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...
Rethinking groundwater flow on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, USA: Characterizing recharge sources and flow paths with environmental tracers
John E. Solder, Kimberly R. Beisner, Jessica R. Anderson, Donald J. Bills
2020, Hydrogeology Journal (28) 1593-1613
In the arid landscape south of the Grand Canyon, natural springs and seeps are a critical resource for endemic species and Native American tribes. Groundwater is potentially threatened by expanding populations, visitations, and mineral extraction activities. Environmental tracers including noble gases, stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen in water, tritium,...
Mobility characteristics of landslides triggered by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico
Erin K. Bessette-Kirton, Jeffrey A. Coe, William H. Schulz, Corina Cerovski-Darriau, Mason Muir Einbund
2020, Landslides (17) 2795-2809
Mobility is an important element of landslide hazard and risk assessments yet has been seldom studied for shallow landslides and debris flows in tropical environments. In September 2017, Hurricane Maria triggered > 70,000 landslides across Puerto Rico. Using aerial imagery and a lidar...
Machine-learning models to map pH and redox conditions in groundwater in a layered aquifer system, Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain, eastern USA
Leslie A. DeSimone, Jason P. Pope, Katherine Marie Ransom
2020, Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies (30)
Study regionThe study was conducted in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system, in the eastern USA.Study focusGroundwater pH and redox conditions are fundamental chemical characteristics controlling the distribution of many contaminants of concern for drinking water or...
Geomorphological evidence for a dry dust avalanche origin of slope streaks on Mars
Colin M. Dundas
2020, Nature Geoscience (13) 473-476
Mars has several different types of slope feature that resemble aqueous flows. However, the current cold, dry conditions are inimical to liquid water, resulting in uncertainty about its role in modern surface processes. Dark slope streaks were among the first distinctive young slope features to be identified on Mars and...
Using saline or brackish aquifers as reservoirs for thermal energy storage, with example calculations for direct-use heating in the Portland Basin, Oregon, USA
Erick R. Burns, John Bershaw, Colin F. Williams, Ray E Wells, Matt W Uddenberg, Darby P Scanlon, Trenton T Cladouhos, Boz Van Houten
Boz Van Houten, editor(s)
2020, Geothermics (88)
Tools to evaluate reservoir thermal energy storage (RTES; heat storage in slow-moving or stagnant geochemically evolved permeable zones in strata that underlie well-connected regional aquifers) are developed and applied to the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) beneath the Portland Basin, Oregon, USA....
Near-term spatial hydrologic forecasting in Everglades, USA for landscape planning and ecological forecasting
Leonard G. Pearlstine, James M. Beerens, Gregg Reynolds, Saira Haider, Mark McKelvy, Kevin Suir, Stephanie Romanach, Jennifer H. Nestler
2020, Environmental Modelling and Software (132)
Operational ecological forecasting is an emerging field that leverages ecological models in a new, cross-disciplinary way – using a real-time or nearly real-time climate forecast to project near-term ecosystem states. These applications give decision-makers lead time to anticipate and manage state changes that degrade ecosystem functions or directly impact humans....
Quantitative paleoflood hydrology
Gerardo Benito, Jim E. O'Connor
2020, Book chapter, Reference module in earth systems and environmental sciences
This chapter reviews the paleohydrologic techniques and approaches used to reconstruct the magnitude and frequency of past floods using geological evidence. Quantitative paleoflood hydrology typically leads to two phases of analysis: (1) documentation and assessment of flood physical evidence (paleostage indicators), and (2) relating identified flood evidence to flood discharge,...
