Resource use among top-level piscivores in a temperate reservoir: Implications for a threatened coldwater specialist
Adam G. Hansen, Jennifer R. Gardner, Kristin A. Connelly, Matt Polacek, David Beauchamp
2021, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (31) 469-491
Evaluations of resource use among native piscivores in natural lakes have consistently documented significant partitioning that supports coexistence. Partitioning may be less prominent in reservoirs where water-level fluctuations can compress habitat and trophic diversity, but studies are lacking. Stable isotopes and bioenergetic models were used to...
Capacity assessment for Earth Monitoring, Analysis, and Prediction (EarthMAP) and future integrated monitoring and predictive science at the U.S. Geological Survey
Jennifer L. Keisman, Sky Bristol, David S. Brown, Allison K. Flickinger, Gregory L. Gunther, Peter S. Murdoch, MaryLynn Musgrove, John C. Nelson, Gregory D. Steyer, Kathryn A. Thomas, Ian R. Waite
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1102
Executive SummaryManagers of our Nation’s resources face unprecedented challenges driven by the convergence of increasing, competing societal demands and a changing climate that affects the stability, vulnerability, and predictability of those resources. To help meet these challenges, the scientific community must take advantage of all available technologies, data, and integrative...
Oil and gas wastewater components alter streambed microbial community structure and function
Denise M. Akob, Adam C. Mumford, Andrea Fraser, Cassandra Rashan Harris, William H. Orem, Matthew S. Varonka, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli
2021, Frontiers in Microbiology (12)
The widespread application of directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies expanded oil and gas (OG) development to previously inaccessible resources. A single OG well can generate millions of liters of wastewater, which is a mixture of brine produced from the fractured formations and injected hydraulic fracturing fluids (HFFs)....
Permafrost characterization and feature identification using public domain airborne electromagnetic data, interior Alaska
Abraham M. Emond, Ronald Daanen, Burke J. Minsley
2021, FastTIMES (26)
The Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS) airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data are an excellent resource for permafrost characterization. AEM data can be used for pingo identification, estimating permafrost thickness, estimating surface talik thickness, evaluating permafrost health (temperature), talik identification and more. Data examples are shown from discontinuous...
Random forest
Emil D. Attanasi, Timothy Coburn
2021, Book chapter, Encyclopedia of mathematical geosciences
This entry defines and discusses the random forest machine learning algorithm. The algorithm is used to predict class or quantities for target variables using values of a set of predictor variables. It uses decision trees that are generated from bootstrap sampling of the training data set to create a "forest"....
The aboveground and belowground growth characteristics of juvenile conifers in the southwestern United States
N.L. Pirtel, R.M. Hubbard, John B. Bradford, T.E. Kolb, M.E. Litvak, S.R. Abella, S.M. Porter, Petrie M.D.
2021, Ecosphere (12)
Juvenile tree survival will play an important role in the persistence of coniferous forests and woodlands in the southwestern United States (SWUS). Vulnerability to climatic and environmental stress declines as trees grow, such that larger, more deeply rooted juveniles are less likely to experience mortality. It...
Long-term Pseudogymnoascus destructans surveillance data reveal factors contributing to pathogen presence
John Grider, Robin E. Russell, Anne Ballmann, Trevor J. Hefley
2021, Ecosphere (12)
The disease white-nose syndrome (WNS) was first recognized in upstate New York in 2006 and has since spread across much of the United States (U.S.), causing severe mortality in several North American bat species. To aid in the identification and monitoring of at-risk bat populations, we...
Anomalous noble gas solubility in liquid cloud water: Possible implications for noble gas temperatures and cloud physics
Chris M. Hall, M. Clara Castro, Martha A. Scholl, Julien Amalberti, Stephen B. Gingerich
2021, Water Resources Research (57)
The noble gas temperature climate proxy is an established tool that has previously been applied to determine the source of groundwater recharge, however, unanswered questions remain. In fractured media (e.g., volcanic islands) recharge can be so rapid that groundwater is significantly depleted in heavy noble gases, indicating...
Hierarchical models improve the use of alligator abundance as an indicator
Seth C. Farris, J. Hardin Waddle, Caitlin E. Hackett, Laura A. Brandt, Frank J. Mazzotti
2021, Ecological Indicators (133)
Indicator species are species which can be monitored as an index to measure the overall health of an ecosystem. Crocodylians have been shown to be good indicators of wetland condition as they respond to changes in hydrology, can be efficiently monitored, and are...
