The transboundary nature of seabird ecology
Patrick G.R. Jodice, Robert M. Suryan
2015, Book chapter, Landscape-scale conservation planning
The term ‘seabird’ is generally applied to avian species that forage in the marine environment over open water. Seabirds typically nest in colonies and are long-lived species with low annual reproductive rates. Seabird breeding sites typically occur on islands or along coasts and as such are often at the boundaries...
Markov decision processes in natural resources management: observability and uncertainty
Byron K. Williams
2015, Ecological Modelling (220) 830-840
The breadth and complexity of stochastic decision processes in natural resources presents a challenge to analysts who need to understand and use these approaches. The objective of this paper is to describe a class of decision processes that are germane to natural resources conservation and management, namely Markov decision processes,...
Brood rearing ecology of King Eiders breeding on the North Slope of Alaska
Laura M. Phillips, Abby N. Powell
2015, Wilson Journal of Ornithology (121) 430-434
Association of anatase (TiO2) and microbes: unusual fossilization effect or a potential biosignature?
Mihaela Glamoclija, Andrew Steele, Marc Fries, Juergen Schieber, Mary A. Voytek, Charles S. Cockell
2015, Geological Society of America Bulletin (458) 965-975
We combined microbial paleontology and molecular biology methods to study the Eyreville B drill core from the 35.3-Ma-old Chesapeake Bay impact structure,Virginia, USA. The investigated sample is a pyrite vein collected from the 1353.81-1353.89 m depth interval, located within a section of biotite granite. The granite is a pre-impact rock...
The role of floodplain restoration in mitigating flood risk, Lower Missouri River, USA
Robert B. Jacobson, Garth A. Lindner, Chance Bitner
Paul F. Hudson, Hans Middelkoop, editor(s)
2015, Book chapter, Geomorphic approaches to integrated floodplain management of lowland fluvial systems in North America and Europe
Recent extreme floods on the Lower Missouri River have reinvigorated public policy debate about the potential role of floodplain restoration in decreasing costs of floods and possibly increasing other ecosystem service benefits. The first step to addressing the benefits of floodplain restoration is to understand the interactions of flow, floodplain...
Hindcast of water availability in regional aquifer systems using MODFLOW Farm Process
Wolfgang Schmid, Randall T. Hanson, Claudia C. Faunt, Steven P. Phillips
2015, Conference Paper, Predictions for hydrology, ecology, and water resources management: Using data and models to benefit society
Coupled groundwater and surface-water components of the hydrologic cycle can be simulated by the Farm Process for MODFLOW (MF-FMP) in both irrigated and non-irrigated areas and aquifer-storage and recovery systems. MF-FMP is being applied to three productive agricultural regions of different scale in the State of California, USA, to assess...
Forecasting the combined effects of urbanization and climate change on stream ecosystems: from impacts to management options
Karen C. Nelson, Margaret A. Palmer, James E. Pizzuto, Glenn E. Moglen, Paul L. Angermeier, Robert H. Hilderbrand, Mike Dettinger, Katharine Hayhoe
2015, Journal of Applied Ecology (46) 154-163
Streams collect runoff, heat, and sediment from their watersheds, making them highly vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances such as urbanization and climate change. Forecasting the effects of these disturbances using process-based models is critical to identifying the form and magnitude of likely impacts. Here, we integrate a new biotic model with...
Dealing with largemouth bass virus: benefits of multisector collaboration
David R. Terre, Harold Schramm Jr., John M. Grizzle, Loraine T. Fries
2015, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the annual conference southeastern association of fish and wildlife agencies
Largemouth bass virus (LMBV), a recently identified pathogen, affected largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) in the southeastern United States beginning in the 1990s. Concern about the impacts of this little-known pathogen on largemouth bass populations, effects on fisheries management, and the need to provide anglers and the media with consistent and...
National Field Manual for the Collection of Water-Quality Data. U.S. Geological Survey Techniques of Water-Resources Investigations, Book 9
2015, Techniques of Water-Resources Investigations 09
The mission of the Water Resources Discipline of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is to provide the information and understanding needed for wise management of the Nation's water resources. Inherent in this mission is the responsibility to collect data that accurately describe the physical, chemical, and biological attributes of water...
General classification handbook for floodplain vegetation in large river systems
Jennifer J. Dieck, Janis Ruhser, Erin E. Hoy, Larry R. Robinson
2015, Techniques and Methods 2-A1
This handbook describes the General Wetland Vegetation Classification System developed as part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program, Long Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) element. The UMRR is a cooperative effort between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and...
