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...
Mechanistic invasive species management models and their application in conservation
Brielle K. Thompson, Alexander J. Jensen, Sarah J. Converse
2021, Conservation Science and Practice (3)
Management strategies to address the challenges associated with invasive species are critical for effective conservation. An increasing variety of mathematical models offer insight into invasive populations, and can help managers identify cost effective prevention, control, and eradication actions. Despite this, as model complexity grows, so...
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...
Mechanistic invasive species management models and their application in conservation
Brielle K. Thompson, Julian D. Olden, Sarah J. Converse
2021, Conservation Science and Practice (3)
Management strategies to address the challenges associated with invasive species are critical for effective conservation. An increasing variety of mathematical models offer insight into invasive populations, and can help managers identify cost effective prevention, control, and eradication actions. Despite this, as model complexity grows, so does the inaccessibility of these...
Distinguishing between regression model fits to global mean sea level reconstructions
Yingli Zhu, Gary T. Mitchum, Kara S. Doran, Don P. Chambers, Xinfeng Liang
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research- Oceans (126)
Global mean sea level (GMSL) has been rising since the last century, posing a serious challenge for the coastal areas. A variety of regression models have been utilized for determining GMSL rise over the past one hundred years, resulting in a large spread of sea level rise...
Integrating airborne and mobile lidar data with UAV photogrammetry for rapid assessment of changing forest snow depth and cover
Jonathon Donager, Temuulen Sankey, Andrew Sanchez-Meador, Joel B. Sankey, Abraham E. Springer
2021, Science of Remote Sensing (4)
Forest structure and topography can influence the ecohydrologic function and resiliency to drought and changing climate. It is, therefore, important to understand how forest restoration treatments alter snowpack distribution and design the treatments accordingly. We use a combination of aerial lidar, multi-temporal terrestrial mobile...
Female persistence during toxicant treatment predicts survival probability of offspring in invasive brown treesnakes (Boiga irregularis)
Brenna A Levine, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Marlis Douglas, Michael Douglas, Melia Gail Nafus
2021, Global Ecology and Conservation (31)
Assessing the long-term efficacy of control methods is a critical component of invasive species management. For example, if traits related to control have significant heritability or are influenced by maternal effects, control methods may lose efficacy over time. The potential for these effects can be evaluated...
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...
Kelp forest monitoring at Naval Base Ventura County, San Nicolas Island, California—Fall 2019, sixth annual repor
Michael C. Kenner, Joseph A. Tomoleoni
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1081
The U.S. Geological Survey conducts ecological monitoring of rocky subtidal communities at four permanent sites around San Nicolas Island. The sites—Nav Fac 100, West End, Dutch Harbor, and Daytona 100—were based on ones that had been monitored since 1980 by the U.S. Geological Survey and, in cooperation with the U.S....
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...
Forest resistance to extended drought enhanced by prescribed fire in low elevation forests of the Sierra Nevada
Phillip J. van Mantgem, Anthony C. Caprio, Nathan L. Stephenson, Adrian Das
2021, Forests (12)
Prescribed fire reduces fire hazards by removing dead and live fuels (small trees and shrubs). Reductions in forest density following prescribed fire treatments (often in concert with mechanical treatments) may also lessen competition so that residual trees might be more likely to survive when confronted with additional stressors, such as...
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...
Could climate change benefit invasive snakes? Modelling the potential distribution of the California Kingsnake in the Canary Islands
Julien C Piquet, Dan L Warren, Jorge Fernando Saavedra Bolanos, Jose Miguel Sanchez Rivero, Ramon Gallo-Barneto, Miguel Angel Cabrera-Perez, Robert N. Fisher, Sam R Fisher, Carlton J. Rochester, Brian Hinds, Manuel Nogales, Marta Lopez-Darias
2021, Journal of Environmental Management (294)
The interaction between climate change and biological invasions is a global conservation challenge with major consequences for invasive species management. However, our understanding of this interaction has substantial knowledge gaps; this is particularly relevant for invasive snakes on islands because they...
Modeling moose habitat use by age, sex, and season in Vermont, USA using high-resolution lidar and national land cover data
Joshua Blouin, Jacob Debow, Elias Rosenblatt, Cedric Alexander, Katherina Gieder, Nicholas Fortin, James Murdoch, Therese M. Donovan
2021, Alces (57) 71-98
Moose (Alces alces) populations have experienced unprecedented declines along the southern periphery of their range, including Vermont, USA. Habitat management may be used to improve the status of the population and health of individuals. To date, however, Vermont wildlife managers have been challenged to effectively use this important tool due...
An eddy-resolving numerical model to study turbulent flow, sediment and bed evolution using detached eddy simulation in a lateral separation zone at the field-scale
Laura V. Alvarez, Paul E. Grams
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research Earth Surface (126)
Turbulence-resolving simulations elucidate key elements of fluid dynamics and sediment transport in fluvial environments. This research presents a feasible strategy for applying state-of-the-art computational fluid mechanics to the study of sediment transport and morphodynamic processes in lateral separation zones, which are common features in canyon rivers where...
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...
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...
The potential of satellite remote sensing time series to uncover wetland phenology under unique challenges of tidal setting
Gwendolyn Joelle Miller, Iryna Dronova, Patricia Oikawa, Sara Helen Knox, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Julie Shahan, Ellen Stuart-Haëntjens
Charles R. Bostater Jr., editor(s)
2021, Remote Sensing (13) 1-28
While growth history of vegetation within upland systems is well studied, plant phenology within coastal tidal systems is less understood. Landscape-scale, satellite-derived indicators of plant greenness may not adequately represent seasonality of vegetation biomass and productivity within tidal wetlands due to limitations of cloud cover, satellite temporal frequency and attenu-ation...
