Temperate forest health in an era of emerging megadisturbance
Constance I. Millar, Nathan L. Stephenson
2015, Science (349) 823-826
Although disturbances such as fire and native insects can contribute to natural dynamics of forest health, exceptional droughts, directly and in combination with other disturbance factors, are pushing some temperate forests beyond thresholds of sustainability. Interactions from increasing temperatures, drought, native insects and pathogens, and uncharacteristically severe wildfire are resulting...
Discovery of a novel hepatovirus (Phopivirus of seals) related to human hepatitis A virus
Anthony. S.J., J.A St. Leger, E. Liang, A.L. Hicks, M.D Sanchez-Leon, S. Ip, K. Jain, J. H. Lefkowitch, I. Navarrete-Macias, N. Knowles, T. Goldstein, K. Pugliares, T. Rowles, W.I. Lipkin
2015, mBio (6)
Describing the viral diversity of wildlife can provide interesting and useful insights into the natural history of established human pathogens. In this study, we describe a previously unknown picornavirus in harbor seals (tentatively named phopivirus) that is related to human hepatitis A virus (HAV). We show that phopivirus shares several...
Review of the USA National Phenology Network
Pierre D. Glynn, Timothy W. Owen, editor(s)
2015, Circular 1411
In January 2014, leadership from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Ecosystems Mission Area commissioned a review of the USA National Phenology Network (USA–NPN) Program. The Ecosystems Mission Area has a key stake in the USA–NPN, providing both supervision of its Director and most of the appropriated funds. The products and...
Flood-inundation maps for the St. Marys River at Decatur, Indiana
Kellan R. Strauch
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5099
Digital flood-inundation maps for an 8.9-mile reach of the St. Marys River at Decatur, Indiana, were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site...
Evaluation of statistical and rainfall-runoff models for predicting historical daily streamflow time series in the Des Moines and Iowa River watersheds
William H. Farmer, Rodney R. Knight, David A. Eash, Kasey J. Hutchinson, S. Mike Linhart, Daniel E. Christiansen, Stacey A. Archfield, Thomas M. Over, Julie E. Kiang
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5089
Daily records of streamflow are essential to understanding hydrologic systems and managing the interactions between human and natural systems. Many watersheds and locations lack streamgages to provide accurate and reliable records of daily streamflow. In such ungaged watersheds, statistical tools and rainfall-runoff models are used to estimate daily streamflow. Previous...
Local variability mediates vulnerability of trout populations to land use and climate change
Brooke E. Penaluna, Jason B. Dunham, Steve F. Railsback, Ivan Arismendi, Sherri L. Johnson, Robert E Bilby, Mohammad Safeeq, Arne E. Skaugset
2015, PLoS ONE (8)
Land use and climate change occur simultaneously around the globe. Fully understanding their separate and combined effects requires a mechanistic understanding at the local scale where their effects are ultimately realized. Here we applied an individual-based model of fish population dynamics to evaluate the role of local stream variability in...
Sea-level rise modeling handbook: Resource guide for coastal land managers, engineers, and scientists
Thomas W. Doyle, Bogdan Chivoiu, Nicholas M. Enwright
2015, Professional Paper 1815
Global sea level is rising and may accelerate with continued fossil fuel consumption from industrial and population growth. In 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted more than 30 training and feedback sessions with Federal, State, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) coastal managers and planners across the northern Gulf of Mexico coast...
Application of MC1 to Wind Cave National Park: Lessons from a small-scale study: Chapter 8
David A. King, Dominique M. Bachelet, Amy J. Symstad
2015, Book chapter, Global Vegetation Dynamics: Concepts and Applications in the MC1 Model
MC1 was designed for application to large regions that include a wide range in elevation and topography, thereby encompassing a broad range in climates and vegetation types. The authors applied the dynamic global vegetation model MC1 to Wind Cave National Park (WCNP) in the southern Black Hills of South Dakota,...
