Land-use and land-cover scenarios and spatial modeling at the regional scale
Terry L. Sohl, Benjamin M. Sleeter
2012, Fact Sheet 2012-3091
Land-use and land-cover (LULC) change has altered a large part of the earth's surface. Scenarios of potential future LULC change are required in order to better manage potential impacts on biodiversity, carbon fluxes, climate change, hydrology, and many other ecological processes. The U.S. Geological Survey is analyzing potential future LULC...
Groundwater quality in the Genesee River Basin, New York, 2010
James E. Reddy
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1135
Water samples collected from eight production wells and eight private residential wells in the Genesee River Basin from September through December 2010 were analyzed to characterize the groundwater quality in the basin. Eight of the wells were completed in sand and gravel aquifers, and eight were finished in bedrock aquifers....
Simulation of climate change in San Francisco Bay Basins, California: Case studies in the Russian River Valley and Santa Cruz Mountains
Lorraine E. Flint, Alan L. Flint
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5132
As a result of ongoing changes in climate, hydrologic and ecologic effects are being seen across the western United States. A regional study of how climate change affects water resources and habitats in the San Francisco Bay area relied on historical climate data and future projections of climate, which were...
Occurrence of pharmaceuticals, hormones, and organic wastewater compounds in Pennsylvania waters, 2006-09
Andrew G. Reif, J. Kent Crawford, Connie A. Loper, Arianne Proctor, Rhonda Manning, Robert Titler
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5106
Concern over the presence of contaminants of emerging concern, such as pharmaceutical compounds, hormones, and organic wastewater compounds (OWCs), in waters of the United States and elsewhere is growing. Laboratory techniques developed within the last decade or new techniques currently under development within the U.S. Geological Survey now allow these...
Emergence of fatal avian influenza in New England harbor seals
S.J. Anthony, J. A. St. Leger, K. Pugliares, Hon S. Ip, J.M. Chan, Z.W. Carpenter, I. Navarrete-Macias, M. Sanchez-Leon, J.T. Saliki, J. Pedersen, W. Karesh, P. Daszak, R. Rabadan, T. Rowles, W.I. Lipkin
2012, mBio (3)
From September to December 2011, 162 New England harbor seals died in an outbreak of pneumonia. Sequence analysis of postmortem samples revealed the presence of an avian H3N8 influenza A virus, similar to a virus circulating in North American waterfowl since at least 2002 but with mutations that indicate recent...
Waterbird nest monitoring program in San Francisco Bay (2005-10)
Joshua T. Ackerman, Mark P. Herzog
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1145
Historically, Forster’s Terns (Sterna forsteri), American Avocets (Recurvirostra americana), and Black-necked Stilts (Himantopus mexicanus) were uncommon residents of San Francisco Bay, California (Grinnell and others, 1918; Grinnell and Wythe, 1927; Sibley, 1952). Presently, however, avocets and stilts are the two most abundant breeding shorebirds in San Francisco Bay (Stenzel and...
Selected historic agricultural data important to environmental quality in the United States
Katia M. Grey, Paul D. Capel, Nancy T. Baker, Gail P. Thelin
2012, Data Series 689
This report and the accompanying tables summarize some of the important changes in American agriculture in the form of a timeline and a compilation of selected annual time-series data that can be broadly related to environmental quality. Although these changes have been beneficial for increasing agricultural production, some of them...
An at-grade stabilization structure impact on runoff and suspended sediment
Kyle R. Minks, Birl Lowery, Fred W. Madison, Matthew Ruark, Dennis R. Frame, Todd D. Stuntebeck, Matthew J. Komiskey
2012, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (67) 237-248
In recent years, agricultural runoff has received more attention as a major contributor to surface water pollution. This is especially true for the unglaciated area of Wisconsin, given this area's steep topography, which makes it highly susceptible to runoff and soil loss. We evaluated the ability of an at-grade stabilization...
Nematomorph parasites indirectly alter the food web and ecosystem function of streams through behavioural manipulation of their cricket hosts.
T. Sato, T. Egusa, K. Fukushima, T. Oda, N. Ohte, Naoko Tokuchi, Katsutoshi Watanabe, Minoru Kanaiwa, Isaya Murakami, Kevin D. Lafferty
2012, Ecology Letters (15) 786-793
Nematomorph parasites manipulate crickets to enter streams where the parasites reproduce. These manipulated crickets become a substantial food subsidy for stream fishes. We used a field experiment to investigate how this subsidy affects the stream community and ecosystem function. When crickets were available, predatory fish ate fewer benthic invertebrates. The...
