Continuous stream discharge, salinity, and associated data collected in the lower St. Johns River and its tributaries, Florida, 2019
Patrick J. Ryan
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1140
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, is deepening the St. Johns River channel in Jacksonville, Florida, from 40 to 47 feet along 13 miles of the river channel beginning at the mouth of the river at the Atlantic Ocean, in order to accommodate larger, fully loaded cargo vessels....
Survival of Laysan Teal Anas laysanensis differs among island populations: Role of chronic avian botulism
Michelle H Reynolds, Jeffrey Hatfield, Karen Courtot, Cynthia Vanderlip
2020, Wildfowl (70) 192-210
Monitoring demographic response over time is valuable for understanding population dynamics of endangered species. We quantified the variation in survival patterns for three small isolated island populations of endangered waterfowl in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Laysan Teal Anas laysanensis were individually marked and the fate of 1,150 individuals were followed from different cohorts...
Investigating the effects of broad ion beam milling to sedimentary organic matter: Surface flattening or heat-induced aromatization and condensation?
Paul C. Hackley, Aaron M. Jubb, Brett J. Valentine, Javin J. Hatcherian, Jing-Jiang Yu, William K. Podrazky
2020, Fuel (282)
Previous work has proposed transfer of kinetic heat energy from low-energy broad ion beam (BIB) milling causes thermal alteration of sedimentary organic matter, resulting in increases of organic matter reflectance. Whereas, other studies have suggested the organic matter reflectance increase from...
The 150th anniversary of the 1869 Powell expedition—USGS participation in the Sesquicentennial Colorado River Exploring Expedition and reflections from the ~1,000-mile journey down the Green and Colorado Rivers
Annie Scott, Eleanour Snow
2020, Circular 1475
In 1869, John Wesley Powell completed the first well-recorded scientific river journey to explore an extensive region of the Colorado River Basin. Powell later helped to establish the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and served as its second director (1881–94), cementing his position in the folklore of the Survey. In 2019,...
External quality assurance project report for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program’s National Trends Network and Mercury Deposition Network, 2017–18
Gregory A. Wetherbee, RoseAnn Martin
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5084
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Precipitation Chemistry Quality Assurance project (PCQA) operated five distinct programs to provide external quality-assurance monitoring for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program’s (NADP) National Trends Network and Mercury Deposition Network during 2017–18. The National Trends Network programs included (1) a field audit program to evaluate sample...
Incorporating established conservation networks into freshwater conservation planning results in more workable prioritizations
Nicholas Sievert, Craig P. Paukert, J. B. Whittier
2020, Frontiers in Environmental Science (8)
Resources for addressing stream fish conservation issues are often limited and the stressors impacting fish continue to increase, so decision makers often rely on tools to prioritize locations for conservation actions. Because conservation networks already exist in many areas, incorporating these into the planning process can increase the ability of...
The ghosts of propagation past: Haplotype information clarifies the relative influence of stocking history and phylogeographic processes on contemporary population structure of walleye (Sander vitreus)
Matthew L. Bootsma, Loren Miller, Greg G. Sass, Peter T. Euclide, Wesley Larson
2020, Evolutionary Applications (14) 1124-1144
Stocking of fish is an important tool for maintaining fisheries but can also significantly alter population genetic structure and erode the portfolio of within-species diversity that is important for promoting resilience and adaptability. Walleye (Sander vitreus) are a highly valued sportfish in the midwestern United States, a region characterized by...
Structure contour and isopach maps of the Wolfcamp shale and Bone Spring Formation of the Delaware Basin, Permian Basin Province, New Mexico and Texas
Stephanie B. Gaswirth
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1126
A series of structure contour and isopach maps for the Wolfcamp shale and the Bone Spring Formation of the Delaware Basin, Permian Basin Province, were generated in support of the U.S. Geological Survey 2018 assessment of undiscovered continuous oil and gas resources. The interpreted formation tops used to generate the...
Depositional sequence stratigraphy of Turonian to Santonian sediments, Cape Fear arch, North Carolina Coastal Plain, USA
Wilma Aleman Gonzalez, Jean Self-Trail, W. Burleigh Harris, Jessica P. Moore, Kathleen Farrell
2020, Stratigraphy (17) 293-314
A new sequence stratigraphic framework for Turonian to Santonian (94-84 Ma) sediments is established using data from the USGS Kure Beach and Elizabethtown cores collected from the Atlantic Coastal Plain of North Carolina (NC). These sediments represent some of the oldest marine units deposited on the southeastern Atlantic Coastal Plain...
