Adverse outcome pathway and risks of anticoagulant rodenticides to predatory wildlife
Barnett A. Rattner, Rebecca S. Lazarus, John E. Elliott, Richard F. Shore, Nico van den Brink
2014, Environmental Science & Technology (48) 8433-8445
Despite a long history of successful use, routine application of some anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) may be at a crossroad due to new regulatory guidelines intended to mitigate risk. An adverse outcome pathway for ARs was developed to identify information gaps and end points to assess the effectiveness of regulations. This...
Water quality of potential reference lakes in the Arkansas Valley and Ouachita Mountain ecoregions, Arkansas
B. G. Justus, Bradley J. Meredith
2014, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (186) 3785-3800
This report describes a study to identify reference lakes in two lake classifications common to parts of two level III ecoregions in western Arkansas—the Arkansas Valley and Ouachita Mountains. Fifty-two lakes were considered. A screening process that relied on land-use data was followed by reconnaissance water-quality sampling, and two lakes...
Annual crop type classification of the U.S. Great Plains for 2000 to 2011
Daniel M. Howard, Bruce K. Wylie
2014, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing (6) 537-549
The purpose of this study was to increase the spatial and temporal availability of crop classification data. In this study, nearly 16.2 million crop observation points were used in the training of the US Great Plains classification tree crop type model (CTM). Each observation point was further defined by weekly...
Home range and movements of North American tortoises
Joan E. Berish, Phil A. Medica
2014, Book chapter, Biology and conservation of North American tortoises
No abstract available....
Food consumption and growth rates of juvenile black carp fed natural and prepared feeds
Nathaniel C. Hodgins, Harold L. Schramm Jr., Patrick D. Gerard
2014, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (5) 35-45
The introduced mollusciphagic black carp Mylopharyngodon piceus poses a significant threat to native mollusks in temperate waters throughout the northern hemisphere, but consumption rates necessary to estimate the magnitude of impact on mollusks have not been established. We measured food consumption and growth rates for small (77–245 g) and large (466–1,071 g) triploid black...
Associations of wintering birds with habitat in semidesert and plains grasslands in Arizona
Janet M. Ruth, Thomas R. Stanley, Caleb E. Gordon
2014, Southwestern Naturalist (59) 199-211
We studied associations with winter habitat for seven species of birds, one species-group (eastern and western meadowlarks combined), and total sparrows at seven sites in the semidesert and plains grasslands of southeastern Arizona from 1999–2001, sampling with mist-nets and survey-transects. We measured structure and composition of vegetation, assessing vegetative differences...
Assessing effects of variation in global climate data sets on spatial predictions from climate envelope models
Stephanie S. Romanach, James I. Watling, Robert J. Fletcher Jr., Carolina Speroterra, David N. Bucklin, Laura A. Brandt, Leonard G. Pearlstine, Yesenia Escribano, Frank J. Mazzotti
2014, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (5) 14-25
Climate change poses new challenges for natural resource managers. Predictive modeling of species–environment relationships using climate envelope models can enhance our understanding of climate change effects on biodiversity, assist in assessment of invasion risk by exotic organisms, and inform life-history understanding of individual species. While increasing interest has focused on...
Mercury cycling in agricultural and managed wetlands, Yolo Bypass, California: Spatial and seasonal variations in water quality
Charles N. Alpers, Jacob A. Fleck, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Craig A. Stricker, Mark Stephenson, Howard E. Taylor
2014, Science of the Total Environment (484) 276-287
The seasonal and spatial variability of water quality, including mercury species, was evaluated in agricultural and managed, non-agricultural wetlands in the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, an area managed for multiple beneficial uses including bird habitat and rice farming. The study was conducted during an 11-month period (June 2007 to April...
Land-margin ecosystem hydrologic data for the coastal Everglades, Florida, water years 1996-2012
Gordon H. Anderson, Thomas J. Smith III, Karen M. Balentine
2014, Data Series 853
Mangrove forests and salt marshes dominate the landscape of the coastal Everglades (Odum and McIvor, 1990). However, the ecological effects from potential sea-level rise and increased water flows from planned freshwater Everglades restoration on these coastal systems are poorly understood. The National Park Service (NPS) proposed the South Florida Global...
