Hydraulic modeling and flood-inundation mapping for the Huron River and Ore Lake Tributary, Livingston County, Michigan
Julia G. Prokopec
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5048
Digital flood-inundation maps for an 8-mile (mi) reach of the Huron River near Hamburg, Michigan (station number 04172000), from downstream of Rickett Road to Strawberry Lake, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with Green Oak and Hamburg Townships, Michigan, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers....
Using partial aggregation in spatial capture recapture
Cyril Milleret, Pierre Dupont, Henrik Broseth, Jonas Kindberg, J. Andrew Royle, Richard Bischof
2018, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (9) 1896-1907
Spatial capture–recapture (SCR) models are commonly used for analysing data collected using noninvasive genetic sampling (NGS). Opportunistic NGS often leads to detections that do not occur at discrete detector locations. Therefore, spatial aggregation of individual detections into fixed detectors (e.g., centre of grid cells) is an option to increase...
Real-time decision-making during emergency disease outbreaks
William J. M. Probert, Chris P. Jewell, Marleen Werkman, Christopher.J. Fonnesbeck, Yoshitaka Goto, Michael C. Runge, Satoshi Sekiguchi, Katriona Shea, Matt J. Keeling, Matthew J. Ferrari, Michael J. Tildesley
2018, PLOS Computational Biology (14) 1-18
In the event of a new infectious disease outbreak, mathematical and simulation models are commonly used to inform policy by evaluating which control strategies will minimize the impact of the epidemic. In the early stages of such outbreaks, substantial parameter uncertainty may limit the ability of models to provide accurate...
The case for mean rupture distance in ground‐motion estimation
Eric M. Thompson, Annemarie S. Baltay Sundstrom
2018, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (108) 2462-2477
This article advocates for the use of mean rupture distances that we contend are more physically representative of the distance to an earthquake and are simpler than minimum distances. Many current ground‐motion models (GMMs) rely on numerous modifications of minimum rupture distances to accurately model near‐source ground motions. These modifications,...
Mapping and measuring aeolian sand dunes with photogrammetry and LiDAR from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and multispectral satellite imagery on the Paria Plateau, AZ, USA
Daniel Solazzo, Joel B. Sankey, Temuulen T. Sankey, Seth M. Munson
2018, Geomorphology (319) 174-185
The Paria Plateau is a potentially important but relatively unstudied aeolian sand source area in the Grand Canyon region of Arizona, USA. This study used unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV) - based LiDAR and structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry to produce high-resolution topographic models of aeolian dunes on the plateau. We combined the dune topography data with...
An exploratory Bayesian network for estimating the magnitudes and uncertainties of selected water-quality parameters at streamgage 03374100 White River at Hazleton, Indiana, from partially observed data
David J. Holtschlag
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5053
An exploratory discrete Bayesian network (BN) was developed to assess the potential of this type of model for estimating the magnitudes and uncertainties of an arbitrary subset of unmeasured water-quality parameters given the measured complement of parameters historically measured at a U.S. Geological Survey streamgage. Water-quality data for 27 water-quality...
Posthatch development of otoliths and daily ring genesis in age-0 Spotted Gars
James M. Long, Richard A. Snow
2018, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (147) 1146-1152
Gars (Lepisosteidae) are increasingly being managed as top-level predators that are important to overall ecosystem health. Given the paucity of information on early life history for many species, additional early life history data would aid in gar conservation and management. Daily rings in otoliths are useful for determining many early...
Brackish groundwater and its potential as a resource in the southwestern United States
David W. Anning, Kimberly R. Beisner, Angela P. Paul, Jennifer S. Stanton, Susan A. Thiros
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3010
Secure, reliable, and sustainable water resources are fundamental to food production, energy independence, and the health of humans and ecosystems. But the large-scale development of fresh groundwater resources has stressed aquifers in some areas, causing declines in the amount of groundwater in storage and decreases in discharge to surface-water bodies...
Transport of nitrogen and phosphorus in the Cedar River Basin, Iowa and Minnesota, 2000–15
Stephen J. Kalkhoff
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5090
Nitrate concentrations in the Cedar River in Iowa and Minnesota have increased from an average of less than 1.0 milligram per liter in the early 1900s to more than 5.0 milligrams per liter in the 2000s and have resulted in periodic water-quality impairment of the river. Spatial differences and temporal...
