Effects of acid deposition on ecosystems: Advances in the state of the science
Douglas A. Burns, Mark E. Fenn, Jill Baron
2011, Report, National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program Report to Congress: An Integrated Assessment
Chapter 2 focused on the environmental results of the ARP, presenting data from national monitoring networks on SO2 and NOx emissions, air quality, atmospheric deposition, surface water chemistry, and visibility. This chapter expands on this information by examining the most recent research into how ecosystems respond to acid deposition, especially...
Groundwater, surface-water, and water-chemistry data, Black Mesa area, northeastern Arizona—2009–10
Jamie P. Macy, Christopher R. Brown
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1198
The Navajo (N) aquifer is an extensive aquifer and the primary source of groundwater in the 5,400-square-mile Black Mesa area in northeastern Arizona. Availability of water is an important issue in northeastern Arizona because of continued water requirements for industrial and municipal use by a growing population and because of...
The source, discharge, and chemical characteristics of water from Agua Caliente Spring, Palm Springs, California
Justin Brandt, Rufus D. Catchings, Allen H. Christensen, Alan L. Flint, Gini Gandhok, Mark R. Goldman, Keith J. Halford, Victoria E. Langenheim, Peter Martin, Michael J. Rymer, Roy A. Schroeder, Gregory A. Smith, Michelle Sneed
Peter Martin, editor(s)
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5156
Agua Caliente Spring, in downtown Palm Springs, California, has been used for recreation and medicinal therapy for hundreds of years and currently (2008) is the source of hot water for the Spa Resort owned by the Agua Caliente Band of the Cahuilla Indians. The Agua Caliente Spring is located about...
Modelling the distribution of chickens, ducks, and geese in China
Diann J. Prosser, Junxi Wu, Erie C. Ellis, Fred Gale, Thomas P. Van Boeckel, William Wint, Tim Robinson, Xiangming Xiao, Marius Gilbert
2011, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment (141) 381-389
Global concerns over the emergence of zoonotic pandemics emphasize the need for high-resolution population distribution mapping and spatial modelling. Ongoing efforts to model disease risk in China have been hindered by a lack of available species level distribution maps for poultry. The goal of this study was to develop 1...
Evaluating interactions between river otters and muskrats at bridge crossings in Kentucky
Joseph D. Clark, Ryan Williamson
2011, Journal of Mammalogy (92) 1314-1320
hreatened or endangered. Muskrat populations have been reduced in some streams where North American river otters (Lontra canadensis) were reintroduced, and it has been hypothesized that otter reintroduction could be used as a tool for conservation of mussels. We used occupancy estimation methods to evaluate the ecological relationship between muskrats...
Indigenous observations of climate change in the Lower Yukon River Basin, Alaska
Nicole M. Herman-Mercer, Paul F. Schuster, Karonhiakt’tie Maracle
2011, Human Organization (70) 244-252
Natural science climate change studies have led to an overwhelming amount of evidence that the Arctic and Subarctic are among the world's first locations to begin experiencing climate change. Indigenous knowledge of northern regions is a valuable resource to assess the effects of climate change on the people and the...
Comparison of visual-based helicopter and fixed-wing forward-looking infrared surveys for counting white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus
Daniel J. Storm, Michael D. Samuel, Timothy R. Van Deelen, Karl D. Malcolm, Robert E. Rolley, Nancy A. Frost, Donald P. Bates, Bryan J. Richards
2011, Wildlife Biology (17) 431-440
Aerial surveys using direct counts of animals are commonly used to estimate deer abundance. Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) technology is increasingly replacing traditional methods such as visual observation from helicopters. Our goals were to compare fixed-wing FLIR and visual, helicopter-based counts in terms of relative bias, influence of snow cover and...
Mineral Commodity Summaries 2011
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2011, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2011
Each chapter of the 2011 edition of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Commodity Summaries (MCS) includes information on events, trends, and issues for each mineral commodity as well as discussions and tabular presentations on domestic industry structure, Government programs, tariffs, 5-year salient statistics, and world production and resources. The...
