Hydraulic laboratory testing of Sontek-IQ Plus
Janice M. Fulford, Scott Kimball
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1139
The SonTek-IQ Plus (IQ Plus) is a bottom-mounted Doppler instrument used for the measurement of water depth and velocity. Evaluation testing of the IQ Plus was performed to assess the accuracy of water depth, discharge, and velocity measurements. The IQ Plus met the manufacturer’s specifications and the U.S. Geological Survey...
Groundwater quality in the Chemung River, Eastern Lake Ontario, and Lower Hudson River Basins, New York, 2013
Tia-Marie Scott, Elizabeth A. Nystrom, James E. Reddy
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1168
In a study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, water samples were collected from 4 production wells and 4 domestic wells in the Chemung River Basin, 8 production wells and 7 domestic wells in the Eastern Lake Ontario...
Multiple estimates of effective population size for monitoring a long-lived vertebrate: An application to Yellowstone grizzly bears
Pauline L. Kamath, Mark A. Haroldson, Gordon Luikart, David Paetkau, Craig L. Whitman, Frank T. van Manen
2015, Molecular Ecology (24) 5507-5521
Effective population size (Ne) is a key parameter for monitoring the genetic health of threatened populations because it reflects a population's evolutionary potential and risk of extinction due to genetic stochasticity. However, its application to wildlife monitoring has been limited because it is difficult to measure in natural populations. The...
Shaping species with ephemeral boundaries: The distribution and genetic structure of desert tortoise (Gopherus morafkai) in the Sonoran Desert region
Taylor Edwards, Mercy Vaughn, Philip C. Rosen, Ma. Cristina Melendez Torres, Alice E. Karl, Melanie Culver, Robert W. Murphy
2015, Journal of Biogeography (43) 484-497
Aim We examine the role biogeographical features played in the evolution of Morafka's desert tortoise (Gopherus morafkai) and test the hypothesis that G. morafkai maintains genetically distinct lineages associated with different Sonoran Desert biomes. Increased knowledge of the past and present distribution of the Sonoran Desert region's biota provides insight into the forces that...
Consolidation drainage and climate change may reduce Piping Plover habitat in the Great Plains
Lisa A. McCauley, Michael J. Anteau, Max Post van der Burg
2015, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (7)
Many waterbird species utilize a diversity of aquatic habitats; however, with increasing anthropogenic needs to manage water regimes there is global concern over impacts to waterbird populations. The federally threatened Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus; hereafter plovers) is a shorebird that breeds in three habitat types in the Prairie Pothole Region...
Accounting for time- and space-varying changes in the gravity field to improve the network adjustment of relative-gravity data
Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Ty P.A. Ferre
2015, Geophysical Journal International (2) 892-906
The relative gravimeter is the primary terrestrial instrument for measuring spatially and temporally varying gravitational fields. The background noise of the instrument—that is, non-linear drift and random tares—typically requires some form of least-squares network adjustment to integrate data collected during a campaign that may take several days to weeks. Here,...
Introductory text
Grecia R. Matos, Lisa D. Miller, James J. Barry
2015, Data Series 896
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides information on the current use and flow of minerals and mineral-based materials in the U.S. and world economies. This Data Series report on “Historical Global Statistics for Mineral and Material Commodities” contains information on the production of selected commodities from 1990 to the most...
Water Quality, Cyanobacteria, and Environmental Factors and Their Relations to Microcystin Concentrations for Use in Predictive Models at Ohio Lake Erie and Inland Lake Recreational Sites, 2013-14
Donna S. Francy, Jennifer L. Graham, Erin A. Stelzer, Christopher D. Ecker, Amie M.G. Brady, Pam Struffolino, Keith A. Loftin
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5120
Harmful cyanobacterial “algal” blooms (cyanoHABs) and associated toxins, such as microcystin, are a major water-quality issue for Lake Erie and inland lakes in Ohio. Predicting when and where a bloom may occur is important to protect the public that uses and consumes a water resource; however, predictions are complicated and...
smwrData—An R package of example hydrologic data, version 1.1.1
David L. Lorenz
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1103
A collection of 24 datasets, including streamflow, well characteristics, groundwater elevations, and discrete water-quality concentrations, is provided to produce a consistent set of example data to demonstrate typical data manipulations or statistical analysis of hydrologic data. These example data are provided in an R package called smwrData. The data in...
