Combined multibeam and bathymetry data from Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound: a regional perspective
Lawrence J. Poppe, Katherine Y. McMullen, William W. Danforth, Mark R. Blankenship, Andrew R. Clos, Kimberly A. Glomb, Peter G. Lewit, Megan A. Nadeau, Douglas A. Wood, Castleton E. Parker
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1012
Detailed bathymetric maps of the sea floor in Rhode Island and Block Island Sounds are of great interest to the New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts research and management communities because of this area's ecological, recreational, and commercial importance. Geologically interpreted digital terrain models from individual surveys provide important benthic...
Quantifying benthic nitrogen fluxes in Puget Sound, Washington: a review of available data
Richard W. Sheibley, Anthony J. Paulson
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5033
Understanding benthic fluxes is important for understanding the fate of materials that settle to the Puget Sound, Washington, seafloor, as well as the impact these fluxes have on the chemical composition and biogeochemical cycles of marine waters. Existing approaches used to measure benthic nitrogen flux in Puget Sound and elsewhere...
A framework for assessing water and proppant use and flowback water extraction associated with development of continuous petroleum resources
Seth S. Haines, Troy Cook, Joanna N. Thamke, Kyle W. Davis, Andrew J. Long, Richard W. Healy, Sarah J. Hawkins, Mark A. Engle
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3010
The U.S. Geological Survey is developing approaches for the quantitative assessment of water and proppant involved with possible future production of continuous petroleum deposits. The assessment approach is an extension of existing U.S. Geological Survey petroleum-assessment methods, and it aims to provide objective information that helps decision makers understand the...
Spatial variability in survival of adult brook trout within two intensively surveyed headwater stream networks
Yoichiro Kanno, Benjamin Letcher, Jason C. Vokoun, Elise Zipkin
2014, Canadian Journal Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (71) 1010-1019
Headwater stream networks are considered heterogeneous riverscapes, but it is challenging to characterize spatial variability in demographic rates. We estimated site-scale (50 m) survival of adult (>age 1+) brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) within two intensively surveyed headwater stream networks by applying an open-population N-mixture approach to count data collected over...
Spatial mapping and attribution of Wyoming wind turbines, 2012
Michael S. O'Donnell, Tammy S. Fancher
2014, Data Series 828
These data represent locations of wind turbines found within Wyoming as of August 2012. We assigned each wind turbine to a wind farm and, in these data, provide information about each turbine’s potential megawatt output, rotor diameter, hub height, rotor height, the status of the land ownership where the turbine...
Miocene burial and exhumation of the India-Asia collision zone in southern Tibet: response to slab dynamics and erosion
Barbara Carrapa, D.A. Orme, Peter G. DeCelles, Paul Kapp, Michael A. Cosca, R. Waldrip
2014, Geology
The India-Asia collision zone in southern Tibet preserves a record of geodynamic and erosional processes following intercontinental collision. Apatite fission-track and zircon and apatite (U-Th)/He data from the Oligocene–Miocene Kailas Formation, within the India-Asia collision zone, show a synchronous cooling signal at 17 ± 1 Ma, which is younger than...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Oregon
William J. Carswell Jr.
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3014
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of business uses, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. In the State of Oregon, elevation data are critical for river and stream resource management; forest resources management; water supply and quality; infrastructure and construction...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Kentucky
William J. Carswell Jr.
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3012
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the Commonwealth of Kentucky, elevation data are critical for agriculture and precision farming, natural resources conservation, flood risk management, infrastructure and construction management, forest resources...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Tennessee
William J. Carswell Jr.
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3008
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of Tennessee, elevation data are critical for agriculture and precision farming, flood risk management, natural resources conservation, infrastructure and construction management, forest resources...
Ecological feedbacks can reduce population-level efficacy of wildlife fertility control
Jason I. Ransom, Jenny G. Powers, N. Thompson Hobbs, Dan L. Baker
2014, Journal of Applied Ecology (51) 259-269
1. Anthropogenic stress on natural systems, particularly the fragmentation of landscapes and the extirpation of predators from food webs, has intensified the need to regulate abundance of wildlife populations with management. Controlling population growth using fertility control has been considered for almost four decades, but nearly all research has focused...
