Methods for estimating selected low-flow statistics and development of annual flow-duration statistics for Ohio
G. F. Koltun, Stephanie P. Kula
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5138
This report presents the results of a study to develop methods for estimating selected low-flow statistics and for determining annual flow-duration statistics for Ohio streams. Regression techniques were used to develop equations for estimating 10-year recurrence-interval (10-percent annual-nonexceedance probability) low-flow yields, in cubic feet per second per square mile, with...
Estimating transmission of avian influenza in wild birds from incomplete epizootic data: implications for surveillance and disease spreac
Viviane Henaux, Jane Parmley, Catherine Soos, Michael D. Samuel
2013, Journal of Applied Ecology (50) 223-231
Estimating disease transmission in wildlife populations is critical to understand host–pathogen dynamics, predict disease risks and prioritize surveillance activities. However, obtaining reliable estimates for free-ranging populations is extremely challenging. In particular, disease surveillance programs may routinely miss the onset or end of epizootics and peak prevalence, limiting...
Water-quality and flow data, Chulitna River basin, Southwest Alaska, October 2009-June 2012
Timothy P. Brabets
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1009
The Chulitna River basin in southwest Alaska drains an area of about 1,160 square miles, with the lower 158 square miles of the basin in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. Water from this basin influences Lake Clark ecosystems that support salmon that, in part, sustain the Bristol Bay fishery....
Obtaining and processing Daymet data using Python and ArcGIS
Stefanie Bohms
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1015
This set of scripts was developed to automate the process of downloading and mosaicking daily Daymet data to a user defined extent using ArcGIS and Python programming language. The three steps are downloading the needed Daymet tiles for the study area extent, converting the netcdf file to a tif raster...
Groundwater quality in the Mohawk River Basin, New York, 2011
Elizabeth A. Nystrom, Tia-Marie Scott
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1021
Water samples were collected from 21 production and domestic wells in the Mohawk River Basin in New York in July 2011 to characterize groundwater quality in the basin. The samples were collected and processed using standard U.S. Geological Survey procedures and were analyzed for 148 physiochemical properties and constituents, including...
Standardized methods for Grand Canyon fisheries research 2015
William R. Persons, David L. Ward, Luke A. Avery
2013, Techniques and Methods 2-A12
This document presents protocols and guidelines to persons sampling fishes in the Grand Canyon, to help ensure consistency in fish handling, fish tagging, and data collection among different projects and organizations. Most such research and monitoring projects are conducted under the general umbrella of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management...
Identifying nutrient reference sites in nutrient-enriched regions-Using algal, invertebrate, and fish-community measures to identify stressor-breakpoint thresholds in Indiana rivers and streams, 2005-9
Brian J. Caskey, Aubrey R. Bunch, Megan E. Shoda, Jeffrey W. Frey, Shivi Selvaratnam, Robert J. Miltner
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5243
Excess nutrients in aquatic ecosystems can lead to shifts in species composition, reduced dissolved oxygen concentrations, fish kills, and toxic algal blooms. In this study, nutrients, periphyton chlorophyll a (CHLa), and invertebrate- and fishcommunity data collected during 2005-9 were analyzed from 318 sites on Indiana rivers and streams. The objective...
Understanding and managing the effects of groundwater pumping on streamflow
Stanley A. Leake, Paul M. Barlow
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3001
Groundwater is a critical resource in the United States because it provides drinking water, irrigates crops, supports industry, and is a source of water for rivers, streams, lakes, and springs. Wells that pump water out of aquifers can reduce the amount of groundwater that flows into rivers and streams, which...
Changes in fire intensity have carry-over effects on plant responses after the next fire in southern California chaparral
Jose M. Moreno, Ivan Torres, Belen Luna, Walter C. Oechel, Jon E. Keeley
2013, Journal of Vegetation Science (24) 395-404
QuestionDo variations in fire intensity within a stand determine changes in fire intensity and plant demographics in a subsequent fire?LocationSan Diego (CA, USA); chaparral dominated by Adenostoma fasciculatum (resprouter) and Ceanothus greggii (seeder).MethodsIn 2003, a wildfire burned a young (16-yr-old) stand containing a set of experimental plots burned in 1987...
