Female gonadal hormones and reproductive behaviors as key determinants of successful reproductive output of breeding whooping cranes (Grus americana)
Megan E. Brown, Sarah J. Converse, Jane N. Chandler, Charles Shafer, Janine L Brown, Carol L Keefer, Nucharin Songsasen
2016, General and Comparative Endocrinology (230-231) 158-165
Reproductive success of endangered whooping cranes (Grus americana) maintained ex situ is poor. As part of an effort to identify potential causes of poor reproductive success in a captive colony, we used non-invasive endocrine monitoring to assess gonadal and adrenal steroids of bird pairs with various reproductive outcomes and evaluated the relationships...
Geology of tight oil and potential tight oil reservoirs in the lower part of the Green River Formation, Uinta, Piceance, and Greater Green River Basins, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming
Ronald C. Johnson, Justin E. Birdwell, Tracey J. Mercier, Michael E. Brownfield
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5008
The recent successful development of a tight oil play in the Eocene-age informal Uteland Butte member of the lacustrine Green River Formation in the Uinta Basin, Utah, using modern horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques has spurred a renewed interest in the tight oil potential of lacustrine rocks. The Green...
Geologic and geochemical insights into the formation of the Taiyangshan porphyry copper–molybdenum deposit, Western Qinling Orogenic Belt, China
Kun-Feng Qiu, Ryan D. Taylor, Yao-Hui Song, Hao-Cheng Yu, Kai-Rui Song, Nan Li
2016, Gondwana Research (35) 40-58
Taiyangshan is a poorly studied copper–molybdenum deposit located in the Triassic Western Qinling collisional belt of northwest China. The intrusions exposed in the vicinity of the Taiyangshan deposit record episodic magmatism over 20–30 million years. Pre-mineralization quartz diorite porphyries, which host some of the deposit, were emplaced at 226.6 ± 6.2 Ma. Syn-collisional monzonite and...
A millennial-scale record of Pb and Hg contamination in peatlands of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta of California, USA
Judith Z. Drexler, Charles N. Alpers, Leonid A. Neymark, James B. Paces, Howard E. Taylor, Christopher C. Fuller
2016, Science of the Total Environment (551-552) 738-751
In this paper, we provide the first record of millennial patterns of Pb and Hg concentrations on the west coast of the United States. Peat cores were collected from two micro-tidal marshes in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta of California. Core samples were analyzed for Pb, Hg, and Ti concentrations and...
Spectrally based mapping of riverbed composition
Carl J. Legleiter, Tobin K. Stegman, Brandon T. Overstreet
2016, Geomorphology (264) 61-79
Remote sensing methods provide an efficient means of characterizing fluvial systems. This study evaluated the potential to map riverbed composition based on in situ and/or remote measurements of reflectance. Field spectra and substrate photos from the Snake River, Wyoming, USA, were used to identify different sediment facies and degrees of algal development...
Developing population models with data from marked individuals
Hae Yeong Ryu, Kevin T. Shoemaker, Eva Kneip, Anna Pidgeon, Patricia Heglund, Brooke Bateman, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Resit Akcakaya
2016, Biological Conservation (197) 190-199
Population viability analysis (PVA) is a powerful tool for biodiversity assessments, but its use has been limited because of the requirements for fully specified population models such as demographic structure, density-dependence, environmental stochasticity, and specification of uncertainties. Developing a fully specified population model from commonly available data sources – notably,...
Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge comprehensive conservation plan
Catherine M. Cullinane Thomas, Lynne Koontz
2016, Report
No abstract available....
Regional patterns of total nitrogen concentrations in the National Rivers and Streams Assessment
James M. Omernik, Steven G. Paulsen, Glenn E. Griffith, Marc H. Weber
2016, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (71) 167-181
Patterns of nitrogen (N) concentrations in streams sampled by the National Rivers and Streams Assessment (NRSA) were examined semiquantitatively to identify regional differences in stream N levels. The data were categorized and analyzed by watershed size classes to reveal patterns of the concentrations that are consistent with the spatial homogeneity...
