Method comparisons for determining concentrations of metals in water samples used in studies of fish migratory histories
Jeffrey R. Ziegeweid, Steven J. Zigler, Ryan P. Maki, Byron N. Karns, Seth A. Love
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5143
Signatures developed from metal concentrations in water and fish bony structures can be used to demonstrate migration of individual fish between connected water bodies. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the National Park Service and the Missouri Department of Conservation, compared two protocols for collecting and analyzing water...
Characterizing variability in vertical profiles of streamwise velocity and implications for streamgaging practices in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal near Lemont, Illinois, January 2014 to July 2017
P. Ryan Jackson
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5128
A critical component of the Lake Michigan Diversion Accounting program, which oversees the diversion of Great Lakes water by the State of Illinois, is the U.S. Geological Survey streamgage on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal near Lemont, Illinois. The long-term application of an up-looking acoustic Doppler current profiler at...
Estimating the risk of elk-to-livestock brucellosis transmission in Montana
Nathaniel D. Rayl, Kelly Proffitt, Emily S. Almberg, Jennifer D. Jones, Jerod Merkle, Justin A. Gude, Paul C. Cross
2018, Report
Wildlife reservoirs of infectious disease are a major source of human-wildlife conflict because of the risk of potential spillover associated with commingling of wildlife and livestock. In Montana, the presence of brucellosis (Brucella abortus) in free-ranging elk (Cervus canadensis) populations is of significant management concern because of the risk of...
Effects of temperature and exposure duration on four potential rapid-response tools for zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) eradication
James A. Luoma, Todd J. Severson, Matthew T. Barbour, Jeremy K. Wise
2018, Management of Biological Invasions (9) 425-438
Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) have continued their spread within inland lakes and rivers in North America despite diligent containment and decontamination efforts by natural resource agencies and other stakeholders. Identification of newly infested waterways by early detection surveillance programs allows for rapid response zebra mussel eradication treatments in some situations....
Gravity signature of basaltic fill in Kīlauea caldera, Island of Hawai‘i
Lydie Gailler, James P. Kauahikaua
2018, Book chapter, Field volcanology: A tribute to the distinguished career of Don Swanson: Geological Society of America Special Paper 538
Characterization of the subsurface structure of a volcanic edifice is essential to understanding volcanic behavior. One of the best-studied volcanoes is Kīlauea (Island of Hawai‘i). Geological evidence suggests that the formation of the summit caldera of Kīlauea is cyclic, with repeated collapse followed by filling with lava. The most recent...
The approaching obsolescence of 137Cs dating of wetland soils in North America
Judith Z. Drexler, Christopher C. Fuller, Stacey A. Archfield
2018, Quaternary Science Reviews (199) 83-96
The peak fallout in 1963 of the radionuclide 137Cs has been used to date lake, reservoir, continental shelf, and wetland sedimentary deposits. In wetlands such dating is used to project the ability of wetlands to keep pace with sea level rise and develop strategies for mitigating carbon pollution using biological carbon sequestration. Here we demonstrate that reliable 137Cs profiles...
Overwintering behavior of juvenile sea turtles at a temperate foraging ground
Margaret M. Lamont, David R. Seay, Kathleen Gault
2018, Ecology (99) 2621-2624
Most freshwater and terrestrial turtle species that inhabit temperate environments hibernate to survive extreme cold periods. However, for sea turtles, the question of whether these species use hibernation as an overwintering strategy has not been resolved (Ultsch 2006). Felger et al. (1976)...
Optimizing a remote sensing production efficiency model for macro-scale GPP and yield estimation in agroecosystems
Michael Marshall, Kevin Tu, Jesslyn F. Brown
2018, Remote Sensing of Environment (217) 258-271
Earth observation data are increasingly used to provide consistent eco-physiological information over large areas through time. Production efficiency models (PEMs) estimate Gross Primary Production (GPP) as a function of the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by the canopy, which is derived from Earth observation. GPP can be summed over the growing season and...
Changes in growth of Rainbow Trout in a Catskill Mountain Reservoir following Alewife and White Perch Introductions
Scott D. George, Barry P. Baldigo, Michael J. Flaherty, Eileen A. Randall
2018, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (38) 1027-1038
Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss were introduced to the Esopus Creek watershed in the Catskill Mountains of New York in the early 1880s. This introduction created a renowned naturalized fishery that remains important to the local economy today. The objective of this study was to determine whether the growth and condition of Rainbow...
