Estimated sediment thickness, quality, and toxicity to benthic organisms in selected impoundments in Massachusetts
Robert F. Breault, Jason R. Sorenson, Peter K. Weiskel
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5191
The U.S. Geological Survey and the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, Division of Ecological Restoration, collaborated to collect baseline information on the quantity and quality of sediment impounded behind selected dams in Massachusetts, including sediment thickness and the occurrence of contaminants potentially toxic to benthic organisms. The thicknesses of...
The conservation status of the world’s reptiles
Monika Böhm, Robert P. Reynolds, and others
2013, Biological Conservation (157) 372-385
Effective and targeted conservation action requires detailed information about species, their distribution, systematics and ecology as well as the distribution of threat processes which affect them. Knowledge of reptilian diversity remains surprisingly disparate, and innovative means of gaining rapid insight into the status of reptiles are needed in order to...
Application of sediment characteristics and transport conditions to resource management in selected main-stem reaches of the Upper Colorado River, Colorado and Utah, 1965-2007
Cory A. Williams, Keelin R. Schaffrath, John G. Elliott, Rodney J. Richards
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5195
The Colorado River Basin provides habitat for 14 native fish, including 4 endangered species protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973. These endangered fish species once thrived in the Colorado River system, but water-resource development, including the building of numerous diversion dams and several large reservoirs, and the...
Sampling efficiency of the Moore egg collector
Thomas A. Worthington, Shannon K. Brewer, Timothy B. Grabowski, Julia Mueller
2013, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (33) 79-88
Quantitative studies focusing on the collection of semibuoyant fish eggs, which are associated with a pelagic broadcast-spawning reproductive strategy, are often conducted to evaluate reproductive success. Many of the fishes in this reproductive guild have suffered significant reductions in range and abundance. However, the efficiency of the sampling gear used...
Summary and interpretation of discrete and continuous water-quality monitoring data, Mattawoman Creek, Charles County, Maryland, 2000-11
Jeffrey G. Chanat, Cherie V. Miller, Joseph M. Bell, Brenda Feit Majedi, David P. Brower
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5265
Discrete samples and continuous (15-minute interval) water-quality data were collected at Mattawoman Creek (U.S. Geological Survey station number 01658000) from October 2000 through January 2011, in cooperation with the Charles County (Maryland) Department of Planning and Growth Management, the Maryland Department of the Environment, and the Maryland Geological Survey. Mattawoman...
Accuracy assessment of NLCD 2006 land cover and impervious surface
James D. Wickham, Stephen V. Stehman, Leila Gass, Jon Dewitz, Joyce A. Fry, Timothy G. Wade
2013, Remote Sensing of Environment (130) 294-304
Release of NLCD 2006 provides the first wall-to-wall land-cover change database for the conterminous United States from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data. Accuracy assessment of NLCD 2006 focused on four primary products: 2001 land cover, 2006 land cover, land-cover change between 2001 and 2006, and impervious surface change between 2001...
Movement mysteries unveiled: spatial ecology of juvenile green sea turtles
Donna J. Shaver, Kristen M. Hart, Ikuko Fujisaki, Cynthia Rubio, Autumn R. Sartain-Iverson
William I. Lutterschmidt, editor(s)
2013, Book chapter, Reptiles in research: investigations of ecology, physiology, and behavior from desert to sea
Locations of important foraging areas are not well defined for many marine species. Unraveling these mysteries is vital to develop conservation strategies for these species, many of which are threatened or endangered. Satellite-tracking is a tool that can reveal movement patterns at both broad and fine spatial scales, in all...
Book review: Gyrfalcons and Ptarmigan in a changing world
Charles J. Henny
2013, Journal of Raptor Research (47) 83-86
The Peregrine Fund has published proceedings of several conferences over the years and has become experts, and this 2 volume set is no exception. The title of the proceedings sounded especially interesting in this era of almost daily accounts in the media about climate change, its causes and its effects...
