Hydrology: The interdisciplinary science of water
Richard M. Vogel, Upmanu Lall, Ximing Cai, Balaji Rajagopalan, Peter K. Weiskel, Richard P. Hooper, Nicholas C. Matalas
2015, Water Resources Research (51) 4409-4430
We live in a world where biophysical and social processes are tightly coupled. Hydrologic systems change in response to a variety of natural and human forces such as climate variability and change, water use and water infrastructure, and land cover change. In turn, changes in hydrologic systems impact socioeconomic, ecological,...
The changing strength and nature of fire-climate relationships in the northern Rocky Mountains, U.S.A., 1902-2008
Jeremy S. Littell
2015, PLoS ONE (10)
Time-varying fire-climate relationships may represent an important component of fire-regime variability, relevant for understanding the controls of fire and projecting fire activity under global-change scenarios. We used time-varying statistical models to evaluate if and how fire-climate relationships varied from 1902-2008, in one of the most flammable forested regions of the...
Climate change projections for lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) recruitment in the 1836 Treaty Waters of the Upper Great Lakes
Abigail J. Lynch, William W. Taylor, T. Douglas Beard Jr., Brent M. Lofgren
2015, Journal of Great Lakes Research (41) 415-422
Lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) is an ecologically, culturally, and economically important species in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Lake whitefish have been a staple food source for thousands of years and, since 1980, have supported the most economically valuable (annual catch value ≈ US$16.6 million) and productive (annual harvest ≈ 7 million kg) commercial fishery...
Variability and trends in global drought
Gregory J. McCabe, David M. Wolock
2015, Earth and Space Science (2) 223-228
Monthly precipitation (P) and potential evapotranspiration (PET) from the CRUTS3.1 data set are used to compute monthly P minus PET (PMPE) for the land areas of the globe. The percent of the global land area with annual sums of PMPE less than zero are used as an index of global drought (%drought)...
Forecasting wildlife response to rapid warming in the Alaskan Arctic
Caroline R. Van Hemert, Paul L. Flint, Mark S. Udevitz, Joshua C. Koch, Todd C. Atwood, Karen L. Oakley, John M. Pearce
2015, BioScience (65) 718-728
Arctic wildlife species face a dynamic and increasingly novel environment because of climate warming and the associated increase in human activity. Both marine and terrestrial environments are undergoing rapid environmental shifts, including loss of sea ice, permafrost degradation, and altered biogeochemical fluxes. Forecasting wildlife responses to climate change can facilitate proactive decisions that balance...
Magmatism and Epithermal Gold-Silver Deposits of the Southern Ancestral Cascade Arc, Western Nevada and Eastern California
David A. John, Edward A. du Bray, Christopher D. Henry (compiler), Peter G. Vikre
2015, Conference Paper, 2015 Symposium on New Concepts and Discoveries
Many epithermal gold-silver deposits are temporally and spatially associated with late Oligocene to Pliocene magmatism of the southern ancestral Cascade arc in western Nevada and eastern California. These deposits, which include both quartz-adularia (low- and intermediate-sulfidation; Comstock Lode, Tonopah, Bodie) and quartz-alunite (high-sulfidation; Goldfield, Paradise Peak) types, were major producers...
Sediment source apportionment in Laurel Hill Creek, PA, using Bayesian chemical mass balance and isotope fingerprinting
Heather Stewart, Arash Massoudieh, Allen C. Gellis
2015, Hydrological Processes (29) 2545-2560
A Bayesian chemical mass balance (CMB) approach was used to assess the contribution of potential sources for fluvial samples from Laurel Hill Creek in southwest Pennsylvania. The Bayesian approach provides joint probability density functions of the sources' contributions considering the uncertainties due to source and fluvial sample heterogeneity and measurement...
