Surprise and opportunity for learning in Grand Canyon: the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program
Theodore S. Melis, Carl Walters, Josh Korman
2015, Ecology and Society (20)
With a focus on resources of the Colorado River ecosystem below Glen Canyon Dam, the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program has included a variety of experimental policy tests, ranging from manipulation of water releases from the dam to removal of non-native fish within Grand Canyon National Park. None of...
Simulation of the effects of different inflows on hydrologic conditions in Lake Houston with a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model, Houston, Texas, 2009–10
Samuel H. Rendon, Michael T. Lee
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5153
Lake Houston, an important water resource for the Houston, Texas, area, receives inflows from seven major tributaries that compose the San Jacinto River Basin upstream from the reservoir. The effects of different inflows from the watersheds drained by these tributaries on the residence time of water in Lake Houston and...
Geologic Cross Section I–I′ Through the Appalachian Basin from the Eastern Margin of the Illinois Basin, Jefferson County, Kentucky, to the Valley and Ridge Province, Scott County, Virginia
Robert T. Ryder, Michael H. Trippi, Christopher S. Swezey
2015, Scientific Investigations Map 3343
Geologic cross section I‒I’ is the fourth in a series of cross sections constructed by the U.S. Geological Survey to document and improve understanding of the geologic framework and petroleum systems of the Appalachian basin. Cross section I‒I’ provides a regional view of the structural and stratigraphic framework of the...
What role do hurricanes play in sediment delivery to subsiding river deltas?
James E. Smith, Samuel J. Bentley, Gregg Snedden, Crawford White
2015, Scientific Reports (5)
The Mississippi River Delta (MRD) has undergone tremendous land loss over the past century due to natural and anthropogenic influences, a fate shared by many river deltas globally. A globally unprecedented effort to restore and sustain the remaining subaerial portions of the delta is now underway, an endeavor that is...
Taxonomic revision of Phascogale tapoatafa (Meyer, 1793) (Dasyuridae; Marsupialia), including descriptions of two new subspecies and confirmation of P. pirata Thomas, 1904 as a ‘Top End’ endemic
K. P. Aplin, S. G. Rhind, J. Ten Have, R. Terry Chesser
2015, Zootaxa (4055) 1-73
The Australian Brush-tailed Phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa sensu lato) has a broad but highly fragmented distribution around the periphery of the Australian continent and all populations are under significant ongoing threat to survival. A new appraisal of morphological and molecular diversity within the group reveals that the population in the ‘Top...
Reviews and syntheses: Effects of permafrost thaw on Arctic aquatic ecosystems
J.E. Vonk, S.E. Tank, W.B. Bowden, I. Laurion, W.F. Vincent, P. Alekseychik, Y. Amyot, M.F. Billet, J. Canario, R.M. Cory, B.N. Deshpande, M. Helbig, M. Jammet, J. Karlsson, J. Larouche, G. MacMillan, Milla Rautio, K.M. Walter Anthony, Kimberly P. Wickland
2015, Biogeosciences (12) 7129-7167
The Arctic is a water-rich region, with freshwater systems covering about 16 % of the northern permafrost landscape. Permafrost thaw creates new freshwater ecosystems, while at the same time modifying the existing lakes, streams, and rivers that are impacted by thaw. Here, we describe the current state of knowledge...
The climate hazards infrared precipitation with stations—a new environmental record for monitoring extremes
Chris Funk, Pete Peterson, Martin Landsfeld, Diego Pedreros, James Verdin, Shraddhanand Shukla, Gregory Husak, James Rowland, Laura Harrison, Andrew Hoell, Joel Michaelsen
2015, Scientific Data (2)
The Climate Hazards group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) dataset builds on previous approaches to ‘smart’ interpolation techniques and high resolution, long period of record precipitation estimates based on infrared Cold Cloud Duration (CCD) observations. The algorithm i) is built around a 0.05° climatology that incorporates satellite information to represent...
Occurrence and transport of selected constituents in streams near the Stibnite mining area, Central Idaho, 2012–14
Alexandra B. Etheridge
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5166
Mining of stibnite (antimony sulfide), tungsten, gold, silver, and mercury near the town of Stibnite in central Idaho has left a legacy of trace element contamination in local streams. Water-quality and streamflow monitoring data from a network of five streamflow-gaging stations were used to estimate trace-element and suspended-sediment loads and...
