Wolf (Canis lupus) generation time and proportion of current breeding females by age
L. David Mech, Shannon M. Barber-Meyer, John Erb
2016, PLoS ONE (11) 1-13
Information is sparse about aspects of female wolf (Canis lupus) breeding in the wild, including age of first reproduction, mean age of primiparity, generation time, and proportion of each age that breeds in any given year. We studied these subjects in 86 wolves (113 captures) in the Superior National Forest...
The Montaguto earth flow: nine years of observation and analysis
L. Guerriero, R Revellino, G. Grelle, N Diodato, F.M. Guadagno, Jeffrey A. Coe
2016, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium on Landslides
This paper summarizes the methods, results, and interpretation of analyses carried out between 2006 and 2015 at the Montaguto earth flow in southern Italy. We conducted a multi-temporal analysis of earth-flow activity to reconstruct the morphological and structural evolution of...
Origin and dynamics of depositionary subduction margins
Paola Vannucchi, Jason P. Morgan, Eli Silver, Jared W. Kluesner
2016, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (17) 1966-1974
Here we propose a new framework for forearc evolution that focuses on the potential feedbacks between subduction tectonics, sedimentation, and geomorphology that take place during an extreme event of subduction erosion. These feedbacks can lead to the creation of a “depositionary forearc,” a forearc structure that extends the...
Long-distance translocations to create a second millerbird population and reduce extinction risk
Holly Freifeld, Sheldon Plentovich, Chris Farmer, Charles Kohley, Peter Luscomb, Thierry M. Work, Daniel Tsukayama, George Wallace, Mark MacDonald, Sheila Conant
2016, Biological Conservation (199) 146-156
Translocation is a conservation tool used with increasing frequency to create additional populations of threatened species. In addition to following established general guidelines for translocations, detailed planning to account for unique circumstances and intensive post-release monitoring to document outcomes and guide management are essential components of these projects. Recent translocation...
Insights into methane dynamics from analysis of authigenic carbonates and chemosynthetic mussels at newly-discovered Atlantic Margin seeps
Nancy G. Prouty, Diana Sahy, Carolyn D. Ruppel, E. Brendan Roark, Dan Condon, Sandra Brooke, Steve W. Ross, Amanda W.J. Demopoulos
2016, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (449) 332-344
The recent discovery of active methane venting along the US northern and mid-Atlantic margin represents a new source of global methane not previously accounted for in carbon budgets from this region. However, uncertainty remains as to the origin and history of methane seepage along this tectonically inactive passive margin. Here...
Evidence of multiple thermokarst lake generations from an 11800-year-old permafrost core on the northern Seward Peninsula, Alaska
Josefine Lenz, Sebastian Wetterich, Benjamin M. Jones, Hanno Meyer, Anatoly Bobrov, Guido Grosse
2016, Boreas (45) 584-603
Permafrost degradation influences the morphology, biogeochemical cycling and hydrology of Arctic landscapes over a range of time scales. To reconstruct temporal patterns of early to late Holocene permafrost and thermokarst dynamics, site-specific palaeo-records are needed. Here we present a multi-proxy study of a 350-cm-long permafrost...
Flexible characterization of animal movement pattern using net squared displacement and a latent state model
Guillaume Bastille-Rousseau, Jonathan Potts, Charles B. Yackulic, Jacqueline L. Frair, Hance Ellington, Stephen Blake
2016, Movement Ecology (4)
Background Characterizing the movement patterns of animals is an important step in understanding their ecology. Various methods have been developed for classifying animal movement at both coarse (e.g., migratory vs. sedentary behavior) and fine (e.g., resting vs. foraging) scales. A popular approach for classifying movements at...
A new panel of SNP markers for the individual identification of North American pumas
Robert R. Fitak, Ashwin Naidu, Ron W. Thompson, Melanie Culver
2016, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (7) 13-27
Pumas Puma concolor are one of the most studied terrestrial carnivores because of their widespread distribution, substantial ecological impacts, and conflicts with humans. Over the past decade, managing pumas has involved extensive efforts including the use of genetic methods. Microsatellites have been the most commonly used genetic markers; however, technical...
