Lack of sex-biased dispersal promotes fine-scale genetic structure in alpine ungulates
Gretchen H. Roffler, Sandra L. Talbot, Gordon Luikart, George K. Sage, Kristy L. Pilgrim, Layne G. Adams, Michael K. Schwartz
2014, Conservation Genetics (15) 837-851
Identifying patterns of fine-scale genetic structure in natural populations can advance understanding of critical ecological processes such as dispersal and gene flow across heterogeneous landscapes. Alpine ungulates generally exhibit high levels of genetic structure due to female philopatry and patchy configuration of mountain habitats. We assessed the spatial scale of...
Occurrence of pesticides in groundwater and sediments and mineralogy of sediments and grain coatings underlying the Rutgers Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Upper Deerfield, New Jersey, 2007
Timothy J. Reilly, Kelly L. Smalling, Michael T. Meyer, Mark W. Sandstrom, Michelle Hladik, Adam R. Boehlke, Neil S. Fishman, William A. Battaglin, Kathryn Kuivila
2014, Data Series 811
Water and sediment samples were collected from June through October 2007 from seven plots at the Rutgers Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Upper Deerfield, New Jersey, and analyzed for a suite of pesticides (including fungicides) and other physical and chemical parameters (including sediment mineralogy) by the U.S. Geological Survey....
Modeling nitrate at domestic and public-supply well depths in the Central Valley, California
Bernard T. Nolan, JoAnn M. Gronberg, Claudia C. Faunt, Sandra M. Eberts, Ken Belitz
2014, Environmental Science & Technology (48) 5643-5651
Aquifer vulnerability models were developed to map groundwater nitrate concentration at domestic and public-supply well depths in the Central Valley, California. We compared three modeling methods for ability to predict nitrate concentration >4 mg/L: logistic regression (LR), random forest classification (RFC), and random forest regression (RFR). All three models indicated...
Metabolism of a nitrogen-enriched coastal marine lagoon during the summertime
Robert W. Howarth, Melanie Hayn, Roxanne M. Marino, Neil Ganju, Kenneth H. Foreman, Karen McGlathery, Anne E. Giblin, Peter Berg, Jeffrey D. Walker
2014, Biogeochemistry (118) 1-20
We measured metabolism rates in a shallow, nitrogen-enriched coastal marine ecosystem on Cape Cod (MA, USA) during seven summers using an open-water diel oxygen method. We compared two basins, one directly receiving most of the nitrogen (N) load (“Snug Harbor”) and another further removed from the N load and better...
Water level response in back-barrier bays unchanged following Hurricane Sandy
Alfredo L. Aretxabaleta, Bradford Butman, Neil K. Ganju
2014, Geophysical Research Letters (41) 3163-3171
On 28–30 October 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused severe flooding along portions of the northeast coast of the United States and cut new inlets across barrier islands in New Jersey and New York. About 30% of the 20 highest daily maximum water levels observed between 2007 and 2013 in Barnegat and...
Mechanisms of drift-feeding behavior in juvenile Chinook salmon and the role of inedible debris in a clear water Alaskan stream
Jason R. Neuswanger, Mark S. Wipfli, Amanda E. Rosenberger, Nicholas F. Hughes
2014, Environmental Biology of Fishes (97) 489-503
Drift-feeding fish are challenged to discriminate between prey and similar-sized particles of debris, which are ubiquitous even in clear-water streams. Spending time and energy pursuing debris mistaken as prey could affect fish growth and the fitness potential of different foraging strategies. Our goal was to determine the extent to which...
Sediment-hosted gold deposits of the world: Database and grade and tonnage models
Vladimir I. Berger, Dan L. Mosier, James D. Bliss, Barry C. Moring
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1074
All sediment-hosted gold deposits (as a single population) share one characteristic—they all have disseminated micron-sized invisible gold in sedimentary rocks. Sediment-hosted gold deposits are recognized in the Great Basin province of the western United States and in China along with a few recognized deposits in Indonesia, Iran, and Malaysia. Three...
Mercury concentrations in breast feathers of three upper trophic level marine predators from the western Aleutian Islands, Alaska
Robb S.A. Kaler, Leah A. Kenney, Alexander L. Bond, Collin A. Eagles-Smith
2014, Marine Pollution Bulletin (82) 189-193
Mercury (Hg) is a toxic element distributed globally through atmospheric transport. Agattu Island, located in the western Aleutian Islands, Alaska, has no history of point-sources of Hg contamination. We provide baseline levels of total mercury (THg) concentrations in breast feathers of three birds that breed on the island. Geometric mean...