Federal interagency nature‐like fishway passage design guidelines for Atlantic coast diadromous fishes
James Turek, Alexander J. Haro, Brett Towler
2016, Report
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have collaborated to develop passage design guidance for use by engineers and other restoration practitioners considering and designing nature‐like fishways (NLFs). The primary purpose of these guidelines is to provide a...
Summary of the GK15 ground‐motion prediction equation for horizontal PGA and 5% damped PSA from shallow crustal continental earthquakes
Vladimir; Graizer, Erol Kalkan
2016, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (106) 687-707
We present a revised ground‐motion prediction equation (GMPE) for computing medians and standard deviations of peak ground acceleration (PGA) and 5% damped pseudospectral acceleration (PSA) response ordinates of the horizontal component of randomly oriented ground motions to be used for seismic‐hazard analyses and engineering applications. This GMPE is derived from...
Estimating forest and woodland aboveground biomass using active and passive remote sensing
Zhuoting Wu, Dennis G. Dye, John M. Vogel, Barry R. Middleton
2016, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing (82) 271-281
Aboveground biomass was estimated from active and passive remote sensing sources, including airborne lidar and Landsat-8 satellites, in an eastern Arizona (USA) study area comprised of forest and woodland ecosystems. Compared to field measurements, airborne lidar enabled direct estimation of individual tree height with a slope of 0.98 (R2 = 0.98)....
NGA-West2 equations for predicting vertical-component PGA, PGV, and 5%-damped PSA from shallow crustal earthquakes
Jonathan P. Stewart, David M. Boore, Emel Seyhan, Gail M. Atkinson
2016, Earthquake Spectra (32) 1005-1031
We present ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) for computing natural log means and standard deviations of vertical-component intensity measures (IMs) for shallow crustal earthquakes in active tectonic regions. The equations were derived from a global database with M 3.0–7.9 events. The functions are similar to those for our horizontal GMPEs....
Demographic outcomes of diverse migration strategies assessed in a metapopulation of tundra swans
Craig R. Ely, Brandt W. Meixell
2016, Movement Ecology (4)
Background Migration is a prominent aspect of the life history of many avian species, but the demographic consequences of variable migration strategies have only infrequently been investigated, and rarely when using modern technological and analytical methods for assessing survival, movement patterns, and long-term productivity in the context of life history theory....
Do transmitters affect survival and body condition of American beavers Castor canadensis?
Joshua B. Smith, Steve K. Windels, Tiffany Wolf, Robert W. Klaver, Jerrold L. Belant
2016, Wildlife Biology (22) 117-123
One key assumption often inferred with using radio-equipped individuals is that the transmitter has no effect on the metric of interest. To evaluate this assumption, we used a known fate model to assess the effect of transmitter type (i.e. tail-mounted or peritoneal implant) on short-term (one year) survival and a...
Reproductive success of Horned Lark and McCown's Longspur in relation to wind energy infrastructure
Anika Mahoney, Anna D. Chalfoun
2016, The Condor (118) 360-375
Wind energy is a rapidly expanding industry with potential indirect effects to wildlife populations that are largely unexplored. In 2011 and 2012, we monitored 211 nests of 2 grassland songbirds, Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) and McCown's Longspur (Rhynchophanes mccownii), at 3 wind farms and 2 undeveloped reference sites in Wyoming,...
Trends in pesticide use on soybean, corn and cotton since the introduction of major genetically modified crops in the United States
Richard H. Coupe, Paul D. Capel
2016, Pest Management Science (72) 1013-1022
BACKGROUNDGenetically modified (GM) varieties of soybean, corn and cotton have largely replaced conventional varieties in the United States. The most widely used applications of GM technology have been the development of crops that are resistant to a specific broad-spectrum herbicide (primarily glyphosate) or that produce insecticidal compounds within the plant...
Economic impacts of a California tsunami
Adam Rose, Ian Sue Wing, Dan Wei, Anne Wein
2016, Natural Hazards Review (17) 1-12
The economic consequences of a tsunami scenario for Southern California are estimated using computable general equilibrium analysis. The economy is modeled as a set of interconnected supply chains interacting through markets but with explicit constraints stemming from property damage and business downtime. Economic impacts are measured by...
