Dating silica sinter (geyserite): A cautionary tale
Dakota M. Churchill, Michael Manga, Shaul Hurwitz, Sara Peek, Joseph Licciardi, James B. Paces
2020, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (402)
We describe a new effort to date hydrothermal silica sinter deposits (geyserite) from the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park using 14C of co-deposited organic matter, U-series and cosmogenic 10Be methods. A majority of the samples were collected from stratigraphic sections, mainly at Riverside, Giant, and Castle Geysers. Ages...
Hydrologic modeling to examine the influence of the forestry reclamation approach and climate change on mineland hydrology
Tanja N. Williamson, Chris D. Barton
2020, Science of the Total Environment (743)
Forests in the Appalachian region of the U.S. are threatened by a variety of short- and long-term pressures, including climate change, invasive species, and resource extraction. Surface mining for coal is one of the most important drivers of land-use...
Methods to quality assure, plot, summarize, interpolate, and extend groundwater-level information—Examples for the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer
William H. Asquith, Ronald C. Seanor, Virginia L. McGuire, Wade Kress
2020, Journal of Environmental Modelling and Software (134)
Large-scale computational investigations of groundwater levels are proposed to accelerate science delivery through a workflow spanning database assembly, statistics, and information synthesis and packaging. A water-availability study of the Mississippi River alluvial plain, and particularly the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer...
msocc: Fit and analyse computationally efficient multi‐scale occupancy models in R
Christian Stratton, Adam J. Sepulveda, Andrew B. Hoegh
2020, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (11) 1113-1120
Environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling is a promising tool for the detection of rare and cryptic taxa, such as aquatic pathogens, parasites and invasive species. Environmental DNA sampling workflows commonly rely on multi‐stage hierarchical sampling designs that induce complicated dependencies within the data. This complex dependence structure can be intuitively...
Selective sediment transport during Hurricane Sandy on Fire Island (New York, USA): Inferences from heavy-mineral assemblages
Joao Cascalho, Pedro Costa, Guy R. Gelfenbaum, SeanPaul La Selle, Bruce E. Jaffe
2020, Journal of Sedimentary Research (90) 269-285
In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused severe erosion on beaches and dunes of Fire Island (New York, USA). Major shoreline changes occurred with erosional dominance in the upper shoreline and aggradation in the lowermost section of the beach due to the deposition of eroded upper beach and dune sediment. Sand...
Space use and relative habitat selection for immature green turtles within a Caribbean marine protected area
Lucas P Griffin, Brian J. Smith, Michael Cherkiss, Andrew Crowder, Clayton G Pollock, Zandy Hillis-Starr, Andy J. Danylchuk, Kristen Hart
2020, Animal Biotelemetry (8)
Background A better understanding of sea turtle spatial ecology is critical for the continued conservation of imperiled sea turtles and their habitats. For resource managers to develop the most effective conservation strategies, it is especially important to examine how turtles use and select for habitats within their developmental foraging grounds. Here,...
Prioritizing river basins for intensive monitoring and assessment by the US Geological Survey
Peter C. Van Metre, Sharon L. Qi, Jeffrey R. Deacon, Cheryl A. Dieter, Jessica M. Driscoll, Michael N. Fienen, Terry A. Kenney, Patrick M. Lambert, David P. Lesmes, Christopher Allen Mason, Anke Mueller-Solger, MaryLynn Musgrove, Jaime A. Painter, Donald O. Rosenberry, Lori A. Sprague, Anthony J. Tesoriero, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, David M. Wolock
2020, Environmental Modeling & Assessment (192)
The US Geological Survey (USGS) is currently (2020) integrating its water science programs to better address the nation’s greatest water resource challenges now and into the future. This integration will rely, in part, on data from 10 or more intensively monitored river basins from across the USA. A team of...
Wave-like patterns of plant phenology determine ungulate movement tactics
Ellen O. Aikens, Atle Mysterud, Jerod A. Merkle, Francesca Cagnacci, Inger Maren Rivrud, Mark Hebblewhite, Mark Hurley, Wibke Peters, Scott Bergen, Johannes De Groeve, Samantha P. H. Dwinnell, Benedikt Gehr, Marco Heurich, A. J. Mark Hewison, Anders Jarnemo, Petter Kjellander, Max Kroschel, Alain Licoppe, John D. C. Linnell, Evelyn H. Merrill, Arthur D. Middleton, Nicolas Morellet, Lalenia Neufeld, Anna C. Ortega, Katherine L. Parker, Luca Pedrotti, Kelly Proffitt, Sonia Said, Hall Sawyer, Brandon M. Scurlock, Johannes Signer, Patrick Stent, Pavel Sustr, Tara Szkorupa, Kevin L. Monteith, Matthew J. Kauffman
2020, Current Biology (30) 3444-3449
Animals exhibit a diversity of movement tactics [1]. Tracking resources that change across space and time is predicted to be a fundamental driver of animal movement [2]. For example, some migratory ungulates (i.e., hooved mammals) closely track the progression of highly nutritious plant green-up, a phenomenon called “green-wave surfing” [3-5]....
