Anomalous bioaccumulation of lead in the earthworm Eisenoides lonnbergi (Michaelsen)
W. Nelson Beyer, Eton E. Codling, Michael A. Rutzke
2018, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (37) 914-919
Lead concentrations in soil organisms are usually well below those in the associated soil and tend to decrease with each higher trophic level in a food chain. Earthworms of the species Eisenoides lonnbergi provide an exception to this observation, accumulating very high concentrations of lead from acidic soils. Earthworms belonging to this...
Species distribution modeling in regions of high need and limited data: waterfowl of China
Diann J. Prosser, Changqing Ding, R. Michael Erwin, Taej Mundkur, Jeffery D. Sullivan, Erle C. Ellis
2018, Avian Research (9) 1-14
BackgroundA number of conservation and societal issues require understanding how species are distributed on the landscape, yet ecologists are often faced with a lack of data to develop models at the resolution and extent desired, resulting in inefficient use of conservation resources. Such a situation...
Environmental risks and challenges associated with neonicotinoid insecticides
Michelle L. Hladik, Anson Main, Dave Goulson
2018, Environmental Science & Technology (52) 3329-3335
Neonicotinoid use has increased rapidly in recent years, with a global shift towards insecticide applications as seed coatings rather than aerial spraying. While the use of seed coatings can lessen the amount of overspray and drift, the near universal and prophylactic use of neonicotinoid seed coatings on major agricultural crops...
Timber harvest as the predominant disturbance regime in northeastern U.S. forests: Effects of harvest intensification
Michelle L. Brown, Charles D. Canham, Lora Murphy, Therese M. Donovan
2018, Ecosphere (9) 1-19
Harvesting is the leading cause of adult tree mortality in forests of the northeastern United States. While current rates of timber harvest are generally sustainable, there is considerable pressure to increase the contribution of forest biomass to meet renewable energy goals. We estimated current harvest regimes for different forest types...
Environmental contaminants of health-care origin: Exposure and potential effects in wildlife
Thomas Bean, Barnett A. Rattner
2018, Book chapter, Health care and environmental contamination
A diverse range of fauna could be exposed to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) via diet, dermal absorption or bioconcentration. Low level exposures of free-ranging wildlife to APIs has only been demonstrated for a few pathways (e.g., ingestion of fish in estuaries by piscivorous birds), and many remain hypothetical (e.g., ingestion...
History of state wildlife management in the United States
John F. Organ
2018, Book chapter, State wildlife management and conservation
No abstract available....
Fire and grazing influence site resistance to Bromus tectorum through their effects on shrub, bunchgrass and biocrust communities in the Great Basin (USA)
Lea A. Condon, David A. Pyke
2018, Ecosystems (21) 1416-1431
Shrubs, bunchgrasses and biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are believed to contribute to site resistance to plant invasions in the presence of cattle grazing. Although fire is a concomitant disturbance with grazing, little is known regarding their combined impacts on invasion resistance. We are the first to date to test the...
Associations between cyanobacteria and indices of secondary production in the western basin of Lake Erie
James H. Larson, Mary Anne Evans, Robert J. Kennedy, Sean Bailey, Keith A. Loftin, Zachary R. Laughrey, Robin Femmer, Jeff Schaeffer, William B. Richardson, Timothy Wynne, J. C. Nelson, Joseph W. Duris
2018, Limnology and Oceanography (63) S232-S243
Large lakes provide a variety of ecological services to surrounding cities and communities. Many of these services are supported by ecological processes that are threatened by the increasing prevalence of cyanobacterial blooms which occur as aquatic ecosystems experience cultural eutrophication. Over the past 10 yr, Lake Erie experienced cyanobacterial blooms...
Geoelectric hazard assessment: the differences of geoelectric responses during magnetic storms within common physiographic zones
Stephen W. Cuttler, Jeffrey J. Love, Andrei Swidinsky
2018, Earth, Planets and Space (70)
Geomagnetic field data obtained through the INTERMAGNET program are convolved with with magnetotelluric surface impedance from four EarthScope USArray sites to estimate the geoelectric variations throughout the duration of a magnetic storm. A duration of time from June 22, 2016, to June 25, 2016, is considered which encompasses a magnetic storm of...
