Mediterranean California’s water use future under multiple scenarios of developed and agricultural land use change
Tamara Wilson, Benjamin M. Sleeter, D. Richard Cameron
2017, PLoS ONE (12) 1-21
With growing demand and highly variable inter-annual water supplies, California’s water use future is fraught with uncertainty. Climate change projections, anticipated population growth, and continued agricultural intensification, will likely stress existing water supplies in coming decades. Using a state-and-transition simulation modeling approach, we examine a broad suite of spatially explicit...
A model-based approach to wildland fire reconstruction using sediment charcoal records
Malcolm S. Itter, Andrew O. Finley, Mevin Hooten, Philip E. Higuera, Jennifer R. Marlon, Ryan Kelly, Jason S. McLachlan
2017, Environmetrics (28) 1-15
Lake sediment charcoal records are used in paleoecological analyses to reconstruct fire history, including the identification of past wildland fires. One challenge of applying sediment charcoal records to infer fire history is the separation of charcoal associated with local fire occurrence and charcoal originating from regional fire activity. Despite a...
The response of soil and stream chemistry to decreases in acid deposition in the Catskill Mountains, New York, USA
Michael McHale, Douglas A. Burns, Jason Siemion, Michael R. Antidormi
2017, Environmental Pollution (229) 607-620
The Catskill Mountains have been adversely impacted by decades of acid deposition, however, since the early 1990s, levels have decreased sharply as a result of decreases in emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. This study examines trends in acid deposition, stream-water chemistry, and soil chemistry in the southeastern Catskill...
Remote sensing for wetland mapping and historical change detection at the Nisqually River Delta
Laurel Ballanti, Kristin B. Byrd, Isa Woo, Christopher Ellings
2017, Sustainability (9) 1-32
Coastal wetlands are important ecosystems for carbon storage and coastal resilience to climate change and sea-level rise. As such, changes in wetland habitat types can also impact ecosystem functions. Our goal was to quantify historical vegetation change within the Nisqually River watershed relevant to carbon storage, wildlife habitat, and wetland...
Estimating the high-arsenic domestic-well population in the conterminous United States
Joseph D. Ayotte, Laura Medalie, Sharon L. Qi, Lorraine C. Backer, Bernard T. Nolan
2017, Environmental Science & Technology (51) 12443-12454
Arsenic concentrations from 20 450 domestic wells in the U.S. were used to develop a logistic regression model of the probability of having arsenic >10 μg/L (“high arsenic”), which is presented at the county, state, and national scales. Variables representing geologic sources, geochemical, hydrologic, and physical features were among the significant...
Submersed aquatic vegetation in Chesapeake Bay: Sentinel species in a changing world
Robert J. Orth, William C. Dennison, Jonathon S. Lefcheck, Cassie Gurbisz, Michael P. Hannam, Jennifer L. Keisman, J. Brooke Landry, Kenneth A. Moore, Rebecca Murphy, Christopher J. Patrick, Jeremy Testa, Donald E. Weller, David J. Wilcox
2017, BioScience (67) 698-712
Chesapeake Bay has undergone profound changes since European settlement. Increases in human and livestock populations, associated changes in land use, increases in nutrient loadings, shoreline armoring, and depletion of fish stocks have altered the important habitats within the Bay. Submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) is a critical foundational habitat and provides...
Skin and fur bacterial diversity and community structure on American southwestern bats: effects of habitat, geography and bat traits
Ara S. Winter, Jennifer J. M. Hathaway, Jason C. Kimble, Debbie C. Buecher, Ernest W. Valdez, Andrea Porras-Alfaro, Jesse M. Young, Kaitlyn J. H. Read, Diana E. Northup
2017, PeerJ (5)
Microorganisms that reside on and in mammals, such as bats, have the potential to influence their host’s health and to provide defenses against invading pathogens. However, we have little understanding of the skin and fur bacterial microbiota on bats, or factors that influence the structure of these communities. The southwestern...
Potential for spatial displacement of Cook Inlet beluga whales by anthropogenic noise in critical habitat
Robert J. Small, Brian M. Brost, Mevin Hooten, Manuel Castellote, Jeffrey Mondragon
2017, Endangered Species Research (32) 43-57
The population of beluga whales in Cook Inlet, Alaska, USA, declined by nearly half in the mid-1990s, primarily from an unsustainable harvest, and was listed as endangered in 2008. In 2014, abundance was ~340 whales, and the population trend during 1999-2014 was -1.3% yr-1. Cook Inlet beluga whales are...
