Detection, prevalence, and transmission of avian hematozoa in waterfowl at the Arctic/sub-Arctic interface: co-infections, viral interactions, and sources of variation.
Brandt W. Meixell, Todd W. Arnold, Mark S. Lindberg, Matthew M. Smith, Andrew M. Ramey, Jonathan A. Runstadler
2016, Parasites & Vectors (9)
Background: The epidemiology of avian hematozoa at high latitudes is still not well understood, particularly in sub-Arctic and Arctic habitats, where information is limited regarding seasonality and range of transmission, co-infection dynamics with parasitic and viral agents, and possible fitness consequences of infection. Such information is important as climate warming...
Geologic map of the Murray Quadrangle, Newton County, Arkansas
Mark R. Hudson, Kenzie J. Turner
2016, Scientific Investigations Map 3360
This map summarizes the geology of the Murray quadrangle in the Ozark Plateaus region of northern Arkansas. Geologically, the area is on the southern flank of the Ozark dome, an uplift that has the oldest rocks exposed at its center, in Missouri. Physiographically, the Murray quadrangle is within the Boston...
Forecasting the relative influence of environmental and anthropogenic stressors on polar bears
Todd C. Atwood, Bruce G. Marcot, David C. Douglas, Steven C. Amstrup, Karyn D. Rode, George M. Durner, Jeffrey F. Bromaghin
2016, Ecosphere (7)
Effective conservation planning requires understanding and ranking threats to wildlife populations. We developed a Bayesian network model to evaluate the relative influence of environmental and anthropogenic stressors, and their mitigation, on the persistence of polar bears (Ursus maritimus). Overall sea ice conditions, affected by rising global temperatures, were the most...
Identifying bird and reptile vulnerabilities to climate change in the southwestern United States
James R. Hatten, J. Tomasz Giermakowski, Jennifer A. Holmes, Erika M. Nowak, Matthew J. Johnson, Kirsten E. Ironside, Charles van Riper III, Michael Peters, Charles Truettner, Kenneth L. Cole
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1085
Current and future breeding ranges of 15 bird and 16 reptile species were modeled in the Southwestern United States. Rather than taking a broad-scale, vulnerability-assessment approach, we created a species distribution model (SDM) for each focal species incorporating climatic, landscape, and plant variables. Baseline climate (1940–2009) was characterized with Parameter-elevation...
Biogeochemical controls of uranium bioavailability from the dissolved phase in natural freshwaters
Marie Noele Croteau, Christopher C. Fuller, Daniel J. Cain, Kate M. Campbell, George R. Aiken
2016, Environmental Science & Technology (50) 8120-8127
To gain insights into the risks associated with uranium (U) mining and processing, we investigated the biogeochemical controls of U bioavailability in the model freshwater speciesLymnaea stagnalis (Gastropoda). Bioavailability of dissolved U(VI) was characterized in controlled laboratory experiments over a range of water hardness, pH, and in the presence of complexing...
Identifying Kittlitz's Murrelet nesting habitat in North America at the landscape scale
Jonathan J. Felis, Michelle L. Kissling, Robb S.A. Kaler, Leah A. Kenney, Matthew J. Lawonn
2016, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (7) 323-333
The Kittlitz's Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) is a small, non-colonial seabird endemic to marine waters of Alaska and eastern Russia that may have experienced significant population decline in recent decades, in part because of low reproductive success and terrestrial threats. Although recent studies have shed new light on Kittlitz's Murrelet nesting...
The Pilot Valley shoreline: An early record of Lake Bonneville dynamics
David M. Miller, Geoffrey Phelps
2016, Book chapter, Developments in Earth Surface Processes 20
The Pilot Valley shoreline is named for distinctive gravel beaches on the eastern, northern, and western sides of Pilot Valley playa, Utah. The shoreline has been identified across the Bonneville basin where it is characterized by one to three beach crests between ~ 1305 and 1309 m elevation, all overlain by deep-water...
Spectral nature of CO2 adsorption onto meteorites
Genesis Berlanga, Charles A Hibbitts, Driss Takir, Draby M Dyar, Elizabeth Sklute
2016, Icarus (280) 366-377
Previous studies have identified carbon dioxide (CO2) on the surfaces of Jovian and Galilean satellites in regions of non-ice material that are too warm for CO2 ice to exist. CO2 ice would quickly sublimate if not retained by a less-volatile material. To ascertain what non-ice species may be responsible for stabilizing this...
External quality assurance project report for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program’s National Trends Network and Mercury Deposition Network, 2013–14
Gregory A. Wetherbee, RoseAnn Martin
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5069
The U.S. Geological Survey Branch of Quality Systems operated five distinct programs to provide external quality assurance monitoring for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program’s (NADP) National Trends Network and Mercury Deposition Network during 2013–14. The National Trends Network programs include (1) a field audit program to evaluate sample contamination and...
