Annual exceedance probabilities and trends for peak streamflows and annual runoff volumes for the Central United States during the 2011 floods
Daniel G. Driscoll, Rodney E. Southard, Todd A. Koenig, David A. Bender, Robert R. Holmes Jr.
2014, Professional Paper 1798-D
During 2011, excess precipitation resulted in widespread flooding in the Central United States with 33 fatalities and approximately $4.2 billion in damages reported in the Red River of the North, Souris, and Mississippi River Basins. At different times from late February 2011 through September 2011, various rivers in these basins...
Progress report: baseline monitoring of indicator species (butterflies) at tallgrass prairie restorations
Larry Allain, Malcolm Vidrine
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1044
This project provides baseline data of butterfly populations at two coastal prairie restoration sites in Louisiana, the Duralde Unit of Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge (hereafter, the Duralde site) and the Cajun Prairie Restoration Project in Eunice (hereafter, the Eunice site). In all, four distinct habitat types representing different planting methods...
Comparative population structure of cavity-nesting sea ducks
John M. Pearce, John M. Eadie, Jean-Pierre L. Savard, Thomas K. Christensen, James Berdeen, Eric J. Taylor, Sean Boyd, Arni Einarsson
2014, The Auk (131) 195-207
A growing collection of mtDNA genetic information from waterfowl species across North America suggests that larger-bodied cavity-nesting species exhibit greater levels of population differentiation than smaller-bodied congeners. Although little is known about nest-cavity availability for these species, one hypothesis to explain differences in population structure is reduced dispersal tendency of...
Surface-water and karst groundwater interactions and streamflow-response simulations of the karst-influenced upper Lost River watershed, Orange County, Indiana
E. Randall Bayless, Peter J. Cinotto, Randy L. Ulery, Charles J. Taylor, Gregory K. McCombs, Moon H. Kim, Hugh L. Nelson
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5028
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA), conducted a study of the upper Lost River watershed in Orange County, Indiana, from 2012 to 2013. Streamflow and groundwater data were collected at 10...
How mangrove forests adjust to rising sea level
Ken W. Krauss, Karen L. McKee, Catherine E. Lovelock, Donald R. Cahoon, Neil Saintilan, Ruth Reef, Luzhen Chen
2014, New Phytologist (202) 19-34
Mangroves are among the most well described and widely studied wetland communities in the world. The greatest threats to mangrove persistence are deforestation and other anthropogenic disturbances that can compromise habitat stability and resilience to sea-level rise. To persist, mangrove ecosystems must adjust to rising sea level by building vertically...
Does water chemistry affect the dietary uptake and toxicity of silver nanoparticles by the freshwater snail Lymnaea stagnalis?
Ana Lopez-Serrano Oliver, Marie-Noële Croteau, Tasha L. Stoiber, Mila Tejamaya, Isabella Römer, Jamie R. Lead, Samuel N. Luoma
2014, Environmental Pollution (189) 87-91
Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are widely used in many applications and likely released into the aquatic environment. There is increasing evidence that Ag is efficiently delivered to aquatic organisms from AgNPs after aqueous and dietary exposures. Accumulation of AgNPs through the diet can damage digestion and adversely affect growth. It is...
Future scenarios of impacts to ecosystem services on California rangelands
Kristin Byrd, Pelayo Alvarez, Lorraine Flint, Alan Flint
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3019
The 18 million acres of rangelands in the Central Valley of California provide multiple benefits or “ecosystem services” to people—including wildlife habitat, water supply, open space, recreation, and cultural resources. Most of this land is privately owned and managed for livestock production. These rangelands are vulnerable to land-use conversion and...
Vegetation types in coastal Louisiana in 2013
Charles E. Sasser, Jenneke M. Visser, Edmond Mouton, Jeb Linscombe, Steve B. Hartley
2014, Scientific Investigations Map 3290
During the summer of 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey, Louisiana State University, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Coastal and Nongame Resources Division jointly completed an aerial survey to collect data on 2013 vegetation types in coastal Louisiana. Plant species were listed and...
Ocean-atmosphere forcing of centennial hydroclimatic variability in the Pacific Northwest
Byron A. Steinman, Mark B. Abbott, Michael E. Mann, Joseph D. Ortiz, Song Feng, David P. Pompeani, Nathan D. Stansell, Lesleigh Anderson, Bruce P. Finney, Broxton W. Bird
2014, Geophysical Research Letters (41) 2553-2560
Reconstructing centennial timescale hydroclimate variability during the late Holocene is critically important for understanding large-scale patterns of drought and their relationship with climate dynamics. We present sediment oxygen isotope records spanning the last two millennia from 10 lakes, as well as climate model simulations, indicating that the Little Ice Age...
