Genetic characterization of the Pacific sheath-tailed bat (Emballonura semicaudata rotensis) using mitochondrial DNA sequence data
Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Ernest W. Valdez, Thomas J. O’Shea, Jennifer A. Fike
2013, Journal of Mammalogy (94) 1030-1036
Emballonura semicaudata occurs in the southwestern Pacific and populations on many islands have declined or disappeared. One subspecies (E. semicaudata rotensis) occurs in the Northern Mariana Islands, where it has been extirpated from all but 1 island (Aguiguan). We assessed genetic similarity between the last population of E. s....
Origin and characteristics of discharge at San Marcos Springs, south-central Texas
MaryLynn Musgrove, Cassi L. Crow
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3080
The Edwards aquifer in south-central Texas is one of the most productive aquifers in the Nation and is the primary source of water for the rapidly growing San Antonio area. Springs issuing from the Edwards aquifer provide habitat for several threatened and endangered species, serve as locations for recreational activities,...
Annual exceedance probabilities of the peak discharges of 2011 at streamgages in Vermont and selected streamgages in New Hampshire, western Massachusetts, and northeastern New York
Scott A. Olson, Gardner C. Bent
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5187
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, determined annual exceedance probabilities for peak discharges occurring during the 2011 water year (October 1 to September 30) at streamgages in Vermont and selected streamgages in New Hampshire, western Massachusetts, and northeastern New York. This report presents the...
Outplanting Wyoming big sagebrush following wldfire: stock performance and economics
Eva Dettweiler-Robinson, Jonathan D. Bakker, James R. Evans, Heidi Newsome, G. Matt Davies, Troy A. Wirth, David A. Pyke, Richard T. Easterly, Debra Salstrom, Peter W. Dunwiddle
2013, Rangeland Ecology and Management (66) 657-666
Finding ecologically and economically effective ways to establish matrix species is often critical for restoration success. Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata subsp. wyomingensis) historically dominated large areas of western North America, but has been extirpated from many areas by large wildfires; its re-establishment in these areas often requires active management....
Sampling design for long-term regional trends in marine rocky intertidal communities
Gail V. Irvine, Alice Shelley
2013, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (185) 6963-6987
Probability-based designs reduce bias and allow inference of results to the pool of sites from which they were chosen. We developed and tested probability-based designs for monitoring marine rocky intertidal assemblages at Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve (GLBA), Alaska. A multilevel design was used that varied in scale and...
Effect of ultramafic intrusions and associated mineralized rocks on the aqueous geochemistry of the Tangle Lakes Area, Alaska
Bronwen Wang, Larry P. Gough, Richard B. Wanty, Gregory K. Lee, James Vohden, J. Michael O’Neill, L. Jack Kerin
2013, Professional Paper 1795-C
Stream water was collected at 30 sites within the Tangle Lakes area of the Delta mineral belt in Alaska. Sampling focused on streams near the ultramafic rocks of the Fish Lake intrusive complex south of Eureka Creek and the Tangle Complex area east of Fourteen Mile Lake, as well as...
Undiscovered gas resources in the Alum Shale, Denmark, 2013
Donald L. Gautier, Ronald R. Charpentier, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Timothy R. Klett, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Schenk, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Katherine J. Whidden
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3103
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimates a mean undiscovered volume of 6.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Alum Shale in Denmark....
Accuracy of the Missouri River Least Tern and Piping Plover Monitoring Program: considerations for the future
Terry L. Shaffer, Mark H. Sherfy, Michael J. Anteau, Jennifer H. Stucker, Marsha A. Sovada, Erin A. Roche, Mark T. Wiltermuth, Thomas K. Buhl, Colin M. Dovichin
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1176
The upper Missouri River system provides nesting and foraging habitat for federally endangered least terns (Sternula antillarum; hereafter “terns”) and threatened piping plovers (Charadrius melodus; hereafter “plovers”). These species are the subject of substantial management interest on the Missouri River for several reasons. First, ecosystem recovery is a goal for...
Holocene dynamics of the Florida Everglades with respect to climate, dustfall, and tropical storms
Paul H. Glaser, Barbara C. S. Hansen, Joseph J. Donovan, Thomas J. Givnish, Craig A. Stricker, John C. Volin
2013, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (110) 17211-17216
Aeolian dust is rarely considered an important source for nutrients in large peatlands, which generally develop in moist regions far from the major centers of dust production. As a result, past studies assumed that the Everglades provides a classic example of an originally oligotrophic, P-limited wetland that was subsequently degraded...