Report on the workshop ‘Next Steps in Developing Nature Futures’
Machteld Schoolenberg, Sana Okayasu, Rob Alkemade, Amanda Krijgsman, Ana Paula Dutra de Aguiar, Shizuka Hashimoto, Carolyn J. Lundquist, Laura Pereira, Garry Peterson, Dolors Armenteras, William W. L. Cheung, Mariteuw Chimere Diaw, America Paz Duran, Maria Gasalla, Ghassen Halouani, Paula Harrisson, Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen, HyeJin Kim, Jan J. Kuiper, Brian W. Miller, Yasuo Takahashi, Ramon Pichs
2020, Report
The workshop ‘New Narratives for Nature: operationalizing the IPBES Nature Futures Scenarios’ was organised by the IPBES task force on scenarios and models and hosted by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), with support from the research team on “Predicting and Assessing Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services through an...
Characterizing benthic macroinvertebrate and algal biological condition gradient models for California wadeable Streams, USA
Michael J. Paul, Ben Jessup, Larry R. Brown, James Carter, Marco Cantonati, Donald F. Charles, Jeroen Gerritsen, Dave Herbst, Rosalina Stancheva, Jeanette K. Howard, Bill Isham, Rex Lowe, Raphael D Mazor, Patina K. Mendez, Peter R Ode, Alison O’Dowd, Yangdong Pan, Andrew C. Rehn, Sarah A. Spaulding, Martha Sutula, Susanna Theroux
2020, Ecological Indicators (117)
The Biological Condition Gradient (BCG) is a conceptual model that describes changes in aquatic communities under increasing levels of anthropogenic stress. The BCG helps decision-makers connect narrative water quality goals (e.g., maintenance of natural structure and function) to quantitative measures of...
The potential of using dynamic strains in earthquake early warning applications
Noha Sameh Ahmed Farghal, Andrew J Barbour, John Langbein
2020, Seismological Research Letters (91) 2817-2827
We investigate the potential of using borehole strainmeter data from the Network of the Americas (NOTA) and the U.S. Geological Survey networks to estimate earthquake moment magnitudes for earthquake early warning (EEW) applications. We derive an empirical equation relating peak dynamic strain, earthquake moment magnitude, and hypocentral distance, and investigate...
Living on the edge: Multi-scale analyses of bird habitat use in coastal marshes of Barataria Basin, Louisiana, USA
Brett Patton, J. A. Nyman, Megan K. La Peyre
2020, Wetlands (40) 2041-2054
Coastal marsh loss, combined with expected sea-level rise, will cause inundation and extensive shifts to vegetation and salinity regimes that may affect the bird species dependent on coastal ecosystems worldwide. Within coastal marsh habitats, birds provide key targets for coastal management goals. However, limited information on bird-habitat relationships within coastal...
Regionally continuous Miocene rhyolites beneath the eastern Snake River Plain reveal localized flexure at its western margin: Idaho National Laboratory and vicinity
Kyle L. Schusler, David M. Pearson, Michael J. McCurry, Roy C. Bartholomay, Mark H. Anders
2020, The Mountain Geologist (57) 241-270
The eastern Snake River Plain (ESRP) is a northeast-trending topographic basin interpreted to be the result of the time-transgressive track of the North American plate above the Yellowstone hotspot. The track is defined by the age progression of silicic volcanic rocks exposed along the margins of the ESRP. However, the...
A summary of water-quality monitoring in San Francisco Bay in water year 2017
Daniel N. Livsey, Maureen A. Downing-Kunz
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5064
This report summarizes the activities of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) San Francisco Bay Water-Quality Monitoring and Sediment Transport Project during water year 2017, including an explanation of methods employed, stations operated, and a graphical summary of data for the period of record for stations operational in water year 2017....
Elevation-derived hydrography acquisition specifications
Silvia Terziotti, Christy-Ann Archuleta
2020, Techniques and Methods 11-B11
Hydrographic features derived from U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 3D Elevation Program data, and collected for use by the USGS, must meet the specifications described in this document. The specifications described herein pertain to the final product delivered to the USGS, not to methods used to derive the hydrographic features. The...
Projected climate and land use changes drive plant community composition in agricultural wetlands
Rachel K. Owen, Elisabeth B. Webb, David A. Haukos, Keith W. Goyne
2020, Environmental and Experimental Botany (175) 1-12
Playa wetlands in the Great Plains, USA support a wide variety of plant species not found elsewhere in this agriculturally-dominated region due to the ephemeral presence of standing water and hydric soils within playas. If longer dry periods occur due to climate change or if changes in surrounding land...
