The 2014 annual report for the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
James P. Kauahikaua, Tim R. Orr, Matt Patrick, Weston A. Thelen, Matthew K. Burgess, Asta Miklius, Michael P. Poland, Kyle R. Anderson, Loren Antolik, Tamar Elias, Jeff Sutton, Christoph Kern, Cindy Werner
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5059
Introduction This report summarizes team activities and findings of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory during the year 2014 in geology, geodesy, seismicity, and gas geochemistry. The eruption of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō continued into its 32nd year with flows active to the northeast of the vent. One of them, the June 27th lava...
Source, variability, and transformation of nitrate in a regional karst aquifer: Edwards aquifer, central Texas.
MaryLynn Musgrove, Stephen P. Opsahl, Barbara Mahler, Chris Herrington, Thomas Sample, John Banta
2016, Science of the Total Environment (568) 457-469
Many karst regions are undergoing rapid population growth and expansion of urban land accompanied by increases in wastewater generation and changing patterns of nitrate (NO3−) loading to surface and groundwater. We investigate variability and sources of NO3− in a regional karst aquifer system, the Edwards aquifer of central Texas. Samples from...
Surface water connectivity drives richness and composition of Arctic lake fish assemblages
Sarah M. Laske, Trevor B. Haynes, Amanda E. Rosenberger, Joshua C. Koch, Mark S. Wipfli, Matthew Whitman, Christian E. Zimmerman
2016, Freshwater Biology (61) 1090-1104
Surface water connectivity can influence the richness and composition of fish assemblages, particularly in harsh environments where colonisation factors and access to seasonal refugia are required for species persistence. Studies regarding influence of connectivity on Arctic fish distributions are limited and are rarely applied to whole assemblage patterns....
The geochemical atlas of Alaska, 2016
Gregory K. Lee, Douglas B. Yager, Jeffrey L. Mauk, Matthew Granitto, Paul Denning, Bronwen Wang, Melanie B. Werdon
2016, Data Series 908
A rich legacy of geochemical data produced since the early 1960s covers the great expanse of Alaska; careful treatment of such data may provide significant and revealing geochemical maps that may be used for landscape geochemistry, mineral resource exploration, and geoenvironmental investigations over large areas. To maximize the spatial density...
Elements in whole blood of Northwestern Crows (Corvus caurinus) in Alaska: No evidence for an association with beak deformities
Caroline R. Van Hemert, Colleen M. Handel
2016, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (52) 713-718
A recent outbreak of beak deformities among resident birds in Alaska has raised concern about environmental contamination as a possible underlying factor. We measured whole blood concentrations of 30 essential and nonessential elements to determine whether any were associated with beak deformities in Northwestern Crows (Corvus caurinus). We tested for...
Catalog of type specimens of recent mammals: Orders Carnivora, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, and Cetacea in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
Robert D. Fisher, Craig A. Ludwig
2016, Book
The type collection of Recent mammals in the Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, contains 612 specimens bearing names of 604 species-group taxa of Carnivora, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, and Cetacea as of May 2016. This catalog presents an annotated list of these holdings comprising 582 holotypes; 16...
QRev—Software for computation and quality assurance of acoustic doppler current profiler moving-boat streamflow measurements—Technical manual for version 2.8
David S. Mueller
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1068
The software program, QRev applies common and consistent computational algorithms combined with automated filtering and quality assessment of the data to improve the quality and efficiency of streamflow measurements and helps ensure that U.S. Geological Survey streamflow measurements are consistent, accurate, and independent of the manufacturer of the instrument used...
Evaluating a strategy to deliver vaccine to white-tailed deer at a landscape level
Justin W. Fischer, Chad R. Blass, W. David Walter, Charles W. Anderson, Michael J. Lavelle, Wayne H. Hall, Kurt C. VerCauterren
2016, Wildlife Society Bulletin (40) 394-399
Effective delivery of vaccines and other pharmaceuticals to wildlife populations is needed when zoonotic diseases pose a risk to public health and natural resources or have considerable economic consequences. The objective of our study was to develop a bait-distribution strategy for potential delivery of oral bovine tuberculosis (bTB) vaccine to...
Evidence for the exchange of blood parasites between North America and the Neotropics in blue-winged teal (Anas discors)
Andrew M. Ramey, John A. Reed, Patrick Walther, Paul Link, Joel A. Schmutz, David C. Douglas, David E. Stallknecht, Catherine Soos
2016, Parasitology Research (115) 3923-3939
Blue-winged teal (Anas discors) are abundant, small-bodied dabbling ducks that breed throughout the prairies of the northcentral USA and central Canada and that winter in the southern USA and northern Neotropics. Given the migratory tendencies of this species, it is plausible that blue-winged teal may disperse avian pathogens,...
