Precipitation runoff modeling system (PRMS) as part of an integrated hydrologic model for the Osage Nation, northeastern Oklahoma, 1915–2014
Joseph A. Hevesi, Randall T. Hanson, Jason R. Masoner
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5030
Executive SummaryThe Osage Nation lacks a comprehensive tribal water plan to describe the quality and quantity of water resources in the Osage Nation, a 2,304-square-mile (mi2) area of rolling pastures, tallgrass prairie, and mixed woodlands in northeastern Oklahoma. A tribal water plan can be used to help manage the sustainable...
Evaluation of the impacts of radio-marking devices on feral horses and burros in a captive setting
Kathryn A. Schoenecker, Sarah R. B. King, Gail C. Collins
2020, Human Wildlife Interactions (14) 73-86
Radio-collars and other radio-marking devices have been invaluable tools for wildlife managers for >40 years. These marking devices have improved our understanding of wildlife spatial ecology and demographic parameters and provided new data facilitating model development for species conservation and management. Although these tools have been used on virtually all...
The historic events at Kilauea Volcano in 2018: Summit collapse, rift zone eruption, and Mw 6.9 earthquake: Preface to the special issue
Matthew R. Patrick, Ingrid A. Johanson, Thomas Shea, Greg Waite
2020, Bulletin of Volcanology (82)
Kīlauea Volcano, on the Island of Hawaiʻi, has had a prominent role in the science of volcanology, and a long history of generating new insights into how volcanoes operate (Tilling et al. 2014; Garcia 2015). Native Hawaiians shared ideas on the behavior of the volcano with early Western visitors...
Hydro-morphological characterization of coral reefs for wave runup prediction
Fred Scott, Jose A.A. Antolinez, Robert T. McCall, Curt D. Storlazzi, Ad Reiners, Stuart Pearson
2020, Frontiers in Marine Science (7)
Many coral reef-lined coasts are low-lying with elevations <4 m above mean sea level. Climate-change-driven sea-level rise, coral reef degradation, and changes in storm wave climate will lead to greater occurrence and impacts of wave-driven flooding. This poses a significant threat to their coastal communities. While greatly at risk, the...
Using remotely sensed data to map Joshua Tree distributions at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California, 2018
Todd Esque, Patrick E. Baird, Felicia C. Chen, David C. Housman, Tom J. Holton
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5053
Species distribution models (SDMs) that are derived through inference have been used to provide important insights toward species distributions. Their inferences can be robust in relation to known presences, but SDMs have error rates that cannot be quantified with certainty. For large plant species with unique signatures and in sparsely...
The water-year water balance of the Colorado River Basin
Gregory J. McCabe, David M. Wolock
2020, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (56) 724-737
Model‐estimated monthly water balance components (i.e., potential evapotranspiration, actual evapotranspiration, and runoff (R)) for 146 United States (U.S.) Geological Survey 8‐digit hydrologic units located in the Colorado River Basin (CRB) are used to examine the temporal and spatial variability of the CRB water balance for water...
Evaluating elevation change thresholds between structure-from-motion DEMs derived from historical aerial photos and 3DEP LiDAR data
Peter G. Chirico, Jessica D. DeWitt, Sarah E. Bergstresser
2020, Remote Sensing (10)
This study created digital terrain models (DTMs) from historical aerial images using Structure from Motion (SfM) for a variety of image dates, resolutions, and photo scales. Accuracy assessments were performed on the SfM DTMs, and they were compared to the United States Geological Survey’s three-dimensional digital elevation program (3DEP) light...
Estimating the effect of winter cover crops on nitrogen leaching using cost-share enrollment data, satellite remote sensing, and Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) modeling
W. Dean Hively, Sangchul Lee, Ali M. Sadeghi, Gregory W. McCarty, Brian T. Lamb, Alexander M. Soroka, Jason Keppler, In-Young Yeo, Glenn E. Moglen
2020, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (75) 362-375
This study employed a novel combination of data (winter cover crop cost-share enrollment records, satellite remote sensing of wintertime vegetation, and results of Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) water quality simulations) to estimate the environmental performance of winter cover crops (WCC) at the watershed scale, from 2008 through 2017,...
Local to landscape-level controls of water fluxes through Hawaiian forests: Effects of invasive animals and plants on soil infiltration capacity across substrate and moisture gradients
Lucas B. Fortini, Christina Leopold, Kimberlie Perkins, Oliver A. Chadwick, Stephanie G. Yelenik, James D. Jacobi, Kaiena Bishaw, Makani Gregg, Sarah N. Rosa
2020, Report
Given the potential effect of invasive plants and animals to water fluxes through forests, the invasive-driven degradation of native ecosystems is a topic of great concern for many downstream land and water managers. The infiltration rate determines the partitioning between runoff and infiltration into soil in Hawaiian forests and beyond....
