Arsenolipids in cultured Picocystis strain ML, and their occurrence in biota and sediment from Mono Lake, California
Ronald A. Glabonjat, Jodi S. Blum, Laurence G. Miller, Samuel M. Webb, John F. Stolz, Kevin A. Francesconi, Ronald S. Oremland
2020, Life (10)
Primary production in Mono Lake, a hypersaline soda lake rich in dissolved inorganic arsenic, is dominated by Picocystis strain ML. We set out to determine if this photoautotrophic picoplankter could metabolize inorganic arsenic and in doing so form unusual arsenolipids (e.g., arsenic bound to 2-O-methyl ribosides) as...
Informing amphibian conservation efforts with abundance-based metapopulation models
Paige E Howell, Blake R. Hossack, Erin L. Muths, Brent H. Sigafus, Richard B. Chandler
2020, Herpetologica (76) 240-250
Science-based management strategies are needed to halt or reverse the global decline of amphibians. In many cases, sound management requires reliable models built using monitoring data. Historically, monitoring and statistical modeling efforts have focused on estimating occupancy using detection–nondetection data. Spatial occupancy models are useful for studying colonization–extinction dynamics, but...
Effects of snowpack, temperature, and disease on the demography of a wild population of amphibians
Erin L. Muths, Blake R. Hossack, Evan H. Grant, David S. Pilliod, Brittany A. Mosher
2020, Herpetologica (76) 132-143
Understanding the demographic consequences of interactions among pathogens, hosts, and weather conditions is critical in determining how amphibian populations respond to disease and in identifying site-specific conservation actions that can be developed to bolster persistence of amphibian populations. We investigated population dynamics in Boreal Toads (Anaxyrus boreas) relative to abiotic...
A synthesis of evidence of drivers of amphibian declines
Evan H. Grant, D. A. W. Miller, Erin L. Muths
2020, Herpetologica (76) 101-107
Early calls for robust long-term time series of amphibian population data, stemming from discussion following the first World Congress of Herpetology, are now being realized after 25 yr of focused research. Inference from individual studies and locations have contributed to a basic consensus on drivers of amphibian declines. Until recently...
The predictive skills of elastic Coulomb rate-and-state aftershock forecasts during the 2019 Ridgecrest, California, earthquake sequence
Simone Mancini, Margarita Segou, Maximillian J Werner, Thomas E. Parsons
2020, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (110) 1736-1751
Operational earthquake forecasting protocols commonly use statistical models for their recognized ease of implementation and robustness in describing the short-term spatiotemporal patterns of triggered seismicity. However, recent advances on physics-based aftershock forecasting reveal comparable performance to the standard statistical counterparts with significantly improved predictive skills when fault and stress field...
NHDPlus High Resolution (NHDPlus HR)---A hydrography framework for the Nation
Susan G. Buto, Rebecca Anderson
2020, Fact Sheet 2020-3033
Reliable and accurate high-resolution mapping of the Nation’s waters are critical inputs to models and decision support systems used to predict risk and enable response to impacts on water resources. It is necessary to know where the water is and how it relates to features beyond the stream network like...
Hydrodynamic modeling results showing the effects of the Luce Bayou interbasin transfer on salinity in Lake Houston, TX
Erik A. Smith, Sachin D. Shah
2020, Texas Water Journal (11) 64-88
An overreliance on groundwater resources in the Houston (Texas) metropolitan area led to aquifer drawdowns and land subsidence, so regional water suppliers have been turning to surface water resources to meet water demand. Lake Houston, an important water supply reservoir 24 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of downtown Houston, requires new...
The Fire and Tree Mortality Database, for empirical modeling of individual tree mortality after fire
C. Alina Cansler, Sharon M. Hood, J. Morgan Varner, Phillip J. van Mantgem, Michelle C. Agne, Robert A. Andrus, Matthew P. Ayres, Bruce D. Ayres, Jonathan D. Bakker, Michael A. Battaglia, Barbara J. Bentz, Carolyn R. Breece, James K. Brown, Daniel R. Cluck, Tom W. Coleman, R. Gregory Corace III, W. Wallace Covington, Douglas S. Cram, James B. Cronan, Joseph E. Crouse, Adrian Das, Ryan S. Davis, Darci M. Dickinson, Stephen A Fitzgerald, Peter Z. Fule, Lisa M. Ganio, Lindsay M. Grayson, Charles B. Halpern, Jim L. Hanula, Brian J. Harvey, J. Kevin Hiers, David W. Huffman, MaryBeth Keifer, Tara L. Keyser, Leda N. Kobziar, Thomas E. Kolb, Crystal A. Kolden, Karen E. Kopper, Jason R. Kreitler, Jesse K. Kreye, Andrew M. Latimer, Andrew P. Lerch, Maria J. Lombardero, Virginia L. McDaniel, Charles W. McHugh, Joel D. McMillin, Jason J. Moghaddas, Joseph J. O’Brien, Daniel D. B. Perrakis, David W. Peterson, Susan J. Pritchard, Robert A. Progar, Kenneth F. Raffa, Elizabeth D. Reinhardt, Joseph C. Restaino, John P. Roccaforte, Brendan M. Rogers, Kevin C. Ryan, Hugh D. Safford, Alyson E. Santoro, Timothy M. Shearman, Alice M. Shumate, Carolyn H. Sieg, Sheri L. Smith, Rebecca J. Smith, Nathan L. Stephenson, Mary Stuever, Jens Stevens, Michael T. Stoddard, Walter G. Thies, Nicole M. Vaillant, Shelby A. Weiss, Douglas J. Westlind, Travis J. Woolley, Micah C. Wright
2020, Scientific Data (7)
Wildland fires have a multitude of ecological effects in forests, woodlands, and savannas across the globe. A major focus of past research has been on tree mortality from fire, as trees provide a vast range of biological services. We assembled a database of individual-tree records from prescribed fires and wildfires...
