A 30-year chronosequence of burned areas in Arizona: effects of wildfires on vegetation in Sonoran Desert Tortoise (Gopherus morafkai) habitats
Daniel F. Shryock, Todd C. Esque, Felicia C. Chen
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1060
Fire is widely regarded as a key evolutionary force in fire-prone ecosystems, with effects spanning multiple levels of organization, from species and functional group composition through landscape-scale vegetation structure, biomass, and diversity (Pausas and others, 2004; Bond and Keeley 2005; Pausas and Verdu, 2008). Ecosystems subjected to novel fire regimes...
A pan-Arctic synthesis of CH4 and CO2 production from anoxic soil incubations
Claire C. Treat, Susan M. Natali, Jessica Ernakovich, Colleen M. Iverson, Massimo Lupasco, A. David McGuire, Richard J. Norby, Taniya Roy Chowdhury, Andreas Richter, Hana Santruckova, C. Schädel, Edward A.G. Schuur, Victoria L. Sloan, Merritt R. Turetsky, Mark P. Waldrop
2015, Global Change Biology (21) 2787-2803
Permafrost thaw can alter the soil environment through changes in soil moisture, frequently resulting in soil saturation, a shift to anaerobic decomposition, and changes in the plant community. These changes, along with thawing of previously frozen organic material, can alter the form and magnitude of greenhouse gas production from permafrost...
Simulating the effect of climate change on stream temperature in the Trout Lake Watershed, Wisconsin
William R. Selbig
2015, Science of the Total Environment (511-522) 11-18
The potential for increases in stream temperature across many spatial and temporal scales as a result of climate change can pose a difficult challenge for environmental managers, especially when addressing thermal requirements for sensitive aquatic species. This study evaluates simulated changes to the thermal regime of three northern Wisconsin streams...
Coastal Change Processes Project data report for oceanographic observations near Fire Island, New York, February through May 2014
Brandy N. Armstrong, John C. Warner, Jeffrey H. List, Marinna A. Martini, Ellyn T. Montgomery, Peter A. Traykovski, George Voulgaris
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1033
An oceanographic field study during February through May 2014 investigated processes that control the sediment-transport dynamics along the western part of Fire Island, New York. This report describes the project background, field program, instrumentation configuration, and locations of the sensors deployed. The data collected, including meteorological observations, are presented as...
Cryovolcanism in the outer solar system
Paul E. Geissler
2015, Book chapter, The encyclopedia of volcanoes
Cryovolcanism is defined as the extrusion of liquids and vapors of materials that would be frozen solid at the planetary surface temperatures of the icy bodies of the outer solar system. Active cryovolcanism is now known to occur on Saturn's moon Enceladus and on Neptune's moon Triton and is suspected...
Soil nutrient budgets following projected corn stover harvest for biofuel production in the conterminous United States
Zhengxi Tan, Shuguang Liu
2015, GCB Bioenergy (7) 175-183
Increasing demand for food and biofuel feedstocks may substantially affect soil nutrient budgets, especially in the United States where there is great potential for corn (Zea mays L) stover as a biofuel feedstock. This study was designed to evaluate impacts of projected stover harvest scenarios on budgets of soil nitrogen (N),...
Airborne electromagnetic and magnetic survey data of the Paradox and San Luis Valleys, Colorado
Lyndsay B. Ball, Benjamin R. Bloss, Paul A. Bedrosian, V. J. S. Grauch, Bruce D. Smith
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1024
In October 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) contracted airborne magnetic and electromagnetic surveys of the Paradox and San Luis Valleys in southern Colorado, United States. These airborne geophysical surveys provide high-resolution and spatially comprehensive datasets characterizing the resistivity structure of the shallow subsurface of each survey region, accompanied by...
Archive of sediment data from vibracores collected in 2010 offshore of the Mississippi barrier islands
Kyle W. Kelso, James G. Flocks
2015, Data Series 903
In 2010, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center collected sediment cores from coastal waters offshore of the Mississippi barrier islands. With funding support from the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM) Ecosystem Change and Hazard Susceptibility project, 65 subaqueous sediment cores were collected over...