Basin-scale phenology and effects of climate variability on global timing of initial seaward migration of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)
Jaime Otero, Jan Henning L’Abee-Lund, Theodore Castro-Santos, Kjell Leonardsson, Geir O. Storvik, Bror Jonsson, J. Brian Dempson, Ian C. Russell, Arne J. Jensen, Jean-Luc Bagliniere, Mélanie Dionne, John D. Armstrong, Atso Romakkaniemi, Benjamin H. Letcher, John F. Kocik, Jaakko Erkinaro, Russell Poole, Ger Rogan, Hans Lundqvist, Julian C. MacLean, Erkki Jokikokko, Jo Vegar Arnekleiv, Richard J. Kennedy, Eero Niemela, Pablo Caballero, Paul A. Music, Thorolfur Antonsson, Sigurdur Gudjonsson, Alexey E. Veselov, Anders Lamberg, Steve Groom, Benjamin H. Taylor, Malcolm Taberner, Mary Dillane, Fridthjofur Arnason, Gregg E. Horton, Nils A. Hvidsten, Ingi R. Jonsson, Nina Jonsson, Simon McKelvey, T. F. Naesje, Oystein Skaala, Gordon W. Smith, Harald Saegrov, N. C. Stenseth, Leif Asbjørn Vøllestad
2014, Global Change Biology (20) 61-75
Migrations between different habitats are key events in the lives of many organisms. Such movements involve annually recurring travel over long distances usually triggered by seasonal changes in the environment. Often, the migration is associated with travel to or from reproduction areas to regions of growth. Young anadromous Atlantic salmon...
Challenges and opportunities in protecting the Obed Wild and Scenic River
J. C. Hughes, J. R. Duncan, B. C. Harrold, Rodney R. Knight, William J. Wolfe
2014, Dynamiques Environnementales (31) 64-79
No abstract available....
Uncertainty and risk evaluation during the exploration stage of geothermal development
Jeffrey B. Witter, Whitney J. Trainor-Guitton, Drew L. Siler
2014, Conference Paper, Proceedings, Forty-Fourth Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering
Quantifying and representing uncertainty for geothermal systems is often ignored, in practice, during the exploration phase of a geothermal development project. We propose that this occurs potentially because the task seems so formidable. The primary goal of this paper is to initiate a dialogue within the geothermal community about: which...
The 17 May 2012 M4.8 earthquake near Timpson, East Texas: An event possibly triggered by fluid injection
Cliff Frohlich, William L. Ellsworth, Wesley Brown, Michael Brunt, James Luetgert, Tim G. MacDonald, Steven Walters
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (119) 581-593
This study summarizes our investigation of the 17 May 2012 MW-RMT4.8 earthquake near Timpson, Texas, the largest earthquake recorded historically in eastern Texas. To identify preshocks and aftershocks of the 17 May event we examined the arrivals recorded at Nacogdoches (NATX) 30 km from the 17 May epicenter, at nearby...
Geology and geophysics applied to groundwater hydrology at Fort Irwin, California
David C. Buesch, editor(s)
2014, Open-File Report 2013-1024
Geologic and geophysical investigations in the vicinity of Fort Irwin National Training Center, California, have been completed in support of groundwater investigations, and are presented in eight chapters of this report. A generalized surficial geologic map along with field and borehole investigations conducted during 2010–11 provide a lithostratigraphic and structural...
Time-domain electromagnetic surveys at Fort Irwin, San Bernardino County, California, 2010–12
Matthew K. Burgess, Paul A. Bedrosian
David C. Buesch, editor(s)
2014, Open-File Report 2013-1024-F
Between 2010 and 2012, a total of 79 time-domain electromagnetic (TEM) soundings were collected in 12 groundwater basins in the U.S. Army Fort Irwin National Training Center (NTC) study area to help improve the understanding of the hydrogeology of the NTC. The TEM data are discussed in this chapter in...
Optimal water depth management on river-fed National Wildlife Refuges in a changing climate
Samuel Nicol, Brad Griffith, Jane E. Austin, Christine M. Hunter
2014, Climatic Change (124) 271-284
The prairie pothole region (PPR) in the north-central United States and south-central Canada constitutes the most important waterfowl breeding area in North America. Projected long-term changes in precipitation and temperature may alter the drivers of waterfowl abundance: wetland availability and emergent vegetation cover. Previous studies have focused on isolated wetland...