Impacts of extreme environmental disturbances on piping plover survival are partially moderated by migratory connectivity
Kristen S. Ellis, Michael J. Anteau, Francesca J. Cuthbert, Cheri L Gratto-Trevor, Joel G. Jorgensen, David J Newstead, Larkin A. Powell, Megan M. Ring, Mark H. Sherfy, Rose J. Swift, Dustin L. Toy, David N. Koons
2021, Biological Conservation (264)
Effective conservation for listed migratory species requires an understanding of how drivers of population decline vary spatially and temporally, as well as knowledge of range-wide connectivity between breeding and nonbreeding areas. Environmental conditions distant from breeding areas can have lasting effects...
Mean squared error, deconstructed
Timothy O. Hodson, Thomas M. Over, Sydney Foks
2021, Journal of Advances in Earth Systems Modeling (13)
As science becomes increasingly cross-disciplinary and scientific models become increasingly cross-coupled, standardized practices of model evaluation are more important than ever. For normally distributed data, mean squared error (MSE) is ideal as an objective measure of model performance, but it gives little insight into what aspects of...
Crustal seismic attenuation of the central United States and Intermountain West
Will Levandowski, Oliver S. Boyd, Danya AbdelHameid, Daniel McNamara
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth (126)
Seismic attenuation is generally greater in the western United States (WUS) than the central and eastern United States (CEUS), but the nature of this transition or location of this boundary is poorly constrained. We conduct crustal seismic (Lg) attenuation tomography across a region that stretches from the...
International importance of Percids: Summary and looking forward
Robin L. DeBruyne, Edward F. Roseman
2021, Book chapter, Yellow Perch, Walleye, and Sauger: Aspects of ecology, management, and culture
Research presented in the preceding chapters emphasizes recent advancements in the research, management, and aquaculture of Walleye, Sauger, and Yellow Perch in North America. These percid fishes, along with the European Perch and Pikeperch, are economically and ecologically important fishes in their native geographic range. Advances in techniques...
Co-occurring lotic crayfishes exhibit variable long-term responses to extreme-flow events and temperature
Corey Garland Dunn, Michael J. Moore, Nicholas A. Sievert, Craig P. Paukert, Robert J. DiStefano
2021, Freshwater Science (40) 626-643
Crayfish serve critical roles in aquatic ecosystems as engineers, omnivores, and prey. It is unclear how increasingly frequent extreme-flow events and warming air temperatures will affect crayfish populations, partly because there are few long-term crayfish monitoring datasets. Using a unique 10-y dataset, we asked 1) whether recruitment of crayfishes in...
Projecting climate dependent coastal flood risk with a hybrid statistical dynamical model
D. L. Anderson, P. Ruggiero, F. J. Mendez, Patrick L. Barnard, Li H. Erikson, Andrea C. O'Neill, M. Merrifield, A. Rueda, L. Cagigal, J. M. Marra
2021, Earth's Future (9)
Numerical models for tides, storm surge, and wave runup have demonstrated ability to accurately define spatially varying flood surfaces. However these models are typically too computationally expensive to dynamically simulate the full parameter space of future oceanographic, atmospheric, and hydrologic conditions that will constructively compound in the nearshore to cause...
Classifying crop types using two generations of hyperspectral sensors (Hyperion and DESIS) with machine learning on the cloud
Itiya P. Aneece, Prasad Thenkabail
2021, Remote Sensing (13)
Advances in spaceborne hyperspectral (HS) remote sensing, cloud-computing, and machine learning can help measure, model, map and monitor agricultural crops to address global food and water security issues, such as by providing accurate estimates of crop area and yield to model agricultural productivity. Leveraging these advances, we...
The triple argon isotope composition of groundwater on ten-thousand-year timescales
Alan Seltzer, John A. Krantz, Jessica Ng, Wesley R. Danskin, David Bekaert, Peter H. Barry, David L. Kimbrough, Justin T. Kulongoski, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus
2021, Chemical Geology (583)
Understanding the age and movement of groundwater is important for predicting the vulnerability of wells to contamination, constraining flow models that inform sustainable groundwater management, and interpreting geochemical signals that reflect past climate. Due to both the ubiquity of groundwater with order ten-thousand-year residence times and its importance for climate reconstruction...