From extreme pH to extreme temperature: An issue in honor of the geochemical contributions of Kirk Nordstrom, USGS hydrogeochemist
Kate M. Campbell, Philip L. Verplanck, R. Blaine McCleskey, Charles N. Alpers
2015, Applied Geochemistry (62) 1-2
This special issue of Applied Geochemistry honors Dr. D. Kirk Nordstrom, and his influential career spent primarily at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). This issue does not herald his retirement or other significant career milestone, but serves as a recognition of the impact his work has had on the field...
Seasonal microbial and environmental parameters at Crocker Reef, Florida Keys, 2014–2015
Christina A. Kellogg, Kimberly K. Yates, Stephanie N. Lawler, Christopher S. Moore, Nathan A. Smiley
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1203
Crocker Reef, located on the outer reef tract of the Florida Keys (fig. 1), was the site of an integrated “reefscape characterization” effort focused on calcification and related biogeochemical processes as part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coral Reef Ecosystem STudies (CREST) project. It is characterized as a senile...
Effects of hybridization between nonnative Rainbow Trout and native Westslope Cutthroat Trout on fitness-related traits
Daniel P. Drinan, Molly A. H. Webb, Kerry A. Naish, Steven T. Kalinowski, Matthew C. Boyer, Amber C. Steed, Bradley B. Shepard, Clint C. Muhlfeld
2015, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (144) 1275-1291
Hybridization between introduced and native fauna is a risk to native species and may threaten the long-term persistence of numerous taxa. Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss has been one of the most widely introduced species around the globe and often hybridizes with native Cutthroat Trout O. clarkii in the Rocky Mountains....
Hydrogeology and sources of water to select springs in Black Canyon, south of Hoover Dam, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada and Arizona
Michael J. Moran, Jon W. Wilson, L. Sue Beard
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5130
Springs in Black Canyon of the Colorado River, directly south of Hoover Dam in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada and Arizona, are important hydrologic features that support a unique riparian ecosystem including habitat for endangered species. Rapid population growth in areas near and surrounding Black Canyon has caused...
A method for estimating abundance of mobile populations using telemetry and counts of unmarked animals
Matthew Clement, Joy M O’Keefe, Brianne Walters
2015, Ecosphere (6)
While numerous methods exist for estimating abundance when detection is imperfect, these methods may not be appropriate due to logistical difficulties or unrealistic assumptions. In particular, if highly mobile taxa are frequently absent from survey locations, methods that estimate a probability of detection conditional on presence will generate biased abundance...
Validation of a spatial model used to locate fish spawning reef construction sites in the St. Clair–Detroit River system
Jason L. Fischer, David Bennion, Edward F. Roseman, Bruce A. Manny
2015, Journal of Great Lakes Research (41) 1178-1184
Lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) populations have suffered precipitous declines in the St. Clair–Detroit River system, following the removal of gravel spawning substrates and overfishing in the late 1800s to mid-1900s. To assist the remediation of lake sturgeon spawning habitat, three hydrodynamic models were integrated into a spatial model to identify...
A century of induced earthquakes in Oklahoma?
Susan E. Hough, Morgan T. Page
2015, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (105)
Seismicity rates have increased sharply since 2009 in the central and eastern United States, with especially high rates of activity in the state of Oklahoma. Growing evidence indicates that many of these events are induced, primarily by injection of wastewater in deep disposal wells. The upsurge in activity has raised...
Investing in citizen science can improve natural resource management and environmental protection
Duncan C. McKinley, Abraham J. Miller-Rushing, Heidi L. Ballard, Rick Bonney, Hutch Brown, Daniel M. Evans, Rebecca A. French, Julia K. Parrish, Tina B. Phillips, Sean F. Ryan, Lea A. Shanley, Jennifer L. Shirk, Kristine F. Stepenuck, Jake F. Weltzin, Andrea Wiggins, Owen D. Boyle, Russell D. Briggs, Stuart F. Chapin III, David A. Hewitt, Peter W. Preuss, Michael A. Soukup
2015, Issues in Ecology (19)
Citizen science has made substantive contributions to science for hundreds of years. More recently, it has contributed to many articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and has influenced natural resource management and environmental protection decisions and policies across the nation. Over the last 10 years, citizen science—participation by the public in...