Introduction and dispersal of non-native bullseye snakehead Channa marulius (Hamilton, 1822) in the canal system of southeastern Florida, USA
Amy J. Benson, Pamela J. Schofield, Kelly B. Gestring
2018, BioInvasions Records (7) 451-457
An established population of bullseye snakehead (Channa marulius), a large predatory fish from southeastern Asia, was identified for the first time in North America from waters in southeastern Florida, USA, in the year 2000. Since then, it has dispersed throughout the extensive canal system in the area from West Palm...
Age and growth of a native, lightly exploited population of Coregonus clupeaformis (Lake Whitefish) in a small natural lake in Maine
Daniel M. Weaver, Silas K. Ratten, Stephen M. Coghlan, Graham D. Sherwood, Joseph D. Zydlewski
2018, Northeastern Naturalist (25) 599-610
We assessed annual growth of Coregonus clupeaformis (Lake Whitefish) from a natural, lightly exploited population in a small lake in northern Maine using observed and back-calculated length-at-age data. We sampled Lake Whitefish from Clear Lake, ME, with gill nets and extracted otoliths from 57 fish. We incorporated age-at-length data into...
Validation of the CHIRPS satellite rainfall estimates over eastern Africa
Tufa Dinku, Chris Funk, Pete Peterson, Ross Maidment, Tsegaye Tadesse, Pietro Ceccato
2018, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society (144) 292-312
Long and temporally consistent rainfall time series are essential in climate analyses and applications. Rainfall data from station observations are inadequate over many parts of the world due to sparse or non-existent observation networks, or limited reporting of gauge observations. As a result, satellite rainfall estimates have been used as...
Gaps in kelp cover may threaten the recovery of California sea otters
Teri E. Nicholson, Karl A. Mayer, Michelle M. Staedler, Jessica A. Fujii, Michael J. Murray, Andrew B. Johnson, M. Tim Tinker, Kyle S. Van Houtan
2018, Ecography (41) 1751-1762
Despite more than a century of federal protection, the California sea otter Enhydra lutris nereis remains threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the population has not appreciably expanded its range in two decades. Here, we examine a novel dataset of 725 sea otter live strandings from 1984–2015 to gain...
Magmatic origin for sediment-hosted Au deposits, Guizhou Province, China: In situ chemistry and sulfur isotope composition of pyrites, Shuiyindong and Jinfeng deposits
Zhuojun Xie, Yong Xia, Jean Cline, Michael J. Pribil, Alan Koenig, Qingping Tan, Dongtian Wei, Zepeng Wang, Jun Yan
2018, Economic Geology (7) 1627-1652
The southwest Guizhou Province, China, contains numerous sediment-hosted Au deposits with Au reserves greater than 700 tonnes. To date, the source of ore fluids that formed the Guizhou sediment-hosted Au deposits is controversial, hampering the formulation of genetic models. In this study, we selected the Shuiyindong and Jinfeng Au deposits,...
Adapting management to a changing world: Warm temperatures, dry soil, and interannual variability limit restoration success of a dominant woody shrub in temperate drylands
Robert K. Shriver, Caitlin M. Andrews, David S. Pilliod, Robert Arkle, Justin L. Welty, Matthew J. Germino, Michael C. Duniway, David A. Pyke, John B. Bradford
2018, Global Change Biology (24) 4972-4982
Restoration and rehabilitation of native vegetation in dryland ecosystems, which encompass over 40% of terrestrial ecosystems, is a common challenge that continues to grow as wildfire and biological invasions transform dryland plant communities. The difficulty in part stems from low and variable precipitation, combined with limited understanding about how weather...
Tropical storm-induced landslide potential using combined field monitoring and numerical modeling
Pan Chen, Ning Lu, Giuseppe Formetta, Jonathan W. Godt, Alexandra Wayllace
2018, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering (144) 1-12
When heavy rainfall, such as that associated with tropical storms, falls on steep hillsides, shallow landslides are often one of the damaging consequences. To assess landslide potential from heavy rainfall, a strategy of combined numerical simulation and field monitoring of variably saturated hillslope conditions is developed. To...
Geologic, hydrologic, and water-quality data from multiple-well monitoring sites in the Bunker Hill and Yucaipa Groundwater Subbasins, San Bernardino County, California, 1974–2016
Gregory O. Mendez, Robert Anders, Kelly R. McPherson, Wesley R. Danskin
2018, Data Series 1096
In 1974, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, initiated a study to assess the regional groundwater resources in the Bunker Hill Subbasin of the Upper Santa Ana Valley Groundwater Basin in San Bernardino County, California. The study area expanded east into...
Using heat as a tracer to determine groundwater seepage in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, April–November, 2017
Eric D. Swain, Scott T. Prinos
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1151
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the St. Johns River Water Management District, conducted a study to examine water fluxes in two small study areas in the Indian River Lagoon. Vertical arrays of temperature sensors were placed at multiple locations in the lagoon bed to measure temperature time series...
