National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Inventory Program: Natchez Trace Parkway vegetation mapping project report
Kevin D. Hop, Andrew C. Strassman, Carl Nordman, Milo Pyne, Rickie White, Joseph Jakusz, Erin E. Hoy, Jennifer Dieck
2016, Natural Resource Report NPS/GULN/NRR—2016/1255
The National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Mapping Inventory (VMI) Program is an effort to classify, describe, and map existing vegetation of national park units for the NPS Natural Resource Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program. The NPS VMI Program is managed by the NPS I&M Division and provides baseline vegetation information...
A point mutation in the polymerase protein PB2 allows a reassortant H9N2 influenza isolate of wild-bird origin to replicate in human cells.
Islam T.M. Hussein, Eric J. Ma, Brandt W. Meixell, Nichola J. Hill, Mark S. Lindberg, Randy A. Albrecht, Justin Bahl, Jonathan A. Runstadler
2016, Infection, Genetics and Evolution (41) 279-288
H9N2 influenza A viruses are on the list of potentially pandemic subtypes. Therefore, it is important to understand how genomic reassortment and genetic polymorphisms affect phenotypes of H9N2 viruses circulating in the wild bird reservoir. A comparative genetic analysis of North American H9N2 isolates of wild bird origin identified a...
Bauxite and alumina in 2015
E. Lee Bray
2016, Mining Engineering (68) 30-30
No abstract available....
Common carp disrupt ecosystem structure and function through middle-out effects
Mark A. Kaemingk, Jeffrey C. Jolley, Craig P. Paukert, David W. Willis, Kjetil R. Henderson, Richard S. Holland, Greg A. Wanner, Mark L. Lindvall
2016, Marine and Freshwater Research (68) 718-731
Middle-out effects or a combination of top-down and bottom-up processes create many theoretical and empirical challenges in the realm of trophic ecology. We propose using specific autecology or species trait (i.e. behavioural) information to help explain and understand trophic dynamics that may involve complicated and non-unidirectional trophic interactions. The common...
Age, sex and social influences on adult survival in the cooperatively breeding Karoo Scrub-robin
Penn Lloyd, Thomas E. Martin, Andrew Taylor, Anne Braae, Res Altwegg
2016, Emu (116) 394-401
Among cooperatively breeding species, helpers are hypothesised to increase the survival of breeders by reducing breeder workload in offspring care and increased group vigilance against predators. Furthermore, parental nepotism or other benefits of group living may provide a survival benefit to young that delay dispersal to help. We tested these...
Community fisheries in eastern South Dakota: Angler demographics, use, and factors influencing satisfaction
Michael J. Greiner, David O. Lucchesi, Steven R. Chipps, Larry M. Gigliotti
2016, Human Dimensions of Wildlife (21) 254-263
We surveyed anglers on five community fishing lakes near Brookings, South Dakota to assess angler use and satisfaction. The community lakes attracted younger anglers when compared to statewide and national averages. Overall, satisfaction was generally high (74%) among anglers fishing community lakes. Logistic regression analysis showed that harvest rate, anglers...
Climate change effects on North American inland fish populations and assemblages
Abigail J. Lynch, Bonnie Myers, Cindy Chu, Lisa A. Eby, Jeffrey A. Falke, Ryan P. Kovach, Trevor J. Krabbenhoft, Thomas J. Kwak, John Lyons, Craig P. Paukert, James E. Whitney
2016, Fisheries (41) 346-361
Climate is a critical driver of many fish populations, assemblages, and aquatic communities. However, direct observational studies of climate change impacts on North American inland fishes are rare. In this synthesis, we (1) summarize climate trends that may influence North American inland fish populations and assemblages, (2) compile 31 peer-reviewed...
Infrastructure system restoration planning using evolutionary algorithms
Steven Corns, Suzanna K. Long, Thomas G. Shoberg
2016, INCOSE International Symposium (26) 1947-1956
This paper presents an evolutionary algorithm to address restoration issues for supply chain interdependent critical infrastructure. Rapid restoration of infrastructure after a large-scale disaster is necessary to sustaining a nation's economy and security, but such long-term restoration has not been investigated as thoroughly as initial rescue and recovery efforts. A...
