Adapting inland fisheries management to a changing climate
Craig P. Paukert, Bob A. Glazer, Gretchen J. A. Hansen, Brian J. Irwin, Peter C. Jacobson, Jeffrey L. Kershner, Brian J. Shuter, James E. Whitney, Abigail J. Lynch
2016, Fisheries (41) 374-384
Natural resource decision makers are challenged to adapt management to a changing climate while balancing short-term management goals with long-term changes in aquatic systems. Adaptation will require developing resilient ecosystems and resilient management systems. Decision makers already have tools to develop or ensure resilient aquatic systems and fisheries such as...
Performance evaluation testing of wells in the gradient control system at a federally operated Confined Disposal Facility using single well aquifer tests, East Chicago, Indiana
David C. Lampe, Michael D. Unthank
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5125
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) performed tests to evaluate the hydrologic connection between the open interval of the well and the surrounding Calumet aquifer in response to fouling of extraction well pumps onsite. Two rounds of air slug testing were performed on seven monitoring wells and step drawdown and subsequent...
Exposure to the contraceptive progestin, gestodene, alters reproductive behavior, arrests egg deposition, and masculinizes development in the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas)
Tyler E. Frankel, Michael T. Meyer, Dana W. Kolpin, Amanda B. Gillis, David A. Alvarez, Edward F. Orlando
2016, Environmental Science & Technology (50) 5991-5999
Endogenous progestogens and pharmaceutical progestins enter the environment through wastewater treatment plant effluent and agricultural field runoff. Lab studies demonstrate strong, negative exposure effects of these chemicals on aquatic vertebrate reproduction. Behavior can be a sensitive, early indicator of exposure to environmental contaminants associated with altered reproduction yet is rarely...
Detecting seasonal landslide movement within the Cascade landslide complex (Washington) using time-series SAR imagery
Xie Hu, Teng Wang, Thomas C. Pierson, Zhong Lu, Jin-Woo Kim, Thomas H. Cecere
2016, Remote Sensing of Environment (187) 49-61
Detection of slow or limited landslide movement within broad areas of forested terrain has long been problematic, particularly for the Cascade landslide complex (Washington) located along the Columbia River Gorge. Although parts of the landslide complex have been found reactivated in recent years, the timing and magnitude of motion have...
Climate variability and extremes, interacting with nitrogen storage, amplify eutrophication risk
Minjin Lee, Elena Shevliakova, Sergey Malyshev, P. C. D. Milly, Peter R. Jaffe
2016, Geophysical Research Letters (43) 7520-7528
Despite 30 years of basin-wide nutrient-reduction efforts, severe hypoxia continues to be observed in the Chesapeake Bay. Here we demonstrate the critical influence of climate variability, interacting with accumulated nitrogen (N) over multidecades, on Susquehanna River dissolved nitrogen (DN) loads, known precursors of the hypoxia in the Bay. We used the...
Transformations to granular zircon revealed: Twinning, reidite, and ZrO2 in shocked zircon from Meteor Crater (Arizona, USA)
Aaron Cavosie, Nicholas E. Timms, Timmons M. Erickson, Justin Hagerty, Friedrich Horz
2016, Geology (44) 703-706
Granular zircon in impact environments has long been recognized but remains poorly understood due to lack of experimental data to identify mechanisms involved in its genesis. Meteor Crater in Arizona (United States) contains abundant evidence of shock metamorphism, including shocked quartz, the high pressure polymorphs coesite and stishovite, diaplectic SiO2...
Climate-driven increase of natural wetland methane emissions offset by human-induced wetland reduction in China over the past three decades
Qiuan Zhu, Changhui Peng, Jinxun Liu, Hong Jiang, Xiuqin Fang, Huai Chen, Zhichun Niu, Peng Gong, Guanghui Lin, Meng Wang, Yanzheng Yang, Jie Chang, Ying Ge, Wenhua Xiang, Xiangwen Deng, Jin-Sheng He
2016, Scientific Reports (6)
Both anthropogenic activities and climate change can affect the biogeochemical processes of natural wetland methanogenesis. Quantifying possible impacts of changing climate and wetland area on wetland methane (CH4) emissions in China is important for improving our knowledge on CH4 budgets locally and globally. However, their respective and combined effects are...
Global statistical maps of extreme-event magnetic observatory 1 min first differences in horizontal intensity
Jeffrey J. Love, Pierdavide Coisson, Antti Pulkkinen
2016, Geophysical Research Letters (43) 4126-4135
Analysis is made of the long-term statistics of three different measures of ground level, storm time geomagnetic activity: instantaneous 1 min first differences in horizontal intensity ΔBh, the root-mean-square of 10 consecutive 1 min differences S, and the ramp change R over 10 min. Geomagnetic latitude maps of the cumulative exceedances of these...
