California State Waters Map Series — Offshore of Monterey, California
Samuel Y. Johnson, Peter Dartnell, Stephen R. Hartwell, Guy R. Cochrane, Nadine E. Golden, Janet Watt, Clifton W. Davenport, Rikk G. Kvitek, Mercedes D. Erdey, Lisa M. Krigsman, Ray W. Sliter, Katherine L. Maier
Samuel Y. Johnson, Susan A. Cochran, editor(s)
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1110
IntroductionIn 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), designed to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats, and geology within the 3-nautical-mile limit of California’s State Waters. The CSMP approach is to create highly detailed seafloor maps through collection, integration,...
Hydra—The National Earthquake Information Center’s 24/7 seismic monitoring, analysis, catalog production, quality analysis, and special studies tool suite
John M. Patton, Michelle R. Guy, Harley M. Benz, Raymond P. Buland, Brian K. Erickson, David S. Kragness
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1128
This report provides an overview of the capabilities and design of Hydra, the global seismic monitoring and analysis system used for earthquake response and catalog production at the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC). Hydra supports the NEIC’s worldwide earthquake monitoring mission in areas such as seismic event...
U.S. Geological Survey science strategy for highly pathogenic avian influenza in wildlife and the environment (2016–2020)
M. Camille Harris, John M. Pearce, Diann J. Prosser, C. LeAnn White, A. Keith Miles, Jonathan M. Sleeman, Christopher J. Brand, James P. Cronin, Susan De La Cruz, Christine L. Densmore, Thomas W. Doyle, Robert J. Dusek, Joseph P. Fleskes, Paul L. Flint, Gerald F. Guala, Jeffrey S. Hall, Laura E. Hubbard, Randall J. Hunt, S. Ip, Rachel A. Katz, Kevin W. Laurent, Mark P. Miller, Mark D. Munn, Andrew M. Ramey, Kevin D. Richards, Robin E. Russell, Joel P. Stokdyk, John Y. Takekawa, Daniel P. Walsh
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1121
IntroductionThrough the Science Strategy for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in Wildlife and the Environment, the USGS will assess avian influenza (AI) dynamics in an ecological context to inform decisions made by resource managers and policymakers from the local to national level. Through collection of unbiased scientific information on the...
Revisiting Paine’s 1966 sea star removal experiment, the most-cited empirical article in the American Naturalist
Kevin D. Lafferty, Tom Suchanek
2016, American Naturalist (188) 365-378
“Food Web Complexity and Species Diversity” (Paine 1966) is the most-cited empirical article published in the American Naturalist. In short, Paine removed predatory sea stars (Pisaster ochraceus) from the rocky intertidal and watched the key prey species, mussels (Mytilus californianus), crowd out seven subordinate primary space-holding species. However, because these mussels...
Decadal and long-term boreal soil carbon and nitrogen sequestration rates across a variety of ecosystems
Kristen L. Manies, Jennifer W. Harden, Christopher C. Fuller, Merritt Turetsky
2016, Biogeosciences (13) 4315-4327
Boreal soils play a critical role in the global carbon (C) cycle; therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms that control soil C accumulation and loss for this region. Examining C & nitrogen (N) accumulation rates over decades to centuries may provide additional understanding of the dominant mechanisms for...
A tour de force by Hawaii’s invasive mammals: Establishment, takeover, and ecosystem restoration through eradication
Steve C. Hess
2016, Mammal Study (41) 47-60
Invasive mammals have irreversibly altered ecosystems of Hawai‘i and other tropical Pacific islands in numerous cases through novel herbivory, predation, and diseases, thereby causing the disproportionate extinction of flora and fauna that occur nowhere else on Earth. The control and eradication of invasive mammals is the single most expensive management...
Estimating suspended sediment using acoustics in a fine-grained riverine system, Kickapoo Creek at Bloomington, Illinois
Amanda D. Manaster, Marian M. Domanski, Timothy D. Straub, Justin A. Boldt
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1117
Acoustic technologies have the potential to be used as a surrogate for measuring suspended-sediment concentration (SSC). This potential was examined in a fine-grained (97-100 percent fines) riverine system in central Illinois by way of installation of an acoustic instrument. Acoustic data were collected continuously over the span of 5.5...
Dam Removal Information Portal (DRIP)—A map-based resource linking scientific studies and associated geospatial information about dam removals
Jeffrey J. Duda, Daniel J. Wieferich, R. Sky Bristol, J. Ryan Bellmore, Vivian B. Hutchison, Katherine M. Vittum, Laura Craig, Jonathan A. Warrick
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1132
The removal of dams has recently increased over historical levels due to aging infrastructure, changing societal needs, and modern safety standards rendering some dams obsolete. Where possibilities for river restoration, or improved safety, exceed the benefits of retaining a dam, removal is more often being considered as a viable...
