Climate change adaptation for the US National Wildlife Refuge System
Brad Griffith, J. Michael Scott, Robert S. Adamcik, Daniel Ashe, Brian Czech, Robert Fischman, Patrick Gonzalez, Joshua J. Lawler, A. David McGuire, Anna Pidgorna
2009, Environmental Management (44) 1043-1052
Since its establishment in 1903, the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) has grown to 635 units and 37 Wetland Management Districts in the United States and its territories. These units provide the seasonal habitats necessary for migratory waterfowl and other species to complete their annual life cycles. Habitat conversion and...
Estimated land-surface subsidence in Harris County, Texas, 1915-17 to 2001
Mark C. Kasmarek, Robert K. Gabrysch, Michaela R. Johnson
2009, Scientific Investigations Map 3097
Land-surface subsidence, or land subsidence, in Harris County, Texas, which encompasses much of the Houston area, has been occurring for decades. Land subsidence has increased the frequency and extent of flooding, damaged buildings and transportation infrastructure, and caused adverse environmental effects. The primary cause of land subsidence in the Houston...
Geomorphology and river dynamics of the lower Copper River, Alaska
Timothy P. Brabets, Jeffrey S. Conaway
2009, Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5257
Located in south-central Alaska, the Copper River drains an area of more than 24,000 square miles. The average annual flow of the river near its mouth is 63,600 cubic feet per second, but is highly variable between winter and summer. In the winter, flow averages approximately 11,700 cubic feet per...
Local versus landscape-scale effects of savanna trees on grasses
Corinna Riginos, James B. Grace, David J. Augustine, Truman P. Young
2009, Journal of Ecology (97) 1337-1345
1. Savanna ecosystems – defined by the coexistence of trees and grasses – cover more than one‐fifth the world’s land surface and harbour most of the world’s rangelands, livestock and large mammal diversity. Savanna trees can have a variety of effects on grasses, with consequences for the wild and domestic...
Organochlorine pesticides residue in lakes of Khorezm, Uzbekistan
Michael R. Rosen, Bakhriddin Nishonov, Dilorom Fayzieva, L. Saito, J. Lamers
2009, Book, 10th International HCH and pesticide forum book of papers: how many obsolete pesticides have been disposed of 8 years after signature of Stockholm Convention
The Khorezm province in northwest Uzbekistan is a productive agricultural area within the Aral Sea Basin that produces cotton, rice and wheat. Various organochlorine pesticides were widely used for cotton production before Uzbekistan's independence in 1991. In Khorezm, small lakes have formed in natural depressions that receive inputs mostly from...
Effects of commercial harvest on shovelnose sturgeon populations in the Upper Mississippi River
Jeff D. Koch, Michael C. Quist, Clay L. Pierce, Kirk A. Hansen, Michael J. Steuck
2009, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (29) 84-100
Shovelnose sturgeon Scaphirhynchus platorynchus have become an increasingly important commercial species in the upper Mississippi River (UMR) because of the collapse of foreign sturgeon (family Acipenseridae) populations and bans on imported caviar. In response to concerns about the sustainability of the commercial shovelnose sturgeon fishery in the UMR, we undertook...
Pore-water chemistry from the ICDP-USGS coer hole in the Chesapeake Bay impact structure--Implications for paleohydrology, microbial habitat, and water resources
Ward E. Sanford, Mary A. Voytek, David S. Powars, Blair F. Jones, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Robert P. Eganhouse, Charles S. Cockell
2009, Special Paper of the Geological Society of America (458) 867-890
We investigated the groundwater system of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure by analyzing the pore-water chemistry in cores taken from a 1766-m-deep drill hole 10 km north of Cape Charles, Virginia. Pore water was extracted using high-speed centrifuges from over 100 cores sampled from a 1300 m section of...
