Evaluating the efficiency of environmental monitoring programs
Carrie R. Levine, Ruth D. Yanai, Gregory G. Lampman, Douglas A. Burns, Charles T. Driscoll, Gregory B. Lawrence, Jason Lynch, Nina Schoch
2014, Ecological Indicators (39) 94-101
Statistical uncertainty analyses can be used to improve the efficiency of environmental monitoring, allowing sampling designs to maximize information gained relative to resources required for data collection and analysis. In this paper, we illustrate four methods of data analysis appropriate to four types of environmental monitoring designs. To analyze a...
Complexity versus certainty in understanding species’ declines
Shana M. Sundstrom, Craig R. Allen
2014, Diversity and Distributions (3) 344-355
Aim Our understanding of and ability to predict species declines is limited, despite decades of study. We sought to expand our understanding of species declines within a regional landscape by testing models using both traditional hypotheses and those derived from a complex adaptive systems approach. Location Our study area was the dry mixed...
Evaluating CO2 and CH4 dynamics of Alaskan ecosystems during the Holocene Thermal Maximum
Yujie He, Miriam C. Jones, Qianlai Zhuang, Christopher Bochicchio, B. S. Felzer, Erik Mason, Zicheng Yu
2014, Quaternary Science Reviews (86) 63-77
The Arctic has experienced much greater warming than the global average in recent decades due to polar amplification. Warming has induced ecological changes that have impacted climate carbon-cycle feedbacks, making it important to understand the climate and vegetation controls on carbon (C) dynamics. Here we used the Holocene Thermal Maximum...
Lithologic influences on groundwater recharge through incised glacial till from profile to regional scales: Evidence from glaciated Eastern Nebraska
John B. Gates, Gregory V. Steele, Paolo Nasta, Jozsef Szilagyi
2014, Water Resources Research (50) 466-481
Variability in sediment hydraulic properties associated with landscape depositional and erosional features can influence groundwater recharge processes by affecting soil-water storage and transmission. This study considers recharge to aquifers underlying river-incised glaciated terrain where the distribution of clay-rich till is largely intact in upland locations but has been removed by...
Total mercury concentrations in lionfish (Pterois volitans/miles) from the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, USA
Dane H. Huge, Pamela J. Schofield, Charles A. Jacoby, Thomas K. Frazer
2014, Marine Pollution Bulletin (78) 51-55
Strategies to control invasive lionfish in the western Atlantic and Caribbean are likely to include harvest and consumption. Until this report, total mercury concentrations had been documented only for lionfish from Jamaica, and changes in concentrations with increasing fish size had not been evaluated. In the Florida Keys, total mercury...
Seismicity within a propagating ice shelf rift: the relationship between icequake locations and ice shelf structure
David S. Heeszel, Helen A. Fricker, Jeremy N. Bassis, Shad O’Neel, Fabian Walter
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (119) 731-744
Iceberg calving is a dominant mass loss mechanism for Antarctic ice shelves, second only to basal melting. An important known process involved in calving is the initiation and propagation of through-penetrating fractures called rifts; however, the mechanisms controlling rift propagation remain poorly understood. To investigate the mechanics of ice-shelf rifting,...
Geologic map of the eastern quarter of the Flagstaff 30’ x 60’ quadrangle, Coconino County, northern Arizona
George H. Billingsley, Debra L. Block, Margaret Hiza-Redsteer
2014, Scientific Investigations Map 3279
The eastern quarter of the Flagstaff 30′ x 60′ quadrangle includes eight USGS 1:24,000-scale quadrangles in Coconino County, northern Arizona (fig. 1, map sheet): Anderson Canyon, Babbitt Wash, Canyon Diablo, Grand Falls, Grand Falls SE, Grand Falls SW, Grand Falls NE, and Meteor Crater. The map is bounded by lat...
Inferences about population dynamics from count data using multi-state models: A comparison to capture-recapture approaches
Evan H. Campbell Grant, Elise Zipkin, Sillett T. Scott, Richard Chandler, J. Andrew Royle
2014, Ecology and Evolution (4) 417-426
Wildlife populations consist of individuals that contribute disproportionately to growth and viability. Understanding a population's spatial and temporal dynamics requires estimates of abundance and demographic rates that account for this heterogeneity. Estimating these quantities can be difficult, requiring years of intensive data collection. Often, this is accomplished through the capture...
