Coastal habitat change and marine megafauna behavior: Florida manatees encountering reduced food provisions in a prominent winter refuge
Chanda J. Littles, Robert K. Bonde, Susan M. Butler, Charles A. Jacoby, Sky K. Notestein, James P. Reid, Daniel H. Slone, Thomas K. Frazer
2019, Endangered Species Research (38) 29-43
A decline in submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) within Florida’s spring-fed thermal refuges raises questions about how these systems support winter foraging of Florida manatees Trichechus manatus latirostris. We analyzed telemetry data for 12 manatees over 7 yr to assess their use of Kings Bay, a winter refuge with diminished SAV. After...
Spatial distribution of nutrients, chloride, and suspended sediment concentrations and loads determined by using different sampling methods in a cross section of the Trenton Channel of the Detroit River, Michigan, November 2014–November 2015
Alexander R. Totten, Joseph W. Duris
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5141
The Detroit River separates the United States and Canada as it flows from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie. The Trenton Channel is a 13-kilometer-long branch of the Detroit River that flows to the west of Grosse Ile before rejoining the Detroit River near its mouth, just before the Detroit...
Not so normal normals: Species distribution model results are sensitive to choice of climate normals and model type
Catherine S. Jarnevich, Nicholas E. Young
2019, Climate (7) 1-15
Species distribution models have many applications in conservation and ecology, and climate data are frequently a key driver of these models. Often, correlative modeling approaches are developed with readily available climate data; however, the impacts of the choice of climate normals is rarely considered. Here, we produced species distribution models...
The area under the precision‐recall curve as a performance metric for rare binary events
Helen Sofaer, Jennifer A. Hoeting, Catherine S. Jarnevich
2019, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (10) 565-577
Species distribution models are used to study biogeographic patterns and guide decision‐making. The variable quality of these models makes it critical to assess whether a model's outputs are suitable for the intended use, but commonly used evaluation approaches are inappropriate for many ecological contexts. In particular, unrealistically high performance...
Distant neighbors: recent wildfire patterns of the Madrean Sky Islands of southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico
Miguel L. Villarreal, Sandra L. Haire, Jose M. Iniguez, Citlali Cortes Montano, Travis B. Poitras
2019, Fire Ecology (15) 1-20
BackgroundInformation about contemporary fire regimes across the Sky Island mountain ranges of the Madrean Archipelago Ecoregion in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico can provide insight into how historical fire management and land use have influenced fire regimes, and can be used to guide...
Managing dams for energy and fish tradeoffs: What does a win-win solution take?
Cuihong Song, Andrew O’Malley, Samuel G. Roy, Joseph D. Zydlewski, Betsy L. Barber, Weiwei Mo
2019, Science of the Total Environment (669) 833-843
Management activities to restore endangered fish species, such as dam removals, fishway installations, and periodic turbine shutdowns, usually decrease hydropower generation capacities at dams. Quantitative analysis of the tradeoffs between energy production and fish population recovery related to dam decision-making...
Spatial and temporal variability of harmful algal blooms in Milford Lake, Kansas, May through November 2016
Guy M. Foster, Jennifer L. Graham, Lindsey R. King
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5166
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), completed a study to quantify the spatial and temporal variability of cyanobacterial blooms in Milford Lake, Kansas, over a range of environmental conditions at various time scales (hours to months). A better understanding of the...
An assessment of plant species differences on cellulose oxygen isotopes from two Kenai Peninsula, Alaska peatlands: Implications for hydroclimatic reconstructions
Miriam Jones, Lesleigh Anderson, Katherine Keller, Bailey Nash, Virginia Littell, Matthew J. Wooller, Chelsea Jolley
2019, Frontiers in Earth Science (7)
Peat cores are valuable archives of past environmental change because they accumulate plant organic matter over millennia. While studies have primarily focused on physical, ecological, and some biogeochemical proxies, cores from peatlands have increasingly been used to interpret hydroclimatic change using stable isotope analyses of cellulose preserved in plant remains....
Hormones and pharmaceuticals in groundwater used as a source of drinking water across the United States
Laura M. Bexfield, Patricia Toccalino, Kenneth Belitz, William T. Foreman, Edward Furlong
2019, Environmental Science & Technology (53) 2950-2960
This is the first large-scale, systematic assessment of hormone and pharmaceutical occurrence in groundwater used for drinking across the United States. Samples from 1091 sites in Principal Aquifers representing 60% of the volume pumped for drinking-water supply had final data for 21 hormones and 103 pharmaceuticals. At least one compound...