Timescales of magmatic differentiation from alkali basalt to trachyte within the Harrat Rahat volcanic field, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Mark E. Stelten, Drew T. Downs, Hannah R. Dietterich, Gail A. Mahood, Andrew T. Calvert, Thomas W. Sisson, Hani M. Zahran, Jamal Shawali
2018, Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology (173) 1-17
A fundamental goal of igneous petrology is to quantify the duration of time required to produce evolved magmas following influx of basalt into the crust. However, in many cases, complex field relations and/or the presence of a long-lived magmatic system make it difficult to assess how basaltic inputs relate to...
A new high-resolution map of world mountains and an online tool for visualizing and comparing characterizations of global mountain distributions
Roger Sayre, Charlie Frye, Deniz Karagulle, Jurg Krauer, Sean Breyer, Peter Aniello, Dawn J. Wright, Davnah Payne, Carolina Adler, Harumi Warner, D. Paco Van Sistine, Jill Janene Cress
2018, Mountain Research and Development (38) 240-249
Answers to the seemingly straightforward questions “what is a mountain?” and “where are the mountains of the world?” are in fact quite complex, and there have been few attempts to map the mountains of the earth in a consistent and rigorous fashion. However, knowing exactly where mountain ecosystems are distributed...
Monitoring mountains in a changing world: New horizons for the Global Network for Observations and Information on Mountain Environments (GEO-GNOME)
Carolina Adler, Elisa Palazzi, Aino Kulonen, Jorg Balsiger, Guido Colangeli, Douglas Cripe, Nathan Forsythe, Grace Goss-Durant, Yaniss Guigoz, Jurg Krauer, Davnah Payne, Nicholas Pepin, Manuel Peralvo, Jose Romero, Roger Sayre, Maria Shahgedanova, Rolf Weingartner, Marc Zebisch
2018, Mountain Research and Development (38) 265-269
Mountains are globally distributed environments that provide significant societal benefits, a function that is increasingly compromised by climatic change, environmental stress, political and socioeconomic transformations, and unsustainable use of natural resources. Gaps in our understanding of these processes and their interactions limit our capacity to inform decisions, where both generalities...
Tritium deposition in precipitation in the United States, 1953–2012
Robert L. Michel, Bryant C. Jurgens, Megan B. Young
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5086
Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen (half-life is equal to 12.32 years). Since it is part of the water molecule, tritium can be used to track and date groundwater and surface water when the history of tritium in precipitation and recharge is known. To facilitate that effort, tritium concentrations...
Review and development of ASABE Engineering Practice 621: “Guidelines for calibrating, validating, and evaluating hydrologic and water quality models”
R. Daren Harmel, Claire Baffaut, Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin
2018, Transactions of the ASABE (61) 1393-1401
In 2010, the Natural Resources and Environmental Systems Hydrology Committee (NRES-21) of ASABE initiated a long-term process to develop guidelines to improve modeling practice through better understanding of the calibration, validation, and evaluation process across applications and more effective interpretation and communication of model performance. This effort generated a compilation...
Limits to ponderosa pine regeneration following large high-severity forest fires in the United States Southwest
Collin Haffey, Thomas D. Sisk, Craig D. Allen, Andrea E. Thode, Ellis Q. Margolis
2018, Fire Ecology (14) 143-163
High-severity fires in dry conifer forests of the United States Southwest have created large (>1000 ha) treeless areas that are unprecedented in the regional historical record. These fires have reset extensive portions of Southwestern ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Lawson & C. Lawson var. scopulorum Engelm.) forest landscapes. At least two...
Nestling development and aging of Arizona Grasshopper Sparrow
Janet M. Ruth, Jason Kitting
2018, Arizona Birds (2018) 1-13
We studied breeding Arizona Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum ammolegus) status and distribution, natural and life history, habitat use, and nest survival from 2004 through 2014 in southeastern Arizona. In this paper we present descriptions and photographs of known-age nestlings that will assist field biologists to identify Arizona Grasshopper Sparrow nestlings...
A novel high-frequency groundwater quality monitoring system
John Franco Saraceno, Justin T. Kulongoski, Timothy M. Mathany
2018, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (190) 1-14
High-frequency, long-term monitoring of water quality has revolutionized the study of surface waters in recent years. However, application of these techniques to groundwater has been limited by the ability to remotely pump and analyze groundwater. This paper describes a novel autonomous groundwater quality monitoring system which samples multiple wells to...