Updating the debate on model complexity
Craig T. Simmons, Randall J. Hunt
2012, GSA Today (22) 28-29
As scientists who are trying to understand a complex natural world that cannot be fully characterized in the field, how can we best inform the society in which we live? This founding context was addressed in a special session, “Complexity in Modeling: How Much is Too Much?” convened at the...
Identifying the decision to be supported: a review of papers from environmental modelling and software
Richard S. Sojda, Serena H. Chen, Sondoss Elsawah, Joseph H.A. Guillaume, A.J. Jakeman, Sven Lautenbach, Brian S. McIntosh, A.E. Rizzoli, Ralf Seppelt, Peter Struss, Alexey Voinov, Martin Volk
2012, Conference Paper, International Environmental Modelling and Software Society (iEMSs) 2012 International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software. Managing resources of a limited planet: pathways and visions under uncertainty, sixth biennial meeting, Leipzig, Germany
Two of the basic tenets of decision support system efforts are to help identify and structure the decisions to be supported, and to then provide analysis in how those decisions might be best made. One example from wetland management would be that wildlife biologists must decide when to draw down...
Assessment of environments for Mars Science Laboratory entry, descent, and surface operations
Ashwin R. Vasavada, Allen Chen, Jeffrey R. Barnes, P. Daniel Burkhart, Bruce A. Cantor, Alicia M. Dwyer-Cianciolo, Robini L. Fergason, David P. Hinson, Hilary L. Justh, David M. Kass, Stephen R. Lewis, Michael A. Mischna, James R. Murphy, Scot C.R. Rafkin, Daniel Tyler, Paul G. Withers
2012, Space Science Reviews (170) 793-835
The Mars Science Laboratory mission aims to land a car-sized rover on Mars' surface and operate it for at least one Mars year in order to assess whether its field area was ever capable of supporting microbial life. Here we describe the approach used to identify, characterize, and assess environmental...
Archive eggs: a research and management tool for avian conservation breeding
Des Smith, Axel Moehrenschlager, Nancy Christensen, Dwight Knapik, Keith Gibson, Sarah J. Converse
2012, Wildlife Society Bulletin (36) 342-349
Worldwide, approximately 168 bird species are captive-bred for reintroduction into the wild. Programs tend to be initiated for species with a high level of endangerment. Depressed hatching success can be a problem for such programs and has been linked to artificial incubation. The need for artificial incubation is driven by...
Relative value of managed wetlands and tidal marshlands for wintering northern pintails
Peter S. Coates, Michael L. Casazza, Brian J. Halstead, Joseph P. Fleskes
2012, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (3) 98-109
Northern pintail Anas acuta (hereafter, pintail) populations have declined substantially throughout the western US since the 1970s, largely as a result of converting wetlands to cropland. Managed wetlands have been developed throughout the San Francisco Bay estuaries to provide wildlife habitat, particularly for waterfowl. Many of these areas were historically...
PAH volatilization following application of coal-tar-based pavement sealant
Peter C. Van Metre, Michael S. Majewski, Barbara Mahler, William T. Foreman, Christopher L. Braun, Jennifer T. Wilson, Teresa L. Burbank
2012, Atmospheric Environment (51) 108-115
Coal-tar-based pavement sealants, a major source of PAHs to urban water bodies, have recently been identified as a source of volatile PAHs to the atmosphere. We tracked the volatilization of PAHs for 1 year after application of a coal-tar-based pavement sealant by measuring gas-phase PAH concentrations above the pavement surface...
Variation in migratory behavior influences regional genetic diversity and structure among American kestrel populations (Falco sparverius) in North America
Mark P. Miller, Thomas D. Mullins, John G. Parrish, Jeffrey R. Walters, Susan M. Haig
2012, Journal of Heredity (103) 503-514
Birds employ numerous strategies to cope with seasonal fluctuations in high-quality habitat availability. Long distance migration is a common tactic; however, partial migration is especially common among broadly distributed species. Under partial migration systems, a portion of a species migrates, whereas the remainder inhabits breeding grounds year round. In this...