Geologic map of the Vancouver and Orchards quadrangles and parts of the Portland and Mount Tabor quadrangles, Clark County, Washington, and Multnomah County, Oregon
Jim E. O'Connor, Charles M. Cannon, Joseph F. Mangano, Russell C. Evarts
2016, Scientific Investigations Map 3357
IntroductionThis is a 1:24,000-scale geologic map of the Vancouver and Orchards quadrangles and parts of the Portland and Mount Tabor quadrangles in the States of Washington and Oregon. The map area is within the Portland Basin and includes most of the city of Vancouver, Washington; parts of Clark County, Washington;...
The Elizabeth Lake paleoseismic site: Rupture pattern constraints for the past ~800 years for the Mojave section of the south-central San Andreas Fault
Sean Bemis, Katherine M. Scharer, James F. Dolan, Ed Rhodes
2016, Conference Paper, Proceeding of the 7th PATA days, 2016
The southern San Andreas Fault in California has hosted two historic surface-rupturing earthquakes, the ~M7 1812 Wrightwood earthquake and the ~M7.9 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake (e.g., Sieh, 1978; Jacoby et al., 1988). Numerous paleoseismic studies have established chronologies of historic and prehistoric earthquakes at sites along the full length of...
Combined use of isotopic and hydrometric data to conceptualize ecohydrological processes in a high-elevation tropical ecosystem
Giovanny M Mosquera, Rolando Celleri, Patricio X Lazo, Kellie B Vache, Steven S. Perakis, Patricio Crespo
2016, Hydrological Processes (30) 2930-2947
Few high-elevation tropical catchments worldwide are gauged and even fewer are studied using combined hydrometric and isotopic data. Consequently, we lack information needed to understand processes governing rainfall-runoff dynamics and to predict their influence on downstream ecosystem functioning. To address this need, we present a combination of hydrometric and water...
Integrating biology, field logistics, and simulations to optimize parameter estimation for imperiled species
Wendy E. Lanier, Larissa L. Bailey, Erin L. Muths
2016, Ecological Modelling (335) 16-23
Conservation of imperiled species often requires knowledge of vital rates and population dynamics. However, these can be difficult to estimate for rare species and small populations. This problem is further exacerbated when individuals are not available for detection during some surveys due to limited access, delaying surveys and creating mismatches...
Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources—Southern Rocky Mountain Basins: Chapter M in Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources
Matthew D. Merrill, Ronald M. Drake II, Marc L. Buursink, William H. Craddock, Joseph A. East, Ernie R. Slucher, Peter D. Warwick, Sean T. Brennan, Madalyn S. Blondes, Philip A. Freeman, Steven M. Cahan, Christina A. DeVera, Celeste D. Lohr
Peter D. Warwick, M.D. Corum, editor(s)
2016, Open-File Report 2012-1024-M
The U.S. Geological Survey has completed an assessment of the potential geologic carbon dioxide storage resources in the onshore areas of the United States. To provide geological context and input data sources for the resources numbers, framework documents are being prepared for all areas that were investigated as part of...
Geometric quality assessment of lidar data based on swath overlap
Aparajithan Sampath, Hans K. Heidemann, Gregory L. Stensaas
2016, Conference Paper
This paper provides guidelines on quantifying the relative horizontal and vertical errors observed between conjugate features in the overlapping regions of lidar data. The quantification of these errors is important because their presence quantifies the geometric quality of the data. A data set can be said to have good geometric...
Groundwater quality from private domestic water-supply wells in the vicinity of petroleum production in southwestern Indiana
Martin R. Risch, Cheryl A. Silcox
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1081
The U.S. Geological Survey provided technical support to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry for site selection and sample collection and analysis in a 2012 investigation of groundwater quality from 29 private domestic water-supply wells in the vicinity of petroleum production in southwestern Indiana. Petroleum hydrocarbons, oil and...
