Physiomorphic transformation in extreme endurance migrants: Revisiting the case of bar-tailed godwits preparing for trans-pacific flights
Theunis Piersma, Robert E. Gill Jr., Daniel R. Ruthrauff
2021, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (9)
In a 1998 paper entitled “Guts don’t fly: small digestive organs in obese bar-tailed godwits,” Piersma and Gill (1998) showed that the digestive organs were tiny and the fat loads huge in individuals suspected of embarking on a non-stop flight from Alaska to New Zealand. It was suggested that prior...
Assessment of a conservative mixing model for the evaluation of constituent behavior below river confluences, Elqui River Basin, Chile
Catalina Rossi, Jorge Oyarzun, Pablo Pasten, Robert L. Runkel, Jorge Núñez, Denisse Duhalde, Hugo Maturana, Eduardo Rojas, José L. Arumí, Daniela Castillo, Ricardo Oyarzun
2021, River Research and Applications (37) 967-978
Fate and transport modeling of water-borne contaminants is a data demanding and costly endeavor, requiring considerable expes such, it becomes important to know when a complex modeling approach is required, and when a simpler approach is adequate. This is the main objective herein, where a conservative mixing model is used...
Prioritizing restoration areas to conserve multiple sagebrush-associated wildlife species
Courtney Jean Duchardt, Adrian P. Monroe, Julie A. Heinrichs, Michael S. O’Donnell, David R. Edmunds, Cameron L. Aldridge
2021, Biological Conservation (260)
Strategic restoration of altered habitat is one method for addressing worldwide biodiversity declines. Within the sagebrush steppe of western North America, habitat degradation has been linked to declines in many species, making restoration a priority for managers; however, limited funding, spatiotemporal variation in restoration success, and the need to manage for diverse...
Enhanced terrestrial runoff during Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 on the North Carolina Coastal Plain, USA
Christopher M Lowery, Jean Self-Trail, Craig Barrie
2021, Climate of the Past (17) 1227-1242
A global increase in the strength of the hydrologic cycle drove an increase in the flux of terrigenous sediments into the ocean during the Cenomanian–Turonian Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2) and was an important mechanism driving nutrient enrichment and thus organic carbon burial. This global change is primarily known from isotopic...
Extensibility of U-net neural network model for hydrographic feature extraction and implications for hydrologic modeling
Larry V. Stanislawski, Ethan J. Shavers, Shaowen Wang, Zhe Jiang, E. Lynn Usery, Evan Moak, Alexander Duffy, Joel Schott
2021, Remote Sensing (13)
Accurate maps of regional surface water features are integral for advancing ecologic, atmospheric and land development studies. The only comprehensive surface water feature map of Alaska is the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD). NHD features are often digitized representations of historic topographic map blue lines and may be outdated. Here we...
Ecogeographic variation and taxonomic boundaries in Large Treeshrews (Scandentia, Tupaiidae: Tupaia tana Raffles, 1821) from Southeast Asia
Maya M. Juman, Neal Woodman, Link E. Olson, Eric J. Sargis
2021, Journal of Mammalogy (102) 1054-1066
The Large Treeshrew, Tupaia tana Raffles, 1821, is a small mammal (~205 g) from Southeast Asia with a complicated taxonomic history. Currently, 15 subspecies are recognized from Borneo, Sumatra, and smaller islands, and many were originally differentiated based on minor pelage differences and small sample sizes. We explored intraspecific variation in T. tana using...
Detecting subtle change from dense landsat time series: Case studies of mountain pine beetle and spruce beetle disturbance
Su Ye, John Rogan, Zhe Zhu, Todd Hawbaker, Sarah J. Hart, Robert A. Andrus, Arjan J.H. Meddens, Jeffery A. Hicke, J. Ronald Eastman, Dominik Kulakowski
2021, Remote Sensing of Environment (263)
In contrast to abrupt changes caused by land cover conversion, subtle changes driven by a shift in the condition, structure, or other biological attributes of land often lead to minimal and slower alterations of the terrestrial surface. Accurate mapping and monitoring of subtle change are crucial for an early warning...
U.S. Geological Survey landscape science strategy 2020–2030
Karen E. Jenni, Sarah K. Carter, Nicholas G. Aumen, Zachary H. Bowen, John B. Bradford, Michael A. Chotkowski, Leslie Hsu, Peter S. Murdoch, Scott W. Phillips, Kevin L. Pope, Rudy Schuster, Melanie J. Steinkamp, Jake Weltzin, George Z. Xian
2021, Circular 1484
Across our Nation, multiple Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments are working with stakeholders and landowners to restore, conserve, and manage lands and resources to benefit fish, wildlife, and people. One of the largest Federal efforts is led by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), with multiple DOI agencies...
