The utility of harvest recoveries of marked individuals to assess polar bear (Ursus maritimus) survival
Elizabeth L. Peacock, Jeff Laake, Kristin L. Laidre, Erik W. Born, Stephen N. Atkinson
2012, Arctic (65) 391-400
Management of polar bear (Ursus maritimus) populations requires the periodic assessment of life history metrics such as survival rate. This information is frequently obtained during short-term capture and marking efforts (e.g., over the course of three years) that result in hundreds of marked bears remaining in the population after active...
Insights from fumarole gas geochemistry on the origin of hydrothermal fluids on the Yellowstone Plateau
Giovanni Chiodini, Stefano Caliro, Jacob B. Lowenstern, William C. Evans, D. Bergfeld, Franco Tassi, Dario Tedesco
2012, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (89) 265-278
The chemistry of Yellowstone fumarole gases shows the existence of two component waters, type MC, influenced by the addition of deep mantle fluid, and type CC, influenced by crustal interactions (CC). MC is high in 3He/4He (22 Ra) and low in 4He/40Ar (∼1), reflecting input of deep mantle components. The other water is...
Estimating recruitment dynamics and movement of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon using an integrated assessment model
Josh Korman, Steven Martell, Carl J. Walters, Andrew S. Makinster, Lewis G. Coggins, Michael D. Yard, William R. Persons
2012, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (69) 1827-1849
We used an integrated assessment model to examine effects of flow from Glen Canyon Dam, Arizona, USA, on recruitment of nonnative rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in the Colorado River and to estimate downstream migration from Glen Canyon to Marble Canyon, a reach used by endangered native fish. Over a 20-year...
Linking the historic 2011 Mississippi River flood to coastal wetland sedimentation
Federico Falcini, Nicole S. Khan, Leonardo Macelloni, Benjamin P. Horton, Carol B. Lutken, Karen L. McKee, Rosalia Santoleri, Simone Colella, Chunyan Li, Gianluca Volpe, Marco D’Emidio, Alessandro Salusti, Douglas J. Jerolmack
2012, Nature Geoscience (5) 803-807
Wetlands in the Mississippi River deltaic plain are deteriorating in part because levees and control structures starve them of sediment. In Spring of 2011 a record-breaking flood brought discharge on the lower Mississippi River to dangerous levels, forcing managers to divert up to 3500 m3/s-1 of water to the Atchafalaya...
Impact of reduced near-field entrainment of overpressured volcanic jets on plume development
Farhad Saffaraval, Stephen A. Solovitz, Darcy E. Ogden, Larry G. Mastin
2012, Journal of Geophysical Research (117)
Volcanic plumes are often studied using one-dimensional analytical models, which use an empirical entrainment ratio to close the equations. Although this ratio is typically treated as constant, its value near the vent is significantly reduced due to flow development and overpressured conditions. To improve the accuracy of these models, a...
Yield of bedrock wells in the Nashoba terrane, central and eastern Massachusetts
Leslie A. DeSimone, Jeffrey R. Barbaro
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5155
The yield of bedrock wells in the fractured-bedrock aquifers of the Nashoba terrane and surrounding area, central and eastern Massachusetts, was investigated with analyses of existing data. Reported well yield was compiled for 7,287 wells from Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Geological Survey databases. Yield of these wells...
Improving the accuracy of S02 column densities and emission rates obtained from upward-looking UV-spectroscopic measurements of volcanic plumes by taking realistic radiative transfer into account
Christoph Kern, Tim Deutschmann, Cynthia Werner, A. Jeff Sutton, Tamar Elias, Peter J. Kelly
2012, Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres (117)
Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is monitored using ultraviolet (UV) absorption spectroscopy at numerous volcanoes around the world due to its importance as a measure of volcanic activity and a tracer for other gaseous species. Recent studies have shown that failure to take realistic radiative transfer into account during the spectral retrieval...
Land use alters the resistance and resilience of soil food webs to drought
Franciska T. de Vries, Mira E. Liiri, Lisa Bjornlund, Matthew A. Bowker, Soren Christensen, Heikki Setala, Richard D. Bardgett
2012, Nature Climate Change (2012) 276-280
Soils deliver several ecosystem services including carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling, which are of central importance to climate mitigation and sustainable food production. Soil biota play an important role in carbon and nitrogen cycling, and, although the effects of land use on soil food webs are well documented the consequences...