Mild displacements of boulders during the 2019 Ridgecrest Earthquakes
Norman Sleep, Susan E. Hough
2020, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (110) 1579-1588
Strong seismic waves from the July 2019 Ridgecrest, California, earthquakes displaced rocks in proximity to the M 7.1 mainshock fault trace at several locations. In this report, we document large boulders that were displaced at the Wagon Wheel Staging Area (WWSA), approximately 4.5 km southeast of the southern terminus of...
Representing the function and sensitivity of coastal interfaces in Earth system models
Nicholas Ward, J. Patrick Megonigal, Ben Bond-Lamberty, Vanessa Bailey, David Butman, Elizabeth Canuel, Heida Diefenderfer, Neil K. Ganju, Miguel Goni, Emily B. Graham, Charles Hopkinson, Tarang Khangaonkar, Adam Langley, Nate McDowell, Allison Myers-Pigg, Rebecca Neumann, Christopher Osburn, Rene Price, Joel Rowland, Aditi Sengupta, Marc Simard, Peter E. Thornton, Maria Tzortziou, Rodrigo Vargas, Pamela Weisenhorn, Lisamarie Windham-Myers
2020, Nature Communications (11)
Along coastal interfaces, components of the Earth system interact to regulate ecosystem functions and Earth’s climate. Between the land and ocean, diverse coastal ecosystem types transform, store, and transport material. A dynamic two-way exchange of energy and matter is driven by hydrological and marine processes such as river and groundwater...
Aligning climate models with stakeholder needs: Advances in communicating future rainfall uncertainties for south Florida decision makers
Johnna Infanti, Ben P. Kirtman, Nicholas Aumen, John F. Stamm, Colin Polsky
2020, Earth and Space Science (7)
Changes in future precipitation are of great importance to climate data users in South Florida. A recent U.S. Geological Survey workshop, “Increasing Confidence in Precipitation Projections for Everglades Restoration,” highlighted a gap between standard climate model outputs and the climate information needs of some key Florida...
Louisiana Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring Program: Mapping habitats in beach, dune, and intertidal environments along the Louisiana Gulf of Mexico shoreline, 2008 and 2015–16
Nicholas M. Enwright, William M. SooHoo, Jason L. Dugas, Craig P. Conzelmann, Claudia Laurenzano, Darin M. Lee, Kelly Mouton, Spencer J. Stelly
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1030
Barrier islands, headlands, and coastal shorelines provide numerous valuable ecosystem goods and services, including storm protection and erosion control for the mainland, habitat for fish and wildlife, salinity regulation in estuaries, carbon sequestration in marshes, and areas for recreation and tourism. These coastal features are dynamic environments because of their...
The use of Bayesian priors in Ecology: The good, the bad and the not great
Katharine M. Banner, Kathryn M. Irvine, Thomas Rodhouse
2020, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (11) 882-889
Bayesian data analysis (BDA) is a powerful tool for making inference from ecological data, but its full potential has yet to be realized. Despite a generally positive trajectory in research surrounding model development and assessment, far too little attention has been given to prior specification.Default priors, a sub‐class of...
Genetic identification of African pangolins and their origin in illegal trade
Huarong Zhang, Gary Ades, Mark P. Miller, Feng Yang, Kwok-wai Lai, Gunter A. Fischer
2020, Global Ecology and Conservation (23)
To track the illegal pangolin trade from Africa to Asia, we analyzed 1800 DNA samples from 30 seizures of African pangolin scales in Hong Kong during the period 2012–2016. We concluded that all four African pangolin species were present in trade,...
The future of sediment transport and streamflow under a changing climate and the implications for long-term resilience of the San Francisco Bay-Delta
Michelle A. Stern, Lorraine E. Flint, Alan L Flint, Noah Knowles, Scott Wright
2020, Water Resources Research (56)
Sedimentation and turbidity have effects on habitat suitability in the San Francisco Bay‐Delta (Bay‐Delta), concerning key species in the bay as well as the ability of the delta marshes to keep pace with sea level rise. A daily rainfall runoff and transport model of the Sacramento River...
Projecting spatiotemporally explicit effects of climate change on stream temperature: A model comparison and implications for coldwater fishes
Yeun Lee, Aimee H. Fullerton, Ning Sun, Christian E. Torgersen
2020, Journal of Hydrology (588)
Conservation planners and resource managers seek information about how the availability and locations of cold-water habitats will change in the future and how these predictions vary among models. We used a physical process-based model to demonstrate the implications of climate change for streamflow and water temperature in two watersheds with...
