Geology and paleontology of Cretaceous and Paleocene sediments of the Cabin Branch, Cabin Creek (Cappy Avenue), and Tinkers Creek outcrops, Prince George’s County, Maryland
Jean Self-Trail, David L. Govoni, Laurel M. Bybell, Kristina Frank Gardner
Harvey Kelsey, Susan Cashman, Patricia Cashman, Joan Florsheim, editor(s)
2023, Book chapter, Field excursions to the northern Sierra Nevada of California, the mining districts of the Sierra Nevada, and Cretaceous and Paleocene sediments in Maryland, USA
This field guide presents a one-day excursion in Prince George’s County, Maryland, USA, and documents the transition across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary by examining sediments from the upper Maastrichtian of the Severn Formation to the Paleocene sediments of the Brightseat and Aquia formations. Emphasis is placed on understanding how differences in...
A retrospective assessment of fuel break effectiveness for containing rangeland wildfires in the sagebrush biome
Cali L. Weise, Brianne E. Brussee, Peter S. Coates, Douglas J. Shinneman, Michele R. Crist, Cameron L. Aldridge, Julie A. Heinrichs, Mark A. Ricca
2023, Journal of Environmental Management (341)
Escalated wildfire activity within the western U.S. has widespread societal impacts and long-term consequences for the imperiled sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) biome. Shifts from historical fire regimes and the interplay between frequent disturbance and invasive annual grasses may initiate permanent state transitions as wildfire frequency outpaces sagebrush communities’ innate capacity to recover. Therefore, wildfire management is at the core...
Elevated road segment (ERS) passage design may provide enhanced connectivity for amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals
Cheryl S. Brehme, Stephanie Barnes, Brittany Ewing, Philip Robert Gould, Cassie Vaughan, Michael Hobbs, Charles Tornaci, Sarah Holm, Hanna Sheldon, Jon Fiutak, Robert N. Fisher
2023, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (11)
Introduction: Designs for safe and effective road crossing structures for small animals are typically under-road microtunnels and culverts which have varying levels of effectiveness reported in the scientific literature. Many species, particularly migratory amphibians, may have limited ability to find and use passages if they are too far apart, resulting...
Moderate flood level scenarios—Synthetic storm-driven flood-inundation maps for coastal communities in 10 New Jersey counties
Thomas P. Suro, Michal J. Niemoczynski, Anna Boetsma, L.M. Niemoczynski
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5005
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management (NJOEM), created digital flood-inundation maps for approximately 1,430 square miles of the New Jersey coast and tidewaters through 10 coastal counties stretching from Cumberland County through...
Comparison of historic to future without action (FWOA) land change
Brady Couvillion
2023, Report, 2023 Coastal Master Plan
One of the primary purposes of the 2023 Coastal Master Plan Integrated Compartment Model (ICM) is to forecast potential changes in coastal wetland area under varying environmental and restoration scenarios. To validate the model performance, historical analyses of observed wetland changes are needed for comparison to hindcast model runs. To...
A 37 K SNP array for the management and conservation of Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos)
Megan E. Judkins, Gary W. Roemer, Brian Millsap, Joseph G. Barnes, Bryan E. Bedrosian, Stephen L. Clarke, Robert Domenech, Garth Herring, Myles Lamont, Brian W. Smith, Dale W. Stahlecker, Matthew J. Stuber, Wesley C. Warren, Ronald A. Van Den Bussche
2023, Conservation Genetics (24) 391-404
We describe the development of a custom 37 K Affymetrix Axiom myDesign single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array for a culturally and ecologically important apex predator, the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). Using this SNP array, we performed population genomic analysis on 154 individuals of known natal localities and detected three genetic clusters...
