A comparison of methods for the long-term harness-based attachment of radio-transmitters to juvenile Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica)
Evan J Buck, Jeffery D. Sullivan, Cody M. Kent, Jennifer M. Mullinax, Diann Prosser
2021, Animal Biotelemetry (9)
BackgroundWhile the period from fledging through first breeding for waterbird species such as terns (e.g., genus Sterna, Sternula) is of great interest to researchers and conservationists, this period remains understudied due in large part to the difficulty of marking growing juveniles with radio transmitters that remain attached for...
Development of a screening tool to examine lake and reservoir susceptibility to eutrophication in selected watersheds of the eastern and southeastern United States
W. Reed Green, Anne B. Hoos, Alan E. Wilson, Elizabeth N. Heal
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5075
This report describes a new screening tool to examine lake and reservoir susceptibility to eutrophication in selected watersheds of the eastern and southeastern United States using estimated nutrient loading and flushing rates with measures of waterbody morphometry. To that end, the report documents the compiled data and methods (R-script) used...
Integrating observations and models to determine the effect of seasonally frozen ground on hydrologic partitioning in alpine hillslopes in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA
David M. Rey, Eve-Lyn S. Hinckley, Michelle A. Walvoord, Kamini Singha
2021, Hydrological Processes (35)
This study integrated spatially distributed field observations and soil thermal models to constrain the impact of frozen ground on snowmelt partitioning and streamflow generation in an alpine catchment within the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research site, Colorado, USA. The study area was comprised of...
Tradeoffs in habitat value to maximize natural resource benefits from coastal restoration in a rapidly eroding wetland: Is monitoring land area sufficient?
Tim J. B. Carruthers, Erin P. Kiskaddon, Melissa M. Baustian, Kelly M. Darnell, Leland C. Moss, Carey L. Perry, Camille Stagg
2021, Restoration Ecology (30)
Louisiana contains nearly 40% of estuarine herbaceous wetlands in the contiguous United States, supporting valuable ecosystem services and providing significant economic benefits to the state and the entire United States. However, coastal Louisiana is a hotspot for rapid land loss from factors including hurricanes, land use change, and high subsidence...
Stratigraphic and structural controls on groundwater salinity variations in the Poso Creek Oil Field, Kern County, California, USA
Michael J. Stephens, David H. Shimabukuro, Will Chang, Janice M. Gillespie, Zack Levinson
2021, Hydrogeology Journal (29) 2803-2820
Groundwater total dissolved solids (TDS) distribution was mapped with a three-dimensional (3D) model, and it was found that TDS variability is largely controlled by stratigraphy and geologic structure. General TDS patterns in the San Joaquin Valley of California (USA) are attributed to predominantly connate water composition...
Distribution, abundance and spatial variability of microplastic pollution on the surface of Lake Superior
K Cox, E. Brocious, S Courtenay, Mark Vinson, Seth J. K. Mason
2021, Journal of Great Lakes Research (47) 1358-1364
In 2014, 94 paired neuston net samples (0.5 mm mesh) were collected from the surface waters of Lake Superior. These samples comprise the most comprehensive surface water survey for microplastics of any of the Great Lakes to date, and the first to employ double net...
Estimates of public-supply, domestic, and irrigation water withdrawal, use, and trends in the Upper Rio Grande Basin, 1985 to 2015
Tamara I. Ivahnenko, Allison K. Flickinger, Amy E. Galanter, Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin, Diana E. Pedraza, Gabriel B. Senay
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5036
The Rio Grande flows approximately 670 miles from its headwaters in the San Juan Mountains of south-central Colorado to Fort Quitman, Texas, draining the Upper Rio Grande Basin (URGB) study area of 32,000 square miles that includes parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. Parts of the basin extend into...
The finicky nature of earthquake shaking-triggered submarine sediment slope failures and sediment gravity flows
Joan S. Gomberg, Keisuke Ariyoshi, Susan Hautala, H.P. Johnson
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research (126)
Since 2011, seafloor temperatures, pressures, and seismic ground motions have been measured by the seafloor cabled Dense Oceanfloor Network system for Earthquakes and Tsunamis (DONET) on the Nankai margin. These measurements, high-resolution bathymetry, and abundant contextual information make the DONET region seem ideally suited to provide constraints on seismic shaking-triggered...
