The effects of body size and climate on post-weaning survival of elephant seals at Heard Island
Clive R McMahon, Leslie New, E.J. Fairley, M.A. Hindell, H.R. Burton
2015, Journal of Zoology (297) 301-308
The population size of southern elephant seals in the southern Indian and Pacific Oceans decreased precipitously between the 1950s and 1990s. To investigate the reasons behind this, we studied the population of southern elephant seals at Heard Island between 1949 and 1954, using data collected by the early Australian National...
Using 15-minute acoustic data to analyze suspended-sediment dynamics in the Rio Grande in the Big Bend Region
David J. Dean, David J. Topping, Ronald E. Griffiths, Thomas A. Sabol, John C. Schmidt, Jeffery B. Bennett
2015, Conference Paper
The Rio Grande in the Big Bend region is subject to rapid geomorphic change consisting of channel narrowing during years of low flow, and channel widening during rare, large, long duration floods. Since the 1940s, there have been large declines in mean and peak stream flow, and the channel has...
A conceptual model for site-level ecology of the giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) in the Sacramento Valley, California
Brian J. Halstead, Glenn D. Wylie, Michael L. Casazza, Eric C. Hansen, Rick D. Scherer, Laura C. Patterson
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1152
Giant gartersnakes (Thamnophis gigas) comprise a species of semi-aquatic snakes precinctive to marshes in the Central Valley of California (Hansen and Brode, 1980; Rossman and others, 1996). Because more than 90 percent of their historical wetland habitat has been converted to other uses (Frayer and others, 1989; Garone, 2007), giant...
2013 volcanic activity in Alaska: summary of events and response of the Alaska Volcano Observatory
James P. Dixon, Cheryl Cameron, Robert G. McGimsey, Christina A. Neal, Chris Waythomas
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5110
The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) responded to eruptions, volcanic unrest or suspected unrest, and seismic events at 18 volcanic centers in Alaska during 2013. Beginning with the 2013 AVO Summary of Events, the annual description of the AVO seismograph network and activity, once a stand-alone publication, is now part of...
The Boulder magnetic observatory
Jeffrey J. Love, Carol A. Finn, Kolby L. Pedrie, Cletus C. Blum
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1125
The Boulder magnetic observatory has, since 1963, been operated by the Geomagnetism Program of the U.S. Geological Survey in accordance with Bureau and national priorities. Data from the observatory are used for a wide variety of scientific purposes, both pure and applied. The observatory also supports developmental projects within the...
A new temperature profiling probe for investigating groundwater-surface water interaction
Ramon C. Naranjo, Robert Turcotte
2015, Water Resources Research (51) 7790-7797
Measuring vertically nested temperatures at the streambed interface poses practical challenges that are addressed here with a new discrete subsurface temperature profiling probe. We describe a new temperature probe and its application for heat as a tracer investigations to demonstrate the probe's utility. Accuracy and response time of temperature measurements...
Using oblique digital photography for alluvial sandbar monitoring and low-cost change detection
Robert B. Tusso, Daniel D. Buscombe, Paul E. Grams
2015, Conference Paper
The maintenance of alluvial sandbars is a longstanding management interest along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. Resource managers are interested in both the long-term trend in sandbar condition and the short-term response to management actions, such as intentional controlled floods released from Glen Canyon Dam. Long-term monitoring is accomplished...
Spotted bass Micropterus punctulatus (Rafinesque 1819)
Timothy N. Churchill, Phillip William Bettoli
2015, American Fisheries Society Symposium 82
Three subspecies of Spotted Bass Micropterus punctulatus were historically recognized: the smaller Northern Spotted Bass M. p. punctulatus, the larger, longer-lived Alabama Spotted Bass M. p. henshalli, and the now invalidated Wichita Spotted Bass M. p. wichitae (Bailey and Hubbs 1940; Cofer 1995; Warren 2009; Rider and Maceina 2015, this...
A rapid approach for automated comparison of independently derived stream networks
Larry V. Stanislawski, Barbara P. Buttenfield, Ariel T. Doumbouya
2015, Cartography and Geographic Information Science 435-448
This paper presents an improved coefficient of line correspondence (CLC) metric for automatically assessing the similarity of two different sets of linear features. Elevation-derived channels at 1:24,000 scale (24K) are generated from a weighted flow-accumulation model and compared to 24K National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) flowlines. The CLC process conflates two...
