Geographic distribution: Boiga irregularis (Brown treesnake)
Adam Knox, Elden Holldorf, Robert N. Reed, Sylvan Igisomar, Steve W. Gotte
2015, Herpetological Review (46) 61
Rota: Rota Seaport (14.136502°N, 145.135351°E; WGS84). 3 September 2014. Shelwyn Taisacan, Robert Ulloa. Verified by G. Zug. USNM 581745. Snake (42 g, 810 mm SVL, 1020 mm total length) captured in a mouse-baited trap hung on the fence perimeter of the Rota Seaport. Because the Northern Marianas Islands are historically...
Re-estimating temperature-dependent consumption parameters in bioenergetics models for juvenile Chinook salmon
John M. Plumb, Christine M. Moffitt
2015, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (144) 323-330
Researchers have cautioned against the borrowing of consumption and growth parameters from other species and life stages in bioenergetics growth models. In particular, the function that dictates temperature dependence in maximum consumption (Cmax) within the Wisconsin bioenergetics model for Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha produces estimates that are lower than those measured in...
Observations of territorial breeding common ravens caching eggs of greater sage-grouse
Kristy B. Howe, Peter S. Coates
2015, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (6) 187-190
Previous investigations using continuous video monitoring of greater sage-grouse Centrocercus urophasianus nests have unambiguously identified common ravens Corvus corax as an important egg predator within the western United States. The quantity of greater sage-grouse eggs an individual common raven consumes during the nesting period and the extent to which common ravens actively hunt greater...
Evidence for the assimilation of ancient glacier organic carbon in a proglacial stream food web
Jason Fellman, Eran Hood, Peter A. Raymond, J.H. Hudson, Maura Bozeman, Mayumi L. Arimitsu
2015, Limnology and Oceanography (60) 1118-1128
We used natural abundance δ13C, δ15N, and Δ14C to compare trophic linkages between potential carbon sources (leaf litter, epilithic biofilm, and particulate organic matter) and consumers (aquatic macroinvertebrates and fish) in a nonglacial stream and two reaches of the heavily glaciated Herbert River. We tested the hypothesis that proglacial stream...
Streamflow of 2014: water year summary
Xiaodong Jian, David M. Wolock, Harry L. Jenter, Steve Brady
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3026
The maps and graphs in this summary describe streamflow conditions for water year 2014 (October 1, 2013, to September 30, 2014) in the context of the 85-year period from 1930 through 2014, unless otherwise noted. The illustrations are based on observed data from the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Streamflow...
River-evolution and tectonic implications of a major Pliocene aggradation on the lower Colorado River: The Bullhead Alluvium
Keith A. Howard, Kyle House, Rebecca J. Dorsey, Phillip A. Pearthree
2015, Geosphere (11) 1-30
The ∼200-m-thick riverlaid Bullhead Alluvium along the lower Colorado River downstream of Grand Canyon records massive early Pliocene sediment aggradation following the integration of the upper and lower Colorado River basins. The distribution and extent of the aggraded sediments record (1) evolving longitudinal profiles of the river valley with implications...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Nevada
William J. Carswell Jr.
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3028
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of Nevada, elevation data are critical for infrastructure and construction management, natural resources conservation, flood risk management, geologic resource assessment and hazard mitigation,...
Isotopic disproportionation during hydrogen isotopic analysis of nitrogen-bearing organic compounds
Sreejesh Nair, Heike Geilmann, Tyler B. Coplen, Haiping Qi, Matthias Gehre, Arndt Schimmelmann, Willi A. Brand
2015, Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry (29) 878-884
Rationale High-precision hydrogen isotope ratio analysis of nitrogen-bearing organic materials using high-temperature conversion (HTC) techniques has proven troublesome in the past. Formation of reaction products other than molecular hydrogen (H2) has been suspected as a possible cause of incomplete H2 yield and hydrogen isotopic fractionation. Methods The classical...
Status and trends of prey fish populations in Lake Michigan, 2014
David B. Bunnell, Charles P. Madenjian, Timothy J. Desorcie, Melissa Jean Kostich, Whitney Woelmer, Jean V. Adams
2015, Report
The U.S. Geological Survey Great Lakes Science Center has conducted lake-wide surveys of the fish community in Lake Michigan each fall since 1973 using standard 12-m bottom trawls towed along contour at depths of 9 to 110 m at each of seven index transects. The resulting data on relative...