Coesite in suevites from the Chesapeake Bay impact structure
John C. Jackson, J. Wright Horton Jr., I-Ming Chou, Harvey E. Belkin
2016, Meteoritics and Planetary Science (51) 946-965
The occurrence of coesite in suevites from the Chesapeake Bay impact structure is confirmed within a variety of textural domains in situ by Raman spectroscopy for the first time and in mechanically separated grains by X-ray diffraction. Microtextures of coesite identified in situ investigated under transmitted light and by scanning electron microscope...
To cross or not to cross: modeling wildlife road crossings as a binary response variable with contextual predictors
Shane R. Siers, Robert N. Reed, Julie A. Savidge
2016, Ecosphere (7)
Roads are significant barriers to landscape-scale movements of individuals or populations of many wildlife taxa. The decision by an animal near a road to either cross or not cross may be influenced by characteristics of the road, environmental conditions, traits of the individual animal, and other aspects of the context...
Parameterization of the InVEST Crop Pollination Model to spatially predict abundance of wild blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Aiton) native bee pollinators in Maine, USA
Shannon C. Groff, Cynthia S. Loftin, Frank Drummond, Sara Bushmann, Brian J. McGill
2016, Environmental Modelling and Software (79) 1-9
Non-native honeybees historically have been managed for crop pollination, however, recent population declines draw attention to pollination services provided by native bees. We applied the InVEST Crop Pollination model, developed to predict native bee abundance from habitat resources, in Maine's wild blueberry crop landscape. We evaluated model performance with parameters...
Developing fish trophic interaction indicators of climate change for the Great Lakes
Richard T. Kraus, Carey T. Knight, Ann Marie Gorman, Patrick M. Kocovsky, Brian Weidel, Mark W. Rogers
2016, Report
This project addressed regional climate change effects on aquatic food webs in the Great Lakes. We sought insights by examining Lake Erie as a representative system with a high level of anthropogenic impacts, strong nutrient gradients, seasonal hypoxia, and spatial overlap of cold- and cool-water fish guilds. In Lake Erie...
Best practices in passive remote sensing VNIR hyperspectral system hardware calibrations
Joseph Jablonski, Christopher Durell, E. Terrence Slonecker, Kwok Wong, Blair Simon, Andrew Eichelberger, Jacob Osterberg
2016, Conference Paper, Proc. SPIE 9860, Hyperspectral Imaging Sensors: Innovative Applications and Sensor Standards 2016
Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) is an exciting and rapidly expanding area of instruments and technology in passive remote sensing. Due to quickly changing applications, the instruments are evolving to suit new uses and there is a need for consistent definition, testing, characterization and calibration. This paper seeks to outline a broad...
@KarlTheFog has been mapped!
Alicia A. Torregrosa
2016, BayGEO Journal (9)
Within the world of mapping, clouds are a pesky interference to be removed from satellite remote sensed imagery. However, to many of us, that is a waste of pixels. Cloud maps are becoming increasingly valuable in the quest to understand land cover change and surface processes. In coastal California, the...
Organic petrology and geochemistry of Eocene Suzak bituminous marl, north-central Afghanistan: Depositional environment and source rock potential
Paul C. Hackley, John Sanfilipo
2016, Marine and Petroleum Geology (73) 572-589
Organic geochemistry and petrology of Eocene Suzak bituminous marl outcrop samples from Madr village in north-central Afghanistan were characterized via an integrated analytical approach to evaluate depositional environment and source rock potential. Multiple proxies suggest the organic-rich (TOC ∼6 wt.%) bituminous marls are ‘immature’ for oil generation (e.g., vitrinite Ro < 0.4%, Tmax < 425 °C,...
Assessing the role of seabirds in the ecology of influenza A viruses
Andrew S. Lang, Camille Lebarbenchon, Andrew M. Ramey, Gregory J. Robertson, Jonas Waldenstrom, Michelle Wille
2016, Avian Diseases (60) 378-386
Wild waterbirds, specifically waterfowl, gulls, and shorebirds, are recognized as the primordial reservoir of influenza A viruses (IAVs). However, the role of seabirds, an abundant, diverse, and globally distributed group of birds, in the perpetuation and transmission of IAVs is less clear. Here we summarize published and publicly available data...