Numerical modeling of groundwater flow in the crystalline-rock aquifer in the vicinity of the Savage Municipal Water-Supply Well Superfund site, Milford, New Hampshire
Philip T. Harte
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5137
In 2010, tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a chlorinated volatile organic compound, was detected in groundwater from deep (more than 300 feet below land surface) fractures in monitoring wells tapping a crystalline-rock aquifer. The aquifer underlies the Milford-Souhegan glacial-drift aquifer, a high water-producing aquifer, and the Savage Municipal Water-Supply Well Superfund site in...
Comparing harvest management alternatives for Eastern Wild Turkeys in Alabama
J. Barry Grand, A.L. Silvano, S. Barnett, C.E. Moore, B.D. Stewart
2021, Cooperator Science Series 137-2021
Eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris; hereafter turkey) is an important game species that is pursued by thousands of Alabama hunters each spring. Biologists in Alabama and other parts of the southeastern U.S. believe that turkey populations have been declining for at least two decades. Managers in many state agencies...
Clutch may predict growth of hatchling Burmese pythons better than food availability or sex
Jillian Maureen Josimovich, Bryan G. Falk, Alejandro Grajal-Puche, Emma B. Hanslowe, Ian A. Bartoszek, Robert Reed, Andrea Faye Currylow
2021, Biology Open (10)
Identifying which environmental and genetic factors affect growth pattern phenotypes can help biologists predict how organisms distribute finite energy resources in response to varying environmental conditions and physiological states. This information may be useful for monitoring and managing populations of cryptic, endangered, and invasive species. Consequently, we assessed the effects...
Impacts of a non-indigenous ecosystem engineer, the American beaver (Castor canadensis), in a biodiversity hotspot
Jonathan Q. Richmond, Camm C. Swift, Thomas A. Wake, Cheryl S. Brehme, Kristine L. Preston, Barbara E. Kus, Edward L Ervin, Scott Tremor, Tritia Matsuda, Robert N. Fisher
Anthony J. Giordano, editor(s)
2021, Frontiers in Conservation Science (2) 1-14
Non-native species having high per capita impacts in invaded communities are those that modulate resource availability and alter disturbance regimes in ways that are biologically incompatible with the native biota. In areas where it has been introduced by humans, American beaver (Castor canadensis) is an iconic example of such species...
Multi-model comparison of computed debris flow runout for the 9 January 2018 Montecito, California post-wildfire event
Katherine R. Barnhart, Ryan P. Jones, David L. George, Brian W. McArdell, Francis K. Rengers, Dennis M. Staley, Jason W. Kean
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface (126)
Hazard assessment for post-wildfire debris flows, which are common in the steep terrain of the western United States, has focused on the susceptibility of upstream basins to generate debris flows. However, reducing public exposure to this hazard also requires an assessment of hazards in downstream areas that...
Depth of groundwater used for drinking-water supplies in the United States
James R. Degnan, Leon J. Kauffman, Melinda L. Erickson, Kenneth Belitz, Paul E. Stackelberg
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5069
Groundwater supplies 35 percent of drinking water in the United States. Mapping the quantity and quality of groundwater at the depths used for potable supplies requires an understanding of locational variation in the characteristics of drinking-water wells (depth and open interval). Typical depths of domestic- and public-drinking-water supply wells...
Growing as slow as a turtle: Unexpected maturational differences in a small, long-lived species
Devin Edmonds, Michael J. Dreslik, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Thomas P. Wilson, Carl H. Ernst
2021, PLoS ONE (16)
Turtle body size is associated with demographic and other traits like mating success, reproductive output, maturity, and survival. As such, growth analyses are valuable for testing life history theory, demographic modeling, and conservation planning. Two important but unsettled research areas relate to growth after maturity and...
Climatic controls on soil carbon accumulation and loss in a dryland ecosystems
Bonnie G. Waring, Kenneth R Smith, Edmund E. Grote, Armin J. Howell, Robin H. Reibold, Colin L Tucker, Sasha C. Reed
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research (126)
Arid and semiarid ecosystems drive year-to-year variability in the strength of the terrestrial carbon (C) sink, yet there is uncertainty about how soil C gains and losses contribute to this variation. To address this knowledge gap, we embedded C-depleted soil mesocosms, containing litter or biocrust C inputs, within an in...
