Summary of oceanographic measurements for characterizing light attenuation and sediment resuspension in the Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor Estuary, New Jersey, 2013
Patrick J. Dickhudt, Neil K. Ganju, Ellyn T. Montgomery
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1146
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, measured suspended-sediment concentrations, currents, waves, light attenuation, and a variety of other water-quality parameters in the summer of 2013 in Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey. These measurements quantified light attenuation and sediment resuspension in three...
Age-related mortality explains life history strategies of tropical and temperate songbirds
Thomas E. Martin
2015, Science (349) 966-970
Modelling regional land change scenarios to assess land abandonment and reforestation dynamics in the Pyrenees (France)
Laure Vacquie, Thomas Houet, Terry L. Sohl, Ryan R. Reker, Kristi L. Sayler
2015, Journal of Mountain Science (12) 905-920
Over the last decades and centuries, European mountain landscapes have experienced substantial transformations. Natural and anthropogenic LULC changes (land use and land cover changes), especially agro-pastoral activities, have directly influenced the spatial organization and composition of European mountain landscapes. For the past sixty years, natural reforestation has been occurring due...
Automated extraction of natural drainage density patterns for the conterminous United States through high performance computing
Larry V. Stanislawski, Jeff T. Falgout, Barbara P. Buttenfield
2015, Conference Paper
Hydrographic networks form an important data foundation for cartographic base mapping and for hydrologic analysis. Drainage density patterns for these networks can be derived to characterize local landscape, bedrock and climate conditions, and further inform hydrologic and geomorphological analysis by indicating areas where too few headwater channels have been extracted....
Assessing dorsal scute microchemistry for reconstruction of shortnose sturgeon life histories
Matthew E. Altenritter, Michael T. Kinnison, Gayle B. Zydlewski, David H. Secor, Joseph D. Zydlewski
2015, Environmental Biology of Fishes (98) 2321-2335
The imperiled status of sturgeons worldwide places priority on the identification and protection of critical habitats. We assessed the micro-structural and micro-chemical scope for a novel calcified structure, dorsal scutes, to be used for reconstruction of past habitat use and group separation in shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum). Dorsal...
Vulnerability of larval lamprey to Columbia River hydropower system operations—effects of dewatering on larval lamprey movements and survival
Theresa L. Liedtke, Lisa K. Weiland, Matthew G. Mesa
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1157
Numbers of adult and juvenile Pacific lamprey ( Entosphenus tridentatus ) in the upper Columbia River Basin of the interior Pacific Northwest have decreased from historical levels (Close and others, 2002), raising concerns f rom State and Federal agencies and Tribal entities. In 1994, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...
Crustal-scale tilting of the central Salton block, southern California
Rebecca Dorsey, Victoria E. Langenheim
2015, Geosphere (11) 1365-1383
The southern San Andreas fault system (California, USA) provides an excellent natural laboratory for studying the controls on vertical crustal motions related to strike-slip deformation. Here we present geologic, geomorphic, and gravity data that provide evidence for active northeastward tilting of the Santa Rosa Mountains and southern Coachella Valley about...
Managing more than the mean: Using quantile regression to identify factors related to large elk groups
Angela K. Brennan, Paul C. Cross, Scott Creely
2015, Journal of Applied Ecology (52) 1656-1664
Summary Animal group size distributions are often right-skewed, whereby most groups are small, but most individuals occur in larger groups that may also disproportionately affect ecology and policy. In this case, examining covariates associated with upper quantiles of the group size distribution could facilitate better understanding and management of...
Value of information and natural resources decision-making
Byron K. Williams, Fred A. Johnson
2015, Wildlife Society Bulletin (39) 488-496
Though the potential for information to measurably improve management has been highlighted for several decades, in recent years the “value of information” has surfaced with increasing frequency in natural resources. However, the use of this phrase belies the fact that many in natural resources have only a limited understanding about...