Hidden cost of disease in a free‐ranging ungulate: brucellosis reduces mid‐winter pregnancy in elk
Gavin G. Cotterill, Paul C. Cross, Arthur D. Middleton, Jared D. Rogerson, Brandon Scurlock, Johan T. Du Toit
2018, Ecology and Evolution (8) 10733-10742
Demonstrating disease impacts on the vital rates of free‐ranging mammalian hosts typically requires intensive, long‐term study. Evidence for chronic pathogens affecting reproduction but not survival is rare, but has the potential for wide‐ranging effects. Accurately quantifying disease‐associated reductions in fecundity is important for advancing theory, generating accurate predictive models, and...
Interisland genetic structure of two endangered Hawaiian waterbirds: The Hawaiian Coot and Hawaiian Gallinule
Sarah A. Sonsthagen, Robert E. Wilson, Jared G. Underwood
2018, The Condor (120) 863-873
Most of Hawaii's endemic avifauna are species of conservation concern. Some of Hawaii's endangered waterbirds, however, have increased in number as a result of intensive management of wetlands. To inform these conservation efforts, we examined interisland genetic structure and gene flow within 2 Hawaiian endemic waterbirds, the Hawaiian Coot (Fulica...
Probabilistic substrate classification with multispectral acoustic backscatter: A comparison of discriminative and generative models
Daniel D. Buscombe, Paul E. Grams
2018, Geosciences (8) 1-21
We propose a probabilistic graphical model for discriminative substrate characterization, to support geological and biological habitat mapping in aquatic environments. The model, called a fully-connected conditional random field (CRF), is demonstrated using multispectral and monospectral acoustic backscatter from heterogeneous seafloors in Patricia Bay, British Columbia, and Bedford Basin, Nova Scotia....
Effects of an extreme flood event on federally endangered Diamond Darter abundances
Stuart A. Welsh
2018, The American Midland Naturalist (180) 108-118
Extreme flood events can substantially affect riverine systems, modifying instream habitat and influencing fish assemblages and densities. Rare species are especially vulnerable to these disturbance events because of their small population size and often reduced phenotypic heterogeneity. In June 2016 the lower Elk River in West Virginia experienced severe...
Watershed ‘chemical cocktails’: forming novel elemental combinations in Anthropocene fresh waters
Sujay S. Kaushal, Arthur J. Gold, Susana Bernal, Tammy A. Newcomer Johnson, Kelly Addy, Amy Burgin, Douglas A. Burns, Ashley A. Coble, Eran W. Hood, Yuehan Lu, Paul Mayer, Elizabeth C. Minor, Andrew W. Schroth, Philippe Vidon, Henry F. Wilson, Marguerite A. Xenopolous, Thomas Doody, Joseph G. Galella, Phillip Goodling, Katherine Haviland, Shahan Haq, Barret Wessel, Kelsey L. Wood, Norbert Jaworski, Kenneth T. Belt
2018, Biogeochemistry (141) 281-305
In the Anthropocene, watershed chemical transport is increasingly dominated by novel combinations of elements, which are hydrologically linked together as ‘chemical cocktails.’ Chemical cocktails are novel because human activities greatly enhance elemental concentrations and their probability for biogeochemical interactions and shared transport along hydrologic flowpaths. A new chemical cocktail approach...
A dirty dozen ways to die: Metrics and modifiers of mortality driven by drought and warming for a tree species
David D. Breshears, Charles J. W. Carroll, Miranda D. Redmond, Andreas P. Wion, Craig D. Allen, Neil S. Cobb, Nashelly Meneses, Jason P. Field, Luke A. Wilson, Darin J. Law, Lindsie M. McCabe, Olivia Newell-Bauer
2018, Frontiers in Forests and Global Change (1)
Tree mortality events driven by drought and warmer temperature, often amplified by pests and pathogens, are emerging as one of the predominant climate change impacts on plants. Understanding and predicting widespread tree mortality events in the future is vital as they affect ecosystem goods and services provided by forests and...
Concentrations of nutrients at the water table beneath forage fields receiving seasonal applications of manure, Whatcom County, Washington, autumn 2011–spring 2015
Stephen E. Cox, Andrew R. Spanjer, Raegan L. Huffman, Robert W. Black, Jack E. Barbash, Nichole M. Embertson
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5124
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Whatcom Conservation District (WCD), collected groundwater-quality data for roughly 3 years (October 2011–May 2015) from near the water table beneath forage fields receiving regular seasonal applications of liquid dairy manure in Whatcom County, Washington. The work was done as part of...