Diffuse migratory connectivity in two species of shrubland birds: evidence from stable isotopes
Steven T. Knick, Matthias Leu, John T. Rotenberry, Steven E. Hanser, Kurt Fesenmyer
2014, Oecologia (174) 595-608
Connecting seasonal ranges of migratory birds is important for understanding the annual template of stressors that influence their populations. Brewer’s sparrows (Spizella breweri) and sagebrush sparrows (Artemisiospiza nevadensis) share similar sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) habitats for breeding but have different population trends that might be related to winter location. To link...
Detection limits and cost comparisons of human- and gull-associated conventional and quantitative PCR assays in artificial and environmental waters
Timothy E. Riedel, Amity G. Zimmer-Faust, Vanessa Thulsiraj, Tania Madi, Kaitlyn T. Hanley, Darcy L. Ebentier, Muruleedhara N. Byappanahalli, Blythe Layton, Meredith Raith, Alexandria B. Boehm, John F. Griffith, Patricia A. Holden, Orin C. Shanks, Stephen B. Weisberg, Jennifer A. Jay
2014, Journal of Environmental Management (136) 112-120
Some molecular methods for tracking fecal pollution in environmental waters have both PCR and quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays available for use. To assist managers in deciding whether to implement newer qPCR techniques in routine monitoring programs, we compared detection limits (LODs) and costs of PCR and qPCR assays with identical...
Assessment of international reference materials for isotope-ratio analysis (IUPAC Technical Report)
Willi A. Brand, Tyler B. Coplen, Jochen Vogl, Martin Rosner, Thomas Prohaska
2014, Pure and Applied Chemistry (86) 425-467
Since the early 1950s, the number of international measurement standards for anchoring stable isotope delta scales has mushroomed from 3 to more than 30, expanding to more than 25 chemical elements. With the development of new instrumentation, along with new and improved measurement procedures for studying naturally occurring isotopic abundance...
Applying downscaled global climate model data to a hydrodynamic surface-water and groundwater model
Eric Swain, Lydia Stefanova, Thomas Smith
2014, American Journal of Climate Change (3) 33-49
Precipitation data from Global Climate Models have been downscaled to smaller regions. Adapting this downscaled precipitation data to a coupled hydrodynamic surface-water/groundwater model of southern Florida allows an examination of future conditions and their effect on groundwater levels, inundation patterns, surface-water stage and flows, and salinity. The downscaled rainfall data...
Water-quality trends for selected sampling sites in the upper Clark Fork Basin, Montana, water years 1996-2010
Steven K. Sando, Aldo V. Vecchia, David L. Lorenz, Elliott P. Barnhart
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5217
A large-scale trend analysis was done on specific conductance, selected trace elements (arsenic, cadmium, copper, iron, lead, manganese, and zinc), and suspended-sediment data for 22 sites in the upper Clark Fork Basin for water years 1996–2010. Trend analysis was conducted by using two parametric methods: a time-series model (TSM) and...
Soil compaction vulnerability at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona
Robert H. Webb, Kenneth E. Nussear, Shinji Carmichael, Todd C. Esque
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1048
Compaction vulnerability of different types of soils by hikers and vehicles is poorly known, particularly for soils of arid and semiarid regions. Engineering analyses have long shown that poorly sorted soils (for example, sandy loams) compact to high densities, whereas well-sorted soils (for example, eolian sand) do not compact, and...
Detailed cross sections of the Eocene Green River Formation along the north and east margins of the Piceance Basin, western Colorado, using measured sections and drill hole information
Ronald C. Johnson
2014, Scientific Investigations Map 3276
This report presents two detailed cross sections of the Eocene Green River Formation in the Piceance Basin, northwestern Colorado, constructed from eight detailed measured sections, fourteen core holes, and two rotary holes. The Eocene Green River Formation in the Piceance Basin contains the world’s largest known oil shale deposit with...