Final report and archive of the swath bathymetry and ancillary data collected in the Puerto Rico Trench region in 2002 and 2003
Uri S. ten Brink, William W. Danforth, Christopher F. Polloni
2013, Open-File Report 2006-1210
In 2002 and 2003, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), conducted three exploration cruises that mapped for the first time the morphology of the entire tectonic plate boundary stretching from the Dominican Republic in the west to the Lesser Antilles in...
Avoiding The Inevitable? Capacity Loss From Reservoir Sedimentation
John R. Gray, Timothy J. Randle, Kent L. Collins
2013, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union (94) 4-4
The inexorable loss of capacity of the nation's reservoirs—sooner or later threatening water supplies for municipal, agricultural, and industrial uses—is but one of a number of deleterious effects wrought by sediment deposition. Trapped sediments can also damage or bury dam outlets, water intakes, and related infrastructure. Downstream effects of sediment...
Predicting thermal reference conditions for USA streams and rivers
Ryan A. Hill, Charles P. Hawkins, Daren M. Carlisle
2013, Freshwater Science (32) 39-55
Temperature is a primary driver of the structure and function of stream ecosystems. However, the lack of stream temperature (ST) data for the vast majority of streams and rivers severely compromises our ability to describe patterns of thermal variation among streams, test hypotheses regarding the effects of temperature on macroecological...
Approaches in highly parameterized inversion: bgaPEST, a Bayesian geostatistical approach implementation with PEST: documentation and instructions
Michael N. Fienen, Marco D'Oria, John E. Doherty, Randall J. Hunt
2013, Techniques and Methods 7-C9
The application bgaPEST is a highly parameterized inversion software package implementing the Bayesian Geostatistical Approach in a framework compatible with the parameter estimation suite PEST. Highly parameterized inversion refers to cases in which parameters are distributed in space or time and are correlated with one another. The Bayesian aspect of...
Tamarix as wildlife habitat
Heather L. Bateman, Eben H. Paxton, William S. Longland
Anna Sher, Martin F. Quigley, editor(s)
2013, Book chapter, Tamarix: a case study of ecological change in the American West
A review of episodes of zinc phosphide toxicosis in wild geese (Branta spp.) in Oregon (2004−2011)
Rob J. Bildfell, Wilson K. Rumbeiha, Krysten L. Schuler, Carol U. Meteyer, Peregrine L. Wolff, Colin M. Gillin
2013, Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation (25) 162-167
Epizootic mortality in several geese species, including cackling geese (Branta hutchinsii) and Canada geese (Branta canadensis), has been recognized in the Willamette Valley of Oregon for over a decade. Birds are generally found dead on a body of water or are occasionally observed displaying neurologic clinical signs such as an...
Effects of best-management practices in Bower Creek in the East River priority watershed, Wisconsin, 1991-2009
Steven R. Corsi, Judy A. Horwatich, Troy D. Rutter, Roger T. Bannerman
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5217
Hydrologic and water-quality data were collected at Bower Creek during the periods before best-management practices (BMPs), and after BMPs were installed for evaluation of water-quality improvements. The monitoring was done between 1990 and 2009 with the pre-BMP period ending in July 1994 and the post-BMP period beginning in October 2006....
The coming megafloods
Michael D. Dettinger, B. Lynn Ingram
2013, Scientific American (308) 64-71
Geologic evidence shows that truly massive floods, caused by rainfall alone, have occurred in California about every 200 years. The most recent was in 1861, and it bankrupted the state. Such floods were most likely caused by atmospheric rivers: narrow bands of water vapor about a mile above the ocean...
An automated digital imaging system for environmental monitoring applications
Rian Bogle, Miguel Velasco, John Vogel
2013, Open-File Report 2012-1271
Recent improvements in the affordability and availability of high-resolution digital cameras, data loggers, embedded computers, and radio/cellular modems have advanced the development of sophisticated automated systems for remote imaging. Researchers have successfully placed and operated automated digital cameras in remote locations and in extremes of temperature and humidity, ranging from...
