The potential effects of sodium bicarbonate, a major constituent from coalbed natural gas production, on aquatic life
Aida M. Farag, David D. Harper
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5008
The production water from coalbed natural gas (CBNG) extraction contains many constituents. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established aquatic life criteria for some of these constituents, and it is therefore possible to evaluate their risk to aquatic life. However, of the major ions associated with produced waters, chloride is...
Bottom sediment as a source of organic contaminants in Lake Mead, Nevada, USA
David A. Alvarez, Michael R. Rosen, Stephanie D. Perkins, Walter L. Cranor, Vickie L. Schroeder, Tammy L. Jones-Lepp
2012, Chemosphere (88) 605-611
Treated wastewater effluent from Las Vegas, Nevada and surrounding communities' flow through Las Vegas Wash (LVW) into the Lake Mead National Recreational Area at Las Vegas Bay (LVB). Lake sediment is a likely sink for many hydrophobic synthetic organic compounds (SOCs); however, partitioning between the sediment and the overlying water...
Point sources of emerging contaminants along the Colorado River Basin: Source water for the arid Southwestern United States
Tammy L. Jones-Lepp, Charles Sanchez, David A. Alvarez, Doyle C. Wilson, Randi-Laurant Taniguchi-Fu
2012, Science of the Total Environment (430) 237-245
Emerging contaminants (ECs) (e.g., pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs, personal care products) have been detected in waters across the United States. The objective of this study was to evaluate point sources of ECs along the Colorado River, from the headwaters in Colorado to the Gulf of California. At selected locations in the...
Frequent vocalizing is negatively associated with brood parasitism in a host of the brown-headed cowbird
Sonya E. Steckler, Courtney J. Conway
2012, The Condor (114) 219-226
Brood parasitism by the Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) can substantially affect host species' reproductive success. The "host-activity" hypothesis suggests that parasites eavesdrop on conspicuous behaviors to locate and parasitize hosts, and several studies of cowbird hosts support this hypothesis. In contrast, a recent study of the Least Bell's Vireo (Vireo...
The role of genetics in chronic wasting disease of North American cervids
Stacie J. Robinson, Michael D. Samuel, Katherine O’Rourke, Chad J. Johnson
2012, Prion (6) 153-162
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a major concern for the management of North American cervid populations. This fatal prion disease has led to declines in populations which have high CWD prevalence and areas with both high and low infection rates have experienced economic losses in wildlife recreation and fears of...
Effects of sample size, number of markers, and allelic richness on the detection of spatial genetic pattern
Erin L. Landguth, Bradley C. Gedy, Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Andrew L. Garey, Sarah L. Emel, Matthew Mumma, Helene H. Wagner, Marie-Josée Fortin, Samuel A. Cushman
2012, Molecular Ecology Resources (12) 276-284
The influence of study design on the ability to detect the effects of landscape pattern on gene flow is one of the most pressing methodological gaps in landscape genetic research. To investigate the effect of study design on landscape genetics inference, we used a spatially-explicit, individual-based program to simulate gene...
Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity
Bradley J. Cardinale, J. Emmett Duffy, Andrew Gonzalez, David U. Hooper, Charles Perrings, Patrick Venail, Anita Narwani, Georgina M. Mace, David Tilman, David A. Wardle, Ann P. Kinzig, Gretchen C. Daily, Michel Loreau, James B. Grace, Anne Larigauderie, Diane S. Srivastava, Shahid Naeem
2012, Nature (486) 59-67
The most unique feature of Earth is the existence of life, and the most extraordinary feature of life is its diversity. Approximately 9 million types of plants, animals, protists and fungi inhabit the Earth. So, too, do 7 billion people. Two decades ago, at the first Earth Summit, the vast...
Bacterial communities associated with healthy and Acropora white syndrome-affected corals from American Samoa
Bryan Wilson, Greta S. Aeby, Thierry M. Work, David G. Bourne
2012, FEMS Microbiology Ecology (80) 509-520
Acropora white syndrome (AWS) is characterized by rapid tissue loss revealing the white underlying skeleton and affects corals worldwide; however, reports of causal agents are conflicting. Samples were collected from healthy and diseased corals and seawater around American Samoa and bacteria associated with AWS characterized using both culture-dependent and culture-independent...