Western bumble bee: Declines in United States and range-wide information gaps
Tabitha A. Graves, William Michael Janousek, Sarah M. Gaulke, Amy Nicholas, Douglas Keinath, Christine M. Bell, Syd Cannings, Richard G. Hatfield, Jennifer M Heron, Jonathan B Koch, Helen L Loffland, Leif L Richardson, Ashley T. Rohde, Jessica Rykken, James P. Strange, Lusha Tronstead, Cory Sheffield
2020, Ecosphere (11)
In recent decades, many bumble bee species have declined due to changes in habitat, climate, and pressures from pathogens, pesticides, and introduced species. The western bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis ), once common throughout western North America, is a species of concern and will be considered for listing by the U.S. Fish...
Supporting natural resource-management decisions — The role of economics at the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) — 2018 DOI Economics Training Workshop
Mustapha Alhassan, Emily Pindilli, Christian S.L. Crowley, Carl D. Shapiro, Benjamin Simon
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1044
The second U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Economics Training Workshop (hereafter “Workshop”) was held during September 25–27, 2018, in Washington, D.C., to identify, highlight, and better understand needs and opportunities for economic analysis to support DOI’s mission. Building on the first workshop in 2017, the second Workshop, jointly convened...
Critical evaluation of stable isotope mixing end-members for estimating groundwater recharge sources: Case study from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA
John E. Solder, Kimberly R. Beisner
2020, Hydrogeology Journal (28) 1575-1591
Springs and groundwater seeps along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon serve an important function for the region’s ecosystems, residents (both human and wild animal), and economy. However, these springs and seeps are potentially vulnerable to contamination, increased groundwater extraction, or reduced recharge due to climate change. Protection of...
Migratory behavior and winter geography drive differential range shifts of eastern birds in response to recent climate change
Clark Rushing, J. Andrew Royle, David Ziolkowski, Keith L. Pardieck
2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (117) 12897-12903
Over the past half century, migratory birds in North America have shown divergent population trends relative to resident species, with the former declining rapidly and the latter increasing. The role that climate change has played in these observed trends is not well understood, despite significant warming over this period. We...
Carbon dioxide-induced mortality of four species of North American fishes
Hilary B. Treanor, Andrew M. Ray, Jon Amberg, Mark P. Gaikowski, Jason E. Ilgen, Robert Gresswell, Leslie Gains-Germain, Molly A H Webb
2020, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (11) 463-475
Fisheries managers have a growing interest in the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) as a tool for controlling invasive fishes. However, limited published data exist on susceptibility of many commonly encountered species to elevated CO2 concentrations. Our objective was to estimate the 24-h 50%...
Primary sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to streambed sediment in Great Lakes tributaries using multiple lines of evidence
Austin K. Baldwin, Steven R. Corsi, Samantha K. Oliver, Peter L. Lenaker, Michelle A. Nott, Marc A. Mills, Gary A. Norris, Pentti Paatero
2020, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (39) 1392-1408
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are among the most widespread and potentially toxic contaminants in Great Lakes (USA/Canada) tributaries. The sources of PAHs are numerous and diverse, and identifying the primary source(s) can be difficult. The present study used multiple lines of evidence to determine the likely sources of PAHs to...
A mixed length scale model for migrating fluvial bedforms
Michele Guala, Michael Heisel, Arvind Singh, Mirko Musa, Daniel D. Buscombe, Paul E. Grams
2020, Geophysical Research Letters (47)
With the expansion of hydropower, in‐stream converters, flood‐protection infrastructures, and growing concerns on deltas fragile ecosystems, there is a pressing need to evaluate and monitor bedform sediment mass flux. It is critical to estimate real‐time bedform size and migration velocity and provide a theoretical framework to convert...
'Dust in the wind’ from source-to-sink: Analysis of the 14-15 April 2015 storm in Utah
Kathleen Nicoll, Maura Hahnenberger, Harland L. Goldstein
2020, Aeolian Research (46)
On 14–15 April 2015, an intense intermountain cyclone in the western USA caused high winds and a dust storm that degraded air quality in the eastern Great Basin, and deposited dust-on-snow (DOS) in the Wasatch Range near Salt Lake City, Utah. We analyzed the...
