Potentiometric surface and water-level difference maps of selected confined aquifers in Southern Maryland and Maryland’s Eastern Shore, 1975-2013
Andrew W. Staley, David C. Andreasen, Stephen E. Curtin
2014, Open-File Report 14-02-02
Groundwater is the principal source of freshwater supply in most of Southern Maryland and Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It is also the source of freshwater supply used in the operation of the Calvert Cliffs, Chalk Point, and Morgantown power plants. Increased groundwater withdrawals over the last several decades have caused groundwater...
Forest ecosystem re-organization underway in the southwestern US: A preview of widespread forest changes in the anthropocene?
Craig D. Allen
2014, Book chapter, Forest conservation and management in the Anthropocene: Adaptation of science, policy, and practices
No abstract available....
Evaluation of statistically downscaled GCM output as input for hydrological and stream temperature simulation in the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River Basin (1961–99)
Lauren E. Hay, Jacob H. LaFontaine, Steven L. Markstrom
2014, Earth Interactions (18) 1-32
The accuracy of statistically downscaled general circulation model (GCM) simulations of daily surface climate for historical conditions (1961–99) and the implications when they are used to drive hydrologic and stream temperature models were assessed for the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River basin (ACFB). The ACFB is a 50 000 km2 basin located in the...
13.3 – Stable Isotope Geochemistry of Mineral Deposits
W.C. Pat Shanks III
2014, Book chapter, Reference module in earth systems and environmental sciences: Treatise on geochemistry (Second Edition)
In this chapter, the intent is to summarize the results of traditional stable isotope studies (mainly H, B, O, C, and S) that have greatly contributed to the understanding of ore-forming processes over the last 60 years and to provide an up-to-date assessment of the application of new nontraditional isotope...
Earth observation based assessment of the water production and water consumption of Nile Basin agro-ecosystems
Wim Bastiaanssen, Poolad Karimi, Lisa-Maria Rebelo, Zheng Duan, Gabriel B. Senay, Lal Muthuwatte, Vladimir Smakhtin
2014, Remote Sensing (6) 10306-10334
The increasing competition for water resources requires a better understanding of flows, fluxes, stocks, and the services and benefits related to water consumption. This paper explains how public domain Earth Observation data based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Second Generation Meteosat (MSG), Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) and various...
Incorporating detection probability into northern Great Plains pronghorn population estimates
Christopher N. Jacques, Jonathan A. Jenks, Troy W. Grovenburg, Robert W. Klaver, Christopher S. DePerno
2014, Journal of Wildlife Management (78) 164-174
Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) abundances commonly are estimated using fixed-wing surveys, but these estimates are likely to be negatively biased because of violations of key assumptions underpinning line-transect methodology. Reducing bias and improving precision of abundance estimates through use of detection probability and mark-resight models may allow for more responsive pronghorn...
Evapotranspiration variability and its association with vegetation dynamics in the Nile Basin, 2002–2011
Henok Alemu, Gabriel B. Senay, Armel T. Kaptue, Valeriy Kovalskyy
2014, Remote Sensing (6) 5885-5908
Evapotranspiration (ET) is a vital component in land-atmosphere interactions. In drylands, over 90% of annual rainfall evaporates. The Nile Basin in Africa is about 42% dryland in a region experiencing rapid population growth and development. The relationship of ET with climate, vegetation and land cover in the basin during 2002–2011...
Monitoring conterminous United States (CONUS) land cover change with Web-Enabled Landsat Data (WELD)
M.C. Hansen, Alexey Egorov, P.V. Potapov, S.V. Stehman, A. Tyukavina, S.A. Turubanova, David P. Roy, S.J. Goetz, Thomas R. Loveland, J. Ju, A. Kommareddy, Valeriy Kovalskyy, C. Forsyth, T. Bents
2014, Remote Sensing of Environment (140) 466-484
Forest cover loss and bare ground gain from 2006 to 2010 for the conterminous United States (CONUS) were quantified at a 30 m spatial resolution using Web-Enabled Landsat Data available from the USGS Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) (http://landsat.usgs.gov/WELD.php). The approach related multi-temporal WELD metrics and expert-derived...
Detecting the influence of best management practices on vegetation near ephemeral streams with Landsat data
Matthew B. Rigge, Alexander Smart, Bruce K. Wylie, Kendall de Van Kamp
2014, Rangeland Ecology and Management (67) 1-8
Various best management practices (BMPs) have been implemented on rangelands with the goals of controlling nonpoint source pollution, reducing the impact of livestock in ecologically important riparian areas, and improving grazing distribution. Providing off-stream water sources to livestock in pastures, cross-fencing, and rotational grazing are common rangeland BMPs that have...