Demographic drivers of a refugee species: Large‐scale experiments guide strategies for reintroductions of hirola
Abdullahi H. Ali, Matthew J. Kauffman, Rajan Amin, Amos Kibara, Juliet King, David P. Mallon, Charles Musyoki, Jacob R. Goheen
2018, Ecological Applications (28) 275-283
Effective reintroduction strategies require accurate estimates of vital rates and the factors that influence them. The hirola (Beatragus hunteri) is the rarest antelope on Earth, with a global population size of <500 individuals restricted to the Kenya–Somali border. We estimated vital rates of hirola populations exposed to varying levels of...
Ecological drought: Accounting for the non-human impacts of water shortage in the Upper Missouri Headwaters Basin, Montana, USA
Jamie McEvoy, Deborah J. Bathke, Nina Burkardt, Amanda E. Cravens, Tonya Haigh, Kimberly R. Hall, Michael J. Hayes, Theresa Jedd, Marketa Podebradska, Elliot Wickham
2018, Resources (7) 1-16
Water laws and drought plans are used to prioritize and allocate scarce water resources. Both have historically been human-centric, failing to account for non-human water needs. In this paper, we examine the development of instream flow legislation and the evolution of drought planning to highlight the growing concern for the...
THRESH—Software for tracking rainfall thresholds for landslide and debris-flow occurrence, user manual
Rex L. Baum, Sarah J. Fischer, Jacob C. Vigil
2018, Techniques and Methods 14-A2
Precipitation thresholds are used in many areas to provide early warning of precipitation-induced landslides and debris flows, and the software distribution THRESH is designed for automated tracking of precipitation, including precipitation forecasts, relative to thresholds for landslide occurrence. This software is also useful for analyzing multiyear precipitation records to compare...
General introduction for the “National Field Manual for the Collection of Water-Quality Data”
U.S. Geological Survey
2018, Techniques and Methods 9-A0
BackgroundAs part of its mission, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collects data to assess the quality of our Nation’s water resources. A high degree of reliability and standardization of these data are paramount to fulfilling this mission. Documentation of nationally accepted methods used by USGS personnel serves to maintain consistency...
AMModels: An R package for storing models, data, and metadata to facilitate adaptive management
Therese M. Donovan, Jonathan Katz
2018, PLoS ONE (13) 1-57
Agencies are increasingly called upon to implement their natural resource management programs within an adaptive management (AM) framework. This article provides the background and motivation for the R package, AMModels. AMModels was developed under R version 3.2.2. The overall goal of AMModels is simple: To codify knowledge in the form of models and...
Spatial and spectral interpolation of ground-motion intensity measure observations
Charles Worden, Eric M. Thompson, Jack W. Baker, Brendon A. Bradley, Nico Luco, David J. Wald
2018, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (108) 866-875
Following a significant earthquake, ground‐motion observations are available for a limited set of locations and intensity measures (IMs). Typically, however, it is desirable to know the ground motions for additional IMs and at locations where observations are unavailable. Various interpolation methods are available, but because IMs or their logarithms are...
Overcoming equifinality: Leveraging long time series for stream metabolism estimation
Alison P. Appling, Robert O. Hall Jr., Charles B. Yackulic, Maite Arroita
2018, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (123) 624-645
The foundational ecosystem processes of gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) cannot be measured directly but can be modeled in aquatic ecosystems from subdaily patterns of oxygen (O2) concentrations. Because rivers and streams constantly exchange O2 with the atmosphere, models must either use empirical estimates of the gas exchange...
Future southcentral US wildfire probability due to climate change
Michael C. Stambaugh, Richard P. Guyette, Esther D. Stroh, Matthew A. Struckhoff, Joanna B. Whittier
2018, Climate Change (147) 617-631
Globally, changing fire regimes due to climate is one of the greatest threats to ecosystems and society. In this paper, we present projections of future fire probability for the southcentral USA using downscaled climate projections and the Physical Chemistry Fire Frequency Model (PC2FM). Future fire probability is projected to both...