Loss of ecosystem services due to chronic pollution of forests and surface waters in the Adirondack region (USA)
Colin M. Beier, Jesse Caputo, Gregory B. Lawrence, Timothy J. Sullivan
2017, Journal of Environmental Management (191) 19-27
Sustaining recent progress in mitigating acid pollution could require lower emissions caps that will give rise to real or perceived tradeoffs between healthy ecosystems and inexpensive energy. Because most impacts of acid rain affect ecosystem functions that are poorly understood by policy-makers and the public, an ecosystem services (ES) framework...
Pleistocene glaciers, lakes, and floods in north-central Washington State
Richard B. Waitt
Ralph A. Haugerud, Harvey M. Kelsey, editor(s)
2017, Book chapter, From the Puget Lowland to east of the Cascade Range—Geologic excursions in the Pacific Northwest: Geological Society of America Field Guide 49
The Methow, Chelan, Wenatchee, and other terrane blocks accreted in late Mesozoic to Eocene times. Methow valley is excavated in an exotic terrane of folded Mesozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks faulted between crystalline blocks. Repeated floods of Columbia River Basalt about 16 Ma drowned a backarc basin to the southeast. Cirques,...
Suspended sediment, turbidity, and stream water temperature in the Sauk River Basin, western Washington, water years 2012-16
Kristin L. Jaeger, Christopher A. Curran, Scott W. Anderson, Scott T. Morris, Patrick W. Moran, Katherine A. Reams
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5113
The Sauk River is a federally designated Wild and Scenic River that drains a relatively undisturbed landscape along the western slope of the North Cascade Mountain Range, Washington, which includes the glaciated volcano, Glacier Peak. Naturally high sediment loads characteristic of basins draining volcanoes like Glacier Peak make the...
Methodological considerations of terrestrial laser scanning for vegetation monitoring in the sagebrush steppe
Kyle E. Anderson, Nancy Glenn, Lucas Spaete, Douglas J. Shinneman, David S. Pilliod, Robert Arkle, Susan K. McIlroy, DeWayne R. Derryberry
2017, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (189) 1-12
Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) provides fast collection of high-definition structural information, making it a valuable field instrument to many monitoring applications. A weakness of TLS collections, especially in vegetation, is the occurrence of unsampled regions in point clouds where the sensor’s line-of-sight is blocked by intervening material. This problem, referred...
Regional geology and tectonics
Warren J. Nokleberg
Thomas K. Bundtzen, Warren J. Nokleberg, Raymond A. Price, David W. Scholl, David B. Stone, editor(s)
2017, Book chapter, Dynamic geology of the Northern Cordillera (Alaska and western Canada) and adjacent marine areas: Tectonics, hazards, and resources
This chapter describes the regional geology and tectonic origins of the major geologic units for the Northern Cordillera. The goals of the chapter are to: (1) provide a summary and regional overview of this vast region that contains a complicated geologic history; and (2) describe the major geologic units and...
Detecting spatial patterns of rivermouth processes using a geostatistical framework for near-real-time analysis
Wenzhao Xu, Paris D. Collingsworth, Barbara Bailey, Martha L. Carlson Mazur, Jeff Schaeffer, Barbara Minsker
2017, Environmental Modelling and Software (97) 72-85
This paper proposes a geospatial analysis framework and software to interpret water-quality sampling data from towed undulating vehicles in near-real time. The framework includes data quality assurance and quality control processes, automated kriging interpolation along undulating paths, and local hotspot and cluster analyses. These methods are implemented in an interactive...
Identity, reproductive potential, distribution, ecology and management of invasive Pomacea maculata in the southern United States
Romi L. Burks, Jennifer Bernatis, James E. Byers, Jacoby Carter, Charles M. Martin, William G. McDowell, Jess Van Dyke
R. C. Joshi, R. H. Cowie, L. S. Sebastian, editor(s)
2017, Book chapter, Biology and management of invasive apple snails
Established populations of introduced Pomacea maculata, a highly fecund, large species of apple snail native to South America, now occur throughout southeast Asia, in Spain and extensively across the southern United States. Substantial research on nonnative apple snails takes place in Southeast Asia and has frequently identified apple snails as...
Geologic road guides for the Southern Canadian Cordillera--Viewing geology and tectonics along major highways
Warren J. Nokleberg, Raymond A. Price
Thomas K. Bundtzen, Warren J. Nokleberg, Raymond A. Price, David W. Scholl, David B. Stone, editor(s)
2017, Book chapter, Dynamic geology of the Northern Cordillera (Alaska and western Canada) and adjacent marine areas: Tectonics, hazards, and resources
The Geologic Road Guides for the Southern Canadian Cordillera provide a layperson’s understanding of the major geologic units and their tectonic origins along portions of two sets of major highways corridors, herein termed the Southern Road Guide and the Northern Road Guide. The two routes are shown on the Southern...