Evaluation of SWIR crop residue bands for the Landsat Next mission
W. Dean Hively, Brian T. Lamb, Craig S.T. Daughtry, Guy Serbin, Phillip Dennison, Raymond F. Kokaly, Zhuoting Wu, Jeffrey G. Masek
2021, Remote Sensing (13)
This research reports the findings of a Landsat Next expert review panel that evaluated the use of narrow shortwave infrared (SWIR) reflectance bands to measure ligno-cellulose absorption features centered near 2100 and 2300 nm, with the objective of measuring and mapping non-photosynthetic vegetation (NPV), crop residue cover,...
Time-fractional flow equations (t-FFEs) to upscale transient groundwater flow characterized by temporally non-darcian flow due to medium heterogeneity
Yuan Xia, Yong Zhang, Christopher Green, Graham Fogg
2021, Water Resources Research (57)
Upscaling groundwater flow is a fundamental challenge in hydrogeology. This study proposed time-fractional flow equations (t-FFEs) for upscaling long-term, transient groundwater flow and propagation of pressure heads in heterogeneous media. Monte Carlo simulations showed that, with increasing variance and correlation of the hydraulic conductivity (K), flow dynamics gradually deviated from...
Estimating invertebrate response to changes in total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and specific conductance at sites where invertebrate data are unavailable
Robert E. Zuellig, Daren M. Carlisle
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5070
The purpose of this report is to describe a possible approach to estimate changes in invertebrate taxa richness at sites with known water-quality trends but no invertebrate data. In this study, data from 1,322 sites were used to describe invertebrate response to changes in total nitrogen, total phosphorus, or specific...
Waterborne gradient Self-Potential (WaSP) logging in the Rio Grande to map localized and regional surface and groundwater exchanges across the Mesilla Valley
Scott Ikard, Andrew Teeple
2021, FastTIMES (26)
The Rio Grande is the primary source of recharge to the Mesilla Basin/Conejos-Médanos aquifer system (“Mesilla Basin aquifer system”) in the Mesilla Valley of New Mexico and Texas. The Mesilla Basin aquifer system is the primary source of water supply to several large cities along the United States–Mexico border. Identifying...
Monthly river temperature trends across the US confound annual changes
Christa Kelleher, Heather E. Golden, Stacey A. Archfield
2021, Environmental Research Letters (16)
Climate variations and human modifications of the water cycle continue to alter the Earth's surface water and energy exchanges. It is therefore critical to ascertain how these changes impact water quality and aquatic ecosystem habitat metrics such as river temperatures. Though river temperature trend analyses exist in...
Evaluation of hydrologic simulation models for fields with subsurface drainage to mitigated wetlands in Barnes, Dickey, and Sargent Counties, North Dakota
Joel M. Galloway, Wyatt S. Tatge, Spencer L. Wheeling
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5091
Proper identification of wetlands, along with a better understanding of the hydrology of mitigated wetlands, is needed to assist with conservation efforts aimed at maintaining the productivity and ecological function (wetland mitigation) of agricultural lands. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation...
Fish response to successive clearcuts in a second-growth forest from the central Coast range of Oregon
D. S. Bateman, Nathan Chelgren, Robert E. Gresswell, Jason B. Dunham, David Hockman-Wert, D. W. Leer, K. D. Bladon
2021, Forest Ecology and Management (496)
Research dating back to the 1950 s has documented negative effects from harvesting of primeval forests on stream ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest. By the early 1990 s, state and federal forest practice rules governing timber harvest were modified throughout North America to better protect aquatic habitats and biotic resources, principally salmonids. These rules...
Continuous water-quality and suspended-sediment transport monitoring in the San Francisco Bay, California, water years 2018–19
Darin C. Einhell, Selina M. Davila Olivera, Danielle L. Palm
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3043
Water-Quality in San Francisco BayThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) monitors water quality and suspended-sediment transport in the San Francisco Bay (Bay) as part of a multi-agency effort to address estuary management, water supply, and ecological concerns. The San Francisco Bay area is home to millions of people, and the Bay...