Earth imagery for the masses—TerraLook delivers free satellite imagery for monitoring change
Eugene A. Fosnight
2009, Earth Imaging Journal (4) 32-36
Life history and status of shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) in the Potomac River
Micah Kieffer
2009, Journal of Applied Ichthyology (25) 34-38
We collected the first life history information on shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) in any of the rivers to Chesapeake Bay, the geographic center of the species range. In the Potomac River, two telemetry-tagged adult females used 124 km of river: a saltwater/freshwater reach at river km (rkm) 63-141 was the...
Transport of tritium contamination to the atmosphere in an arid environment
C. Amanda Garcia, Brian J. Andraski, Michael J. Johnson, David A. Stonestrom, Robert L. Michel, C.A. Cooper, S.W. Wheatcraft
2009, Vadose Zone Journal (8) 450-461
Soil–plant–atmosphere interactions strongly influence water movement in desert unsaturated zones, but little is known about how such interactions affect atmospheric release of subsurface water-borne contaminants. This 2-yr study, performed at the U.S. Geological Survey's Amargosa Desert Research Site in southern Nevada, quantified the magnitude and spatiotemporal variability of tritium (3H)...
Potential Inundation due to Rising Sea Levels in the San Francisco Bay Region
Noah Knowles
2009, Report
An increase in the rate of sea level rise is one of the primary impacts of projected global climate change. To assess potential inundation associated with a continued acceleration of sea level rise, the highest resolution elevation data available were assembled from various sources and mosaicked to cover the land...
Desert Dust Storm Microbiology: Issues in Planetary Health
Dale W. Griffin
2009, Book chapter, Yearbook of Science and Technology
Distinct freshwater and seawater isoforms of Na+/K+-ATPase in gill chloride cells of Atlantic salmon
Stephen D. McCormick, A.M. Regish, A.K. Christensen
2009, Journal of Experimental Biology (212) 3994-4001
Gill Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase (NKA) in teleost fishes is involved in ion regulation in both freshwater and seawater. We have developed and validated rabbit polyclonal antibodies specific to the NKA alpha1a and alpha1b protein isoforms of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar Linnaeus), and used western blots and immunohistochemistry to characterize their size, abundance...
A simple technique for continuous measurement of time-variable gas transfer in surface waters
Craig R. Tobias, John Karl Bohlke, Judson W. Harvey, Eurybiades Busenberg
2009, Limnology and Oceanography: Methods (7) 185-195
Mass balance models of dissolved gases in streams, lakes, and rivers serve as the basis for estimating wholeecosystem rates for various biogeochemical processes. Rates of gas exchange between water and the atmosphere are important and error-prone components of these models. Here we present a simple and efficient modification of the...
An unusual northern cardinal nest: cooperative breeding or nesting sharing
David M. Leslie Jr.
2009, Bulletin of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society (42) 5-8
No abstract available....
Quantifying terrestrial ecosystem carbon dynamics in the Jinsha watershed, Upper Yangtze, China from 1975 to 2000
Shuqing Zhao, Shuguang Liu, Runsheng Yin, Zhengpeng Li, Yulin Deng, Kun Tan, Xiangzheng Deng, David Rothstein, Jiaguo Qi
Runsheng Yin, editor(s)
2009, Book chapter, An integrated assessment of China’s ecological restoration programs
Quantifying the spatial and temporal dynamics of carbon stocks in terrestrial ecosystems and carbon fluxes between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere is critical to our understanding of regional patterns of carbon storage and loss. Here we use the General Ensemble Biogeochemical Modeling System to simulate the terrestrial ecosystem carbon...
Fractionation of stable isotopes in perchlorate and nitrate during in situ biodegradation in a sandy aquifer
P.B. Hatzinger, John Karl Bohlke, N.C. Sturchio, B. Gu, L.J. Heraty, R.C. Borden
2009, Environmental Chemistry (6) 44-52
An in situ experiment was performed in a shallow alluvial aquifer in Maryland to quantify the fractionation of stable isotopes in perchlorate (Cl and O) and nitrate (N and O) during biodegradation. An emulsified soybean oil substrate that was previously injected into this aquifer provided the electron donor necessary for...