Depredation of the California Ridgway’s rail: Causes and distribution
Michael L. Casazza, Cory T. Overton, Thuy-Vy D. Bui, John Y. Takekawa, Angela M. Merritt, J.M. Hull
2016, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 27th Vertebrate Pest Conference
We studied the causes of mortality for the California Ridgway’s rail at multiple tidal marshes in the San Francisco Bay Estuary, California. We radio-marked 196 individual rails and examined the evidence from 152 recovered California Ridgway’s rail mortalities from our radio-marked sample and determined plausible cause of death from a...
Spawning site fidelity of wild and hatchery lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in northern Lake Huron
Thomas Binder, Stephen C. Riley, Christopher Holbrook, Michael J. Hansen, Roger A. Bergstedt, Charles R. Bronte, Ji He, Charles C. Krueger
2016, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (73) 18-34
Fidelity to high-quality spawning sites helps ensure that adults repeatedly spawn at sites that maximize reproductive success. Fidelity is also an important behavioural characteristic to consider when hatchery-reared individuals are stocked for species restoration, because artificial rearing environments may interfere with cues that guide appropriate spawning site selection. Acoustic telemetry...
Vulnerability of shortgrass prairie bird assemblages to climate change
Susan K. Skagen, Victoria Dreitz, Reesa Y. Conrey, Amy Yackel, Arvind O. Panjabi
Lekha Knuffman, editor(s)
2016, Conference Paper, America's Grasslands Conference: Partnerships for Grassland Conservation
The habitats and resources needed to support grassland birds endemic to North American prairie ecosystems are seriously threatened by impending climate change. To assess the vulnerability of grassland birds to climate change, we consider various components of vulnerability, including sensitivity, exposure, and adaptive capacity (Glick et al. 2011). Sensitivity encompasses...
Architecture, geochemistry, and paleomagnetic directions of the 5.42 Ma Broadwell Mesa basalt volcanic field, Bristol Mountains, California
David C. Buesch, Geoffrey Phelps
2016, Conference Paper, Going LOCO: Investigations along the Lower Colorado River: 2016 Desert Symposium Field Guide and Proceedings
No abstract available....
Application of a hybrid model to reduce bias and improve precision in population estimates for elk (Cervus elaphus) inhabiting a cold desert ecosystem
Kathryn A. Schoenecker, Bruce C. Lubow
2016, Journal of King Saud University - Science (28) 205-215
Accurately estimating the size of wildlife populations is critical to wildlife management and conservation of species. Raw counts or “minimum counts” are still used as a basis for wildlife management decisions. Uncorrected raw counts are not only negatively biased due to failure to account for undetected animals, but also provide...
Variability in the sensitivity among model simulations of permafrost and carbon dynamics in the permafrost region between 1960 and 2009
A. David McGuire, Charles Koven, David M. Lawrence, Joy S. Clein, Jiangyang Xia, Christian Beer, Eleanor J. Burke, Guangsheng Chen, Xiaodong Chen, Christine Delire, Elchin Jafarov, Andrew H. MacDougall, Sergey S. Marchenko, Dmitry J. Nicolsky, Shushi Peng, Annette Rinke, Kazuyuki Saito, Wenxin Zhang, Ramdane Alkama, Theodore J. Bohn, Philippe Ciais, Bertrand Decharme, Altug Ekici, Isabelle Gouttevin, Tomohiro Hajima, Daniel J. Hayes, Duoying Ji, Gerhard Krinner, Dennis P. Lettenmaier, Yiqi Luo, Paul A. Miller, John C. Moore, Vladimir Romanovsky, Christina Schädel, Kevin Schaefer, Edward A.G. Schuur, Benjamin Smith, Tetsuo Sueyoshi, Qianlai Zhuang
2016, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (30) 1015-1037
A significant portion of the large amount of carbon (C) currently stored in soils of the permafrost region in the Northern Hemisphere has the potential to be emitted as the greenhouse gases CO2and CH4 under a warmer climate. In this study we evaluated the variability in the sensitivity of permafrost and...
