The 3D Elevation Program—Supporting Idaho’s economy
Tom Carlson
2023, Fact Sheet 2023-3035
IntroductionDue to Idaho’s inland location approximately 350 miles from the Pacific Ocean and its 80 recognized mountain ranges, the State’s climate varies widely, with maritime influence in the northern and western parts of Idaho and continental influence on the eastern side. The weather in the abundant mountains is unpredictable and...
Combining resilience and resistance with threat-based approaches for prioritizing management actions in sagebrush ecosystems
Jeanne C. Chambers, Jessi L. Brown, John B. Bradford, Kevin Doherty, Michele R. Crist, Daniel Rodolphe Schlaepfer, Alexandra K. Urza, Karen Short
2023, Conservation Science and Practice (5)
The sagebrush biome is a dryland region in the western United States experiencing rapid transformations to novel ecological states. Threat-based approaches for managing anthropogenic and ecosystem threats have recently become prominent, but successfully mitigating threats depends on the ecological resilience of ecosystems. We used a...
Does release size into net-pens affect survival of captively reared juvenile endangered suckers in Upper Klamath Lake?
John Michael Caldwell, Summer M. Burdick, Jacob Richard Krause, Alta C. Harris
2023, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (43) 1322-1336
ObjectiveHigh juvenile mortality prevents recruitment into the adult populations of endangered Shortnose Sucker Chasmistes brevirostris and Lost River Sucker Deltistes luxatus in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon. To address the lack of recruitment, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service implemented the Sucker Assisted Rearing Program (SARP). Managers developing the rearing program lack...
Influences of landscape composition on hunter-harvested mallard body mass and condition in eastern Arkansas
John T. Veon, David G. Krementz, Luke W. Naylor, Brett Alexander DeGregorio
2023, The Journal of Wildlife Management (88)
Waterfowl with more body mass and a greater body condition during the non-breeding season are thought to be more likely to survive and have increased productivity during the following breeding season. Body mass and body condition in waterfowl should reflect the resources available to them locally. We analyzed the relationship...
Spatially explicit models of seed availability improve predictions of conifer regeneration following the 2018 Carr Fire in northern California
Micah C. Wright, Phillip J. van Mantgem, Kevin J. Buffington, Karen M. Thorne, Eamon Engber, Sean Smith
2023, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (11)
For many conifer species in dry conifer forests of North America, seeds must be present for postfire regeneration to occur, suggesting that seed dispersal from surviving trees plays a critical role in postfire forest recovery. However, the application of tree fecundity and spatial arrangement to postfire conifer recovery predictions...
Assessing snowpack stratigraphy accuracy based on different input data: Insights for operations avalanche forecasting
Ross T. Palomaki, Zachary Miller
2023, Conference Paper, Proceedings, International Snow Science Workshop 2023
Avalanche forecasters and snow scientists use physically based snow stratigraphy models to fill spatial and temporal gaps in field-based snow profile observations. These models generate stratigraphy predictions using meteorological input from automated weather stations (AWS) or numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. The choice of input data is often determined by...
Comparing snowpack meteorological inputs to support regional wet snow avalanche forecasting
Zachary Miller, Simon Horton, Christoph Mitterer, Erich H. Peitzsch
2023, Conference Paper, Proceedings, International Snow Science Workshop 2023
Wet snow avalanches are predicted to increase in frequency with climate change and are often difficult to forecast. Improving our understanding of wet snow avalanche timing will help with current forecasting challenges. The onset of wet snow avalanching is closely tied to the temporal progression of liquid water flow through...
Temporal evolution of slab and weak layer properties during the transition from dry to wet snowpack conditions
Josh Lipkowitz, Erich H. Peitzsch, Jean Dixon, Marcus Kalb, Douglas McCabe, Griffin Ditmar, Christoph Mitterer
2023, Conference Paper, Proceedings, International Snow Science Workshop 2023
Wet-snow slab avalanches are destructive and may become more prevalent in a warming climate. This type of avalanche remains challenging to forecast because the underlying processes leading to wet-snow slab avalanche release are poorly understood. In this study, we examine the temporal evolution of weak layer and slab liquid water...
Spatial extent of forested avalanche terrain impacted by wildfire across the Sawtooth National Forest
Zachary Miller, John Sykes, Megan Guinn, Benjamin VandenBos, Scott Savage, Erich H. Peitzsch
2023, Conference Paper, Proceedings, International Snow Science Workshop 2023
Forest structure is a major driver of mountain snowpacks and avalanche occurrence. Healthy forests can reduce the incidence of dangerous slab avalanches, slow avalanches when in motion, shorten their runout distances, and act as a safety buffer for backcountry users, infrastructure, and transportation corridors. Since 1984, wildfire area in the...