Bathymetry of New York City’s East of Hudson reservoirs and controlled lakes, 2017 to 2019
Elizabeth A. Nystrom, Courtney J. Huston, Robert J. Welk
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5057
New York City maintains an extensive system of reservoirs and aqueducts to provide drinking water to its residents, including 16 reservoirs and controlled lakes in Westchester and Putnam Counties in southern New York, east of the Hudson River (also called “East of Hudson reservoirs and controlled lakes”). These reservoirs were...
Permeable groundwater pathways and tritium migration patterns from the HANDLEY underground nuclear test, Pahute Mesa, Nevada
Tracie R. Jackson
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5032
The HANDLEY nuclear test was detonated at about 2,700 feet below the water table on March 26, 1970, in Pahute Mesa, south-central Nevada. Measured tritium concentrations in boreholes ER-20-12 and PM-3 indicate that a shallow tritium plume has migrated more than 1 mile (mi) downgradient from the HANDLEY test...
South Dakota and Landsat
U.S. Geological Survey
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3035
Few States derive as much of their social and economic well-being from the land as South Dakota. Agriculture is the State’s primary industry. Hunting, fishing, tourism, mining, and hydroelectric power are also important economic and cultural drivers. Data from the U.S. Geological Survey Landsat program, archived at the U.S. Geological...
Incorporating water quality analysis into navigation assessments as demonstrated in the Mississippi River Basin
Barbara Kleiss, Jennifer C. Murphy, Casey M. Mayne, Jake P. Allgeier, Amanda B. Edmondson, Katrina C. Ginsberg, Keaton E. Jones, Timothy J. Lauth, Emily L. Moe, Julie W. Murphy, Mead Allison
2021, Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering (147)
A description of historical and ambient water quality conditions is often required as part of navigational studies. This paper describes a series of tools developed by the USGS that can aid navigation managers in developing water quality assessments. The tools use R, a statistical software program, and...
Burbot (Lota lota) exhibit plasticity in life-history traits in a small drainage at the southwestern-most extent of the species’ native range
Jeff Glaid, Christopher S. Guy, Paul C. Gerrity
2021, Journal of Applied Ichthyology (37) 875-884
Little is known about the life-history traits exhibited by burbot (Lota lota) throughout their circumpolar range. Monitoring PIT-tagged burbot between lentic and lotic habits and collection of demographic data (length, age, sex, and maturity) were used to answer the following questions in the Torrey Creek drainage of west-central Wyoming,...
Movement of sediment through a burned landscape: Sediment volume observations and model comparisons in the San Gabriel Mountains, California, USA
Francis K. Rengers, Luke A. McGuire, Jason W. Kean, Dennis M. Staley, Mariana Dobre, Peter R. Robichaud, Tyson Swetnam
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research (126)
Post-wildfire changes to hydrologic and geomorphic systems can lead to widespread sediment redistribution. Understanding how sediment moves through a watershed is crucial for assessing hazards, developing debris flow inundation models, engineering sediment retention solutions, and quantifying the role that disturbances play in landscape evolution. In this study,...
Citizen science data collection for integrated wildlife population analyses
Catherine C. Sun, Jeremy E. Hurst, Angela K. Fuller
2021, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (9)
Citizen science, or community science, has emerged as a cost-efficient method to collect data for wildlife monitoring. To inform research and conservation, citizen science sampling designs should collect data that match the robust statistical analyses needed to quantify species and population patterns. Further increasing the contributions of citizen...
Effects of tidally varying river flow on entrainment of juvenile salmon into Sutter and Steamboat Sloughs
Jason G. Romine, Russell Perry, Paul Stumpner, Aaron R. Blake, Jon R. Burau
2021, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science (19) 1-17
Survival of juvenile salmonids in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta (Delta) varies by migration route, and thus the proportion of fish that use each route affects overall survival through the Delta. Understanding factors that drive routing at channel junctions along the Sacramento River...
Streambank erosion and related geomorphic change in Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California
Stephen B. DeLong, Alexandra J. Pickering, Timothy Kuhn
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5025
Landscape change in Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California, was characterized using data derived from four lidar surveys: one airborne survey in 2006 and three terrestrial surveys in 2016, 2017, and 2018. These surveys were used to generate a better quantitative understanding of changes associated with fluvial processes along the...
