Basis for technical guidance to evaluate evapotranspiration covers
Todd Caldwell, Jena Huntington, Gwendolyn Elizabeth Davies, S. Tabatabai, M. Fuhrmann
2022, Report
This report provides technical guidance to evaluate evapotranspiration (ET) cover design criteria with emphasis on applications to long-term disposal sites such as Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 (UMTRCA) sites. Water balance covers, also known as ET covers, reduce percolation by storing precipitation then allowing vegetation to cycle...
A process-model perspective on recent changes in the carbon cycle of North America
Guillermo Murray-Tortarolo, Benjamin Poulter, Rodrigo Vargas, Daniel B. Hayes, Anna M. Michalak, Christopher J. Williams , Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Jonathan Wang, Kimberly Wickland, David Butman, Hanqin Tian, Stephen Sitch, Pierre Friedlingstein, Michael O’Sullivan, Peter Briggs, Vivek Arora, Danielle Lombardozzi, Atul Jain, Wenping Yuan, Roland Seferian, Julia Nabel, Andrea Wiltshire, Almuth Arneth, Sebastian Lienerte, Sonke Zaehle, Vladislov Bastrikov, Daniel Goll, Nicholas Vuichard, Anthony P. Walker, Etushi Kato, Yue Xu, Zhen Zhang, Abishek Chaterjee, Werner A. Kurz
2022, Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences (127)
Continental North America has been found to be a carbon (C) sink over recent decades by multiple studies employing a variety of estimation approaches. However, several key questions and uncertainties remain with these assessments. Here we used results from an ensemble of 19 state-of-the-art dynamic global vegetation models from the...
Comparing root cohesion estimates from three models at a shallow landslide in the Oregon Coast Range
Collin Cronkite-Ratcliff, Kevin M. Schmidt, Charlotte Wirion
2022, GeoHazards (3) 428-451
Although accurate root cohesion model estimates are essential to quantify the effect of vegetation roots on shallow slope stability, few means exist to independently validate such model outputs. One validation approach for cohesion estimates is back-calculation of apparent root cohesion at a landslide site with well-documented failure conditions. The catchment...
Seabird vulnerability to oil: Exposure potential, sensitivity, and uncertainty in the northern Gulf of Mexico
Pamela E. Michael, K. M. Hixson, J.C. Haney, Y.G. Satge, J.S. Gleason, Patrick G.R. Jodice
2022, Frontiers in Marine Science (9)
The northern Gulf of Mexico (nGoM) is a globally important region for oil extraction and supports a diverse assemblage of marine birds. Due to their frequent contact with surface waters, diverse foraging strategies, and the ease with which oil adheres to feathers, seabirds are particularly susceptible to hydrocarbon contamination. Given...
Puerto Rico’s state of the climate 2014-2021
William A. Gould, Ernesto Dias, Adam Terando, Mark Jury, Jared Bowden, Patricia Chardon, Melissa Melendez Oyola, Julio Morell
Ernesto L. Diaz, Melissa Gonzalez, Adam Terando, editor(s)
2022, Report
The climate of Puerto Rico is influenced by the changing global climate. The following chapters present the current knowledge of the geophysical and chemical drivers and signals of global climate change as they affect the climate of Puerto Rico and influence the climate-dependent services, risks, and vulnerabilities that govern human...
Geochemical studies of the Green River Formation in the Piceance Basin, Colorado: I. Major, minor, and trace elements
Jeremy Boak, Tengfei Wu, Justin E. Birdwell
C. J. Hurst, editor(s)
2022, Book chapter, The lacustrine Green River Formation: Hydrocarbon potential and Eocene climate record
The Eocene Green River Formation contains the largest oil shale deposits in the world and is a welldocumented example of a lacustrine depositional system. In addition, mineral resources associated with oil shale in the Piceance Basin nahcolite [NaHCO3] and dawsonite [NaAl(CO3)(OH)2)] are of current and potential economic value, respectively. Detailed...
Potential cheatgrass abundance within lightly invaded areas of the Great Basin
Helen R. Sofaer, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Erin K. Buchholtz, Brian S. Cade, John T. Abatzoglou, Cameron L. Aldridge, Patrick Comer, Daniel Manier, Lauren E. Parker, Julie A. Heinrichs
2022, Landscape Ecology (37) 2607-2618
ContextAnticipating where an invasive species could become abundant can help guide prevention and control efforts aimed at reducing invasion impacts. Information on potential abundance can be combined with information on the current status of an invasion to guide management towards currently uninvaded locations where the threat of invasion is high.ObjectivesWe...
Explainable machine learning improves interpretability in the predictive modeling of biological stream conditions in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, USA
Kelly O. Maloney, Claire Buchanan, Rikke Jepsen, Kevin P. Krause, Matthew J. Cashman, Benjamin P. Gressler, John A. Young, Matthias Schmid
2022, Journal of Environmental Management (322)
Anthropogenic alterations have resulted in widespread degradation of stream conditions. To aid in stream restoration and management, baseline estimates of conditions and improved explanation of factors driving their degradation are needed. We used random forests to model biological conditions using a benthic macroinvertebrate index of biotic...
