schreckengost, Jaclyn A. Smolinsky, Eric Walters, J. Andrew Arnold, Deanna K. Dawson
2017, Report
The national network of weather surveillance radars (NEXRAD) detects birds in flight, and has proven to be a useful remote-sensing tool for ornithological study. We used data collected during Fall 2008 to 2014 by 16 NEXRAD and four terminal Doppler weather radars (TDWR) in the northeastern U.S. to map and...
Changing water dynamics: The consequences of shifting snow, ice, and running water for ecosystems, people, and national forests in Alaska
Greg Hayward, Erik Johnson, Nathan Walker, Jeremy Littell, Julianne Thompson
2017, Report
Ecosystems of Alaska are rain-, snow-, and ice-driven systems. Consequently, the status of water—liquid or solid—strongly in uences resources and the people using ecosystem services. This document examines changes in water dynamics, the resulting consequences for ecosystems and people, and management options for adapting to changing conditions. Changes in snow, ice,...
Using science to inform management and improve biological conservation in the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan
Todd Esque, Amy Fesnock-Parker, Brian Croft, Felicia Chen, Amy G. Vandergast
2017, Conference Paper, Transactions of the 82nd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference
The Mojave and Colorado deserts of southern California have been viewed as vast wilderness since early exploration and, until recently, were considered the most untrammeled among western landscapes in the contiguous lower 48 states (United States Department of Agriculture 1893; Leu et al. 2008). However, the factors that define desert...
A report on genetic affinities and relatedness of Agassiz’s desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) at opposite ends of the Coachella Valley in California
Jeffrey E. Lovich, Taylor Edwards, Brian Kreiser, Shellie R. Puffer, Mickey Agha
2017, Report, Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan/Natural Community Conservation Plan—2017 Annual Report
This report summarizes the results for mtDNA and STR genotyping of 41 desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) DNA samples from opposite sides of the Coachella Valley: one sample from the west side at the Mesa wind energy facility in the Whitewater Hills and the other from the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon...
Ecology of the Eastern Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula) at Rainey Slough, Florida: A vanished Eden
J. Steve Godley, Brian J. Halstead, Roy W. McDiarmid
2017, Herpetological Monographs (31) 47-68
Eastern Kingsnakes (Lampropeltis getula) are an important component and predator in herpetofaunal communities, but many Eastern Kingsnake populations have declined precipitously in the last few decades, particularly in the southeastern United States. Here, we describe an intensive capture–mark–recapture study of L. getula conducted during 1974–1978 in a canal bank–Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia...
Impacts of mastication fuel treatments on California, USA, chaparral vegetation structure and composition
Teresa J. Brennan, Jon E. Keeley
2017, Fire Ecology (13) 120-138
Mechanical fuel treatments are a primary pre-fire strategy for potentially mitigating the threat of wildland fire, yet there is limited information on how they impact shrubland ecosystems. Our goal was to assess the impact of mechanical mastication fuel treatments on chaparral vegetation and to determine the extent to which they...
Climate change and collapsing thermal niches of Mexican endemic reptiles
Barry Sinervo, Donald B. Miles, Rafael A. Lara Resendiz, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Joshua R. Ennen, Johannes Muller, Robert D. Cooper, Philip C. Rosen, Joseph A. E. Stewart, Juan Carlos Santos, Jack W. Sites Jr., Paul Gibbons, Eric Goode, L. Scott Hillard, Luke Welton, Mickey Agha, Gabriel Caetano, Mercy Vaughn, Cristina Melendez Torres, Hector Gadsden, Gamaliel Castenada Gaytan, Patricia Galina-Tessaro, Fernando I. Valle Jimenez, Jorge H. Valdez-Villavicencio, Norberto Martinez Mendez, Guillermo Woolrich Pina, Victor Luja Molina, Anibal Diaz de la Vega Perez, Diego M. Arenas Moreno, Saul Dominguez Guerrero, Natalia Fierro, Scott Butterfield, Michael Westpha, Raymond B. Huey, William Mautz, Víctor Sánchez-Cordero, Fausto R. Mendez de la Cruz
2017, Report
Recent climate change should result in expansion of species to northern or high elevation range margins, and contraction at southern and low elevation margins due to extinction. Climate models predict dramatic extinctions and distributional shifts in the next century, but there are few ground-truths of these dire forecasts leading to...