Accounting for unsearched areas in estimating wind turbine-caused fatality
Manuela M.P. Huso, Dan Dalthorp
2014, Journal of Wildlife Management (78) 347-358
With wind energy production expanding rapidly, concerns about turbine-induced bird and bat fatality have grown and the demand for accurate estimation of fatality is increasing. Estimation typically involves counting carcasses observed below turbines and adjusting counts by estimated detection probabilities. Three primary sources of imperfect detection are 1) carcasses fall...
Assessment of bird response to the Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative using weather-surveillance radar
Mason L. Sieges, Jaclyn A. Smolinsky, Michael J. Baldwin, Wylie C. Barrow, Lori A. Randall, Jeffrey J. Buler
2014, Southeastern Naturalist (13) G36-G65
In response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in spring 2010, the Natural Resources Conservation Service implemented the Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative (MBHI) to provide temporary wetland habitat for migrating and wintering waterfowl, shorebirds, and other birds along the northern Gulf of Mexico via managed flooding of agricultural lands. We...
Herbivores and nutrients control grassland plant diversity via light limitation
Elizabeth T. Borer, Eric W. Seabloom, Daniel S. Gruner, W. Stanley Harpole, Helmut Hillebrand, Eric M. Lind, Peter B. Alder, Juan Alberti, T. Michael Anderson, Jonathan D. Bakker, Lori Biederman, Dana Blumenthal, Cynthia S. Brown, Lars A. Brudvig, Yvonne M. Buckley, Marc Cadotte, Cheng-Jin Chu, Elsa E. Cleland, Michael J. Crawley, Pedro Daleo, Ellen Ingman Damschen, Kendi F. Davies, Nicole M. DeCrappeo, Guozhen Du, Jennifer Firn, Yann Hautier, Robert W. Heckman, Andy Hector, Janneke HilleRisLambers, Oscar Iribarne, Julia A. Klein, Johannes M.H. Knops, Kimberly J. La Pierre, Andrew D.B. Leakey, Wei Li, Andrew S. MacDougall, Rebecca L. McCulley, Brett A. Melbourne, Charles E. Mitchell, Joslin L. Moore, Brent Mortensen, Lydia R. O’Halloran, John L. Orrock, Jesus Pascual, Suzanne M. Prober, David A. Pyke, Anita C. Risch, Martin Schuetz, Melinda D. Smith, Carly J. Stevens, Lauren L. Sullivan, Ryan J. Williams, Peter D. Wragg, Justin P. Wright, Louie H. Yang
2014, Nature (508) 517-520
Human alterations to nutrient cycles and herbivore communities are affecting global biodiversity dramatically. Ecological theory predicts these changes should be strongly counteractive: nutrient addition drives plant species loss through intensified competition for light, whereas herbivores prevent competitive exclusion by increasing ground-level light, particularly in productive systems. Here we use experimental...
Modeling marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) habitat using LiDAR-derived canopy data
Joan C. Hagar, Bianca Eskelson, Patricia K. Haggerty, S. Kim Nelson, David G. Vesely
2014, Wildlife Society Bulletin (38) 237-249
LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) is an emerging remote-sensing tool that can provide fine-scale data describing vertical complexity of vegetation relevant to species that are responsive to forest structure. We used LiDAR data to estimate occupancy probability for the federally threatened marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) in the Oregon Coast Range...
HydroClimATe: hydrologic and climatic analysis toolkit
Jesse E. Dickinson, Randall T. Hanson, Steven K. Predmore
2014, Techniques and Methods 4-A9
The potential consequences of climate variability and climate change have been identified as major issues for the sustainability and availability of the worldwide water resources. Unlike global climate change, climate variability represents deviations from the long-term state of the climate over periods of a few years to several decades. Currently,...
Assessment of sediments in the riverine impoundments of national wildlife refuges in the Souris River Basin, North Dakota
Brian A. Tangen, Murray K. Laubhan, Robert A. Gleason
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5018
Accelerated sedimentation of reservoirs and riverine impoundments is a major concern throughout the United States. Sediments not only fill impoundments and reduce their effective life span, but they can reduce water quality by increasing turbidity and introducing harmful chemical constituents such as heavy metals, toxic elements, and nutrients. U.S. Fish...
Geochronology of plutonic rocks and their tectonic terranes in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, southeast Alaska
David A. Brew, Kathleen E. Tellier, Marvin A. Lanphere, Diane C. Nielsen, James G. Smith, Ronald A. Sonnevil
2014, Professional Paper 1776-E
We have identified six major belts and two nonbelt occurrences of plutonic rocks in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve and characterized them on the basis of geologic mapping, igneous petrology, geochemistry, and isotopic dating. The six plutonic belts and two other occurrences are, from oldest to youngest: (1) Jurassic...