The ongoing Puʻu ʻŌʻō eruption of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi: 30 years of eruptive activity
Tim R. Orr, Christina Heliker, Matthew R. Patrick
2013, Fact Sheet 2012-3127
The Puʻu ʻŌʻō eruption of Kīlauea Volcano is its longest rift-zone eruption in more than 500 years. Since the eruption began in 1983, lava flows have buried 48 square miles (125 square kilometers) of land and added about 500 acres (200 hectares) of new land to the Island of Hawaiʻi....
Distribution and environmental persistence of the causative agent of white-nose syndrome, Geomyces destructans, in bat hibernacula of the eastern United States
Jeffrey M. Lorch, Laura K. Muller, Robin E. Russell, Michael O’Connor, Daniel L. Lindner, David S. Blehert
2013, Applied and Environmental Microbiology (79) 1293-1301
White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emerging disease of hibernating bats caused by the recently described fungus Geomyces destructans. First isolated in 2008, the origins of this fungus in North America and its ability to persist in the environment remain undefined. To investigate the correlation between manifestation of WNS and distribution...
GPS location history data mining and anomalous detection: the scenario of bar-headed geese migration
Ze Luo, Yan Xiong, Baoping Yan, Diann J. Prosser, John Y. Takekawa
W. Lu, G. Cai, W. Liu, W. Xing, editor(s)
2013, Book chapter, Proceedings of the 2012 International Conference on Information Technology and Software Engineering
It is important to discover common movement sequences and uncommon behaviors during the migration of wild birds. In this paper, we propose a new approach to analyze the GPS location history data of migratory birds. The stopover sites are first extracted from the location history data of birds, and their...
Comparison of water consumption in two riparian vegetation communities along the central Platte River, Nebraska, 2008–09 and 2011
Brent M. Hall, David L. Rus
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5203
The Platte River is a vital natural resource for the people, plants, and animals of Nebraska. A recent study quantified water use by riparian woodlands along central reaches of the Platte River, Nebraska, finding that water use was mainly regulated below maximum predicted levels. A comparative study was launched through...
Mississippi River streamflow measurement techniques at St. Louis, Missouri
Chester C. Wastson, Robert R. Holmes Jr., David S. Biedenham
2013, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering (139) 1062-1070
Streamflow measurement techniques of the Mississippi River at St. Louis have changed through time (1866–present). In addition to different methods used for discrete streamflow measurements, the density and range of discrete measurements used to define the rating curve (stage versus streamflow) have also changed. Several authors have utilized published water...
USGS National Wildlife Health Center quarterly mortality report – July 2012 to September 2012
Anne Ballmann, C. Leann White, Barbara L. Bodenstein, Jennifer Buckner
2013, Wildlife Disease Association Newsletter 16-19
No abstract available....
Methylmercury is the predominant form of mercury in bird eggs: a synthesis
Joshua T. Ackerman, Mark P. Herzog, Steven E. Schwarzbach
2013, Environmental Science & Technology (47) 2052-2060
Bird eggs are commonly used in mercury monitoring programs to assess methylmercury contamination and toxicity to birds. However, only 6% of >200 studies investigating mercury in bird eggs have actually measured methylmercury concentrations in eggs. Instead, studies typically measure total mercury in eggs (both organic and inorganic forms of mercury),...
A support system for assessing local vulnerability to weather and climate
Alex Coletti, Peter D. Howe, Brent Yarnal, Nathan J. Wood
2013, Natural Hazards (65) 999-1008
The changing number and nature of weather- and climate-related natural hazards is causing more communities to need to assess their vulnerabilities. Vulnerability assessments, however, often require considerable expertise and resources that are not available or too expensive for many communities. To meet the need for an easy-to-use, cost-effective vulnerability assessment...
