Environmental factors that influence cyanobacteria and geosmin occurrence in reservoirs
Celeste A. Journey, Karen M. Beaulieu, Paul M. Bradley
2013, Book chapter, Current perspectives in contaminant hydrology and water resources sustainability
Phytoplankton are small to microscopic, free-floating algae that inhabit the open water of freshwater, estuarine, and saltwater systems. In freshwater lake and reservoirs systems, which are the focus of this chapter, phytoplankton communities commonly consist of assemblages of the major taxonomic groups, including green algae, diatoms, dinoflagellates, and cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria...
Preliminary stratigraphy and facies analysis of the Upper Cretaceous Kaguyak Formation, including a brief summary of newly discovered oil stain, upper Alaska Peninsula
Marwan A. Wartes, Paul L. Decker, Richard G. Stanley, Trystan M. Herriott, Kenneth P. Helmold, Robert J. Gillis
2013, Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Preliminary Interpretive Report 2013-1F
The Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys has an ongoing program aimed at evaluating the Mesozoic forearc stratigraphy, structure, and petroleum systems of lower Cook Inlet. Most of our field studies have focused on the Jurassic component of the petroleum system[this report.] However, in late July and early August...
Structural design of Kaohsiung Stadium, Taiwan
Hideyuki Watanabe, Yoshiro Tanno, Masayoshi Nakai, Takashi Ohshima, Akihiro Suguichi, William H. Lee, Jensen Wang
2013, Structural Engineering International (23) 75-79
This paper presents an outline description of the structural design of the main stadium for the World Games held in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, in 2009. Three new design concepts, unseen in previous stadiums, were proposed and realized: “an open stadium”, “an urban park”, and “a spiral continuous form”. Based on...
Integration of bed characteristics, geochemical tracers, current measurements, and numerical modeling for assessing the provenance of beach sand in the San Francisco Bay Coastal System
Patrick L. Barnard, Amy C. Foxgrover, Edwin P.L. Elias, Li H. Erikson, James R. Hein, Mary McGann, Kira Mizell, Robert J. Rosenbauer, Peter W. Swarzenski, Renee K. Takesue, Florence L. Wong, Don Woodrow
2013, Marine Geology (345) 181-206
Over 150 million m3 of sand-sized sediment has disappeared from the central region of the San Francisco Bay Coastal System during the last half century. This enormous loss may reflect numerous anthropogenic influences, such as watershed damming, bay-fill development, aggregate mining, and dredging. The reduction in Bay sediment also appears to be...
Regional contingencies in the relationship between aboveground Bbomass and litter in the world’s grasslands
Lydia R. O’Halloran, Elizabeth T. Borer, Eric W. Seabloom, Andrew S. MacDougall, Elsa E. Cleland, Rebecca L. McCulley, Sarah Hobbie, W. Stan Harpole, Nicole M. DeCrappeo, Cheng-Jin Chu, Jonathan D. Bakker, Kendi F. Davies, Guozhen Du, Jennifer Firn, Nicole Hagenah, Kirsten S. Hofmockel, Johannes M.H. Knops, Wei Li, Brett A. Melbourne, John W. Morgan, John L. Orrock, Suzanne M. Prober, Carly J. Stevens
2013, PLoS ONE (8)
Based on regional-scale studies, aboveground production and litter decomposition are thought to positively covary, because they are driven by shared biotic and climatic factors. Until now we have been unable to test whether production and decomposition are generally coupled across climatically dissimilar regions, because we lacked replicated data collected within...
The effect of coachwhip presence on body size of North American racers suggests competition between these sympatric snakes
David A. Steen, Christopher J.W. McClure, Lora L. Smith, Brian J. Halstead, C. Kenneth Dodd Jr., William B. Sutton, James R. Lee, Danna L. Baxley, W. Jeffrey Humphries, Craig Guyer
2013, Journal of Zoology (289) 86-93
When sympatric species compete, character divergence may help maintain coexistence. Snakes are often found in species-rich assemblages while exploiting similar resources; because snake body size is a relatively plastic trait that determines the range of prey sizes an individual may consume, divergence in body size between sympatric species may arise...
VisTrails SAHM: visualization and workflow management for species habitat modeling
Jeffrey T. Morisette, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Tracy R. Holcombe, Colin B. Talbert, Drew A. Ignizio, Marian Talbert, Claudio Silva, David Koop, Alan Swanson, Nicholas E. Young
2013, Ecography: Pattern and Diversity in Ecology (36) 129-135
The Software for Assisted Habitat Modeling (SAHM) has been created to both expedite habitat modeling and help maintain a record of the various input data, pre- and post-processing steps and modeling options incorporated in the construction of a species distribution model through the established workflow management and visualization VisTrails software....
