Long-period earthquake simulations in the Wasatch Front, UT: misfit characterization and ground motion estimates
Morgan P. Moschetti, Leonardo Ramírez-Guzmán
2011, Book, 4th IASPEI/IAEE International Symposium; Effects of Surface Geology on Seismic Motion
In this research we characterize the goodness-of-fit between observed and synthetic seismograms from three small magnitude (M3.6-4.5) earthquakes in the region using the Wasatch Front community velocity model (WCVM) in order to determine the ability of the WCVM to predict earthquake ground motions for scenario earthquake modeling efforts. We employ...
Gas shale/oil shale
N.S. Fishman, S.R. Bereskin, K.A. Bowker, B.J. Cardott, T.C. Chidsey Jr., R. F. Dubiel, C.B. Enomoto, W.B. Harrison, D.M. Jarvie, C.L. Jenkins, J.A. LeFever, Peng Li, J.N. McCracken, C. D. Morgan, S.H. Nordeng, R.E. Nyahay, Steven Schamel, R.L. Sumner, L.L. Wray
2011, Natural Resources Research (20) 288-301
The production of natural gas from shales continues to increase in North America, and shale gas exploration is on the rise in other parts of the world since the previous report by this committee was published by American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Energy Minerals Division (2009). For the United States,...
Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) movements and behavior around a kill site and implications for GPS collar studies
L. David Mech
2011, Canadian Field-Naturalist (125) 353-356
Global Positioning System (GPS) radio-collars are increasingly used to estimate Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) kill rates. In interpreting results from this technology, researchers make various assumptions about wolf behavior around kills, yet no detailed description of this behavior has been published. This article describes the behavior of six wolves in...
The dazed and confused identity of Agassiz's land tortoise, Gopherus agassizii (Testudines, Testudinidae) with the description of a new species, and its consequences for conservation
Robert K. Murphy, Kristin Berry, Taylor Edwards, Alan E. Leviton, Amy Lathrop, J. Daren Riedle
2011, ZooKeys (113) 39-71
We investigate a cornucopia of problems associated with the identity of the desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii Cooper. The date of publication is found to be 1861, rather than 1863. Only one of the three original cotypes exists, and it is designated as the lectotype of the species. Another cotype is...
Rhinoceros sondaicus (Perissodactyla: Rhinocerotidae)
David M. Leslie Jr., Colin P. Groves
2011, Mammalian Species (43) 190-208
Rhinoceros sondaicus Desmarest, 1822, commonly called the Javan rhinoceros or lesser one-horned rhinoceros, is the most critically endangered large mammal on Earth with only 40-50 extant individuals in 2 disjunct and distant populations: most in Ujung Kulon, West Java, and only 2-6 (optimistically) in Cat Loc, Vietnam. R. sondaicus is...
Response in the trophic state of stratified lakes to changes in hydrology and water level: potential effects of climate change
Dale M. Robertson, William J. Rose
2011, Journal of Water and Climate Change (2) 1-18
To determine how climate-induced changes in hydrology and water level may affect the trophic state (productivity) of stratified lakes, two relatively pristine dimictic temperate lakes in Wisconsin, USA, were examined. Both are closed-basin lakes that experience changes in water level and degradation in water quality during periods of high water....
The cost of fear
Thomas E. Martin
2011, Science (334) 1353-1354
What should parents do when they detect indications of more predators nearby that might eat their babies? This scenario is commonly faced by parents in the wild, and the consequences are important. The number of offspring that organisms produce has a major influence on fitness and, when averaged across a...
U.S. Geological Survey development of a Landsat-based Fire Disturbance ECV
Susan Stitt, John D. Guthrie, Todd Hawbaker, Mary S. Dolhancey
2011, Conference Paper, 34th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment: The GEOSS Era: Towards Operational Environmental Monitoring: April 10-15, 2011, Sydney, Australia: Proceedings
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is the steward of the Landsat archive which includes satellite imagery dating back to 1972. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have specified requirements to systematically observe atmosphere, ocean, and land characteristics, or Essential Climate...
Chronology, sedimentology, and microfauna of groundwater discharge deposits in the central Mojave Desert, Valley Wells, California
Jeffrey S. Pigati, David M. Miller, Jordon E. Bright, Shannon Mahan, Jeffrey C. Nekola, James B. Paces
2011, Geological Society of America Bulletin (123) 2224-2239
During the late Pleistocene, emergent groundwater supported persistent and long-lived desert wetlands in many broad valleys and basins in the American Southwest. When active, these systems provided important food and water sources for local fauna, supported hydrophilic and phreatophytic vegetation, and acted as catchments for eolian and alluvial sediments. Desert...
SICS: the Southern Inland and Coastal System interdisciplinary project of the USGS South Florida Ecosystem Program
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2011, Report
State and Federal agencies are working jointly on structural modifications and improved water-delivery strategies to reestablish more natural surface-water flows through the Everglades wetlands and into Florida Bay. Changes in the magnitude, duration, timing, and distribution of inflows from the headwaters of the Taylor Slough and canal C-111 drainage basins...
Hurricane impacts on coastal wetlands: A half-century record of storm-generated features from southern Louisiana
Robert A. Morton, John A. Barras
2011, Journal of Coastal Research (27) 27-43
Temporally and spatially repeated patterns of wetland erosion, deformation, and deposition are observed on remotely sensed images and in the field after hurricanes cross the coast of Louisiana. The diagnostic morphological wetland features are products of the coupling of high-velocity wind and storm-surge water and their interaction with the underlying,...