Strontium isotopic systematics of mineralized and background water samples, Montezuma Mining District, Colorado
Philip L. Verplanck, Robert L. Runkel
2017, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium on Applied Isotope Geochemistry (AIG-12)
Surface and groundwater samples within the Montezuma mining district were sampled to evaluate the use of strontium isotopic compositions as signatures of different water types. Waters draining Precambrian metamorphic units had distinctly higher 87Sr/ 86Sr values (0.72893 to 0.73833) than waters draining Tertiaryage plutonic rocks (0.71064 and 0.71114). Waters draining...
Adaptive harvest management for the Svalbard population of pink-footed geese (Anser brachyrhynchus)
2017, EGMP Technical Report 5
This document describes progress to date on the development of an adaptive harvest-management strategy for maintaining the Svalbard population of pink-footed geese (Anser brachyrhynchus) near their target level (60,000) by providing for sustainable harvests in Norway and Denmark. Specifically, this report provides an assessment of the most recent monitoring information...
For what it's worth : appreciating the economic value of wildlife
P. Howensee, Michael D. Samuel, D. Drake
2017, The Wildlife Professional (11) 43
No abstract available....
Yellowstone grizzly bear investigations — Annual report of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team 2016
Frank T. van Manen, Mark A. Haroldson, Bryn Karabensh, editor(s)
2017, Report
This Annual Report summarizes results of grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) monitoring and research conducted in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST) during 2016. The report also contains a summary of grizzly bear management actions to address conflict situations. ...
Scientific records appraisal process: U.S. Geological Survey case study
John Faundeen
Lisa R. Johnston, editor(s)
2017, Book chapter, Curating research data, volume two: A handbook of current practice
No abstract available....
USGS revision of global iron ore production data—Clarification of the reporting of iron ore production in China and application of a uniform comparison methodology (2000-2015)
Candice C. Tuck, Sean Xun, Sheryl A. Singerling
2017, Mining Engineering (69) 20-23
Iron ore is the source of primary iron for the world’s iron and steel industries. Its production can be reported as crude ore, usable ore or iron content of ore. Historically, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) used reported crude ore production from China in tabulations of world iron ore production...
Geology and vertebrate paleontology of Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, Nevada, USA
Kathleen B. Springer, Jeffrey S. Pigati, Eric Scott
2017, Book chapter, Field excursions in Southern California: Field guides to the 2016 Geological Society of American cordilleran section meeting
Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument (TUSK) preserves 22,650 acres of the upper Las Vegas Wash in the northern Las Vegas Valley, Nevada, USA. TUSK is home to extensive and stratigraphically complex groundwater discharge (GWD) deposits, called the Las Vegas Formation, which represent springs and desert wetlands that covered much...
Mapping marginal croplands suitable for cellulosic feedstock crops in the Great Plains, United States
Yingxin Gu, Bruce K. Wylie
2017, GCB Bioenergy (9) 836-844
Growing cellulosic feedstock crops (e.g., switchgrass) for biofuel is more environmentally sustainable than corn-based ethanol. Specifically, this practice can reduce soil erosion and water quality impairment from pesticides and fertilizer, improve ecosystem services and sustainability (e.g., serve as carbon sinks), and minimize impacts on global food supplies. The main goal...
Pathogen transport in groundwater systems: Contrasts with traditional solute transport
Randall J. Hunt, William P. Johnson
2017, Hydrogeology Journal (25) 921-930
Water quality affects many aspects of water availability, from precluding use to societal perceptions of fit-for-purpose. Pathogen source and transport processes are drivers of water quality because they have been responsible for numerous outbreaks resulting in large economic losses due to illness and, in some cases, loss of life. Outbreaks...
