Colonial waterbird predation on Lost River and Shortnose suckers in the Upper Klamath Basin
Allen F. Evans, David A. Hewitt, Quinn Payton, Bradley M. Cramer, Ken Collis, Daniel D. Roby
2016, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (36) 1254-1268
We evaluated predation on Lost River Suckers Deltistes luxatus and Shortnose Suckers Chasmistes brevirostris by American white pelicans Pelecanus erythrorhynchos and double-crested cormorants Phalacrocorax auritus nesting at mixed-species colonies in the Upper Klamath Basin of Oregon and California during 2009–2014. Predation was evaluated by recovering (detecting) PIT tags from tagged fish...
Spatial variation in nutrient and water color effects on lake chlorophyll at macroscales
C. Emi Fergus, Andrew O. Finley, Patricia A. Soranno, Tyler Wagner
2016, PLoS ONE
The nutrient-water color paradigm is a framework to characterize lake trophic status by relating lake primary productivity to both nutrients and water color, the colored component of dissolved organic carbon. Total phosphorus (TP), a limiting nutrient, and water color, a strong light attenuator, influence lake chlorophyll a concentrations (CHL). But,...
Through a fish's eye: The status of fish habitats in the United States 2015
Steve Crawford, Gary Whelan, Dana M. Infante, Kristan Blackhart, Wesley M. Daniel, Pam Fuller, Timothy W. Birdsong, Daniel J. Wieferich, Ricardo McClees-Funinan, Susan Stedman, Kyle Herreman, Peter M. Ruhl
2016, Report
This report updates and revises the 2010 “ Status of Fish Habitats in the United States” that summarized initial results of a comprehensive national assessment of aquatic habitats at an unprecedented scale and level of detail. This 2015 report provides even greater detail and improves our knowledge of the condition...
Detecting and inferring cause of change in an Alaska nearshore marine ecosystem
H. A. Coletti, James L. Bodkin, Daniel Monson, Brenda E. Ballachey, T. A. Dean
2016, Ecosphere (7)
Community composition, species abundance, and species distribution are expected to change while monitoring ecosystems over time, and effective management of natural resources requires understanding mechanisms contributing to change. Marine ecosystems in particular can be difficult to monitor, in part due to large, multidimensional spatial scales and complex...
Occurrence and distribution of arsenic and radon in water from private wells in the Rancocas aquifer, southern New Castle and northern Kent Counties, Delaware, 2015
Judith M. Denver
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1143
Water samples were collected and analyzed for arsenic and radon from 36 private, mostly domestic wells that tap the Rancocas aquifer in southern New Castle and northern Kent Counties, Delaware, during the summer of 2015. Both arsenic and radon are from natural mineral sources, in particular glauconitic and other marine-derived...
Thermal regimes, nonnative trout, and their influences on native Bull Trout in the Upper Klamath River Basin, Oregon
Joseph R. Benjamin, Jeannie Heltzel, Jason B. Dunham, Michael Heck, Nolan P. Banish
2016, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (145) 1318-1330
The occurrence of fish species may be strongly influenced by a stream’s thermal regime (magnitude, frequency, variation, and timing). For instance, magnitude and frequency provide information about sublethal temperatures, variability in temperature can affect behavioral thermoregulation and bioenergetics, and timing of thermal events may cue life history events, such as...
Flood inundation maps for the Wabash River at New Harmony, Indiana
Kathleen K. Fowler
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5119
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 3.68-mile reach of the Wabash River extending 1.77 miles upstream and 1.91 miles downstream from streamgage 03378500 at New Harmony, Indiana, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The flood-inundation maps, which can...
Viability of the Alaskan breeding population of Steller’s eiders
Kylee Dunham, J. Barry Grand
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1084
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is tasked with setting objective and measurable criteria for delisting species or populations listed under the Endangered Species Act. Determining the acceptable threshold for extinction risk for any species or population is a challenging task, particularly when facing marked uncertainty. The Alaskan breeding population...
Evaluating models of population process in a threatened population of Steller’s eiders: A retrospective approach
Kylee Dunham, J. Barry Grand
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1062
The Alaskan breeding population of Steller’s eiders (Polysticta stelleri) was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1997 in response to perceived declines in abundance throughout their breeding and nesting range. Aerial surveys suggest the breeding population is small and highly variable in number, with zero birds counted...