Faulting and groundwater in a desert environment: constraining hydrogeology using time-domain electromagnetic data
Paul A. Bedrosian, Matthew K. Burgess, Tracy Nishikawa
2013, Near Surface Geophysics (11) 545-555
Within the south-western Mojave Desert, the Joshua Basin Water District is considering applying imported water into infiltration ponds in the Joshua Tree groundwater sub-basin in an attempt to artificially recharge the underlying aquifer. Scarce subsurface hydrogeological data are available near the proposed recharge site; therefore, time-domain electromagnetic (TDEM) data were...
Detecting insect pollinator declines on regional and global scales
Gretchen Lubuhn, Sam Droege, Edward F. Connor, Barbara Gemmill-Herren, Simon G. Potts, Robert L. Minckley, Terry Griswold, Robert Jean, Emanuel Kula, David W. Roubik, Jim Cane, Karen W. Wright, Gordon Frankie, Frank Parker
2013, Conservation Biology (27) 113-120
Recently there has been considerable concern about declines in bee communities in agricultural and natural habitats. The value of pollination to agriculture, provided primarily by bees, is >$200 billion/year worldwide, and in natural ecosystems it is thought to be even greater. However, no monitoring program exists to accurately detect declines...
Determination of flow losses in the Cape Fear River between B. Everett Jordan Lake and Lillington, North Carolina, 2008-2010
J. Curtis Weaver, Kristen Bukowski McSwain
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5226
During 2008-2010, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a hydrologic investigation in cooperation with the Triangle J Council of Governments Cape Fear River Flow Study Committee and the North Carolina Division of Water Resources to collect hydrologic data in the Cape Fear River between B. Everett Jordan Lake and Lillington in...
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Cretaceous-Tertiary Composite Total Petroleum System, Taranaki Basin Assessment Unit, New Zealand
Craig J. Wandrey, Christopher J. Schenk, Timothy R. Klett, Michael E. Brownfield, Ronald R. Charpentier, Troy A. Cook, Richard M. Pollastro, Marilyn E. Tennyson
2013, Fact Sheet 2012-3139
The Cretaceous-Tertiary Composite Total Petroleum System coincident Taranaki Basin Assessment Unit was recently assessed for undiscovered technically recoverable oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids resources as part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) World Energy Resources Project, World Oil and Gas Assessment. Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the USGS...
An integrated multi-criteria scenario evaluation web tool for participatory land-use planning in urbanized areas: The Ecosystem Portfolio Model
Bill Labiosa, William M. Forney, Hearn Jr., Dianna M. Hogan, David R. Strong, Eric D. Swain, Ann-Margaret Esnard, D. Mitsova-Boneva, R. Bernknopf, Leonard Pearlstine, Hugh Gladwin
2013, Environmental Modelling and Software
Land-use land-cover change is one of the most important and direct drivers of changes in ecosystem functions and services. Given the complexity of the decision-making, there is a need for Internet-based decision support systems with scenario evaluation capabilities to help planners, resource managers and communities visualize, compare and consider trade-offs...
Long-term groundwater contamination after source removal—The role of sorbed carbon and nitrogen on the rate of reoxygenation of a treated-wastewater plume on Cape Cod, MA, USA
Richard L. Smith, Deborah A. Repert, Larry B. Barber, Denis R. LeBlanc
2013, Chemical Geology (337-338) 38-47
The consequences of groundwater contamination can remain long after a contaminant source has been removed. Documentation of natural aquifer recoveries and empirical tools to predict recovery time frames and associated geochemical changes are generally lacking. This study characterized the long-term natural attenuation of a groundwater contaminant plume in a sand...
Persistence and changes in bioavailability of dieldrin, DDE and heptachlor epoxide in earthworms over 45 years
W. Nelson Beyer, Robert W. Gale
2013, Ambio (42) 83-89
The finding of dieldrin (88 ng/g), DDE (52 ng/g), and heptachlor epoxide (19 ng/g) in earthworms from experimental plots after a single moderate application (9 kg/ha) 45 years earlier attests to the remarkable persistence of these compounds in soil and their continued uptake by soil organisms. Half-lives (with 95 %...