Discovering loose group movement patterns from animal trajectories
Yuwei Wang, Ze Luo, Yan Xiong, Diann J. Prosser, Scott H. Newman, John Y. Takekawa, Baoping Yan
2015, Conference Paper, 2015 IEEE 11th International Conference on e-Science
The technical advances of positioning technologies enable us to track animal movements at finer spatial and temporal scales, and further help to discover a variety of complex interactive relationships. In this paper, considering the loose gathering characteristics of the real-life groups' members during the movements, we propose two kinds of...
Incorporating future change into current conservation planning: Evaluating tidal saline wetland migration along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coast under alternative sea-level rise and urbanization scenarios
Nicholas M. Enwright, Kereen T. Griffith, Michael J. Osland
2015, Data Series 969
In this study, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, quantified the potential for landward migration of tidal saline wetlands along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coast under alternative future sea-level rise and urbanization scenarios. Our analyses focused exclusively on tidal saline wetlands (that...
An overview of the National Earthquake Information Center acquisition software system, Edge/Continuous Waveform Buffer
John M. Patton, David C. Ketchum, Michelle R. Guy
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1174
This document provides an overview of the capabilities, design, and use cases of the data acquisition and archiving subsystem at the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center. The Edge and Continuous Waveform Buffer software supports the National Earthquake Information Center’s worldwide earthquake monitoring mission in direct station data acquisition,...
Introduction to the focus section on the 2015 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake
Susan E. Hough
2015, Seismological Research Letters (86) 1502-1505
It has long been recognized that Nepal faces high earthquake hazard, with the most recent large (Mw>7.5) events in 1833 and 1934. When the 25 April 2015Mw 7.8 Gorkha earthquake struck, it appeared initially to be a realization of worst fears. In spite of its large magnitude and proximity to the...
Exploration of the canyon-incised continental margin of the northeastern United States reveals dynamic habitats and diverse communities
Andrea Quattrini, Martha S. Nizinski, Jason Chaytor, Amanda W.J. Demopoulos, E. Brendan Roark, Scott France, Jon A. Moore, Taylor P. Heyl, Peter J. Auster, Carolyn D. Ruppel, Kelley P. Elliott, Brian R. C. Kennedy, Elizabeth A. Lobecker, Adam Skarke, Timothy M. Shank
2015, PLoS ONE (10)
The continental margin off the northeastern United States (NEUS) contains numerous, topographically complex features that increase habitat heterogeneity across the region. However, the majority of these rugged features have never been surveyed, particularly using direct observations. During summer 2013, 31 Remotely-Operated Vehicle (ROV) dives were conducted from 494 to 3271...
Spatially explicit spectral analysis of point clouds and geospatial data
Daniel D. Buscombe
2015, Computers & Geosciences (86) 92-108
The increasing use of spatially explicit analyses of high-resolution spatially distributed data (imagery and point clouds) for the purposes of characterising spatial heterogeneity in geophysical phenomena necessitates the development of custom analytical and computational tools. In recent years, such analyses have become the basis of, for example, automated texture characterisation...
Climate and streamflow characteristics for selected streamgages in eastern South Dakota, water years 1945–2013
Galen K. Hoogestraat, John F. Stamm
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5146
Upward trends in precipitation and streamflow have been observed in the northeastern Missouri River Basin during the past century, including the area of eastern South Dakota. Some of the identified upward trends were anomalously large relative to surrounding parts of the northern Great Plains. Forcing factors for streamflow trends in...
Extraction of hydrocarbons from high-maturity Marcellus Shale using supercritical carbon dioxide
Palma J. Botterell, Philip A. Candela, Wenlu Zhu, Alan J. Kaufman
2015, Energy & Fuels (29) 7897-7909
Shale is now commonly exploited as a hydrocarbon resource. Due to the high degree of geochemical and petrophysical heterogeneity both between shale reservoirs and within a single reservoir, there is a growing need to find more efficient methods of extracting petroleum compounds (crude oil, natural gas, bitumen) from potential source...
