Evaporation from Lake Mead and Lake Mohave, Nevada and Arizona, 2010–2019
Katherine J. Earp, Michael T. Moreo
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1022
Evaporation-rate estimates at Lake Mead and Lake Mohave, Nevada and Arizona, were based on eddy covariance and available energy measurements from March 2010 through April 2019 at Lake Mead and May 2013 through April 2019 at Lake Mohave. The continuous data needed to compute monthly evaporation were collected from floating-platform...
Assessing the population impacts and cost‐effectiveness of a conservation translocation
Charles B. Yackulic, David R. Van Haverbeke, Maria C. Dzul, Lucas S. Bair, Kirk L. Young
2021, Journal of Applied Ecology (58) 1602-1612
Managers often move, or translocate, organisms into habitats that are assumed to be suitable, however the consequences of these translocations are usually not rigorously assessed. Robust assessment of these management experiments should consider impacts to both donor and recipient populations and compare the cost‐effectiveness of translocations to other actions.Here...
Seasonal activity and diets of bats at uranium mines and adjacent areas near the Grand Canyon
Ernest W. Valdez, Mollie K Hanttula, Jo Ellen Hinck
2021, Western North American Naturalist (81) 1-18
Little information exists on the habitat use and feeding ecology of insectivorous bats in arid ecosystems, especially at and near uranium mines in northern Arizona, within the Grand Canyon watershed. In 2015–2016, we conducted mist-netting, nightly acoustic monitoring (>1 year), and diet analyses of bats,...
Using fecal DNA and closed-capture models to estimate feral horse population size
Kathryn A. Schoenecker, Sarah R. B. King, L. Stefan Ekernas, Sara J. Oyler-McCance
2021, Journal of Wildlife Management (85) 1150-1161
Accurate population estimates provide the foundation for managing feral horses (Equus caballus ferus) across the western United States. Certain feral horse populations are protected by the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 and managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or the United States Forest Service...
Surface Rupture Map of the 2020 M 6.5 Monte Cristo Range earthquake, Esmeralda and Mineral counties, Nevada
Seth Dee, Richard D Koehler, Austin John Elliott, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Alexandra Pickering, Ian Pierce, Gordon G. Seitz, Camille Marie Collett, Timothy E. Dawson, Conni De Masi, Craig M dePolo, Evan Hartsorn, Christopher Madugo, Charles Cashman Trexler, Danielle M Verdugo, Steven G. Wesnousky, Judith Zachariasen
2021, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Map 190
The 15 May 2020, M6.5 Monte Cristo Range earthquake was the largest earthquake in Nevada in over 66 years and occurred in a sparsely populated area of western Nevada about 74 km southeast of the town of Hawthorne. The earthquake produced surface rupture distributed across a 28-km-long zone along the...
Virus shedding kinetics and unconventional virulence tradeoffs
Andrew R. Wargo, Gael Kurath, Robert J. Scott, Benjamin Kerr
2021, PLoS Pathogens (17)
Tradeoff theory, which postulates that virulence provides both transmission costs and benefits for pathogens, has become widely adopted by the scientific community. Although theoretical literature exploring virulence-tradeoffs is vast, empirical studies validating various assumptions still remain sparse. In particular, truncation of transmission duration as a cost...
The 4th paradigm in multiscale data representation: Modernizing the National Geospatial Data Infrastructure
Barbara P. Buttenfield, Larry Stanislawski, Barry J. Kronenfeld, Ethan J. Shavers
Martin Werner, Yao-Yi Chiang, editor(s)
2021, Book chapter, Handbook of big geospatial data
The need of citizens in any nation to access geospatial data in readily usable form is critical to societal well-being, and in the United States (US), demands for information by scientists, students, professionals and citizens continue to grow. Areas such as public health, urbanization, resource management, economic development and environmental...
Spatial data reduction through element -of-interest (EOI) extraction
Samantha T. Arundel, E. Lynn Usery
2021, Book chapter, Handbook of big geospatial data
Any large, multifaceted data collection that is challenging to handle with traditional management practices can be branded ‘Big Data.’ Any big data containing geo-referenced attributes can be considered big geospatial data. The increased proliferation of big geospatial data is currently reforming the geospatial industry into a data-driven enterprise....
Using the Landsat Burned Area products to derive fire history relevant for fire management and conservation in the state of Florida, southeastern USA
Casey Teske, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Todd Hawbaker, Joe Noble, J. Kevin Hires
2021, Fire (4)
Development of comprehensive spatially explicit fire occurrence data remains one of the most critical needs for fire managers globally, and especially for conservation across the southeastern United States. Not only are many endangered species and ecosystems in that region reliant on frequent fire, but fire risk analysis, prescribed fire planning,...