A comment on "bats killed in large numbers at United States wind energy facilities"
Manuela M.P. Huso, Dan Dalthorp
2014, BioScience (64) 546-547
Widespread reports of bat fatalities caused by wind turbines have raised concerns about the impacts of wind power development. Reliable estimates of the total number killed and the potential effects on populations are needed, but it is crucial that they be based on sound data. In a recent BioScience article,...
Estimating habitat carrying capacity for migrating and wintering waterfowl: Considerations, pitfalls and improvements
Christopher Williams, Bruce D. Dugger, Michael G. Brasher, John M. Coluccy, Dane M. Cramer, John M. Eadie, Matthew J. Gray, Heath M. Hagy, Mark Livolsi, Scott R. McWilliams, Matthew Petrie, Gregory J. Soulliere, John M. Tirpak, Elisabeth B. Webb
2014, Wildfowl 407-435
Population-based habitat conservation planning for migrating and wintering waterfowl in North America is carried out by habitat Joint Venture (JV) initiatives and is based on the premise that food can limit demography (i.e. food limitation hypothesis). Consequently, planners use bioenergetic models to estimate food (energy) availability and population-level energy demands at appropriate spatial and...
Using nuclear magnetic resonance and transient electromagnetics to characterise water distribution beneath an ice covered volcanic crater: The case of Sherman Crater Mt. Baker Washington.
Trevor P. Irons, Kathryn Martin, Carol A. Finn, Benjamin R. Bloss, Robert Horton
2014, Near Surface Geophysics (12) 285-296
Surface and laboratory Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) measurements combined with transient electromagnetic (TEM) data are powerful tools for subsurface water detection. Surface NMR (sNMR) and TEM soundings, laboratory NMR, complex resistivity, and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis were all conducted to characterise the distribution of water within Sherman Crater on Mt....
Lipid and moisture content modeling of amphidromous Dolly Varden using bioelectrical impedance analysis
J.T. Stolarski, F.J. Margraf, J.G. Carlson, T.M. Sutton
2014, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (34) 471-481
The physiological well-being or condition of fish is most commonly estimated from aspects of individual morphology. However, these metrics may be only weakly correlated with nutritional reserves stored as lipid, the primary form of accumulated energy in fish. We constructed and evaluated bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) models as an alternative...
Characterization of potential transport pathways and implications for groundwater management near an anticline in the Central Basin area, Los Angeles County, California
Daniel J. Ponti, Brian J. Wagner, Michael Land, Matthew K. Landon
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1087
The Central Groundwater Basin (Central Basin) of southern Los Angeles County includes ~280 mi2 of the Los Angeles Coastal Plain and serves as the primary source of water for more than two million residents. In the Santa Fe Springs–Whittier–Norwalk area, located in the northeastern part of the basin, several sources...
Seasonal thaw settlement at drained thermokarst lake basins, Arctic Alaska
Lin Liu, Kevin Schaefer, Alessio Gusmeroli, Guido Grosse, Benjamin M. Jones, Tinjun Zhang, Andrew Parsekian, Howard Zebker
2014, The Cryosphere (8) 815-826
Drained thermokarst lake basins (DTLBs) are ubiquitous landforms on Arctic tundra lowland. Their dynamic states are seldom investigated, despite their importance for landscape stability, hydrology, nutrient fluxes, and carbon cycling. Here we report results based on high-resolution Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) measurements using space-borne data for a study area...
Mineral commodity summaries 2014
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2014, Report
Each chapter of the 2014 edition of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Commodity Summaries (MCS) includes information on events, trends, and issues for each mineral commodity as well as discussions and tabular presentations on domestic industry structure, Government programs, tariffs, 5-year salient statistics, and world production...
Reservoir controls on the occurrence and production of gas hydrates in nature
Timothy Scott Collett
2014, Book
Gas hydrates in both arctic permafrost regions and deep marine settings can occur at high concentrations in sand-dominated reservoirs, which have been the focus of gas hydrate exploration and production studies in northern Alaska and Canada, and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, off the southeastern coast of Japan, in the...
Habitat used by juvenile lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) in the North Channel of the St. Clair River (Michigan, USA)
James C. Boase, Bruce A. Manny, Katherine A.L. Donald, Gregory W. Kennedy, James S. Diana, Michael V. Thomas, Justin A. Chiotti
2014, Journal of Great Lakes Research (40) 81-88
Lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) occupy the St. Clair River, part of a channel connecting lakes Huron and Erie in the Laurentian Great Lakes. In the North Channel of the St. Clair River, juvenile lake sturgeon (3–7 years old and 582–793 mm in length) were studied to determine movement patterns and...