Geochemical and mineralogical characteristics of REE in granite-derived regolith: a model for the Southeast United States
Nora K. Foley, Carleton R. Bern, Robert A. Ayuso, Bernard E. Hubbard, Anjana K. Shah
2015, Conference Paper, Proceeding of the 13th Biennial SGA Meeting
Rare earth element (REE) ion-adsorption clay deposits are of global economic importance because they currently supply a significant portion of the world’s annual production of both light (LREE) and heavy REE (HREE). There is considerable ambiguity regarding the origin of this deposit type: The main criteria include the presence...
Changes in data sharing and data reuse practices and perceptions among scientists worldwide
Carol Tenopir, Elizabeth D. Dalton, Suzie Allard, Mike Frame, Ivanka Pjesivac, Ben Birch, Danielle Pollock, Kristina Dorsett
2015, PLoS ONE (10)
The incorporation of data sharing into the research lifecycle is an important part of modern scholarly debate. In this study, the DataONE Usability and Assessment working group addresses two primary goals: To examine the current state of data sharing and reuse perceptions and practices among research scientists as they compare...
Science from genes to landscapes
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3057
Wherever flowering plants flourish, pollinating bees, birds, butterflies, bats, and other animals are at work, providing vital and often unnoticed services. Many of these species are in serious decline, a situation if unabated, threatens agricultural production, maintenance of natural plant communities, and other important services. Responding to this urgent challenge,...
Relations between well-field pumping and induced canal leakage in east-central Miami-Dade County, Florida, 2010-2011
Katherine Nemec, Dominick J. Antolino, Michael Turtora, Adam Foster
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5095
An extensive canal and water management system exists in south Florida to prevent flooding, replenish groundwater, and impede saltwater intrusion. The unconfined Biscayne aquifer, which underlies southeast Florida and provides water for millions of residents, interacts with the canal system. The Biscayne aquifer is composed of a highly transmissive karst...
Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources─South Florida Basin: Chapter L in Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources
Tina L. Roberts-Ashby, Sean T. Brennan, Matthew D. Merrill, Madalyn S. Blondes, P.A. Freeman, Steven M. Cahan, Christina A. DeVera, Celeste D. Lohr
Peter D. Warwick, M.D. Corum, editor(s)
2015, Open-File Report 2012-1024-L
This report presents five storage assessment units (SAUs) that have been identified as potentially suitable for geologic carbon dioxide sequestration within a 35,075-square-mile area that includes the entire onshore and State-water portions of the South Florida Basin. Platform-wide, thick successions of laterally extensive carbonates and evaporites deposited in highly cyclic...
Variable nutrient stoichiometry (carbon:nitrogen:phosphorus) across trophic levels determines community and ecosystem properties in an oligotrophic mangrove system
U. M. Scharler, Robert E. Ulanowicz, M. L. Fogel, M. J. Wooller, M. E. Jacobson-Meyers, C. E. Lovelock, I. C. Feller, M. Frischer, R. Lee, Karen L. McKee, I. C. Romero, J. P. Schmit, C. Shearer
2015, Oecologia (179) 863-876
Our study investigated the carbon:nitrogen:phosphorus (C:N:P) stoichiometry of mangrove island of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (Twin Cays, Belize). The C:N:P of abiotic and biotic components of this oligotrophic ecosystem was measured and served to build networks of nutrient flows for three distinct mangrove forest zones (tall seaward fringing forest, inland...
Observatory geoelectric fields induced in a two-layer lithosphere during magnetic storms
Jeffrey J. Love, Andrei Swidinsky
2015, Earth, Planets and Space (67)
We report on the development and validation of an algorithm for estimating geoelectric fields induced in the lithosphere beneath an observatory during a magnetic storm. To accommodate induction in three-dimensional lithospheric electrical conductivity, we analyze a simple nine-parameter model: two horizontal layers, each with uniform electrical conductivity properties given by...
Plugs or flood-makers? the unstable landslide dams of eastern Oregon
Elizabeth B. Safran, Jim E. O'Connor, Lisa L. Ely, Kyle House, Gordon E. Grant, Kelsey Harrity, Kelsey Croall, Emily Jones
2015, Geomorphology (248) 237-251
Landslides into valley bottoms can affect longitudinal profiles of rivers, thereby influencing landscape evolution through base-level changes. Large landslides can hinder river incision by temporarily damming rivers, but catastrophic failure of landslide dams may generate large floods that could promote incision. Dam stability therefore strongly modulates the effects of landslide...