Documentation of methods and inventory of irrigation data collected for the 2000 and 2005 U.S. Geological Survey Estimated use of water in the United States, comparison of USGS-compiled irrigation data to other sources, and recommendations for future compilations
Jade M. Dickens, Brandon T. Forbes, Dylan S. Cobean, Saeid Tadayon
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5166
Every five years since 1950, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Use Information Program (NWUIP) has compiled water-use information in the United States and published a circular report titled "Estimated use of water in the United States," which includes estimates of water withdrawals by State, sources of water withdrawals...
Vulnerability of high-latitude soil organic carbon in North America to disturbance
Guido Grosse, Jennifer W. Harden, Merritt Turetsky, A. David McGuire, Philip Camill, Charles Tarnocai, Steve Frolking, Edward A.G. Schuur, Torre Jorgenson, Sergei Marchenko, Vladimir Romanovsky, Kimberly P. Wickland, Nancy French, Mark P. Waldrop, Laura L. Bourgeau-Chavez, Robert G. Striegl
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research G: Biogeosciences (116) 1-23
This synthesis addresses the vulnerability of the North American high-latitude soil organic carbon (SOC) pool to climate change. Disturbances caused by climate warming in arctic, subarctic, and boreal environments can result in significant redistribution of C among major reservoirs with potential global impacts. We divide the current northern high-latitude SOC...
The role of adsorbed water on the friction of a layer of submicron particles
Charles G. Sammis, David A. Lockner, Ze’ev Reches
2011, Pure and Applied Geophysics (168) 2325-2334
Anomalously low values of friction observed in layers of submicron particles deformed in simple shear at high slip velocities are explained as the consequence of a one nanometer thick layer of water adsorbed on the particles. The observed transition from normal friction with an apparent coefficient near μ = 0.6...
Oil sands
Debra K. Higley, F. J. Hein
2011, Natural Resources Research (20) 306-309
No abstract available....
Sediment concentrations, loads, and particle-size distributions in the Red River of the North and selected tributaries near Fargo, North Dakota, during the 2011 spring high-flow event
Joel M. Galloway, Robert A. Blanchard, Christopher A. Ellison
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5134
To provide accurate and reliable information on sediment near the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducted a study in the spring (March-May) of 2010 and the spring of 2011 to examine sediment concentrations, loads, and particle-size distributions at nine...
Silver bioaccumulation dynamics in a freshwater invertebrate after aqueous and dietary exposures to nanosized and ionic Ag
Marie-Noe le Croteau, Superb K. Misra, Samuel N. Luoma, Eugenia Valsami-Jones
2011, Environmental Science & Technology (45) 6600-6607
We compared silver (Ag) bioavailability and toxicity to a freshwater gastropod after exposure to ionic silver (Ag+) and to Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) capped with citrate or with humic acid. Silver form, exposure route, and capping agent influence Ag bioaccumulation dynamics in Lymnaea stagnalis. Snails efficiently accumulated Ag from all...
Food webs and fishing affect parasitism of the sea urchin Eucidaris galapagensis in the Galápagos
Jorge I. Sonnenholzner, Kevin D. Lafferty, Lydia B. Ladah
2011, Ecology (92) 2276-2284
In the Galápagos Islands, two eulimid snails parasitize the common pencil sea urchin, Eucidaris galapagensis. Past work in the Galápagos suggests that fishing reduces lobster and fish densities and, due to this relaxation of predation pressure, indirectly increases urchin densities, creating the potential for complex indirect interactions between fishing and...
Catalog of earthquake hypocenters at Alaskan volcanoes: January 1 through December 31, 2010
James P. Dixon, Scott D. Stihler, John A. Power, Cheryl K. Searcy
2011, Data Series 645
Between January 1 and December 31, 2010, the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) located 3,405 earthquakes, of which 2,846 occurred within 20 kilometers of the 33 volcanoes with seismograph subnetworks. There was no significant seismic activity in 2010 at these monitored volcanic centers. Seismograph subnetworks with severe outages in 2009 were...
