A survey of bees (hymenoptera: Apoidea) of the Indiana dunes and Northwest Indiana, USA
R. Grundel, R.P. Jean, K.J. Frohnapple, J. Gibbs, G.A. Glowacki, N.B. Pavlovic
2011, Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society (84) 105-138
The Indiana Dunes, and nearby natural areas in northwest Indiana, are floristically rich Midwest U.S. locales with many habitat types. We surveyed bees along a habitat gradient ranging from grasslands to forests in these locales, collecting at least 175 bee species along this gradient plus 29 additional species in other...
Synthesis of isotopically modified ZnO nanoparticles and their potential as nanotoxicity tracers
A.D. Dybowska, Marie Noele Croteau, S.K. Misra, D. Berhanu, Samuel N. Luoma, P. Christian, P. O'Brien, E. Valsami-Jones
2011, Environmental Pollution (159) 266-273
Understanding the behavior of engineered nanoparticles in the environment and within organisms is perhaps the biggest obstacle to the safe development of nanotechnologies. Reliable tracing is a particular issue for nanoparticles such as ZnO, because Zn is an essential element and a common pollutant thus present at elevated background concentrations. We synthesized isotopically...
Diets of the sympatric pacific sheath-tailed bat (Emballonura semicaudata rotensis) and Mariana Swiftlet (Aerodramus bartscht) on Aguiguan, Mariana Islands
Ernest W. Valdez, G.J. Wiles, Thomas J. O’Shea
2011, Pacific Science (65) 301-309
The Pacific sheath-tailed bat (Emballonura semicaudata rotensis) and Mariana swiftlet (Aerodramus bartschi) are two rare insectivorous taxa restricted to the southern Mariana Islands in western Micronesia. It is believed that populations of both have dwindled because of impacts to their food resources. However, there is little information on the food...
USGS science in the gulf oil spill: Novel science applications in a crisis
M. McNutt
2011, Sea Technology (52) 13-14
Marcia McNutt reflects on the role of the US Geological Survey (USGS) team following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Secretary Salazar asked Marcia McNutt to lead the Flow Rate Technical Group, a team charged by National Incident Commander Adm. Thad Allen with improving estimates of the oil discharge rate from...
Short- and long-term effects of fire on carbon in US dry temperate forest systems
Matthew D. Hurteau, Matthew L. Brooks
2011, BioScience (61) 139-146
Forests sequester carbon from the atmosphere, and in so doing can mitigate the effects of climate change. Fire is a natural disturbance process in many forest systems that releases carbon back to the atmosphere. In dry temperate forests, fires historically burned with greater frequency and lower severity than they do...
Helicopter magnetic and electromagnetic surveys at Mounts Adams, Baker and Rainier, Washington: implications for debris flow hazards and volcano hydrology
Carol A. Finn, Maria Deszcz-Pan
2011, Conference Paper, International Workshop on Gravity, Electrical & Magnetic Methods and Their Applications, Beijing, China, October 10-13, 2011
High‐resolution helicopter magnetic and electromagnetic (HEM) data flown over the rugged, ice‐covered Mt. Adams, Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier volcanoes (Washington), reveal the distribution of alteration, water and ice thickness essential to evaluating volcanic landslide hazards. These data, combined with geological mapping and rock property measurements, indicate the presence of...
Dispersal, mortality, and predation on recently-stocked rainbow trout in Dale Hollow Lake, Tennessee
Tomas J. Ivasauskas, Phillip William Bettoli
2011, Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (65) 83-91
Forty-four hatchery-raised rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were implanted with ultrasonic tags and stocked into Dale Hollow Lake, Tennessee, and tracked at least once per week for eight weeks to describe post-stocking dispersal rates, movements, and habitat use. Dispersal followed a three-stage pattern characterized by rapid movement away from each stocking...
Waste isolation and contaminant migration - Tools and techniques for monitoring the saturated zone-unsaturated zone-plant-atmosphere continuum
Brian J. Andraski, David A. Stonestrom
T.J. Nicholson, H.D. Arlt, editor(s)
2011, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the workshop on engineered barrier performance related to low-level radioactive waste, decommissioning, and uranium mill tailings facilities (NUREG/CP-0195)
In 1976 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began studies of unsaturated zone hydrology next to the Nation’s first commercial disposal facility for low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) near Beatty, NV. Recognizing the need for long-term data collection, the USGS in 1983 established research management areas in the vicinity of the waste-burial...