Modeling connectivity of non‐floodplain wetlands: Insights, approaches, and recommendations
C. Nathan Jones, Ali A. Ameli, Brian Neff, Grey R. Evenson, Daniel L. McLaughlin, Heather E. Golden, Charles R. Lane
2019, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) (55) 559-577
Representing hydrologic connectivity of non‐floodplain wetlands (NFWs) to downstream waters in process‐based models is an emerging challenge relevant to many research, regulatory, and management activities. We review four case studies that utilize process‐based models developed to simulate NFW hydrology. Models range from a simple, lumped parameter...
GPS tracking data reveals daily spatio-temporal movement patterns of waterfowl
Fiona McDuie, Michael L. Casazza, Cory T. Overton, Mark P. Herzog, C. Alex Hartman, Sarah H. Peterson, Cliff L. Feldheim, Joshua T. Ackerman
2019, Movement Ecology (7) 1-17
BackgroundSpatio-temporal patterns of movement can characterize relationships between organisms and their surroundings, and address gaps in our understanding of species ecology, activity budgets, bioenergetics, and habitat resource management. Highly mobile waterfowl, which can exploit resources over large spatial extents, are excellent models to understand relationships...
Geology and assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Vilkitskii Basin Province, 2008
Kenneth J. Bird, David W. Houseknecht, Janet K. Pitman
Thomas E. Moore, Donald L. Gautier, editor(s)
2019, Professional Paper 1824-Z
The Vilkitskii Basin is a separate petroleum province that lies beneath the continental shelf of the East Siberian Sea east of the New Siberian Islands and northwest of Wrangel Island. It is a basin known only on the basis of gravity data and three seismic profiles. A small, southern part...
Two-dimensional seismic velocities and structural variations at three British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro) dam sites, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
Rufus D. Catchings, Kofi O. Addo, Mark R. Goldman, Joanne H. Chan, Robert R. Sickler, Coyn J. Criley
2019, Open-File Report 2019-1015
SummaryIn June, 2017, we acquired seismic data along five linear profiles at three British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro, a Canadian provincial Crown Corporation) dam sites (John Hart, Ladore, and Strathcona Dams) on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. We also attempted to acquire linear seismic profiles at two...
Physical, biogeochemical, and meteorological factors responsible for interannual changes in cyanobacterial community composition and biovolume over two decades in a eutrophic lake
Chelsea A. Weirich, Dale M. Robertson, Todd R. Miller
2019, Hydrobiologia (828) 165-182
This study used a 20-year dataset (1995–2014) to identify factors affecting cyanobacterial community composition (CCC) and abundance in a eutrophic lake. We hypothesized that differences in thermal structure, nutrients, and meteorology drive interannual variability in CCC and abundance. Cluster analysis differentiated dominant cyanobacteria into rare, low abundance, or sporadically occurring...
Isotopic and petrologic investigation, and a thermomechanical model of genesis of large-volume rhyolites in arc environments: Karymshina Volcanic Complex, Kamchatka, Russia
Ilya N. Bindeman, Vladimir L. Leonov, Dylan P. Colon, Aleksey N. Rogozin, Niccole Shipley, Brian Jicha, Matthew W. Loewen, Taras V. Gerya
2019, Frontiers in Earth Science (6)
The Kamchatka Peninsula of eastern Russia is currently one of the most volcanically active areas on Earth where a combination of >8 cm/yr subduction convergence rate and thick continental crust generates large silicic magma chambers, reflected by abundant large calderas and caldera complexes. This study examines the largest center of...
Unprocessed atmospheric nitrate in waters of the Northern Forest Region in the USA and Canada
Stepen D Sebestyen, Donald D Ross, James B. Shanley, Emily M. Elliott, Carol Kendall, John L. Campbell, D Bryan Dail, Ivan J Fernandez, Christine L Goodale, Gregory B. Lawrence, Gary M. Lovett, Patrick J McHale, Myron J Mitchell, Sarah J. Nelson, Michelle D Shattuck, Trent R Wickman, Rebecca T. Barnes, Joel T. Bostic, Anthony R Buda, Douglas A Burns, Keith N. Eshleman, Jacques C. Finlay, David M. Nelson, Nobuhito Ohte, Linda H Pardo, Lucy A Rose, Robert J Sabo, Sherry L. Schiff, John Spoelstra, Karl W Williard
2019, Environmental Science and Technology (53) 3620-3633
Little is known about the regional extent and variability of nitrate from atmospheric deposition that is transported to streams without biological processing in forests. We measured water chemistry and isotopic tracers (δ18O and δ15N) of nitrate sources across the Northern Forest...