Numerical simulation of groundwater flow at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Naval Base Kitsap, Bremerton, Washington
Joseph L. Jones, Kenneth H. Johnson, Lonna M. Frans
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1135
Information about groundwater-flow paths and locations where groundwater discharges at and near Puget Sound Naval Shipyard is necessary for understanding the potential migration of subsurface contaminants by groundwater at the shipyard. The design of some remediation alternatives would be aided by knowledge of whether groundwater flowing at specific locations...
Stakeholder-led science: engaging resource managers to identify science needs for long-term management of floodplain conservation lands
Kristin L. Bouska, Garth A. Lindner, Craig P. Paukert, Robert B. Jacobson
2016, Ecology and Society (21)
Floodplains pose challenges to managers of conservation lands because of constantly changing interactions with their rivers. Although scientific knowledge and understanding of the dynamics and drivers of river-floodplain systems can provide guidance to floodplain managers, the scientific process often occurs in isolation from management. Further, communication barriers between scientists and...
Increasing neonicotinoid use and the declining butterfly fauna of lowland California
Matthew L. Forister, Bruce Cousens, Joshua G. Harrison, Kayce Anderson, James H. Thorne, Dave Waetjen, Chris C. Nice, Matt De Parsia, Michelle Hladik, Robert Meese, Heidi van Vliet, Arthur M. Shapiro
2016, Biology Letters (12)
The butterfly fauna of lowland Northern California has exhibited a marked decline in recent years that previous studies have attributed in part to altered climatic conditions and changes in land use. Here, we ask if a shift in insecticide use towards neonicotinoids is associated with butterfly declines at four sites...
Volcanic air pollution over the Island of Hawai'i: Emissions, dispersal, and composition. Association with respiratory symptoms and lung function in Hawai'i Island school children
Elizabeth K. Tam, Rei Miike, Susan Labrenz, Andrew Sutton, Tamar Elias, James A. Davis, Yi-Leng Chen, Kelan Tantisira, Douglas Dockery, Edward Avol
2016, Environment International (92-93) 543-552
Background Kilauea Volcano on the Island of Hawai'i has erupted continuously since 1983, releasing approximately 300–12000 metric tons per day of sulfur dioxide (SO2). SO2 interacts with water vapor to produce an acidic haze known locally as “vog”. The combination of wind speed and direction, inversion layer height, and local terrain lead...
Predicting the occurrence of cave-inhabiting fauna based on features of the earth surface environment
Mary C. Christman, Daniel H. Doctor, Matthew L. Niemiller, David J. Weary, John A. Young, Kirk S. Zigler, David C. Culver
2016, PLoS ONE (11)
One of the most challenging fauna to study in situ is the obligate cave fauna because of the difficulty of sampling. Cave-limited species display patchy and restricted distributions, but it is often unclear whether the observed distribution is a sampling artifact or a true restriction in range. Further, the drivers...
Climate change and future fire regimes: Examples from California
Jon E. Keeley, Alexandra D. Syphard
2016, Geoscience Canada (6)
Climate and weather have long been noted as playing key roles in wildfire activity, and global warming is expected to exacerbate fire impacts on natural and urban ecosystems. Predicting future fire regimes requires an understanding of how temperature and precipitation interact to control fire activity. Inevitably this requires historical analyses...
Sediment load and distribution in the lower Skagit River, Skagit County, Washington
Christopher A. Curran, Eric E. Grossman, Mark C. Mastin, Raegan L. Huffman
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5106
The Skagit River delivers about 40 percent of all fluvial sediment that enters Puget Sound, influencing flood hazards in the Skagit lowlands, critically important estuarine habitat in the delta, and some of the most diverse and productive agriculture in western Washington. A total of 175 measurements of suspended-sediment load,...
Bedrock geologic map of the Hartland and North Hartland quadrangles, Windsor County, Vermont, and Sullivan and Grafton Counties, New Hampshire
Gregory J. Walsh
2016, Scientific Investigations Map 3361
The bedrock geology of the 7.5-minute Hartland and North Hartland quadrangles, Vermont-New Hampshire, consists of highly deformed and metamorphosed lower Paleozoic metasedimentary, metavolcanic, and metaplutonic rocks of the Bronson Hill anticlinorium (BHA) and the Connecticut Valley trough (CVT). Rocks of the Orfordville anticlinorium on this map occupy the western part...