Anatomy of the lamprey ear: morphological evidence for occurrence of horizontal semicircular ducts in the labyrinth of Petromyzon marinus
Adel Maklad, Caitlyn Reed, Nicholas S. Johnson, Bernd Fritzsch
2014, Journal of Anatomy (224) 432-446
In jawed (gnathostome) vertebrates, the inner ears have three semicircular canals arranged orthogonally in the three Cartesian planes: one horizontal (lateral) and two vertical canals. They function as detectors for angular acceleration in their respective planes. Living jawless craniates, cyclostomes (hagfish and lamprey) and their fossil records seemingly lack a...
DOI/GTN-P climate and active-layer data acquired in the National Petroleum Reserve: Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 1998-2011
Frank E. Urban, Gary D. Clow
2014, Data Series 812
This report provides data collected by the climate monitoring array of the U.S. Department of the Interior on Federal lands in Arctic Alaska over the period August 1998 to July 2011; this array is part of the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost, (DOI/GTN-P). In addition to presenting data, this report...
The United States Geological Survey Science Data Lifecycle Model
John Faundeen, Thomas E. Burley, Jennifer A. Carlino, David L. Govoni, Heather S. Henkel, Sally L. Holl, Vivian B. Hutchison, Elizabeth Martín, Ellyn T. Montgomery, Cassandra Ladino, Steven Tessler, Lisa S. Zolly
2014, Open-File Report 2013-1265
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data represent corporate assets with potential value beyond any immediate research use, and therefore need to be accounted for and properly managed throughout their lifecycle. Recognizing these motives, a USGS team developed a Science Data Lifecycle Model (SDLM) as a high-level view of data—from conception through...
Response of diatom and silicoflagellate assemblages in the central Gulf of California to regional climate change during the past 55 kyrs
John A. Barron, David Bukry, Heather Cheshire
2014, Marine Micropaleontology (108) 28-40
High-resolution studies of diatoms and silicoflagellates of the past 55 kyrs in cores MD02-2517/2515 from the central Gulf of California (GoC) reveal profound changes in GoC surface waters. Roperia tesselata, a diatom proxy for late winter–early spring upwelling, and Dictyocha stapedia, a subtropical silicoflagellate indicative of GoC sea surface temperatures...
Phytoplankton growth balanced by clam and zooplankton grazing and net transport into the low-salinity zone of the San Francisco Estuary
Wim J. Kimmerer, Janet K. Thompson
2014, Estuaries and Coasts
We estimated the influence of planktonic and benthic grazing on phytoplankton in the strongly tidal, river-dominated northern San Francisco Estuary using data from an intensive study of the low salinity foodweb in 2006–2008 supplemented with long-term monitoring data. A drop in chlorophyll concentration in 1987 had previously been linked to...
Abalone farm discharges the withering syndrome pathogen into the wild
Kevin D. Lafferty, Tal Ben-Horin
2014, Frontiers in Microbiology (4)
An intracellular bacterium Candidatus Xenohaliotis californiensis, also called Withering-Syndrome Rickettsia-Like Organism (WS-RLO), is the cause of mass mortalities that are the chief reason for endangerment of black abalone (Haliotis cracherodii). Using a real-time PCR assay, we found that a shore-based abalone farm (AF) in Santa Barbara, CA, USA discharged WS-RLO...
Transgenic zebrafish reveal tissue-specific differences in estrogen signaling in response to environmental water samples
Daniel A. Gorelick, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Alice L. Hung, Vicki Blazer, Marnie E. Halpern
2014, Environmental Health Perspectives (122) 356-362
Background: Environmental endocrine disruptors (EED) are exogenous chemicals that mimic endogenous hormones, such as estrogens. Previous studies using a zebrafish transgenic reporter demonstrated that the EEDs bisphenol A and genistein preferentially activate estrogen receptors (ER) in the larval heart compared to the liver. However, it was not known whether the...
Air-water gas exchange and CO2 flux in a mangrove-dominated estuary
David T. Ho, Sara Ferrón, Victor C. Engel, Laurel G. Larsen, Jordan G. Barr
2014, Geophysical Research Letters (41) 108-113
Mangrove forests are highly productive ecosystems, but the fate of mangrove-derived carbon remains uncertain. Part of that uncertainty stems from the fact that gas transfer velocities in mangrove-surrounded waters are not well determined, leading to uncertainty in air-water CO2 fluxes. Two SF6 tracer release experiments were conducted to determine gas...
Pesticides and nitrate in groundwater underlying citrus croplands, Lake Wales Ridge, central Florida, 1999-2005.
Anne F. Choquette
2014, Open-File Report 2013-1271
This report summarizes pesticide and nitrate (as nitrogen) results from quarterly sampling of 31 surficial-aquifer wells in the Lake Wales Ridge Monitoring Network during April 1999 through January 2005. The wells, located adjacent to citrus orchards and used for monitoring only, were generally screened (sampled) within 5 to 40 feet...