Hydroacoustic signatures of Colorado Riverbed sediments in Marble and Grand Canyons using multibeam sonar
Daniel D. Buscombe, Paul E. Grams, Matthew Kaplinski, Robert B. Tusso, David M. Rubin
2015, Conference Paper
Characterizing the large-scale sedimentary make-up of heterogeneous riverbeds (Nelson et al., 2014), which consist of a patchwork of sediment types over small scales (less than one to several tens of meters) (Dietrich and Smith, 1984) requires high resolution measurements of sediment grain size. Capturing such variability with conventional physical (e.g....
Glaciers and ice caps outside Greenland
Marin Sharp, G. Wolken, D. Burgess, J.G. Cogley, L. Copland, L. Thomson, A. Arendt, B. Wouters, J. Kohler, L. M. Andreassen, Shad O’Neel, M. Pelto
2015, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (96) S135-S137
Mountain glaciers and ice caps cover an area of over 400 000 km2 in the Arctic, and are a major influence on global sea level (Gardner et al. 2011, 2013; Jacob et al. 2012). They gain mass by snow accumulation and lose mass by meltwater runoff. Where they terminate in...
Gene transcription in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from disparate populations
Lizabeth Bowen, A. Keith Miles, Shannon C. Waters-Dynes, Randi Meyerson, Karyn D. Rode, Todd C. Atwood
2015, Polar Biology (38) 1413-1427
Polar bears in the Beaufort (SB) and Chukchi (CS) Seas experience different environments due primarily to a longer history of sea ice loss in the Beaufort Sea. Ecological differences have been identified as a possible reason for the generally poorer body condition and reproduction of Beaufort polar bears compared to...
Sensitivity of intermittent streams to climate variations in the USA
Ken Eng, David M. Wolock, Mike Dettinger
2015, River Research and Applications (32) 885-895
There is a great deal of interest in the literature on streamflow changes caused by climate change because of the potential negative effects on aquatic biota and water supplies. Most previous studies have primarily focused on perennial streams, and there have been only a few studies examining the effect of...
Survival, growth, and tag retention in age-0 Chinook Salmon implanted with 8-, 9-, and 12-mm PIT tags
Kenneth F. Tiffan, Russell W. Perry, William P. Connor, Frank L. Mullins, Craig Rabe, Doug D Nelson
2015, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (35) 845-852
The ability to represent a population of migratory juvenile fish with PIT tags becomes difficult when the minimum tagging size is larger than the average size at which fish begin to move downstream. Tags that are smaller (e.g., 8 and 9 mm) than the commonly used 12-mm PIT tags are...
Peclet number as affected by molecular diffusion controls transient anomalous transport in alluvial aquifer-aquitard complexes
Yong Zhang, Christopher T. Green, Geoffrey R. Tick
2015, Journal of Contaminant Hydrology (177-178) 220-238
This study evaluates the role of the Peclet number as affected by molecular diffusion in transient anomalous transport, which is one of the major knowledge gaps in anomalous transport, by combining Monte Carlo simulations and stochastic model analysis. Two alluvial settings containing either short- or long-connected hydrofacies are generated and...
Long-term shifts in the phenology of rare and endemic Rocky Mountain plants
Seth M. Munson, Anna A Sher
2015, American Journal of Botany (102) 1268-1276
PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Mountainous regions support high plant productivity, diversity, and endemism, yet are highly vulnerable to climate change. Historical records and model predictions show increasing temperatures across high elevation regions including the Southern Rocky Mountains, which can have a strong influence on the performance and distribution of...
Months between rejuvenation and volcanic eruption at Yellowstone caldera, Wyoming
Christy B. Till, Jorge A. Vazquez, Jeremy W Boyce
2015, Geology (43) 695-698
Rejuvenation of previously intruded silicic magma is an important process leading to effusive rhyolite, which is the most common product of volcanism at calderas with protracted histories of eruption and unrest such as Yellowstone, Long Valley, and Valles, USA. Although orders of magnitude smaller in volume than rare caldera-forming super-eruptions,...