In-situ gas hydrate hydrate saturation estimated from various well logs at the Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well, Alaska North Slope
Myung W. Lee, Timothy S. Collett
2011, Marine and Petroleum Geology (28) 439-449
In 2006, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed detailed analysis and interpretation of available 2-D and 3-D seismic data and proposed a viable method for identifying sub-permafrost gas hydrate prospects within the gas hydrate stability zone in the Milne Point area of northern Alaska. To validate the predictions of...
A mass-balance model to separate and quantify colloidal and solute redistributions in soil
C.R. Bern, O.A. Chadwick, A.S. Hartshorn, L.M. Khomo, J. Chorover
2011, Chemical Geology (282) 113-119
Studies of weathering and pedogenesis have long used calculations based upon low solubility index elements to determine mass gains and losses in open systems. One of the questions currently unanswered in these settings is the degree to which mass is transferred in solution (solutes) versus suspension (colloids). Here we show...
Geology and mammalian paleontology of the Horned Toad Hills, Mojave Desert, California, USA
S.R. May, M.O. Woodburne, E.H. Lindsay, L.B. Albright, A. Sarna-Wojcicki, E. Wan, D.B. Wahl
2011, Palaeontologia Electronica (14) 13
The Horned Toad Formation includes five lithostratigraphic members that record alluvial fan, fluvial, lake margin, and lacustrine deposition within a relatively small basin just south of the active Garlock fault during the late Miocene to early Pliocene. These sediments experienced northwest-southeast contractional deformation during the Pliocene-Pleistocene associated with basement-involved reverse...
Quantifying the influence of sea ice on ocean microseism using observations from the Bering Sea, Alaska
V.C. Tsai, D.E. McNamara
2011, Geophysical Research Letters (38)
Microseism is potentially affected by all processes that alter ocean wave heights. Because strong sea ice prevents large ocean waves from forming, sea ice can therefore significantly affect microseism amplitudes. Here we show that this link between sea ice and microseism is not only a robust one but can be...
Earth observing data and methods for advancing water harvesting technologies in the semi-arid rain-fed environments of India
C. Sharma, P. Thenkabail, R. R. Sharma
2011, Conference Paper, Proceedings - 2011 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference, GHTC 2011
The paper develops approaches and methods of modeling and mapping land and water productivity of rain-fed crops in semi-arid environments of India using hyperspectral, hyperspatial, and advanced multispectral remote sensing data and linking the same to field-plot data and climate station data. The overarching goal is to provide information to...
Rapid assessment of rice seed availability for wildlife in harvested fields
B.J. Halstead, M. R. Miller, Michael L. Casazza, P.S. Coates, M.A. Farinha, K. Benjamin Gustafson, J.L. Yee, J. P. Fleskes
2011, Wildlife Society Bulletin (35) 377-393
Rice seed remaining in commercial fields after harvest (waste rice) is a critical food resource for wintering waterfowl in rice-growing regions of North America. Accurate and precise estimates of the seed mass density of waste rice are essential for planning waterfowl wintering habitat extents and management. In the Sacramento Valley...
Water and heat transport in boreal soils: Implications for soil response to climate change
Z. Fan, J. C. Neff, J.W. Harden, T. Zhang, H. Veldhuis, C.I. Czimczik, G.C. Winston, J. A. O'Donnell
2011, Science of the Total Environment (409) 1836-1842
Soil water content strongly affects permafrost dynamics by changing the soil thermal properties. However, the movement of liquid water, which plays an important role in the heat transport of temperate soils, has been under-represented in boreal studies. Two different heat transport models with and without convective heat transport were compared...
A predator-prey model with a holling type I functional response including a predator mutual interference
G. Seo, D.L. DeAngelis
2011, Journal of Nonlinear Science (21) 811-833
The most widely used functional response in describing predator-prey relationships is the Holling type II functional response, where per capita predation is a smooth, increasing, and saturating function of prey density. Beddington and DeAngelis modified the Holling type II response to include interference of predators that increases with predator density....