The geochemistry of loess: Asian and North American deposits compared
Daniel R. Muhs
2018, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences (155) 81-115
Loess is widely distributed over Asia and North America and constitutes one of the most important surficial deposits that serve as terrestrial records of the Quaternary. The oldest Pleistocene loess in China is likely ∼2.6 Ma, thus spanning much or all of the Pleistocene. In North America, most loess is no...
Regional climate response collaboratives: Multi-institutional support for climate resilience
Kristen Averyt, Justin D. Derner, Lisa Dilling, Rafael Guerrero, Linda A. Joyce, Shannon McNeeley, Elizabeth McNie, Jeffrey T. Morisette, Dennis Ojima, Robin O'Malley, Dannele Peck, Andrea J. Ray, Matt Reeves, William Travis
2018, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (99) 891-898
Federal investments by U.S. agencies to enhance climate resilience at regional scales grew over the past decade (2010s). To maximize efficiency and effectiveness in serving multiple sectors and scales, it has become critical to leverage existing agency-specific research, infrastructure, and capacity while avoiding redundancy. We discuss lessons learned from a...
Anthropogenic impact in the Mayan Lowlands of Petén, Guatemala, during the last 5500 years
D. Battistel, Marco Roman, A Marchetti, Natalie M. Kehrwald, Marta Radaelli, Eleanora Balliana, Giuseppina Toscano, Carlo Barbante
2018, Journal of Quaternary Science (33) 166-176
Trace and rare earth elements from a Lake Peten Itzá (Guatemala) sediment core depict the geochemical dynamics affecting the lake from ~5500 y BP to the present. This timing encompasses the Preclassic (4000 to 1700 y BP) and Classic Periods (1700-1000 y BP) when thriving Maya societies extensively cleared land...
Suspended-sediment transport from the Green-Duwamish River to the Lower Duwamish Waterway, Seattle, Washington, 2013–17
Craig A. Senter, Kathleen E. Conn, Robert W. Black, Norman Peterson, Ann M. Vanderpool-Kimura, James R. Foreman
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1029
The Green-Duwamish River transports watershed-derived sediment to the Lower Duwamish Waterway Superfund site near Seattle, Washington. Understanding the amount of sediment transported by the river is essential to the bed sediment cleanup process. Turbidity, discharge, suspended-sediment concentration (SSC), and particle-size data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)...
Assessment of undiscovered continuous oil and gas resources in the Domanik-type formations of the Volga-Ural Region Province, Russia, 2017
Timothy R. Klett, Michael E. Brownfield, Thomas M. Finn, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Phuong A. Le, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Kristen R. Marra, Tracey J. Mercier, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Schenk, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Cheryl A. Woodall
2018, Fact Sheet 2017-3085
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean undiscovered, technically recoverable continuous resources of 2.8 billion barrels of oil and 34 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Domanik-type formations of the Volga-Ural Region Province, Russia....
U.S. Geological Survey - Virginia Department of Transportation: Bridge scour pilot study
Samuel H. Austin
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3006
BackgroundCost effective and safe highway bridge designs are required to ensure the long-term sustainability of Virginia’s road systems. The streamflows that, over time, scour streambed sediments from bridge piers inherently affect bridge safety and design costs. To ensure safety, bridge design must anticipate streambed scour at bridge piers over the...
Flood-inundation maps for Cedar Creek at 18th Street at Auburn, Indiana
Kathleen K. Fowler
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5156
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 1.9-mile reach of Cedar Creek at Auburn, Indiana (Ind.), from the First Street bridge, downstream to the streamgage at 18th Street, then ending approximately 1,100 feet (ft) downstream of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with...
Effects of the proposed California WaterFix North Delta Diversion on flow reversals and entrainment of juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) into Georgiana Slough and the Delta Cross Channel, northern California
Russell W. Perry, Jason G. Romine, Adam C. Pope, Scott D. Evans
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1028
The California Department of Water Resources and Bureau of Reclamation propose new water intake facilities on the Sacramento River in northern California that would convey some of the water for export to areas south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (hereinafter referred to as the Delta) through tunnels rather...