Modeling ash fall distribution from a Yellowstone supereruption
Larry G. Mastin, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Jacob B. Lowenstern
2014, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (15) 3459-3475
We used the volcanic ash transport and dispersion model Ash3d to estimate the distribution of ashfall that would result from a modern-day Plinian supereruption at Yellowstone volcano. The simulations required modifying Ash3d to consider growth of a continent-scale umbrella cloud and its interaction with ambient wind fields. We simulated eruptions...
Laboratory constraints on models of earthquake recurrence
Nicholas M. Beeler, Terry Tullis, Jenni Junger, Brian D. Kilgore, David L. Goldsby
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research (119) 8770-8791
In this study, rock friction ‘stick-slip’ experiments are used to develop constraints on models of earthquake recurrence. Constant-rate loading of bare rock surfaces in high quality experiments produces stick-slip recurrence that is periodic at least to second order. When the loading rate is varied, recurrence is approximately inversely proportional to...
Empirical models for predicting volumes of sediment deposited by debris flows and sediment-laden floods in the transverse ranges of southern California
Joseph E. Gartner, Susan H. Cannon, Paul M Santi
2014, Engineering Geology (176) 45-56
Debris flows and sediment-laden floods in the Transverse Ranges of southern California pose severe hazards to nearby communities and infrastructure. Frequent wildfires denude hillslopes and increase the likelihood of these hazardous events. Debris-retention basins protect communities and infrastructure from the impacts of debris flows and sediment-laden floods and also provide...
U.S. Geological Survey external quality-assurance project report for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program / National Trends Network and Mercury Deposition Network, 2011-2012
Gregory A. Wetherbee, RoseAnn Martin
2014, Report
The U.S. Geological Survey operated six distinct programs to provide external quality-assurance monitoring for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) / National Trends Network (NTN) and Mercury Deposition Network (MDN) during 2011–2012. The field-audit program assessed the effects of onsite exposure, sample handling, and shipping on the chemistry of NTN...
USGS/EPA collection protocol for bacterial pathogens in soil
Dale W. Griffin, F.L. Shaefer, Charlena Bowling, Dino Mattorano, Tonya Nichols, Erin Silvestri
2014, Report
This Sample Collection Procedure (SCP) describes the activities and considerations for the collection of bacterial pathogens from representative surface soil samples (0-5 cm). This sampling depth can be reached without the use of a drill rig, direct-push technology, or other mechanized equipment. This procedure can be used in most soil...
Response to L. Land comment on Bricker, Rice, Bricker (2014) From Headwaters to Coast: Influence of human activities on water quality of the Potomac River Estuary. Aquatic Geochemistry 20: 291-324
Suzanne B. Bricker, Karen C. Rice, III Owen Bricker Owen, P.
2014, Aquatic Geochemistry (20) 459-463
Overabundance of nutrients is considered one of the top challenges to most populated coastal water bodies, including Chesapeake Bay (Executive Order 13508). As scientists, one of our responsibilities is to contribute to the discussion and evaluation of management actions that have the potential to decrease pollution with concomitant improvement of...
Comparison of mineral weathering and biomass nutrient uptake in two small forested watersheds underlain by quartzite bedrock, Catoctin Mountain, Maryland, USA
Karen C. Rice, Jason R. Price
2014, Aquatic Geochemistry (20) 225-242
To quantify chemical weathering and biological uptake, mass-balance calculations were performed on two small forested watersheds located in the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province in north-central Maryland, USA. Both watersheds, Bear Branch (BB) and Fishing Creek Tributary (FCT), are underlain by relatively unreactive quartzite bedrock. Such unreactive bedrock and associated low...
Groundwater conditions in Utah, spring of 2014
Carole B. Burden, Adam S. Birken, Steven J. Gerner, John P. Carricaburu, V. Noah Derrick, Paul Downhour, Lincoln Smith, Robert J. Eacret, Travis L. Gibson, Bradley A. Slaugh, Nickolas R. Whittier, James H. Howells, Howard K. Christiansen, Martel J. Fisher
2014, Cooperative Investigations Report 55
This is the fifty-first in a series of annual reports that describe groundwater conditions in Utah. Reports in this series, published cooperatively by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights, and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Water Quality, provide...