Biological indicators of changes in water quality and habitats of the coastal and estuarine areas of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem; Chapter 11
Anna Wachnicka, G. Lynn Wingard
James A. Entry, Andrew D. Gottlieb, Krish Jayachandran, Andrew Ogram, editor(s)
2015, Book chapter, Microbiology of the Everglades Ecosystem
This chapter summarizes the application of various biological indicators to studying the anthropogenic and natural changes in water quality and habitats that have occurred in the coastal and estuarine areas of the Greater Everglades ecosystem....
Marsh rabbit mortalities tie pythons to the precipitous decline of mammals in the Everglades
Robert A. McCleery, Adia Sovie, Robert N. Reed, Mark W. Cunningham, Margaret E. Hunter, Kristen M. Hart
2015, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (282)
To address the ongoing debate over the impact of invasive species on native terrestrial wildlife, we conducted a large-scale experiment to test the hypothesis that invasive Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) were a cause of the precipitous decline of mammals in Everglades National Park (ENP). Evidence linking pythons to mammal...
Polar bear population dynamics in the southern Beaufort Sea during a period of sea ice decline
Jeffrey F. Bromaghin, Trent L. McDonald, Ian Stirling, Andrew E. Derocher, Evan S. Richardson, Eric V. Regehr, David C. Douglas, George M. Durner, Todd C. Atwood, Steven C. Amstrup
2015, Ecological Applications (25) 634-651
In the southern Beaufort Sea of the United States and Canada, prior investigations have linked declines in summer sea ice to reduced physical condition, growth, and survival of polar bears (Ursus maritimus). Combined with projections of population decline due to continued climate warming and the ensuing loss of sea ice...
Storage and mobilization of natural and septic nitrate in thick unsaturated zones, California
John A. Izbicki, Alan L. Flint, David R. O’Leary, Tracy Nishikawa, Peter Martin, Russell D. Johnson, Dennis A. Clark
2015, Journal of Hydrology (524) 147-165
Mobilization of natural and septic nitrate from the unsaturated zone as a result of managed aquifer recharge has degraded water quality from public-supply wells near Yucca Valley in the western Mojave Desert, California. The effect of nitrate storage and potential for denitrification in the unsaturated zone to mitigate increasing nitrate...
Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope trophic enrichment factors for Steller sea lion vibrissae relative to milk and fish/invertebrate diets
Craig A. Stricker, Aaron M. Christ, Michael B. Wunder, Andrew C. Doll, Sean D. Farley, Lorrie D. Rea, David A. S. Rosen, R. D. Scherer, Dominic J. Tollit
2015, Marine Ecology Progress Series (523) 255-266
Nutritional constraints have been proposed as a contributor to population declines in the endangered Steller sea lion Eumetopias jubatus in some regions of the North Pacific. Isotopic analysis of vibrissae (whiskers) is a potentially useful approach to resolving the nutritional ecology of this species because long-term (up to 8 yr)...
The impact of Hurricane Sandy on the shoreface and inner shelf of Fire Island, New York: large bedform migration but limited erosion
John A. Goff, Roger D. Flood, James A. Austin Jr., William C. Schwab, Beth A. Christensen, Cassandra M. Browne, Jane F. Denny, Wayne E. Baldwin
2015, Continental Shelf Research (98) 13-25
We investigate the impact of superstorm Sandy on the lower shoreface and inner shelf offshore the barrier island system of Fire Island, NY using before-and-after surveys involving swath bathymetry, backscatter and CHIRP acoustic reflection data. As sea level rises over the long term, the shoreface and inner shelf are eroded...
Nonequilibrium clumped isotope signals in microbial methane
David T. Wang, Danielle S. Gruen, Barbara Sherwood Lollar, Kai-Uwe Hinrichs, Lucy C. Stewart, James F. Holden, Alexander N. Hristov, John W. Pohlman, Penny L. Morrill, Martin Konneke, Kyle B. Delwiche, Eoghan P. Reeves, Chelsea N. Sutcliffe, Daniel J. Ritter, Jeffrey S. Seewald, Jennifer C. McIntosh, Harold F. Hemond, Michael D. Kubo, Dawn Cardace, Tori M. Hoehler, Shuhei Ono
2015, Science (348) 428-431
Methane is a key component in the global carbon cycle with a wide range of anthropogenic and natural sources. Although isotopic compositions of methane have traditionally aided source identification, the abundance of its multiply-substituted “clumped” isotopologues, e.g., 13CH3D, has recently emerged as a proxy for determining methane-formation temperatures; however, the...
Porewater dynamics of silver, lead and copper in coastal sediments and implications for benthic metal fluxes
Linda H. Kalnejais, W. R. Martin, Michael H. Bothner
2015, Science of the Total Environment (517) 178-194
To determine the conditions that lead to a diffusive release of dissolved metals from coastal sediments, porewater profiles of Ag, Cu, and Pb have been collected over seven years at two contrasting coastal sites in Massachusetts, USA. The Hingham Bay (HB) site is a contaminated location in Boston Harbor, while...