Wildfire risk as a socioecological pathology
A. Paige Fischer, Thomas A. Spies, Toddi A Steelman, Cassandra Moseley, Bart R. Johnson, John D. Bailey, Alan A Ager, Patrick S. Bourgeron, Susan Charnley, Brandon M. Collins, Jeffrey D Kline, Jessica E Leahy, Jeremy S. Littell, James D. A. Millington, Max Nielsen-Pincus, Christine S Olsen, Travis B Paveglio, Christopher I. Roos, Michelle M Steen-Adams, Forrest R Stevens, Jelena Vukomanovic, Eric M White, David M J S Bowman
2016, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (14) 276-284
Wildfire risk in temperate forests has become a nearly intractable problem that can be characterized as a socioecological “pathology”: that is, a set of complex and problematic interactions among social and ecological systems across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Assessments of wildfire risk could benefit from recognizing and accounting for...
Biological soil crusts as soil stabilizers
Jayne Belnap, Burkhard Buedel
Bettina Weber, Burkhard Buedel, Jayne Belnap, editor(s)
2016, Book chapter, Biological soil crusts: An organizing principle in drylands
Soil erosion is of particular concern in dryland regions, as the sparse cover of vascular plants results in large interspaces unprotected from the erosive forces of wind and water. Thus, most of these soil surfaces are stabilized by physical or biological soil crusts. However, as drylands are extensively used by...
Biological soil crusts as an organizing principle in drylands
Jayne Belnap, Bettina Weber, Burkhard Budel
Bettina Weber, Burkhard Buedel, Jayne Belnap, editor(s)
2016, Book chapter, Biological soil crusts: An organizing principle in drylands
Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) have been present on Earth’s terrestrial surfaces for billions of years. They are a critical part of ecosystem processes in dryland regions, as they cover most of the soil surface and thus mediate almost all inputs and outputs from soils in these areas. There are many...
Hydrologic impacts of thawing permafrost—A review
Michelle Ann Walvoord, Barret L. Kurylyk
2016, Vadose Zone Journal (15)
Where present, permafrost exerts a primary control on water fluxes, flowpaths, and distribution. Climate warming and related drivers of soil thermal change are expected to modify the distribution of permafrost, leading to changing hydrologic conditions, including alterations in soil moisture, connectivity of inland waters, streamflow seasonality, and the partitioning of...
Mercury in western North America: A synthesis of environmental contamination, fluxes, bioaccumulation, and risk to fish and wildlife
Collin A. Eagles-Smith, James G. Wiener, Chris S. Eckley, James J. Willacker, David C. Evers, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Daniel Obrist, Jacob Fleck, George R. Aiken, Jesse M. Lepak, Allyson K. Jackson, Jackson Webster, A. Robin Stewart, Jay Davis, Charles N. Alpers, Joshua T. Ackerman
2016, Science of the Total Environment (568) 1213-1226
Western North America is a region defined by extreme gradients in geomorphology and climate, which support a diverse array of ecological communities and natural resources. The region also has extreme gradients in mercury (Hg) contamination due to a broad distribution of inorganic Hg sources. These diverse Hg sources and a...
Changes between early development (1930–60) and recent (2005–15) groundwater-level altitudes and dissolved-solids and nitrate concentrations In and near Gaines, Terry, and Yoakum Counties, Texas
Jonathan V. Thomas, Andrew Teeple, Jason Payne, Scott Ikard
2016, Scientific Investigations Map 3355
Llano Estacado Underground Water Conservation District, Sandy Land Underground Water Conservation District, and South Plains Underground Water Conservation District manage groundwater resources in a part of west Texas near the Texas-New Mexico State line. Declining groundwater levels have raised concerns about the amount of available groundwater in the study area...
Land cover changes associated with recent energy development in the Williston Basin; Northern Great Plains, USA
Todd M. Preston, Kevin Kim
2016, Science of the Total Environment (566-567) 1511-1518
The Williston Basin in the Northern Great Plains has experienced rapid energy development since 2000. To evaluate the land cover changes resulting from recent (2000 – 2015) development, the area and previous land cover of all well pads (pads) constructed during this time was determined, the amount of disturbed and...