Chemicals of emerging concern in water and bottom sediment in the Great Lakes Basin, 2012: collection methods, analytical methods, quality assurance, and study data
Kathy Lee, Susan K. Langer, Michael A. Menheer, Donald S. Hansen, William T. Foreman, Edward T. Furlong, Zachary G. Jorgenson, Steven J. Choy, Jeremy N. Moore, JoAnn Banda, Daniel J. Gefell
2015, Data Series 910
In synoptic surveys of surface-water quality across the United States, a large group of organic chemicals associated with agricultural, household, and industrial waste have been detected. These chemicals are referred to collectively as chemicals of emerging concern (CECs) and include prescription drugs and antibiotics, over-the-counter medications, reproductive hormones, personal-care products,...
Impacts of climate change on the formation and stability of late Quaternary sand sheets and falling dunes, Black Mesa region, southern Colorado Plateau, USA
Amy L. Ellwein, Shannon Mahan, Leslie D. McFadden
2015, Quaternary International (362) 87-107
Detailed geomorphic mapping and analysis of soil-stratigraphy and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of eolian sand dunes on Black Mesa, Arizona, reveal eolian sediment deposition occurred from 30 to 16 ka, followed by a period of widespread dune stabilization from 12 to 8 ka. Localized reactivation of the previously stabilized dune...
Luminescence dating of anthropogenic features of the San Luis Valley, Colorado: from stone huts to stone walls
Shannon Mahan, Rebecca A. Donlan, Barbara Maat Kardos
2015, Quaternary International (362) 50-62
The Snake Nest Wall site and the Crestone Stone Huts are in the northern San Luis Valley, Colorado, and provide a unique opportunity to date high-altitude archeological sites of unknown age and origin using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). We sampled sediment underlying foundation stones of these structures to establish a...
Integrating gene transcription-based biomarkers to understand desert tortoise and ecosystem health
Lizabeth Bowen, A. Keith Miles, K. Kristina Drake, Shannon C. Waters-Dynes, Todd C. Esque, Kenneth E. Nussear
2015, EcoHealth (12) 501-512
Tortoises are susceptible to a wide variety of environmental stressors, and the influence of human disturbances on health and survival of tortoises is difficult to detect. As an addition to current diagnostic methods for desert tortoises, we have developed the first leukocyte gene transcription biomarker panel for the desert tortoise...
Ecological drivers of variation in tool-use frequency across sea otter populations
Jessica Fujii, Katherine Ralls, M. Tim Tinker
2015, Behavioral Ecology (26) 519-526
Sea otters are well-known tool users, employing objects such as rocks or shells to break open hard-shelled invertebrate prey. However, little is known about how the frequency of tool use varies among sea otter populations and the factors that drive these differences. We examined 17 years of observational data on...
Embryonic and larval development and early behavior in grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idella: implications for recruitment in rivers
Amy E. George, Duane Chapman
2015, PLoS ONE (10) 1-14
With recent findings of grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella in tributaries of the Great Lakes, information on developmental rate and larval behavior is critical to efforts to assess the potential for establishment within the tributaries of that region. In laboratory experiments, grass carp were spawned and eggs and larvae reared at...
Mark-recapture and mark-resight methods for estimating abundance with remote cameras: a carnivore case study
Robert S. Alanso, Brett T. McClintock, Lisa M. Lyren, Erin E. Boydston, Kevin R. Crooks
2015, PLoS ONE (10)
Abundance estimation of carnivore populations is difficult and has prompted the use of non-invasive detection methods, such as remotely-triggered cameras, to collect data. To analyze photo data, studies focusing on carnivores with unique pelage patterns have utilized a mark-recapture framework and studies of carnivores without unique pelage patterns have used...
Hydrologic remediation for the Deepwater Horizon incident drove ancillary primary production increase in coastal swamps
Beth A. Middleton, Darren Johnson, Brian J Roberts
2015, Ecohydrology (8) 838-850
As coastal wetlands subside worldwide, there is an urgency to understand the hydrologic drivers and dynamics of plant production and peat accretion. One incidental test of the effects of high rates of discharge on forested wetland production occurred in response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident, in which all diversions...