Diet and population metrics of the introduced blue catfish population in the Altamaha, River, GA
Timothy F. Bonvechio, Cecil A. Jennings
2011, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
Blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) were first detected in the Altamaha River, Georgia, during an access creel survey in 2005 and subsequently in 2006 during annual ictalurid sampling. Introduction of this species in the Altamaha River is believed to have occurred via escape from normal upstream reservoir releases from Lake Sinclair...
The 16 May 1909 northern Great Plains earthquake
W. H. Bakun, M. C. Stickney, Gary C. Rogers
2011, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (101) 3065-3071
The largest historical earthquake in the northern Great Plains occurred on 16 May 1909. Our analysis of intensity assignments places the earthquake location (48.81° N, 105.38° W) close to the Montana–Saskatchewan border with an intensity magnitude MI of 5.3–5.4. Observations from two seismic observatories in Europe give an average Ms...
Modeling hydrologic and geomorphic hazards across post-fire landscapes using a self-organizing map approach
Michael J. Friedel
2011, Environmental Modelling and Software (26) 1660-1674
Few studies attempt to model the range of possible post-fire hydrologic and geomorphic hazards because of the sparseness of data and the coupled, nonlinear, spatial, and temporal relationships among landscape variables. In this study, a type of unsupervised artificial neural network, called a self-organized map (SOM), is trained using data...
Late Holocene geomorphic record of fire in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests, Kendrick Mountain, northern Arizona, USA
S.E. Jenkins, Sieg C. Hull, D.E. Anderson, D. S. Kaufman, P. A. Pearthree
2011, International Journal of Wildland Fire (20) 125-141
Long-term fire history reconstructions enhance our understanding of fire behaviour and associated geomorphic hazards in forested ecosystems. We used 14C ages on charcoal from fire-induced debris-flow deposits to date prehistoric fires on Kendrick Mountain, northern Arizona, USA. Fire-related debris-flow sedimentation dominates Holocene fan deposition in the study area. Radiocarbon ages indicate...
Environmental endocrinology of salmon smoltification
Bjorn Thrandur Bjornsson, S.O. Stefansson, S. D. McCormick
2011, General and Comparative Endocrinology (170) 290-298
Smolting is a hormone-driven developmental process that is adaptive for downstream migration and ocean survival and growth in anadromous salmonids. Smolting includes increased salinity tolerance, increased metabolism, downstream migratory and schooling behavior, silvering and darkened fin margins, and olfactory imprinting....
Habitat selection by a focal predator (Canis lupus) in a multiprey ecosystem of the northern Rockies
B. Milakovic, K.L. Parker, D.D. Gustine, R.J. Lay, A.B.D. Walker, M.P. Gillingham
2011, Journal of Mammalogy (92) 568-582
Large predators respond to land cover and physiography that maximize the likelihood of encountering prey. Using locations from global positioning system-collared wolves (Canis lupus), we examined whether land cover, vegetation productivity or change, or habitat-selection value for ungulate prey species themselves most influenced patterns of selection by wolves in a...
On the powerful use of simulations in the quake-catcher network to efficiently position low-cost earthquake sensors
K. Benson, T. Estrada, M. Taufer, J. Lawrence, E. Cochran
2011, Conference Paper, Proceedings - 2011 7th IEEE International Conference on eScience, eScience 2011
The Quake-Catcher Network (QCN) uses low-cost sensors connected to volunteer computers across the world to monitor seismic events. The location and density of these sensors' placement can impact the accuracy of the event detection. Because testing different special arrangements of new sensors could disrupt the currently active project, this would...
Methods of InSAR atmosphere correction for volcano activity monitoring
W. Gong, F. Meyer, P.W. Webley, Z. Lu
2011, Conference Paper, International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS)
When a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) signal propagates through the atmosphere on its path to and from the sensor, it is inevitably affected by atmospheric effects. In particular, the applicability and accuracy of Interferometric SAR (InSAR) techniques for volcano monitoring is limited by atmospheric path delays. Therefore, atmospheric correction of...
Wind River watershed restoration, annual report November 2009 to October 2010.
P.J. Connolly, I.G. Jezorek
2011, Report
This report summarizes work completed by U.S. Geological Survey’s Columbia River Research Laboratory (USGS-CRRL) in the Wind River subbasin during the period November 2009 through October 2010 under Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) contract 46102. Long term research in the Wind River has focused on assessments of steelhead/rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss...
