Monitoring recharge in areas of seasonally frozen ground in the Columbia Plateau and Snake River Plain, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington
Mark Mastin, Edward Josberger
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5083
Seasonally frozen ground occurs over approximately one‑third of the contiguous United States, causing increased winter runoff. Frozen ground generally rejects potential groundwater recharge. Nearly all recharge from precipitation in semi-arid regions such as the Columbia Plateau and the Snake River Plain in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, occurs between October and...
Investigation of methods for successful installation and operation of Juvenile Salmon Acoustic Telemetry System (JSATS) hydrophones in the Willamette River, Oregon, 2012
Gary L. Rutz, Matthew D. Sholtis, Noah S. Adams, John W. Beeman
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1112
Acoustic telemetry equipment was installed at three sites in the Willamette River during October 2012 to test the effectiveness of using the Juvenile Salmon Acoustic Telemetry System to monitor the movements of fish in a high-flow, high-velocity riverine environment. Hydrophones installed on concrete blocks were placed on the bottom of...
Alexandrium fundyense cysts in the Gulf of Maine: long-term time series of abundance and distribution, and linkages to past and future blooms
Donald M. Anderson, Bruce A. Keafer, Judith L. Kleindinst, Dennis J. McGillicuddy Jr., Jennifer L. Martin, Kerry Norton, Cynthia H. Pilskaln, Juliette L. Smith, Christopher R. Sherwood, Bradford Butman
2014, Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography (103) 6-26
Here we document Alexandrium fundyense cyst abundance and distribution patterns over nine years (1997 and 2004–2011) in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Maine (GOM) and identify linkages between those patterns and several metrics of the severity or magnitude of blooms occurring before and after each autumn cyst survey....
Controls of vegetation structure and net primary production in restored grasslands
Seth M. Munson, William K. Lauenroth
2014, Journal of Applied Ecology (51) 988-996
1. Vegetation structure and net primary production (NPP) are fundamental properties of ecosystems. Understanding how restoration practices following disturbance interact with environmental factors to control these properties can provide insight on how ecosystems recover and guide management efforts. 2. We assessed the relative contribution of environmental and restoration factors in...
Aggression and coexistence in female caribou
Floyd W. Weckerly, Mark A. Ricca
2014, Arctic (67) 189-195
Female caribou (Rangifer tarandus) are highly gregarious, yet there has been little study of the behavioral mechanisms that foster coexistence. Quantifying patterns of aggression between male and female, particularly in the only cervid taxa where both sexes grow antlers, should provide insight into these mechanisms. We asked if patterns of...
Topographic lidar survey of the Alabama, Mississippi, and Southeast Louisiana Barrier Islands, from September 5 to October 11, 2012
Kristy K. Guy, Kara S. Doran, Hilary F. Stockdon, Nathaniel G. Plant
2014, Data Series 839
This Data Series Report contains lidar elevation data collected from September 5 to October 11, 2012, for the barrier islands of Alabama, Mississippi and southeast Louisiana, including the coast near Port Fourchon. Most of the data were collected September 5–10, 2012, with a reflight conducted on October 11, 2012, to...
Topographic lidar survey of the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, February 6, 2012
Kristy K. Guy, Nathaniel G. Plant, Jamie M. Bonisteel-Cormier
2014, Data Series 840
This Data Series Report contains lidar elevation data collected February 6, 2012, for Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana. Point cloud data in lidar data exchange format (LAS) and bare earth digital elevation models (DEMs) in ERDAS Imagine raster format (IMG) are available as downloadable files. The point cloud data—data points described in...
Topographic lidar survey of Dauphin Island, Alabama and Chandeleur, Stake, Grand Gosier and Breton Islands, Louisiana, July 12-14, 2013
Kristy K. Guy, Nathaniel G. Plant
2014, Data Series 838
This Data Series Report contains lidar elevation data collected on July 12 and 14, 2013, for Dauphin Island, Alabama, and Chandeleur, Stake, Grand Gosier and Breton Islands, Louisiana. Classified point cloud data—data points described in three dimensions—in lidar data exchange format (LAS) and bare earth digital elevation models (DEMs) in...