The 1933 Long Beach Earthquake (California, USA): Ground motions and rupture scenario
Susan E. Hough, Robert Graves
2020, Scientific Reports (10)
We present a synoptic analysis of the ground motions from the 11 March 1933 Mw 6.4 Long Beach, California, earthquake, the largest known earthquake within the central Los Angeles Basin region. Our inferred shaking intensity pattern supports the association of the earthquake with the Newport-Inglewood fault;...
Balancing fish-energy-cost tradeoffs through strategic basin-wide dam management
Cuihong Song, Andrew O’Malley, Joseph D. Zydlewski, Weiwei Mo
2020, Resources, Conservation and Recycling (161)
Dam management often involves tradeoffs among hydropower generation capacity, environmental impacts, and project costs. However, our understandings of such tradeoffs under a full range of dam management options remain limited, which hinders our ability to make sound and scientifically defensible dam management decisions. In order to assess the scope for...
Habitat associations and distributions of two endemic crayfishes, Cambarus (Erebicambarus) maculatus Hobbs & Pflieger, 1988 and Faxonius (Billecambarus) harrisonii (Faxon, 1884) (Decapoda: Astacoidea: Cambaridae), in the Meramec River drainage, Missouri, USA
J. Chilton, Amanda E. Rosenberger, Robert J. DiStefano
2020, Article
Understanding the habitat associations and distributions of rare species is important to inform management and policy decisions. Cambarus (Erebicambarus) maculatus Hobbs & Pflieger, 1988, the freckled crayfish, and Faxonius (Billecambarus) harrisonii (Faxon, 1884), the belted crayfish, are two of Missouri’s endemic crayfish species. Both...
3D fault architecture controls the dynamism of earthquake swarm
Z. Ross, Elizabeth S. Cochran, D. Trugman, Jonathan D. Smith
2020, Science (368) 1357-1361
The vibrant evolutionary patterns made by earthquake swarms are incompatible with standard, effectively two-dimensional (2D) models for general fault architecture. We leverage advances in earthquake monitoring with a deep-learning algorithm to image a fault zone hosting a 4-year-long swarm in southern California. We infer that fluids are naturally injected into...
Hurricane Sandy effects on coastal marsh elevation change
Alice G. Yeates, James Grace, Jennifer H. Olker, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Donald R. Cahoon, Susan C. Adamowicz, Shimon C. Anisfeld, Nels Barrett, Alice Benzecry, Linda K. Blum, Rober T Christian, Joseph Grzyb, Ellen Kracauer Hartig, Kelly Hines Leo, Scott Lerberg, James C. Lynch, Nicole Maher, J Patrick Megonigal, William G. Reay, Drexel Siok, Adam Starke, Vincent Turner, Scott Warren
2020, Estuaries and Coasts (43) 1640-1657
High-magnitude storm events such as Hurricane Sandy are powerful agents of geomorphic change in coastal marshes, potentially altering their surface elevation trajectories. But how do a storm’s impacts vary across a large region spanning a variety of wetland settings and storm exposures and intensities. We determined the short-term impacts of...
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Baird’s Sparrow (Centronyx bairdii)
Jill A. Shaffer, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. Johnson, Marriah L. Sondreal, Christopher M. Goldade, Melvin P. Nenneman, Betty R. Euliss
2020, Professional Paper 1842-HH
Keys to Baird’s Sparrow (Centronyx bairdii) management are providing native or tame grasslands with moderately deep litter, controlling excessive grazing, and curtailing shrub encroachment. Baird’s Sparrows have been reported to use habitats with less than or equal to (≤) 101 centimeters (cm) average vegetation height, 3–46 cm visual obstruction reading...
Modified QuEChERS extraction for the analysis of young-of-year smallmouth bass using GC × GC-TOFMS
Paige Teehan, Megan K. Schall, Vicki S. Blazer, Beate Gruber, Frank L Dorman
2020, Analytical Methods (12) 3697-3704
Signs of disease, such as external lesions, have been prevalent in smallmouth bass throughout the Susquehanna River Basin, USA. Previous targeted chemical studies in this system have identified known persistent organic pollutants, but a common explanatory link across multiple affected sites remains undetermined. A fast and robust extraction method...