Coal-tar pavement sealants might substantially increase children's PAH exposures
E. Spencer Williams, Barbara Mahler, Peter C. Van Metre
2012, Environmental Pollution (164) 40-41
Dietary ingestion has been identified repeatedly as the primary route of human exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), seven of which are classified as probable human carcinogens (B2 PAHs) by the U.S. EPA. Humans are exposed to PAHs through ingestion of cooked and uncooked foods, incidental ingestion of soil and...
Experimental investigation of false positive errors in auditory species occurrence surveys
David A.W. Miller, Linda A. Weir, Brett T. McClintock, Evan H. Campbell Grant, Larissa L. Bailey, Theodore R. Simons
2012, Ecological Applications (22) 1665-1674
False positive errors are a significant component of many ecological data sets, which in combination with false negative errors, can lead to severe biases in conclusions about ecological systems. We present results of a field experiment where observers recorded observations for known combinations of electronically broadcast calling anurans under conditions...
Time-specific patterns of nest survival for ducks and passerines breeding in North Dakota
Terry L. Shaffer, Todd A. Grant
2012, The Auk (129) 319-328
In many bird species, survival can vary with the age of the nest, with the date a nest was initiated, or among years within the same nesting area. A literature review showed that patterns of survival vary in relation to nest age and date and are often contradictory. Inconsistencies could...
Source rock contributions to the Lower Cretaceous heavy oil accumulations in Alberta: a basin modeling study
Luiyin Alejandro Berbesi, Rolando di Primio, Zahie Anka, Brian Horsfield, Debra K. Higley
2012, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin (96) 1211-1234
The origin of the immense oil sand deposits in Lower Cretaceous reservoirs of the Western Canada sedimentary basin is still a matter of debate, specifically with respect to the original in-place volumes and contributing source rocks. In this study, the contributions from the main source rocks were addressed using a...
Adult tree swallow survival on the polychlorinated biphenyl-contaminated Hudson River, New York, USA, between 2006 and 2010
Christine M. Custer, Thomas W. Custer, James E. Hines
2012, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (31) 1788-1792
The upper Hudson River basin in east central New York, USA, is highly contaminated, primarily with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Reduced adult survival has been documented in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) at a similarly PCB-contaminated river system in western Massachusetts. The purpose of the present study was to assess whether adult...
Geometric derivations of minimal sets of sufficient multiview constraints
Orrin H. Thomas, Edward R. Oshel
2012, Photogrammetric Record (27) 74-93
Geometric interpretations of four of the most common determinant formulations of multiview constraints are given, showing that they all enforce the same geometry and that all of the forms commonly in use in the machine vision community are a subset of a more general form. Generalising the work of Yi...
Early retreat of the Alaska Peninsula Glacier Complex and the implications for coastal migrations of First Americans
Nicole Misarti, Bruce P. Finney, James W. Jordan, Herbert D. G. Maschner, Jason A. Addison, Mark D. Shapley, Andrea P. Krumhardt, James E. Beget
2012, Quaternary Science Reviews (48) 1-6
The debate over a coastal migration route for the First Americans revolves around two major points: seafaring technology, and a viable landscape and resource base. Three lake cores from Sanak Island in the western Gulf of Alaska yield the first radiocarbon ages from the continental shelf of the Northeast Pacific...
Fungal disease and the developing story of bat white-nose syndrome
David S. Blehert
2012, PLoS Pathogens (8)
Two recently emerged cutaneous fungal diseases of wildlife, bat white-nose syndrome (WNS) and amphibian chytridiomycosis, have devastated affected populations. Fungal diseases are gaining recognition as significant causes of morbidity and mortality to plants, animals, and humans, yet fewer than 10% of fungal species are known. Furthermore, limited antifungal therapeutic drugs...
Threshold amounts of organic carbon needed to initiate reductive dechlorination in groundwater systems
Francis H. Chapelle, Lashun K. Thomas, Paul M. Bradley, Heather V. Rectanus, Mark A. Widdowson
2012, Remediation Journal (22) 19-28
Aquifer sediment and groundwater chemistry data from 15 Department of Defense facilities located throughout the United States were collected and analyzed with the goal of estimating the amount of natural organic carbon needed to initiate reductive dechlorination in groundwater systems. Aquifer sediments were analyzed for hydroxylamine and NaOH-extractable organic carbon,...