Reproduction in moose at their southern range limit
Joel S. Ruprecht, Kent Hersey, Konrad Hafen, Kevin L. Monteith, Nicholas J. DeCesare, Matthew J. Kauffman, Daniel R. MacNulty
2016, Journal of Mammalogy (97) 1355-1365
Reproduction is a critical fitness component in large herbivores. Biogeographic models predict that populations occurring at the edges of the range may have compromised reproductive rates because of inferior habitat at range peripheries. When reproductive rates are chronically low, ungulate populations may lack the resiliency to rebound quickly after periods...
Ball clay in 2015
Daniel Flanagan
2016, Mining Engineering (68) 30-31
No abstract available....
Automated mapping of persistent ice and snow cover across the western U.S. with Landsat
David J. Selkowitz, Richard R. Forster
2016, ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (117) 126-140
We implemented an automated approach for mapping persistent ice and snow cover (PISC) across the conterminous western U.S. using all available Landsat TM and ETM+ scenes acquired during the late summer/early fall period between 2010 and 2014. Two separate validation approaches indicate this dataset provides...
Titanium in 2015
George M. Bedinger
2016, Mining Engineering (68) 30-30
No abstract available....
Detection and quantification of hydrocarbons in sediments
Jeff Wynn, Mike Williamson, Jeff Frank
2016, Conference Paper, OCEANS 2016 MTS/IEEE Monterey
A new technology developed by the US Geological Survey now allows for fast, direct detection of hydrocarbon plumes both in rivers and drifting in the deep ocean. Recent experiments show that the method can also detect and quantify hydrocarbons buried in river sediments and estuaries. This approach uses a variant...
Planetary caves’ role in astronaut bases and the search for life
J. Judson Wynne, Timothy N. Titus, Penelope J. Boston
2016, Eos, Earth and Space Science News (97)
Planetary caves are practically everywhere. Scientists have identified more than 200 lunar and more than 2000 Martian cave-related features. They’ve also found vents and fissures associated with water ice plumes on Saturnian, Jovian, and Neptunian moons. Recently, primary vents of two possible cryovolcanoes were identified on Pluto....
Hibernal habitat selection by Wood Frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus) in a northern New England montane landscape
Luke A. Groff, Aram J.K. Calhoun, Cynthia S. Loftin
2016, Journal of Herpetology (50) 559-569
Poikilothermic species, such as amphibians, endure harsh winter conditions via freeze-tolerance or freeze-avoidance strategies. Freeze-tolerance requires a suite of complex, physiological mechanisms (e.g., cryoprotectant synthesis); however, behavioral strategies (e.g., hibernal habitat selection) may be used to regulate hibernaculum temperatures and promote overwintering survival. We investigated the hibernal ecology of the...
Bayesian nitrate source apportionment to individual groundwater wells in the Central Valley by use of elemental and isotopic tracers
Katherine M Ransom, Mark N. Grote, Amanda Deinhart, Gary Eppich, Carol Kendall, Matthew E. Sanborn, A. Kate Sounders, Joshua Wimpenny, Qing-zhu Yin, Megan B. Young, Thomas Harter
2016, Water Resources Research (52) 5577-5597
Groundwater quality is a concern in alluvial aquifers that underlie agricultural areas, such as in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Shallow domestic wells (less than 150 m deep) in agricultural areas are often contaminated by nitrate. Agricultural and rural nitrate sources include dairy manure, synthetic fertilizers, and septic waste....
Earthquake geology and paleoseismology of major strands of the San Andreas fault system
Thomas Rockwell, Katherine M. Scharer, Timothy E. Dawson
2016, Book chapter, Applied geology in California
The San Andreas fault system in California is one of the best-studied faults in the world, both in terms of the long-term geologic history and paleoseismic study of past surface ruptures. In this paper, we focus on the Quaternary to historic data that have been collected from the major strands...
Anticipated water quality changes in response to climate change and potential consequences for inland fishes
Yushun Chen, Andrew S. Todd, Margaret H. Murphy, Gregg Lomnicky
2016, Fisheries (41) 413-416
Healthy freshwater ecosystems are a critical component of the world's economy, with a critical role in maintaining public health, inland biological diversity, and overall quality of life. Globally, our climate is changing, with air temperature and precipitation regimes deviating significantly from historical patterns. Healthy freshwater ecosystems are a critical component...
NGWA workshop on “Making Groundwater Sustainable”
Leonard F. Konikow
2016, Sustainable Water Resources Management (2) 119-120
No abstract available....