Intercontinental dispersal of bacteria and archaea by transpacific winds
D. Smith, H. Timonen, D. Jaffe, Dale W. Griffin, M. Birmele, K.D. Perry, P.D. Ward, M. Roberts
2013, Applied and Environmental Microbiology (79) 1134-1139
Microorganisms are abundant in the upper atmosphere, particularly downwind of arid regions, where winds can mobilize large amounts of topsoil and dust. However, the challenge of collecting samples from the upper atmosphere and reliance upon culture-based characterization methods have prevented a comprehensive understanding of globally dispersed airborne microbes. In spring...
Valuing morbidity from wildfire smoke exposure: a comparison of revealed and stated preference techniques
Leslie Richardson, John B. Loomis, Patricia A. Champ
2013, Land Economics (89) 76-100
Estimating the economic benefits of reduced health damages due to improvements in environmental quality continues to challenge economists. We review welfare measures associated with reduced wildfire smoke exposure, and a unique dataset from California’s Station Fire of 2009 allows for a comparison of cost of illness (COI) estimates with willingness...
Consumption of freshwater bivalves by muskrats in the Green River, Kentucky
Kimberly Asmus Hersey, Joseph D. Clark, James B. Layzer
2013, American Midland Naturalist (170) 248-259
Muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) are known to prey on freshwater bivalves (mussels and clams) and can negatively impact imperiled mussel species. However, factors that influence muskrat predation on bivalves are poorly understood. We evaluated the feeding ecology of muskrats in the Green River, Kentucky, by using stable isotope analysis of muskrat...
Monitoring the status of forests and rangelands in the Western United States using ecosystem performance anomalies
Matthew B. Rigge, Bruce Wylie, Yingxin Gu, Jayne Belnap, Khem P. Phuyal, Larry Tieszen
2013, International Journal of Remote Sensing (34) 4049-4068
The effects of land management and disturbance on ecosystem performance (i.e. biomass production) are often confounded by those of weather and site potential. The current study overcomes this issue by calculating the difference between actual and expected ecosystem performance (EEP) to generate ecosystem performance anomalies (EPA). This study aims to...
Volatile fluxes through the Big Bend section of the San Andreas Fault, California: helium and carbon-dioxide systematics
Justin T. Kulongoski, David R. Hilton, Peter H. Barry, Bradley K. Esser, Darren Hillegonds, Kenneth Belitz
2013, Chemical Geology (339) 92-102
To investigate the source of volatiles and their relationship to the San Andreas Fault System (SAFS), 18 groundwater samples were collected from wells near the Big Bend section of the SAFS in southern California and analyzed for helium and carbon abundance and isotopes. Concentrations of 4He, corrected for air-bubble entrainment,...
Temporal and spatial distribution of alteration, mineralization and fluid inclusions in the transitional high-sulfidation epithermal-porphyry copper system at Red Mountain, Arizona
Pilar Lecumberri-Sanchez, M. Claiborne Newton III, Erik C. Westman, Robert J. Kamilli, Vertrees M. Canby, Robert J. Bodnar
2013, Journal of Geochemical Exploration (125) 80-93
Red Mountain, Arizona, is a Laramide porphyry Cu system (PCD) that has experienced only a modest level of erosion compared to most other similar deposits in the southwestern United States. As a result, the upper portion of the magmatic–hydrothermal system, which represents the transition from shallower high-sulfidation epithermal mineralization to...
Limitation and facilitation of one of the world's most invasive fish: an intercontinental comparison
Phaedra E. Budy, Gary P. Thiede, Javier Lobon-Cervia, Gustavo Gonzolez Fernandez, Peter McHugh, Angus McIntosh, Lief Asbjorn Vollestad, Eloy Becares, Phillip Jellyman
2013, Ecology (94) 356-367
Purposeful species introductions offer opportunities to inform our understanding of both invasion success and conservation hurdles. We evaluated factors determining the energetic limitations of brown trout (Salmo trutta) in both their native and introduced ranges. Our focus was on brown trout because they are nearly globally distributed, considered one of...
You're standing on it! Coal-tar-based pavement sealcoat and environmental and human health
Barbara Mahler, Peter C. Van Metre
2013, APWA Reporter 64-66
Coal-tar-based sealcoat—a product marketed to protect and beautify asphalt pavement—is a potent source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to air, soils, streams and lakes, and homes. Does its use present a risk to human health? Results from a new study by researchers from Baylor University and the...