Defining the need for genetic stock assignment when describing stock demographics and dynamics: An example using Lake Whitefish in Lake Michigan
Daniel A. Isermann, Matthew J. Belnap, Keith N. Turnquist, Brian L. Sloss, Justin A. VanDeHey, Scott P. Hansen, David C. Caroffino
2020, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (149) 398-413
Genetic stock assignment is not routinely used when describing the dynamics and demographics of individual stocks supporting mixed-stock fisheries, and capture location and timing are often used as alternative assignment methods. However, variation in stock demographics and dynamics may not be accounted for if stock assignments based on capture location...
A new data set of granitic rock strength values from Yosemite Valley, California: Applications to rock fall assessment
Brian D. Collins, Federica Sandrone, Laurent Gastaldo, Greg M. Stock, Michel Jaboyedoff
2020, Conference Paper, 54th US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium
To explore connections between rock strength and rock falls, we undertook a comprehensive rock mechanics testing program for six granitic rock types in Yosemite Valley (California, USA) where rock falls are a common geomorphic and sometimes hazardous process. We collected samples from boulders located at the base of cliffs, with...
The Cenozoic evolution of crustal shortening and left‐lateral shear in the central East Kunlun Shan: Implications for the uplift history of the Tibetan Plateau
Lydia M. Staisch, Nathan A Niemi, Marin K. Clark, Hong Chang
2020, Tectonics (39)
The timing of crustal shortening and strike‐slip faulting along the East Kunlun Shan provides insight into the history of surface uplift and may constrain the time at which the Tibetan Plateau reached high elevations. We investigate a series of extensional basins and restraining bends along the...
Gambel’s quail survey variability and implications for survey design in the Mohave Desert
Cory T. Overton, Michael L. Casazza, Daniel Connelley, Scott C. Gardner
2020, Wildlife Society Bulletin (44) 493-501
Careful design of a wildlife population monitoring strategy is necessary to obtain accurate and precise results whether the purpose of the survey is development of habitat suitability models, to estimate abundance, or assess site occupancy. Important characteristics to consider in survey design are sources of elevated variability, particularly within‐subject variability,...
California Historical Intensity Mapping Project (CHIMP): A consistently reinterpreted dataset of seismic intensities for the past 162 years and implications for seismic hazard maps
Leah Salditch, Molly M. Gallahue, Madeleine C. Lucas, James S. Neely, Susan E. Hough, Seth Stein
2020, Seismological Research Letters (91) 2631-2650
Historical seismic intensity data are useful for myriad reasons, including assessment of the performance of Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment (PSHA) models and corresponding hazard maps by comparing their predictions to a dataset of historically observed intensities in the region. To assess PSHA models for California, a long and consistently interpreted...
Research, monitoring, and evaluation of emerging issues and measures to recover the Snake River Fall Chinook Salmon ESU: January 2019 - December 2019
Kenneth F. Tiffan, Russell Perry, editor(s)
2020, Report
The portion of the Snake River fall Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha evolutionary significant unit (ESU) that spawns upstream of Lower Granite Dam transitioned from low to high abundance during 19922019 in association with U.S. Endangered Species Act recovery efforts and other federally mandated actions. This annual report focuses on (1)...
A science business model for answering important questions
Kevin D. Lafferty
2020, Book chapter, Unsolved Problems in Ecology
Perhaps the biggest question in science is how to do better science. Many ecologists, including this book’s editors and authors, have succeeded under the current science “business model” and, from our perspective, the status quo works well enough. But science business models are under increased scrutiny. For instance, since 2012,...
2023 Coastal master plan: Model improvement plan, ICM-wetlands, vegetation, and soil
Melissa M. Baustian, Denise Reed, Jenneke Visser, Scott M. Duke-Sylvester, Gregg Snedden, Hongqing Wang, Kristin DeMarco, Madeline R. Foster-Martinez, Leigh Anne Sharp, Tommy E. McGinnis, Elizabeth Jarrell
2020, Report
As part of the model improvement effort for the 2023 Coastal Master Plan, the wetland processes captured by the morphology and vegetation models used during previous master plans were reevaluated to assess how Integrated Compartment Model (ICM) subroutines could be improved. This process considered technical reviews, comments, and suggested improvements...
Automated extraction of areal extents for GNIS Summit features using the eminence core method
Gaurav Sinha, Samantha T. Arundel
2020, Conference Paper, Proceedings of geomorphometry 2020
An important objective of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is to enhance the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) by automatically associating boundaries with terrain features that are currently spatially represented as two-dimensional points. In this paper, the discussion focuses on experiments for mapping GNIS Summit features using the eminence core...
