From headwaters to coast: Influence of human activities on water quality of the Potomac River Estuary
Suzanne B. Bricker, Karen C. Rice, Owen P. Bricker III
2014, Aquatic Geochemistry (20) 291-323
The natural aging process of Chesapeake Bay and its tributary estuaries has been accelerated by human activities around the shoreline and within the watershed, increasing sediment and nutrient loads delivered to the bay. Riverine nutrients cause algal growth in the bay leading to reductions in light penetration with consequent declines...
Groundwater studies: principal aquifer surveys
Karen R. Burow, Kenneth Belitz
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3024
In 1991, the U.S. Congress established the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to develop nationally consistent long-term datasets and provide information about the quality of the Nation’s streams and groundwater. The USGS uses objective and reliable data, water-quality models, and systematic scientific studies to...
The impacts of recent permafrost thaw on land-atmosphere greenhouse gas exchange
Daniel J. Hayes, David W. Kicklighter, A. David McGuire, Min Chen, Qianlai Zhuang, Fengming Yuan, Jerry M. Melillo, Stan D. Wullschleger
2014, Environmental Research Letters (9)
Permafrost thaw and the subsequent mobilization of carbon (C) stored in previously frozen soil organic matter (SOM) have the potential to be a strong positive feedback to climate. As the northern permafrost region experiences as much as a doubling of the rate of warming as the rest of the Earth,...
Decision support system development at the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Timothy J. Fox, J. C. Nelson, Jason J. Rohweder
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3021
A Decision Support System (DSS) can be defined in many ways. The working definition used by the U.S. Geological Survey Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) is, “A spatially based computer application or data that assists a researcher or manager in making decisions.” This is quite a broad definition—and it...
Water use characteristics of black mangrove (Avicennia germinans) communities along an ecotone with marsh at a northern geographical limit
Ken W. Krauss, Karen L. McKee, Mark W. Hester
2014, Ecohydrology (7) 354-365
Mangroves are expanding into warm temperate-zone salt marsh communities in several locations globally. Although scientists have discovered that expansion might have modest effects on ecosystem functioning, water use characteristics have not been assessed relative to this transition. We measured early growing season sapflow (Js) and leaf transpiration (Tr) in Avicennia...
Accuracy of aging ducks in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Waterfowl Parts Collection Survey
Aaron T. Pearse, Douglas H. Johnson, Kenneth D. Richkus, Frank C. Rohwer, Robert R. Cox Jr., Paul I. Padding
2014, Wildlife Society Bulletin (38) 26-32
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducts an annual Waterfowl Parts Collection Survey to estimate composition of harvested waterfowl by species, sex, and age (i.e., juv or ad). The survey relies on interpretation of duck wings by a group of experienced biologists at annual meetings (hereafter, flyway wingbees). Our objectives...
Laharz_py: GIS tools for automated mapping of lahar inundation hazard zones
Steve P. Schilling
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1073
Laharz_py is written in the Python programming language as a suite of tools for use in ArcMap Geographic Information System (GIS). Primarily, Laharz_py is a computational model that uses statistical descriptions of areas inundated by past mass-flow events to forecast areas likely to be inundated by hypothetical future events. The...
Assessment of potential shale oil and tight sandstone gas resources of the Assam, Bombay, Cauvery, and Krishna-Godavari Provinces, India, 2013
Timothy R. Klett, Christopher J. Schenk, Craig J. Wandrey, Michael E. Brownfield, Ronald R. Charpentier, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Donald L. Gautier
2014, Fact Sheet 2013-3113
Using a well performance-based geologic assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a technically recoverable mean volume of 62 million barrels of oil in shale oil reservoirs, and more than 3,700 billion cubic feet of gas in tight sandstone gas reservoirs in the Bombay and Krishna-Godavari Provinces of India. The...
A brief test of the Hewlett-Packard MEMS seismic accelerometer
Brian D. Homeijer, Donald J. Milligan, Charles R. Hutt
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1047
Testing was performed on a prototype of Hewlett-Packard (HP) Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) seismic accelerometer at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory. This prototype was built using discrete electronic components. The self-noise level was measured during low seismic background conditions and found to be 9.8 ng/√Hz at periods below 0.2...
Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) resource selection in the northern Bering Sea
Chadwick V. Jay, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, Anthony S. Fischbach, Trent L. McDonald, Lee W. Cooper, Fawn Hornsby
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
The Pacific walrus is a large benthivore with an annual range extending across the continental shelves of the Bering and Chukchi Seas. We used a discrete choice model to estimate site selection by adult radio-tagged walruses relative to the availability of the caloric biomass of benthic infauna and sea ice...
Land-use threats and protected areas: a scenario-based, landscape level approach
Tamara S. Wilson, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Rachel R. Sleeter, Christopher E. Soulard
2014, Land (3) 362-389
Anthropogenic land use will likely present a greater challenge to biodiversity than climate change this century in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Even if species are equipped with the adaptive capacity to migrate in the face of a changing climate, they will likely encounter a human-dominated landscape as a major dispersal...
Adverse moisture events predict seasonal abundance of Lyme disease vector ticks (Ixodes scapularis)
Kathryn A. Berger, Howard S. Ginsberg, Katherine D. Dugas, Lutz H. Hamel, Thomas N. Mather
2014, Parasites & Vectors (7)
Background: Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most commonly reported vector-borne disease in north temperate regions worldwide, affecting an estimated 300,000 people annually in the United States alone. The incidence of LB is correlated with human exposure to its vector, the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis). To date, attempts to model tick...
Statistics for stochastic modeling of volume reduction, hydrograph extension, and water-quality treatment by structural stormwater runoff best management practices (BMPs)
Gregory E. Granato
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5037
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM) in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to indicate the risk for stormwater concentrations, flows, and loads to be above user-selected water-quality goals and the potential effectiveness of mitigation measures to reduce such risks. SELDM...
Serologic evidence of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus in northern sea otters
Zhu-Nan Li, S. Ip, Jessica F. Frost, C. LeAnn White, Michael J. Murray, Paul J. Carney, Xiang-Jie Sun, James Stevens, Min Z. Levine, Jacqueline M. Katz
2014, Emerging Infectious Diseases (20)
Sporadic epizootics of pneumonia among marine mammals have been associated with multiple animal-origin influenza A virus subtypes (1–6); seals are the only known nonhuman host for influenza B viruses (7). Recently, we reported serologic evidence of influenza A virus infection in free-ranging northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) captured off...
Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources: Denver Basin, Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska
Ronald M. Drake II, Sean T. Brennan, Jacob A. Covault, Madalyn S. Blondes, P.A. Freeman, Steven M. Cahan, Christina A. DeVera, Celeste D. Lohr
2014, Open-File Report 2012-1024-G
This is a report about the geologic characteristics of five storage assessment units (SAUs) within the Denver Basin of Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska. These SAUs are Cretaceous in age and include (1) the Plainview and Lytle Formations, (2) the Muddy Sandstone, (3) the Greenhorn Limestone, (4) the Niobrara Formation and...
Polychlorinated biphenyl concentrations of burbot Lota lota from Great Slave Lake are very low but vary by sex
Charles P. Madenjian, Martin A. Stapanian, Peter A. Cott, Richard R. Rediske, James P. O'Keefe
2014, Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (66) 529-537
Total polychlorinated biphenyl concentrations (ΣPCBs) in whole fish were determined for 18 ripe female burbot Lota lota and 14 ripe male burbot from Great Slave Lake, a lake with no known point sources of PCBs. In addition, ΣPCBs were determined both in the somatic tissue and in the gonads...
Fathead minnow and bluegill sunfish life-stage responses to 17β-estradiol exposure in outdoor mesocosms
Sarah M. Elliott, Richard L. Kiesling, Zachary G. Jorgenson, Daniel C. Rearick, Heiko L. Schoenfuss, Kim T. Fredricks, Mark P. Gaikowski
2014, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (50) 376-387
Developmental and reproductive effects of 17β-estradiol (E2) exposure on two generations of fathead minnows and one generation of bluegill sunfish were assessed. Fish were exposed to E2 for six continuous weeks in outdoor mesocosms simulating natural lake environments. First generation fish were exposed while sexually mature. Second generation fathead minnows...
Blood lead concentrations in Alaskan tundra swans: linking breeding and wintering areas with satellite telemetry
Craig R. Ely, Christian Franson
2014, Ecotoxicology (23) 349-356
Tundra swans (Cygnus columbianus) like many waterfowl species are susceptible to lead (Pb) poisoning, and Pb-induced mortality has been reported from many areas of their wintering range. Little is known however about Pb levels throughout the annual cycle of tundra swans, especially during summer when birds are on remote northern...
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...