Transgenerational effects from early developmental exposures to bisphenol A or 17α-ethinylestradiol in medaka, Oryzias latipes
Ramji K. Bhandari, Frederick S. vom Saal, Donald E. Tillitt
2015, Scientific Reports (5)
The transgenerational consequences of environmental contaminant exposures of aquatic vertebrates have the potential for broad ecological impacts, yet are largely uninvestigated. Bisphenol A (BPA) and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) are two ubiquitous estrogenic chemicals present in aquatic environments throughout the United States and many other countries. Aquatic organisms, including fish, are...
Assessment of aquifer properties, evapotranspiration, and the effects of ditching in the Stoney Brook watershed, Fond du Lac Reservation, Minnesota, 2006-9
Perry M. Jones, Abigail A. Tomasek
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5007
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, assessed hydraulic properties of geologic material, recharge, and evapotranspiration, and the effects of ditching on the groundwater resources in the Stoney Brook watershed in the Fond du Lac Reservation. Geologic, groundwater, and surface-water data...
Home range use and movement patterns of non-native feral goats in a tropical island montane dry landscape
Mark W. Chynoweth, Christopher A. Lepczyk, Creighton M. Litton, Steve C. Hess, James Kellner, Susan Cordell
2015, PLoS ONE (10) 1-15
Advances in wildlife telemetry and remote sensing technology facilitate studies of broad-scale movements of ungulates in relation to phenological shifts in vegetation. In tropical island dry landscapes, home range use and movements of non-native feral goats (Capra hircus) are largely unknown, yet this information is important to help guide the...
Evaluation of two juvenile salmon collection devices at Cowlitz Falls Dam, Washington, 2014
Tobias J. Kock, Theresa L. Liedtke, Brian K. Ekstrom, William Hurst
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1054
Collection of juvenile salmon at Cowlitz Falls Dam is a critical part of the effort to restore salmon in the upper Cowlitz River, Washington. Many of the fish that are not collected pass downstream and enter Riffe Lake, become landlocked, and are lost to the anadromous population. In addition to...
Downscaling 250-m MODIS growing season NDVI based on multiple-date landsat images and data mining approaches
Yingxin Gu, Bruce K. Wylie
2015, Remote Sensing (7) 3489-3506
The satellite-derived growing season time-integrated Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GSN) has been used as a proxy for vegetation biomass productivity. The 250-m GSN data estimated from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors have been used for terrestrial ecosystem modeling and monitoring. High temporal resolution with a wide range of...
Presence and abundance of non-native plant species associated with recent energy development in the Williston Basin
Todd M. Preston
2015, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (187)
The Williston Basin, located in the Northern Great Plains, is experiencing rapid energy development with North Dakota and Montana being the epicenter of current and projected development in the USA. The average single-bore well pad is 5 acres with an estimated 58,485 wells in North Dakota alone. This landscape-level disturbance...
Research, monitoring, and evaluation of emerging issues and measures to recover the Snake River fall Chinook salmon ESU, 1/1/2014 - 12/31/2014
William P. Connor, Frank L. Mullins, Kenneth F. Tiffan, Russell W. Perry, John M. Erhardt, Scott J. St John, Brad K. Bickford, Tobyn N. Rhodes
2015, Report
The portion of the Snake River fall Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ESU that spawns upstream of Lower Granite Dam transitioned from low to high abundance during 1992–2014 in association with U.S. Endangered Species Act recovery efforts and other Federally mandated actions. This annual report focuses on (1) numeric and habitat...
Porphyry copper assessment of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt and eastern Tethysides: China, Mongolia, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and India: Chapter X in Global mineral resource assessment
Mark J. Mihalasky, Stephen Ludington, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Dmitriy V. Alexeiev, Thomas P. Frost, Thomas D. Light, Gilpin R. Robinson Jr., Deborah A. Briggs, John C. Wallis, Robert J. Miller, Arthur A. Bookstrom, Andre Panteleyev, Andre Chitalin, Reimar Seltmann, Yan Guangsheng, Lian Changyun, Mao Jingwen, Li Jinyi, Xiao Keyan, Qiu Ruizhao, Shao Jianbao, Shai Gangyi, Du Yuliang
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5090-X
The U.S. Geological Survey collaborated with international colleagues to assess undiscovered resources in porphyry copper deposits in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt and eastern Tethysides. These areas host 20 known porphyry copper deposits, including the world class Oyu Tolgoi deposit in Mongolia that was discovered in the late 1990s. The...