Lake Sturgeon movement after trap and transfer around two dams on the Menominee River, Wisconsin-Michigan
Daniel A. Isermann, Joshua K. Raabe, Emma G. Easterly, Joshua C. Schulze, Nicholas J. Porter, Daniel J. Dembkowski, Michael C. Donofrio, Darren R. Kramer, Robert F. Elliott
2022, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (151) 611-629
Fish behavior after passage or transfer around dams is a critical component in determining whether the goals of these efforts are achieved, but these behaviors are often poorly understood. An elevator was constructed in the lowermost hydroelectric dam on the Menominee River, Wisconsin–Michigan; it is the first elevator specifically designed...
Causality guided machine learning model on wetland CH4 emissions across global wetlands
Kunxiaojia Yuan, Qing Zhu, Fa Li, William J. Riley, Margaret Torn, Housen Chu, Gavin McNicol, Mingshu Chen, Sara Knox, Kyle B. Delwiche, Huayi Wu, Dennis Baldocchi, Hongxu Ma, Ankur R. Desai, Jiquan Chen, Torsten Sachs, Masahito Ueyama, Oliver Sonnentag, Manuel Helbig, Eeva-Stiina Tuittila, Gerald Jurasinski, Franziska Koebsch, David I. Campbell, Hans Peter Schmid, Annalea Lohila, Mathias Goeckede, Mats B. Nilsson, Thomas Friborg, Joachim Jansen, Donatella Zona, Eugenie S. Euskirchen, Eric Ward, Gil Bohrer, Zhenong Jin, Licheng Liu, Hiroki Iwata, Jordan P. Goodrich, Robert B. Jackson
2022, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology (324)
Wetland CH4 emissions are among the most uncertain components of the global CH4 budget. The complex nature of wetland CH4 processes makes it challenging to identify causal relationships for improving our understanding and predictability of CH4 emissions. In this study, we used the flux measurements of CH4 from eddy covariance towers (30 sites from 4...
Evaluation of machine learning approaches for predicting streamflow metrics across the conterminous United States
Ken Eng, David M. Wolock
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5058
Few regional or national scale studies have evaluated machine learning approaches for predicting streamflow metrics at ungaged locations. Most such studies are limited by the number of dimensions of the streamflow regime investigated. This study, in contrast, provides a comprehensive evaluation of the streamflow regime based on three widely available...
What did they just say? Building a Rosetta stone for geoscience and machine learning
Stanley Paul Mordensky, John Lipor, Erick R. Burns, Cary Ruth Lindsey
2022, Conference Paper, Using the earth to save the earth
Modern advancements in science and engineering are built upon multidisciplinary projects that bring experts together from different fields. Within their respective disciplines, researchers rely on precise terminology for specific ideas, principles, methods, and theories. Hence, the potential for miscommunication is substantial, especially when common words have been adopted by one...
Upper Rio Grande Basin water-resource status and trends: Focus area study review and synthesis
Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin, Christine Rumsey, Graham A. Sexstone, Tamara I. Ivahnenko, Natalie Houston, Shaleene Chavarria, Gabriel B. Senay, Linzy K. Foster, Jonathan V. Thomas, Allison K. Flickinger, Amy E. Galanter, C. David Moeser, Toby L. Welborn, Diana E. Pedraza, Patrick M. Lambert, Michael Scott Johnson
2022, Journal of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (65) 881-901
The Upper Rio Grande Basin (URGB) is a critical international water resource under pressure from a myriad of climatic, ecological, infrastructural, water-use, and legal constraints. The objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive assessment of the spatial distribution and temporal trends of selected water-budget components (snow processes, evapotranspiration...
Distribution and demography of Coastal Cactus Wrens in Southern California, 2015–19
Suellen Lynn, Alexandra Houston, Barbara E. Kus
2022, Open-File Report 2022-1044
Surveys and monitoring for the coastal Cactus Wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus) were completed in San Diego County between March 2015 and July 2019. A total of 383 plots were surveyed across 3 genetic clusters (Otay, Lake Jennings, and Sweetwater/Encanto). From 2015 to 2019, 317 plots were surveyed 8 times (twice per...
Simulated global coastal ecosystem responses to a half-century increase in river nitrogen loads
Xiao Liu, Charles A. Stock, John P. Dunne, Minjin Lee, Elena Shevliakova, Sergey Malyshev, Paul C. D. Milly
2022, Geophysical Research Letters (48)
Coastal ecosystems are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic stressors such as harmful algal blooms and hypoxia projected to intensify through the combined effects of eutrophication and warming. As a major terrestrial nitrogen (N) source to the ocean, rivers play a critical role in shaping both coastal and global biogeochemical cycling....
Over the hills and through the farms: Land use and topography influence genetic connectivity of northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens) in the Prairie Pothole Region
Justin M. Waraniak, David M. Mushet, Craig A. Stockwell
2022, Landscape Ecology (37) 2877-2893
ContextAgricultural land-use conversion has fragmented prairie wetland habitats in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR), an area with one of the most wetland dense regions in the world. This fragmentation can lead to negative consequences for wetland obligate organisms, heightening risk of local extinction and reducing evolutionary potential for...
