A multispecies statistical age-structured model to assess predator-prey balance: application to an intensively managed Lake Michigan pelagic fish community
Iyob Tsehaye, Michael L. Jones, James R. Bence, Travis O. Brenden, Charles P. Madenjian, David M. Warner
2014, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (71) 627-644
Using a Bayesian model fitting approach, we developed a multispecies statistical catch-at-age model to assess trade-offs between predatory demands and prey productivities, focusing on the Lake Michigan pelagic fish community. We assessed these trade-offs in terms of predation mortalities and productivities of alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) and rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax)...
Projecting climate effects on birds and reptiles of the Southwestern United States
Charles van Riper III, James R. Hatten, J. Tomasz Giermakowski, David Mattson, Jennifer A. Holmes, Matthew J. Johnson, Erika M. Nowak, Kirsten Ironside, Michael Peters, Paul Heinrich, K.L. Cole, C. Truettner, Cecil R. Schwalbe
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1050
We modeled the current and future breeding ranges of seven bird and five reptile species in the Southwestern United States with sets of landscape, biotic (plant), and climatic global circulation model (GCM) variables. For modeling purposes, we used PRISM data to characterize the climate of the Western United States between 1980...
Parasite-mediated selection drives an immunogenetic tradeoff in plains zebra (Equus quagga)
Pauline L. Kamath, Wendy C. Turner, Martina Kusters, Wayne M. Getz
2014, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (281)
Pathogen evasion of the host immune system is a key force driving extreme polymorphism in genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Although this gene family is well characterized in structure and function, there is still much debate surrounding the mechanisms by which MHC diversity is selectively maintained. Many studies...
Differential invasion success of salmonids in southern Chile: patterns and hypotheses
Ivan Arismendi, Brooke E. Penaluna, Jason B. Dunham, Carlos García de Leaniz, Doris Soto, Ian A. Fleming, Daniel Gomez-Uchidam, Gonzalo Gajardo, Pamela V. Vargas, Jorge Leon-Munoz
2014, Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries
Biological invasions create complex ecological and societal issues worldwide. Most of the knowledge about invasions comes only from successful invaders, but less is known about which processes determine the differential success of invasions. In this review, we develop a framework to identify the main dimensions driving the success and failure...
Viruses as groundwater tracers: using ecohydrology to characterize short travel times in aquifers
Randall J. Hunt, Mark A. Borchardt, Kenneth R. Bradbury
2014, Ground Water (52) 187-193
Viruses are attractive tracers of short (<3 year) travel times in aquifers because they have unique genetic signatures, are detectable in trace quantities, and are mobile in groundwater. Virus “snaphots” result from infection and disappearance in a population over time; therefore, the virus snapshot shed in the fecal wastes of an...
Identifying marine Important Bird Areas using at-sea survey data
Melanie A. Smith, Nathan J. Walker, Christopher M. Free, Matthew J. Kirchhoff, Gary S. Drew, Nils Warnock, Iain J. Stenhouse
2014, Biological Conservation (172) 180-189
Effective marine bird conservation requires identification of at-sea locations used by populations for foraging, staging, and migration. Using an extensive database of at-sea survey data spanning over 30 years, we developed a standardized and data-driven spatial method for identifying globally significant marine Important Bird Areas in Alaska. To delineate these...
Post-release behavior and movement patterns of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) after capture using alternative commercial fish gear, lower Columbia River, Washington and Oregon, 2013
Theresa L. Liedtke, Tobias J. Kock, Scott D. Evans, Gabriel S. Hansen, Dennis W. Rondorf
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1069
Commercial salmon Oncorhynchus spp. fishers traditionally have used gill nets, and more recently tangle nets, to capture adult salmon in the lower Columbia River, Washington and Oregon, but these gear types are not selective and can result in unintentional injury or death to non-target species, which is a problem when...
Simulation of groundwater flow and interaction of groundwater and surface water on the Lac du Flambeau Reservation, Wisconsin
Paul F. Juckem, Michael N. Fienen, Randall J. Hunt
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5020
The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and Indian Health Service are interested in improving the understanding of groundwater flow and groundwater/surface-water interaction on the Lac du Flambeau Reservation (Reservation) in southwest Vilas County and southeast Iron County, Wisconsin, with particular interest in an understanding of the potential...
