A quantitative soil-geomorphic framework for developing and mapping ecological site groups
Travis W. Nauman, Samuel S Burch, Joel T. Humphries, Anna C. Knight, Michael C. Duniway
2022, Rangeland Ecology and Management (81) 9-33
Land management decisions need context about how landscapes will respond to different circumstances or actions. As ecologists’ understanding of nonlinear ecological dynamics has evolved into state-and-transition models (STMs), they have put more emphasis on defining and mapping the soil, geomorphological, and climate...
Phytoplankton community interactions and cyanotoxin mixtures in three recurring surface blooms within one lake
Victoria Christensen, Hayley T. Olds, Jack E. Norland, Eakalak Khan
2022, Journal of Hazardous Materials (427)
Cyanobacteria can produce numerous secondary metabolites (cyanotoxins) with various toxicities, yet data on cyanotoxins in many lakes are limited. Moreover, little research is available on complex relations among cyanobacteria that produce toxins. Therefore, we studied cyanobacteria and 19 cyanotoxins at three sites with recurring blooms in Kabetogama Lake (USA). Seven of 19...
Mapped predictions of manganese and arsenic in an alluvial aquifer using boosted regression trees
Katherine J. Knierim, James A. Kingsbury, Kenneth Belitz, Paul E. Stackelberg, Burke J. Minsley, James R. Rigby
2022, Groundwater (60) 362-376
Manganese (Mn) concentrations and the probability of arsenic (As) exceeding the drinking-water standard of 10 μg/L were predicted in the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer (MRVA) using boosted regression trees (BRT). BRT, a type of ensemble-tree machine-learning model, were created using predictor variables that affect Mn and...
Salinity contributions from geothermal waters to the Rio Grande and shallow aquifer system in the transboundary Mesilla (United States)/Conejos-Médanos (Mexico) Basin
Jeff D. Pepin, Andrew J. Robertson, Shari A. Kelley
2022, Water (14)
Freshwater scarcity has raised concerns about the long-term availability of the water supplies within the transboundary Mesilla (United States)/Conejos-Médanos (Mexico) Basin in Texas, New Mexico, and Chihuahua. Analysis of legacy temperature data and groundwater flux estimates indicates that the region’s known geothermal systems may contribute more than 45,000 tons of...
Improving groundwater model calibration with repeat microgravity measurements
Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Libby M. Wildermuth, Jacob E. Knight, Joshua D. Larson
2022, Groundwater (60) 393-403
Groundwater-flow models depend on hydraulic head and flux observations for evaluation and calibration. A different type of observation—change in storage measured using repeat microgravity—can also be used for parameter estimation by simulating the expected change in gravity from a groundwater model and including the observation misfit...
2021 U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model for the State of Hawaii
Mark D. Petersen, Allison Shumway, Peter M. Powers, Morgan P. Moschetti, Andrea L. Llenos, Andrew J. Michael, Charles Mueller, Arthur D. Frankel, Sanaz Rezaeian, Kenneth S. Rukstales, Daniel E. McNamara, P. Okubo, Yuehua Zeng, Kishor S. Jaiswal, Sean Kamran Ahdi, Jason M. Altekruse, Brian Shiro
2022, Earthquake Spectra (38) 865-916
The 2021 U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) for the State of Hawaii updates the two-decades-old former model by incorporating new data and modeling techniques to improve the underlying ground shaking forecasts of tectonic-fault, tectonic-flexure, volcanic, and caldera collapse earthquakes. Two earthquake ground shaking hazard models (public policy and research)...
Automated detection of clipping in broadband earthquake records
James Kael Kleckner, Kyle Withers, Eric M. Thompson, J.M. Rekoske, Emily Wolin, Morgan P. Moschetti
2022, Seismological Research Letters (93) 880-896
Because the amount of available ground‐motion data has increased over the last decades, the need for automated processing algorithms has also increased. One difficulty with automated processing is to screen clipped records. Clipping occurs when the ground‐motion amplitude exceeds the dynamic range of the linear...
Exploring local riverbank sediment controls on the occurrence of preferential groundwater discharge points
Martin A. Briggs, Kaetlyn Jackson, F. Liu, Eric Moore, Alaina Bisson, A. M. Helton
2022, Water (14)
Groundwater discharge to rivers takes many forms, including preferential groundwater discharge points (PDPs) along riverbanks that are exposed at low flows, with multi-scale impacts on aquatic habitat and water quality. The physical controls on the spatial distribution of PDPs along riverbanks are not well-defined, rendering their prediction...