Recent explosive eruptions and volcano hazards at Soputan volcano—a basalt stratovolcano in north Sulawesi, Indonesia
Kushendratno, John S. Pallister, Kristianto, Farid Ruskanda Bina, Wendy McCausland, Simon Carn, Julia P. Griswold, Ronald H. Keeler
2012, Bulletin of Volcanology (74) 1581-1609
Soputan is a high-alumina basalt stratovolcano located in the active North Sulawesi-Sangihe Islands magmatic arc. Although immediately adjacent to the still geothermally active Quaternary Tondono Caldera, Soputan’s magmas are geochemically distinct from those of the caldera and from other magmas in the arc. Unusual for a...
Hybrid-optimization algorithm for the management of a conjunctive-use project and well field design
Yung-Chia Chiu, Tracy Nishikawa, Peter Martin
2012, Ground Water (50) 103-117
Hi-Desert Water District (HDWD), the primary water-management agency in the Warren Groundwater Basin, California, plans to construct a waste water treatment plant to reduce future septic-tank effluent from reaching the groundwater system. The treated waste water will be reclaimed by recharging the groundwater basin via recharge ponds as part of...
Scaling the Teflon Peaks: Rock type and the generation of extreme relief in the glaciated western Alaska Range
Dylan J. Ward, Robert S. Anderson, Peter J. Haeussler
2012, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (117)
Parts of the Alaska Range (Alaska, USA) stand in prominent exception to the “glacial buzzsaw hypothesis,” which postulates that terrain raised above the ELA is rapidly denuded by glaciers. In this paper, we discuss the role of a strong contrast in rock type in the development of this exceptional terrain....
Anisotropic models to account for large borehole washouts to estimate gas hydrate saturations in the Gulf of Mexico Gas Hydrate Joint Industry Project Leg II Alaminos 21 B well
Myung W. Lee, T. S. Collett, K.A. Lewis
2012, Marine and Petroleum Geology (34) 85-95
Through the use of 3-D seismic amplitude mapping, several gashydrate prospects were identified in the Alaminos Canyon (AC) area of the Gulf of Mexico. Two locations were drilled as part of the Gulf of MexicoGasHydrate Joint Industry Project Leg II (JIP Leg II) in May of 2009 and a comprehensive...
Use of a storm water retention system for conservation of regionally endangered fishes
Jeffrey S. Schaeffer, James K. Bland, John Janssen
2012, Fisheries (37) 66-75
Maintaining aquatic biodiversity in urban or suburban areas can be problematic because urban landscapes can be nearly devoid of aquatic habitats other than engineered basins for storm water management. These areas are usually of questionable value for fish, but we examined a case study in which five regionally imperiled fish...
Use of a seismic air gun to reduce survival of nonnative lake trout embryos: A tool for conservation?
B.S. Cox, A.M. Dux, M.C. Quist, C.S. Guy
2012, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (32) 292-298
The detrimental impacts of nonnative lake trout Salvelinus namaycush in the western USA have prompted natural resource management agencies in several states to implement lake trout suppression programs. Currently, these programs rely on mechanical removal methods (i.e., gill nets, trap nets, and angling) to capture subadult and adult lake trout....
Shifting balance of thermokarst lake ice regimes across the Arctic Coastal Plain of northern Alaska
Christopher D. Arp, Benjamin M. Jones, Zong Lu, Matthew S. Whitman
2012, Geophysical Research Letters (39)
The balance of thermokarst lakes with bedfast- and floating-ice regimes across Arctic lowlands regulates heat storage, permafrost thaw, winter-water supply, and over-wintering aquatic habitat. Using a time-series of late-winter synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery to distinguish lake ice regimes in two regions of the Arctic Coastal Plain of northern Alaska...
Effects of sulfate ligand on uranyl carbonato surface species on ferrihydrite surfaces
Yuji Arai, C. C. Fuller
2012, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science (365) 268-274
Understanding uranium (U) sorption processes in permeable reactive barriers (PRB) are critical in modeling reactive transport for evaluating PRB performance at the Fry Canyon demonstration site in Utah, USA. To gain insight into the U sequestration mechanism in the amorphous ferric oxyhydroxide...
