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A trap-and-haul program is operated to move anadromous Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) around dams and reservoirs in the Cowlitz River basin, Washington. The primary release site for adult fish is in Lake Scanewa, a small reservoir created by Cowlitz Falls Dam, the uppermost dam in the basin. Releases in...

Large spatial databases often labeled as geospatial big data exceed the capacity of commonly used computing systems as a result of data volume, variety, velocity, and veracity. Additional problems also labeled with V’s are cited, but the four primary ones are the most problematic and focus of this chapter (Li...

IntroductionThe San Juan-Silverton caldera complex located near Silverton, Colorado, in the Southern Rocky Mountains volcanic field is an ideal natural laboratory for furthering the understanding of shallow-to-deep volcanic-related mineral systems. Recent advances in geophysical data processing and three-dimensional (3D) model construction will help to characterize shallow properties important for understanding...

Bringing Bayesian Models to Life empowers the reader to extend, enhance, and implement statistical models for ecological and environmental data analysis. We open the black box and show the reader how to connect modern statistical models to computer algorithms. These algorithms allow the user to fit models that answer their scientific...

As one of the cornerstones of the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Geospatial Program, The National Map is a collaborative effort among the USGS and other Federal, State, and local partners to improve and deliver topographic information for the Nation. The National Map is featuring direct links to new and...

The need to monitor change in sagebrush steppe is urgent due to the increasing impacts of climate change, shifting fire regimes, and management practices on ecosystem health. Remote sensing provides a cost effective and reliable method for monitoring change through time and attributing changes to drivers. We report an automated...

Dispersal shapes demographic processes and therefore is fundamental to understanding biological, ecological, and evolutionary processes acting within populations. However, assessing population connectivity in scoters (Melanitta sp.) is challenging as these species have large spatial distributions that span remote landscapes, have varying nesting distributions (disjunct vs. continuous), exhibit...

Porosity is one of the most important parameters to assess in-place oil or gas in reservoirs, and to evaluate recovery from enhanced production operations. Since it is relatively well-established to determine porosity using different laboratory and field methods, its value is usually determined at many locations across a reservoir...

We analyzed grain-size distributions (GSDs) from a time-series of sediment samples to evaluate sediment transport following anthropogenic sand-berm emplacement at the northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana. End-member analysis (EMA) was applied to compare the end-member (EM) GSD of a known sediment source to GSDs from surrounding environments and characterize the physical...

To improve models of ground motion estimation and probabilistic seismic hazard analyses, the engineering seismology field is moving toward developing fully nonergodic ground motion models, models specific for individual source‐to‐site paths. Previous work on this topic has examined systematic variations in ground‐motion along particular paths (from either recorded or simulated...

The Great Lakes “Priority Watershed” effort targeted the Upper East River watershed, a 116.5 km2 tributary watershed to Green Bay in Wisconsin, to reduce sediment and nutrients entering Green Bay. A Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was created to determine the effectiveness of Best Management Practices (BMPs) derived...

Rapid physical changes that are occurring in the Arctic are primary drivers of landscape change and thus may drive population dynamics of Arctic-breeding birds. Despite the importance of this region to breeding and molting waterbirds, lack of a comprehensive analysis of historic data has hindered quantifying avian population change. We...

In the past decades, many different approaches have been developed in the literature to quantify the load-carrying capacity and geotechnical stability (or the Factor of Safety, F_s) of variably saturated hillslopes. Much of this work has focused on a deterministic characterization of hillslope stability. Yet, simulated F_s values are subject...

Large earthquakes initiate chains of surface processes that last much longer than the brief moments of strong shaking. Most moderate- and large-magnitude earthquakes trigger landslides, ranging from small failures in the soil cover to massive, devastating rock avalanches. Some landslides dam rivers and impound lakes, which can collapse days to...

Historic beaver-sign (Castor canadensis) survey flights were often conducted over waterways to maximize beaver detections. However, densities determined from strip transect surveys are more useful to compare across and within study areas than waterway indices based on observations per distance flown because transects are more representative of the wider landscape....

This document describes the content of Version 3.0 of the Partners in Flight (PIF) Population Estimates Database, which provides population estimates for breeding USA/Canada landbirds at several geographic scales following the Partners in Flight approach described initially in Rich et al. (2004) and by Rosenberg and Blancher (2005) and most...

Decades of fire suppression, logging, and overgrazing have led to increased densities of small diameter trees which have been associated with decreases in biodiversity, reduced habitat quality for wildlife species, degraded foraging conditions for ungulates, and more frequent and severe wildfires. In response, land managers are implementing forest restoration treatments...

Recruitment of brown bear (Ursus arctos) offspring into a population is the product of initial cub production and subsequent survival and is a critical component of overall population status and trend. We investigated the relationship between maternal body size, body condition, and age (as a surrogate for gained experience) and...

Sea level rise is a fundamental driver of ecosystem change and has the potential to shift the spatial distributions of habitats more rapidly than species can adapt. Rapid sea level rise and associated saltwater intrusion have negative impacts on coastal environments, including loss of habitat for species such as sea...

The Upper Floridan aquifer (UFA) is the principal water source for industrial and public supply in Glynn County, Georgia. Wells in active pumping centers that tap the UFA for industries near the city of Brunswick have created an upward hydraulic-head gradient in the Floridan aquifer system, which has allowed high...

Conservation of long-distance migratory species poses unique challenges. Migratory connectivity—that is, the extent to which groupings of individuals at breeding sites are maintained in wintering areas—is frequently used to evaluate population structure and assess use of key habitat areas. However, for species with complex or variable annual-cycle movements, this traditional...

Citizen science-based approaches to monitor the natural environment tend to be bimodal in maturity. Older and established programs such as the Audubon’s Christmas bird count and Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) have thousands of participants across decades of observations, while less mature citizen science projects have shorter...

Ocean melting has thinned Antarctica's ice shelves at an increasing rate over the past two decades, leading to loss of grounded ice. The Ross Ice Shelf is currently close to steady state but geological records indicate that it can disintegrate rapidly, which would accelerate grounded ice loss from catchments...

The Mississippi Alluvial Plain (MAP) aquifer system is a vital resource that supports agriculture in one of the most productive regions of the country. The U.S. Geological Survey Water Availability and Use Science Program (WAUSP) is conducting a multi-discipline investigation of the MAP aquifer system. The investigation is utilizing borehole,...

We estimate earthquake ground-motion variability in the central and eastern U.S. (CEUS) by varying the model parameters of a deterministic physics-based and a stochastic site-based simulation method. Utilizing a moderate-magnitude database of recordings, we simulate ground motions for larger-magnitude scenarios M6.0, 6.5, 7.0, 7.5, and 8.0. For the physics-based method,...