Introduction to special issue on carbon and landscape dynamics
Mary Ann Madej, Ellen E. Wohl
2016, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (41) 1790-1792
In October, 2013, at the Geological Society of America annual meeting, a theme session focused on carbon and landscape dynamics. That event led to interest in producing a special issue in ESPL compiling papers on this subject. The 13 papers collected for this special issue reflect the diversity of recent...
A goodness-of-fit test for occupancy models with correlated within-season revisits
Wilson Wright, Kathryn M. Irvine, Thomas J. Rodhouse
2016, Ecology and Evolution (6) 5404-5415
Occupancy modeling is important for exploring species distribution patterns and for conservation monitoring. Within this framework, explicit attention is given to species detection probabilities estimated from replicate surveys to sample units. A central assumption is that replicate surveys are independent Bernoulli trials, but this assumption becomes untenable when ecologists serially...
Preserving reptiles for research
Steve W. Gotte, Jeremy F. Jacobs, George R. Zug
C. Kenneth Dodd, editor(s)
2016, Book chapter, Reptile ecology and conservation
What are voucher specimens and why do we collect them? Voucher specimens are animals and/or their parts that are deposited in a research museum to document the occurrence of a taxon at a specific location in space and time (Pleijel et al., 2008; Reynolds and McDiarmid, 2012). For field biologists,...
Adverse reproductive and developmental health outcomes following prenatal exposure to a 2 hydraulic fracturing chemical mixture in female C57Bl/6 mice
Christopher D. Kassotis, John J. Bromfield, Kara C. Klemp, Chun-Xia Meng, Andrew R. Wolfe, Thomas Zoeller, Victoria D. Balise, Chiamaka J. Isiguzo, Donald E. Tillitt, Susan C. Nagel
2016, Endocrinology (157) 3469-3481
Unconventional oil and gas operations using hydraulic fracturing can contaminate surface and groundwater with endocrine-disrupting chemicals. We have previously shown that 23 of 24 commonly used hydraulic fracturing chemicals can activate or inhibit the estrogen, androgen, glucocorticoid, progesterone, and/or thyroid receptors in a human endometrial cancer cell reporter gene assay...
Experimental whole-lake increase of dissolved organic carbon concentration produces unexpected increase in crustacean zooplankton density
Patrick T. Kelly, Nicola Craig, Christopher T. Solomon, Brian Weidel, Jacob A. Zwart, Stuart E. Jones
2016, Global Change Biology (22) 2766-2775
The observed pattern of lake browning, or increased terrestrial dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration, across the northern hemisphere has amplified the importance of understanding how consumer productivity varies with DOC concentration. Results from comparative studies suggest these increased DOC concentrations may reduce crustacean zooplankton productivity due to reductions in resource...
Implications of climate change for wetland-dependent birds in the Prairie Pothole Region
Valerie Steen, Susan K. Skagen, Cynthia P. Melcher
2016, Wetlands (36) 445-459
The habitats and food resources required to support breeding and migrant birds dependent on North American prairie wetlands are threatened by impending climate change. The North American Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) hosts nearly 120 species of wetland-dependent birds representing 21 families. Strategic management requires knowledge of avian habitat requirements and...
Blood selenium concentrations in female Pacific black brant molting in Arctic Alaska: Relationships with age and habitat salinity
J. Christian Franson, Paul L. Flint, Joel A. Schmutz
2016, Marine Pollution Bulletin (111) 453-455
Blood samples collected from 81 female Pacific black brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) molting near Teshekpuk Lake, Alaska, were analyzed for selenium concentration. The concentration of selenium in blood of after second year (hatched two or more years ago) females (0.84 μg/g wet weight) was significantly greater than the concentration in second...
Extraordinary sediment delivery and rapid geomorphic response following the 2008–2009 eruption of Chaitén Volcano, Chile
Jon J. Major, Daniel Bertin, Thomas C. Pierson, Alvaro Amigo, Andres Iroume, Hector Ulloa, Jonathan M. Castro
2016, Water Resources Research (52) 5075-5094
The 10 day explosive phase of the 2008–2009 eruption of Chaitén volcano, Chile, draped adjacent watersheds with a few cm to >1 m of tephra. Subsequent lava-dome collapses generated pyroclastic flows that delivered additional sediment. During the waning phase of explosive activity, modest rainfall triggered an extraordinary sediment flush which...
A framework for effective use of hydroclimate models in climate-change adaptation planning for managed habitats with limited hydrologic response data
Rachel A. Esralew, Lorraine E. Flint, James H. Thorne, Ryan Boynton, Alan L. Flint
2016, Environmental Management (58) 60-75
Climate-change adaptation planning for managed wetlands is challenging under uncertain futures when the impact of historic climate variability on wetland response is unquantified. We assessed vulnerability of Modoc National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR) through use of the Basin Characterization Model (BCM) landscape hydrology model, and six global climate models, representing projected...
