The effect of changes in habitat conditions on the movement of juvenile Snail Kites Rostrhamus sociabilis
Andrea C. Bowling, Julien Martin, Wiley M. Kitchens
2012, Ibis (154) 554-565
The degradation of habitats due to human activities is a major topic of interest for the conservation and management of wild populations. There is growing evidence that the Florida Everglades ecosystem continues to suffer from habitat degradation. After a period of recovery in the 1990s, the Snail Kite Rostrhamus sociabilis...
Shahejie-Shahejie/Guantao/Wumishan and Carboniferous/Permian Coal-Paleozoic Total Petroleum Systems in the Bohaiwan Basin, China (based on geologic studies for the 2000 World Energy Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey)
Robert T. Ryder, Jin Qiang, Peter J. McCabe, Vito F. Nuccio, Felix M. Persits
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5010
This report discusses the geologic framework and petroleum geology used to assess undiscovered petroleum resources in the Bohaiwan basin province for the 2000 World Energy Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey. The Bohaiwan basin in northeastern China is the largest petroleum-producing region in China. Two total petroleum systems have...
Quick-start guide for version 3.0 of EMINERS - Economic Mineral Resource Simulator
Walter J. Bawiec, Gregory T. Spanski
2012, Open-File Report 2009-1057
Quantitative mineral resource assessment, as developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), consists of three parts: (1) development of grade and tonnage mineral deposit models; (2) delineation of tracts permissive for each deposit type; and (3) probabilistic estimation of the numbers of undiscovered deposits for each deposit type (Singer and...
Reflections on the relevance of history in a nonstationary world
Julio L. Betancourt
John A. Wiens, Gregory D. Hayward, Hugh D. Safford, Catherine Giffen, editor(s)
2012, Book chapter, Historical Environmental Variation in Conservation and Natural Resource Management
Sources of suspended sediment in the Waikele watershed, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi
Scot K. Izuka
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5085
Data from streamflow/sediment gages and measurements of changes in channel-bed sediment storage were gathered between October 1, 2007, and September 30, 2010, to assess the sources of suspended sediment in the Waikele watershed, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi. Streamflow from the watershed averaged 33 cubic feet per second during the study period, with...
User guide for MODPATH version 6—A particle-tracking model for MODFLOW
David W. Pollock
2012, Techniques and Methods 6-A41
MODPATH is a particle-tracking post-processing model that computes three-dimensional flow paths using output from groundwater flow simulations based on MODFLOW, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) finite-difference groundwater flow model. This report documents MODPATH version 6. Previous versions were documented in USGS Open-File Reports 89-381 and 94-464. The program uses a...
Groundwater flow and water budget in the surficial and Floridan aquifer systems in east-central Florida
Nicasio Sepulveda, Claire R. Tiedeman, Andrew M. O’Reilly, Jeffery B. Davis, Patrick Burger
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1132
A numerical transient model of the surficial and Floridan aquifer systems in east-central Florida was developed to (1) increase the understanding of water exchanges between the surficial and the Floridan aquifer systems, (2) assess the recharge rates to the surficial aquifer system from infiltration through the unsaturated zone and (3)...
Hydrologic index development and application to selected Coastwide Reference Monitoring System sites and Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act projects
Gregg A. Snedden, Erick M. Swenson
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1122
Hourly time-series salinity and water-level data are collected at all stations within the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) network across coastal Louisiana. These data, in addition to vegetation and soils data collected as part of CRMS, are used to develop a suite of metrics and indices to assess wetland condition...
Chesapeake Bay Watershed - Protecting the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers through science, restoration, and partnership
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2012, General Information Product 142
The Chesapeake Bay, the Nation's largest estuary, has been degraded due to the impact of human-population increase, which has doubled since 1950, resulting in degraded water quality, loss of habitat, and declines in populations of biological communities. Since the mid-1980s, the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP), a multi-agency partnership which includes...
A Climate Trend Analysis of Niger
Christopher C. Funk, Jim Rowland, Gary Eilerts, Alkhalil Adoum, Libby White
2012, Fact Sheet 2012-3080
This brief report, drawing from a multi-year effort by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), identifies a substantial recovery of rainfall in Niger, accompanied by increases in air temperatures. These analyses are based on quality-controlled station observations. Conclusions: * Summer rains have...
Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: an ecosystem-level approach
David Raffaelli, Alan M. Friedlander
Martin Solan, Rebecca J. Aspden, David M. Paterson, editor(s)
2012, Book chapter, Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: Frameworks, methodologies, and integration
Forecast Mekong 2012: Building scientific capacity
James E. Stefanov
2012, General Information Product 144
In 2009, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton joined the Foreign Ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam in launching the Lower Mekong Initiative to enhance U.S. engagement with the countries of the Lower Mekong River Basin in the areas of environment, health, education, and infrastructure. The U.S. Geological...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary of program direction
Gregory I. Snyder
2012, Fact Sheet 2012-3089
The 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) initiative responds to a growing need for high-quality topographic data and a wide range of other three-dimensional representations of the Nation's natural and constructed features. The National Enhanced Elevation Assessment (NEEA), which was completed in 2011, clearly documented this need within government and industry sectors....
Science implementation of Forecast Mekong for food and environmental security
D. Phil Turnipseed
2012, Fact Sheet 2012-3086
Forecast Mekong is a significant international thrust under the Delta Research and Global Observation Network (DRAGON) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and was launched in 2009 by the U.S. Department of State and the Foreign Ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam under U.S. Department of State Secretary Hillary...