Big avalanches in a changing climate: Using tree-ring derived avalanche chronologies to examine avalanche frequency across multiple climate types
Erich H. Peitzsch, Gregory T. Pederson, Justin T. Martin, Eran Hood, Ethan M. Greene, Karl W. Birkeland, Kelly Elder, Gabriel Wolken, Nickolas E. Kichas, Daniel Kent Stahle, John Harley
2023, Conference Paper, Proceedings, International Snow Science Workshop 2023
Large-magnitude snow avalanches pose a hazard to humans and infrastructure worldwide. Analyzing the spatiotemporal behavior of avalanches and the contributory climate factors is important for understanding historical variability in climate-avalanche relationships as well as improving avalanche forecasting. This study uses established dendrochronological methods to develop long-term regional avalanche chronologies for...
Positive but un-sustained wildlife community responses to reserve expansion and mammal reintroductions in South Africa
Shannon K. Brewer, Lia Keener, Lourens H. Swanepoel, Craig Sholto-Douglas, Axel Hunnicutt, Goncalo Curveira-Santos
2023, Biological Conservation (287)
The creation and expansion of protected areas, coupled with wildlife reintroductions, are increasingly used as conservation measures to combat wildlife declines worldwide. Although these types of restoration efforts are expected be beneficial to wildlife populations, variable species management and interactions among...
Compost, plants and endophytes versus metal contamination: Choice of a restoration strategy steers the microbiome in polymetallic mine waste
Martina Kracmarova, Jakub Papik, Ondrej Uhlik, John Freeman, Andrea L. Foster, Mary-Catherine Leewis, Courtney Creamer
2023, Environmental Microbiome (18)
Finding solutions for the remediation and restoration of abandoned mining areas is of great environmental importance as they pose a risk to ecosystem health. In this study, our aim was to determine how remediation strategies with (i) compost amendment, (ii) planting a metal-tolerant grass Bouteloua curtipendula, and...
High-frequency variability of carbon dioxide fluxes in tidal water over a temperate salt marsh
Shuzhen Song, Zhaohui Aleck Wang, Kevin D. Kroeger, Meagan J. Eagle, Sophie N. Chu, Jianzhong Ge
2023, Limnology & Oceanography (68) 2108-2125
Existing analyses of salt marsh carbon budgets rarely quantify carbon loss as CO2 through the air–water interface in inundated marshes. This study estimates the variability of partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) and air–water CO2 fluxes over summer and fall of 2014 and 2015 using high-frequency measurements of tidal water pCO2 in a salt marsh of...
Bathymetric contour maps, surface area and capacity tables, and bathymetric change maps for selected water-supply lakes in northeastern Missouri, 2021
Benjamin C. Rivers, Richard J. Huizinga, Joseph M. Richards, Garett J. Waite
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5108
Bathymetric data were collected at 12 water-supply lakes in northeastern Missouri by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR) and various local agencies, as part of a multiyear effort to establish or update the surface area and capacity tables for the surveyed...
Long-term trends in Arctic riverine chemistry signal multi-faceted northern change
Suzanne E. Tank, James W. McClelland, Robert G. M. Spencer, Alexander I. Shiklomanov, Anya Suslova, Florentina Moatar, Rainer Amon, Lee W. Cooper, Greg Elias, Vyacheslav Gordeev, Christopher Guay, Tatiana Gurtovaya, Lyudmila Kosmenko, Edda A. Mutter, Bruce Peterson, Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Peter Raymond, Paul Schuster, Lindsay Scott, Robin Staples, Robert G. Striegl, Mikhail Tretiakov, Alexander V. Zhulidov, Nikita Zimov, Sergey Zimov, Robert M. Holmes
2023, Nature Geoscience (16) 789-796
Rivers integrate processes occurring throughout their watersheds and are therefore sentinels of change across broad spatial scales. River chemistry also regulates ecosystem function across Earth’s land–ocean continuum, exerting control from the micro- (for example, local food web) to the macro- (for example, global carbon cycle) scale. In the rapidly warming...
Flood damage costs beyond buildings—A Lake Champlain case study
Charles Rhodes
2023, Fact Sheet 2023-3034
IntroductionFloods account for more than 75 percent of Federal disaster declarations and lead other natural disasters in economic costs. Early-warning systems have lowered flood-related fatalities, but costs continue to rise as flood-prone areas continue to be urbanized (U.S. Geological Survey, 2006). A Lake Champlain case study shows that at moderate...