Newberry Volcano's youngest lava flows
Joel E. Robinson, Julie M. Donnelly-Nolan, Robert A. Jensen
2015, Scientific Investigations Map 3329
Most of Newberry Volcano's youngest lava flows are found within the Newberry National Volcanic Monument in central Oregon. Established November 5, 1990, the monument is managed by the U.S. Forest Service as part of the Deschutes National Forest. Since 2011, a series of aerial surveys over the monument collected elevation...
Phytoplankton blooms in estuarine and coastal waters: Seasonal patterns and key species
Jacob Carstensen, Riina Klais, James E. Cloern
2015, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (162) 98-109
Phytoplankton blooms are dynamic phenomena of great importance to the functioning of estuarine and coastal ecosystems. We analysed a unique (large) collection of phytoplankton monitoring data covering 86 coastal sites distributed over eight regions in North America and Europe, with the aim of investigating common patterns in the seasonal timing...
When Siberia came to the Netherlands: The response of continental black-tailed godwits to a rare spring weather event
Nathan R. Senner, Mo A. Verhoeven, Jose M. Abad-Gomez, Jorge S. Gutierrez, Jos C. E. W. Hooijmeijer, Rosemarie Kentie, Jose A. Masero, T. Lee Tibbitts, Theunis Piersma
2015, Journal of Animal Ecology (84) 1164-1176
Summary Extreme weather events have the potential to alter both short- and long-term population dynamics as well as community- and ecosystem-level function. Such events are rare and stochastic, making it difficult to fully document how organisms respond to them and predict the repercussions of similar events in...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Connecticut
William J. Carswell Jr.
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3036
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 Connecticut, elevation data are critical for coastal zone management, flood risk management, natural resources conservation, agriculture and precision farming, sea level rise...
Continuous monitoring of sediment and nutrients in the Illinois River at Florence, Illinois, 2012-13
Paul J. Terrio, Timothy D. Straub, Marian M. Domanski, Nicholas A. Siudyla
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5040
The Illinois River is the largest river in Illinois and is the primary contributing watershed for nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended-sediment loading to the upper Mississippi River from Illinois. In addition to streamflow, the following water-quality constituents were monitored at the Illinois River at Florence, Illinois (U.S. Geological Survey station number...
Water resources of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
Vincent E. White, Lawrence B. Prakken
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3001
Information concerning the availability, use, and quality of water in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, is critical for proper water-supply management. The purpose of this fact sheet is to present information that can be used by water managers, parish residents, and others for stewardship of this vital resource. Information on...
Soil- and groundwater-quality data for petroleum hydrocarbon compounds within Fuels Area C, Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, 2014
David A. Bender, Barbara L. Rowe
2015, Data Series 939
Ellsworth Air Force Base is an Air Combat Command located approximately 10 miles northeast of Rapid City, South Dakota. Ellsworth Air Force Base occupies about 6,000 acres within Meade and Pennington Counties, and includes runways, airfield operations, industrial areas, housing, and recreational facilities. Fuels Area C within Ellsworth Air Force...
Integrated Environmental Modelling: Human decisions, human challenges
Pierre D. Glynn
2015, Geological Society of London Special Publications (408)
Integrated Environmental Modelling (IEM) is an invaluable tool for understanding the complex, dynamic ecosystems that house our natural resources and control our environments. Human behaviour affects the ways in which the science of IEM is assembled and used for meaningful societal applications. In particular, human biases and heuristics reflect adaptation...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Delaware
William J. Carswell Jr.
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3031
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 Delaware, elevation data are critical for agriculture and precision farming, river and stream resource management, natural resources conservation, flood risk management, coastal...
Fundamentals of carbon dioxide-enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR): a supporting document of the assessment methodology for hydrocarbon recovery using CO2-EOR associated with carbon sequestration
Mahendra K. Verma
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1071
The objective of this report is to provide basic technical information regarding the CO2-EOR process, which is at the core of the assessment methodology, to estimate the technically recoverable oil within the fields of the identified sedimentary basins of the United States. Emphasis is on CO2-EOR because this is currently...