Hippopotamus movements structure the spatiotemporal dynamics of an active anthrax outbreak
Keenan Stears, Melissa H. Schmitt, Wendy Christine Turner, Douglas J. McCauley, Epaphras A. Muse, Halima Kiwango, Daniel Matheyo, Benezeth M. Mutayoba
2021, Ecosphere (12)
Globally, anthrax outbreaks pose a serious threat to people, livestock, and wildlife. Furthermore, environmental change can exacerbate these outbreak dynamics by altering the host–pathogen relationship. However, little is known about how the quantitative spatial dynamics of host movement and environmental change may affect the spread of Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent...
Spatial Gaussian processes improve multi-species occupancy models when range boundaries are uncertain and nonoverlapping
Wilson Wright, Kathryn M. Irvine, Tom Rodhouse, Andrea R. Litt
2021, Ecology and Evolution (11) 8516-8527
Species distribution models enable practitioners to analyze large datasets of encounter records and make predictions about species occurrence at unsurveyed locations. In omnibus surveys that record data on multiple species simultaneously, species ranges are often nonoverlapping and misaligned with the administrative unit defining the spatial domain of interest (e.g.,...
Advancing estuarine ecological forecasts: Seasonal hypoxia in Chesapeake Bay
Donald Scavia, Isabella Bertani, Jeremy M. Testa, Aaron J. Bever, Joel D. Blomquist, Marjorie A. M. Friedrichs, Lewis C. Linker, Bruce Michael, Rebecca Murphy, Gary W. Shenk
2021, Ecological Applications (31)
Ecological forecasts are quantitative tools that can guide ecosystem management. The coemergence of extensive environmental monitoring and quantitative frameworks allows for widespread development and continued improvement of ecological forecasting systems. We use a relatively simple estuarine hypoxia model to demonstrate advances in addressing some of the...
Effects of climate and land-use change on thermal springs recharge—A system-based coupled surface-water and groundwater-flow model for Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas
Rheannon M. Hart, Scott J. Ikard, Phillip D. Hays, Brian R. Clark
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5045
A three-dimensional hydrogeologic framework of the Hot Springs anticlinorium beneath Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas, was constructed to represent the complex hydrogeology of the park and surrounding areas to depths exceeding 9,000 feet below ground surface. The framework, composed of 6 rock formations and 1 vertical fault emplaced beneath the...
Identifying metabolic alterations associated with coral growth anomalies using 1H NMR metabolomics
Erik R. Andersson, Rusty D. Day, Thierry M. Work, Paul E. Anderson, Cheryl M. Woodley, Tracey B. Schock
2021, Coral Reefs (40) 1195-1209
Coral growth anomalies (GAs) are tumor-like protrusions that are detrimental to coral health, affecting both the coral skeleton and soft tissues. These lesions are increasingly found throughout the tropics and are commonly associated with high human population density, yet little is known about the molecular pathology of the disease. Here,...
Integrating thermal infrared stream temperature imagery and spatial stream network models to understand natural spatial thermal variability in streams
Matthew R. Fuller, Joseph L. Ebersole, Naomi Detenbeck, Rochelle Labisoa, P.T. Leinenbach, Christian E. Torgersen
2021, Journal of Thermal Biology (100)
Under a warmer future climate, thermal refuges could facilitate the persistence of species relying on cold-water habitat. Often these refuges are small and easily missed or smoothed out by averaging in models. Thermal infrared (TIR) imagery can provide empirical water surface...
Recency of faulting and subsurface architecture of the San Diego Bay pull-apart basin, California, USA
Drake Moore Singleton, Jillian M. Maloney, Daniel S. Brothers, Shannon Klotsko, Neal W. Driscoll, Thomas K. Rockwell
2021, Frontiers in Earth Science (9)
In southern California, plate boundary motion between the North American and Pacific plates is distributed across several sub-parallel fault systems. The offshore faults of the California Continental Borderland (CCB) are thought to accommodate ~10-15% of the total plate boundary motion, but the exact distribution of slip and the mechanics of...
Magnetotelluric sampling and geoelectric hazard estimation: Are national-scale surveys sufficient?
Benjamin Scott Murphy, Greg M. Lucas, Jeffrey J. Love, Anna Kelbert, Paul A. Bedrosian, E. Joshua Rigler
2021, AGU Space Weather (19)
At present, the most reliable information for inferring storm-time ground electric fields along electrical transmission lines comes from coarsely sampled, national-scale magnetotelluric (MT) data sets, such as that provided by the EarthScope USArray program. An underlying assumption in the use of such data is that they adequately sample the spatial...