Hydrogeology and water quality of the Floridan aquifer system and effect of Lower Floridan aquifer withdrawals on the Upper Floridan aquifer at Barbour Pointe Community, Chatham County, Georgia, 2013
Gerard Gonthier, John S. Clarke
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5028
Two test wells were completed at the Barbour Pointe community in western Chatham County, near Savannah, Georgia, in 2013 to investigate the potential of using the Lower Floridan aquifer as a source of municipal water supply. One well was completed in the Lower Floridan aquifer at a depth of 1,080...
A software tool for rapid flood inundation mapping
James Verdin, Kristine Verdin, Melissa L. Mathis, Tamuka Magadzire, Eric Kabuchanga, Mark Woodbury, Hussein Gadain
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1038
The GIS Flood Tool (GFT) was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance to provide a means for production of reconnaissance-level flood inundation mapping for data-sparse and resource-limited areas of the world. The GFT has also...
Field survey of earthquake effects from the magnitude 4.0 southern Maine earthquake of October 16, 2012
Amy L. Radakovich, Alex J. Fergusen, John Boatwright
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1071
The magnitude 4.0 earthquake that occurred on October 16, 2012, near Hollis Center and Waterboro in southwestern Maine surprised and startled local residents but caused only minor damage. A two-person U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) team was sent to Maine to conduct an intensity survey and document the damage. The only...
Tree Cover Mapping Tool—Documentation and user manual
Suzanne E. Cotillon, Melissa L. Mathis
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1067
The Tree Cover Mapping (TCM) tool was developed by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Center to allow a user to quickly map tree cover density over large areas using visual interpretation of high resolution imagery within a geographic information system interface. The TCM tool...
Status of the California Red-legged Frog (Rana draytonii) in the State of Baja California, México
Anny Peralta-Garcia, Bradford D. Hellingsworth, Jonathan Q. Richmond, Jorge H. Valdez-Villavicencio, Gorgonio Ruiz-Campos, Robert N. Fisher, Pedro Cruz-Hernandez, Patricia Galina-Tessaro
2016, Herpetological Conservation and Biology (11) 168-180
The California Red-legged Frog (Rana draytonii) is a threatened species in the United States that has undergone population declines, especially in southern California. Due to the lack of information on the status of Mexican populations, we surveyed for the presence of R. draytonii in Baja California and assessed possible threats...
Effects of turbidity on predation vulnerability of juvenile humpback chub to rainbow and brown trout
David L. Ward, Rylan Morton-Starner, Benjamin M. Vaage
2016, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (7) 1-8
Predation on juvenile native fish by introduced rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss and brown trout Salmo trutta is considered a significant threat to the persistence of endangered humpback chub Gila cypha in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. Diet studies of rainbow and brown trout in Glen and Grand canyons indicate...
A fault-based model for crustal deformation, fault slip-rates and off-fault strain rate in California
Yuehua Zeng, Zheng-Kang Shen
2016, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (106) 766-784
We invert Global Positioning System (GPS) velocity data to estimate fault slip rates in California using a fault‐based crustal deformation model with geologic constraints. The model assumes buried elastic dislocations across the region using Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast Version 3 (UCERF3) fault geometries. New GPS velocity and geologic slip‐rate...
Biodiversity conservation and environmental change: Using palaeoecology to manage dynamic landscapes in the Anthropocene.
Charles B. Yackulic
2016, The Quarterly Review of Biology 206-206
No abstract available....
Malberg mystery solved!
Shannon Barber-Meyer
2016, International Wolf (26) 22-23
No abstract available....
At the nexus of fire, water and society
Deborah A. Martin
2016, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (371)
The societal risks of water scarcity and water-quality impairment have received considerable attention, evidenced by recent analyses of these topics by the 2030 Water Resources Group, the United Nations and the World Economic Forum. What are the effects of fire on the predicted water scarcity and declines in water quality?...