Consequences of declining snow accumulation for water balance of mid-latitude dry regions
Daniel R. Schlaepfer, William K. Lauenroth, John B. Bradford
2012, Global Change Biology (18) 1988-1997
Widespread documentation of positive winter temperature anomalies, declining snowpack and earlier snow melt in the Northern Hemisphere have raised concerns about the consequences for regional water resources as well as wildfire. A topic that has not been addressed with respect to declining snowpack is effects on ecosystem water balance. Changes...
Century-scale perspective on water quality in selected river basins of the conterminous United States
Edward G. Stets, Valerie J. Kelly, Whitney P. Broussard III, Thor E. Smith, Charles G. Crawford
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5225
Nutrient pollution in the form of excess nitrogen and phosphorus inputs is a well-known cause of water-quality degradation that has affected water bodies across the Nation throughout the 20th century. The recognition of excess nutrients as pollution developed later than the recognition of other water-quality problems, such as waterborne illness,...
A comparison of artificial incubation and natural incubation hatching success of gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) eggs in southern Mississippi
Krista M. Noel, Carl P. Qualls, Joshua R. Ennen
2012, Herpetologica (68) 324-333
Recent studies have found that Gopher Tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus, populations in southern Mississippi exhibit low recruitment, due in part to very low hatching success of their eggs. We sought to determine if the cause(s) of this low hatching success was related to egg quality (intrinsic factors), unsuitability of the nest...
Elucidating spatially explicit behavioral landscapes in the Willow Flycatcher
Amanda V. Bakian, Kimberly A. Sullivan, Eben H. Paxton
2012, Ecological Modelling (232) 119-132
Animal resource selection is a complex, hierarchical decision-making process, yet resource selection studies often focus on the presence and absence of an animal rather than the animal's behavior at resource use locations. In this study, we investigate foraging and vocalization resource selection in a population of Willow Flycatchers, Empidonax traillii...
Palynological composition of a Lower Cretaceous South American tropical sequence: Climatic implications and diversity comparisons with other latitudes.
Paula J. Mejia-Velasquez, David L. Dilcher, Carlos A. Jaramillo, Lucas B. Fortini, Steven R. Manchester
2012, American Journal of Botany (99) 1819-1827
Premise of the study: Reconstruction of floristic patterns during the early diversification of angiosperms is impeded by the scarce fossil record, especially in tropical latitudes. Here we collected quantitative palynological data from a stratigraphic sequence in tropical South America to provide floristic and climatic insights into such tropical environments during...
Female Agassiz’s desert tortoise activity at a wind energy facility in southern California: The influence of an El Niño event
Josh R. Ennen, Kathie Meyer-Wilkins, Jeffrey Lovich
2012, Natural Science (4) 30-37
We compared spring-summer activity of adult female Agassiz’s Desert Tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) among three consecutive years (1997, 1998, and 1999) that differed dramatically in winter rainfall and annual plant production at a wind energy facility in the Sonoran Desert of southern California. Winter rainfall was approximately 71%, 190%, and 17%...
Geomorphic analysis of the river response to sedimentation downstream of Mount Rainier, Washington
Jonathan A. Czuba, Christopher S. Magirl, Christiana R. Czuba, Christopher A. Curran, Kenneth H. Johnson, Theresa D. Olsen, Halley K. Kimball, Casey C. Gish
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1242
A study of the geomorphology of rivers draining Mount Rainier, Washington, was completed to identify sources of sediment to the river network; to identify important processes in the sediment delivery system; to assess current sediment loads in rivers draining Mount Rainier; to evaluate if there were trends in streamflow or...
Estimating rates of decompression from textures of erupted ash particles produced by 1999-2006 eruptions of Tungurahua volcano, Ecuador
Heather M.N. Wright, Katharine V. Cashman, Patricia A. Mothes, Minard L. Hall, Andres Gorki Ruiz, Jean-Luc Le Pennec
2012, Geology (40) 619-622
Persistent low- to moderate-level eruptive activity of andesitic volcanoes is difficult to monitor because small changes in magma supply rates may cause abrupt transitions in eruptive style. As direct measurement of magma supply is not possible, robust techniques for indirect measurements must be developed. Here we demonstrate that crystal textures...