Groundwater availability in the Crouch Branch and McQueen Branch aquifers, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, 1900-2012
Bruce G. Campbell, James Landmeyer
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5050
Chesterfield County is located in the northeastern part of South Carolina along the southern border of North Carolina and is primarily underlain by unconsolidated sediments of Late Cretaceous age and younger of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Approximately 20 percent of Chesterfield County is in the Piedmont Physiographic Province, and this...
Neotectonics and geomorphic evolution of the northwestern arm of the Yellowstone Tectonic Parabola: Controls on intra-cratonic extensional regimes, southwest Montana
Chester A. Ruleman, Mort Larsen, Michael C. Stickney
2014, Book chapter, Geological Society of America Field Guide 37
The catastrophic Hebgen Lake earthquake of 18 August 1959 (MW 7.3) led many geoscientists to develop new methods to better understand active tectonics in extensional tectonic regimes that address seismic hazards. The Madison Range fault system and adjacent Hebgen Lake–Red Canyon fault system provide an intermountain active tectonic analog for...
Noble gas isotopes in mineral springs within the Cascadia Forearc, Washington and Oregon
Patricia A. McCrory, James E. Constantz, Andrew G. Hunt
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1064
This U.S. Geological Survey report presents laboratory analyses along with field notes for a pilot study to document the relative abundance of noble gases in mineral springs within the Cascadia forearc of Washington and Oregon. Estimates of the depth to the underlying Juan de Fuca oceanic plate beneath the sample...
Groundwater-quality data in seven GAMA study units: results from initial sampling, 2004-2005, and resampling, 2007-2008, of wells: California GAMA Program Priority Basin Project
Robert H. Kent, Kenneth Belitz, Miranda S. Fram
2014, Data Series 795
The Priority Basin Project (PBP) of the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program was developed in response to the Groundwater Quality Monitoring Act of 2001 and is being conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB). The GAMA-PBP began...
Distribution and extent of heavy metal accumulation in Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia), upper Santa Cruz River watershed, southern Arizona, 2011-12
Michael B. Lester, Charles van Riper III
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1072
Riparian ecosystems in arid environments provide critical habitat for breeding, migratory, and wintering birds, yet are often at risk of contamination by heavy metals. Birds and other animals living in contaminated areas are susceptible to adverse health effects as a result of long-term exposure and bioaccumulation of heavy metals. We...
Mercury in the soil of two contrasting watersheds in the eastern United States
Douglas A. Burns, Laurel G. Woodruff, Paul M. Bradley, William F. Cannon
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
Soil represents the largest store of mercury (Hg) in terrestrial ecosystems, and further study of the factors associated with soil Hg storage is needed to address concerns about the magnitude and persistence of global environmental Hg bioaccumulation. To address this need, we compared total Hg and methyl Hg concentrations and...
Testing metapopulation concepts: effects of patch characteristics and neighborhood occupancy on the dynamics of an endangered lagomorph
Mitchell J. Eaton, Phillip T. Hughes, James E. Hines, James D. Nichols
2014, Oikos (123) 662-676
Metapopulation ecology is a field that is richer in theory than in empirical results. Many existing empirical studies use an incidence function approach based on spatial patterns and key assumptions about extinction and colonization rates. Here we recast these assumptions as hypotheses to be tested using 18 years of historic...
Clinal variation or validation of a subspecies? A case study of the Graptemys nigrinoda complex (Testudines: Emydidae)
Joshua R. Ennen, Marley E. Kalis, Adam L. Patterson, Brian R. Kreiser, Jeffrey E. Lovich, James Godwin, Carl P. Qualls
2014, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society (111) 810-822
Widely distributed species often display intraspecific morphological variation due to the abiotic and biotic gradients experienced across their ranges. Historically, in many vertebrate taxa, such as birds and reptiles, these morphological differences within a species were used to delimit subspecies. Graptemys nigrinoda is an aquatic turtle species endemic to the...
Airborne geophysical surveys conducted in western Nebraska, 2010: contractor reports and data
U.S.Geological Survey Crustal Geophysical and Geochemical Science Center
2014, Open-File Report 2013-1268
This report contains three contractor reports and data files for an airborne electromagnetic survey flown from June 28 to July 7, 2010. The first report; “SkyTEM Survey: Nebraska, USA, Data” describes data aquisition and processing from a time-domain electromagnetic and magnetic survey performed by SkyTEM Canada, Inc. (the North American...