Microbial aggregates within tissues infect a diversity of corals throughout the Indo-Pacific
Thierry M. Work, Greta S. Aeby
2014, Marine Ecology Progress Series (500) 1-9
Coral reefs are highly diverse ecosystems where symbioses play a pivotal role. Corals contain cell-associated microbial aggregates (CAMA), yet little is known about how widespread they are among coral species or the nature of the symbiotic relationship. Using histology, we found CAMA within 24 species of corals from 6 genera...
Water resources of Cameron Parish, Louisiana
Lawrence B. Prakken
2014, Fact Sheet 2013-3076
This fact sheet presents a brief overview of groundwater and surface-water resources in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. Information on the availability, use, and quality of water from groundwater and surface-water sources in the parish is discussed. Previously published reports and data stored in the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water Information System...
Water resources of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
Lawrence B. Prakken, John K. Lovelace
2014, Fact Sheet 2013-3073
This fact sheet presents a brief overview of groundwater and surface-water resources in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. Information on the availability, use, and quality of water from groundwater and surface-water sources in the parish is discussed. Previously published reports and data stored in the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water Information System...
Simulation of groundwater flow in the "1,500-foot" sand and "2,000-foot" sand, with scenarios to mitigate saltwater migration in the "2,000-foot" sand of the Baton Rouge area, Louisiana
Charles E. Heywood, Jason M. Griffith, John K. Lovelace
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5227
Groundwater withdrawals have caused saltwater to encroach into freshwater-bearing aquifers beneath Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Groundwater investigations in the 1960s identified a freshwater-saltwater interface located at the Baton Rouge Fault, across which abrupt changes in water levels occur. Aquifers south of the fault generally contain saltwater, and aquifers north of the...
Floodplain biogeochemical processing of floodwaters in the Atchafalaya River Basin during the Mississippi River flood of 2011
Durelle T. Scott, Richard F. Keim, Brandon L. Edwards, C. Nathan Jones, Daniel E. Kroes
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (119) 537-546
The 2011 flood in the Lower Mississippi resulted in the second highest recorded river flow diverted into the Atchafalaya River Basin (ARB). The higher water levels during the flood peak resulted in high hydrologic connectivity between the Atchafalaya River and floodplain, with up to 50% of the Atchafalaya River water...
ListingAnalyst: A program for analyzing the main output file from MODFLOW
Richard B. Winston, Scott Paulinski
2014, Ground Water (52) 317-321
ListingAnalyst is a Windows® program for viewing the main output file from MODFLOW-2005, MODFLOW-NWT, or MODFLOW-LGR. It organizes and displays large files quickly without using excessive memory. The sections and subsections of the file are displayed in a tree-view control, which allows the user to navigate quickly to desired locations...
Vocal activity as a low cost and scalable index of seabird colony size
Abraham L. Borker, Matthew W. McKown, Joshua T. Ackerman, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Bernie R. Tershy, Donald A. Croll
2014, Conservation Biology (28) 1100-1108
Although wildlife conservation actions have increased globally in number and complexity, the lack of scalable, cost-effective monitoring methods limits adaptive management and the evaluation of conservation efficacy. Automated sensors and computer-aided analyses provide a scalable and increasingly cost-effective tool for conservation monitoring. A key assumption of automated acoustic monitoring of...
Crustal migration of CO2-rich magmatic fluids recorded by tree-ring radiocarbon and seismicity at Mammoth Mountain, CA, USA
Jennifer L. Lewicki, George E. Hilley, David R. Shelly, John C. King, John P. McGeehin, Margaret T. Mangan, William C. Evans
2014, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (390) 52-58
Unrest at Mammoth Mountain over the past several decades, manifest by seismicity, ground deformation, diffuse CO2 emissions, and elevated 3He/4He ratios in fumarolic gases has been driven by the release of CO2-rich fluids from basaltic intrusions in the middle to lower crust. Recent unrest included the occurrence of three lower-crustal...
Mercury in fishes from 21 national parks in the Western United States: inter- and intra-park variation in concentrations and ecological risk
Collin A. Eagles-Smith, James J. Willacker, Colleen M. Flanagan Pritz
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1051
Mercury (Hg) is a global contaminant and human activities have increased atmospheric Hg concentrations 3- to 5-fold during the past 150 years. This increased release into the atmosphere has resulted in elevated loadings to aquatic habitats where biogeochemical processes promote the microbial conversion of inorganic Hg to methylmercury, the bioavailable...