Going beyond low flows: Streamflow drought deficit and duration illuminate distinct spatiotemporal drought patterns and trends in the U.S. during the last century
John C. Hammond, Caelan E. Simeone, Jory Seth Hecht, Glenn A. Hodgkins, Melissa A. Lombard, Gregory J. McCabe, David M. Wolock, Michael Wieczorek, Carolyn G Olson, Todd Caldwell, Robert W. Dudley, Adam N. Price
2022, Water Resources Research (58)
Streamflow drought is a recurring challenge, and understanding spatiotemporal patterns of past droughts is needed to manage future water resources. We examined regional patterns in streamflow drought metrics and compared these metrics to low flow timing and magnitude using long-term daily records for 555 minimally disturbed watersheds....
Methods for evaluating Gap Analysis Project habitat distribution maps with species occurrence data
Matthew J. Rubino, Alexa McKerrow, Nathan M. Tarr, Steven G. Williams
2022, Techniques and Methods 2-A19
The National Gap Analysis Project created species habitat distribution models for all terrestrial vertebrates in the United States to support conservation assessments and explore patterns of species richness. Those models link species to specific habitats throughout the range of each species. For most vertebrates, there are not enough occurrence data...
Bayesian applications in environmental and ecological studies with R and Stan
Song S. Qian, Mark Richard Dufour, Ibrahim Alameddine
2022, Book
Modern ecological and environmental sciences are dominated by observational data. As a result, traditional statistical training often leaves scientists ill-prepared for the data analysis tasks they encounter in their work. Bayesian methods provide a more robust and flexible tool for data analysis, as they enable information from different sources to...
Geoelectric constraints on the Precambrian assembly and architecture of southern Laurentia
Benjamin Scott Murphy, Paul A. Bedrosian, Anna Kelbert
2022, Book chapter, Laurentia: Turning points in the evolution of a continent
Using images from an updated and expanded three-dimensional electrical conductivity synthesis model for the contiguous United States (CONUS), we highlight the key continent-scale geoelectric structures that are associated with the Precambrian assembly of southern Laurentia. Conductivity anomalies are associated with the Trans-Hudson orogen, the Penokean suture, the ca. 1.8–1.7 Ga...
Confirmation that eagle fatalities can be reduced by automated curtailment of wind turbines
Christopher J. W. McClure, Brian W. Rolek, Leah Dunn, Jennifer D. McCabe, Luke Martinson, Todd E. Katzner
2022, Ecological Solutions and Evidence (3)
Automated curtailment is potentially a powerful technique to reduce collision mortality of wildlife with wind turbines. Previously, we used a before–after–control–impact framework to demonstrate that eagle fatalities declined after automated curtailment was implemented with the IdentiFlight system at a wind power facility in Wyoming, USA. We received substantial interest...
The capacity of freshwater ecosystems to recover from exceedances of aquatic life criteria
Christopher A. Mebane
2022, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (41) 2887-2910
In the United States, national chemical water quality criteria for the protection of aquatic life assume that aquatic ecosystems have sufficient resiliency to recover from criteria exceedences occurring up to once every 3 years. This resiliency assumption was critically reviewed through two approaches: 1) synthesis of case studies and 2)...
Modeling the spatial and temporal dynamics of land-based polar bear denning in Alaska
Vijay P. Patil, George M. Durner, David C. Douglas, Todd C. Atwood
2022, Journal of Wildlife Management (86)
Although polar bears (Ursus maritimus) of the Southern Beaufort Sea (SBS) subpopulation have commonly created maternal dens on sea ice in the past, maternal dens on land have become increasingly prevalent as sea ice declines. This trend creates conditions for increased human–bear interactions associated with local communities and industrial activity....
Wildfire influences individual growth and breeding dispersal, but not survival and recruitment in a montane amphibian
Gabriel M. Barrile, Anna D. Chalfoun, Wendy A. Estes-Zumpf, Annika W. Walters
2022, Ecosphere (13)
Global wildfire regimes are changing rapidly, with widespread increases in the size, frequency, duration, and severity of wildfires. Whereas the effects of wildfire on ecological state variables such as occupancy, abundance, and species diversity are relatively well documented, changes in population vital rates (e.g., survival, recruitment) and individual responses (e.g.,...
Incorporating habitat suitability, landscape distance, and resistant kernels to estimate conservation units for an imperiled terrestrial snake
Javan Mathias Bauder, H. C. Chandler, M. Elmore, C. L. Jenkins
2022, Landscape Ecology (37) 2533
ContextWildlife distributions are often subdivided into discrete conservation units to aid in implementing management and conservation objectives. Habitat suitability models, resistance surfaces, and resistant kernels provide tools for delineating spatially explicit conservation units but guidelines for parameterizing resistant kernels are generally lacking.ObjectivesWe used the federally threatened...