Brine contamination to aquatic resources from oil and gas development in the Williston Basin, United States
Tara L. Chesley-Preston, James L. Coleman, Robert A. Gleason, Seth S. Haines, Karen E. Jenni, Timothy L. Nieman, Zell E. Peterman, Max Post van der Burg, Todd M. Preston, Bruce D. Smith, Brian A. Tangen, Joanna N. Thamke
Robert A. Gleason, Brian A. Tangen, editor(s)
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5017
The Williston Basin, which includes parts of Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota in the United States and the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada, has been a leading domestic oil and gas producing region for more than one-half a century. Currently, there are renewed efforts to develop oil...
Demography of a reintroduced population: moving toward management models for an endangered species, the whooping crane
Sabrina Servanty, Sarah J. Converse, Larissa L. Bailey
2014, Ecological Applications (24) 927-937
The reintroduction of threatened and endangered species is now a common method for reestablishing populations. Typically, a fundamental objective of reintroduction is to establish a self-sustaining population. Estimation of demographic parameters in reintroduced populations is critical, as these estimates serve multiple purposes. First, they support evaluation of progress toward the...
A screening tool for delineating subregions of steady recharge within groundwater models
Jesse E. Dickinson, T.P.A. Ferre, Mark Bakker, Becky Crompton
2014, Vadose Zone Journal (13)
We have developed a screening method for simplifying groundwater models by delineating areas within the domain that can be represented using steady-state groundwater recharge. The screening method is based on an analytical solution for the damping of sinusoidal infiltration variations in homogeneous soils in the vadose zone. The damping depth...
Compilation of gallium resource data for bauxite deposits
Ruth F. Schulte, Nora K. Foley
2014, Open-File Report 2013-1272
Gallium (Ga) concentrations for bauxite deposits worldwide have been compiled from the literature to provide a basis for research regarding the occurrence and distribution of Ga worldwide, as well as between types of bauxite deposits. In addition, this report is an attempt to bring together reported Ga concentration data into...
Hurricane Sandy: observations and analysis of coastal change
Kristin L. Sopkin, Hilary F. Stockdon, Kara S. Doran, Nathaniel G. Plant, Karen L.M. Morgan, Kristy K. Guy, Kathryn E. L. Smith
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1088
Hurricane Sandy, the largest Atlantic hurricane on record, made landfall on October 29, 2012, and impacted a long swath of the U.S. Atlantic coastline. The barrier islands were breached in a number of places and beach and dune erosion occurred along most of the Mid-Atlantic coast. As a part of...
Spatial and stratigraphic distribution of water in oil shale of the Green River Formation using Fischer assay, Piceance Basin, northwestern Colorado
Ronald C. Johnson, Tracey J. Mercier, Michael E. Brownfield
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5241
The spatial and stratigraphic distribution of water in oil shale of the Eocene Green River Formation in the Piceance Basin of northwestern Colorado was studied in detail using some 321,000 Fischer assay analyses in the U.S. Geological Survey oil-shale database. The oil-shale section was subdivided into 17 roughly time-stratigraphic intervals,...
The carbon cycle and hurricanes in the United States between 1900 and 2011
Devendra Dahal, Shu-Guang Liu, Jennifer Oeding
2014, Scientific Reports (4)
Hurricanes cause severe impacts on forest ecosystems in the United States. These events can substantially alter the carbon biogeochemical cycle at local to regional scales. We selected all tropical storms and more severe events that made U.S. landfall between 1900 and 2011 and used hurricane best track database, a meteorological...
Occurrence and hydrogeochemistry of radiochemical constituents in groundwater of Jefferson County and surrounding areas, southwestern Montana, 2007 through 2010
Rodney R. Caldwell, David A. Nimick, Rainie M. DeVaney
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5235
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Jefferson County and the Jefferson Valley Conservation District, sampled groundwater in southwestern Montana to evaluate the occurrence and concentration of naturally-occurring radioactive constituents and to identify geologic settings and environmental conditions in which elevated concentrations occur. A total of 168 samples were collected...