Demographic characteristics of an adfluvial bull trout population in Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho
Jonathan L McCubbins, Michael J. Hansen, Joseph M DosSantos, Andrew M. Dux
2016, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (36) 1269-1277
Introductions of nonnative species, habitat loss, and stream fragmentation have caused the Bull Trout Salvelinus confluentus to decline throughout much of its native distribution. Consequently, in June 1998, the Bull Trout was listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act as threatened. The Bull Trout has existed in Lake Pend Oreille and...
Triennial changes in groundwater quality in aquifers used for public supply in California: Utility as indicators of temporal trends
Robert H. Kent, Matthew K. Landon
2016, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (188)
From 2004 to 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey collected samples from 1686 wells across the State of California as part of the California State Water Resources Control Board’s Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Priority Basin Project (PBP). From 2007 to 2013, 224 of these wells were resampled to assess...
Atmospheric inputs of organic matter to a forested watershed: Variations from storm to storm over the seasons
Lidiia Iavorivska, Elizabeth W. Boyer, Matthew P. Miller, Michael G. Brown, Terrie Vasilopoulos, Jose D. Fuentes, Christopher J. Duffy
2016, Atmospheric Environment (147) 284-295
The objectives of this study were to determine the quantity and chemical composition of precipitation inputs of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to a forested watershed; and to characterize the associated temporal variability. We sampled most precipitation that occurred from May 2012 through August 2013 at the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone...
High resolution mapping of development in the wildland-urban interface using object based image extraction
Michael D. Caggiano, Wade T. Tinkham, Chad Hoffman, Antony S. Cheng, Todd Hawbaker
2016, Heliyon (2)
The wildland-urban interface (WUI), the area where human development encroaches on undeveloped land, is expanding throughout the western United States resulting in increased wildfire risk to homes and communities. Although census based mapping efforts have provided insights into the pattern of development and expansion of the WUI at regional and...
Mercury and methylmercury in aquatic sediment across western North America
Jacob Fleck, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Joshua T. Ackerman, Michelle A. Lutz, Michael T. Tate, Charles N. Alpers, Britt D. Hall, David P. Krabbenhoft, Chris S. Eckley
2016, Science of the Total Environment (568) 727-738
Large-scale assessments are valuable in identifying primary factors controlling total mercury (THg) and monomethyl mercury (MeHg) concentrations, and distribution in aquatic ecosystems. Bed sediment THg and MeHg concentrations were compiled for > 16,000 samples collected from aquatic habitats throughout the West between 1965 and 2013. The influence of aquatic feature type...
Household evacuation characteristics in American Samoa during the 2009 Samoa Islands tsunami
Emma J. I. Apatu, Chris E. Gregg, Nathan J. Wood, Liang Wang
2016, Disasters (40) 779-798
Tsunamis represent significant threats to human life and development in coastal communities. This quantitative study examines the influence of household characteristics on evacuation actions taken by 211 respondents in American Samoa who were at their homes during the 29 September 2009 Mw 8.1 Samoa Islands earthquake and tsunami disaster. Multiple...
Large-scale changes in bloater growth and condition in Lake Huron
Carson G. Prichard, Edward F. Roseman, Kevin M. Keeler, Timothy P. O’Brien, Stephen C. Riley
2016, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (145) 1241-1251
Native Bloaters Coregonus hoyi have exhibited multiple strong year-classes since 2005 and now are the most abundant benthopelagic offshore prey fish in Lake Huron, following the crash of nonnative AlewivesAlosa pseudoharengus and substantial declines in nonnative Rainbow Smelt Osmerus mordax. Despite recent recoveries in Bloater abundance, marketable-size (>229 mm) Bloaters...
Potential effects of climate change on streamflow for seven watersheds in eastern and central Montana
Katherine J. Chase, Adel E. Haj, R. Steven Regan, Roland J. Viger
2016, Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies (7) 69-81
Study regionEastern and central Montana.Study focusFish in Northern Great Plains streams tolerate extreme conditions including heat, cold, floods, and drought; however changes in streamflow associated with long-term climate change may render some prairie streams uninhabitable for current fish species. To better understand future hydrology of these...