Ferruginous Hawk movements respond predictably to intra-annual variation but unexpectedly to anthropogenic habitats
Georgia H. Isted, Robert J. Thomas, Kevin S. Warner, Matthew J. Stuber, Ethan A. Ellsworth, Todd E. Katzner
2023, Ibis (165) 1156-1168
Birds exhibit flexible movement responses to environmental variation across the annual cycle, and those responses can provide insight into potential impacts that environmental changes may have on these species. To understand year-round variation in space use by Ferruginous Hawks Buteo regalis, we tracked 12 birds breeding in southwestern Idaho, USA, using...
Plague mitigation for prairie dog and black-footed ferret conservation: Degree and duration of flea control with 0.005% fipronil grain bait
David A. Eads, Travis. Livieri, Phillip Dobesh, John P. Hughes, Jason Fly, Holly Redmond, Eddie Childers, Matthew S. Schwarz, Dean E. Biggins
2023, Current Research in Parasitology & Vector-borne Diseases (3)
Sylvatic plague, a primarily flea-borne zoonosis, is a significant threat to prairie dogs (Cynomys spp., PDs) and their specialized predators, endangered black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes, BFFs). Host-fed fipronil baits have proven effective in controlling fleas on PDs for the purposes of plague mitigation and BFF conservation. Currently, annual treatments are the norm. We tested the long-term efficacy of fipronil bait...
Establishing an in vitro model to assess the toxicity of 6PPD-quinone and other tire wear transformation products
Justin Blaine Greer, Ellie Maureen Dalsky, Rachael F. Lane, John Hansen
2023, Environmental Science and Technology Letters (10) 533-537
The tire wear transformation product 6PPD-quinone (6PPDQ) has been implicated as the causative factor for broad scale mortality events for coho salmon in the Pacific Northwest. Highly variable sensitivity to 6PPDQ in closely related salmonids complicates efforts to evaluate the broader toxicological impacts to aquatic ecosystems. Our goals were to...
Tree symbioses sustain nitrogen fixation despite excess nitrogen supply
Duncan N.L. Menge, Amelia A. Wolf, Jennifer L. Funk, Steven Perakis, Palani R. Akana, Rachel Arkebauer, Thomas A. Bytnerowicz, K. A. Carreras Pereira, Alexandra M. Huddell, Sian Kou-Giesbrecht, Sarah K. Ortiz
2023, Ecological Monographs (93)
Symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) is a key ecological process whose impact depends on the strategy of SNF regulation—the degree to which rates of SNF change in response to limitation by N versus other resources. SNF that is obligate or exhibits incomplete downregulation can result in excess N fixation, whereas a...
Is now the time? Review of genetic rescue as a conservation tool for brook trout
Shannon L. White, Jacob M Rash, David C. Kazyak
2023, Ecology and Evolution (13)
Brook trout populations have been declining throughout their native range in the east coast of the United States. Many populations are now distributed in small, isolated habitat patches where low genetic diversity and high rates of inbreeding reduce contemporary viability and long-term adaptive potential. Although...
The truth is in the stream: Use of tracer techniques and synoptic sampling to evaluate metal loading and remedial options in a hydrologically complex setting
Robert L. Runkel, Philip Verplanck, Katherine Walton-Day, R. Blaine McCleskey, Patrick Byrne
2023, Science of the Total Environment (876)
Two synoptic sampling campaigns were conducted to quantify metal loading to Illinois Gulch, a small stream affected by historical mining activities. The first campaign was designed to determine the degree to which Illinois Gulch loses water to the underlying mine workings, and to determine the effect of these losses on observed metal loads....
Application of habitat association models across regions: Useful explanatory power retained in wetland bird case study
Lisa H. Elliott, Annie M. Bracey, Gerald J. Niemi, Douglas H. Johnson, Thomas M. Gehring, Erin E. Gnass Giese, Giuseppe E. Fiorino, Robert W. Howe, Gregory A. Lawrence, Christopher J. Norment, Douglas C. Tozer, Lawrence Igl
2023, Ecosphere (14)
Species often exhibit regionally specific habitat associations, so habitat association models developed in one region might not be accurate or even appropriate for other regions. Three programs to survey wetland-breeding birds covering (respectively) Great Lakes coastal wetlands, inland Great Lakes wetlands, and the Prairie Pothole Region offer an opportunity to...