Lilac and honeysuckle phenology data 1956–2014
Alyssa H. Rosemartin, Ellen G. Denny, Jake F. Weltzin, R. Lee Marsh, Bruce E. Wilson, Hamed Mehdipoor, Raul Zurita-Milla, Mark D. Schwartz
2015, Scientific Data (2)
The dataset is comprised of leafing and flowering data collected across the continental United States from 1956 to 2014 for purple common lilac (Syringa vulgaris), a cloned lilac cultivar (S. x chinensis ‘Red Rothomagensis’) and two cloned honeysuckle cultivars (Lonicera tatarica ‘Arnold Red’ and L. korolkowii ‘Zabeli’). Applications of this observational dataset range from detecting...
Natural recharge estimation and uncertainty analysis of an adjudicated groundwater basin using a regional-scale flow and subsidence model (Antelope Valley, California, USA)
Adam J. Siade, Tracy Nishikawa, Peter Martin
2015, Hydrogeology Journal (23) 1267-1291
Groundwater has provided 50–90 % of the total water supply in Antelope Valley, California (USA). The associated groundwater-level declines have led the Los Angeles County Superior Court of California to recently rule that the Antelope Valley groundwater basin is in overdraft, i.e., annual pumpage exceeds annual recharge. Natural recharge consists...
Landscapes for energy and wildlife: conservation prioritization for golden eagles across large spatial scales
Jason D. Tack, Bradley C. Fedy
2015, PLoS ONE (10)
Proactive conservation planning for species requires the identification of important spatial attributes across ecologically relevant scales in a model-based framework. However, it is often difficult to develop predictive models, as the explanatory data required for model development across regional management scales is rarely available. Golden eagles are a large-ranging predator...
Multiscale analysis of river networks using the R package linbin
Ethan Z. Welty, Christian E. Torgersen, Samuel J. Brenkman, Jeffrey J. Duda, Jonathan B. Armstrong
2015, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (4) 802-809
Analytical tools are needed in riverine science and management to bridge the gap between GIS and statistical packages that were not designed for the directional and dendritic structure of streams. We introduce linbin, an R package developed for the analysis of riverscapes at multiple scales. With this software, riverine data...
Terrain parameters of glide snow avalanches and a simple spatial glide snow avalanche model
Erich H. Peitzsch, Jordy Hendrikx, Daniel B. Fagre
2015, Cold Regions Science and Technology (120) 237-250
Glide snow avalanches are dangerous and difficult to predict. Despite substantial recent research there is still inadequate understanding regarding the controls of glide snow avalanche release. Glide snow avalanches often occur in similar terrain or the same locations annually, and repeat observations and prior work suggest that specific topography...
Numerical simulation of groundwater flow, resource optimization, and potential effects of prolonged drought for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Tribal Jurisdictional Area, central Oklahoma
Derek W. Ryter, Christopher D. Kunkel, Steven M. Peterson, Jonathan P. Traylor
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5167
A hydrogeological study including two numerical groundwater-flow models was completed for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Tribal Jurisdictional Area of central Oklahoma. One numerical groundwater-flow model, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation model, encompassed the jurisdictional area and was based on the results of a regional-scale hydrogeological study and numerical groundwater flow model...
Mortality patterns and detection bias from carcass data: An example from wolf recovery in Wisconsin
Jennifer L. Stenglein, Timothy R. Van Deelen, Adrian P. Wydeven, David J. Mladenoff, Jane E. Wiedenhoft, Nancy K. Businga, Julia A. Langenberg, Nancy J. Thomas, Dennis M. Heisey
2015, Journal of Wildlife Management (79) 1173-1184
We developed models and provide computer code to make carcass recovery data more useful to wildlife managers. With these tools, wildlife managers can understand the spatial, temporal (e.g., across time periods, seasons), and demographic patterns in mortality causes from carcass recovery datasets. From datasets of radio-collared and non-collared carcasses, managers...
Desert grassland responses to climate and soil moisture suggest divergent vulnerabilities across the southwestern United States
Jennifer Gremer, John B. Bradford, Seth M. Munson, Michael C. Duniway
2015, Global Change Biology (21) 4049-4062
Climate change predictions include warming and drying trends, which are expected to be particularly pronounced in the southwestern United States. In this region, grassland dynamics are tightly linked to available moisture, yet it has proven difficult to resolve what aspects of climate drive vegetation change. In part, this is because...