Evaluation of seepage and discharge uncertainty in the middle Snake River, southwestern Idaho
Molly S. Wood, Marshall L. Williams, David M. Evetts, Peter J. Vidmar
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5091
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the State of Idaho, Idaho Power Company, and the Idaho Department of Water Resources, evaluated seasonal seepage gains and losses in selected reaches of the middle Snake River, Idaho, during November 2012 and July 2013, and uncertainty in measured and computed discharge at...
Muskie lunacy: does the lunar cycle influence angler catch of muskellunge (Esox masquinongy)?
Mark R. Vinson, Ted R. Angradi
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
We analyzed angling catch records for 341,959 muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) from North America to test for a cyclic lunar influence on the catch. Using periodic regression, we showed that the number caught was strongly related to the 29-day lunar cycle, and the effect was consistent across most fisheries. More muskellunge...
Ecological factors affecting Rainbow Smelt recruitment in the main basin of Lake Huron, 1976-2010
Timothy P. O’Brien, William W. Taylor, Edward F. Roseman, Charles P. Madenjian, Stephen C. Riley
2014, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (143) 784-795
Rainbow Smelt Osmerus mordax are native to northeastern Atlantic and Pacific–Arctic drainages and have been widely introduced throughout North America. In the Great Lakes region, Rainbow Smelt are known predators and competitors of native fish and a primary prey species in pelagic food webs. Despite their widespread distribution, importance as...
Soil, plant, and terrain effects on natural perchlorate distribution in a desert landscape
Brian J. Andraski, W.A. Jackson, Toby L. Welborn, John Karl Böhlke, Ritesh Sevanthi, David A. Stonestrom
2014, Journal of Environmental Quality (43) 980-994
Perchlorate (ClO4−) is a contaminant that occurs naturally throughout the world, but little is known about its distribution and interactions in terrestrial ecosystems. The objectives of this Amargosa Desert, Nevada study were to determine (i) the local-scale distribution of shallow-soil (0–30 cm) ClO4− with respect to shrub proximity (far and...
Burrowing mayfly populations in Chequamegon Bay, Wisconsin: 2002 and 2012
Kristin M. Brunk, Mark R. Vinson, Derek H. Ogle, Lori M. Evrard
2014, Journal of Freshwater Ecology (29) 337-344
Burrowing mayflies (Ephemeroptera: Ephemeridae) are sensitive to pollution and have been used as environmental indicators in the Great Lakes. Hexagenia limbata and Ephemera simulans population abundance and biomass estimates from Chequamegon Bay, Lake Superior, were compared between the years 2002 and 2012 as well as inside and outside the Northern...
Remote sensing of land surface phenology
G.A. Meier, Jesslyn F. Brown
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3052
Remote sensing of land-surface phenology is an important method for studying the patterns of plant and animal growth cycles. Phenological events are sensitive to climate variation; therefore phenology data provide important baseline information documenting trends in ecology and detecting the impacts of climate change on multiple scales. The USGS Remote...
Transmissivity and storage coefficient estimates from slug tests, Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey
Alex R. Fiore
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1020
Slug tests were conducted on 56 observation wells open to bedrock at the former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) in West Trenton, New Jersey. Aquifer transmissivity (T) and storage coefficient (S) values for most wells were estimated from slug-test data using the Cooper-Bredehoeft-Papadopulos method. Test data from three wells exhibited...
Fifteen-year patterns of soil carbon and nitrogen following biomass harvesting
Valerie J. Kurth, Anthony W. D’Amato, Brian J. Palik, John B. Bradford
2014, Soil Science Society of America Journal (78) 624-633
The substitution of forest-derived woody biofuels for fossil fuel energy has garnered increasing attention in recent years, but information regarding the mid- and long-term effects on soil productivity is limited. We investigated 15-yr temporal trends in forest floor and mineral soil (0–30 cm) C and N pools in response to...
Ecohydrology of adjacent sagebrush and lodgepole pine ecosystems: the consequences of climate change and disturbance
John B. Bradford, Daniel R. Schlaepfer, William K. Lauenroth
2014, Ecosystems (17) 590-605
Sagebrush steppe and lodgepole pine forests are two of the most widespread vegetation types in the western United States and they play crucial roles in the hydrologic cycle of these water-limited regions. We used a process-based ecosystem water model to characterize the potential impact of climate change and disturbance (wildfire...