Emergency assessment of post-fire debris-flow hazards for the 2013 Springs Fire, Ventura County, California
Dennis M. Staley
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1001
Wildfire can significantly alter the hydrologic response of a watershed to the extent that even modest rainstorms can produce dangerous flash floods and debris flows. In this report, empirical models are used to predict the probability and magnitude of debris-flow occurrence in response to a 10-year rainstorm for the 2013...
Constraining explosive volcanism: Subjective choices during estimates of eruption magnitude
Malin Klawonn, Bruce F. Houghton, Don Swanson, Sarah A. Fagents, Paul Wessel, Cecily J. Wolfe
2014, Bulletin of Volcanology (76)
When estimating the magnitude of explosive eruptions from their deposits, individuals make three sets of critical choices with respect to input data: the spacing of sampling sites, the selection of contour intervals to constrain the field measurements, and the hand contouring of thickness/isomass data, respectively. Volcanologists make subjective calls, as...
Capturing migration phenology of terrestrial wildlife using camera traps
Ken D. Tape, David D. Gustine
2014, BioScience (64) 117-124
Remote photography, using camera traps, can be an effective and noninvasive tool for capturing the migration phenology of terrestrial wildlife. We deployed 14 digital cameras along a 104-kilometer longitudinal transect to record the spring migrations of caribou (Rangifer tarandus) and ptarmigan (Lagopus spp.) in the Alaskan Arctic. The cameras recorded...
Fluorescence-based classification of Caribbean coral reef organisms and substrates
David G. Zawada, Charles H. Mazel
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
A diverse group of coral reef organisms, representing several phyla, possess fluorescent pigments. We investigated the potential of using the characteristic fluorescence emission spectra of these pigments to enable unsupervised, optical classification of coral reef habitats. We compiled a library of characteristic fluorescence spectra through in situ and laboratory measurements...
Variable exhumation rates and variable displacement rates: Documenting recent slowing of Himalayan shortening in western Bhutan
Nadine McQuarrie, Tobgay Tobgay, Sean P. Long, Peter W. Reiners, Michael A. Cosca
2014, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (386) 161-174
We link exhumational variability in space and time to the evolving geometry of the Himalayan fold–thrust belt in western Bhutan. By combining new and published geochronologic and thermochronologic data we document the burial age, peak temperatures and complete cooling history from 20 Ma to the present over an across-strike distance...
Tritium plume dynamics in the shallow unsaturated zone in an arid environment
S.R. Maples, Brian J. Andraski, David A. Stonestrom, C.A. Cooper, G. Pohll, R. L. Michel
2014, Vadose Zone Journal (12)
The spatiotemporal variability of a tritium plume in the shallow unsaturated zone and the mechanisms controlling its transport were evaluated during a 10-yr study. Plume movement was minimal and its mass declined by 68%. Upward-directed diffusive-vapor tritium fluxes and radioactive decay accounted for most of the observed plume-mass declines.Effective isolation...
Evaluation of toxicity to the amphipod, Hyalella azteca, and to the midge, Chironomus dilutus; and bioaccumulation by the oligochaete, Lumbriculus variegatus, with exposure to PCB-contaminated sediments from Anniston, Alabama
Christopher G. Ingersoll, Jeffery A. Steevens, Donald D. MacDonald, William G. Brumbaugh, Matthew R. Coady, J. Daniel Farrar, Guilherme R. Lotufo, Nile E. Kemble, James L. Kunz, Jacob K. Stanley, Jesse A. Sinclair
Christopher G. Ingersoll, Jeffery A. Steevens, Donald D. MacDonald, editor(s)
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5125
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) requested that as part of the remedial investigation for the Anniston, Alabama Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Site (Anniston PCB Site), that Pharmacia Corporation and Solutia Inc. (P/S) perform long-term reproduction toxicity tests with the amphipod, Hyalella azteca, and the midge, Chironomus dilutus, and bioaccumulation tests...
Parameter estimation for the 4-parameter Asymmetric Exponential Power distribution by the method of L-moments using R
William H. Asquith
2014, Computational Statistics and Data Analysis (71) 955-970
The implementation characteristics of two method of L-moments (MLM) algorithms for parameter estimation of the 4-parameter Asymmetric Exponential Power (AEP4) distribution are studied using the R environment for statistical computing. The objective is to validate the algorithms for general application of the AEP4 using R. An algorithm was introduced in...