Simulation of groundwater flow and pumping scenarios for 1900–2050 near Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
Jason M. Fine, Matthew D. Petkewich, Bruce G. Campbell
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5128
Groundwater withdrawals from the Upper Cretaceous-age Middendorf aquifer in South Carolina have created a large, regional cone of depression in the potentiometric surface of the Middendorf aquifer in Charleston and Berkeley Counties, South Carolina. Groundwater-level declines of as much as 249 feet have been observed in wells over the past...
Compositional variations in sands of the Bagnold Dunes, Gale Crater, Mars, from visible-shortwave infrared spectroscopy and comparison with ground truth from the Curiosity Rover
Mathieu G.A. Lapotre, B. L. Ehlmann, Sarah E. Minson, R. E. Arvidson, F. Ayoub, A. A. Fraeman, R. C. Ewing, N. T. Bridges
2017, Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets (122) 2489-2509
During its ascent up Mount Sharp, the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover traversed the Bagnold Dune Field. We model sand modal mineralogy and grain size at four locations near the rover traverse, using orbital shortwave infrared single scattering albedo spectra and a Markov-Chain Monte Carlo implementation of Hapke's radiative transfer...
Small high-definition video cameras as a tool to resight uniquely marked Interior Least Terns (Sternula antillarum athalassos)
Dustin L. Toy, Erin Roche, Colin M. Dovichin
2017, Waterbirds (40) 180-186
Many bird species of conservation concern have behavioral or morphological traits that make it difficult for researchers to determine if the birds have been uniquely marked. Those traits can also increase the difficulty for researchers to decipher those markers. As a result, it is a priority for field biologists to...
Origin of discrepancies between crater size-frequency distributions of coeval lunar geologic units via target property contrasts
Carolyn H. Van der Bogert, Harald Hiesinger, Colin M. Dundas, T. Kruger, Alfred S. McEwen, Michael Zanetti, Mark S. Robinson
2017, Icarus (298) 49-63
Recent work on dating Copernican-aged craters, using Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Camera data, re-encountered a curious discrepancy in crater size-frequency distribution (CSFD) measurements that was observed, but not understood, during the Apollo era. For example, at Tycho, Copernicus, and Aristarchus craters, CSFDs of impact melt deposits give significantly younger relative...
Local-scale habitat associations of grassland birds in southwestern Minnesota
Lisa H. Elliott, Douglas H. Johnson
2017, American Midland Naturalist (178) 165-188
Conservation of obligate grassland species requires not only the protection of a sufficiently large area of habitat but also the availability of necessary vegetation characteristics for particular species. As a result land managers must understand which habitat characteristics are important for their target species. To identify the habitat associations of...
High-resolution seismic characterization of the gas and gas hydrate system at Green Canyon 955, Gulf of Mexico, USA
Seth S. Haines, Patrick E. Hart, Timothy S. Collett, William Shedd, Matthew Frye, Paul Weimer, Ray Boswell
2017, Marine and Petroleum Geology (82) 220-237
The Pliocene and Pleistocene sediments at lease block Green Canyon 955 (GC955) in the Gulf of Mexico include sand-rich strata with high saturations of gas hydrate; these gas hydrate accumulations and the associated geology have been characterized over the past decade using conventional industry three-dimensional (3D) seismic data and dedicated...
The magnitude and origin of groundwater discharge to eastern U.S. and Gulf of Mexico coastal waters
Kevin Befus, Kevin D. Kroeger, Christopher G. Smith, Peter W. Swarzenski
2017, Geophysical Research Letters (44) 10396-10406
Fresh groundwater discharge to coastal environments contributes to the physical and chemical conditions of coastal waters, but the role of coastal groundwater at regional to continental scales remains poorly defined due to diverse hydrologic conditions and the difficulty of tracking coastal groundwater flow paths through heterogeneous subsurface materials. We use...
Temporal complexity of southern Beaufort Sea polar bear diets during a period of increasing land use
Melissa A. McKinney, Todd C. Atwood, Sara J. Iverson, Elizabeth L. Peacock
2017, Ecosphere (8)
From 2000 to 2013, use of land as a seasonal habitat by polar bears (Ursus maritimus) of the southern Beaufort Sea (SB) subpopulation substantially increased. This onshore use has been linked to reduced spatial and temporal availability of sea ice, as well as to the availability of subsistence‐harvested bowhead whale...
Crotalus oreganus lutosus (Great Basin Rattlesnake). Defensive behavior/head hiding and tongue display
Alexander K. Johnson, Phil A. Medica
2017, Herpetological Review (48) 209-210
A variety of snake species employ head hiding as defensive behavior (Greene 1973. J. Herpetol. 7:143–161), but such behavior seems to be rarely observed in rattlesnakes. A recent report (Medica 2009. Herpetol. Rev. 40:95–97) presented observations on Crotalus scutulatus scutulatus and cited cases of similar behavior involving C. atrox, C....