Pairing call-response surveys and distance sampling for a mammalian carnivore
Sara J. K. Hansen, Jacqueline L. Frair, Harold B. Underwood, James P. Gibbs
2015, Journal of Wildlife Management (79) 662-671
Density estimates accounting for differential animal detectability are difficult to acquire for wide-ranging and elusive species such as mammalian carnivores. Pairing distance sampling with call-response surveys may provide an efficient means of tracking changes in populations of coyotes (Canis latrans), a species of particular interest in the eastern United States....
Hawaiian volcanoes: From source to surface
Rebecca Carey, Valerie Cayol, Michael P. Poland, Dominique Weis, editor(s)
2015, American Geophysical Union Monograph 208
Hawaiian Volcanoes, From Source to Surface is the outcome of an AGU Chapman Conference held on the Island of Hawaii in August 2012. As such, this monograph contains a diversity of research results that highlight the current understanding of how Hawaiian volcanoes work and point out fundamental questions requiring additional...
Citizen science contributes to our knowledge of invasive plant species distributions
Alycia W. Crall, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Nicholas E. Young, Brendon Panke, Mark Renz, Thomas Stohlgren
2015, Biological Invasions (17) 2415-2427
Citizen science is commonly cited as an effective approach to expand the scale of invasive species data collection and monitoring. However, researchers often hesitate to use these data due to concerns over data quality. In light of recent research on the quality of data collected by volunteers, we aimed to...
Using natural archives to track sources and long-term trends of pollution: some final thoughts and suggestions for future directions
Jules M. Blais, Michael R. Rosen, John P. Smol
2015, Book chapter, Environmental contaminants
Newly produced, as well as some so-called legacy contaminants, continue to be released into the environment at an accelerated rate. Given the general lack of integrated, direct monitoring programs, the use of natural archival records of contaminants will almost certainly continue to increase. We conclude this volume with a short...
Using natural archives to track sources and long-term trends of pollution: an introduction
Jules Blais, Michael R. Rosen, John Smol
2015, Book chapter, Environmental Contaminants
This book explores the myriad ways that environmental archives can be used to study the distribution and long-term trajectories of contaminants. The volume first focuses on reviews that examine the integrity of the historic record, including factors related to hydrology, post-depositional diffusion, and mixing processes. This is followed by a...
The influence of hydrology on lacustrine sediment contaminant records
Michael R. Rosen
2015, Book chapter, Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research
The way water flows to a lake, through streams, as runoff, or as groundwater, can control the distribution and mass of sediment and contaminants deposited. Whether a lake is large or small, deep or shallow, open or closed, the movement of water to a lake and the circulation patterns of...
Distribution of invasive and native riparian woody plants across the western USA in relation to climate, river flow, floodplain geometry and patterns of introduction
Ryan McShane, Daniel Auerbach, Jonathan M. Friedman, Gregor T. Auble, Patrick B. Shafroth, Michael Merigliano, Michael L. Scott, N. Leroy Poff
2015, Ecography (38) 1254-1265
Management of riparian plant invasions across the landscape requires understanding the combined influence of climate, hydrology, geologic constraints and patterns of introduction. We measured abundance of nine riparian woody taxa at 456 stream gages across the western USA. We constructed conditional inference recursive binary partitioning models to discriminate the influence...
Proceedings of the 9th U.S.-Japan natural resources panel for earthquake research
Shane T. Detweiler, William L. Ellsworth, editor(s)
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1250
Introduction The UJNR Panel on Earthquake Research promotes advanced study toward a more fundamental understanding of the earthquake process and hazard estimation. The Ninth Joint meeting was extremely beneficial in furthering cooperation and deepening understanding of problems common to both the U.S. and Japan. The meeting included productive exchanges of information...
Variation in the myosoricine hand skeleton and its implications for locomotory behavior (Eulipotyphla: Soricidae)
Neal Woodman, Frank A. Stabile
2015, Journal of Mammalogy (96) 159-171
Substrate use and locomotory behavior of mammals are typically reflected in external characteristics of the forefeet, such as the relative proportions of the digits and claws. Although skeletal anatomy of the forefeet can be more informative than external characters, skeletons remain rare in systematic collections. This is particularly true for...