At the end of the road: Lessons learned from comparing model- and design-based approaches to estimate population sizes of boreal birds in Alberta, Canada
Peter Solymos, Judith D Toms, Steven M. Matsuoka, Steven G. Cumming, Nicole K. S. Barker, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Diana Stralberg, Andrew D. Crosby, Francisco V Denes, Samuel Hache, C Lisa Mahon, Fiona K A Schmiegelow, Erin M. Bayne
2020, The Condor (122)
Estimating population abundance is a challenging task complicated by the amount, type, and quality of available data. Conservationists have relied on design-based estimates from Partners in Flight (PIF), which primarily uses roadside data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) to estimate populations sizes. However, the BBS was not...
Hawaiian hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus semotus) behavior at wind turbines on Maui
P. Marcos Gorresen, Paul M. Cryan, Grace Tredinnick
2020, Report
This study examined the activity of the endemic Hawaiian hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus semotus) at wind turbines operated by Auwahi Wind Energy, LLC, on southern Maui Island, from August to November 2018. The research was conducted to assess the potential effect of wind speed and...
Methane oxidation dynamics in a karst subterranean estuary
David Brankovits, John Pohlman
2020, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (277) 320-333
Chemical gradients between fresh, brackish and saline waters shape biogeochemical reactions and organic matter transformation within subterranean estuaries. In the Yucatán Peninsula’s karst subterranean estuary (KSE), methane and dissolved organic matter generated during the anaerobic decomposition of tropical forest vegetation are...
A decision-support tool to prioritize candidate landscapes for lesser prairie-chicken conservation
Alexander R. Schindler, David A. Haukos, Christian A. Hagen, Beth Ross
2020, Landscape Ecology (35) 1417-1434
ContextDevelopment of systematic methods for conservation planning has improved effectiveness and efficiency of implementing such plans. The lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) is a grouse species of conservation concern native to the southwestern Great Plains of the United States. Recent lesser prairie-chicken conservation planning has involved identifying ecologically important areas but...
A multi-model approach toward understanding iron fouling at rock-fill drainage sites along roadways in New Hampshire, USA
Melissa A. Lombard, Pamela J. Lombard, Craig J. Brown, James R. Degnan
2020, SN Applied Sciences
Factors affecting iron fouling in wet areas adjacent to roadways were investigated by collecting field rock cut and aqueous physicochemical data; developing exploratory predictive models; and developing geochemical models. Basic data included the identification of iron fouling from aerial imagery and field visits at 374 New Hampshire rock cut locations,...
Do empirical observations support commonly-held climate change range shift hypotheses? A systematic review protocol
Madeleine A. Rubenstein, Sarah R. Weiskopf, Shawn Carter, Mitchell J. Eaton, Ciara Johnson, Abigail Lynch, Brian W. Miller, Toni Lyn Morelli, Mari Angel Rodriguez, Adam Terando, Laura Thompson
2020, Environmental Evidence (9)
Background Among the most widely anticipated climate-related impacts to biodiversity are geographic range shifts, whereby species shift their spatial distribution in response to changing climate conditions. In particular, a series of commonly articulated hypotheses have emerged: species are expected to shift their distributions to higher latitudes, greater elevations, and...
Time-series model, statistical methods, and software documentation for R–QWTREND—An R package for analyzing trends in stream-water quality
Aldo V. Vecchia, Rochelle A. Nustad
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1014
As part of a U.S. Geological Survey water-quality study started in 2018, in cooperation with the International Joint Commission, North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, a publicly available software package called R–QWTREND was developed for analyzing trends in stream-water quality. The R–QWTREND package is a...
Forecasting the combined effects of anticipated climate change and agricultural conservation practices on fish recruitment dynamics in Lake Erie
David A Dippold, Noel Aloysis, S. Conor Keitzer, Haw Yen, Jeffrey G. Arnold, Prasad Daggupati, Michael E. Fraker, Jay F. Martin, Dale M. Robertson, Scott P. Sowa, Mari-Vaughn V. Johnson, Mike J. White, Stuart A. Ludsin
2020, Freshwater Biology (65) 1487-1508
Many aquatic ecosystems are experiencing multiple anthropogenic stressors that threaten their ability to support ecologically and economically important fish species. Two of the most ubiquitous stressors are climate change and non‐point source nutrient pollution.Agricultural conservation practices (ACPs, i.e. farming practices that reduce runoff, prevent erosion, and curb excessive nutrient...