2010 Volcanic activity in Alaska, Kamchatka, and the Kurile Islands: Summary of events and response of the Alaska Volcano Observatory
Christina A. Neal, Julie Herrick, O.A. Girina, Marina Chibisova, Alexander Rybin, Robert G. McGimsey, Jim Dixon
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5034
The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) responded to eruptions, possible eruptions, volcanic unrest or suspected unrest at 12 volcanic centers in Alaska during 2010. The most notable volcanic activity consisted of intermittent ash emissions from long-active Cleveland volcano in the Aleutian Islands. AVO staff also participated in hazard communication regarding eruptions...
A pier-scour database: 2,427 field and laboratory measurements of pier scour
Stephen T. Benedict, Andral W. Caldwell
2014, Data Series 845
The U.S. Geological Survey conducted a literature review to identify potential sources of published pier-scour data, and selected data were compiled into a digital spreadsheet called the 2014 USGS Pier-Scour Database (PSDb-2014) consisting of 569 laboratory and 1,858 field measurements. These data encompass a wide range of laboratory and field...
Three-dimensional seismic velocity structure of Mauna Loa and Kilauea volcanoes in Hawaii from local seismic tomography
Guoqing Lin, Peter M. Shearer, Robin S. Matoza, Paul G. Okubo, Falk Amelung
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (119) 4377-4392
We present a new three-dimensional seismic velocity model of the crustal and upper mantle structure for Mauna Loa and Kilauea volcanoes in Hawaii. Our model is derived from the first-arrival times of the compressional and shear waves from about 53,000 events on and near the Island of Hawaii between 1992...
An analysis of potential water availability from the Charles Mill, Clendening, Piedmont, Pleasant Hill, Senecaville, and Wills Creek Lakes in the Muskingum River Watershed, Ohio
G. F. Koltun
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5071
This report presents the results of a study to assess potential water availability from the Charles Mill, Clendening, Piedmont, Pleasant Hill, Senecaville, and Wills Creek Lakes, located within the Muskingum River Watershed, Ohio. The assessment was based on the criterion that water withdrawals should not appreciably affect maintenance of recreation-season...
Connecting the dots: a collaborative USGS-NPS effort to expand the utility of monitoring data
James B. Grace, Donald R. Schoolmaster Jr., E. William Schweiger, Brian R. Mitchell, Kathryn Miller, Glenn R. Guntenspergen
2014, The George Wright Forum (31) 181-190
The Natural Resource Challenge (National Park Service 1999) was a call to action. It constituted a mandate for monitoring based on the twin premises that (1) natural resources in national parks require active management and stewardship if we are to protect them from gradual degradation, and (2) we cannot protect...
Lithium: for harnessing renewable energy
Dwight Bradley, Brian W. Jaskula
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3035
Lithium, which has the chemical symbol Li and an atomic number of 3, is the first metal in the periodic table. Lithium has many uses, the most prominent being in batteries for cell phones, laptops, and electric and hybrid vehicles. Worldwide sources of lithium are broken down by ore-deposit type...
Winter browse selection by white-tailed deer and implications for bottomland forest restoration in the Upper Mississippi River Valley, USA
Benjamin J. Cogger, Nathan R. De Jager, Meredith Thomsen, Carrie Reinhardt Adams
2014, Natural Areas Journal (34) 144-153
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) forage selectively, modifying upland forest species composition and in some cases shifting ecosystems to alternative stable states. Few studies, however, have investigated plant selection by deer in bottomland forests. Herbaceous invasive species are common in wetlands and their expansion could be promoted if deer avoid them...
Nonlethal screening of bat-wing skin with the use of ultraviolet fluorescence to detect lesions indicative of white-nose syndrome
Gregory G. Turner, Carol U. Meteyer, Hazel Barton, John F. Gumbs, DeeAnn M. Reeder, Barrie Overton, Hana Bandouchova, Tomas Bartonicka, Natalia Martinkova, Jiri Pikula, Jan Zukal, David S. Blehert
2014, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (50) 566-573
Definitive diagnosis of the bat disease white-nose syndrome (WNS) requires histologic analysis to identify the cutaneous erosions caused by the fungal pathogen Pseudogymnoascus [formerly Geomyces] destructans (Pd). Gross visual inspection does not distinguish bats with or without WNS, and no nonlethal, on-site, preliminary screening methods are available for WNS in...
