A hybrid model for mapping relative differences in belowground biomass and root: Shoot ratios using spectral reflectance, foliar N and plant biophysical data within coastal marsh
Jessica L. O'Connell, Kristin B. Byrd, Maggi Kelly
2015, Remote Sensing (12) 16480-16503
Broad-scale estimates of belowground biomass are needed to understand wetland resiliency and C and N cycling, but these estimates are difficult to obtain because root:shoot ratios vary considerably both within and between species. We used remotely-sensed estimates of two aboveground plant characteristics, aboveground biomass and % foliar N to explore...
Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) Vegetation Volume Index: An assessment tool for marsh habitat focused on the three-dimensional structure at CRMS vegetation monitoring stations
William B. Wood, Jenneke M. Visser, Sarai C. Piazza, Leigh A. Sharp, Laura C. Hundy, Tommy E. McGinnis
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1206
A Vegetation Volume (VV) variable and Vegetation Volume Index (VVI) have been developed for the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS). The VV is a measure of the amount of three-dimensional vegetative structure present at each CRMS site and is based on vegetation data collected annually. The VV uses 10 stations...
Underwater videography outperforms above-water videography and in-person surveys for monitoring the spawning of Devils Hole Pupfish
Ambre L. Chaudoin, Olin Feuerbacher, Scott A. Bonar, Paul J. Barrett
2015, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (35) 1252-1262
The monitoring of threatened and endangered fishes in remote environments continues to challenge fisheries biologists. The endangered Devils Hole Pupfish Cyprinodon diabolis, which is confined to a single warm spring in Death Valley National Park, California–Nevada, has recently experienced record declines, spurring renewed conservation and recovery efforts. In February–December 2010, we...
Using a Bayesian network to predict barrier island geomorphologic characteristics
Benjamin T. Gutierrez, Nathaniel G. Plant, E. Robert Thieler, Aaron Turecek
2015, Journal of Geophysical Research (120) 2452-2475
Quantifying geomorphic variability of coastal environments is important for understanding and describing the vulnerability of coastal topography, infrastructure, and ecosystems to future storms and sea level rise. Here we use a Bayesian network (BN) to test the importance of multiple interactions between barrier island geomorphic variables. This approach models complex...
Paleoreconstruction of organic carbon inputs to an oxbow lake in the Mississippi River watershed: Effects of dam construction and land use change on regional inputs
Thomas S. Bianchi, Valier Galy, Brad E. Rosenheim, Michael Shields, Xingquan Cui, Peter C. Van Metre
2015, Geophysical Research Letters (42) 7983-7991
We use a dated sediment core from Lake Whittington (USA) in the lower Mississippi River to reconstruct linkages in the carbon cycling and fluvial sediment dynamics over the past 80 years. Organic carbon (OC) sources were characterized using bulk (δ13C, ramped pyrolysis-oxidation (PyrOx) 14C, δ15N, and TN:OC ratios) and compound-specific (lignin phenols...
Evaluation of a formula that categorizes female gray wolf breeding status by nipple size
Shannon M. Barber-Meyer, L. David Mech
2015, Northeastern Naturalist (22) 652-657
The proportion by age class of wild Canis lupus (Gray Wolf) females that reproduce in any given year remains unclear; thus, we evaluated the applicability to our long-term (1972–2013) data set of the Mech et al. (1993) formula that categorizes female Gray Wolf breeding status by nipple size and time of...
Developing a 30-m grassland productivity estimation map for central Nebraska using 250-m MODIS and 30-m Landsat-8 observations
Yingxin Gu, Bruce K. Wylie
2015, Remote Sensing of Environment (171) 291-298
Accurately estimating aboveground vegetation biomass productivity is essential for local ecosystem assessment and best land management practice. Satellite-derived growing season time-integrated Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GSN) has been used as a proxy for vegetation biomass productivity. A 250-m grassland biomass productivity map for the Greater Platte River Basin had been...
Coral 13C/12C records of vertical seafloor displacement during megathrust earthquakes west of Sumatra
Michael K. Gagan, Sindia M. Sosdian, Heather Scott-Gagan, Kerry Sieh, Wahyoe S. Hantoro, Danny H. Natawidjaja, Richard W. Briggs, Bambang W. Suwargadi, Hamdi Rifai
2015, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (432) 461-471
The recent surge of megathrust earthquakes and tsunami disasters has highlighted the need for a comprehensive understanding of earthquake cycles along convergent plate boundaries. Space geodesy has been used to document recent crustal deformation patterns with unprecedented precision, however the production of long paleogeodetic records of vertical seafloor motion is...