Geochronology and correlation of Tertiary volcanic and intrusive rocks in part of the southern Toquima Range, Nye County, Nevada
Daniel R. Shawe, Lawrence W. Snee, Frank M. Byers Jr., Edward A. du Bray
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5206
Extensive volcanic and intrusive igneous activity, partly localized along regional structural zones, characterized the southern Toquima Range, Nevada, in the late Eocene, Oligocene, and Miocene. The general chronology of igneous activity has been defined previously. This major episode of Tertiary magmatism began with emplacement of a variety of intrusive rocks,...
Soils, vegetation, and woody debris data from the 2001 Survey Line fire and a comparable unburned site, Tanana Flats region, Alaska
Kristen L. Manies, Jennifer W. Harden, Teresa N. Holingsworth
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1049
This report describes the collection and processing methodologies for samples obtained at two sites within Interior Alaska: (1) a location within the 2001 Survey Line burn, and (2) an unburned location, selected as a control. In 2002 and 2004 U.S. Geological Survey investigators measured soil properties including, but not limited...
Decadal surface water quality trends under variable climate, land use, and hydrogeochemical setting in Iowa, USA
Christopher T. Green, Barbara A. Bekins, Stephen J. Kalkhoff, Robert M. Hirsch, Lixia Liao, Kimberlee K. Barnes
2014, Water Resources Research (50) 2425-2443
Understanding how nitrogen fluxes respond to changes in agriculture and climate is important for improving water quality. In the midwestern United States, expansion of corn cropping for ethanol production led to increasing N application rates in the 2000s during a period of extreme variability of annual precipitation. To examine the...
Delineation of brine contamination in and near the East Poplar oil field, Fort Peck Indian Reservation, northeastern Montana, 2004-09
Joanna N. Thamke, Bruce D. Smith
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5024
The extent of brine contamination in the shallow aquifers in and near the East Poplar oil field is as much as 17.9 square miles and appears to be present throughout the entire saturated zone in contaminated areas. The brine contamination affects 15–37 billion gallons of groundwater. Brine contamination in the...
Understanding thermodynamic relationships and geochemical mass balances from catchment to coast: A tribute to the life and career of Owen P. Bricker III
Suzanne B. Bricker, Fred T. Mackenzie, Jill Baron, Jason Price
2014, Aquatic Geochemistry (20) 81-86
This special volume of aquatic geochemistry is dedicated to the memory of Owen Peterson Bricker III (1936–2011) and serves as a tribute to his life and career. Owen had a distinguished and productive research career in both academics at Johns Hopkins University (Fig. 1) and as a public servant with...
Featured collection introduction: contaminants of emerging concern II
William A. Battaglin, Alan Kolok
William Battaglin, Alan Kolok, editor(s)
2014, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (50) 261-265
This collection of 13 articles focuses on CECs, and each of the articles highlights a specific aspect of this broad topic. The articles were solicited from researchers who participated in the second summer specialty conference on this topic, organized by the American Water Resources Association. The title of the conference...
Seasonal drift and feeding periodicity during summer of the amphipod, Gammarus psuedolimnaeus
James H. Johnson
2014, Journal of Freshwater Ecology (29)
Downstream drift of aquatic invertebrates is an important ecological process that varies temporally. Seasonal patterns of diel drift and diel feeding periodicity during summer of the amphipod Gammarus pseudolimnaeus were examined in a small stream in central New York. Seasonal trends in drift were similar with peak drift occurring from...
Sedimentary facies of the upper Cambrian (Furongian; Jiangshanian and Sunwaptan) Tunnel City Group, Upper Mississippi Valley: new insight on the old stormy debate
Jennifer D. Eoff
2014, Sedimentary Geology (302) 102-121
New data from detailed measured sections permit a comprehensive revision of the sedimentary facies of the Furongian (upper Cambrian; Jiangshanian and Sunwaptan stages) Tunnel City Group (Lone Rock Formation and Mazomanie Formation) of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Heterogeneous sandstones, comprising seven lithofacies along a depositional transect from shoreface to transitional-offshore environments,...