Strategies for minimizing sample size for use in airborne LiDAR-based forest inventory
Virpi Junttila, Andrew O. Finley, John B. Bradford, Tuomo Kauranne
2013, Forest Ecology and Management (292) 75-85
Recently airborne Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) has emerged as a highly accurate remote sensing modality to be used in operational scale forest inventories. Inventories conducted with the help of LiDAR are most often model-based, i.e. they use variables derived from LiDAR point clouds as the predictive variables that are...
Molecular techniques to distinguish morphologically similar Hydrilla verticillata, Egeria densa, Elodea nuttallii, and Elodea canadensis
Nancy B. Rybicki, Julie D. Kirshtein, Mary A. Voytek
2013, Journal of Aquatic Plant Management (51) 94-102
The four submerged aquatic species, hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata [monoecious and dioecious]), Brazilian waterweed (Egeria densa), Canadian waterweed (Elodea canadensis), and western waterweed (Elodea nuttallii), are difficult to positively identify because of their morphological similarity to each other, resulting in possible misidentification. This limits our ability to understand their past and...
Prediction, time variance, and classification of hydraulic response to recharge in two karst aquifers
Andrew J. Long, Barbara Mahler
2013, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (17) 281-294
Many karst aquifers are rapidly filled and depleted and therefore are likely to be susceptible to changes in short-term climate variability. Here we explore methods that could be applied to model site-specific hydraulic responses, with the intent of simulating these responses to different climate scenarios from high-resolution climate models. We...
Abstracts for the October 2012 meeting on Volcanism in the American Southwest, Flagstaff, Arizona
Jacob B. Lowenstern
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1026
Though volcanic eruptions are comparatively rare in the American Southwest, the States of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah host Holocene volcanic eruption deposits and are vulnerable to future volcanic activity. Compared with other parts of the western United States, comparatively little research has been focused on this area,...
Structure and development of old-growth, unmanaged second-growth, and extended rotation Pinus resinosa forests in Minnesota, USA
Emily J. Silver, Anthony W. D’Amato, Shawn Fraver, Brian J. Palik, John B. Bradford
2013, Forest Ecology and Management (291) 110-118
The structure and developmental dynamics of old-growth forests often serve as important baselines for restoration prescriptions aimed at promoting more complex structural conditions in managed forest landscapes. Nonetheless, long-term information on natural patterns of development is rare for many commercially important and ecologically widespread forest types. Moreover, the effectiveness of...
Impacts of post-harvest slash and live-tree retention on biomass and nutrient stocks in Populus tremuloides Michx.-dominated forests, northern Minnesota, USA
Paul A. Klockow, Anthony W. D’Amato, John B. Bradford
2013, Forest Ecology and Management (291) 278-288
Globally, there is widespread interest in using forest-derived biomass as a source of bioenergy. While conventional timber harvesting generally removes only merchantable tree boles, harvesting biomass feedstock can remove all forms of woody biomass (i.e., live and dead standing woody vegetation, downed woody debris, and stumps) resulting in a greater...
Hydrogeomorphology influences soil nitrogen and phosphorus mineralization in floodplain wetlands
Gregory B. Noe, Cliff R. Hupp, Nancy B. Rybicki
2013, Ecosystems (16) 75-94
Conceptual models of river–floodplain systems and biogeochemical theory predict that floodplain soil nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) mineralization should increase with hydrologic connectivity to the river and thus increase with distance downstream (longitudinal dimension) and in lower geomorphic units within the floodplain (lateral dimension). We measured rates of in situ...
Quaternary geologic map of the Shelby 1° x 2° quadrangle, Montana
David S. Fullerton, Roger B. Colton, Charles A. Bush
2013, Open-File Report 2012-1170
The Shelby quadrangle encompasses approximately 16,084 km2 (6,210 mi2). The northern boundary is the Montana/Saskatchewan (U.S./Canada) boundary. The quadrangle is in the Northern Plains physiographic province and it includes the Sweet Grass Hills. The primary river is the Marias River. The ancestral Missouri River was diverted south of the Bearpaw...
Electron donor concentrations in sediments and sediment properties at the agricultural chemicals team research site near New Providence, Iowa, 2006-07
Bijesh Maharjan, Scott F. Korom, Erik A. Smith
2013, Data Series 737
The concentrations of electron donors in aquifer sediments are important to the understanding of the fate and transport of redox-sensitive constituents in groundwater, such as nitrate. For a study by the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program, 50 sediment samples were collected from below the water table from 11...