A new map of global ecological land units — An ecophysiographic stratification approach
Roger Sayre, Jack Dangermond, Charlie Frye, Randy Vaughan, Peter Aniello, Sean P. Breyer, Douglas Cribbs, Dabney Hopkins, Richard Nauman, William Derrenbacher, Dawn J. Wright, Clint Brown, Charles Convis, Jonathan H. Smith, Laurence Benson, D. Paco VanSistine, Harumi Warner, Jill Janene Cress, Jeffrey J. Danielson, Sharon L. Hamann, Thomas Cecere, Ashwan D. Reddy, Devon Burton, Andrea Grosse, Diane TRUE, Marc Metzger, Jens Hartmann, Nils Moosdorf, Hans Durr, Marc Paganini, Pierre Defourny, Olivier Arino, Simone Maynard, Mark Anderson, Patrick Comer
2014, Book
In response to the need and an intergovernmental commission for a high resolution and data-derived global ecosystem map, land surface elements of global ecological pattern were characterized in an ecophysiographic stratification of the planet. The stratification produced 3,923 terrestrial ecological land units (ELUs) at a base resolution of 250 meters....
Effects of iron on optical properties of dissolved organic matter
Brett Poulin, Joseph N. Ryan, George R. Aiken
2014, Environmental Science & Technology (48) 10098-10106
Iron is a source of interference in the spectroscopic analysis of dissolved organic matter (DOM); however, its effects on commonly employed ultraviolet and visible (UV–vis) light adsorption and fluorescence measurements are poorly defined. Here, we describe the effects of iron(II) and iron(III) on the UV–vis absorption and fluorescence of solutions...
Geophysical investigations of the geologic and hydrothermal framework of the Pilgrim Springs Geothermal Area, Alaska
Jonathan M.G. Glen, Darcy McPhee, Paul A. Bedrosian
2014, Conference Paper, Proceedings, Thirty-Ninth Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering
Pilgrim Hot Springs, located on the Seward Peninsula in west-central Alaska, is characterized by hot springs, surrounding thawed regions, and elevated lake temperatures. The area is of interest because of its potential for providing renewable energy for Nome and nearby rural communities. We performed ground and airborne geophysical investigations of...
Detecting emergence, growth, and senescence of wetland vegetation with polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data
Alisa L. Gallant, Shannon G. Kaya, Lori White, Brian Brisco, Mark F. Roth, Walter J. Sadinski, Jennifer Rover
2014, Water (6) 694-722
Wetlands provide ecosystem goods and services vitally important to humans. Land managers and policymakers working to conserve wetlands require regularly updated information on the statuses of wetlands across the landscape. However, wetlands are challenging to map remotely with high accuracy and consistency. We investigated the use of multitemporal polarimetric synthetic...
Influence of variable rainbow smelt and gizzard shad abundance on walleye diets and growth
Mark J. Fincel, Daniel J. Dembkowski, Steven R. Chipps
2014, Lake and Reservoir Management (30) 258-267
Prey availability influences growth and condition of walleye (Sander vitreus) in large systems. In Lake Oahe, South Dakota, rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) and gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum) are primary prey of walleye, but their abundance varies substantially year to year. To evaluate the influence of gizzard...
The temperature-productivity squeeze: Constraints on brook trout growth along an Appalachian river continuum
J. Todd Petty, David Thorne, Brock M. Huntsman, Patricia M. Mazik
2014, Hydrobiologia (727) 151-166
We tested the hypothesis that brook trout growth rates are controlled by a complex interaction of food availability, water temperature, and competitor density. We quantified trout diet, growth, and consumption in small headwater tributaries characterized as cold with low food and high trout density, larger tributaries characterized as cold with...
Distributed Evaluation of Local Sensitivity Analysis (DELSA), with application to hydrologic models
O. Rakovec, Mary C. Hill, M.P. Clark, A. H. Weerts, A. J. Teuling, R. Uijlenhoet
2014, Water Resources Research (50) 409-426
This paper presents a hybrid local-global sensitivity analysis method termed the Distributed Evaluation of Local Sensitivity Analysis (DELSA), which is used here to identify important and unimportant parameters and evaluate how model parameter importance changes as parameter values change. DELSA uses derivative-based “local” methods to obtain the distribution of parameter...