Age, growth rates, and paleoclimate studies of deep sea corals
Nancy G Prouty, E. Brendan Roark, Allen Andrews, Laura Robinson, Tessa Hill, Owen Sherwood, Branwen Williams, Thomas P. Guilderson, Stewart Fallon
2015, Report, The state of deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems of the United States: 2015
Deep-water corals are some of the slowest growing, longest-lived skeletal accreting marine organisms. These habitat-forming species support diverse faunal assemblages that include commercially and ecologically important organisms. Therefore, effective management and conservation strategies for deep-sea corals can be informed by precise and accurate age, growth rate, and lifespan characteristics for...
Development of conceptual ecological models linking management of the Missouri River to pallid sturgeon population dynamics
Robert B. Jacobson, Michael J. Parsley, Mandy L. Annis, Michael E. Colvin, Timothy L. Welker, Daniel A. James
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1038
This report documents the process of developing and refining conceptual ecological models (CEMs) for linking river management to pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) population dynamics in the Missouri River. The refined CEMs are being used in the Missouri River Pallid Sturgeon Effects Analysis to organize, document, and formalize an understanding of...
A stochastic bioenergetics model based approach to translating large river flow and temperature in to fish population responses: The pallid sturgeon example
Mark L. Wildhaber, Rima Dey, Christopher K. Wikle, Edward H. Moran, Christopher J. Anderson, Kristie J. Franz
2015, Geological Society of London Special Publications (408) 1-17
In managing fish populations, especially at-risk species, realistic mathematical models are needed to help predict population response to potential management actions in the context of environmental conditions and changing climate while effectively incorporating the stochastic nature of real world conditions. We provide a key component of such a model for...
Literature review of the potential effects of hydrogen peroxide on nitrogen oxidation efficiency of the biofilters of recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) for freshwater finfish
Kim T. Fredricks
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1096
A comprehensive literature review was done for the effects of hydrogen peroxide (HP) on biofilter function in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) using these databases: ISI/Web of Knowledge, Scopus, and Pubmed. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were developed as the literature review was conducted. The initial search produced 5,748 potential citations. Once...
Literature review of the potential effects of formalin on nitrogen oxidation efficiency of the biofilters of recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) for freshwater finfish
Kim T. Fredricks
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1097
A comprehensive literature review was done for the effects of formalin on biofilter function in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) using these databases: ISI/Web of Knowledge, Scopus, and Pubmed. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were developed as the literature review was conducted. The initial search produced 5,682 potential citations. Once the literature...
Fall spawning of Atlantic sturgeon in the Roanoke River, North Carolina
Joseph A. Smith, Joseph E. Hightower, H. Jared Flowers
2015, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (144) 48-54
In 2012, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared Atlantic Sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus to be threatened or endangered throughout its range in U.S. waters. Restoration of the subspecies will require much new information, particularly on the location and timing of spawning. We used a combination of acoustic telemetry and sampling...
Sea level, paleogeography, and archeology on California's Northern Channel Islands
Leslie Reeder-Myers, Jon M. Erlandson, Daniel R. Muhs, Torben C. Rick
2015, Quaternary Research (83) 263-272
Sea-level rise during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene inundated nearshore areas in many parts of the world, producing drastic changes in local ecosystems and obscuring significant portions of the archeological record. Although global forces are at play, the effects of sea-level rise are highly localized due to variability in...
Depositional conditions for the Kuna Formation, Red Dog Zn-PB-Ag-Barite District, Alaska, inferred from isotopic and chemical proxies
Craig A. Johnson, Julie A. Dumoulin, Robert A. Burruss, John F. Slack
2015, Economic Geology (110) 1143-1156
Water column redox conditions, degree of restriction of the depositional basin, and other paleoenvironmental parameters have been determined for the Mississippian Kuna Formation of northwestern Alaska from stratigraphic profiles of Mo, Fe/Al, and S isotopes in pyrite, C isotopes in organic matter, and N isotopes in bulk rock. This unit...