Effect of rainbow trout size on response to rotenone and antimycin
Peter J. Brown, Alexander V. Zale, Heather E. Johnson
2011, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (31) 1146-1152
The piscicides rotenone and antimycin are commonly used to eradicate unwanted fish populations. However, the relationships (if present) between their toxicities and fish sizes are unknown and could be especially important when bioassay fish are used to detect piscicide presence and effectiveness. Size-mediated toxicity could lead to either excessive or...
Understanding the amplitudes of noise correlation measurements
Victor C. Tsai
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research (116)
Cross correlation of ambient seismic noise is known to result in time series from which station-station travel-time measurements can be made. Part of the reason that these cross-correlation travel-time measurements are reliable is that there exists a theoretical framework that quantifies how these travel times depend on the features of...
Characterization of the intragranular water regime within subsurface sediments: pore volume, surface area, and mass transfer limitations
Michael B. Hay, Deborah L. Stoliker, James A. Davis, John M. Zachara
2011, Water Resources Research (47)
Although "intragranular" pore space within grain aggregates, grain fractures, and mineral surface coatings may contain a relatively small fraction of the total porosity within a porous medium, it often contains a significant fraction of the reactive surface area, and can thus strongly affect the transport of sorbing solutes. In this...
Geomagnetic referencing in the arctic environment
Benny Podjono, Nathan Beck, Andrew Buchanan, Jason Brink, Joseph Longo, Carol A. Finn, E. William Worthington
2011, Conference Paper
Geomagnetic referencing is becoming an increasingly attractive alternative to north-seeking gyroscopic surveys to achieve the precise wellbore positioning essential for success in today's complex drilling programs. However, the greater magnitude of variations in the geomagnetic environment at higher latitudes makes the application of geomagnetic referencing in those areas more challenging....
Magnetic Observatory
Jeffrey J. Love
2011, Book chapter, McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, 11th Edition: Vol. 10
Quarterly wildlife mortality report April 2011 to June 2011
Anne Ballmann, C. LeAnn White, Barb Bodenstein, Jennifer Bradsby
2011, Wildlife Disease Association Newsletter 9-10
No abstract available....
Rapid growth in the early marine period improves the marine survival of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in Puget Sound, Washington
Elisabeth J. Duffy, David A. Beauchamp
2011, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (68) 232-240
We examined the effect of early marine entry timing and body size on the marine (smolt-to-adult) survival of Puget Sound Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). We used data from coded wire tag release groups of hatchery Chinook salmon to test whether hatchery release date, release size, and size in offshore waters...
The winter diet of short-eared owls in subtropical Texas: Do southern diets provide evidence of opportunity?
Damon Williford, Marc C. Woodin, Mary Kay Skoruppa
2011, Journal of Raptor Research (45) 63-70
Winter diet of the Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) in Texas is little known. We investigated the diet of Short-eared Owls wintering in McMullen County, in subtropical Texas, by analyzing the contents of 129 pellets collected over two winters (28 November 2007 to 22 February 2008 and 11 December 2008 to...
Land use and habitat conditions across the southwestern Wyoming sagebrush steppe: development impacts, management effectiveness and the distribution of invasive plants
Daniel J. Manier, Cameron L. Aldridge, Patrick Anderson, Geneva Chong, Collin G. Homer, Michael S. O’Donnell, Spencer Schell
2011, Natural Resources and Environmental Issues (117)
For the past several years, USGS has taken a multi-faceted approach to investigating the condition and trends in sagebrush steppe ecosystems. This recent effort builds upon decades of work in semi-arid ecosystems providing a specific, applied focus on the cumulative impacts of expanding human activities across these landscapes. Here, we...
The use of historical imagery in the remediation of an urban hazardous waste site
E. Terrence Slonecker
2011, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing (4) 281-291
The information derived from the interpretation of historical aerial photographs is perhaps the most basic multitemporal application of remote-sensing data. Aerial photographs dating back to the early 20th century can be extremely valuable sources of historical landscape activity. In this application, imagery from 1918 to 1927 provided a wealth of...
Sea-level rise science: informing and preparing Florida's coastal communities
Matthew J. Cimitile
2011, Florida Planning (Spring 2011) 1-5
As a low-lying peninsula surrounded by water, Florida faces tough decisions about long-range planning and development strategies to address impacts of climate change. In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated there is strong evidence that global average sea level will rise by ? to 2 feet in...
Quarterly wildlife mortality report July 2010 to September 2010
Anne Ballmann, C. LeAnn White, Jennifer Bradsby
2011, Wildlife Disease Association Newsletter 12-14
No abstract available....
Bats of Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado: Composition, reproduction, and roosting habits
Thomas J. O'Shea, Paul M. Cryan, E. Apple Snider, Ernest W. Valdez, Laura E. Ellison, Daniel J. Neubaum
2011, Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist (5) 1-19
We determined the bat fauna at Mesa Verde National Park (Mesa Verde) in 2006 and 2007, characterized bat elevational distribution and reproduction, and investigated roosting habits of selected species. We captured 1996 bats of 15 species in mist nets set over water during 120 nights of sampling and recorded echolocation...
A national plan for assisting states, federal agencies, and tribes in managing white-nose syndrome in bats
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, U.S. Forest Service, Department of the Army - Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey, National Park Service, St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Missouri Department of Conservation, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Pennsylvania Game Commission, Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
2011, Report
White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a disease responsible for unprecedented mortality in hibernating bats in the northeastern U.S. This previously unrecognized disease has spread very rapidly since its discovery in January 2007, and poses a considerable threat to hibernating bats throughout North America. As WNS spreads, the challenges for understanding and...
