Preliminary estimates of the quantities of rare-earth elements contained in selected products and in imports of semimanufactured products to the United States, 2010
Donald I. Bleiwas, Joseph Gambogi
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1072
Rare-earth elements (REEs) are contained in a wide range of products of economic and strategic importance to the Nation. The REEs may or may not represent a significant component of that product by mass, value, or volume; however, in many cases, the embedded REEs are critical for the device’s function....
An evaluation of liquid ammonia (ammonium hydroxide) as a candidate piscicide
David L. Ward, R. Morton-Starner, Shaula J. Hedwall
2013, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (33) 400-405
Eradication of populations of nonnative aquatic species for the purpose of reintroducing native fish is often difficult because very few effective tools are available for removing aquatic organisms. This creates the need to evaluate new chemicals that could be used as management tools for native fish conservation. Ammonia is a...
Absolute radiometric calibration of Landsat using a pseudo invariant calibration site
D. Helder, K. J. Thome, N. Mishra, G. Chander, Xiaoxiong Xiong, A. Angal, Tae-young Choi
2013, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (51) 1360-1369
Pseudo invariant calibration sites (PICS) have been used for on-orbit radiometric trending of optical satellite systems for more than 15 years. This approach to vicarious calibration has demonstrated a high degree of reliability and repeatability at the level of 1-3% depending on the site, spectral channel, and imaging geometries. A...
Shallow repeating seismic events under an alpine glacier at Mount Rainier, Washington, USA
Weston A. Thelen, Kate E. Allstadt, Silvio De Angelis, Stephen D. Malone, Seth C. Moran, John Vidale
2013, Journal of Glaciology (59) 345-356
We observed several swarms of repeating low-frequency (1–5 Hz) seismic events during a 3 week period in May–June 2010, near the summit of Mount Rainier, Washington, USA, that likely were a result of stick–slip motion at the base of alpine glaciers. The dominant set of repeating events ('multiplets') featured >4000...
Fish assemblage relationships with physical characteristics and presence of dams in three eastern Iowa rivers
Clay Pierce, Nicholas L. Ahrens, Anna K. Loan-Wilsey, Gregory A. Simmons, Gregory T. Gelwicks
2013, River Research and Applications (30) 427-441
Fish assemblages in rivers of the Midwestern United States are an important component of the region's natural resources and biodiversity. We characterized the physical environment and presence of dams in a series of reaches in three eastern Iowa rivers tributary to the Mississippi River and related these characteristics to the...
A compilation of U.S. Geological Survey pesticide concentration data for water and sediment in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta region: 1990–2010
James L. Orlando
2013, Data Series 756
Beginning around 2000, abundance indices of four pelagic fishes (delta smelt, striped bass, longfin smelt, and threadfin shad) within the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta began to decline sharply (Sommer and others, 2007). These declines collectively became known as the pelagic organism decline (POD). No single cause has...
User’s manual for the National Water Information System of the U.S. Geological Survey: Water-Quality System
David H. Dupré, Jonathon C. Scott, Melanie L. Clark, Michael G. Canova, Yvonne E. Stoker
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1054
This user documentation is designed to be a reference for the quality of water (QW) programs within the National Water Information System (NWIS). If you are a new user, the “Introduction” and “Getting Started” sections may be the right place for you to start. If you are an experienced user,...
Seed harvesting by a generalist consumer is context-dependent: Interactive effects across multiple spatial scales
Steven M. Ostoja, Eugene W. Schupp, Rob Klinger
2013, Oikos (122) 563-574
Granivore foraging decisions affect consumer success and determine the quantity and spatial pattern of seed survival. These decisions are influenced by environmental variation at spatial scales ranging from landscapes to local foraging patches. In a field experiment, the effects of seed patch variation across three spatial scales on seed removal...
The development and application of a decision support system for land management in the Lake Tahoe Basin—The Land Use Simulation Model
William M. Forney, I. Benson Oldham, Neil Crescenti
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5229
This report describes and applies the Land Use Simulation Model (LUSM), the final modeling product for the long-term decision support project funded by the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act and developed by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Geographic Science Center for the Lake Tahoe Basin. Within the context of...