Flood-inundation maps for the Scioto River at La Rue, Ohio
Matthew Whitehead
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5100
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 3-mile (mi) reach of the Scioto River that extends about 1/2 mi upstream and 1/2 mi downstream of the corporate boundary for La Rue, Ohio, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Village of La Rue, Marion County Commissioners, Montgomery...
Persistence at distributional edges: Columbia spotted frog habitat in the arid Great Basin, USA
Robert S. Arkle, David S. Pilliod
2015, Ecology and Evolution (5) 3704-3724
A common challenge in the conservation of broadly distributed, yet imperiled species is understanding which factors facilitate persistence at distributional edges, locations where populations are often vulnerable to extirpation due to changes in climate, land use, or distributions of other species. For Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) in the Great...
Flood-inundation maps for Grand River, Red Cedar River, and Sycamore Creek near Lansing, Michigan
Matthew Whitehead, Chad J. Ostheimer
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5101
Digital flood-inundation maps for a total of 19.7 miles of the Grand River, the Red Cedar River, and Sycamore Creek were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the City of Lansing, Michigan, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed...
On- and off-fault deformation associated with the September 2013 Mw7.7 Balochistan earthquake: Implications for geologic slip rate measurements
Ryan D. Gold, Nadine G. Reitman, Richard W. Briggs, William D. Barnhart, Gavin P. Hayes, Earl M. Wilson
2015, Tectonophysics (660) 65-78
The 24 September 2013 Mw7.7 Balochistan, Pakistan earthquake ruptured a ~ 200 km-long stretch of the Hoshab fault in southern Pakistan and produced the second-largest lateral surface displacement observed for a continental strike-slip earthquake. We remotely measured surface deformation associated with this event using high-resolution (0.5 m) pre- and post-event satellite optical imagery....
Evidence of counter-gradient growth in western pond turtles (Actinemys marmorata) across thermal gradients
Melissa Snover, M. J. Adams, Donald T. Ashton, Jamie B. Bettaso, Hartwell H. Welsh Jr.
2015, Freshwater Biology (60) 1944-1963
Counter-gradient growth, where growth per unit temperature increases as temperature decreases, can reduce the variation in ectothermic growth rates across environmental gradients. Understanding how ectothermic species respond to changing temperatures is essential to their conservation and management due to human-altered habitats and changing climates. Here, we use two contrasting...
Calculating salt loads to Great Salt Lake and the associated uncertainties for water year 2013; updating a 48 year old standard
Christopher L. Shope, Cory E. Angeroth
2015, Science of the Total Environment (536) 391-405
Effective management of surface waters requires a robust understanding of spatiotemporal constituent loadings from upstream sources and the uncertainty associated with these estimates. We compared the total dissolved solids loading into the Great Salt Lake (GSL) for water year 2013 with estimates of previously sampled periods in the early 1960s.We...
Instream cover and shade mediate avian predation on trout in semi-natural streams
Brooke E. Penaluna, Jason B. Dunham, David L. G. Noakes
2015, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (25) 405-411
Piscivory by birds can be significant, particularly on fish in small streams and during seasonal low flow when available cover from predators can be limited. Yet, how varying amounts of cover may change the extent of predation mortality from avian predators on fish is not clear. We evaluated size-selective survival...
Genetic signatures of historical dispersal of fish threatened by biological invasions: the case of galaxiids in South America
Delphine Vanhaecke, Carlos Garcia de Leaniz, Gonzalo Gajardo, Jason Dunham, Guillermo Giannico, Sofia Consegura
2015, Journal of Biogeography (42) 1942-1952
Aim The ecological effects of biological invasions are well documented, but little is known about the effects of invaders on the genetic structure of native species. We examined the phylogeography, genetic variation and population structuring of two galaxiid fishes, Aplochiton zebraand A. taeniatus, threatened by non-native salmonids, and whose conservation is...