Long-term demographic analysis of the Cape Sable seaside sparrow (1992–2021)
Marisa Takada Martinez, Laura D’Acunto, Stephanie Romanach
2023, Report
The Cape Sable seaside sparrow (Ammospiza maritima mirabilis) is an endangered species that has experienced a population decline of more than 60% since 1981. Despite its critical population status, a statistically robust analysis of the species’ demographic rates utilizing all data has yet to be completed (Benscoter et al. 2021)....
Comparing reintroduction strategies for the endangered San Francisco gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia) using demographic models
Jonathan P. Rose, Richard Kim, Elliot James Schoenig, Patrick C. Lien, Brian J. Halstead
2023, PLoS ONE (18)
For endangered species persisting in a few populations, reintroductions to unoccupied habitat are a popular conservation action to increase viability in the long term. Identifying the reintroduction strategy that is most likely to result in viable founder and donor populations is essential to optimally use resources...
Geochemical evidence for evolving Proterozoic crustal thickness and orogenic styles in southwestern Laurentia
Ian William Hillenbrand, Karl E. Karlstrom, Michael L. Williams, Amy K. Gilmer, Wayne R. Premo, Peter B Davis
2023, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (622)
It has long been challenging for researchers to track the crustal thickness and mode(s) of crustal modification in ancient convergent margins, limiting evaluation of the tectonic styles and processes that modify continental crust during orogenesis. We present trace element igneous geochemical crustal thickness proxies that quantitatively track...
Implementation plan of the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program strategy—Northeast region of the United States: New York and New England
Gregory J. Walsh, Margaret A. Thomas, Robert G. Marvinney, Stephen B. Mabee, Frederick H. Chormann, Andrew Kozlowski, Marjorie H. Gale, Jon Kim, Brian Savage
2023, Open-File Report 2023-1059
Complexly deformed igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks form the bedrock of the Northeast region of the United States. Variably thick unconsolidated sediments deposited by glacial, fluvial, and eolian systems locally cover the bedrock. New geologic mapping focuses on areas lacking modern, detailed studies or syntheses, and contributes to existing framework...
Interlaboratory comparison of testing hydraulic, elastic, and failure properties in compression: Lessons learned
Yang Cheng, David A. Lockner, Mandy Duda, Carolyn A. Morrow, Demian Saffer, Insun Song, Joerg Renner
2023, Environmental Earth Sciences (82)
Many geoscientific problems require us to exploit synergies of experimental and numerical approaches, which in turn lead to questions regarding the significance of experimental details for validation of numerical codes. We report results of an interlaboratory comparison regarding experimental determination of mechanical and hydraulic properties of samples from five rock...
Evaluating the spatial and temporal distribution and ecology of Bighead and Silver Carp and native fishes of the lower Red River basin
Shannon K. Brewer, John Dattilo, Paul Ramsey, Ben Birdsall
2023, Cooperator Science Series FWS/CSS-153-2023
We investigated the spatial and temporal distribution of Bighead Carp and Silver Carp (hereafter Carp) in the lower Red River basin of Arkansas. Our study objectives were: 1) determine the spatial and temporal extent of Bighead and Silver Carp in the Red River basin of Arkansas; 2) determine habitat associations...
Striped bass exploitation in tailwater habitats of east-central Oklahoma
Alex Vaisvil, Daniel Shoup, Shannon K. Brewer
2023, Cooperator Science Series FWS/CSS-152-2023
Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) is naturally anadromous, but a few land-locked populations have been documented that are self-sustaining, including fish in the Arkansas River, Oklahoma. This rare population is the source of brood stock for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation hatcheries and is an important sportfish stock. Striped Bass...
Evaluating the spatial and temporal distribution and ecology of Bighead and Silver Carp and native fishes of the lower Red River basin
Shannon K. Brewer, John Dattilo, Paul Ramsey, Ben Birdsall
2023, Cooperator Science Series CSS-153-2023
We investigated the spatial and temporal distribution of Bighead Carp and Silver Carp (hereafter Carp) in the lower Red River basin of Arkansas. Our study objectives were: 1) determine the spatial and temporal extent of Bighead and Silver Carp in the Red River basin of Arkansas; 2) determine habitat associations...
Effects of vehicle traffic on space use and road crossings of caribou in the Arctic
John P. Severson, Heather E. Johnson, Timothy C. Vosburgh
2023, Ecological Applications (33)
Assessing the effects of industrial development on wildlife is a key objective of managers and conservation practitioners. However, wildlife responses are often only investigated with respect to the footprint of infrastructure, even though human activity can strongly mediate development impacts. In Arctic Alaska, there is substantial interest in expanding energy...