Nutrient concentrations and loads in the northeastern United States - Status and trends, 1975-2003
Elaine C. Todd Trench, Richard B. Moore, Elizabeth A. Ahearn, John R. Mullaney, R. Edward Hickman, Gregory E. Schwarz
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5114
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) began regional studies in 2003 to synthesize information on nutrient concentrations, trends, stream loads, and sources. In the northeastern United States, a study area that extends from Maine to central Virginia, nutrient data were evaluated for 130 USGS water-quality monitoring...
National Enhanced Elevation Assessment at a glance
Gregory I. Snyder
2012, Fact Sheet 2012-3088
Elevation data are essential for hazards mitigation, conservation, infrastructure development, national security, and many other applications. Under the leadership of the U.S. Geological Survey and the member States of the National Digital Elevation Program (NDEP), Federal agencies, State agencies, and others work together to acquire high-quality elevation data for the...
Field evaluation of distance-estimation error during wetland-dependent bird surveys
Christopher P. Nadeau, Courtney J. Conway
2012, Wildlife Research (39) 311-320
Context: The most common methods to estimate detection probability during avian point-count surveys involve recording a distance between the survey point and individual birds detected during the survey period. Accurately measuring or estimating distance is an important assumption of these methods; however, this assumption is rarely tested in the context...
Nutrient and suspended-sediment trends, loads, and yields and development of an indicator of streamwater quality at nontidal sites in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, 1985-2010
Michael Langland, Joel Blomquist, Douglas Moyer, Kenneth Hyer
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5093
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) updates information on loads of, and trends in, nutrients and sediment annually to help the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) investigators assess progress toward improving water-quality conditions in the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. CBP scientists and managers have worked since 1983 to improve water quality...
The new IASPEI standards for determining magnitudes from digital data and their relation to classical magnitudes
Peter Bormann, James W. Dewey
Peter Bormann, editor(s)
2012, Book chapter, New Manual of Seismological Observatory Practice 2 (NMSOP-2)
Why there is a need for measurement standards of magnitudes: In October 2005, the Commission on Seismic Observation and Interpretation of the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth´s Interior (IASPEI) adopted the summary recommendations made by the IASPEI Working Group on Magnitudes on new measurement standards for widely used local, regional...
Brook trout movement in response to temperature, flow, and thermal refugia within a complex Appalachian riverscape
J. Todd Petty, Jeff L. Hansbarger, Brock M. Huntsman, Patricia M. Mazik
2012, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (141) 1060-1073
We quantified movements of brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis and brown trout Salmo trutta in a complex riverscape characterized by a large, open-canopy main stem and a small, closed-canopy tributary in eastern West Virginia, USA. Our objectives were to quantify the overall rate of trout movement and relate movement behaviors to...
The macroecology of sustainability
Joseph R. Burger, Craig D. Allen, James H. Brown, William R. Burnside, Ana D. Davidson, Trevor S. Fristoe, Marcus J. Hamilton, Norman Mercado-Silva, Jeffrey C. Nekola, Jordan G. Okie, Wenyun Zuo
2012, PLoS Biology (10)
The discipline of sustainability science has emerged in response to concerns of natural and social scientists, policymakers, and lay people about whether the Earth can continue to support human population growth and economic prosperity. Yet, sustainability science has developed largely independently from and with little reference to key ecological principles...
Assessment of total nitrogen and total phosphorus in selected surface water of the National Park Service Northern Colorado Plateau Network, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, from 1972 through 2007
Juliane B. Brown, David P. Thoma
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5043
Nutrients are a nationally recognized concern for water quality of streams, rivers, groundwater, and water bodies. Nutrient impairment is documented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a primary cause of degradation in lakes and reservoirs, and nutrients are related to organic enrichment and oxygen depletion, which is an important...
Design and maintenance of a network for collecting high-resolution suspended-sediment data at remote locations on rivers, with examples from the Colorado River
Ronald E. Griffiths, David J. Topping, Timothy Andrews, Glenn E. Bennett, Thomas A. Sabol, Theodore S. Melis
2012, Techniques and Methods 8-C2
Management of sand and finer sediment in fluvial settings has become increasingly important for reasons ranging from endangered-species habitat to transport of sediment-associated contaminants. In all rivers, some fraction of the suspended load is transported as washload, and some as suspended bed material. Typically, the washload is composed of silt-and-clay-size...
Preserving science for the ages--USGS data rescue
Carol Wippich
2012, Fact Sheet 2012-3078
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is a steward for over 130 years of rich, diverse natural science and information resources. We document one-of-a-kind observations of natural phenomena and cultural impacts on our changing world. In order for society to deal with national and global trends, the USGS must enable access...
Source parameters of microearthquakes on an interplate asperity off Kamaishi, NE Japan over two earthquake cycles
Naoki Uchida, Toru Matsuzawa, William L. Ellsworth, Kazutoshi Imanishi, Kouhei Shimamura, Akira Hasegawa
2012, Geophysical Journal International (189) 999-1014
We have estimated the source parameters of interplate earthquakes in an earthquake cluster off Kamaishi, NE Japan over two cycles of M~ 4.9 repeating earthquakes. The M~ 4.9 earthquake sequence is composed of nine events that occurred since 1957 which have a strong periodicity (5.5 ± 0.7 yr) and constant...