Introduction to the digitization of seismic data: A user’s guide
Adam T. Ringler, Robert E. Anthony, Patrick Bastien, Adam Pascale, Bion J. Merchant
2023, Seismological Research Letters (94) 2060-2074
Modern seismic data are collected, distributed, and analyzed using digital formats, and this has become a standard for the field. Although most modern seismometers still make use of analog electronic circuits, their data are converted from an analog voltage output to time‐tagged counts...
Gene expression and wildlife health: Varied interpretations based on perspective
Lizabeth Bowen, Julie L. Yee, James L. Bodkin, Shannon C. Waters-Dynes, Michael J. Murray, Heather Coletti, Brenda E. Ballachey, Daniel Monson, A. Keith Miles
2023, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (11)
We evaluated wildlife population health from the perspective of statistical means vs. variances. We outlined the choices necessary to provide the framework for our study. These consisted of spatial and temporal boundaries (e.g., choice of sentinel species, populations, time frame), measurement techniques (molecular to population level), and appropriate statistical analyses....
Flight capacity and response to habitat drying of endemic diving beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) in Arkansas (USA)
Scott Longing, Daniel D. Magoulick
2023, Hydrobiology (2) 354-362
The ability to colonize new habitat is essential for wild populations affected by disturbance or other forms of habitat change. For aquatic insects in small streams, overland flight is an important strategy for dispersal when barriers to in-stream migration exist and when populations are isolated in upland habitats. Two Ozark-endemic...
Recognizing political influences in participatory social-ecological systems modeling
Theodore C. Lim, Pierre D. Glynn, Gary W. Shenk, Patrick Bitterman, Joseph H. A. Guillaume, John Little, D. G. Webster
2023, Socio-Environmental Systems Modelling (5)
Stakeholder participation in social-ecological systems (SES) modeling is increasingly considered a desirable way to elicit diverse sources of knowledge about SES behavior and to promote inclusive decision-making in SES. Understanding how participatory modeling processes function in the context of long-term adaptive management of SES may allow for better design of...
Sensitivity of the Penman-Monteith reference evapotranspiration equation to meteorological variables for Puerto Rico
Michelle M. Irizarry-Ortiz, Eric Harmsen
2023, Hydrology (10)
Spatiotemporal variations in reference evapotranspiration (ETo) are sensitive to the meteorological data used in its estimation. The sensitivity of the ASCE standardized ETo equation to meteorological variables from GOES-PRWEB dataset was evaluated for the island of Puerto Rico. Island wide, ETo is most sensitive to daily mean relative humidity (RHmean), followed...
Assessing individual movement, habitat use, and behavior of non-breeding marine birds in relation to prey availability in the US Atlantic
Julia Gulka, Alicia Berlin, Kevin Friedland, Andrew Gilbert, Chandra Goetsch, William Montevecchi, Matthew Perry, Iain Stenhouse, Kate A. Williams, Evan A. Adams
2023, Marine Ecology Progress Series (711) 77-99
Resource availability is a key factor driving marine bird movements and distributions, but direct information on prey availability is difficult to obtain at relevant scales. We present novel methods for describing multi-scale trophic associations, combining movement analyses of marine birds with estimates of forage fish surface aggregations from digital aerial...