Documenting the use of the Long Term Resource Monitoring element’s fish monitoring methodologies throughout the Midwest
Levi E. Solomon, Andrew F. Casper
2016, Long Term Resource Monitoring Technical Report 2016-T001
The Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program’s Long Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) element is designed to monitor and assess long term trends in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). To accomplish this, standardized methods are used that allow for comparisons across pools and rivers. In recent years, other projects and...
United States Biological Survey: A compendium of its history, personalities, impacts, and conflicts
David J. Schmidly, W. E. Tydeman, Alfred L. Gardner, editor(s)
2016, Book
In 1885, a small three-person unit was created in the U.S. Department of Agriculture to gather and analyze information on bird migrations. Originally called the Section of Economic Ornithology, over the next 55 years this unit underwent three name changes and accumulated ever-increasing responsibilities for the nation’s faunal resources. Transferred...
Environmental change makes robust ecological networks fragile
Giovanni Strona, Kevin D. Lafferty
2016, Nature Communications (7)
Complex ecological networks appear robust to primary extinctions, possibly due to consumers’ tendency to specialize on dependable (available and persistent) resources. However, modifications to the conditions under which the network has evolved might alter resource dependability. Here, we ask whether adaptation to historical conditions can increase community robustness, and whether...
Total belowground carbon flux in subalpine forests is related to leaf area index, soil nitrogen, and tree height
Erin Michele Berryman, Michael G. Ryan, John B. Bradford, Todd Hawbaker, R. Birdsey
2016, Ecosphere (7)
In forests, total belowground carbon (C) flux (TBCF) is a large component of the C budget and represents a critical pathway for delivery of plant C to soil. Reducing uncertainty around regional estimates of forest C cycling may be aided by incorporating knowledge of controls over soil respiration and TBCF....
Short-period volcanic gas precursors to phreatic eruptions: Insights from Poás Volcano, Costa Rica
Maarten de Moor, Alessandro Aiuppa, Javier Pacheco, Geoffroy Avard, Christoph Kern, Marco Liuzzo, Maria Martinez, Gaetano Giudice, Tobias P. Fischer
2016, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (442) 218-227
Volcanic eruptions involving interaction with water are amongst the most violent and unpredictable geologic phenomena on Earth. Phreatic eruptions are exceptionally difficult to forecast by traditional geophysical techniques. Here we report on short-term precursory variations in gas emissions related to phreatic blasts at Poás volcano, Costa Rica, as measured with...
Environmental DNA mapping of Zebra Mussel populations
Jon Amberg, Christopher M. Merkes
2016, Report
Environmental DNA (eDNA) has become a popular tool for detecting aquatic invasive species, but advancements have made it possible to potentially answer other questions like reproduction, movement, and abundance of the targeted organism. In this study we developed a Zebra Mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) eDNA protocol. We then determined if this...
The sensitivity of WRF downscaled precipitation in Puerto Rico to cumulus parameterization and interior grid nudging
A. Wootten, J.H. Bowden, R. Boyles, Adam J. Terando
2016, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology (55) 2263-2281
The sensitivity of the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) simulated precipitation over Puerto Rico is evaluated using multiple combinations of cumulus parameterization (CP) schemes and interior grid nudging. NCEP-DOE AMIP-II reanalysis (R-2) is downscaled to 2- km horizontal grid spacing with both convective permitting simulations (CP active only in the 49...
Network global navigation satellite system survey to harmonize water-surface elevation data for the Rainy River Basin
Jeffrey R. Ziegeweid, R. Jason Silliker, Brenda K. Densmore, Justin Krahulik
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5109
Continuously recording water-level streamgages in Rainy Lake and Namakan Reservoir are used to regulate water levels according to rule curves established in 2000 by the International Joint Commission; however, water levels at streamgages were referenced to a variety of vertical datums, confounding efforts to model the flow of water through...
Efficacy of spray –Dried Pseudomonas fluorescens, strain CL145A (Zequanox®), for controlling Zebra Mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) within Lake Minnetonka, MN enclosures
James A. Luoma, Todd J. Severson
2016, Report
The efficacy of whole water column and subsurface applications of the biopesticide Zequanox®, a commercially prepared spray-dried powder formulation of Pseudomonas fluorescens (strain CL145A), were evaluated for controlling zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) within 27-m2 enclosures in Lake Minnetonka (Deephaven, Minnesota). Five treatments consisting of (1) two whole water column Zequanox...