Investigating impacts of oil and gas development on greater sage-grouse
Adam Green, Cameron L. Aldridge, Michael S. O’Donnell
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (81) 46-57
The sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystem is one of the largest ecosystems in western North America providing habitat for species found nowhere else. Sagebrush habitats have experienced dramatic declines since the 1950s, mostly due to anthropogenic disturbances. The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is a sagebrush-obligate species that has experienced population declines over...
Extreme geomagnetic storms: Probabilistic forecasts and their uncertainties
Pete Riley, Jeffrey J. Love
2017, Space Weather (15) 53-64
Extreme space weather events are low-frequency, high-risk phenomena. Estimating their rates of occurrence, as well as their associated uncertainties, is difficult. In this study, we derive statistical estimates and uncertainties for the occurrence rate of an extreme geomagnetic storm on the scale of the Carrington event (or worse) occurring within...
Implications of the earthquake cycle for inferring fault locking on the Cascadia megathrust
Frederick Pollitz, Eileen Evans
2017, Geophysical Journal International (209) 167-185
GPS velocity fields in the Western US have been interpreted with various physical models of the lithosphere-asthenosphere system: (1) time-independent block models; (2) time-dependent viscoelastic-cycle models, where deformation is driven by viscoelastic relaxation of the lower crust and upper mantle from past faulting events; (3) viscoelastic block models, a time-dependent...
Reexamination of the magnitudes for the 1906 and 1922 Chilean earthquakes using Japanese tsunami amplitudes: Implications for source depth constraints
M. Carvajal, M. Cisternas, A. Gubler, P. A. Catalan, P. Winckler, Robert L. Wesson
2017, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (122) 4-17
Far-field tsunami records from the Japanese tide gauge network allow the reexamination of the moment magnitudes (Mw) for the 1906 and 1922 Chilean earthquakes, which to date rely on limited information mainly from seismological observations alone. Tide gauges along the Japanese coast provide extensive records of tsunamis triggered by six...
Replication and shedding kinetics of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus in juvenile rainbow trout
Andrew R. Wargo, Robert J. Scott, Benjamin Kerr, Gael Kurath
2017, Virus Research (227) 200-211
Viral replication and shedding are key components of transmission and fitness, the kinetics of which are heavily dependent on virus, host, and environmental factors. To date, no studies have quantified the shedding kinetics of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), or how they are associated with...
State of Great Lakes 2017 Technical Report: Indicators to assess the status and trends of the Great Lakes ecosystem
Dale Van Stempvoort, George Zhang, Christopher J. Hoard, John Spoelstra, Norman Granneman, Scott MacRitchie, Stacey Cherwaty
2017, Report
No abstract available....
Impacts of mesquite distribution on seasonal space use of lesser prairie-chickens
Matthew A. Boggie, Cody R. Strong, Daniel Lusk, Scott A. Carleton, William R. Gould, Randy L. Howard, Clay T. Nichols, Michael J. Falkowski, Christian A. Hagen
2017, Rangeland Ecology and Management (70) 68-77
Loss of native grasslands by anthropogenic disturbances has reduced availability and connectivity of habitat for many grassland species. A primary threat to contiguous grasslands is the encroachment of woody vegetation, which is spurred by disturbances that take on many forms from energy development, fire suppression, and grazing. These disturbances are...
Reconstruction of spatio-temporal temperature from sparse historical records using robust probabilistic principal component regression
John Tipton, Mevin Hooten, Simon Goring
2017, Advances in Statistical Climatology, Meteorology and Oceanography (3) 1-16
Scientific records of temperature and precipitation have been kept for several hundred years, but for many areas, only a shorter record exists. To understand climate change, there is a need for rigorous statistical reconstructions of the paleoclimate using proxy data. Paleoclimate proxy data are often sparse, noisy, indirect measurements of...