Diet shifts by planktivorous and benthivorous fishes in northern Lake Michigan in response to ecosystem changes
David B. Bunnell, Bruce M. Davis, Margret Ann Chriscinske, Kevin M. Keeler, Justin G. Mychek-Londer
2015, Journal of Great Lakes Research (41) 161-171
In Lake Michigan, diets of planktivorous and benthivorous fishes have varied over the past decades, in part owing to food web changes. To update diet information and compare them to a similar effort in 1994–1995, we analyzed the diets of seven benthivorous and planktivorous fish species collected along two northern...
Estimating the effects of habitat and biological interactions in an avian community
Robert M. Dorazio, Edward F. Connor, Robert A. Askins
2015, PLoS ONE (10)
We used repeated sightings of individual birds encountered in community-level surveys to investigate the relative roles of habitat and biological interactions in determining the distribution and abundance of each species. To analyze these data, we developed a multispecies N-mixture model that allowed estimation of both positive and negative correlations between...
Ground-survey and water-quality data for selected wetlands on or near the Lower Brule Indian Reservation in South Dakota, 2012-13
Kathleen M. Neitzert, Ryan F. Thompson
2015, Data Series 949
Numerous lakes, ponds, and wetlands are located within the Lower Brule Indian Reservation. Wetlands are an important resource providing aquatic habitat for plants and animals, and acting as a natural water filtration system. Several of the wetlands on or near the reservation are of particular interest, but information on the...
Flood-inundation maps for White River at Petersburg, Indiana
Kathleen K. Fowler
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5107
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 7.7-mile reach of the White River at Petersburg, Indiana, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at...
Flood-inundation maps for Big Creek from the McGinnis Ferry Road bridge to the confluence of Hog Wallow Creek, Alpharetta and Roswell, Georgia
Jonathan W. Musser
2015, Scientific Investigations Map 3338
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 12.4-mile reach of Big Creek that extends from 260 feet above the McGinnis Ferry Road bridge to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgage at Big Creek below Hog Wallow Creek at Roswell, Georgia (02335757), were developed by the USGS in cooperation with the cities of...
Mercury and selenium accumulation in the Colorado River food web, Grand Canyon, USA
David M. Walters, E.J. Rosi-Marshall, Theodore A. Kennedy, W.F. Cross, C.V. Baxter
2015, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (34) 2385-2394
Mercury (Hg) and selenium (Se) biomagnify in aquatic food webs and are toxic to fish and wildlife. The authors measured Hg and Se in organic matter, invertebrates, and fishes in the Colorado River food web at sites spanning 387 river km downstream of Glen Canyon Dam (AZ, USA). Concentrations were relatively...
Evaluation of fisher (Pekania pennanti) restoration in Olympic National Park and the Olympic Recovery Area: 2014 annual progress report
Patricia J. Happe, Kurt J. Jenkins, Thomas J. Kay, Kristy L. Pilgrim, Michael K. Schwartz, Jeffrey C. Lewis, Keith B. Aubry
2015, Natural Resource Data Series 2015-804
With the translocation and release of 90 fishers (Pekania pennanti) from British Columbia to Olympic National Park during 2008–2010, the National Park Service and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife accomplished the first phase of fisher restoration in Washington State. Beginning in 2013, we initiated a new research project to...
First national-scale reconnaissance of neonicotinoid insecticides in streams across the USA
Michelle Hladik, Dana W. Kolpin
2015, Environmental Chemistry (13) 12-20
To better understand the fate and transport of neonicotinoid insecticides, water samples were collected from streams across the United States. In a nationwide study, at least one neonicotinoid was detected in 53 % of the samples collected, with imidacloprid detected most frequently (37 %), followed by clothianidin (24 %), thiamethoxam (21 %), dinotefuran (13 %),...
Isolated cases of remote dynamic triggering in Canada detected using cataloged earthquakes combined with a matched-filter approach
Wang Bei, Rebecca M. Harrington, Yajing Liu, Hongyu Yu, Alex Carey, Nicholas van der Elst
2015, Geophysical Research Letters (42) 5187-5196
Here we search for dynamically triggered earthquakes in Canada following global main shocks between 2004 and 2014 with MS > 6, depth < 100 km, and estimated peak ground velocity > 0.2 cm/s. We use the Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) earthquake catalog to calculate β statistical values in 1° × 1° bins in 10 day windows before and after the main shocks. The statistical...