USGS Field Activities 11CEV01 and 11CEV02 on the West Florida Shelf, Gulf of Mexico, in January and February 2011
Lisa L. Robbins, Paul O. Knorr, Kendra L. Daly, Carl A. Taylor
2014, Data Series 711
During January and February 2011 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the University of South Florida (USF), conducted geochemical surveys on the west Florida Shelf. Data collected will allow USGS and USF scientists to investigate the effects of climate change on ocean acidification within the northern Gulf of...
Genetic variation in bacterial kidney disease (BKD) susceptibility in Lake Michigan Chinook Salmon and its progenitor population from the Puget Sound
Maureen K. Purcell, Jeffrey J. Hard, Kathleen G. Neely, Linda K. Park, James R. Winton, Diane G. Elliott
2014, Journal of Aquatic Animal Health (26) 9-18
Mass mortality events in wild fish due to infectious diseases are troubling, especially given the potential for long-term, population-level consequences. Evolutionary theory predicts that populations with sufficient genetic variation will adapt in response to pathogen pressure. Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha were introduced into Lake Michigan in the late 1960s from...
Antecedent flow conditions and nitrate concentrations in the Mississippi River basin
Jennifer C. Murphy, Robert M. Hirsch, Lori A. Sprague
2014, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 967-979
The relationship between antecedent flow conditions and nitrate concentrations was explored at eight sites in the 2.9 million square kilometers (km2) Mississippi River basin, USA. Antecedent flow conditions were quantified as the ratio between the mean daily flow of the previous year and the mean daily flow from the period...
Geologic map of the Kechumstuk fault zone in the Mount Veta area, Fortymile mining district, east-central Alaska
Warren C. Day, J. Michael O’Neill, Cynthia Dusel-Bacon, John N. Aleinikoff, Christopher R. Siron
2014, Scientific Investigations Map 3291
This map was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program to depict the fundamental geologic features for the western part of the Fortymile mining district of east-central Alaska, and to delineate the location of known bedrock mineral prospects and their relationship to rock types and structural features.This geospatial...
An analysis of monthly home range size in the critically endangered California Condor Gymnogyps californianus
James W. Rivers, Matthew J. Johnson, Susan M. Haig, Carl J. Schwarz, Joseph Burnett, Joseph Brandt, Daniel George, Jesse Grantham
2014, Bird Conservation International (24) 492-504
Condors and vultures comprise the only group of terrestrial vertebrates in the world that are obligate scavengers, and these species move widely to locate ephemeral, unpredictable, and patchily-distributed food resources. In this study, we used high-resolution GPS location data to quantify monthly home range size of the critically endangered California...
Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) as a model system in community, landscape and ecosystem ecology
Matthew A. Bowker, Fernando T. Maestre, David Eldridge, Jayne Belnap, Andrea Castillo-Monroy, Cristina Escolar, Santiago Soliveres
2014, Biodiversity and Conservation (23) 1619-1637
Model systems have had a profound influence on the development of ecological theory and general principles. Compared to alternatives, the most effective models share some combination of the following characteristics: simpler, smaller, faster, general, idiosyncratic or manipulable. We argue that biological soil crusts (biocrusts) have unique combinations of these features...
Evaluation of the expected moments algorithm and a multiple low-outlier test for flood frequency analysis at streamgaging stations in Arizona
Nicholas V. Paretti, Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Timothy A. Cohn
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5026
Flooding is among the costliest natural disasters in terms of loss of life and property in Arizona, which is why the accurate estimation of flood frequency and magnitude is crucial for proper structural design and accurate floodplain mapping. Current guidelines for flood frequency analysis in the United States are described...
Vaccination against bacterial kidney disease
Diane G. Elliott, Gregory D. Wiens, K. Larry Hammell, Linda D. Rhodes
Roar Gudding, Atle Lillehaug, Oystein Evensen, editor(s)
2014, Book chapter, Fish vaccination
Bacterial kidney disease (BKD) of salmonid fishes, caused by Renibacterium salmoninarum, has been recognized as a serious disease in salmonid fishes since the 1930s. This chapter discusses the occurrence and significance, etiology, and pathogenesis of BKD. It then describes the different vaccination procedures and the effects and side-effects of vaccination. Despite...