Pedestrian flow-path modeling to support tsunami evacuation and disaster relief planning in the U.S. Pacific Northwest
Nathan J. Wood, Jeanne M. Jones, Mathew Schmidtlein, John Schelling, T. Frazier
2016, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (18) 41-55
Successful evacuations are critical to saving lives from future tsunamis. Pedestrian-evacuation modeling related to tsunami hazards primarily has focused on identifying areas and the number of people in these areas where successful evacuations are unlikely. Less attention has been paid to identifying evacuation pathways and population demand at assembly areas...
A new specimen of Agorophius pygmaeus (Agorophiidae, Odontoceti, Cetacea) from the Early Oligocene Ashley Formation of South Carolina, USA
Stephen J. Godfrey, Mark D. Uhen, Jason E. Osborne, Lucy E. Edwards
2016, Journal of Paleontology (90) 154-169
The holotype partial skull of Agorophius pygmaeus (the monotypic form for both the genus Agorophius and the Family Agorophiidae) has been missing for approximately 140 years. Since the discovery of Agorophius pygmaeus, many additional taxa and specimens have been placed in the Family Agorophiidae, only to be reclassified and removed later. This has created confusion...
Assessing tidal marsh vulnerability to sea-level rise in the Skagit Delta
W. Gregory Hood, Eric E. Grossman, Curt Veldhuisen
2016, Northwest Science (90) 79-93
Historical aerial photographs, from 1937 to the present, show Skagit Delta tidal marshes prograding into Skagit Bay for most of the record, but the progradation rates have been steadily declining and the marshes have begun to erode in recent decades despite the large suspended sediment load provided by the Skagit...
Models for ecological models: Ocean primary productivity
Christopher K. Wikle, William B. Leeds, Mevin Hooten
2016, CHANCE (29) 23-30
The ocean accounts for more than 70% of planet Earth's surface, and it processes are critically important to marine and terrestrial life. Ocean ecosystems are strongly dependent on the physical state of the ocean (e.g., transports, mixing, upwelling, runoff, and ice dynamics(. As an example, consider the Coastal Gulf of...
Groundwater quality data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, May 2012 through December 2013
Terri Arnold, Leslie A. DeSimone, Laura M. Bexfield, Bruce D. Lindsey, Jeannie R. B. Barlow, Justin T. Kulongoski, MaryLynn Musgrove, James A. Kingsbury, Kenneth Belitz
2016, Data Series 997
Groundwater-quality data were collected from 748 wells as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Program from May 2012 through December 2013. The data were collected from four types of well networks: principal aquifer study networks, which assess the quality of groundwater used...
May through July 2015 storm event effects on suspended-sediment loads, sediment trapping efficiency, and storage capacity of John Redmond Reservoir
Guy M. Foster, Lindsey R. King
2016, Fact Sheet 2016-3035
The Neosho River and its primary tributary, the Cottonwood River, are the main sources of inflow to John Redmond Reservoir in east-central Kansas. Storm events during May through July 2015 caused large inflows of water and sediment into the reservoir. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Kansas Water...
Effects of May through July 2015 storm events on suspended sediment loads, sediment trapping efficiency, and storage capacity of John Redmond Reservoir, east-central Kansas
Guy M. Foster
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5040
The Neosho River and its primary tributary, the Cottonwood River, are the main sources of inflow to John Redmond Reservoir in east-central Kansas. Storage loss in the reservoir resulting from sedimentation has been estimated to be 765 acre-feet per year for 1964–2014. The 1964–2014 sedimentation rate was almost 90 percent...
Geology and geologic history of the Moscow-Pullman basin, Idaho and Washington, from late Grande Ronde to late Saddle Mountains time
John H Bush, Dean L Garwood, Pamela Dunlap
2016, GSA Field Guides (41) 151-174
The Moscow-Pullman basin, located on the eastern margin of the Columbia River flood basalt province, consists of a subsurface mosaic of interlayered Miocene sediments and lava flows of the Imnaha, Grande Ronde, Wanapum, and Saddle Mountains Basalts of the Columbia River Basalt Group. This sequence is ~1800 ft (550 m)...
New perspectives on a 140-year legacy of mining and abandoned mine cleanup in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado
Douglas B. Yager, David L. Fey, Thomas Chapin, Raymond H. Johnson
2016, Field Guides (44) 377-419
The Gold King mine water release that occurred on 5 August 2015 near the historical mining community of Silverton, Colorado, highlights the environmental legacy that abandoned mines have on the environment. During reclamation efforts, a breach of collapsed workings at the Gold King mine sent 3 million gallons of acidic...