Can nutrient additions facilitate recovery of Pacific salmon?
Joseph R. Benjamin, James R Bellmore, Emily Whitney, Jason B. Dunham
2020, Canadian Journal Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (77) 1601-1611
Multiple restoration actions have been implemented in response to declining salmon populations. Among these is the addition of salmon carcasses or artificial nutrients to mimic marine-derived nutrients historically provided by large spawning runs of salmon. A key assumption in this approach is...
Estimating the drivers of species distributions with opportunistic data using mediation analysis
D. B. Huberman, B. J. Reich, Krishna Pacifici, Jaime A. Collazo
2020, Ecosphere (11)
Ecological occupancy modeling has historically relied on high-quality, low-quantity designed-survey data for estimation and prediction. In recent years, there has been a large increase in the amount of high-quantity, unknown-quality opportunistic data. This has motivated research on how best to combine these two data sources in order to optimize inference....
Modeling Escherichia coli in the Missouri River near Omaha, Nebraska, 2012–16
Brenda K. Densmore, Brent M. Hall, Matthew T. Moser
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5045
The city of Omaha, Nebraska, has a combined sewer system in some areas of the city. In Omaha, Nebr., a moderate amount of rainfall will lead to the combination of stormwater and untreated sewage or wastewater being discharged directly into the Missouri River and Papillion Creek and is called a...
Comparing trends in modeled and observed streamflows at minimally altered basins in the United States
Glenn A. Hodgkins, Robert W. Dudley, Amy M. Russell, Jacob H. LaFontaine
2020, Water (12)
We compared modeled and observed streamflow trends from 1984–2016 using five statistical transfer models and one deterministic, distributed-parameter, process-based model, for 26 flow metrics at 502 basins in the United States that are minimally influenced by development. We also looked at a measure of overall model fit and average bias....
Quantifying gas emissions associated with the 2018 rift eruption of Kīlauea Volcano using ground-based DOAS measurements
Christoph Kern, Allan Lerner, Tamar Elias, Patricia A. Nadeau, Lacey Holland, Peter J. Kelly, Cynthia Werner, Laura E. Clor, Michael Cappos
2020, Bulletin of Volcanology (82)
Starting on 3 May 2018, a series of eruptive fissures opened in Kīlauea Volcano’s lower East Rift Zone (LERZ). Over the course of the next 3 months, intense degassing accompanied lava effusion from these fissures. Here, we report on ground-based observations of the gas emissions associated with Kīlauea’s 2018 eruption....
Assessing the value of removing earthquake-hazard-related epistemic uncertainties, exemplified using average annual loss in California
Edward H. Field, Kevin R. Milner, Keith Porter
2020, Earthquake Spectra (36) 1912-1929
To aid in setting scientific research priorities, we assess the potential value of removing each of the epistemic uncertainties currently represented in the US Geological Survey California seismic-hazard model, using average annual loss (AAL) as the risk metric of interest. Given all the uncertainties, represented with logic-tree branches, we find...
Small basin annual yield and percentage of snowmelt runoff in North Dakota, 1931–2016
Tara Williams-Sether, Spencer L. Wheeling
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5144
The North Dakota hydrology manual prepared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, presents methodologies primarily used for developing hydrology for onfarm conservation practices, watershed projects, Resource Conservation and Development project measures, and river basin studies. The manual includes data necessary for determining hydrologic factors and developing a...
Geochemical modeling of iron and aluminum precipitation during mixing and neutralization of acid mine drainage
D. Kirk Nordstrom
2020, Minerals (10)
Geochemical modeling of precipitation reactions in the complex matrix of acid mine drainage is fundamental to understanding natural attenuation, lime treatment, and treatment procedures that separate constituents for potential reuse or recycling. The three main dissolved constituents in acid mine drainage are iron, aluminum, and sulfate. During...
Missouri StreamStats—St. Louis County and the City of St. Louis urban application
Rodney E. Southard, Tana Haluska, Joseph M. Richards, Jarrett T. Ellis, Christine Dartiguenave, Dean Djokic
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5040
To address a major limitation of the functionality of the Missouri statewide StreamStats application in the urban areas of St. Louis County and the City of St. Louis, Missouri, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, defined watershed boundaries and hydrography for the study...
Conceptual framework and approach for conducting a geoenvironmental assessment of undiscovered uranium resources
Tanya J. Gallegos, Katherine Walton-Day, Robert R. Seal, II
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5104
This report presents a novel conceptual framework and approach for conducting a geologically based environmental assessment, or geoenvironmental assessment, of undiscovered uranium resources within an area likely to contain uranium deposits. The framework is based on a source-to-receptor model that prioritizes the most likely contaminant sources, contaminant pathways, and affected...