Flood-inundation maps for the DuPage River from Plainfield to Shorewood, Illinois, 2013
Elizabeth A. Murphy, Jennifer B. Sharpe
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3275
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 15.5-mi reach of the DuPage River from Plainfield to Shorewood, Illinois, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Will County Stormwater Management Planning Committee. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site...
Evidence for high salinity of Early Cretaceous sea water from the Chesapeake Bay crater
Ward E. Sanford, Michael W. Doughten, Tyler B. Coplen, Andrew G. Hunt, Thomas D. Bullen
2013, Nature (503) 252-256
High salinity groundwater more than 1000 metres deep in the Atlantic Coastal Plain of the United States has been documented in several locations1,2, most recently within the 35 million-year-old Chesapeake Bay impact crater3,4,5. Suggestions for the origin of increased salinity in the crater have included evaporite dissolution6, osmosis6, and evaporation...
Large dams and alluvial rivers in the Anthropocene: The impacts of the Garrison and Oahe Dams on the Upper Missouri River
Katherine Skalak, Adam J. Benthem, Edward R. Schenk, Cliff R. Hupp, Joel M. Galloway, Rochelle A. Nustad, Gregg J. Wiche
2013, Anthropocene (2) 51-64
The Missouri River has had a long history of anthropogenic modification with considerable impacts on river and riparian ecology, form, and function. During the 20th century, several large dam-building efforts in the basin served the needs for irrigation, flood control, navigation, and the generation of hydroelectric power. The managed flow...
Inundation, sedimentation, and subsidence creates goose habitat along the Arctic coast of Alaska
Ken D. Tape, Paul L. Flint, Brandt W. Meixell, Benjamin V. Gaglioti
2013, Environmental Research Letters (8)
The Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska is characterized by thermokarst lakes and drained lake basins, and the rate of coastal erosion has increased during the last half-century. Portions of the coast are <1 m above sea level for kilometers inland, and are underlain by ice-rich permafrost. Increased storm surges or...
Users, uses, and value of Landsat satellite imagery: results from the 2012 survey of users
Holly M. Miller, Leslie A. Richardson, Stephen R. Koontz, John Loomis, Lynne Koontz
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1269
Landsat satellites have been operating since 1972, providing a continuous global record of the Earth’s land surface. The imagery is currently available at no cost through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Social scientists at the USGS Fort Collins Science Center conducted an extensive survey in early 2012 to explore who...
ECALS: Loading studies interim report October 2013
Katy Klymus, Cathy Richter, Duane Chapman, Craig P. Paukert
2013, Report
Here we follow up the loading studies interim report from July 2013 and include results from laboratory studies assessing the effects of diet on eDNA shedding rates by bigheaded carps(silver and bighead carp). In order to understand how eDNA behavesin the environment, we must understand how it enters the system....
Mercury in gray wolves (Canis lupus) in Alaska: Increased exposure through consumption of marine prey
Ashley K. McGrew, Lora R. Ballweber, Sara K. Moses, Craig A. Stricker, Kimberlee B. Beckmen, Mo D. Salman, Todd M. O’Hara
2013, Science of the Total Environment (468-469) 609-613
Mercury (Hg) bioaccumulates in the tissues of organismsand biomagnifies within food-webs. Graywolves (Canis lupus) in Alaska primarily acquire Hg through diet; therefore, comparing the extent of Hg exposure inwolves, in conjunction with stable isotopes, from interior and coastal regions of Alaska offers important insight into their feeding ecology. Liver,...
Response of Yellowstone grizzly bears to changes in food resources: A synthesis. Final report to the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee and Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee
Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, Frank T. van Manen, Cecily M. Costello, Mark A. Haroldson, Daniel D. Bjornlie, Michael R. Ebinger, Kerry A. Gunther, Mary Frances Mahalovich, Daniel J. Thompson, Megan D. Higgs, Kathryn M. Irvine, Kristin Legg, Daniel B. Tyers, Lisa Landenburger, Steven L. Cain, Kevin L. Frey, Bryan C. Aber, Charles C. Schwartz
2013, Report
The Yellowstone grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) was listed as a threatened species in 1975 (Federal Register 40 FR:31734-31736). Since listing, recovery efforts have focused on increasing population size, improving habitat security, managing bear mortalities, and reducing bear-human conflicts. The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC; partnership of federal and state agencies...