The plant diversity sampling design for The National Ecological Observatory Network
David T. Barnett, Peter B. Adler, Benjamin R. Chemel, Paul A. Duffy, Brian J. Enquist, James B. Grace, Susan P. Harrison, Robert K. Peet, David S. Schimel, Thomas J. Stohlgren, Mark Vellend
2019, Ecosphere (10) 1-18
The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is designed to facilitate an understanding of the impact of environmental change on ecological systems. Observations of plant diversity—responsive to changes in climate, disturbance, and land use, and ecologically linked to soil, biogeochemistry, and organisms—result in NEON data products that cross a range of...
Heat and mass transport in a vapor-dominated hydrothermal area in Yellowstone National Park, USA: Inferences from magnetic, electrical, electromagnetic, subsurface temperature and diffuse CO2 flux measurements
Claire Bouligand, Shaul Hurwitz, Jean Vandemeulebrouck, Svetlana Byrdina, Mason A. Kass, Jennifer L. Lewicki
2019, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (124) 291-309
Vapor‐dominated hydrothermal systems are characterized by localized and elevated heat and gas flux. In these systems, steam and gas ascend from a boiling water reservoir, steam condenses beneath a low‐permeability cap layer, and liquid water descends, driven by gravity (“heat pipe” model). We combine magnetic, electromagnetic, and geoelectrical methods and...
Assessment of Columbia and Willamette River flood stage on the Columbia Corridor Levee System at Portland, Oregon, in a future climate
Susan A. Wherry, Tamara M. Wood, Hans R. Moritz, Keith B. Duffy
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5161
To support Levee Ready Columbia’s (LRC’s) effort to re-certify levees along the Columbia and Willamette Rivers and remain accredited, two 2-dimensional hydraulic models, Adaptive Hydraulics and Delft3D-Flexible Mesh, were used to simulate the effects of plausible extreme high water during the 2030 to 2059 period. The Columbia River was simulated...
Arizona hedgehog cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus var. arizonicus)—A systematic data assessment in support of recovery
Kathryn A. Thomas, Daniel F. Shryock, Todd Esque
2019, Open-File Report 2019-1004
The Arizona hedgehog cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus var. arizonicus) is endemic to central Arizona in Gila and Pinal Counties, and has been federally listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) since 1979. Mining, mineral exploration, and highway development have resulted in habitat degradation and loss of...
Metabolic rhythms in flowing waters: An approach for classifying river productivity regimes
Philip Savoy, Emily S. Bernhardt, Alison P. Appling, James B. Heffernan, Edward G. Stets, Jordan S. Read, Judson Harvey
2019, Limnology and Oceanography (64) 1835-1851
Although seasonal patterns of ecosystem productivity have been extensively described and analyzed with respect to their primary forcings in terrestrial and marine systems, comparatively little is known about these same processes in rivers. However, it is now possible to perform a large‐scale synthesis on the patterns and drivers of river...
Influence of salinity on relative density of American crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) in Everglades National Park: Implications for restoration of Everglades ecosystems
Frank J. Mazzotti, Brian Smith, Michiko Squires, Michael S. Cherkiss, Seth C Farris, Caitlin Hackett, Kristen M. Hart, Venetia Briggs-Gonzalez, Laura A. Brandt
2019, Ecological Indicators (102) 608-616
The status of the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) has long been a matter of concern in Everglades National Park (ENP) due to its classification as a federal and state listed species, its recognition as a flagship species, and its function as an ecosystem indicator. Survival and recovery of American crocodiles...
A hierarchical Bayesian approach for handling missing classification data
Alison C. Ketz, Therese L. Johnson, Mevin Hooten, N. Thompson Hobbs
2019, Ecology and Evolution (9) 3130-3140
Ecologists use classifications of individuals in categories to understand composition of populations and communities. These categories might be defined by demographics, functional traits, or species. Assignment of categories is often imperfect, but frequently treated as observations without error. When individuals are observed but not classified, these “partial” observations must...
Isotopic ratios of Saturn's rings and satellites: Implications for the origin of water and Phoebe
Roger N. Clark, Robert H. Brown, D.P. Cruikshank, Gregg A. Swayze
2019, Icarus (40) 431-470
Isotopic ratios have long been used to learn about physical processes acting over a wide range of geological environments, and in constraining the origin and/or evolution of planetary bodies. We report the spectroscopic detection of deuterium in Saturn's rings and satellites, and use these measurements to determine the (D/H) ratios...
Topographic mapping evolution: From field and photogrammetric data collection to GIS production and Linked Open Data
E. Lynn Usery, Dalia E. Varanka, Larry Davis
2019, Cartographic Journal (55) 378-390
Whither the topographic map? Topographic mapping historically has been approached as a map factory operation through the period 1879-1990. During this time, data were field and photogrammetrically collected; cartographically verified and annotated creating a compilation manuscript; further edited, generalized, symbolized, and produced as a graphic output product using lithography, or...