Intermediate-depth earthquakes facilitated by eclogitization-related stresses
Junichi Nakajima, Naoki Uchida, Takahiro Shiina, Akira Hasegawa, Bradley R. Hacker, Stephen H. Kirby
2013, Geology (41) 659-662
Eclogitization of the basaltic and gabbroic layer in the oceanic crust involves a volume reduction of 10%–15%. One consequence of the negative volume change is the formation of a paired stress field as a result of strain compatibility across the reaction front. Here we use waveform analysis of a tiny...
Soil data from fire and permafrost-thaw chronosequences in upland Picea mariana stands near Hess Creek and Tok, interior Alaska
Jonathan A. O’Donnell, Jennifer W. Harden, Kristen L. Manies, M. Torre Jorgenson, Mikhail Kanevskiy, Xiaomei Xu
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1045
Soils of the Northern Circumpolar Permafrost region harbor 1,672 petagrams (Pg) (1 Pg = 1,000,000,000 kilograms) of organic carbon (OC), nearly 50 percent of the global belowground OC pool (Tarnocai and others, 2009). Of that soil OC, nearly 88 percent is presently stored in perennially frozen ground. Recent climate warming...
Grazing effects on aboveground primary production and root biomass of early-seral, mid-seral, and undisturbed semiarid grassland
D.G. Milchunas, M.W. Vandever
2013, Journal of Arid Environments (92) 81-88
Annual/perennial and tall/short plant species differentially dominate early to late successional shortgrass steppe communities. Plant species can have different ratios of above-/below-ground biomass distributions and this can be modified by precipitation and grazing. We compared grazing effects on aboveground production and root biomass in early- and mid-seral fields and undisturbed...
Detection of environmental DNA of Bigheaded Carps in samples collected from selected locations in the St. Croix River and in the Mississippi River
Jon J. Amberg, S. Grace McCalla, Loren Miller, Peter Sorensen, Mark P. Gaikowski
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1080
The use of molecular methods, such as the detection of environmental deoxyribonucleic acid (eDNA), have become an increasingly popular tool in surveillance programs that monitor for the presence of invasive species in aquatic systems. One early application of these methods in aquatic systems was surveillance for DNA of Asian carps...
Grazing effects on plant community succession of early- and mid-seral seeded grassland compared to shortgrass steppe
Daniel G. Milchunas, Mark W. Vandever
2013, Journal of Vegetation Science (25) 22-35
Questions: Grazing may speed or slow secondary succession, and the direction may depend on seral stage and relative tolerance of native perennial grasses compared with annual invasive species. How does grazing affect succession where undisturbed communities have a long evolutionary history of grazing by native herbivores and are tolerant to...
Groundwater withdrawals 1976, 1990, and 2000--10 and land-surface-elevation changes 2000--10 in Harris, Galveston, Fort Bend, Montgomery, and Brazoria Counties, Texas
Mark C. Kasmarek, Michaela R. Johnson
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5034
The study area comprising Harris County and parts of Galveston, Fort Bend, Montgomery, and Brazoria Counties in southeastern Texas forms part of one of the largest areas of land-surface-elevation change in the United States. Land-surface-elevation change in the study area primarily is caused by the withdrawal of groundwater. Groundwater withdrawn...
The challenge of wolf recovery: an ongoing dilemma for state managers
L. David Mech
2013, The Wildlife Professional (2013)
“Dave, would you do another legal declaration on the wolf for us?” The weary voice on the phone belonged to Mike Jimenez, Northern Rocky Mountain Wolf Management and Science Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). He was calling from Wyoming to ask me to prepare a document...
Phragmites australis expansion in a restored brackish marsh: documentation at different time scales
Rebecca J. Howard, Theodore D. Turluck
2013, Wetlands (33) 207-215
Invasive plants in restored habitats can alter the system such that restoration goals are not met. Non-native lineages of Phragmites australis (hereafter Phragmites) are invasive in North American wetlands, and their presence can be problematic because of decreased species diversity and altered physicochemical processes. Phragmites is a challenging species for...