Efficacy of fipronil for control of yellowjacket wasps in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
David Foote, Cause Hanna, Cynthia King, Eric Spurr
2011, Technical Report HCSU-028
The western yellowjacket wasp (Vespula pensylvanica) invaded Hawai`i’s national parks and refuges following its spread throughout the islands in the late 1970s. The endemic arthropod fauna of Hawai`i is thought to be especially vulnerable to these predacious social Hymenoptera, and methods of wasp control have been a priority for conservation...
Envisioning the future of wildlife in a changing climate: Collaborative learning for adaptation planning
Olivia E. LeDee, W. H. Karasov, Karl J. Martin, Michael W. Meyer, Christine Ribic, Timothy R. Van Deelen
2011, Wildlife Society Bulletin (35) 508-513
Natural resource managers are tasked with assessing the impacts of climate change on conservation targets and developing adaptation strategies to meet agency goals. The complex, transboundary nature of climate change demands the collaboration of scientists, managers, and stakeholders in this effort. To share, integrate, and apply knowledge from these diverse...
Female American Kestrel survives double amputation
Ben R. Skipper, Clint W. Boal
2011, Journal of Raptor Research (45) 374-375
Free-ranging raptors are susceptible to a variety of injuries, many of which are sustained while pursuing and/or capturing live prey. Injuries hindering an individual’s ability to capture prey, such as partial blindness, damage to the bill, and foot or leg injuries, are debilitating and potentially life-threatening. However, there are ample...
High-frequency Born synthetic seismograms based on coupled normal modes
Fred F. Pollitz
2011, Geophysical Journal International (187) 1420-1442
High-frequency and full waveform synthetic seismograms on a 3-D laterally heterogeneous earth model are simulated using the theory of coupled normal modes. The set of coupled integral equations that describe the 3-D response are simplified into a set of uncoupled integral equations by using the Born approximation to calculate scattered...
Genetic discontinuity among regional populations of Lophelia perfusa in the North Atlantic Ocean
Cheryl L. Morrison
2011, Conservation Genetics (12) 713-729
Knowledge of the degree to which populations are connected through larval dispersal is imperative to effective management, yet little is known about larval dispersal ability or population connectivity in Lophelia pertusa, the dominant framework-forming coral on the continental slope in the North Atlantic Ocean. Using nine microsatellite DNA markers, we...
The distributions of one invasive and two native crayfishes in relation to coarse-scale natural and anthropogenic factors
Jacob T. Westhoff, C.F. Rabeni, S.P. Sowa
2011, Freshwater Biology (56) 2415-2431
1. Native crayfishes are often extirpated from portions of their range because of interactions with invasive species, anthropogenic alterations to environmental conditions or a combination of these factors. Our goal was to identify coarse-scale natural and anthropogenic factors related to the current distributions of the invasive crayfish, Orconectes hylas, and two...
Adaptive management of bull trout populations in the Lemhi Basin
Andrew J. Tyre, James T. Peterson, Sarah J. Converse, Tiffany L. Bogich, Damien Miller, Max Post van der Burg, Carmen Thomas, Ralph J. Thompson, Jeri Wood, Donna Brewer, Michael C. Runge
2011, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (2) 262-281
The bull trout Salvelinus confluentus, a stream-living salmonid distributed in drainages of the northwestern United States, is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act because of rangewide declines. One proposed recovery action is the reconnection of tributaries in the Lemhi Basin. Past water use policies in this core area disconnected...
Metadata for data rescue and data at risk
William L. Anderson, John Faundeen, Jane Greenberg, Fraser Taylor
2011, Conference Paper, 2011 Conference on ensuring long-term preservation in adding value to scientific and technical data
Scientific data age, become stale, fall into disuse and run tremendous risks of being forgotten and lost. These problems can be addressed by archiving and managing scientific data over time, and establishing practices that facilitate data discovery and reuse. Metadata documentation is integral to this work and essential for measuring...
Active mountain building and the distribution of core Maxillariinae species in tropical Mexico and Central America
Stephen H. Kirby
2011, Lankesteriana (11) 275-291
The observation that southeastern Central America is a hotspot for orchid diversity has long been known and confirmed by recent systematic studies and checklists. An analysis of the geographic and elevation distribution demonstrates that the most widespread species of “core” Maxillariinae are all adapted to life near sea level, whereas...