Modeling thermal dynamics of active layer soils and near-surface permafrost using a fully coupled water and heat transport model
Yueyang Jiang, Qianlai Zhuang, Jonathan A. O’Donnell
2012, Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres (117)
Thawing and freezing processes are key components in permafrost dynamics, and these processes play an important role in regulating the hydrological and carbon cycles in the northern high latitudes. In the present study, we apply a well-developed soil thermal model that fully couples heat and water transport, to simulate the...
Water-quality data from semipermeable-membrane devices and polar organic chemical integrative samplers deployed in the McKenzie River basin, Oregon
Kathleen A. McCarthy, David A. Alvarez
2012, Data Series 692
Two types of passive samplers—the semipermeable membrane device (SPMD) and the polar organic chemical integrative sampler (POCIS)—are being used to collect data from the McKenzie River, Oregon. The McKenzie River is the source of drinking water for the City of Eugene, Oregon, and passive-sampler data are part of an ongoing...
Severe maxillary osteomyelitis in a Gray Wolf (Canis lupus)
Shannon Barber-Meyer
2012, Canadian Field-Naturalist (126) 238-241
Whereas dental injuries and abnormalities have been documented in Gray Wolves (Canis lupus), severe maxillary necrosis has not previously been implicated in a Gray Wolf fatality. Here I report maxillary osteomyelitis in a wild Gray Wolf from northeastern Minnesota of such severity that I hypothesize it ultimately led to death...
Water resources of Allen Parish
Lawrence B. Prakken, Jason M. Griffith, Robert B. Fendick Jr.
2012, Fact Sheet 2012-3064
In 2005, approximately 29.2 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) of water were withdrawn in Allen Parish, Louisiana, including about 26.8 Mgal/d from groundwater sources and 2.45 Mgal/d from surface-water sources. Rice irrigation accounted for 74 percent (21.7 Mgal/d) of the total water withdrawn. Other categories of use included public supply,...
Reformatted data sets used in the Cooperative LACSD/USGS Palos Verdes Flow Study, 2000--2008
Todd Anderson, Kurt J. Rosenberger, Anne L. Gartner
2012, Open-File Report 2010-1253
Beginning in 1997, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defined a contaminated section of the Palos Verdes shelf in southern California as a Superfund site, initiating a continuing investigation of this area. A number of agencies, including the EPA, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), conducted two...
Groundwater-well data of San Miguel County, New Mexico, 1970-2010
Anne Marie Matherne, Anne M. Stewart
2012, Data Series 686
The hydrologic resources of San Miguel County, New Mexico, are increasingly relied upon to meet growing domestic, livestock, and agricultural needs. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with San Miguel County, conducted a study during 2010-11 to assess current publicly available information regarding the hydrologic resources of San Miguel County....
Responding to peer review and editor’s comments: Chapter 10
Harold Schramm Jr., Leandro E. Miranda
2012, Book chapter, Scientific communication for natural resource professionals
No abstract available....
Identification of functionally active aerobic methanotrophs in sediments from an arctic lake using stable isotope probing
Ruo He, Matthew J. Wooller, John W. Pohlman, Catharine Catranis, John Quensen, James M. Tiedje, Mary Beth Leigh
2012, Environmental Microbiology (14) 1403-1419
Arctic lakes are a significant source of the greenhouse gas methane (CH4), but the role that methane oxidizing bacteria (methanotrophs) play in limiting the overall CH4 flux is poorly understood. Here, we used stable isotope probing (SIP) techniques to identify the metabolically active aerobic methanotrophs in upper sediments (0–1 cm)...
Distribution of Cu, Co, As, and Fe in mine waste, sediment, soil, and water in and around mineral deposits and mines of the Idaho Cobalt Belt, USA
John E. Gray, Robert G. Eppinger
2012, Applied Geochemistry (27) 1053-1062
The distribution of Cu, Co, As and Fe was studied downstream from mines and deposits in the Idaho Cobalt Belt (ICB), the largest Co resource in the USA. To evaluate potential contamination in ecosystems in the ICB, mine waste, stream sediment, soil, and water were collected and analyzed for Cu,...