Intraseasonal variation in survival and probable causes of mortality in greater sage-grouse Centrocercus urophasianus
Erik J. Blomberg, Daniel Gibson, James S. Sedinger, Michael L. Casazza, Peter S. Coates
2013, Wildlife Biology (19) 347-357
The mortality process is a key component of avian population dynamics, and understanding factors that affect mortality is central to grouse conservation. Populations of greater sage-grouse Centrocercus urophasianus have declined across their range in western North America. We studied cause-specific mortality of radio-marked sage-grouse in Eureka County, Nevada, USA, during...
Rodent-Mediated Interactions Among Seed Species of Differing Quality in a Shrubsteppe Ecosystem
Karen H. Beard, Craig A. Faulhaber, Frank P. Howe, Thomas C. Edwards Jr.
2013, Western North American Naturalist (73) 426-441
Interactions among seeds, mediated by granivorous rodents, are likely to play a strong role in shrubsteppe ecosystem restoration. Past studies typically consider only pairwise interactions between preferred and less preferred seed species, whereas rangeland seedings are likely to contain more than 2 seed species, potentially leading to complex interactions. We...
Ground-motion prediction from tremor
Annemarie S. Baltay, Gregory C. Beroza
2013, Geophysical Research Letters (40) 6340-6345
The widespread occurrence of tremor, coupled with its frequency content and location, provides an exceptional opportunity to test and improve strong ground-motion attenuation relations for subduction zones. We characterize the amplitude of thousands of individual 5 min tremor events in Cascadia during three episodic tremor and slip events to constrain the...
Estuarine environments as rearing habitats for juvenile Coho Salmon in contrasting south-central Alaska watersheds
Tammy D. Hoem Neher, Amanda E. Rosenberger, Christian E. Zimmerman, Coowe M. Walker, Steven J. Baird
2013, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (142) 1481-1494
For Pacific salmon, estuaries are typically considered transitional staging areas between freshwater and marine environments, but their potential as rearing habitat has only recently been recognized. The objectives of this study were two-fold: (1) to determine if Coho Salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch were rearing in estuarine habitats, and (2) to characterize...
How to predict community responses to perturbations in the face of imperfect knowledge and network complexity
Helge Aufderheide, Lars Rudolf, Thilo Gross, Kevin D. Lafferty
2013, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (280)
Recent attempts to predict the response of large food webs to perturbations have revealed that in larger systems increasingly precise information on the elements of the system is required. Thus, the effort needed for good predictions grows quickly with the system's complexity. Here, we show that not all elements need...
Urban runoff (URO) process for MODFLOW 2005: simulation of sub-grid scale urban hydrologic processes in Broward County, FL
Jeremy D. Decker, J.D. Hughes
2013, Book, MODFLOW and More 2013: Translating Science into Practice: Conference Proceedings
Climate change and sea-level rise could cause substantial changes in urban runoff and flooding in low-lying coast landscapes. A major challenge for local government officials and decision makers is to translate the potential global effects of climate change into actionable and cost-effective adaptation and mitigation strategies at county and municipal...
Silicate melt inclusion evidence for extreme pre-eruptive enrichment and post-eruptive depletion of lithium in silicic volcanic rocks of the western United States: implications for the origin of lithium-rich brines
Albert H. Hofstra, T.I. Todorov, C.N. Mercer, D.T. Adams, E.E. Marsh
2013, Economic Geology (108) 1691-1701
To evaluate whether anatectic and/or highly fractionated lithophile element-enriched rhyolite tuffs deposited in arid lacustrine basins lose enough lithium during eruption, lithification, and weathering to generate significant Li brine resources, pre-eruptive melt compositions, preserved in inclusions, and the magnitude of post-eruptive Li depletions, evident in host rhyolites, were documented at...
Inferring tidal wetland stability from channel sediment fluxes: observations and a conceptual model
Neil K. Ganju, Nicholas J. Nidzieko, Matthew L. Kirwan
2013, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (118) 2045-2058
Anthropogenic and climatic forces have modified the geomorphology of tidal wetlands over a range of timescales. Changes in land use, sediment supply, river flow, storminess, and sea level alter the layout of tidal channels, intertidal flats, and marsh plains; these elements define wetland complexes. Diagnostically, measurements of net sediment fluxes...