Identification of contamination in a lake sediment core using Hg and Pb isotopic compositions, Lake Ballinger, Washington, USA
John E. Gray, Michael J. Pribil, Peter C. Van Metre, David M. Borrok, Anita Thapalia
2013, Applied Geochemistry (29) 1-12
Concentrations and isotopic compositions of Hg and Pb were measured in a sediment core collected from Lake Ballinger, near Seattle, Washington, USA. Lake Ballinger has been affected by input of metal contaminants emitted from the Tacoma smelter, which operated from 1887 to 1986 and was located about 53 km south...
Frequency and Severity of Trauma in Fishes Subjected to Multiple-pass Depletion Electrofishing
Frank Panek, Christine L. Densmore
2013, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (33) 178-185
The incidence and severity of trauma associated with multiple-pass electrofishing and the effects on short-term (30-d) survival and growth of Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis, and five representative co-inhabiting nontarget or bycatch species were examined. Fish were held in four rectangular fiberglass tanks (190 × 66 cm)...
A preliminary deposit model for lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites
Dwight Bradley, Andrew McCauley
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1008
This report is part of an effort by the U.S. Geological Survey to update existing mineral deposit models and to develop new ones. We emphasize practical aspects of pegmatite geology that might directly or indirectly help in exploration for lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites, or for assessing regions for pegmatite-related mineral resource...
Mapping river bathymetry with a small footprint green LiDAR: Applications and challenges
Paul J. Kinzel, Carl J. Legleiter, Jonathan M. Nelson
2013, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (49) 183-204
Airborne bathymetric Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) systems designed for coastal and marine surveys are increasingly sought after for high-resolution mapping of fluvial systems. To evaluate the potential utility of bathymetric LiDAR for applications of this kind, we compared detailed surveys collected using wading and sonar techniques with measurements from...
Crowdsourcing to Acquire Hydrologic Data and Engage Citizen Scientists: CrowdHydrology
Michael N. Fienen, Chris Lowry
2013, Ground Water (51) 151-156
Spatially and temporally distributed measurements of processes, such as baseflow at the watershed scale, come at substantial equipment and personnel cost. Research presented here focuses on building a crowdsourced database of inexpensive distributed stream stage measurements. Signs on staff gauges encourage citizen scientists to voluntarily send hydrologic measurements (e.g., stream...
Present weather and climate: evolving conditions
Martin P Hoerling, Michael Dettinger, Klaus Wolter, Jeff Lukas, Jon K. Eischeid, Rama Nemani, Brant Liebmann, Kenneth E. Kunkel
2013, Book chapter, Assessment of climate change in southwest United States: a report prepared for the National Climate Assessment
This chapter assesses weather and climate variability and trends in the Southwest, using observed climate and paleoclimate records. It analyzes the last 100 years of climate variability in comparison to the last 1,000 years, and links the important features of evolving climate conditions to river flow variability in four of...
Observations on the identification of larval and juvenile Scaphirhynchus spp. in the lower Mississippi River
Paul D. Hartfield, Nathan M. Kuntz, Harold L. Schramm Jr.
2013, Southeastern Naturalist (12) 251-266
Scaphirhynchus albus (Pallid Sturgeon) and S. platorynchus (Shovelnose Sturgeon) are sympatric and not uncommon in the lower Mississippi River from the confluence of the Ohio River to the Gulf of Mexico, and in its distributary, the Atchafalaya River. Reports of sturgeon larvae have been rare in the Mississippi River but have been increasing...
Working with strainmeter data
Kathleen M. Hodgkinson, Duncan Agnew, Evelyn A. Roeloffs
2013, Eos, Earth and Space Science News (94) 91-91
The Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO), the geodetic component of the U.S. National Science Foundation–funded Earthscope program, includes 75 borehole and 6 laser strainmeters (http://pbo.unavco.org). The strainmeters are installed at several locations: on the Cascadia forearc in Washington state and on Vancouver Island,...
Mapping grassland productivity with 250-m eMODIS NDVI and SSURGO database over the Greater Platte River Basin, USA
Yingxin Gu, Bruce K. Wylie, Norman B. Bliss
2013, Ecological Indicators (24) 31-36
This study assessed and described a relationship between satellite-derived growing season averaged Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and annual productivity for grasslands within the Greater Platte River Basin (GPRB) of the United States. We compared growing season averaged NDVI (GSN) with Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) database rangeland productivity and flux...
Plausible combinations: An improved method to evaluate the covariate structure of Cormack-Jolly-Seber mark-recapture models
Jeffrey F. Bromaghin, Trent L. McDonald, Steven C. Amstrup
2013, Open Journal Of Ecology (3) 11-22
Mark-recapture models are extensively used in quantitative population ecology, providing estimates of population vital rates, such as survival, that are difficult to obtain using other methods. Vital rates are commonly modeled as functions of explanatory covariates, adding considerable flexibility to mark-recapture models, but also increasing the subjectivity and complexity of...