Marine paleoseismic evidence for seismic and aseismic slip along the Hayward-Rodgers Creek fault system in northern San Pablo Bay
Janet Watt, Mary McGann, Renee K. Takesue, Thomas Lorenson
2022, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (23)
Distinguishing between seismic and aseismic fault slip in the geologic record is difficult, yet fundamental to estimating the seismic potential of faults and the likelihood of multi-fault ruptures. We integrated chirp sub-bottom imaging with targeted cross-fault coring and core analyses of sedimentary proxy data to characterize...
Strengthening local volcano observatories through global collaborations
Jacob B. Lowenstern, John W. Ewert, Andrew Lockhart
2022, Bulletin of Volcanology (84)
We consider the future of volcano observatories in a world where new satellite technologies and global data initiatives have greatly expanded over the last two decades. Observatories remain the critical tie between the decision-making authorities and monitoring data. In the coming decade, the global scientific community...
Late Holocene environmental change in Celestun Lagoon, Yucatan, Mexico
Kyle Hardage, Joseph Street, Jorge A. Herrera-Silveira, Ferdinand K.J. Oberle, Adina Paytan
2022, Journal of Paleolimnology (67) 131-162
Epikarst estuary response to hydroclimate change remains poorly understood, despite the well-studied link between climate and karst groundwater aquifers. The influence of sea-level rise and coastal geomorphic change on these estuaries obscures climate signals, thus requiring careful development of paleoenvironmental histories to interpret the paleoclimate archives....
Data-driven prospectivity modelling of sediment-hosted Zn-Pb mineral systems and their critical raw materials
Christopher J. M. Lawley, Anne E. McCafferty, Garth E. Graham, David L. Huston, Karen D. Kelley, Karol Czarnota, Suzanne Paradis, Jan M. Peter, Nathan Hayward, Mike Barlow, Poul Emsbo, Joshua Aaron Coyan, Carma A. San Juan, Michael G. Gadd
2022, Ore Geology Reviews (141) 1-23
Demand for critical raw materials is expected to accelerate over the next few decades due to continued population growth and the shifting consumption patterns of the global economy. Sedimentary basins are important sources for critical raw materials and new discoveries of sediment–hosted Mississippi Valley–type (MVT) and/or clastic–dominated (CD) Zn–Pb deposits...
Mapping biological soil crusts in a Hawaiian dryland
Eszter Collier, Ryan L. Perroy, Sasha C. Reed, Jon P Price
2022, International Journal of Remote Sensing (43) 484-509
Historical and ongoing land use patterns in the Hawaiian Islands have degraded the Islands’ drylands, causing erosion and detrimentally affecting adjacent coastal marine ecosystems. Biological soil crust (biocrust) communities have been shown to increase soil stability in drylands worldwide, but their efficacy in mitigating soil erosion in Hawaiian drylands is...
Using fish community and population indicators to assess the biological condition of streams and rivers of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, USA
Kelly O. Maloney, Kevin P. Krause, Matthew J. Cashman, Wesley M. Daniel, Benjamin P. Gressler, Daniel J. Wieferich, John A. Young
2022, Ecological Indicators (134)
The development of indicators to assess relative freshwater condition is critical for management and conservation. Predictive modeling can enhance the utility of indicators by providing estimates of condition for unsurveyed locations. Such approaches grant understanding of where “good” and “poor” conditions occur and provide insight into landscape contexts supporting such conditions....
Translational science education through citizen science
Allison M. Young, Elizabeth F. van Mantgem, Alexis Garretson, Christine Noel, Toni Lyn Morelli
2022, Frontiers in Environmental Science (9)
Guided by the six elements of Translational Ecology (TE; i.e., decision-framing, collaboration, engagement, commitment, process, and communication), we showcase the first explicit example of a Translational Science Education (TSE) effort in the coastal redwood ecosystem of Humboldt County, CA. Using iNaturalist, a flexible and free citizen science/crowdsourcing app, we worked...
Multimineral petrophysics of thermally immature Eagle Ford Group and Cretaceous mudstones, U.S. Geological Survey Gulf Coast 1 research wellbore in central Texas
Lauri A. Burke, Justin E. Birdwell, Stanley T. Paxton
2022, Interpretation (10) T151-T165
Traditional petrophysical methods to evaluate organic richness and mineralogy using gamma-ray and resistivity log responses are not diagnostic in source rocks. We have developed a deterministic, nonproprietary method to quantify formation variability in total organic carbon (TOC) and three key mudrock mineralogical components of nonhydrocarbon-bearing...
A scalable model-independent iterative data assimilation tool for sequential and batch estimation of high dimensional model parameters and states
Ayman H. Alzraiee, Jeremy T. White, Matthew Knowling, Randall J. Hunt, Michael N. Fienen
2022, Environmental Modelling & Software (150)
Ensemble-based data assimilation (DA) methods have displayed strong potential to improve model state and parameter estimation across several disciplines due to their computational efficiency, scalability, and ability to estimate uncertainty in the dynamic states and the parameters. However, a barrier to adoption of ensemble DA methods remains. Namely, there is currently a...