Predictors of current and longer-term patterns of abundance of American pikas (Ochotona princeps) across a leading-edge protected area
Lucas Moyer-Horner, Erik A. Beever, Douglas H. Johnson, Mark Beil, Jami Belt
2016, PLoS ONE (11)
American pikas (Ochotona princeps) have been heralded as indicators of montane-mammal response to contemporary climate change. Pikas no longer occupy the driest and lowest-elevation sites in numerous parts of their geographic range. Conversely, pikas have exhibited higher rates of occupancy and persistence in Rocky Mountain and Sierra Nevada montane ‘mainlands’....
Transport of hydraulic fracturing waste from Pennsylvania wells: A county-level analysis of road use and associated road repair costs
Lauren A. Patterson, Kelly O. Maloney
2016, Journal of Environmental Management (181) 353-362
Pennsylvania’s rapid unconventional oil and gas (UOG) development—from a single well in 2004 to more than 6700 wells in 2013—has dramatically increased UOG waste transport by heavy trucks. This study quantified the amount of UOG waste and the distance it traveled between wells and disposal facilities on each type of...
Response comment: Carbon sequestration on Mars
Christopher Edwards, Bethany L. Ehlmann
2016, Geology (44)
Martian atmospheric pressure has important implications for the past and present habitability of the planet, including the timing and causes of environmental change. The ancient Martian surface is strewn with evidence for early water bound in minerals (e.g., Ehlmann and Edwards, 2014) and recorded in surface features such as large...
Estimated historical distribution of grassland communities of the Southern Great Plains
Gordon C. Reese, Daniel J. Manier, Natasha B. Carr, Ramana Callan, Ian I.F. Leinwand, Timothy J. Assal, Lucy Burris, Drew A. Ignizio
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1184
The purpose of this project was to map the estimated distribution of grassland communities of the Southern Great Plains prior to Euro-American settlement. The Southern Great Plains Rapid Ecoregional Assessment (REA), under the direction of the Bureau of Land Management and the Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative, includes four ecoregions:...
Groundwater conditions in Georgia, 2012–14
Michael F. Peck, Jaime A. Painter
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5161
The U.S. Geological Survey collects groundwater data and conducts studies to monitor hydrologic conditions, better define groundwater resources, and address problems related to water supply, water use, and water quality. In Georgia, water levels were monitored continuously at 181 wells during calendar year 2012, 185 wells during calendar year 2013,...
The Carolina Sandhills: Quaternary eolian sand sheets and dunes along the updip margin of the Atlantic Coastal Plain province, southeastern United States
Christopher S. Swezey, Bradley A. Fitzwater, G. Richard Whittecar, Shannon A. Mahan, Christopher P. Garrity, Wilma B. Aleman-Gonzalez, Kerby M. Dobbs
2016, Quaternary Research (86) 271-286
The Carolina Sandhills is a physiographic region of the Atlantic Coastal Plain province in the southeastern United States. In Chesterfield County (South Carolina), the surficial sand of this region is the Pinehurst Formation, which is interpreted as eolian sand derived from the underlying Cretaceous Middendorf Formation. This sand has yielded...
Animal movement in the absence of predation: environmental drivers of movement strategies in a partial migration system
Guillaume Bastille-Rousseau, James P. Gibbs, Charles B. Yackulic, Jacqueline L. Frair, Fredy Cabrera, Louis-Philippe Rousseau
2016, Oikos (126) 1004-1019
Animal movement strategies including migration, dispersal, nomadism, and residency are shaped by broad-scale spatial-temporal structuring of the environment, including factors such as the degrees of spatial variation, seasonality and inter-annual predictability. Animal movement strategies, in turn, interact with the characteristics of individuals and the local distribution of resources to determine...
Determining the spatial variability of wetland soil bulk density, organic matter, and the conversion factor between organic matter and organic carbon across coastal Louisiana, U.S.A.
Hongqing Wang, Sarai C. Piazza, Leigh A. Sharp, Camille L. Stagg, Brady R. Couvillion, Gregory D. Steyer, Thomas E. McGinnis
2016, Journal of Coastal Research (33) 507-517
Soil bulk density (BD), soil organic matter (SOM) content, and a conversion factor between SOM and soil organic carbon (SOC) are often used in estimating SOC sequestration and storage. Spatial variability in BD, SOM, and the SOM–SOC conversion factor affects the ability to accurately estimate SOC sequestration, storage, and the...