Determination and uncertainty of moment tensors for microearthquakes at Okmok Volcano, Alaska
J. D. Pesicek, J. Sileny, S. G. Prejean, C.H. Thurber
2012, Geophysical Journal International (190) 1689-1709
Efforts to determine general moment tensors (MTs) for microearthquakes in volcanic areas are often hampered by small seismic networks, which can lead to poorly constrained hypocentres and inadequate modelling of seismic velocity heterogeneity. In addition, noisy seismic signals can make it difficult to identify phase arrivals correctly for small magnitude...
Flood-inundation maps for a nine-mile reach of the Des Plaines River from Riverwoods to Mettawa, Illinois
Elizabeth A. Murphy, David T. Soong, Jennifer B. Sharpe
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5227
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 9-mile reach of the Des Plaines River from Riverwoods to Mettawa, Illinois, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission and the Villages of Lincolnshire and Riverwoods. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the...
Do bioclimate variables improve performance of climate envelope models?
James I. Watling, Stephanie S. Romañach, David N. Bucklin, Carolina Speroterra, Laura A. Brandt, Leonard G. Pearlstine, Frank J. Mazzotti
2012, Ecological Modelling (246) 79-85
Climate envelope models are widely used to forecast potential effects of climate change on species distributions. A key issue in climate envelope modeling is the selection of predictor variables that most directly influence species. To determine whether model performance and spatial predictions were related to the selection of predictor variables,...
Along-shelf current variability on the Catalan inner-shelf (NW Mediterranean)
Manel Grifoll, Alfredo L. Aretxabaleta, Manuel Espino, John C. Warner
2012, Journal of Geophysical Research (117)
We examine the circulation over the inner shelf of the Catalan Sea using observations of currents obtained from three ADCPs within the inner-shelf (24 and 50 m depth) during March-April 2011. The along-shelf current fluctuations during that period are mainly controlled by the local wind stress on short time scales...
Body condition of Morelet’s Crocodiles (Crocodylus moreletii) from northern Belize
Frank J. Mazzotti, Michael S. Cherkiss, Laura A. Brandt, Ikuko Fujisaki, Kristen Hart, Brian Jeffery, Scott T. McMurry, Steven G. Platt, Thomas R. Rainwater, Joy Vinci
2012, Journal of Herpetology (46) 356-362
Body condition factors have been used as an indicator of health and well-being of crocodilians. We evaluated body condition of Morelet's Crocodiles (Crocodylus moreletii) in northern Belize in relation to biotic (size, sex, and habitat) and abiotic (location, water level, and air temperature) factors. We also tested the hypothesis that...
Status and trends of land change in the United States--1973 to 2000
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2012, Professional Paper 1794
Summary U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Professional Paper 1794 is a four-volume series on the status and trends of the Nation’s land use and land cover, providing an assessment of the rates and causes of land-use and land-cover change in the United States between 1973 and 2000. Volumes A, B, C, and...
Ballistic blocks around Kīlauea Caldera: Their vent locations and number of eruptions in the late 18th century
Donald A. Swanson, Scott P. Zolkos, Ben Haravitch
2012, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (231-232) 1-11
Thousands of ballistic blocks occur around Kīlauea Caldera and record part of the latest major period of explosive activity on the volcano, in late 1790 or within a few years thereafter. The sizes of the blocks – the largest of which is more than 2 m in nominal diameter –...
Carbon stocks across a chronosequence of thinned and unmanaged red pine (Pinus resinosa) stands
Matthew D. Powers, Randall K. Kolka, John B. Bradford, Brian J. Palik, Shawn Fraver, Martin F. Jurgensen
2012, Ecological Applications (22) 1297-1307
Forests function as a major global C sink, and forest management strategies that maximize C stocks offer one possible means of mitigating the impacts of increasing anthropogenic CO2 emissions. We studied the effects of thinning, a common management technique in many forest types, on age-related trends in C stocks using...
Ash3d: A finite-volume, conservative numerical model for ash transport and tephra deposition
Hans F. Schwaiger, Roger P. Denlinger, Larry G. Mastin
2012, Journal of Geophysical Research (117)
We develop a transient, 3-D Eulerian model (Ash3d) to predict airborne volcanic ash concentration and tephra deposition during volcanic eruptions. This model simulates downwind advection, turbulent diffusion, and settling of ash injected into the atmosphere by a volcanic eruption column. Ash advection is calculated using time-varying pre-existing wind data and...