Identification and evaluation of scientific uncertainties related to fish and aquatic resources in the Colorado River, Grand Canyon - summary and interpretation of an expert-elicitation questionnaire
Theodore A. Kennedy
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5027
Identifying areas of scientific uncertainty is a critical step in the adaptive management process (Walters, 1986; Runge, Converse, and Lyons, 2011). To identify key areas of scientific uncertainty regarding biologic resources of importance to the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program, the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC) convened...
The effects of juvenile American shad planktivory on zooplankton production in Columbia River food webs
Craig A. Haskell, Kenneth F. Tiffan, Dennis W. Rondorf
2013, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (142) 606-620
Columbia River reservoirs support a large population of nonnative American Shad Alosa sapidissima that consume the zooplankton that native fishes also rely on. We hypothesized that the unprecedented biomass of juvenile American Shad in John Day Reservoir is capable of altering the zooplankton community if these fish consume a large...
Assessment of historical surface-water quality data in southwestern Colorado, 1990-2005
Lisa D. Miller, Keelin R. Schaffrath, Joshua I. Linard
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5255
The spatial and temporal distribution of selected physical and chemical surface-water-quality characteristics were analyzed at stream sites throughout the Dolores and San Juan River Basins in southwestern Colorado using historical data collected from 1990 through 2005 by various local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies. Overall, streams throughout the study area...
Behavior and dam passage of juvenile Chinook salmon at Cougar Reservoir and Dam, Oregon, March 2011 - February 2012
John W. Beeman, Hal C. Hansel, Amy C. Hansen, Philip V. Haner, Jamie M. Sprando, Collin D. Smith, Scott D. Evans, Tyson W. Hatton
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1079
The movements and dam passage of juvenile Chinook salmon implanted with acoustic transmitters and passive integrated transponder tags were studied at Cougar Reservoir and Dam, near Springfield, Oregon. The purpose of the study was to provide information to aid with decisions about potential alternatives for improving downstream passage conditions for...
Whole-coal versus ash basis in coal geochemistry: a mathematical approach to consistent interpretations
Nicholas J. Geboy, Mark A. Engle, James C. Hower
2013, International Journal of Coal Geology (113) 41-49
Several standard methods require coal to be ashed prior to geochemical analysis. Researchers, however, are commonly interested in the compositional nature of the whole-coal, not its ash. Coal geochemical data for any given sample can, therefore, be reported in the ash basis on which it is analyzed or the whole-coal...
From the Island of the Blue Dolphins: A unique 19th century cache feature from San Nicolas Island, California
Jon M. Erlandson, Lisa Thomas-Barnett, Rene L. Vellanoweth, Steven J. Schwartz, Daniel R. Muhs
2013, Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology (8) 66-78
A cache feature salvaged from an eroding sea cliff on San Nicolas Island produced two redwood boxes containing more than 200 artifacts of Nicoleño, Native Alaskan, and Euro-American origin. Outside the boxes were four asphaltum-coated baskets, abalone shells, a sandstone dish, and a hafted stone knife. The boxes, made from...
Impacts of tree rows on grassland birds & potential nest predators: A removal experiment
Kevin S. Ellison, Christine Ribic, David W. Sample, Megan J. Fawcett, John D. Dadisman
2013, PLoS ONE (8)
Globally, grasslands and the wildlife that inhabit them are widely imperiled. Encroachment by shrubs and trees has widely impacted grasslands in the past 150 years. In North America, most grassland birds avoid nesting near woody vegetation. Because woody vegetation fragments grasslands and potential nest predator diversity and abundance is often...
Comparison of aliphatic hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenylethers, and organochlorine pesticides in Pacific sanddab (Citharichthys sordidus) from offshore oil platforms and natural reefs along the California coast
Robert W. Gale, Michael J. Tanner, Milton S. Love, Mary M. Nishimoto, Donna M. Schroeder
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1046
Recently, the relative exposure of Pacific sanddab (Citharichthys sordidus) to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) at oil-production platforms was reported, indicating negligible exposure to PAHs and no discernible differences between exposures at platforms and nearby natural areas sites. In this report, the potential for chronic PAH exposure in fish is reported,...