A probabilistic method for constructing wave time-series at inshore locations using model scenarios
Joseph W. Long, Nathaniel G. Plant, P. Soupy Dalyander, David M. Thompson
2014, Coastal Engineering (89) 53-62
Continuous time-series of wave characteristics (height, period, and direction) are constructed using a base set of model scenarios and simple probabilistic methods. This approach utilizes an archive of computationally intensive, highly spatially resolved numerical wave model output to develop time-series of historical or future wave conditions without performing additional, continuous...
Seismic investigation of gas hydrates in the Gulf of Mexico: 2013 multi-component and high-resolution 2D acquisition at GC955 and WR313
Seth S. Haines, Patrick E. Hart, William W. Shedd, Matthew Frye
2014, Book
The U.S. Geological Survey led a seismic acquisition cruise at Green Canyon 955 (GC955) and Walker Ridge 313 (WR313) in the Gulf of Mexico from April 18 to May 3, 2013, acquiring multicomponent and high-resolution 2D seismic data. GC955 and WR313 are established, world-class study sites where high gas hydrate saturations...
Seismic profile analysis of sediment deposits in Brownlee and Hells Canyon Reservoirs near Cambridge, Idaho
James Flocks, Kyle Kelso, Ryan Fosness, Chris Welcker
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1019
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, in cooperation with the USGS Idaho Water Science Center and the Idaho Power Company, collected high-resolution seismic reflection data in the Brownlee and Hells Canyon Reservoirs, in March of 2013.These reservoirs are located along the Snake River, and...
Surface disposal of produced waters in western and southwestern Pennsylvania: potential for accumulation of alkali-earth elements in sediments
Katherine J. Skalak, Mark A. Engle, Elisabeth L. Rowan, Glenn D. Jolly, Kathryn M. Conko, Adam J. Benthem, Thomas F. Kraemer
2014, International Journal of Coal Geology (126) 162-170
Waters co-produced with hydrocarbons in the Appalachian Basin are of notably poor quality (concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS) and total radium up to and exceeding 300,000 mg/L and 10,000 pCi/L, respectively). Since 2008, a rapid increase in Marcellus Shale gas production has led to a commensurate rise in associated...
Assessing the potential effects of fungicides on nontarget gut fungi (trichomycetes) and their associated larval black fly hosts
Emma R. Wilson, Kelly L. Smalling, Timothy J. Reilly, Elmer Gray, Laura Bond, Lance Steele, Prasanna Kandel, Alison Chamberlin, Justin Gause, Nicole Reynolds, Ian Robertson, Stephen Novak, Kevin Feris, Merlin M. White
2014, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (50) 420-433
Fungicides are moderately hydrophobic and have been detected in water and sediment, particularly in agricultural watersheds, but typically are not included in routine water quality monitoring efforts. This is despite their widespread use and frequent application to combat fungal pathogens. Although the efficacy of these compounds on fungal pathogens is...
Particulate organic matter quality influences nitrate retention and denitrification in stream sediments: evidence from a carbon burial experiment
Robert S. Stelzer, J. Thad Scott, Lynn Bartsch, Thomas B. Parr
2014, Biogeochemistry (119) 387-402
Organic carbon supply is linked to nitrogen transformation in ecosystems. However, the role of organic carbon quality in nitrogen processing is not as well understood. We determined how the quality of particulate organic carbon (POC) influenced nitrogen transformation in stream sediments by burying identical quantities of varying quality POC (northern...
Passive acoustic monitoring to detect spawning in large-bodied catostomids
Carrie A. Straight, Byron J. Freeman, Mary Freeman
2014, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (143) 595-605
Documenting timing, locations, and intensity of spawning can provide valuable information for conservation and management of imperiled fishes. However, deep, turbid or turbulent water, or occurrence of spawning at night, can severely limit direct observations. We have developed and tested the use of passive acoustics to detect distinctive acoustic signatures...
Selection of anthropogenic features and vegetation characteristics by nesting Common Ravens in the sagebrush ecosystem
Kristy B. Howe, Peter S. Coates, David J. Delehanty
2014, The Condor (116) 35-49
Common Raven (Corvus corax) numbers and distribution are increasing throughout the sagebrush steppe, influencing avian communities in complex ways. Anthropogenic structures are thought to increase raven populations by providing food and nesting subsidies, which is cause for concern because ravens are important nest predators of sensitive species, including Greater Sage-Grouse...