Extending the turbidity record: making additional use of continuous data from turbidity, acoustic-Doppler, and laser diffraction instruments and suspended-sediment samples in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon
Nicholas Voichick, David J. Topping
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5097
Turbidity is a measure of the scattering and absorption of light in water, which in rivers is primarily caused by particles, usually sediment, suspended in the water. Turbidity varies significantly with differences in the design of the instrument measuring turbidity, a point that is illustrated in this study by side-by-side...
Electron microprobe analyses of glasses from Kīlauea tephra units, Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaii
Rosalind L. Helz, David A. Clague, Larry G. Mastin, Timothy R. Rose
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1090
This report presents approximately 2,100 glass analyses from three tephra units of Kīlauea Volcano: the Keanakākoʻi Tephra, the Kulanaokuaiki Tephra, and the Pāhala Ash. It also includes some new analyses obtained as part of a re-evaluation of the MgO contents of glasses in two of the three original datasets; this...
Mountain landscapes offer few opportunities for high-elevation tree species migration
David M. Bell, John B. Bradford, William K. Lauenroth
2014, Global Change Biology (20) 1441-1451
Climate change is anticipated to alter plant species distributions. Regional context, notably the spatial complexity of climatic gradients, may influence species migration potential. While high-elevation species may benefit from steep climate gradients in mountain regions, their persistence may be threatened by limited suitable habitat as land area decreases with elevation....
Groundwater Dating with Atmospheric Halogenated Compounds
Karl B. Haase, Eurybiades Busenberg
2014, Book chapter, Encyclopedia of Scientific Dating Methods
"Atmospheric environmental releases refer to the emission of stable, long-lived compounds of solely anthropogenic origin into the atmosphere and the use of the compounds to estimate dates of their incorporation into groundwater."...
Proceedings of the U.S. Geological Survey Eighth Biennial Geographic Information Science Workshop and first The National Map Users Conference, Denver, Colorado, May 10-13, 2011
Jennifer B. Sieverling, Jeffrey Dietterle, editor(s)
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5053
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is sponsoring the first The National Map Users Conference in conjunction with the eighth biennial Geographic Information Science (GIS) Workshop on May 10-13, 2011, in Lakewood, Colorado. The GIS Workshop will be held at the USGS National Training Center, located on the Denver Federal Center,...
Simulation of natural flows in major river basins in Alabama
Alexandria M. Hunt, Ana María García
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5021
The Office of Water Resources (OWR) in the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) is charged with the assessment of the State’s water resources. This study developed a watershed model for the major river basins that are within Alabama or that cross Alabama’s borders, which serves as a...
Organizing phenological data resources to inform natural resource conservation
Alyssa H. Rosemartin, Theresa Crimmins, Carolyn A.F. Enquist, Katharine L. Gerst, Jherime L. Kellermann, Erin E. Posthumus, Ellen G. Denny, Patricia Guertin, Lee Marsh, Jake F. Weltzin
2014, Biological Conservation (173) 90-97
Changes in the timing of plant and animal life cycle events, in response to climate change, are already happening across the globe. The impacts of these changes may affect biodiversity via disruption to mutualisms, trophic mismatches, invasions and population declines. To understand the nature, causes and consequences of changed, varied...
An approach for filtering hyperbolically positioned underwater acoustic telemetry data with position precision estimates
Trevor D. Meckley, Christopher M. Holbrook, C. Michael Wagner, Thomas R. Binder
2014, Animal Biotelemetry (2)
Background Telemetry systems that estimate animal positions with hyperbolic positioning algorithms also provide a technology-specific estimate of position precision (e.g., horizontal position error (HPE) for the VEMCO positioning system). Position precision estimates (e.g., dilution of precision for a global positioning system (GPS)) have been used extensively to identify and remove positions...
