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),...
Environmental impact of the landslides caused by the 12 May 2008, Wenchuan, China earthquake
Lynn M. Highland, Ping Sun
Claudio Margottini, Paolo Canuti, Kyoji Sassa, editor(s)
2013, Book chapter, Landslide Science and Practice
The magnitude 7.9 (Mw) Wenchuan, China, earthquake of May 12, 2008 caused at least 88,000 deaths of which one third are estimated to be due to the more than 56,000 earthquake-induced landslides. The affected area is mountainous, featuring densely-vegetated, steep slopes through which narrowly confined rivers and streams flow. Numerous...
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...
New species of Parapharyngodon (Nematoda: Pharyngodonidae) in Rhinella marina (Anura: Bufonidae) from Grenada, West Indies
Charles Bursey, Michael Drake, Rebecca Cole, Mauritz Sterner III, Rhonda Pinckney, Ulrike Zieger
2013, Journal of Parasitology (99) 475-479
Parapharyngodon grenadaensis n. sp. (Nematoda: Pharyngodonidae) from the large intestine of the cane toad, Rhinella marina, is described and illustrated. Parapharyngodon grenadaensis n. sp. is the 48th species assigned to the genus and the 16th species from the Neotropical region. It differs from other species in the genus by possessing...
Testing the use of microfossils to reconstruct great earthquakes at Cascadia
S. E. Engelhart, B. P Horton, Alan R. Nelson, A. D. Hawkes, Robert C. Witter, K. Wang, P.-L. Wang, C. H. Vane
2013, Geology (41) 1067-1070
Coastal stratigraphy from the Pacific Northwest of the United States contains evidence of sudden subsidence during ruptures of the Cascadia subduction zone. Transfer functions (empirical relationships between assemblages and elevation) can convert microfossil data into coastal subsidence estimates. Coseismic deformation models use the subsidence values to constrain earthquake magnitudes. To...
2011 monitoring and tracking wet nitrogen deposition at Rocky Mountain National Park
Kristi Morris, Alisa Mast, Greg Wetherbee, Jill Baron, Curt Taipale, Tamara Blett, David Gay, Jared Heath
2013, Natural Resource Report NPS/NRSS/ARD/NRR-2013/701
No abstract available....
Quantifying landscape change in an arctic coastal lowland using repeat airborne LiDAR
Benjamin M. Jones, Jason M. Stoker, Ann E. Gibbs, Guido Grosse, Vladimir E. Romanovsky, Thomas A. Douglas, Nichole E.M. Kinsman, Bruce M. Richmond
2013, Environmental Research Letters (8)
Increases in air, permafrost, and sea surface temperature, loss of sea ice, the potential for increased wave energy, and higher river discharge may all be interacting to escalate erosion of arctic coastal lowland landscapes. Here we use airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data acquired in 2006 and 2010 to...
Status of a reconnaissance field study of the Susitna basin, 2011
Robert J. Gillis, Richard G. Stanley, David L. LePain, David J. Mauel, Trystan M. Herriott, Kenneth P. Helmold, C. Shaun Peterson, Marwan A. Wartes, Diane P. Shellenbaum
2013, Report
The Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS) and Alaska Division of Oil and Gas (DOG), in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) performed reconnaissance field studies for ten days in late June 2011, in the Susitna basin, directly north of Cook Inlet, south-central Alaska (fig. 1). The purpose of our...
Operational Group Sandy technical progress report
Department of the Interior Strategic Science Group
2013, Report
Hurricane Sandy made US landfall near Atlantic City, NJ on 29 October 2012, causing 72 direct deaths, displacing thousands of individuals from damaged or destroyed dwellings, and leaving over 8.5 million homes without power across the northeast and mid-Atlantic. To coordinate federal rebuilding activities in the affected region, the President...
Sculpin and round goby assessment, Lake Ontario 2012
Brian Weidel, Maureen G. Walsh, M.J. Connerton
2013, Report, 2012 Annual Report
Historically slimy sculpin Cottus cognatus were the most abundant native, benthic prey fish in Lake Ontario and important prey for juvenile lake trout. Over the past 34 years, slimy sculpin abundance has fluctuated, but generally decreased, with a substantial decline occurring in the past 10 years. The 2012 slimy sculpin mean density (0.005...
Importance of floodplain connectivity to fish populations in the Apalachicola River, Florida
O.T. Burgess, William E. Pine III, S. J. Walsh
2013, River Research and Applications (29) 718-733
Floodplain habitats provide critical spawning and rearing habitats for many large-river fishes. The paradigm that floodplains are essential habitats is often a key reason for restoring altered rivers to natural flow regimes. However, few studies have documented spatial and temporal utilization of floodplain habitats by adult fish of sport or...
Seafloor off Natural Bridges State Beach, Santa Cruz, California
Curt D. Storlazzi, Nadine E. Golden, Helen Gibbons
2013, General Information Product 154
The seafloor off Natural Bridges State Beach, Santa Cruz, California, is extremely varied, with sandy flats, boulder fields, faults, and complex bedrock ridges. These ridges support rich marine ecosystems; some of them form the "reefs" that produce world-class surf breaks. Colors indicate seafloor depth, from red-orange (about 2 meters or...