Classification of ephemeral, intermittent, and perennial stream reaches using a TOPMODEL-based approach
Tanja N. Williamson, Carmen T. Agouridis, Christopher D. Barton, Jonathan A. Villines, Jeremiah G. Lant
2015, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (51) 1739-1759
Whether a waterway is temporary or permanent influences regulatory protection guidelines, however, classification can be subjective due to a combination of factors, including time of year, antecedent moisture conditions, and previous experience of the field investigator. Our objective was to develop a standardized protocol using publicly available spatial information to classify...
Regression Equations for Monthly and Annual Mean and Selected Percentile Streamflows for Ungaged Rivers in Maine
Robert W. Dudley
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5151
In an effort to delineate hydrologic conditions in Maine, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Maine Department of Transportation, used streamflow data to develop dependent variables for 130 regression equations for estimating monthly and annual mean and 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 90, 95, and 99 percentile...
Uranium-series ages of fossil corals from Mallorca, Spain: The "Neotyrrhenian" high stand of the Mediterranean Sea revisited
Daniel R. Muhs, Kathleen R. Simmons, Naomi Porat
2015, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (438) 408-424
The emergent marine deposits of the Mediterranean basin have been recognized as an important record of Quaternary sea level history for more than a century. Previous workers identified what have been interpreted to be two separate high stands of sea in the late Quaternary, namely the “Eutyrrhenian” (thought to...
Surveillance potential of non-native Hawaiian birds for detection of West Nile Virus
Erik K. Hofmeister, Robert J. Dusek, Christopher J. Brand
2015, American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (93) 701-708
West Nile virus (WNV) was first detected in North America in 1999. Alaska and Hawaii (HI) remain the only U.S. states in which transmission of WNV has not been detected. Dead bird surveillance has played an important role in the detection of the virus geographically, as well as temporally. In...
Estimating regional landbird populations from enhanced North American Breeding Bird Surveys
Daniel J. Twedt
2015, Journal of Field Ornithology (86) 352-368
Estimating the size of bird populations is central to effective conservation planning and prudent management. I updated estimated regional bird populations for the East Gulf Coastal Plain of Mississippi using data from 275 North American Breeding Bird Surveys from 2009 to 2013. However, regional bird populations estimated from count surveys...
California State Waters Map Series — Offshore of Fort Ross, California
Samuel Y. Johnson, Peter Dartnell, Nadine E. Golden, Stephen R. Hartwell, Mercedes D. Erdey, H. Gary Greene, Guy R. Cochrane, Rikk G. Kvitek, Michael W. Manson, Charles A. Endris, Bryan E. Dieter, Janet Watt, Lisa M. Krigsman, Ray W. Sliter, Erik N. Lowe, John L. Chin
Samuel Y. Johnson, Susan A. Cochran, editor(s)
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1211
Introduction In 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), designed to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats, and geology within the 3-nautical-mile limit of California’s State Waters. The CSMP approach is to create highly detailed seafloor maps through collection, integration,...
Early Permian conodont fauna and stratigraphy of the Garden Valley Formation, Eureka County, Nevada
Bruce R. Wardlaw, Dora M. Gallegos, Valery V. Chernykh, Walter S. Snyder
2015, Stratigraphy (12) 197-215
The lower Part of the Garden Valley Formation yields two distinct conodont faunas. One of late Asselian age dominated by Mesogondolella and Streptognathodus and one of Artinskian age dominated by Sweetognathus with Mesogondolella. The Asselian fauna contains the same species as those found in the type area of the Asselian...
Biodegradability of dissolved organic carbon in permafrost soils and aquatic systems: a meta-analysis
Jorien E. Vonk, Suzanne E. Tank, Paul J. Mann, Robert G.M. Spencer, Claire C. Treat, Robert G. Striegl, Benjamin W. Abbott, Kimberly P. Wickland
2015, Biogeosciences (12) 6915-6930
As Arctic regions warm and frozen soils thaw, the large organic carbon pool stored in permafrost becomes increasingly vulnerable to decomposition or transport. The transfer of newly mobilized carbon to the atmosphere and its potential influence upon climate change will largely depend on the degradability of carbon delivered to aquatic...