Sharpening the boundaries - 3D terracing applied to physical property inversions
Jeffrey Phillips, Robert W. Simpson
2015, Conference Paper, SEG 2015 technical program expanded abstracts
Physical property inversions typically result in smooth property distributions, without the sharp boundaries expected of true geologic sources. Here we explore the use of 3D terracing as a way to force the inverted physical properties to have sharp boundaries. Terracing during inversion is preferable to post-inversion terracing because it results...
Dry years decrease abundance of American alligators in the Florida Everglades
J. Hardin Waddle, Laura A. Brandt, Brian M. Jeffery, Frank J. Mazzotti
2015, Wetlands (35) 865-875
The Everglades has been greatly reduced and is threatened by land use change and altered hydrology. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan calls for monitoring and assessment of key ecosystem attributes, one of which is abundance of American alligators. We examined 10 years of alligator night spotlight counts from Arthur R. Marshall...
Drivers and synergies in the management of inland fisheries: Searching for sustainable solutions
Abigail Lynch, Beard Jr.
2015, Conference Paper, Enhancing sustainability of inland fisheries through cross-sectoral collaboration
Freshwater is a shared resource. Water challenges (i.e., too much, too little, too dirty) are recognized to have global implications. Many sectors rely upon water and, in some cases, the limited availability of water leads to tough decisions. Though inland fish and fisheries play important roles in providing food security,...
A rapid estimation of near field tsunami run-up
Sebastian Riqueime, Mauricio Fuentes, Gavin P. Hayes, Jamie Campos
2015, Journal of Geophysical Research (120) 6487-6500
Many efforts have been made to quickly estimate the maximum run-up height of tsunamis associated with large earthquakes. This is a difficult task, because of the time it takes to construct a tsunami model using real time data from the source. It is possible to construct a database of potential...
A further note on the scientific name of Bullocks’ Oriole
R. Terry Chesser
2015, Zootaxa (3956) 444-444
Chesser (2013) intended to introduce a justified emendation to Icterus bullockii under Article 32.5.1 of the Code (ICZN 1999), because the name honors both William Bullock, Sr., and William Bullock, Jr. However, the correction bullockorum is "incorrect" and therefore is an unjustified emendation (Article 33.2.3). Under the assumption that the...
National Earthquake Information Center systems overview and integration
Michelle R. Guy, John M. Patton, Jeremy Fee, Mike Hearne, Eric Martinez, D. Ketchum, Charles Worden, Vince Quitoriano, Edward Hunter, Gregory Smoczyk, Stan Schwarz
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1120
Overview The primary mission of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) is comprehensive global earthquake monitoring (M4.5 or larger) and complete seismic monitoring of the United States for all significant earthquakes (M3.0 or larger or felt). In recent years, the NEIC has assumed a more prominent role...
Key seabird areas in southern New England identified using a community occupancy model
Allan F. O’Connell, Nicholas P. Flanders, Beth Gardner, Kristopher J. Winiarski, Peter W. C. Paton, Taber Allison
2015, Marine Ecology Progress Series (533) 277-290
Seabirds are of conservation concern, and as new potential risks to seabirds are arising, the need to provide unbiased estimates of species’ distributions is growing. We applied community occupancy models to detection/non-detection data collected from repeated aerial strip-transect surveys conducted in 2 large study plots off southern New England, USA;...
Source mechanism of small long-period events at Mount St. Helens in July 2005 using template matching, phase-weighted stacking, and full-waveform inversion
Robin S. Matoza, Bernard A. Chouet, Phillip B. Dawson, Peter M. Shearer, Matthew M. Haney, Gregory P. Waite, Seth C. Moran, T. Dylan Mikesell
2015, Journal of Geophysical Research (120) 6351-6364
Long-period (LP, 0.5-5 Hz) seismicity, observed at volcanoes worldwide, is a recognized signature of unrest and eruption. Cyclic LP “drumbeating” was the characteristic seismicity accompanying the sustained dome-building phase of the 2004–2008 eruption of Mount St. Helens (MSH), WA. However, together with the LP drumbeating was a near-continuous, randomly occurring series...