Climate change is advancing spring onset across the U.S. national park system
William B. Monahan, Alyssa Rosemartin, Katharine L. Gerst, Nicholas A. Fisichelli, Toby R. Ault, Mark D. Schwartz, John E. Gross, Jake F. Weltzin
2016, Ecosphere (7) 1-17
Many U.S. national parks are already at the extreme warm end of their historical temperature distributions. With rapidly warming conditions, park resource management will be enhanced by information on seasonality of climate that supports adjustments in the timing of activities such as treating invasive species, operating visitor facilities, and scheduling...
Seed bank and big sagebrush plant community composition in a range margin for big sagebrush
Trace E. Martyn, John B. Bradford, Daniel R. Schlaepfer, Ingrid C. Burke, William K. Laurenroth
2016, Ecosphere (7) 1-11
The potential influence of seed bank composition on range shifts of species due to climate change is unclear. Seed banks can provide a means of both species persistence in an area and local range expansion in the case of increasing habitat suitability, as may occur under future climate change. However,...
Far-field pressurization likely caused one of the largest injection induced earthquakes by reactivating a large pre-existing basement fault structure
William L. Yeck, Matthew Weingarten, Harley M. Benz, Daniel E. McNamara, E. Bergman, R.B Herrmann, Justin L. Rubinstein, Paul S. Earle
2016, Geophysical Research Letters (43) 10,198-10,207
The Mw 5.1 Fairview, Oklahoma, earthquake on 13 February 2016 and its associated seismicity produced the largest moment release in the central and eastern United States since the 2011 Mw 5.7 Prague, Oklahoma, earthquake sequence and is one of the largest earthquakes potentially linked to wastewater injection. This energetic sequence has produced...
News from the seabed: Geological characteristics and resource potential of deep-sea mineral resources
Swen Petersen, Anna Kratschell, Nico Augustin, John Jamieson, James R. Hein, Mark D. Hannington
2016, Marine Policy (70) 175-187
Marine minerals such as manganese nodules, Co-rich ferromanganese crusts, and seafloor massive sulfides are commonly seen as possible future resources that could potentially add to the global raw materials supply. At present, a proper assessment of these resources is not possible due to a severe lack of information regarding their...
Automatic delineation of seacliff limits using lidar-derived high-resolution DEMs in southern California
Monica Palaseanu-Lovejoy, Jeffrey J. Danielson, Cindy A. Thatcher, Amy C. Foxgrover, Patrick L. Barnard, John Brock, Adam Young
2016, Journal of Coastal Research 162-173
Seacliff erosion is a serious hazard with implications for coastal management and is often estimated using successive hand-digitized cliff tops or bases (toe) to assess cliff retreat. Even if efforts are made to standardize manual digitizing and eliminate subjectivity, the delineation of cliffs is time-consuming and depends on the analyst's...
Evaluating land cover influences on model uncertainties—A case study of cropland carbon dynamics in the Mid-Continent Intensive Campaign region
Zhengpeng Li, Shuguang Liu, Xuesong Zhang, Tristram O. West, Stephen M. Ogle, Naijun Zhou
2016, Ecological Modelling (337) 176-187
Quantifying spatial and temporal patterns of carbon sources and sinks and their uncertainties across agriculture-dominated areas remains challenging for understanding regional carbon cycles. Characteristics of local land cover inputs could impact the regional carbon estimates but the effect has not been fully evaluated in the past. Within the North American...
Water-level altitudes 2016 and water-level changes in the Chicot, Evangeline, and Jasper aquifers and compaction 1973–2015 in the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers, Houston-Galveston region, Texas
Mark C. Kasmarek, Jason K. Ramage, Michaela R. Johnson
2016, Scientific Investigations Map 3365
Most of the land-surface subsidence in the Houston-Galveston region, Texas, has occurred as a direct result of groundwater withdrawals for municipal supply, commercial and industrial use, and irrigation that depressured and dewatered the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers, thereby causing compaction of the aquifer sediments, mostly in the fine-grained silt and...
Effects of water-supply reservoirs on streamflow in Massachusetts
Sara B. Levin
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5123
State and local water-resource managers need modeling tools to help them manage and protect water-supply resources for both human consumption and ecological needs. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, has developed a decision-support tool to estimate the effects of reservoirs on natural streamflow....