Quantifying and addressing the prevalence and bias of study designs in the environmental and social sciences
Alec P. Christie, David Abecasis, Mehdi Adjeroud, Juan C. Alonso, Tatsuya Amano, Alvaro Anton, Barry P. Baldigo, Rafael Barrientos, Jake E. Bicknell, Deborah A. Buhl, Just Cebrian, Ricardo S. Ceia, Luciana Cibils-Martina, Sarah Clarke, Joachim Claudet, Michael D. Craig, Dominique Davoult, Annelies De Backer, Mary K. Donovan, Tyler D. Eddy, Filipe M. Franca, Jonathan P.A. Gardner, Bradley P. Harris, Ari Huusko, Ian L. Jones, Brendan P. Kelaher, Janne S. Kotiaho, Adrià López-Baucells, Heather L. Major, Aki Maki-Petays, Beatriz Martinez-Lopez, Carlos A. Martin, Philip A. Martin, Daniel Mateos-Molina, Robert A. McConnaughey, Michele Meroni, Christoph F. J. Meyer, Kade Mills, Monica Montefalcone, Norbertas Noreika, Carlos Palacin, Anjali Pande, C. Roland Pitcher, Carlos Ponce, Matthew J. Rinella, Ricardo Rocha, Maria C. Ruiz-Delgado, Juan J. Schmitter-Soto, Jill A. Shaffer, Shailesh Sharma, Anna A. Sher, Doriane Stagnol, Thomas Stanley, Kevin D.E. Stokesbury, Aurora Torres, Oliver Tully, Teppo Vehanen, Corinne Watts, Qingyuan Zhao, William J. Sutherland
2020, Nature Communications (11)
Building trust in science and evidence-based decision-making depends heavily on the credibility of studies and their findings. Researchers employ many different study designs that vary in their risk of bias to evaluate the true effect of interventions or impacts. Here, we empirically quantify, on a large...
A Bayesian framework for assessing extinction risk based on ordinal categories of population condition and projected landscape change
Daniel Bruce Fitzgerald, Andrew R Henderson, Kelly O. Maloney, Mary Freeman, John A. Young, Amanda E. Rosenberger, David C. Kazyak, David R. Smith
2020, Biological Conservation (253)
Many at-risk species lack standardized surveys across their range or quantitative data capable of detecting demographic trends. As a result, extinction risk assessments often rely on ordinal categories of risk based on explicit criteria or expert elicitation. This study demonstrates a...
Environmental data associated with sites infected with white-nose syndrome (WNS) before October 2011 in North America
Christopher S. Swezey, Christopher P. Garrity
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1117
White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emerging infectious disease of hibernating bats caused by a fungus previously known as Geomyces destructans and reclassified as Pseudogymnoascus destructans. The disease was first documented in 2006 in New York, has since spread across much of eastern North America, and as of January 2012, had...
Creating annotations for web ontology language ontology generated from relational databases
Matthew Edward Wagner, Tanner Edward Fry, Jacques Jules Bourquin, Dalia E. Varanka
2020, Conference Paper, Knowledge graphs and semantic web. KGSWC 2020
Many approaches that have been proposed that allow users to create a Web Ontology Language (OWL) ontology from a relational database fail to include metadata that are inherent to the database tables. Without metadata, the resulting ontology lacks annotation properties. These properties are key when performing ontology alignment. This paper...
Interpretation of hydrogeologic data to support groundwater management, Bazile Groundwater Management Area, northeast Nebraska, 2019—A case demonstration of the Nebraska Geocloud
Christopher M. Hobza, Gregory V. Steele
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5113
Nitrate, age tracer, and continuous groundwater-level data were interpreted in conjunction with airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey data to understand the movement of nitrate within the Bazile Groundwater Management Area (BGMA) in northeastern Nebraska. Previously published age tracer data and nitrate data indicated vertical stratification of groundwater quality. Younger groundwater sampled...
Analyzing vegetation change in a sagebrush ecosystem using long-term field observations and Landsat imagery in Wyoming
Hua Shi, Collin Homer, Matthew B. Rigge, Kory Postma, George Z. Xian
2020, Ecosphere (11)
The importance of monitoring shrublands to detect and understand changes through time is increasingly recognized as critical to management. This research focuses on ecological change observed over 10 yr of field observation at 126 plots and over 35 yr of the Landsat archive in a shrubland ecosystem. Field data consisting of the...