ECCOE Landsat quarterly Calibration and Validation report—Quarter 4, 2022
Obaidul Haque, Rajagopalan Rengarajan, Mark Lubke, Nahid Hasan, Ashish Shrestha, Fatima Tuz Zafrin Tuli, Jerad L. Shaw, Alex Denevan, Shannon Franks, Esad Micijevic, Mike Choate, Cody Anderson, Kurt Thome, Ed Kaita, Julia Barsi, Raviv Levy, Jeff Miller
2023, Open-File Report 2023-1044
Executive SummaryThe U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Calibration and Validation (Cal/Val) Center of Excellence (ECCOE) focuses on improving the accuracy, precision, calibration, and product quality of remote-sensing data, leveraging years of multiscale optical system geometric and radiometric calibration and characterization experience. The ECCOE Landsat Cal/Val Team continually...
Estimating northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) pair detection probabilities based on call-back surveys associated with long-term mark-recapture studies, 1993–2018
Katie M. Dugger, Alan B. Franklin, Damon B. Lesmeister, Raymond J. Davis, J. David Wiens, Gary C. White, James D. Nichols, James E. Hines, Charles B. Yackulic, Carl J. Schwarz, Steven H. Ackers, L. Steven Andrews, Larissa L. Bailey, Robin Bown, Jesse Burgher, Kenneth P. Burnham, Peter C. Carlson, Tara Chestnut, Mary M Conner, Krista E. Dilione, Eric D. Forsman, Scott A. Gremel, Keith A. Hamm, Dale R. Herter, J. Mark Higley, Rob B. Horn, Julianna M Jenkins, William L. Kendall, David W Lamphear, Christopher McCafferty, Trent L. McDonald, Janice A Reid, Jeremy T. Rockweit, David C. Simon, Stan G Sovern, James K. Swingle, Heather Wise
2023, Open-File Report 2023-1012
The northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina; hereinafter NSO) was listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act in 1990 and population declines have continued since that listing. Given the species’ protected status, any proposed activities on Federal lands that might impact NSO require consultation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife...
Paleohydrologic history of pluvial lake San Agustin, New Mexico: Tracking changing effective moisture in southwest North America through the last glacial transition
Adam M. Hudson, Jay Quade, Vance T. Holliday, Brendan Fenerty, Jordon Bright, Harrison J. Gray, Shannon A. Mahan
2023, Quaternary Science Reviews (310)
Paleoclimate records across the Intermountain West region of North America show significant regional variation in timing and magnitude of wet conditions that accompanied the last glacial-interglacial transition. To understand the climate controls on paleohydrologic change, well-dated records are needed across the region. The Plains of San Agustin (New Mexico, USA)...
Methods and lessons for business resilience and recovery surveys
Maria Watson, Charlotte Brown, John Handmer, Cynthia Kroll, Anne Wein, Jennifer Helgeson, Adam Rose, Noah Dormady, Juri Kim
2023, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (93)
Surveys are important tools in business resilience and recovery research because of their ability to capture disaggregated economic information; however, they can be difficult and costly due to business operational dynamics and the larger challenges of disaster research. The COVID-19 pandemic serves as a recent example where demand for business...
Recreation use values for water-based recreation
John B. Loomis, Lucas Bair
2023, Book chapter, Oxford research encyclopedia of environmental science
Outdoor recreation is an important and growing activity worldwide. Water-based outdoor recreation is a subset that includes various activities such as fishing, boating, and swimming. While a large portion of water-based recreation is either free or provided at administratively set minimal entrance fees, these activities still involve significant economic value...
State of the science and decision support for measuring suspended sediment with acoustic instrumentation
Molly S. Wood, Joel T. Groten, Timothy D. Straub, Dan R.W. Haught, Ronald E. Griffiths, Justin A. Boldt, Zulimar Lucena, Jeb E. Brown, Steven E. Suttles, Patrick J. Dickhudt
2023, Conference Paper, Proceedings of SEDHYD 2023
Acoustic instrumentation can be used to provide time-series and discrete estimates of suspended-sediment concentration, load, and sediment particle sizes in fluvial systems, which are essential for creating informed solutions to many sediment-related environmental, engineering, and land management concerns. Historically, scientists have developed relations between suspended sediment characteristics and other parameters,...