Assessment of Alaska rain-on-snow events using dynamical downscaling
Peter A. Bieniek, Uma S. Bhatt, John E. Walsh, Rick Lader, Brad Griffith, Jennifer K. Roach, Richard L. Thoman
2018, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology (57) 1847-1863
The ice formed by cold-season rainfall or rain on snow (ROS) has striking impacts on the economy and ecology of Alaska. An understanding of the atmospheric drivers of ROS events is required to better predict them and plan for environmental change. The spatially/temporally sparse network of stations in Alaska makes...
Broad‐scale occurrence of a subsidized avian predator: reducing impacts of ravens on sage‐grouse and other sensitive prey
Shawn T. O’Neil, Peter S. Coates, Brianne E. Brussee, Pat J. Jackson, Kristy B. Howe, Ann M. Moser, Lee J. Foster, David J. Delehanty
2018, Journal of Applied Ecology (55) 2641-2652
Expanding human enterprise across remote environments impacts numerous wildlife species. Anthropogenic resources provide subsidies for generalist predators that can lead to cascading effects on prey species at lower trophic levels. A fundamental challenge for applied ecologists is to disentangle natural and anthropogenic influences on species occurrence, and subsequently develop spatially...
Next‐generation conservation genetics and biodiversity monitoring
Margaret E. Hunter, Sean M. Hoban, Michael W. Bruford, Gernot Segelbacher, Louis Bernatchez
2018, Evolutionary Applications (11) 1029-1034
This special issue of Evolutionary Applications consists of 10 publications investigating the use of next‐generation tools and techniques in population genetic analyses and biodiversity assessment. The special issue stems from a 2016 Next Generation Genetic Monitoring Workshop, hosted by the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) in Tennessee, USA. The...
Nymphoides humboldtiana (Menyanthaceae) in Florida (U.S.A.) verified by DNA data
Beth A. Middleton, Evelyn R. Anemaet, Tracy Elsey Quirk, Nicholas P. Tippery
2018, Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (12) 257-263
Certain Nymphoides populations in Florida, U.S.A., previously identified as the non-native N. indica (L.) Kuntze, are actually N. humboldtiana (Kunth) Kuntze, as verified using nuclear and plastid DNA data. These new records of N. humboldtiana in Florida are the only known localities in the U.S.A. outside of Uvalde County, Texas....
Quantifying population-level effects of water temperature, flow velocity and chemical-induced reproduction depression: A simulation study with smallmouth bass
Tyler Wagner, Vicki S. Blazer, Yan Li
2018, Ecological Modelling (384) 63-74
Evaluating stochastic abiotic factors and their combined effects on fish and wildlife populations have been challenging in environmental sciences. Contributing to this challenge is the paucity of data describing how observations made on individuals related to exposure to chemical compounds ultimately effect population vital rates, and how this exposure interacts...
High resolution measurement of levee subsidence related to energy infrastructure in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
Benjamin A. Brooks, Jennifer Telling, Todd Leroy Ericksen, Craig L. Glennie, Noah Knowles, Daniel Cayan, Darren L. Hauser, Adam LeWinter
2018, Report, California’s fourth climate change assessment
We assess flood overtopping potential (when flood water elevation exceeds levee elevation) to the levees surrounding the islands in the interior of California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Because critical natural gas infrastructure is susceptible to overtopping-related disruption, we focus our analysis on regions that are crossed by the network of the...
Flow hydraulics and mixing characteristics in and downstream from Brandon Road Lock, Joliet, Illinois
Frank L. Engel, P. Ryan Jackson, Elizabeth A. Murphy
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5094
The Brandon Road Lock and Dam on the Des Plaines River near Joliet, Illinois, has been identified for potential implementation of aquatic nuisance species (ANS) control measures. To provide additional information concerning the flow hydraulics and mixing characteristics of the lock and downstream approach channel, the U.S. Geological Survey performed...
What can trees tell us about the air we breathe at home?
Jordan L. Wilson, V.A. Samaranayake, Matthew A. Limmer, Joel Burken
2018, Science Journal for Kids (July 2018)
The air in houses can be affected by bad stuff, called contaminants. Sometimes harmful chemicals enter the air in buildings from nearby contaminated soil and groundwater through cracks or gaps in the foundation – a process known as vapor intrusion. This poses some risk to our health because we spend...