Stochastic inversion of gravity, magnetic, tracer, lithology, and fault data for geologically realistic structural models: Patua Geothermal Field case study
Ahinoam Pollack, Trenton T. Cladouhos, Michael W. Swyer, Drew L. Siler, Tapan Mukerji, Roland N. Horne
2021, Geothermics (95)
Financial risk due to geological uncertainty is a major barrier for geothermal development. Production from a geothermal well depends on the unknown location of subsurface geological structures, such as faults that contain hydrothermal fluids. Traditionally, geoscientists collect many different datasets, interpret the...
Correlation of porosity variations and rheological transitions on the southern Cascadia megathrust
Hao Guo, Jeffrey J. McGuire, Haijiang Zhang
2021, Nature Geoscience (14) 341-348
The unknown onshore extent of megathrust earthquake rupture in the Cascadia subduction zone represents a key uncertainty in earthquake hazard for the Pacific Northwest that is governed by the physical state and mechanical properties of the plate interface. The Cascadia plate interface is segmented into an interseismically locked zone located...
Hydraulic characterization of carbonate-rock and basin-fill aquifers near Long Canyon, Goshute Valley, northeastern Nevada
C. Amanda Garcia, Keith J. Halford, Philip M. Gardner, David W. Smith
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5021
Understanding groundwater flow and pumping effects near pending mining operations requires accurate subsurface hydraulic characterization. To improve conceptual models of groundwater flow and development in the complex hydrogeologic system near Long Canyon Mine, in northwestern Goshute Valley, northeastern Nevada, the U.S. Geological Survey characterized the hydraulic properties of carbonate...
Using next generation sequencing of alpine plants to improve fecal metabarcoding diet analysis for Dall’s sheep
Kelly E. Williams, Damian M. Menning, Eric J. Wald, Sandra L. Talbot, Kumi L. Rattenbury, Laura R. Prugh
2021, BMC Research Notes (14)
ObjectivesDall’s sheep (Ovis dalli dalli) are important herbivores in the mountainous ecosystems of northwestern North America, and recent declines in some populations have sparked concern. Our aim was to improve capabilities for fecal metabarcoding diet analysis of Dall’s sheep and other herbivores by contributing new sequence data for...
Environmental DNA metabarcoding as a tool for biodiversity assessment and monitoring: Reconstructing established fish communities of north-temperate lakes and rivers
Peter T. Euclide, Yer Lor, Michael J. Spear, Tariq Tajjioui, M. Jake Vander Zanden, Wesley Larson, Jon Amberg
2021, Diversity and Distributions (27) 1966-1980
AimTo evaluate the ability of precipitation-based environmental DNA (eDNA) sample collection and mitochondrial 12S metabarcoding sequencing to reconstruct well-studied fish communities in lakes and rivers. Specific objectives were to 1) determine correlations between eDNA species detections and known community composition based on conventional field sampling, 2) compare...
Stopover ecology of red knots in southwestern James Bay during southbound migration
Amie MacDonald, Paul Smith, Christian Friis, James E. Lyons, Yves Aubry, Erica Nol
2021, Journal of Wildlife Management (85) 932-944
Many shorebirds rely on small numbers of staging sites during long annual migrations. Numerous shorebird species are declining and understanding the importance of these staging sites is important for successful conservation. We surveyed endangered rufa red knots (Calidris canutus rufa) staging in James Bay, Ontario, Canada, during southbound migration in...
When a typical jumper skips: Itineraries and staging habitats used by Red Knots (Calidris canutus piersmai) migrating between northwest Australia and the New Siberian Islands
Theunis Piersma, Eva Kok, Chris J. Hassell, Yvonne I. Verkuil, Guangchun Lei, He-Bo Peng, Eldar Rakhimberdiev, Paul Howey, Julia Karagicheva, T. Lee Tibbitts, Ying-Chi Chan
2021, Ibis (163) 1235-1251
The ecological reasons for variation in avian migration, with some populations migrating across thousands of kilometres between breeding and non-breeding areas with one or few refuelling stops, in contrast to others that stop more often, remain to be pinned down. Red Knots Calidris canutus are a textbook example of a shorebird species...
Weighing the unknowns: Value of information for biological and operational uncertainty in invasion management
Shou-Li Li, Joseph Keller, Michael C. Runge, Katriona Shea
2021, Journal of Applied Ecology (58) 1621-1630
The management of biological invasions is a worldwide conservation priority. Unfortunately, decision-making on optimal invasion management can be impeded by lack of information about the biological processes that determine invader success (i.e. biological uncertainty) or by uncertainty about the effectiveness of candidate interventions (i.e. operational uncertainty). Concurrent assessment of...