Spatio-temporal patterns and climate variables controlling of biomass carbon stock of global grassland ecosystems from 1982 to 2006
Jiangzhou Xia, Shuguang Liu, Shunlin Liang, Yang Chen, Wenfang Xu, Wenping Yuan
2014, Remote Sensing (6) 1783-1802
Grassland ecosystems play an important role in subsistence agriculture and the global carbon cycle. However, the global spatio-temporal patterns and environmental controls of grassland biomass are not well quantified and understood. The goal of this study was to estimate the spatial and temporal patterns of the global grassland biomass and...
A design for a sustained assessment of climate forcings and feedbacks on land use land cover change
Thomas Loveland, Rezaul Mahmood
2014, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (95) 1563-1572
Land use and land cover change (LULCC) significantly influences the climate system. Hence, to prepare the nation for future climate change and variability, a sustained assessment of LULCC and its climatic impacts needs to be undertaken. To address this objective, not only do we need to determine contemporary trends in...
Self-confidence of anglers in identification of freshwater sport fish
C.J. Chizinski, D. R. Martin, Kevin L. Pope
2014, Fisheries Management and Ecology (21) 448-453
Although several studies have focused on how well anglers identify species using replicas and pictures, there has been no study assessing the confidence that can be placed in angler's ability to identify recreationally important fish. Understanding factors associated with low self-confidence will be useful in tailoring education programmes to improve...
Carcass analog provides marine subsidies for macroinvertebrates and juvenile Atlantic 8 salmon in temperate oligotrophic streams
Margaret Q. Guyette, Cynthia S. Loftin, Joseph D. Zydlewski, Richard Cunjak
2014, Freshwater Biology (59) 392-406
Anadromous fish populations entering freshwater ecosystems provide organic matter and marine-derived nutrients during spawning and subsequent mortalities of adults. Dams and other impediments to connectivity in rivers and streams have affected anadromous fish populations in many regions and prevented or reduced this influx of organic materials and...
Captive propagation, reproductive biology, and early life history of the Diamond Darter (Crystallaria cincotta)
Crystal L. Ruble, Patrick L. Rakes, John R. Shute, Stuart A. Welsh
2014, American Midland Naturalist (172) 107-118
Reproductive biology and early life history data are critical for the conservation and management of rare fishes. During 2008–2012 a captive propagation study was conducted on the Diamond Darter, Crystallaria cincotta, a rare species with a single extant population in the lower Elk River, West Virginia. Water temperatures during spawning ranged...
Combined global change effects on ecosystem processesin nine U.S. topographically complex areas
Melannie D. Hartman, Jill S. Baron, Holly A. Ewing, Kathleen Weathers
2014, Biogeochemistry (119) 85-108
Concurrent changes in climate, atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition, and increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) affect ecosystems in complex ways. The DayCent-Chem model was used to investigate the combined effects of these human-caused drivers of change over the period 1980–2075 at seven forested montane and two alpine watersheds in...
Demography and behavior of polar bears summering on land in Alaska
Elizabeth L. Peacock
2014, Report
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in the southern Beaufort Sea population (SB) are spending increased time on the coastal North Slope of Alaska between July and October (Gleason and Rode 2010). The duration spent on land by polar bears, satellite collared on the sea-ice in the spring, during the summer and...
Response of reef corals on a fringing reef flat to elevated suspended-sediment concentrations: Moloka‘i, Hawai‘i
Paul L. Jokiel, Ku'ulei S. Rodgers, Curt D. Storlazzi, Michael E. Field, Claire V. Lager, Dan Lager
2014, PeerJ
A long-term (10 month exposure) experiment on effects of suspended sediment on the mortality, growth, and recruitment of the reef corals Montipora capitata and Porites compressa was conducted on the shallow reef flat off south Molokaʻi, Hawaiʻi. Corals were grown on wire platforms with attached coral recruitment tiles along a suspended solid concentration (SSC)...
Mount Rainier National Park
Robert Hoffman, Andrea Woodward, Patricia K. Haggerty, Kurt J. Jenkins, Paul C. Griffin, M. J. Adams, Joan Hagar, Tonnie Cummings, Dan Duriscoe, Karen Kopper, Jon Riedel, Barbara Samora, Lelaina Marin, Guillaume S. Mauger, Karen Bumbaco, Jeremy S. Littell
2014, Report
Natural Resource Condition Assessments (NRCAs) evaluate current conditions for a subset of natural resources and resource indicators in national parks. NRCAs also report on trends in resource condition (when possible), identify critical data gaps, and characterize a general level of confidence for study findings. The resources and indicators emphasized in...