Hepatic insulin-like growth-factor binding protein (igfbp) responses tofood restriction in Atlantic salmon smolts
Jason P. Breves, Silas K. Phipps-Costin, Chelsea K. Fujimoto, Ingibjorg E. Einarsdottir, Amy M. Regish, Björn Thrandur Björnsson, Stephen D. McCormick
2016, General and Comparative Endocrinology (233) 79-87
The growth hormone (Gh)/insulin-like growth-factor (Igf) system plays a central role in the regulation of growth in fishes. However, the roles of Igf binding proteins (Igfbps) in coordinating responses to food availability are unresolved, especially in anadromous fishes preparing for seaward migration. We assayed plasma Gh, Igf1, thyroid hormones and...
Assessing landslide potential on coastal bluffs near Mukilteo, Washington—Geologic site characterization for hydrologic monitoring
Benjamin B. Mirus, Joel B. Smith, Benjamin Stark, York Lewis, Abigail Michel, Rex L. Baum
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1082
During the summer 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey collected geologic and geotechnical data for two sites on coastal bluffs along the eastern shore of Puget Sound, Washington. The U.S. Geological Survey also installed hydrologic instrumentation at the sites and collected specimens for laboratory testing. The two sites are located on...
Anadromous salmonids in the Delta: New science 2006–2016
Russell W. Perry, Rebecca A. Buchanan, Patricia L. Brandes, Jon R. Burau, Joshua A Israel
2016, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science (14)
As juvenile salmon enter the Sacramento–SanJoaquin River Delta (“the Delta”) they disperse among its complex channel network where they are subject to channel-specific processes that affect their rate of migration, vulnerability to predation, feeding success, growth rates, and ultimately, survival. In the decades...
Tick-, mosquito-, and rodent-borne parasite sampling designs for the National Ecological Observatory Network
Yuri P. Springer, David Hoekman, Pieter T. J. Johnson, Paul A. Duffy, Rebecca A. Hufft, David T. Barnett, Brian F. Allan, Brian R. Amman, Christopher M. Barker, Roberto Barrera, Charles B. Beard, Lorenza Beati, Mike Begon, Mark S. Blackmore, William E. Bradshaw, Dustin Brisson, Charles H. Calisher, James E. Childs, Maria A. Diuk-Wasser, Richard J. Douglass, Rebecca J. Eisen, Desmond H. Foley, Janet E. Foley, Holly D. Gaff, Scott L. Gardner, Howard S. Ginsberg, Gregory E. Glass, Sarah A. Hamer, Mary H. Hayden, Brian Hjelle, Christina M. Holzapfel, Steven A. Juliano, Laura D. Kramer, Amy J. Kuenzi, Shannon L. LaDeau, Todd P. Livdahl, James N. Mills, Chester G. Moore, Serge Morand, Roger S. Nasci, Nicholas H. Ogden, Richard S. Ostfeld, Robert R. Parmenter, Joseph Piesman, William K. Reisen, Harry M. Savage, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Andrea Swei, Michael J. Yabsley
2016, Ecosphere (7)
Parasites and pathogens are increasingly recognized as significant drivers of ecological and evolutionary change in natural ecosystems. Concurrently, transmission of infectious agents among human, livestock, and wildlife populations represents a growing threat to veterinary and human health. In light of these trends and the scarcity of long-term time series data...
Large wind ripples on Mars: A record of atmospheric evolution
M. G. A. Lapotre, R. C. Ewing, M. P. Lamb, W. W. Fischer, J. P. Grotzinger, D. M. Rubin, K. W. Lewis, M. J. Ballard, Mitch D. Day, S. Gupta, S. G. Banham, N. T. Bridges, D. J. Des Marais, A. A. Fraeman, J. A. Grant, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, D. W. Ming, M. A. Mischna, M. S. Rice, D. Y. Sumner, A. R. Vasavada, R. A. Yingst
2016, Science (353) 55-58
Wind blowing over sand on Earth produces decimeter-wavelength ripples and hundred-meter– to kilometer-wavelength dunes: bedforms of two distinct size modes. Observations from the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal that Mars hosts a third stable wind-driven bedform, with meter-scale wavelengths. These bedforms are spatially uniform...
Esperance: Multiple episodes of aqueous alteration involving fracture fills and coatings at Matijevic Hill, Mars
Benton C. Clark, Richard V. Morris, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, William H. Farrand, Ralf Gellert, Bradley L. Jolliff, Raymond E. Arvidson, Steven W. Squyres, David W. Mittelfehldt, Douglas W. Ming, Albert S. Yen
2016, American Mineralogist (101) 1515-1526
In the search for evidence of past aqueous activity by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, fracture-filling veins and rock coatings are prime candidates for exploration. At one location within a segment of remaining rim material surrounding Endeavour Crater, a set of “boxwork” fractures in an outcrop called Esperance are filled...
Exploration review
David R. Wilburn, Nick Karl
2016, Mining Engineering 30-51
This summary of international mineral exploration activities for the year 2015 draws upon information from industry sources, published literature, the SNL Metals & Mining (SNL) (Charlottesville, VA) data base, and specialists in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Minerals Information Center. The summary provides data on exploration budgets by region...