Hydrogeology of Virginia
David L. Nelms, George Harlow, T. Scott Bruce
Christopher M. Bailey, W. Cullen Sherwood, L. Scott Eaton, David S. Powars, editor(s)
2016, Book chapter, The geology of Virginia (Virginia Museum of Natural History Special Publication 18)
The hydrogeology of Virginia documented herein is in two parts. Part 1 consists of an overview and description of the hydrogeology within each regional aquifer system in the Commonwealth. Part 2 includes discussions of hydrogeologic research topics of current relevance including: 1. the Chesapeake Bay impact structure, 2. subsidence/compaction in...
Byproduct metal requirements for U.S. wind and solar photovoltaic electricity generation up to the year 2040 under various Clean Power Plan scenarios
Nedal T. Nassar, David R. Wilburn, Thomas G. Goonan
2016, Applied Energy (183) 1209-1226
The United States has and will likely continue to obtain an increasing share of its electricity from solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind power, especially under the Clean Power Plan (CPP). The need for additional solar PV modules and wind turbines will, among other things, result in greater demand for a...
Morphometric body condition indices of wild Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris)
Lauren T. Harshaw, Iskande V. Larkin, Robert K. Bonde, Charles J. Deutsch, Richard C. Hill
2016, Aquatic Mammals (42) 428-439
In many species, body weight (W) increases geometrically with body length (L), so W/L3 provides a body condition index (BCI) that can be used to evaluate nutritional status once a normal range has been established. No such index has been established for Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris). This study was...
Survival estimates for reintroduced populations of the Chiricahua Leopard Frog (Lithobates chiricahuensis)
Paige E. Howell, Blake R. Hossack, Erin L. Muths, Brent H. Sigafus, Richard B. Chandler
2016, Copeia (104) 824-830
Global amphibian declines have been attributed to a number of factors including disease, invasive species, habitat degradation, and climate change. Reintroduction is one management action that is commonly used with the goal of recovering imperiled species. The success of reintroductions varies widely, and evaluating their efficacy requires estimates of population...
Potential trophic cascades triggered by the barred owl range expansion
Samantha R. Holm, Barry R. Noon, David Wiens, William J. Ripple
2016, Wildlife Society Bulletin (40) 615-624
Recently, the barred owl (Strix varia) has expanded its range into the Pacific Northwest of the United States resulting in pronounced effects on the demography and behavior of the northern spotted owl (S. occidentalis caurina). The range expansion has brought together historically allopatric species, creating the potential for significant changes...
Identification of Marbon in the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal
Jiehong Guo, Marta Venier, Kevin Romanak, Stephen M. Westenbroek, Ronald A. Hites
2016, Environmental Science & Technology (50) 13232-13238
Marbon is isomeric with Dechlorane Plus (DP). Both are produced by the Diels− Alder condensation of hexachlorocyclopentadiene with cyclic dienes, and both have elemental compositions of C18H12Cl12. Dechlorane Plus is commonly found in the environment throughout the world, but Marbon has, so far, only been detected at low levels in one sediment core...
USGS Colorado Water Science Center bookmark
U.S. Geological Survey
2016, General Information Product 169
The U.S. Geological Survey Colorado Water Science Center conducts its water-resources activities primarily in Colorado in cooperation with more than 125 different entities. These activities include extensive data-collection efforts and studies of streamflow, water quality, and groundwater to address many specific issues of concern to Colorado water-management entities and citizens. The...
High-resolution seismic-reflection data from offshore northern California — Bolinas to Sea Ranch
Ray W. Sliter, Samuel Y. Johnson, John L. Chin, Parker Allwardt, Jeffrey Beeson, Peter J. Triezenberg
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1058
The U.S. Geological Survey collected high-resolution seismic-reflection data in September 2009, on survey S-8-09-NC, offshore of northern California between Bolinas and Sea Ranch.The survey area spans about 125 km of California’s coast and extends around Point Reyes. Data were collected aboard the U.S. Geological Survey R/V Parke Snavely. Cumulatively, ~1,150...
Global stocks of selected mineral-based commodities
David R. Wilburn, Donald I. Bleiwas, Nick A. Karl
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5152
IntroductionThe U.S. Geological Survey, National Minerals Information Center, analyzes mineral and metal supply chains by identifying and describing major components of mineral and material flows from ore extraction, through intermediate forms, to a final product. This report focuses on an important component of the world’s supply chain: the amounts and...