Lysimetric Evaluation of Simplified Surface Energy Balance Approach in the Texas High Plains
Gabriel B. Senay, P.H. Gowda, T.A. Howell, T.H. Marek
2009, Applied Engineering in Agriculture (25) 665-669
Numerous energy balance (EB) algorithms have been developed to make use of remote sensing data to estimate evapotranspiration (ET) regionally. However, most EB models are complex to use and efforts are being made to simplify procedures mainly through the scaling of reference ET. The Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEB) is...
Sexing sirenians: Validation of visual and molecular sex determination in both wild dugongs (Dugong dugon) and Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris)
J. Lanyon, H. Sneath, J. Ovenden, D. Broderick, Robert K. Bonde
2009, Aquatic Mammals (35) 187-192
Sexing wild marine mammals that show little to no sexual dimorphism is challenging. For sirenians that are difficult to catch or approach closely, molecular sexing from tissue biopsies offers an alternative method to visual discrimination. This paper reports the results of a field study to validate the use of two...
Predicting the natural flow regime: Models for assessing hydrological alteration in streams
D.M. Carlisle, J. Falcone, D.M. Wolock, M. R. Meador, R.H. Norris
2009, River Research and Applications (26) 118-136
Understanding the extent to which natural streamflow characteristics have been altered is an important consideration for ecological assessments of streams. Assessing hydrologic condition requires that we quantify the attributes of the flow regime that would be expected in the absence of anthropogenic modifications. The objective of this study was to...
Hatch Timing Variations Among Reservoir Gizzard Shad Populations: Implications for Stocked Sander spp. Fingerlings
Richard D. Zweifela, David B. Bunnell, Mary T. Bremiganc, R. Scott Hale
2009, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (29) 488-494
Growth and survival of stocked Sander spp. fingerlings can be influenced by timing of stocking in relation to the peak in density of larval gizzard shad Dorosoma cepedianum. However, coordinating stockings to coincide with peaks in gizzard shad density is difficult due to temporal variation in spawn timing among reservoirs....
Importance of light, temperature, zooplankton, and fish in predicting the nighttime vertical distribution of Mysis diluviana
Brent Boscarino, Lars G. Rudstam, S.A. Ellenberger, Robert O’Gorman
2009, Aquatic Biology (5) 263-279
The opossum shrimp Mysis diluviana (formerly M. relicta) performs large amplitude diel vertical migrations in Lake Ontario and its nighttime distribution is influenced by temperature, light and the distribution of its predators and prey. At one location in southeastern Lake Ontario, we measured the vertical distribution of mysids, mysid predators (i.e. planktivorous fishes)...
Declining global per capita agricultural production and warming oceans threaten food security
Christopher C. Funk, Molly E. Brown
2009, Food Security (1) 271-289
Despite accelerating globalization, most people still eat food that is grown locally. Developing countries with weak purchasing power tend to import as little food as possible from global markets, suffering consumption deficits during times of high prices or production declines. Local agricultural production, therefore, is critical to both food security...
Sensitivity of the carbon cycle in the Arctic to climate change
A. David McGuire, Leif G. Anderson, Torben R. Christensen, Scott Dallimore, Laodong Guo, Daniel J. Hayes, Martin Heimann, T.D. Lorenson, Robie W. Macdonald, Nigel Roulet
2009, Ecological Monographs (79) 523-555
The recent warming in the Arctic is affecting a broad spectrum of physical, ecological, and human/cultural systems that may be irreversible on century time scales and have the potential to cause rapid changes in the earth system. The response of the carbon cycle of the Arctic to changes in climate...
2008 Spawning Cisco Investigations in the Canadian Waters of Lake Superior
Daniel L. Yule, Peter A. Addison, Lori M. Evrard, Ken I. Cullis, Gary A. Cholwek
2009, Report
The Great Lakes Science Center of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) is working cooperatively with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) on a threeyear study to develop standard procedures for acoustic and midwater trawl (AC-MT) assessments of spawning cisco Coregonus artedi that the OMNR can carry forward as...