Dispersal of fine sediment in nearshore coastal waters
Jonathan A. Warrick
2013, Journal of Coastal Research (29) 579-596
Fine sediment (silt and clay) plays an important role in the physical, ecological, and environmental conditions of coastal systems, yet little is known about the dispersal and fate of fine sediment across coastal margin settings outside of river mouths. Here I provide simple physical scaling and detailed monitoring of a...
Vegetation projections for Wind Cave National Park with three future climate scenarios: Final report in completion of Task Agreement J8W07100052
David A. King, Dominique M. Bachelet, Amy J. Symstad
2013, National Park Service Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/WICA/NRTRT--2013/681
Introduction The effects of climate change on the natural resources protected by Parks will likely be substantial, but geographically variable, due to local variation in climate trajectories and differences among ecosystems in their vulnerability to climate change. The projections of general circulation models (GCMs) indicate the possible magnitude and direction of...
Coral diseases cause reef decline
Caroline S. Rogers, Jeff Miller
2013, Science (340) 1522-1522
Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park elk monitoring program annual report 2011
Patricia J. Happe, Mason Reid, Paul C. Griffin, Kurt J. Jenkins, David J. Vales, Barbara J. Moeller, Michelle Tirhi, Scott McCorquodale
2013, Natural Resource Data Series NPS/NCCN/NRDS-2013/437
Fiscal year 2011 was the first year of implementing an approved elk monitoring protocol in Mount Rainier (MORA) and Olympic (OLYM) National Parks in the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) (Griffin et al. 2012). However, it was the fourth and second year of gathering data according to protocol in...
Identification of metrics to monitor salt marsh integrity on National Wildlife Refuges in relation to conservation and management objectives
Hilary A. Neckles, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, W. George Shriver, Nicholas P. Danz, Whitney A. Wiest, Jessica L. Nagel, Jennifer H. Olker
2013, Report
Executive Summary Most salt marshes in the US have been degraded by human activities, and threats from physical alterations, surrounding land-use, species invasions, and global climate change persist. Salt marshes are unique and highly productive ecosystems with high intrinsic value to wildlife, and many National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) have been established...
Seafloor off Lighthouse Point Park, Santa Cruz, California
Curt D. Storlazzi, Nadine E. Golden, Helen Gibbons
2013, General Information Product 153
The seafloor off Lighthouse Point Park, Santa Cruz, California, is extremely varied, with sandy flats, boulder fields, faults, and complex bedrock ridges. These ridges support rich marine ecosystems; some of them form the "reefs" that produce world-class surf breaks. Colors indicate seafloor depth, from red-orange (about 2 meters or 7...
GEM Building Taxonomy (Version 2.0)
S. Brzev, C. Scawthorn, A.W. Charleson, L. Allen, M. Greene, Kishor Jaiswal, V. Silva
2013, GEM Technical Report 2013-02
This report documents the development and applications of the Building Taxonomy for the Global Earthquake Model (GEM). The purpose of the GEM Building Taxonomy is to describe and classify buildings in a uniform manner as a key step towards assessing their seismic risk, Criteria for development of the GEM Building...
Use and interpretation of climate envelope models: a practical guide
James I. Watling, Laura A. Brandt, Frank J. Mazzotti, Stephanie S. Romañach
2013, Report
This guidebook is intended to provide a practical overview of climate envelope modeling for conservation professionals and natural resource managers. The material is intended for people with little background or experience in climate envelope modeling who want to better understand and interpret models developed by others and the results generated...
Metadata for selecting or submitting generic seismic vulnerability functions via GEM's vulnerability database
Kishor Jaiswal
2013, Report
This memo lays out a procedure for the GEM software to offer an available vulnerability function for any acceptable set of attributes that the user specifies for a particular building category. The memo also provides general guidelines on how to submit the vulnerability or fragility functions to the GEM vulnerability...
Adaptive harvest management for the Svalbard population of pink-footed geese: briefing summary
Fred A. Johnson
2013, Report
The African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA; http://www.unep-aewa.org/) calls for means to manage populations which cause conflicts with certain human economic activities. The Svalbard population of the pink-footed goose has been selected as the first test case for such an international species management plan to be developed. This document describes progress to...
Status and trends monitoring of the mainstem Columbia River: sample frame development and review of programs relevant to the development of an integrated approach to monitoring
Timothy D. Counihan, Jill M. Hardiman, Stephen Waste
2013, PNAMP Report Series 2013-003
Implementing an Integrated Status and Trends Monitoring program (ISTM) for the mainstem Columbia River will help identify trends in important natural resources and help us understand the long-term collective effects of management actions. In this report, we present progress towards the completion of a stepwise process that will facilitate the...
Seafloor off Pleasure Point, Santa Cruz County, California
Curt D. Storlazzi, Nadine E. Golden, Helen Gibbons
2013, General Information Product 152
The seafloor off Pleasure Point, Santa Cruz County, California, is extremely varied, with sandy flats, boulder fields, faults, and complex bedrock ridges. These ridges support rich marine ecosystems; some of them form the "reefs" that produce world-class surf breaks. Colors indicate seafloor depth, from red-orange (about 2 meters or 7...