Environmental factors predicting the orientation of sea turtle hatchlings on a naturally lighted beach: A baseline for light-management goals
S. Hirama, B. Witherington, K. Kneifl, A. Sylvai, M. Wideroff, Raymond Carthy
2021, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology (541)
On sea turtle nesting beaches, artificial lighting associated with human development interferes with hatchling orientation from nest to sea. Although hatchling disorientation has been documented for many beaches, data that managers can use in understanding, predicting, and managing the issue are of limited detail. The present study provides baseline hatchling...
Postwildfire soil‐hydraulic recovery and the persistence of debris flow hazards
Matthew A. Thomas, Francis K. Rengers, Jason W. Kean, Luke A. McGuire, Dennis M. Staley, Katherine R. Barnhart, Brian A. Ebel
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface (126)
Deadly and destructive debris flows often follow wildfire, but understanding of changes in the hazard potential with time since fire is poor. We develop a simulation‐based framework to quantify changes in the hydrologic triggering conditions for debris flows as postwildfire infiltration properties evolve through time. Our approach produces time‐varying rainfall...
Horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios from California sites: Open-source database and data interpretation to establish site parameters
Pengfei Wang, Paolo Zimmaro, Tatiana Gospe, Sean Kamran Ahdi, Alan Yong, Jonathan P. Stewart
2021, Report, GIRS 2021-06
Frequency-dependent horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios (HVSR) of Fourier amplitudes from three-component recordings can provide information on one or more site resonant frequencies and relative levels of amplification at those frequencies. Such information is potentially useful for predicting site amplification but is not present in site databases that have been developed...
Relating Tmax and hydrogen index to vitrinite and solid bitumen reflectance in hydrous pyrolysis residues: Comparisons to natural thermal indices
Celeste D. Lohr, Paul C. Hackley
2021, International Journal of Coal Geology (242)
Vitrinite reflectance (VRo; %) generally is considered the most reliable technique to determine the thermal maturity of sedimentary rocks. However, it is a time-consuming process to collect reflectance (Ro; %) measurements and is subjective to the interpretation of each trained technician, who must be...
Understanding sea lamprey populations in the Great Lakes prior to broad implementation of sea lamprey control
Kelly F. Robinson, Scott M. Miehls, Michael J. Siefkes
2021, Journal of Great Lakes Research (47) S328-S334
Control of invasive sea lamprey in the Great Lakes with a selective pesticide (lampricide) that targeted larval sea lamprey began in the late 1950's and continues to be one of the main methods for control. Although the Great Lakes Fishery Commission,...
2020 National Park Visitor Spending Effects Economic Contributions to Local Communities, States,and the Nation
Catherine Cullinane Thomas, Lynne Koontz
2021, Natural Resource Report NPS/NRSS/EQD/NRR--2021/2259
The National Park Service (NPS) manages the Nation’s most iconic destinations that attract millions of visitors from across the Nation and around the world. Trip-related spending by NPS visitors generates and supports economic activity within park gateway communities. This report summarizes the annual economic contribution analysis that measures how NPS...
Measuring coastal acidification using in situ sensors in the National Estuary Program
Holly Galavotti, James Vasslides, Matthew Poach, Curtis Bohlen, Christopher W. Hunt, Matthew Liebman, Xinping Hu, Melissa McCutcheon, Jim O’Donnell, Kay Howard-Strobel, Prassede Vella, John Lehrter, Karina Nielsen, John Largier, Tom Ford, Alex Steele, Kimberly K. Yates, York Johnson, Cheryl Brown, Stephen R. Pacella
2021, EPA Report EPA-842-R-21001
Estuaries and coastal areas are highly vulnerable to the impacts of acidification on shellfish, coral reefs, fisheries, and the commercial and recreational industries that they support. Yet, little is known about the extent of this vulnerability and the estuary-specific drivers that contribute to acidification, such as nutrient enrichment from stormwater,...
Mass eruption rate, column height, and duration dataset for volcanic eruptions
Natalia I. Deligne
2021, Report
This report describes a dataset assembled and curated as part of a project funded by the Earthquake Commission Biennial Grant 20781, Towards real-time probabilistic ash deposition forecasting for Aotearoa New Zealand. This dataset compiles measured, estimated, and calculated values for volcanic eruption mass eruption rates, column heights, and durations. Data...