Stream geomorphic and habitat data from a baseline study of Underwood Creek, Wisconsin, 2012
Benjamin M. Young, Faith A. Fitzpatrick, James D. Blount
2015, Data Series 947
Geomorphic and habitat data were collected along Underwood Creek as part of a larger study of stream water quality conditions in the greater Milwaukee, Wisconsin, area. The data were collected to characterize baseline physical conditions in Underwood Creek prior to a potential discharge of wastewater return flow to the stream...
Characterization of hydrology and water quality of Piceance Creek in the Alkali Flat area, Rio Blanco County, Colorado, March 2012
Judith C. Thomas
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5147
Previous studies by the U.S. Geological Survey identified Alkali Flat as an area of groundwater upwelling, with increases in concentrations of total dissolved solids, and streamflow loss, but additional study was needed to better characterize these observations. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, White...
Hydrodynamic assessment data associated with the July 2010 line 6B spill into the Kalamazoo River, Michigan, 2012–14
Paul C. Reneau, David T. Soong, Christopher J. Hoard, Faith A. Fitzpatrick
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1205
Hydrodynamic-assessment data for the Kalamazoo River were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) during 2012–14 to augment other hydrodynamic data-collection efforts by Enbridge Energy L.P. and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency associated with the 2010 Enbridge Line 6B oil spill. Specifically, the USGS data-collection efforts were focused on additional...
Restoration handbook for sagebrush steppe ecosystems with emphasis on greater sage-grouse habitat—Part 2. Landscape level restoration decisions
David A. Pyke, Steven T. Knick, Jeanne C. Chambers, Mike Pellant, Richard F. Miller, Jeffrey L. Beck, Paul S. Doescher, Eugene W. Schupp, Bruce A. Roundy, Mark Brunson, James D. McIver
2015, Circular 1418
Sagebrush steppe ecosystems in the United States currently (2015) occur on only about one-half of their historical land area because of changes in land use, urban growth, and degradation of land, including invasions of non-native plants. The existence of many animal species depends on the existence of sagebrush steppe habitat....
Architecture and evolution of an Early Permian carbonate complex on a tectonically active island in east-central California
Calvin H. Stevens, Robert T. Magginetti, Paul Stone
2015, Stratigraphy (12) 167-182
The newly named Upland Valley Limestone represents a carbonate complex that developed on and adjacent to a tectonically active island in east-central California during a brief interval of Early Permian (late Artinskian) time. This lithologically unique, relatively thin limestone unit lies within a thick sequence of predominantly siliciclastic rocks and...
Regional implications of new chronostratigraphic and paleogeographic data from the Early Permian Darwin Basin, east-central California
Calvin H. Stevens, Paul Stone, Robert T. Magginetti
2015, Stratigraphy (12) 149-166
The Darwin Basin developed in response to episodic subsidence of the western margin of the Cordilleran continental shelf from Late Pennsylvanian (Gzhelian) to Early Permian (late Artinskian) time. Subsidence of the basin was initiated in response to continental truncation farther to the west and was later augmented by thrust emplacement...
Stratigraphy and paleogeographic significance of a Late Pennsylvanian to Early Permian channeled slope sequence in the Darwin Basin, southern Darwin Hills, east-central California
Calvin H. Stevens, Paul Stone, Robert T. Magginetti, Scott M. Ritter
2015, Stratigraphy (12) 185-196
The complex stratigraphy of late Paleozoic rocks in the southern Darwin Hills consists of regionally extensive Mississippian and Early to Middle Pennsylvanian rocks overlain by latest Pennsylvanian to Early Permian rocks, herein called the Darwin Hills sequence. Deposition of this latter sequence marked the beginning of the Darwin Basin. In...
Occupancy estimation for rare species using a spatially-adaptive sampling design
Krishna Pacifici, Brian J. Reich, Robert Dorazio, Michael J. Conroy
2015, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (7) 285-293
Summary 1. Spatially clustered populations create unique challenges for conservation monitoring programmes. Advances in methodology typically are focused on either the design or the modelling stage of the study but do not involve integration of both. 2. We integrate adaptive cluster sampling and spatial occupancy modelling by developing two models to handle...
A hybrid model for mapping relative differences in belowground biomass and root: Shoot ratios using spectral reflectance, foliar N and plant biophysical data within coastal marsh
Jessica L. O'Connell, Kristin B. Byrd, Maggi Kelly
2015, Remote Sensing (12) 16480-16503
Broad-scale estimates of belowground biomass are needed to understand wetland resiliency and C and N cycling, but these estimates are difficult to obtain because root:shoot ratios vary considerably both within and between species. We used remotely-sensed estimates of two aboveground plant characteristics, aboveground biomass and % foliar N to explore...
Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) Vegetation Volume Index: An assessment tool for marsh habitat focused on the three-dimensional structure at CRMS vegetation monitoring stations
William B. Wood, Jenneke M. Visser, Sarai C. Piazza, Leigh A. Sharp, Laura C. Hundy, Tommy E. McGinnis
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1206
A Vegetation Volume (VV) variable and Vegetation Volume Index (VVI) have been developed for the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS). The VV is a measure of the amount of three-dimensional vegetative structure present at each CRMS site and is based on vegetation data collected annually. The VV uses 10 stations...
Using a Bayesian network to predict barrier island geomorphologic characteristics
Benjamin T. Gutierrez, Nathaniel G. Plant, E. Robert Thieler, Aaron Turecek
2015, Journal of Geophysical Research (120) 2452-2475
Quantifying geomorphic variability of coastal environments is important for understanding and describing the vulnerability of coastal topography, infrastructure, and ecosystems to future storms and sea level rise. Here we use a Bayesian network (BN) to test the importance of multiple interactions between barrier island geomorphic variables. This approach models complex...
Underwater videography outperforms above-water videography and in-person surveys for monitoring the spawning of Devils Hole Pupfish
Ambre L. Chaudoin, Olin Feuerbacher, Scott A. Bonar, Paul J. Barrett
2015, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (35) 1252-1262
The monitoring of threatened and endangered fishes in remote environments continues to challenge fisheries biologists. The endangered Devils Hole Pupfish Cyprinodon diabolis, which is confined to a single warm spring in Death Valley National Park, California–Nevada, has recently experienced record declines, spurring renewed conservation and recovery efforts. In February–December 2010, we...
Paleoreconstruction of organic carbon inputs to an oxbow lake in the Mississippi River watershed: Effects of dam construction and land use change on regional inputs
Thomas S. Bianchi, Valier Galy, Brad E. Rosenheim, Michael Shields, Xingquan Cui, Peter C. Van Metre
2015, Geophysical Research Letters (42) 7983-7991
We use a dated sediment core from Lake Whittington (USA) in the lower Mississippi River to reconstruct linkages in the carbon cycling and fluvial sediment dynamics over the past 80 years. Organic carbon (OC) sources were characterized using bulk (δ13C, ramped pyrolysis-oxidation (PyrOx) 14C, δ15N, and TN:OC ratios) and compound-specific (lignin phenols...
Evaluation of a formula that categorizes female gray wolf breeding status by nipple size
Shannon M. Barber-Meyer, L. David Mech
2015, Northeastern Naturalist (22) 652-657
The proportion by age class of wild Canis lupus (Gray Wolf) females that reproduce in any given year remains unclear; thus, we evaluated the applicability to our long-term (1972–2013) data set of the Mech et al. (1993) formula that categorizes female Gray Wolf breeding status by nipple size and time of...
Coral 13C/12C records of vertical seafloor displacement during megathrust earthquakes west of Sumatra
Michael K. Gagan, Sindia M. Sosdian, Heather Scott-Gagan, Kerry Sieh, Wahyoe S. Hantoro, Danny H. Natawidjaja, Richard W. Briggs, Bambang W. Suwargadi, Hamdi Rifai
2015, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (432) 461-471
The recent surge of megathrust earthquakes and tsunami disasters has highlighted the need for a comprehensive understanding of earthquake cycles along convergent plate boundaries. Space geodesy has been used to document recent crustal deformation patterns with unprecedented precision, however the production of long paleogeodetic records of vertical seafloor motion is...
Developing a 30-m grassland productivity estimation map for central Nebraska using 250-m MODIS and 30-m Landsat-8 observations
Yingxin Gu, Bruce K. Wylie
2015, Remote Sensing of Environment (171) 291-298
Accurately estimating aboveground vegetation biomass productivity is essential for local ecosystem assessment and best land management practice. Satellite-derived growing season time-integrated Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GSN) has been used as a proxy for vegetation biomass productivity. A 250-m grassland biomass productivity map for the Greater Platte River Basin had been...
Classification of ephemeral, intermittent, and perennial stream reaches using a TOPMODEL-based approach
Tanja N. Williamson, Carmen T. Agouridis, Christopher D. Barton, Jonathan A. Villines, Jeremiah G. Lant
2015, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (51) 1739-1759
Whether a waterway is temporary or permanent influences regulatory protection guidelines, however, classification can be subjective due to a combination of factors, including time of year, antecedent moisture conditions, and previous experience of the field investigator. Our objective was to develop a standardized protocol using publicly available spatial information to classify...