Population estimates for selected breeding seabirds at Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, Kauaʻi, in 2019
Jonathan J. Felis, Emily C. Kelsey, Josh Adams, Jennilyn G. Stenske, Laney M. White
2020, Data Series 1130
Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge (KPNWR) is an important seabird breeding site located at the northeastern tip of Kauaʻi in the main Hawaiian Islands. Despite the regional significance of KPNWR as one of the most important breeding sites for red-tailed tropicbirds (Phaethon rubricauda), red-footed boobies (Sula sula), and wedge-tailed shearwaters...
Water resources of Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana
Vincent E. White
2020, Fact Sheet 2020-3054
Information concerning the availability, use, and quality of water in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, is critical for proper water-supply management. The purpose of this fact sheet is to present information that can be used by water managers, parish residents, and others for stewardship of this vital resource. In 2014, 364...
Occupancy and detectability of northern long-eared bats in the Lake States Region
Brenna A. Hyzy, Robin E. Russell, Alexander Silvis, W. Mark Ford, Jason D. Riddle, Kevin R. Russell
2020, Wildlife Society Bulletin (44) 732-740
The northern long‐eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) is one of the bat species most affected by white‐nose syndrome. Population declines attributed to white‐nose syndrome contributed to the species’ listing as federally threatened under the 1973 Endangered Species Act. Although one of the most abundant Myotine bats in eastern North America prior...
Compilation of mercury data and associated risk to human and ecosystem health, Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Wisconsin
Douglas A. Burns
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1095
Mercury is an environmentally ubiquitous neurotoxin, and its methylated form presents health risks to humans and other biota, primarily through dietary intake. Because methylmercury bioaccumulates and biomagnifies in living tissue, concentrations progressively increase at higher trophic positions in ecosystem food webs. Therefore, the greatest health risks are for organisms at...
Geologic map of Jezero crater and the Nili Planum region, Mars
Vivian Z. Sun, Kathryn M. Stack
2020, Scientific Investigations Map 3464
The cratered highlands located northwest of Isidis Planitia have been recognized as one of the best preserved Noachian landscapes currently exposed on Mars; the area hosts a record of diverse surface processes, diagenesis, and aqueous alteration. This region has consistently been considered a high priority for landed-mission exploration and includes...
Low-flow characteristics of streams from Wailua to Hanapēpē, Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi
Chui Ling Cheng
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5128
The purpose of this study is to characterize streamflow availability under natural (unregulated) low-flow conditions for streams in southeast Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i. The nine main study-area basins, from north to south, include Wailua River, Hanamā‘ulu, Nāwiliwili, Pūʻali, Hulēʻia, Waikomo, Lāwaʻi, and Wahiawa Streams, and Hanapēpē River. The results of this study...
Quality of data from the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Network for water years 2013–17
Laura Medalie, Laura M. Bexfield
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5116
Water samples from 122 sites in the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Network were collected in 2013–17 to document ambient water-quality conditions in surface water of the United States and to determine status and trends of loads and concentrations for nutrients, contaminants, and sediment to estuaries and streams. Quality-control...
Considerations for incorporating quality control into water quality sampling strategies for the U.S. Geological Survey
Laura Medalie
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1109
This report describes considerations for incorporating routine quality-assessment and quality-control evaluations into U.S. Geological Survey discrete water-sampling programs and projects. U.S. Geological Survey water-data science in 2020 is characterized by robustness, external reproducibility, collaborative large-volume data analysis, and efficient delivery of water-quality data. Confidence in data, or robustness, can be...
Exploring the potential value of satellite remote sensing to monitor chlorophyll-a for U.S. lakes and reservoirs
Michael Papenfus, Blake Schaeffer, Amina Pollard, Keith A. Loftin
2020, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (192)
Assessment of chlorophyll-a, an algal pigment, typically measured by field and laboratory in situ analyses, is used to estimate algal abundance and trophic status in lakes and reservoirs. In situ-based monitoring programs can be expensive, may not be spatially, and temporally comprehensive and results may not...
Council Monitoring and Assessment Program (CMAP): User guide for the Gulf Coast Monitoring and Assessment Portal
Kevin Suir, Hana R. Thurman, Anthony Kuczynski, Philip Quibodeaux, Sumani Chimmula, Jake Howell, Heidi Burkart, Nicholas Enwright, Kari Cretini, Mark McKelvy
2020, Report
The Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act (RESTORE Act Final Rule at 31 C.F.R. Part 34) was signed into law on July 6, 2012. The RESTORE Act calls for a regional approach to restoring the long-term health of the valuable natural...