Variability within nearshore ecosystems of the Gulf of Alaska
Brenda E. Ballachey, James L. Bodkin, Heather A. Coletti, Thomas A Dean, Daniel Esler, George G. Esslinger, Katrin Iken, Kimberly A. Kloecker, Brenda Konar, Mandy Lindeberg, Daniel Monson, Marnie Shepherd, Ben P. Weitzman
2015, Report, Quantifying temporal and spatial ecosystem variability across the northern Gulf of Alaska to understand mechanisms of change. Science synthesis report for the Gulf Watch Alaska Program
Nearshore marine habitats, which represent the interface among air, land and sea, form a critical component of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) ecosystem. As an interface, the nearshore facilitates transfer of water, nutrients and biota between terrestrial and oceanic systems, creating zones of high productivity. The nearshore provides a variety...
A framework for decision points to trigger adaptive management actions in long-term incidental take permits
Daniel Dalthorp, Manuela M. Huso
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1227
Introduction The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has begun to issue incidental take permits (ITPs) to wind power companies to allow limited take of bird and bat species that are protected under the Endangered Species Act, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, or the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (Huso...
Assessment of undiscovered sandstone-hosted uranium resources in the Texas Coastal Plain, 2015
Mark J. Mihalasky, Susan M. Hall, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Kathleen R. Tureck, Mark T. Hannon, George N. Breit, Robert A. Zielinski, Brent Elliott
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3069
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 220 million pounds of recoverable uranium oxide (U3O8 ) remaining as potential undiscovered resources in southern Texas. This estimate used a geology-based assessment method for Tertiary sandstone-hosted uranium deposits in the Texas Coastal Plain sedimentary strata (fig.1)....
Petrology and reservoir quality of the Gaikema Sandstone: Initial impressions
Kenneth P. Helmold, Richard G. Stanley
2015, Report
The Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS) and Division of Oil & Gas (DOG) are currently conducting a study of the hydrocarbon potential of Cook Inlet basin (LePain and others, 2011). The Tertiary stratigraphic section of the basin includes coal-bearing units that are prolific gas reservoirs, particularly the Neogene...
Rapid characterization of the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake sequence and its seismotectonic context
Gavin P. Hayes, Richard W. Briggs, William D. Barnhart, William L. Yeck, Daniel E. McNamara, David J. Wald, Jennifer Nealy, Harley M. Benz, Ryan D. Gold, Kishor S. Jaiswal, Kristin Marano, Paul S. Earle, Mike Hearne, Gregory M. Smoczyk, Lisa A. Wald, Sergey Samsonov
2015, Seismological Research Letters (86) 1557-1567
Earthquake response and related information products are important for placing recent seismic events into context and particularly for understanding the impact earthquakes can have on the regional community and its infrastructure. These tools are even more useful if they are available quickly, ahead of detailed information from the areas affected...
Seismic hazard in the eastern United States
Charles Mueller, Oliver S. Boyd, Mark D. Petersen, Morgan P. Moschetti, Sanaz Rezaeian, Allison Shumway
2015, Earthquake Spectra (31) 85-107
The U.S. Geological Survey seismic hazard maps for the central and eastern United States were updated in 2014. We analyze results and changes for the eastern part of the region. Ratio maps are presented, along with tables of ground motions and deaggregations for selected cities. The Charleston fault model was...
Evaluating predictors of local dabbling duck abundance during migration: Managing the spectrum of conditions faced by migrants
Kevin Aagaard, Shawn M. Crimmins, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Brian G. Tavernia, James E. Lyons
2015, Wildfowl (65) 100-120
The development of robust modelling techniques to derive inferences from large-scale migratory bird monitoring data at appropriate scales has direct relevance to their management. The Integrated Waterbird Management and Monitoring programme (IWMM) represents one of the few attempts to monitor migrating waterbirds across entire flyways using targeted local surveys. This...
Factors associated with the deposition of Cladophora on Lake Michigan beaches in 2012
Stephen C. Riley, Taaja R. Tucker, Jean V. Adams, Lisa R. Fogarty, Brenda Moraska Lafrancois
2015, Journal of Great Lakes Research (41) 1094-1105
Deposition of the macroalgae Cladophora spp. was monitored on 18 beaches around Lake Michigan during 2012 at a high temporal frequency. We observed a high degree of spatial variability in Cladophora deposition among beaches on Lake Michigan, even within local regions, with no clear regional pattern in the intensity of...
Forty years of grizzly bear recovery in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Frank T. van Manen, Cecily M. Costello, Kerry A. Gunther, Mark A. Haroldson
2015, Yellowstone Science (23) 4-6
No abstract available....