Parameterizing an aeolian erosion model for rangelands
Brandon L. Edwards, Nicholas P. Webb, Magda Galloza, Justin W. Van Zee, Ericha M. Courtright, Bradley F. Cooper, Loretta J Metz, Jeffrey E. Herrick, Gregory S Okin, Michael C. Duniway, John Tatarko, Negussie Tedala, Daniel N Moriasi, Beth A. Newingham, Frederick B Pierson, David Toledo, Scott Van Pelt
2022, Aeolian Research (54)
Aeolian processes are fundamental to arid and semi-arid ecosystems, but modeling approaches are poorly developed for assessing impacts of management and environmental change on sediment transport rates over meaningful spatial and temporal scales. For model estimates to provide value, estimates of sediment flux that...
Modern reporting methods for angler tag-return studies:Trends in data quality, choice of method, and future considerations
A.T. Taylor, A.M. Pepper, B. Chapagain, O. Joshi, James M. Long
2022, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (42) 189-199
Angler tag-return studies are a cornerstone of fisheries research, providing insights into individual movements and estimates of exploitation, among many other applications. However, the data generated from these studies is dependent upon effective communication between anglers and scientists. As technological advances are adopted by anglers, little research has been directed...
Identifying translocation sites for a climate relict population of Finescale Dace
Evan C.J. Booher, Annika W. Walters
2022, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (151) 245-259
Translocation is a management strategy that seeks to address threats to fish and wildlife populations by establishing new populations in ecologically suitable areas. Populations of Finescale Dace Chrosomus neogaeus in the Great Plains may benefit from translocation, as they exhibit a climate relict natural history that has led to a disjunct distribution...
What determines the effectiveness of Pinyon-Juniper clearing treatments? Evidence from the remote sensing archive and counter-factual scenarios
Stephen E. Fick, Travis W. Nauman, Colby C. Brungard, Michael C. Duniway
2022, Forest Ecology and Management (505)
In the intermountain western US, expansion of Pinyon (Pinus edulis) and Juniper (Juniperus spp.) woodlands (PJ) into grasslands and shrublands is a pervasive phenomenon, and an example of the global trend towards enhanced woody growth in drylands. Due to the perceived impacts of these...
Empirically validated drought vulnerability mapping in the mixed conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada
Adrian Das, Michele R Slaton, Jeffrey Mallory, Gregory P. Asner, Roberta E. Martin, Paul Hardwick
2022, Ecological Applications (32)
Severe droughts are predicted to become more frequent in the future, and the consequences of such droughts on forests can be dramatic, resulting in massive tree mortality, rapid change in forest structure and composition, and substantially increased risk of catastrophic fire. Forest managers have tools at their disposal to try...
Complex demographic responses to contrasting climate drivers lead to divergent population trends across the range of a threatened alpine plant
Lucas Berio Fortini, Paul Krushelnycky, Donald Drake, Forest Starr, Kim Starr, Charles G. Chimera
2022, Global Ecology and Conservation (33)
Alpine plants are likely to be particularly vulnerable to climate change because of their restricted distributions and sensitivity to rapid environmental shifts occurring in high-elevation ecosystems. The well-studied Haleakalā silversword (‘āhinahina, Argyroxiphium sandwicense subsp. macrocephalum) already exhibits substantial climate-associated population decline, and offers the opportunity to...
Both real-time and long-term environmental data perform well in predicting shorebird distributions in managed habitat
Erin Conlisk, Gregory Golet, Mark Reynolds, Blake Barbaree, Kristin Sesser, Kristin B. Byrd, Sam Veloz, Matthew E. Reiter
2022, Ecological Applications (32)
Highly mobile species, such as migratory birds, respond to seasonal and inter-annual variability in resource availability by moving to better habitats. Despite the recognized importance of resource thresholds, species distribution models typically rely on long-term average habitat conditions, mostly because large-extent, temporally-resolved, environmental data are difficult...
Estimating pelagic primary production in lakes: Comparison of 14C incubation and free-water O2 approaches
Noah R. Lottig, Joseph Phillips, Ryan D. Batt, Facundo Scordo, Tanner J. Williamson, Stephen R. Carpenter, Sudeep Chandra, Paul C. Hanson, Christopher T. Solomon, Michael J. Vanni, Jacob Aaron Zwart
2022, Limnology and Oceanography: Methods (20) 34-45
Historically, estimates of pelagic primary production in lake ecosystems were made by measuring the uptake of carbon-14 (14C)-labeled inorganic carbon in samples incubated under laboratory or in situ conditions. However, incubation approaches are increasingly being replaced by methods that analyze diel changes in high-frequency...