Early growth and ecophysiological responses of Koa (Acacia koa A. Gray) seedlings to reduced water and phosphorus
Kaitlin Gerber, Amy Ross-Davis, Steven S. Perakis, Anthony S. Davis
2021, New Forests (2021)
Sites in need of restoration typically have one or more environmental factors that limit seedling establishment. Identifying ecophysiological responses to environmental stressors can provide important insights into mitigating measures that would allow seedlings to overcome such constraints to survival. Koa (Acacia koa A. Gray) is a nitrogen-fixing tree species endemic to...
Analysis of Escherichia coli, total recoverable iron, and dissolved selenium concentrations, loading, and identifying data gaps for selected 303(d) listed streams, Grand Valley, western Colorado, 1980–2018
Lisa D. Miller, Rachel G. Gidley, Natalie K. Day, Judith C. Thomas
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5053
Tributaries to the Colorado River in the Grand Valley in western Colorado (segment COLCLC13b) have been placed on the State of Colorado 303(d) list as impaired for Escherichia coli (E. coli), total recoverable iron, and dissolved selenium. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Water Quality Control Division is...
Storage capacity and sedimentation characteristics of Loch Lomond Reservoir, California, 2019
Daniel R. Whealdon-Haught, Scott Wright, Mathieu D. Marineau
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5081
In May of 2019, Loch Lomond Reservoir was surveyed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the city of Santa Cruz to assess the current storage capacity and sedimentation rates in the reservoir. Survey methods combined sonar soundings to measure bathymetry and lidar scans with GPS data to...
Assessment of multiple ecosystem metabolism methods in an estuary
Luke C. Loken, Erwin E Van Nieuwenhuyse, Randy A Dahlgren, Leah Kammel, Paul Stumpner, Jon R. Burau, Steven Sadro
2021, Limnology & Oceanography: Methods (19) 741-757
Ecosystem metabolism is a key ecological attribute and easy to describe, but quantifying metabolism in estuaries is challenging. Properly scaling measurements through time and space requires consideration of hydrodynamics and mixing water from heterogeneous sources, making any estimation uncertain. Here, we compared three methods for modeling...
Altitude of the potentiometric surface in the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, spring 2020
Virginia L. McGuire, Ronald C. Seanor, William H. Asquith, Kellan R. Strauch, Anna M. Nottmeier, Judith C. Thomas, Roland W. Tollett, Wade H. Kress
2021, Scientific Investigations Map 3478
The purpose of this report is to present a potentiometric-surface map for the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer (MRVA). The source data for the map were groundwater-altitude data from wells measured manually or continuously generally in spring 2020 and from the altitude of the top of the water surface measured...
First record of Najas marina (Hydrocharitaceae) for Montana and an update on the North American distribution
Scott L. Freeman, Ian Pfingsten
2021, Phytoneuron (51) 1-7
Three recent collections of Najas marina (spiny water-nymph) from Missoula County, Montana are documented and illustrated. These collections are the first records for Montana and for the Pacific Northwest region. The occurrence of N. marina in Montana reflects a significant northward expansion of this species in the Mountain West. The...
Modeling watershed carbon dynamics as affected by land cover change and soil erosion
Jinxun Liu, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Paul Selmants, Jiaojiao Diao, Qiang Zhou, Bruce Worstell, Monica Mei Jeen Moritsch
2021, Ecological Modelling (459)
Process-based ecosystem carbon cycle models typically incorporate vegetation growth, vegetation mortality, and soil respiration as well as the biotic and environmental drivers that influence these variables. However, few spatially explicit process models can efficiently incorporate the influence of land cover change and carbon lateral movement at regional scales or high...
Forecasting drought probabilities for streams in the northeastern United States
Samuel H. Austin
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5084
Maximum likelihood logistic regression (MLLR) models for the northeastern United States forecast drought probability estimates for water flowing in rivers and streams using methods previously identified and developed. Streamflow data from winter months are used to estimate chances of hydrological drought during summer months. Daily streamflow data collected from 1,143...
A petrological and conceptual model of Mayon volcano (Philippines) as an example of an open-vent volcano
Dawn Catherine Sweeney Ruth, Fidel Costa
2021, Bulletin of Volcanology (83)
Mayon is a basaltic andesitic, open-vent volcano characterized by persistent passive degassing from the summit at 2463 m above sea level. Mid-size (<0.1 km3) and mildly explosive eruptions and occasional phreatic eruptions have occurred approximately every 10 years for over a hundred years. Mayon’s plumbing system structure, processes, and time scales driving...
